Williamsburg ~~

Note to self... don't use the filter and make sure when you set the ISO...it isn't at 3200 on a sunny day.  Guess it scrolled, before I set it.....  stupid finger...Sigh ~~~

But I did have fun and found a new favorite spot at Williamsburg, and explored a couple new back areas I haven't been before.

New favorite spot. Is tucked away in a little hollow.. with three little bridges over a tiny creek.

Lots and Lots of.... Poultry...

Chickens are quite depressed when DS has to use his car.  Normally only see chicken legs under the car. LOL

Buff Orpingtons... they should start laying soon.

One of the beautiful Barking Turkeys. 

Our Turkeys think they are dogs and  love to be petted by the family.
They do bark at strangers.

Turkeys, Welsummer, Speckled Sussex and a Buff to the right.

A Trio of Welsummers.

Have to admit, it is really hard to take photos of my chickens... the moment I stop to do anything they come running. LOL  

Sadie~

Sadie is not a easy cat to get good photos of..... as much as I love her, she just doesn't have a photogenic face.... until I bought the Canon.

Photo was shot indoors, no flash and lighting wasn't good.
If the camera is this good now, can't wait to see what it will do in good light!
Now if the weather would just cooperate. 

Canon 70D ~

Canon 70D, nearly dark, no flash, indoor and out...   so far I am impressed.  Just using auto at the moment, until read and re read the directions a few times.

The lens is not going to have the range the Olympus has but it is a start.
When ever I come into some money, will get the lens for the Canon, that will really do what I want.

The Olympus would not of been able to handle any of these shots.

Do have filters for the Canon... if it wasn't snow/rain last night, would of set it up right and would of gotten a better shot of the moon.

So far, this camera is a keeper.

The Herd~

Because of the one going very cold weather,, specially at night, everyone is still in the same pasture. 
The only pasture that I have been able to set up a heated water trough.

The other water troughs and water buckets are frozen inches thick or frozen solid.
The weather is supposed to warm up soon.

Not that I am minding the really cold weather.  No bugs... and it isn't too hot out.  ;O)

Tangerine tree

Finally put up the bird light for the Tangerine tree, I bought last Fall. 
It needed a bit more light than it was getting.  Light is not pretty but it is doing the trick.  
Hopefully, I will have tangerine fruit by mid spring.

Baby its cold outstide~~

 
-11* early this morning....  all the water troughs and buckets frozen solid... except the one we have cobbled together in this pasture..... it has a heater.

So, I decided to move all the animals into this pasture, as it would be easier on the humans.

Photos taken at 4pm,, once it got up to 20* not including the wind chill. Was tool cold to take time to aim. LOL

This morning, the wether goats and sheep were spending more time butting heads than eating... they haven't been in together for a long time.
The boys finally settled down hours later.

Then  Syd and the Old ewe decided to go at it... and are still going at it. This kind'a surprised me... I guess Syd decided he didn't want to take orders from an Elder and well... the Elder out masses him over a 100lbs.

The Holidays ~

Ended up with two new games, courtesy of my Sister and my Niece. Thank you both! 

First one is the game called Pente.... which is a lot of fun. The other one is big Boggle. 

This is the way cool Cookie Jar my DS bought me. 

Over all, a nice low key holiday. 

First Snow!

First snow of the year. Ended up with about an inch of snow, not much.  Nice powdery snow, would be great if it did not have an 1/2" of Ice underneath.

Cold that morning -11*, with the wind, it was bitter.....   today it was up to 40* for about an hour this afternoon, but the rest of the week it is supposed to be in the single digits.

DS managed to get the Turkeys into the Hen house.  This batch of chickens have been around the turkeys long enough, they all seem to, for the most part, to get along.

Took my old Olympus camera out the other day~~

Photo of the sheep.
 Sheared Adda a couple of months ago, so she looks a little scruffy. 
The other sheep are hair sheep.

Dyfra of course, what you don't see is Adda tugging at my jacket and my camera ended up moving, so I cut Dyfra's muzzle off a bit. LOL

Maggie looking as cute as ever.

Was originally trying for action shots but when you do this yourself, the most one tends to get is backside shots.
This is Stjarna doing a very nice Tolt.

New Gotland Roving

The Gotland yarn above was from the Fleece I bought from a breeder in NZ.  Super soft lamb fleece, very curly and a light heathered grey.
However, I do not have enough to finish out a full bobbin.

So I searched the web on the off chance I would find some more online. I came across some Gotland from Paradise fibers.
It is soft, but not as soft as my original Gotland lamb, also a lot more dark.
Spins a lot different too, was having a hard time spinning it as thin as the original.
Only thing common between the two, is you have to over spin a bit, other wise it will blow out when I ply.
Is incredible how different these two batches of Gotland are.

Haven't decided if I am going to ply the two types together or not at this point.
Might have enough for a scarf but not a sweater I was hoping for.

President James Madison Montpelier

Back of the Mansion.
Surprisingly, the inside of the house isn't that big, rooms are quite small. While the outside looks impressive and large, it really isn't.

The Front.
Part of the house was for Jame's family and the other side, for his parents. If they wanted to talk, they had to walk out their front door.

They have quite a pretty brick wall Garden.

Yes, yes you see hills. Was very pleased to see those, as they are the one of the things I very much miss since moving here.They also have a steeple chase course and lots of horse stables on the plantation.

DS and DH by a life sided statue of President James Madison.

Tangerine Tree

The half off, Tangerine Tree, I picked up. So far it is doing well and I made sure to have it some place, there is no wireless net work.
Looks pretty good in the Art Studio.

Wild Sunset

The sky and the air around, looked like this a couple of evenings ago.  Was wild, the color it took on!
Photos are not messed with at all, straight out of the little camera.

Gotland Yarn

This is my latest yarn to be.... Working with the Gotland lamb fleece I bought from NZ.
When finished, it will be a 2 ply fingerling weight.

The Poultry.....

The old little camera, used to take really good video shorts... but I think it is wearing out too.
Granted it is a little over 15 years old....

Not the best photo in the world, was really dark out so had to lighten the photo up a lot.
Basically one turkey decided it was going to roost as close to Stjarna's ears as possible.
The last couple of nights, they have been roosting along her back.
Which means I have to wash her fly sheet.
This will be a problem when I put a rain sheet on her. sigh ~~

Not, that Stjarna likes it... but the turkeys sure love her! LOL

Horses,,,

 Had to body clip the Icelandic's a few weeks ago, as the weather was still super hot.
Think of wearing a real fur coat, with long johns in 90* weather.....

Then we ended up with rain, since last weds. So I put a rain sheet on Dyfra for the worse of it.
Photo was taken last night, when the rain stopped and the sun came out.

Stjarna, right after being let loose after her body clipping.

Poultry ...

The newest batch of baby chicks, not so small now, were let outside of the Hen House yard yesterday for the first time.
Keeping my fingers crossed they stay in the fence around the house.  They are Buff Orphingtons, Speckled Sussex and Welsummers and the later for their super dark brown eggs.

Mean while... the older Hens are Molting. LOL Poor thing.

And a Couple of the Turkeys.,..
They are a lot of fun to have around.  They think they are people.... LOL
Still not sure if I have all hens or not? They are about 5 months old and still haven't heard a Gobble out of any of them.

Sunrise, the Moon and French Flowers....

Not sure I told you, but last month I ran across some Rose bushes that were only $6.00. I bought two of them.
One was a French variety of very hard Tea Rose.  Plant is doing very well and the Roses are beautiful.
Nice to have Roses in the house again.

Not sure how I did it, but I managed to get my not so good camera, to take this photo of a very, very large moon., one night. 
Even caught a star just above the upper right side, though I am not sure you can see it, sized down as the photo is.

A Sunrise, early one morning in Oct..... 

Turkeys...... sigh ~~

Forget Turkey's in the straw, how about Turkey's on the roof.  They love people, and when really happy, bark like puppies. LOL
Right now, we have one female for sure.... one male and can't tell with the other.
And the men of the house... have named them, Patrick, Sponge Bob and Sandy.
(rolling eyes) 

Obama care... not a good thing, not at these prices...

DS needs health insurance.
 So I go onto Healcare.Gov.. and check what the price is.
He makes nothing right now, but has been looking for a job. There is no Medicaid in this State, so that means private.
 Going by their online scale... if DS, makes nothing a year, at the basic health care, he needs to cough up... $197+ a month.
That is crazy. 
He is too old to be on our military insurance. 
This is beyond stupid. 
Thought this was going to help, not make it harder on us. Sigh ~~

We really, really need another small commuter car, but now, that is off the table. 
Letting DS use the Echo, while his father gets another little car, would allow DS to expand his search for a job.
Because here in VA, if you are not related to someone, it is very, very hard to get a job.

Not a happy camper.

Mia and College... Mia and the Turkeys...

Looked into DS's room this morning as he was getting ready for College and saw this.....
Mia laying on his book bag.  She might be thinking if she lays on it he won't go any where or
he might take her with him.
Either way, she is not impressed with him being gone during the day.

Having to feed the turkeys on the front porch for now... they decided to look in and Mia was looking at them, then would look at me and then look at the turkeys again...
Almost feel her asking me....  "What the hell are those?" LOL
And people say Dinosaurs are gone.... ha!