the next step, dying

No, I'm not dead. I was adding color to wool. This was my first attempt at dyeing wool. My sister and niece came up and we had a dyeing party. We used acid base dyes and a microwave that my sister got free by putting up a sign where she worked.

We did the process outside on a beautiful sunny day.

I dyed my grey and black homespun with one color and it came out beautifully. The dark shades of the wool took the dye differently so it turned out to be a heathery result.

I also had some Lion wool that I got on sale from their website in white. I dyed those skeins in a painted fashion with different colors.

The photos are of the dyed wool hanging on the clothes line to dry. And some that were re-skeined.

Now, I need to do more carding and spinning so I can dye again.

getting fleeced photos

Photos of the washed wool on screens and whatever else I could find to allow it to dry. I love the fluffy white photo, looks like clouds or cotton. The darker fleece isn't as fluffy but it is very soft and longer fibers.

canine vs. equine

Our new dog Rocky is proving to be a quandry. He is a very sweet dog, loves people and wants to please. He is great in the house and on a leash. When the leash is off, so is he. Off to the neighbors, off chasing deer in the woods, etc.
I know horses and horse training. I can teach a horse to come when called, but dogs are a different scenario. Some say it is the difference between a prey animal (horse) and a predator (dog).
Yesterday, Rocky decided to run off through the horse pasture, across the road and take a tour of the neighbor's yard. I saw him do it, I called, he ignored. I got a leash and started walking towards the neighbors. When he saw me coming and I asked for him to come, he looked right at me and said, "sorry I've got other things to do," and kept going. I eventually caught up with him and brought him home.
I once knew a man with a wandering dog. His idea of training was to beat the dog when it came home. All the dog learned was not to come home. I do not condone beating any animal for any reason. Discipline is one thing, beating is a whole different issue.
Discipline implies calm, consistent behavior specific to the issue. Beating implies a human who has allowed his anger to control his behavior.
I know that anger has no place in horse training and I'm sure it has no place in dog training. I don't want my animals to be afraid of me, only to respect me.
There are some times when I try some of my horse training techniques on the dog. In horse training, when the horse is doing something you don't want him to do, you ask him to do something you want him to do instead. This works with Rocky if we are in the house or on the leash. It works well. So far, at liberty it doesn't work.
I know that liberty training with horses is started in an enclosed space, then transferred to total freedom. So far, Rocky is good in enclosed spaces, but hasn't let it transfer to total freedom.
Yes, he's only two years old and we've only had him for a few weeks. Time is important. He still has puppy brain, with grown dog speed.
At least he knows where home is. When he took off after the deer, he made a big loop through the woods and field and came back to me after about 1/2 hour.
It's a small step in the right direction.
What's your dog training challenge?
What's your horse training challenge?
Got any tips for Rocky?

Getting fleeced

My friend Dr. Dan has sheep. His sheep are mostly pets who keep the grass mowed around his apple trees. Each spring he has the shearer come and relieve the sheep of their winter coats. Dr. Dan is a veterinarian, not a fiber person, so his fleeces get put in bags and stored in the barn. He offered me one last year and I had much fun with it so I agreed to take another this year.
When I arrived at his farm and saw last year's fleeces sitting outside, still in their bags, I knew that he had plenty of fleece to give away. I decided to take three fleeces and picked three bags.
When I got home and took the fleeces out of the bags I found five fleeces in the three bags.
I'd been fleeced.
Three beautiful white ones and two that are mottled gray and black.
His sheep, being pets, don't wear coats or have special areas to live in that keep their fleece clean, so cleaning these fleeces is an adventure.
I first had to go to my neighbor to borrow any screens she had available. She also sent a wonderful porcelain tub with a hole in the bottom.
So, today I spent time in my basement cleaning fleece. I connected a hose to the hot water spout from the washing machine hookup and put hot water into several coolers and big containers, along with some laundry soap. In goes the fleece, stir it around to get the soap in, and let it soak. I like using coolers because they have covers that keep the water hot while soaking.
After about 1/2 hour, I dump out the dirty water and do a second wash, then a final rinse in the porcelain tub.
Outside I have a table set up with screens of all different sizes and shapes to dry the fleeces on. I also set up a couple of saw horses in the barn with screens on them.
I was able to do three fleeces before I ran out of room for drying.
My hands are very clean, my back is very sore and I'm looking forward to spending time picking out twigs and hay chaff from the cleaned fleeces. Sounds like a good job to do on a sunny day.
I'd love to hear other stories about cleaning fleece. Have you ever done it? What did you use?

Rocky update

When we first planned to get another dog, we planned to get a puppy.
Rocky is not a puppy, he is almost 2 years old. And, he is showing us that it is perfect. He came to us for reasons, just as life throws us many curves for reasons.
Rocky still has puppy mind, even though he is full grown in his body. He has spirit, an adventurous streak, and soooo much love to give. He only wants to please us.
Yesterday my husband commented, "How much time would we be spending on basic training if we had gotten a puppy?"
Rocky knows sit, lay down, almost come when called. He is housebroken and loves people. How much time would we spend training a new puppy those things that we don't have to spend with Rocky? Probably at least two to six months.
Puppies are fun to cuddle with, and so is Rocky. He will come up on the couch and snuggle in as if he was only 10 pounds instead of 47 pounds.
Rocky sleeps through the night, no whining, no emergency potty breaks.
And every day, Rocky looks at me and says, "Thanks for giving me a home."

Help! My belt broke!

I've had my sister's drum carder for a while now. I was carding a fleece that I had cleaned and spinning it, big fun. However, the belt on the drum carder broke, which stopped my adventure. It's been another adventure trying to replace the belt.
This weekend I took the belt and the carder to a local yarn and weaving shop. The proprietor and I search the internet trying to find a belt, to no avail. I got a few phone numbers off the websites and planned to call them.
Meanwhile I decided to stop by the local hardware store. Maybe they would have a different belt that would work. No luck. The guy at the hardware store recommended the NAPA store down the street.
At the NAPA store, the guy behind the counter was trying to help me solve the problem when another guy came in. He looked at the belt and they began to brain storm, as guys in a parts store love to do. What they came up with was to use electrical shrink wrap to hold the broken part in place. Sounded good, so I bought some.
At home, I asked my husband if he had ever used the electrical shrink wrap.
"No, but let's check it out." he says. Another adventure began.
He thought it would be a good idea to heat up the ends and try to meld them first. Out came the propane torch. It didn't work. Deciding the propane torch was too hot, out came the heat gun (industrial model). It didn't work either. So we went back to the shrink wrap tape, which seemed to work.
I put the belt back on the carder and it lasted for about 15 minutes before the shrink wrap broke.
Does anyone out there know where to get a 41" belt for a drum carder?
I've discovered I can still use the carder if I work the second drum manually, but it takes two hands.

Welcome Rocky!

Here are the first pictures of our new dog, Rocky.

Finally a dog who likes to lay on the dog bed.

At right, Rocky says hi to Lisha.

Rocky is about 1 1/5 or 2 years old. We adopted him from the Chequamegon Humane Association. My best guess is that he is a German Shepherd/Healer mix. He is very affectionate, house trained, and wants to please. He knows sit and lay down and we are working on come when called. He loves to go for walks and play in the yard. He also likes to chase birds and barn cats, but gets along with Mike, our indoor cat. The other two indoor cats are still cautious.

We love Rocky.

Coming home

I love going on vacation, and I love coming home from vacation.
I recently spent three weeks in Mexico, in a cabana on the beach. It was great, and I'm happy to be home. Why?
At home I can do laundry. Everything I had taken with me was damp and smelled of sea salt. I didn't actually unpack. What I did was throw everything directly from the suitcase into the washing machine. From there, it went out to the clothes line to freshen in the spring air. I must have done at least 15 loads of laundry, which included all the laundry that accumulated while I was gone.
At home I can take a fresh water shower. The cabanas had showers in them, but the water was straight from the ocean, salt water. Imagine spending a day on the beach. You're hot and sticky from swimming in the salt water ocean. You're lightly sunburned and looking forward to a fresh shower. You step out of the shower and are refreshed for about a minute, then you realize the water was salt water. Your hair is still sticky and never really dries. Your skin is sticky and now drying out from the salt. You apply tons of lotion, which doesn't help.
At home I can eat something other than guacamole. The restaurants were good, and I don't want to look at guacamole for at least a month. Sure, the guacamole was tasty, but with every meal? Same goes for salsa, chips and refried beans. The culinary hit of my journey was the french toast at TreceLunas, a cafe run by a Canadian woman. There was also one restaurant that served pizza. Not American pizza, but it was wood fired and tasted great.
At home I can sleep without mosquito netting. The mosquitoes in Mexico are smaller than Wisconsin mosquitoes. But they are like terrier mosquitoes, they don't quit. I am still scratching bites on my arms. If you are by the ocean in the breeze, it's okay. If you venture into the jungle, which is only a few steps away from the ocean, you are fresh meat for the hordes.
At home the nights are cool. Mexico days are hot and sunny, and Mexico nights are hot and dark. With no electricity in the cabanas, there was no air conditioning, or even a ceiling fan.
At home the horses are fat and healthy. I had a chance to see some horses while in Mexico. They were thin, bony and also plagued by the heat and bugs. I felt bad for them, but not everyone has access to the open grasslands and perfect horse weather of Wisconsin. It made me grateful for the home my horses have.

After all this, you may think that my vacation wasn't a good one, but it really was. I was not at work. I didn't wear a watch. I played in the ocean and sunned on the beach. I salsa danced on the beach one evening and had grand adventures at ruins and cenotes. I was in excellent company with 35 of my very best friends from all over the world. And I'm glad to be home.