Long Time Away.....

.... from this little old blog. This winter has been long and I am so ready for it to be over. We are still having a few lambs being born sporadically. This one was born the other day - The Farmer went a little wild with the orange marking paint. 

The 5 bottle lambs have been weaned now and are eating only solid food. Here they are on their last day of being fenced in. Now they are running free. 

All the older ewes have lambed and now it is the yearlings who are lambing. They are always a little problematic because some don't know what to do with their lambs - but some take to it naturally. 

Here is a particularly beautiful lamb who was born early in the season. 

The older lambs are growing and are very athletic. I posted a video of lamb races the other day on Instagram - you can see it here. 

There are some really beautiful lambs - many who are Texel crosses. This is the first year we have had a lot of Texel lambs and it is interesting to see the different features the lambs have. 

We have had quite a few black lambs this year. Not sure why but one of the rams must have had a recessive black gene. Some have these speckly faces. 

The snow is finally gone except for deep in the woods. The sap has been running here for at least 3 weeks and the little sugar houses throughout the hills have been boiling up the sweet stuff. It looks like sugaring season is almost over for this year. 

The landscape is still brown but the grass is starting to green up a bit. I am really looking forward to spring - even more than usual. It has been a long winter. I have been sick with colds, coughs and flu twice this winter - and so has my family. Considering I haven't been ill in 3 years, I guess it was my turn. 

My hens finally started laying again and we are starting to be awash in piles of eggs. Lots of egg dishes are going to be on the menu along with popovers which are my favorite at this time of year. I use this popover recipe from Julia Child. In re-reading this post from 2014, I realize that I was a really enthusiastic blogger back in 2014. I seem to have lost that mojo - as it seems many early bloggers have. But I haven't given up. I think that Instagram has replaced blogging for many - it is so easy to do and that seems to be where the action is. I post there almost every day. It is a nice community. Here is my page if you want to give me a follow. 

This past month I have been watching a lot of YouTube and Skillshare videos and trying to up my knowledge on Adobe Illustrator. I have worked in Illustrator since the very early days of Adobe Illustrator. I think my first program was called Illustrator 88. I have never felt really accomplished in it. I have found the videos by Helen Bradley to be very helpful. You can find her on YouTube and also on Skillshare. She teaches all kinds of programs - Lightroom, Photoshop, Excel, PowerPoint, and Word. Helen's own website is here. She calls herself "Project Woman" and she is a serious talent. 

There are so many on-line classes out there now and it is hard to stop watching them once you start. I am really enjoying Skillshare because the classes are taught by normal people and mostly filmed in their own homes. Some are better than others. They are having a special - 2 months for 99 cents. You might want to check it out here.  And no - this is not an affiliate link - just sharing with you all. 

That's it for today - I hope I will be back soon with more.