I think I've started this 8 or 9 times...*Warning: Pic heavy!*

But I promise I'll finish it today! lol. I've been sick, my neck is out of place, our house is likely infested with Carpenter Ants, and it's been one thing after another :) Anyway, on with the show!

It all started Valentine's weekend...okay, well, not really. It started a while before that when Garrett said "Hey, Stephens selling some sheep, we should road trip!" But anyway, February 14th, Garrett is heading East to my house while I'm heading South to a concert at the Mille Lacs Lake Grand Casino to see Sawyer Brown (Denny's favorite band) with Denny for V-day. Have had this planned since December, so had the night off anyway, and so Garrett and I planned on leaving for Stephens early Sunday morning. Well, I get back to my house, expecting Garrett to be there already napping (I missed a call from him while coming into town), and my mom's car is parked at my house! She came and did some house cleaning for us for V-day...what a nice mom! So at least G had someone to talk to. But he went to bed, I went to packing, and ended up laying down for an hour and a half, but probably only sleeping a quick 15 minutes from being so excited and too afraid to fall asleep, lest someone not be able to awake me again at 5.

We headed out at 5:15 am to drop off some of Garretts sheep to a lady for a petting zoo. They were approx 45 min to an hour late, with a HUGE trailer for 3 tiny little sheep...we got a good laugh out of that. Got on the road again, met Cynthia(Firth of Fifth Acres) in Mauston, WI, and ended up making pretty darn good time to MI. We hit a horrid lake effect snowstorm that we kept driving in and out of...it was crazy! Total white out, then completely dry. Back and forth. We kept watching the road for wet coming off the tires, to make sure it wasn't freezing, and it was fine until we hit a curve and went around where both sides of the freeway were surrounded by thick forest...and hit glare ice. First indication was a SUV that had likely flipped that they had had to use the jaws of life to pry off the door to get the now deceased person out of it. Don't know if anyone else was in the vehicle or not. Needless to say we slowed down...way down. Skidding really badly, and the dip ahead of us wasn't helping. There were at least 9 cars from our lane that had either spun into the median and across (luckily not INTO oncoming traffic) or hit the guard rails on our side...lots of people who had just passed us. It was frightening. But then we drove out of it like nothing happened! Gotta love lake effect weather. They were actually redirecting traffic a half mile or so up the road.

Briony's "Yellow" sign :)
Like night...

And day!And then the crashes started...
And then it's all over like it never was!



We headed to Char's place (she owns Cormos, very nice fleece) and picked up Stephen to head back to his place where Julianne Budde was waiting. We went out to eat at Applebees(Pics below), which was nummy and fun, and then headed back to Stephens, where everyone else stayed up and chit chatted, but unfortunately after working midnights, getting about 4 hours of sleep, going to the concert, and coming back and getting that short little nap before we took off was wearing on me, so I headed to bed. Kept waking up to Garrett scaring Penelope the cat away cuz she scared him, and he said he woke up every time I woke up any other time cuz I quit snoring LOL. Yet another good reason to lose weight...
Proof of needing to lose weight...eek! :(



After waking up and observing sheep, we went to this little Londonish grill/pub. Very cute, awesome decor. Me, of course, being the picky one, had a house salad, but I tried the scotch eggs, and minus the shoot-me-please heat of the curry, they weren't bad. :)

Isn't this fan awesome?! This was at the London Pub that I can't remember the name of...

Back at the farm...
Beautiful Matteo wasn't too impressed with intruders...but the next weekend he really did recognize me and was a little better with me...but NOT with my mom!
Can't remember the name of this! Weeping...Juniper? Ugh!
I love this photo w/ the sun peeking through in the bottom :)
2 of the 3 outdoor kitties...OMG! I just realized I didn't get any photos of the indoor crew! D'oh...next time!
I just LOVE this barn!
Can you tell I really love this barn?

Friendly, fuzzy, outdoor kitty :) Super cute, quaint pond with a friend......this lovely Gryphon statue! Love it!


So, I had ideas who I wanted, but only having so much room, we only fit 4 of the girls in I wanted (with still leaving room for 2 Garrett was picking up in WI), so I mentioned that my mom and I *might* be able to make it back sometime, because she loves road trips, and we hadn't done one in soooo long. So, along came SheltrgPines Olga, Modron, Grand Cornet and Justalit'l Bedegrayne, along with 2 BFLs and SheltrgPines Nirvana of Garretts. We planned to leave by like, noon, but of course didn't get out of there til late...Stephen is just SO hard to leave! :( That and I was having a little trouble choosing since I wasn't sure I was gonna make it back *blush* hehehe. Damn women and their indecisiveness!

And to sweeten the deal, I got a SUPER awesome scarf from Stephen! Isn't is gorgeous? Don't mind the model...
I wears it every day!

Made it to Madison to pick up the two Shetlands from Lori Stephenson of Sommarang Farm. I'm uber jealous, but that's okay :) A lovely katmoget (just what G needed another of lol) and a gorgeous flecket. Scarily, we were straight across from the place we brought the truck to on our last road trip when it broke down. It was eerie. It was so cute though...Lori and her husband had the two ewes in the backseat of their extended cab pickup, LOOSE! lol. Just adorable..We eventually made it to Briony's place and crashed.

Woke up around...7? can't remember...details are getting froggy. Got on the road, the girls were all fine. Made it back in time for me to get sleep for work, that was the best part!

So I mention my plan to my mother...and she loves it! She just happened to be laid off that week, so she said yeah! So we jerry-rigged her geo to be able to pack two Shetlands in it, and took off. Made great time considering she has a bladder the size of a pea. Stephen is an awesome host, and let us stay with him again, and my mom just loved him too! We stayed until FIVE and finally were like "we HAVE to go or we're gonna have to stay another night..." And it was sooo tempting! I can't wait to go back! We had to take a couple naps on the way back, but made it back just fine, got the girls unloaded and they're doing well. Glenmore March Madness I think actually ENJOYED the ride and the company of peoples. SheltrgPines Morgan le Fey wasn't so sure.

I kind of botched my diet on the second trip though, with DQ and McDonalds...but I still ended up losing 3 lbs for the week on our Pound for Pound Challenge! I'm down a total of 9 lbs now. But this week I've been bad :(

At Hardees in Hinckley, MN.

I like the reflection in this photo.

Sweetie pie March wondering when we're gonna be home and what else is on the menu.

Cornet, Modron and Olga awaiting their new pen mates...with stupid timothy heads stuck in their lovely fleeces! :(

I can't think of any more updates other than I'm very excited for lambing season, and it will start much sooner than normal for me because Stephens ewes are all bred to lamb starting as early as THIS WEEK! But he doesn't think they'll come in til the end of the month...*sigh* It's still below freezing most days, and still way below freezing most nights. But hopefully we'll be getting much warmer weather coming in.

I will be having a half dozen or so adult ewes available for sale to make room for the impending ewe lambs from this year, they'll be available after lambing, or possibly with lambs (depending upon what they have). So if any of you are interested in who I may have available, please let me know.

Oh, and if anyone's good with interior decorating...I need some ideas to make my house FEEL and LOOK bigger :) Want to paint the bathroom for sure, maybe some other rooms, our house is so drab...a beige color w/ white trim, so boring.

Okay, I think I'm done now... :) Time to go lay down and get rid of this headache/cold thing!