Tuesday, February 4, 2014

I am such a slacker....

Seriously! I am!  I can't believe I haven't updated my blog since October!  It's just so easy and convienant to update the Facebook page, and it's a lot easier on gigabytes that cost a fortune for my computer!  lol. 

This winter has seemed UNREASONABLY cold...  but really, I think it's just we've been quite spoiled the last 10 years or so.  I can remember it being quite cold, much like this, when I was younger.  We've had one day above freezing all winter, few days above zero.  We've had even fewer nights above zero, and most of those below zero nights have had anywhere from -15 to -60 windchills!  Very cold for the critters, very hard on the critters.  I lost one older ewe, Shetlering Pines Olga.  Very sad, she was such a sweet old mooch.  I've lost several chickens as well.  It's been rough. 

But, I am now beginning to turn my sights towards spring.  Adam and I have talked things over, and we're cutting back again so we have more money to put towards our bills so we can pay them off faster.  We thought about selling out even, and it still may yet come to that, but I hope not.  We are cutting back to less than 15 Shetlands (not including what my mother keeps), probably more like 6-10.  We are keeping the Romeldales, the 3/4 BFLs, Babydoll, Charm and a couple of the 1/2 Romeldales (for now).  It's going to be hard, but we'll make it work.  I do need to find a new Shetland ram though! 

As of right now, I will still be raising Coronation Sussex, Silver Sussex and White Cubalaya, and will hopefully be adding Ohiki this year or next as well. 

This year will be a year for change.  I'm trying to be more confident in myself and my decisions.  I'm hoping to lose some of the weight I've put on over the last few years.  I'm REALLY hoping to get my craft room set up in the spare bedroom so I have somewhere to put my YARN!  I feel so bad with it sitting outside in storage totes, all alone....lol. 

Anyway, I will try to get better about posting.  Even if it's just mindless babel like this kind of was.  I know a lot of you prefer to hear about things on here rather than my facebook page. 

Now...off to dream of lambs...and try to figure out a theme for this year!

4 comments:

Michelle said...

Good to hear from you here, Rayna. I don't use FB much; don't like it at all. What is it about the Romeldales and partbreds that make them worth keeping?

Becky Utecht said...

Hmmm, I really shouldn't ask because I need to keep my numbers down to a bare minimum too, but are you selling Diamond?

North Star Shetlands said...

Michelle: I LOVE the docile Romeldale attitude...they're gentle giants. Hubby loves them too, so that's always a good point. They have more of a merino type single coated fleece, which seems to sell well, and being a larger animal there's more meat and more market for meat buyers.

Becky: Diamond is not on the sell list as of now. It'll depend on how low on hay we get I guess lol. I absolutely adore her, did you know I got another 3/4 BFL from Garrett? Her name is Echinacea (Echo for short) and she's an English Blue :) They're both bred to my Rom ram and last year Diamonds boy was just awesome, top weaning weight and grew SUPER fast. :) Love bunny ears :D

Becky Utecht said...

Okay, that's good to hear Rayna. I've got a couple English Blue Finn Mule lambs and an English Blue Shetland Mule. Love that fleece! I should have at least one 3/4 BFL lamb this spring - hoping my ewe lambs aren't bred. I should have a couple Shetland Mule lambs and the rest purebred BFL - hoping for plenty of white. :-)