The Eclipse in Texas post is here. That was on Monday. I was flying out on Wednesday, but in the meantime Dan and I had a day to find something to do. Kids were at school and Katie and Kurtis were at work. We drove to the town of Blanco to see what we could find.
We ended up at the Buggy Barn Museum where there are over 250 buggies, wagons, and carriages of all types. There is also a street with the Old West look and buildings that can be rented for photoshoots or gatherings.
We wandered around the Old West and explored the buildings.
We found a donkey (plastic) peering out of a stable.
Then we found the interconnected buildings that house the buggies. There are signs on some but not all. I don’t know what this wagon carried–something that needed to be confined to a cage.
Detail of the wheel on that buggy.
I can’t tell you all the different types, but there are a lot. Some of the buggies have signs that list movies or TV shows in which they have been used. Some have been restored for those shows. Others are replicas.
This is a view from an upstairs room that was also filled. There were several times I glimpsed a person driving or riding in a buggy and I had to look twice to realize it was a mannequin.
This person, however, was not a mannequin, but he dressed for the period. He was glad to see us and spent quite awhile telling us stories about some of what we were seeing.
Metal vultures overlooking the fence on the way out.
Back at the house I went on a walk. This is above the gate at Katie’s neighbor to the east.
This is across the road. That’s a bongo that we mostly saw under this tree. There are also zebras and springboks on the property.
One last photo of my new favorite flower. I find this one fascinating. It is called Antelope Horn for the look of the seedpods. No resemblance at this point. Maybe if I go back in the fall I’ll see some.
Part 2 of this Texas trip is here. This plan started way back last summer when Matt suggested that we all gather at Katie’s place in Texas for the total solar eclipse on April 8. She lives in the path of totality. It’s a good thing that Matt gave me plenty of warning. I bred the sheep a month earlier than normal so that I wouldn’t risk what happened in 2023–lambs due while we were on a planned family trip the first weekend of April. It worked, and all the 2024 lambs were born by March 7.
I didn’t go to Texas just for the eclipse. Since the family is there I spent a week with them.
Our friend, Roger, usually shares Thanksgiving and Christmas with us in California, but now that he has moved to Texas, he was a welcome addition to the Eclipse Day.
I have to attribute most of the photos to Kaleena. She did a much better job than I did with photos, especially of the actual eclipse.
We all tried out our eclipse glasses.
Then we waited.
The day was cloudy and overcast. We saw glimpses of the eclipse as the clouds came and went.
That made for some great photos by Kaleena. I evidently hadn’t paid attention to “how to photograph an eclipse”.
I’m slow at getting caught up with photos. I may never be caught up. Part 1 of this trip is here. On Sunday we drove to San Marcos for a glass-bottom boat tour at The Meadows Center managed by Texas State University.
This is the view from within the boat so I can share what the boats look like.
This is the view in the other direction showing out tour guide and the other people on the boat.
We are all sitting around a center channel with a glass bottom.
A view looking down into that channel.
A view of the bottom of Spring Lake. There are over 200 springs in the lake, bubbling up from the Edwards Aquifer. The water is at 72 degrees year round and the water from these springs becomes the San Marcos River. The guide pointed out what looked like current at the bottom of the lake in some areas and bubbles in others–those are the areas where water is rising from the springs.
After the tour we explored the Discovery Hall that is housed in the old building that used to be known as Aquarena Springs. For a fascinating glimpse into the history of the entertainment provided by the Aquamaids from the 1950’s through 90’s at this site see this link. Thanks to Kaleena for this great photo of Matt and Kasen sitting on the roof of the Hall.
We did a short walk on one of the trails around the Spring Lake Natural Area.
This sign explains that this area may be the oldest continuously inhabited spot in North America.
After that we drove into another part of the town and stopped along the San Marcos River where there is public access for swimming.
It was overcast, but warm enough for some of our group to want to get in the water.
Another great photo by Kaleena.
Back “home” we took another walk.
This is a close up view of a flower I identified in the last post…what was that? I just looked back. Pincushion Daisy. I took this photo because of the metallic green bee
Phlox roemeriana
I am experimenting with he ID ability of the phone (a feature I didn’t know about until Kaleena showed me). If I record something as a caption it shows up here. The common name is Goldeneye phlox.
I shared one blog post in the first few days of my latest trip to Texas. That was all about flowers and I never got organized enough to do another. I’ve been back in California now for four days but for three of those days I had Covid. I’m still trying to catch up. I’ll be sharing some family photos here.
The day after I arrived Kirby had softball practice after school. She is the catcher for her team.
Kirby-softball practiceKirby can certainly throw the ball better than I ever could.
At home with the bunny.
Outside with the goats. The original goats came from our place. Blog post here. Why is it that since the pandemic started our only road trips have always involved hauling animals around the country?
These are mostly outside cats who get to come in when it is particularly cold.
Two dogs are Josie and Alice.
On Saturday there was a softball game. Katie helped Kirby warm up while Kasen was off playing with friends.
Kirby as catcher.
Kirby at bat.
After the game we went to find a place where Kasen could work out the way he wanted to.
That’s doing pull-ups and running.
Kasen challenged Uncle Matt to a race. Matt gave him a head start.
I’m in the Hill Country for a week. I walked up the road this morning and enjoyed seeing all the different wildflowers. I used my daughter’s wildflower books but still couldn’t identify them all. I think the ones included here are correct.
Antelope-Horns, Asclepias asperula
This one is fascinating. In the next photo it is in full bloom.
On Monday we went on a hike with my brother and sister-in-law. I think it was actually a walk because the trail followed the edge of the lake fairly closely. Doesn’t a hike involved dramatic changes in elevation or at least some level of difficulty? Regardless, it was a beautiful day while the annual growth is still green and not all the trees have fully leafed out. (Is that a word?)
We drove to the north end of Lake Berryessa and stopped at the trail head.
My brother has been here several times and expects to find ospreys and eagles. We saw ospreys in the air on the way here and found another not long after starting on the trail.
This is a view of the landscape and the lake. There is an osprey in this photo also, but you have to look hard to see it.
Here is the osprey, right in the middle of that other photo. Notice there are two here. One is below the nest.
Another view across the lake. What a beautiful site for a ranch headquarters.
I have always taken more photos of plants than birds. Plants sit still longer and I can get closer.
Here is a magnificent oak tree.
The oak woodland landscape.
We noticed several trees with holes in the bark. Can you tell what is in the holes?
The holes are filled with acorns.
The acorn woodpecker is responsible for this. Wikipedia has this to say about this behavior: Acorns are stored in small holes drilled especially for this purpose in “granaries” or “storage trees”—usually snags, dead branches, utility poles, or wooden buildings. Storage holes—always in dead tissue such as bark or dead limbs—are used year after year, and granaries can consist of thousands of holes, each of which may be filled by an acorn in the autumn.
This turkey vulture wasn’t about to leave his meal, although three others did fly off as we walked by.
Can you spot the bird here?
This one is a bald eagle.
We walked about as far as La Pointe (on the map at the top) and turned around because we all had visitors coming for dinner. On the way back we saw the same osprey pair.
This is Dan, me, Kathy, and Dave thoroughly enjoying the day.
I just checked back to see when I wrote last. Wow! I’m so behind. It’s probably impossible to catch up with all the ideas I was going to share. Here’s an update about sheep and lambing season.
This is the lambing board where I record all the info as lambing progresses. This will stay up until the first lambs show up next year. The info shows date, ewe, lamb # (purple for ewes, blue for rams), and birth weight. The blue brackets are triplets.
Here is a summary: Lambs born between January 25 and March 7, 2024 Single births: 3 = 3 live lambs Twin births: 33 = 63 live lambs (3 died at birth) Triplet births: 8 = 22 live lambs (2 died at birth) Total live lambs = 88 ear tagged; 1 died at 1 day and 2 dead fetuses not counted. 44 ewe lambs / 42 ram lambs Sires: Horatio 36 lambs Barrett 27 lambs Typhoon 12 lambs Blizzard 5 lambs Peyton 5 lambs Unknown 3 lambs The Unknown are the first 3 lambs born, earlier than I expected, and due to the ram lambs getting into the pasture prior to breeding season. OOPS!
I also question if Blizzard is the sire of the five lambs born later than expected based on original breeding dates.
I made this chart to help work it out. If the lambs were born based on the original dates they would have ben born in mid-February. They are about 2 to 3 weeks later. A sheep heat cycle is 17 days and gestation is between 142-152 days (average 147 days or 21 weeks). Blizzard was with 3 ewes until Lambtown, October 6-8. If he bred them October 5 the due date would range from February 24 to March 5. I just looked back at last year’s Lambtown blog post and see that Queen Q and Quark were both at Lambtown also. They came back on October 8. IF they were bred October 8, 147 days would be March 3 (range February 27 to March 9). I’m pretty sure that April’s lambs are sired by Blizzard, but I’m still not sure about the others. I think they probably went in with Horatio when they came back here but I don’t remember. It would have been smart to leave them away from rams for another week or so. The lesson here: TAKE BETTER NOTES.
Thanks for “listening” while I try to work this out. Now, on to photos.
Lambs are getting big. This is Hailee, one of the few 2023 ewe lambs that I put with a ram. Her twins were born March 4, so they are only 3 weeks old. Really? It seems like that was so long ago now.
Here is a view of Hailee without lambs under her. I really like her horns!
We had a Farm Day on Sunday and several members showed up to help take notes about lambs. I hadn’t taken time to record number of horns, color, etc and needed to be able to update the website. We caught all the lambs and then inspected each one. It’s easy to tell the number of horns on the rams when they are young, but not always on the ewes. This photo makes mer think of a line at the grocery store. Farm Club members caught lambs and waited while we all checked them out and then I ear tagged with a colored tag.
They all get white ear tags for ID shortly after they are born. The colored tags are useful as back up if the original ones are pulled out and to help find a particular lamb. When I’m looking for a specific number I have to look at all 80+ lambs and it’s much easier to narrow it down by color. It also helps when I’m taking photos that usually I’ll be able to identify the lamb later by at least one ear tag. We color code them by sire.
Barrett’s lambs got green tags.
Ewe lambs are tagged with the white ID tag in the left ear and the colored tag in the right ear. Ram lambs are the opposite, so that’s another way to help find a lamb.
Horatio’s lambs have a purple sire tag.
We tagged Typhoon’s lambs with yellow. I did not assign colors to lambs that are potentially Blizzard’s or the ones with an unknown sire. Now you can find most of these lambs on the website. Ewe lambs.Ram lambs. I’m not finished taking photos. Most are for sale.
Lambing is over as of two days ago. I will talk some more about lambs, but right now I want to share today’s class, Weave Like a Viking, taught by Farm Club member Siobhan…with a little about lambs.
Siobhan started figured out how to weave Vararfeldur, a pile weave using wool locks interspersed in plain weave or twill. Siobhan previously presented a class here in felting that results in a piece with a similar appearance at first glance, but is much different.
Before the last couple of lamb posts I started to take a look back at weaving in 2023. Here is the next about weaving
Warp #1308 was baby blankets. I need to get another baby blanket warp on the loom because I’m almost out. Do you know that one of the first things I wove was a baby blanket for my son who is now 43? I have been weaving pretty much the same blankets all this time. If people still like them I guess that’s OK. I have a lot of other ideas though. Just no time.
Warp # 1311 was for samples using the yarn I got back from one of the mills. The samples are Jacob warp with Jacob and Timm Ranch weft at two different setts. The photo on the left is before washing and the right is after washing. That is where differences in take-up and draw-in really show up.
These samples were all from one warp but resleyed to weave at 15 epi, 18 epi, and 24 epi. I used these for a Yarn Lab article for the Jan/Feb 2024 Handwoven magazine.
This is one of several clasped warp scarves and shawls I wove. They will be in an upcoming issue of Handwoven.
Warp 1326 was Timm Ranch yarn and I wove two shawls, one with indigo-dyed weft, and one with 3 supplementary warps to create the design.
The next warp is Jacob wool. I really like how the two sides of this pattern are so different.
This is Warp 1328 with 14 blankets. I weave these on my 60″ wide AVL production loom.
They look a little better when finished. Some of these are on the website now (here is one). Some are Year to Remember blankets that were custom orders.
This is another clasped warp scarf using Timm Ranch wool that I dyed with homegrown indigo.
Warp 1337 on the loom. This is Timm Ranch warp and Jacob weft.
I wove enough for four pieces and made two into mobius shawls.
So many ideas and so little time. Back to the barn to feed lambs now.
I wrote last time about Seeing Triple and all the triplets that have been born. Eilwen was the last one in that post, but early the next morning Honey had her lambs–more triplets.
When I went to the barn I saw the moon setting in the west…
…and the sun rising in the east.
Here is what I saw in the barn. I had put Honey in the night before because she was desperately trying to claim the lambs of the ewe that had just lambed when I was at the barn around midnight. Now she had her own brood. This is the sixth set of triplets. That’s too many, especially for this ewe who had mastitis last year. I thought it had been resolved enough for her to have lambs again. I was wrong.
The lambs had figured out that they were getting milk from only one side. A ewe can nurse a single lamb one one side, and maybe twins, but it’s asking way too much to raise triplets that way. Its important for the lambs to get colostrum during the first day, so I made sure that they all took turns nursing through the day, but I started to supplement that night.
Jannie lambed later that day with twins.
This is Coco with 10-day old twins. Yesterday I found Coco less responsive than normal. She is not one of the tame sheep and she wouldn’t get up when I wanted her to move. The lambs were trying to nurse while she was lying down. I discussed symptoms with one of the vets at the VMTH (UCDavis Vet Hospital).
No fever and, in fact, lower than normal body temperature, her behavior, and the yellow cast to the sclera led her to think copper toxicity. I have dealt with copper toxicity in the past but not for several years.
I took Coco to the VMTH as soon as I could. This story does not have a happy ending, but this is real life. Coco was euthanized. I know she looks like a normal sheep in this photo, but believe me, her body was shutting down. There is a lot more I could tell you about this — details about copper toxicity in sheep, decisions one has to make about animals whether they are considered livestock or pets, and more. That is what Farm Club is all about. Farm Club members get the behind-the-scenes stories in much more detail than works (or is appropriate for) a blog post. They have had daily updates from the beginning of lambing and have been invited out here to participate as well.
This was the bucket I took to the barn this morning. Two bottles for Coco’s lambs and two bottles for Honey’s lambs. As of the noon feeding I added a fifth bottle. I’ll be feeding four times/day for a couple of weeks I think.
Those are Coco’s lambs on the right. I took two of Honey’s lambs out of her pen this morning. The fact that she didn’t care means she doesn’t feel well. I left one with her but will supplement him.
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