June 16th, 2003

Good Morning Everyone,
We are leaving for a family vacation today. My three daughters, two Son-in-Laws, two Grandchildren and Hubby and myself are meeting in Branson, Missouri for 4 days. We have adjoining cabins. It should be a fun time.
Evamae, so wonderful that you are getting a dump truck of compost and manure! One of the most exciting things I recieved this year was my free load of mulch from the road department.
My trees are finally recovering from the terrible hail storm. The walnut trees have their beautiful leaves back. No walnuts this year though here. The hail storm was a mile wide storm, so , at least I know my close by friends may have some. I will go there to pick blackberries. I will have a few blackberries, but since most of the leaves, and blooms were stripped off my berry plants I won't have many. However , the blackberry vines are also trying to recover so , there are blooms on some and also little berries.
MaryE, so you are having strawberries now? I have started a row of plants this year. I picked off all the blooms so they would all put out runners. So far , so good. How do you keep all the weeds out of yours? I have been using my mulch and it seems to work pretty well. One rhubarb stalk you sent me is doing well. The other didn't survive the bad storms we had earlier here in Missouri.
We finally found the short in the electric fence yesterday. I did a happy dance. Even though the cattle were staying put, I didn't relish the idea of being called while on vacation that the cows were out.
Also my twin black ewe lambs are looking healthier. They had a slow start. The one I named Starr, was frail and had been stepped on. She started putting weight on her leg yesterday and looks to have plenty of energy. She is nowhere as big as her sister, Belle. I don't think their mother was too happy with twins. and since Starr was frail it almost seemed she would have been happy to abandon her. I didn't want to bottle feed her , so kept sneaking her a little supplement. Now things are better. Mother likes them both and seems much more maternal.
Baa, you had asked several posts ago what kind of sheep I have. I have such a mixed up bunch. They seem to gravitate to me from different sources. Some of the kinds are mixes of katahdin, suffolk, dorset, montadale and lincoln. I absolutely have no idea of the black ewes. My niece bought them from a neighbor as bottle lambs and then she decided she didn't want to raise sheep. I loved the coloring of these ewes, so bought them from her.
MiniSchnuz, I bet your baby chickens are starting to feather out.
I will take my little rat terrier over to my brother's house for our little vacation time. He will be so unhappy without me. a true one person dog. If I am home he is never two feet away from me. They will be good to him, but they have big dogs and probably won't let him out of his pen much. At least I have a cell phone with lots of minutes and can call and check on him.
Well, off to check on everything, and then we will meet our youngest daughter and be on our way.