So today Dad and I worked the sale barn and the entire time I was thinking about Tomorrow.  You see we always have a Bar-B-Q complete with Fireworks.  For a bit it looked like this year we might not do such a big one and I was not really liking that.   But today in true Mom Fashion we headed to do the grocery shopping and get the fireworks.  Mom said that she felt guilty not doing the bar-b-q simply because we always had in the past.  So our little 4th of July Shareholder Celebration is back to what it always has been.... 
    That means tomorrow I better get the yard mowed.... But tonight Mom and I got the house picked up a bit and called everyone we know to let them know it was on for tomorrow.  Check out what will be in our show ....

This has to be the biggest parachute I have ever had.... 9FT

And Mom even got everyone on the board of Directors at work something ... Check this out ...

    So I am back from Multi-County 4-H camp and it was actually pretty fun.  I was a camp counselor this year.   The only problem with that was that the two other counselors for our group did nothing but argue.  I got to take a group to different workshops and make sure they got where they needed to be when they needed to be there.  
    We had alot of workshops including ATV safety, Driving safety, Tractor Safety, leadership, bullying,  Electrical safety, food saftey and Drug safety just to name a few.  We also did team building activities.  They were actually kind of fun.  We got to make a boat out of swimming pool noodles and duck tape.  We got second place with our version.  I even got thrown in the air like a cheerleader.  There was a dance every night too.  I got to dance with alot of girls. Any girl that I asked dance with me.  I even got to dance with this one girl more then once.  Okay, I actually got to dance with her alot.  She is really nice and the only reason I didn't get to dance with her more is because she was busy giving the little kids turns at dancing.  That and I only dance to Country Music.  No hip hop for me!  Another problem with dancing at a 4-H dance is that you can be no closer to the other person then a large glow stick.  Do you know how embarrassing it is to have an adult put a glow stick between you and your girl while you are trying to dance.... Okay it was actually really funny but embarrassing at the same time.  Everyone in the room can see the glow stick so  you don't dare get to close or the adults come in and glow stick ya.  
    Oh did you catch that "your girl" reference???  Yes, it is true at camp I got my first official Girl Friend.  Girl friend in the sense that she asked me if I wanted to go out and I said yes.  What does that mean?  Well, It means that if we can get our parents to allow us to go the same events we can hang out.  Okay, Okay I know you are dying to know ... NO I didn't get to kiss her.  The other problem with 4-H Camp is that there are adults everywhere.  You can't get 5 seconds to yourself let alone with another person.  So where does it go from here?  Well, we aren't planning to get married or anything but we are trying to get our parents to let us both go to the same Rodeo Tomorrow.  
    To tell the truth I don't know if I will be alive tomorrow to even go.  You see it is pretty easy to talk to Mom about things.  Heck she seems to know even before I tell her anyway.  Like getting a girl friend, Mom asks alot of questions but not to many.  It is all cool with her, but DAD???? This is one time I am not ashamed to say I am a coward!  Hey, don't judge have  you met my Dad?  He thinks all I ever need to do is work, ride, eat and sleep.  He thinks everyone is to young for women... Even himself.  
    Don't worry, I am going to tell him just not the way you think.  Have I ever told you how much I love my Mommy .... LOL .... You guessed it.  Mom will be breaking the news to Dad for me just like she did when my sister started dating.

    So today's instructions from RJ were to blog about my projects.  Well, I have been so busy getting ready for Friday that I haven't gotten alot done on my projects.  I did work on the Blanket and get it to the end of a row so that I could use it as one of my sample at the Fiber Circle.  Then I made a few swatches of wool and alpaca.  I have my knitting that I am thinking I might rip out and redo but right now that is on hold until after Friday so I have a knitting sample.  (See a pattern here?)  I also made up a small sample of knook.  I don't know if anyone even does knook but I wanted as many samples as I could get together.  Samples of the different stitches and samples of different yarns and samples of different fibers and samples of different end results.  

    I have done one thing that isn't for Friday ... Well, Kinda.... I guess most of my work has gone into carding up about 6oz of beautify chocolate Alpaca Fiber.  I only have hand carders so I have had to work on it all week just to get this far. And I still have about 1.5 oz to go.  I am not the best carder but I seem to be able to get the job done alright. 

It is fiber from the Walnut Creek Alpacas that RJ went and sheared this spring.  I love the color and it was so soft and fluffy before I even carded it that I thought about just spinning it right out of the bag.  Then I remembered that I have only spun up around 20oz of fiber in my whole life and I might not be that good at spinning it without carding and I didn't want to ruin the fleece so I carded almost all of it and I will finish  carding it before I spin it up.  I plan on spinning Friday at the Meet and Greet so we will see how it turns out.  I did start to spin a bit up just to see how it would look.  (And I don't want to in Friday with an empty bobbin.) I am not really that great at taking pictures of the fiber but here is an attempt at it.... So what do you think  ... Good spnning bad picture or bad spinning good picture???

    Hello, I was asked to Blog while RJ was at Camp.  He told me that today's topic was what I had been up to.  Well, I did dishes, laudry, cleaned out the frig and cleaned the bathroom so far.  I don't think that is what he had in Mind though. I think he was talking about what is in the works for Friday.  I know a couple of  you saw my post about what I was working on the first time I posted.  If not I will let you in on the fact that I am not very good at reading patterns.  I see pictures and then figure out how to make one from what it looks like.  You also might remember that I was stuck on a shawl I was working on because I was trying to do it from the pattern.  One person posted a picture that she though might help from Ravelry.  When Karen came over she was trying to help me from what the pattern said but she knits and I crochet.  In the end we thought it would be nice to have a group of fiber artist to help others when they needed it.  Not to mention just having adult talk about a topic we all have in common.  Ms. Stacy of Tempted Yarns agreed and the three of us set out to form just such a group. 
    We each are working hard to make a group call the "Fiber Circle".  I got a news breif put in the local paper and got us a really great, FREE, community room at the bank.  I put together a bunch of stuff to take as samples.  From Crochet and Knit to Knook.  Karen and I even plan to take our spinning wheels.   Karen, got it announced on a local Radio program and she is bringing the cookies.  Unfortunatley the only day we could get on a Friday this month was the 29th.  We have to have it on Friday because that is the only after noon Karen has off and we can't find any other time when all three of us will be available.   I know that most the people reading this will have no idea that SSK is going on this week ... LOL That means Stacy will have to be in Nashville with her booth.  (She really must look in to cloning herself ... Oh and maybe me ... I would get mroe done!) With no other choice we will go ahead and do a meet and greet as planned and we will have Stacy in our hearts and she will be there next time.  When she gets back she said that she would be happy to teach knitting if anyone needs help and she also said she would have "field trips" to her house to show the art of dying.  
    If anyone has any other great ideas for our little group please let us know.  Right now we are just doing a come and go meet and greet from 3-6 one Friday afternoon a month.  There will be cookies (Karen promises homemade) as snack and we hope alot of chit chat.  I know it sounds weird and that most places already have a group of some kind and it is really an old idea but you have to remember our community is a bunch of small towns with populations in the 100s stretched over miles of highway.  And you better forget about even thinking you can reach a LYS without at least an hours drive.  Kind of takes the L out of LYS huh??The only chain stores here are grocery stores and we get by, shopping mostly at Wal-Mart simply because it is the only store here.  A Fiber Artist Group is something very new here and the three of us are hoping it all works out.  So please post your ideas and keep your fingers crossed and your prayers said.

    Man, I can't believe I forgot something so big ... I know I said I was going to take you on a tour of our house this week so I could finish school but I have a major problem with that plan.  I forgot that tomorrow I leave for 4-H Camp.  I will be gone Tuesday, Wednesday and I come home about noon on Thursday.  Since I can't carry out my plan I figure I will just move it to next week and I should be done with school by Wednesday of next week.  
    However, I couldn't just leave you hanging for 3 days so first I got good, exciting news for us all to look forward to.  Then Mom is going to post her works and she has a surprise blog planned for tomorrow.  I hope that will keep everyone checking in from time to time. 
    So what is the exciting news??  Well, we figured out how to get our girls home on time and bred ... First on July 8th we will load up Charlie, the Alpaca that we just gelded.  He will go back to Walnut Creek Alpacas to ride home with Hope.  We will be leaving here at 4pm and we will do a quick turn around at Walnut Creek and travel back home in the cool of the night.  That will put us home about 2am maybe a little later.  Hope will be paired with Charlie and if Juno will only check her and then leave her alone he will stay in the pasture with them.  If not he will be headed to a separate pen.  We have to do everything we can to keep Hope calm in her last two months of pregnancy. 
    Then we will return to Walnut Creek in a few months to get Wendi and Jordan.  We will travel by the cover of darkness with them as well so that they will have a cooler ride home.  We will wait to move Wendi home until after Hope gives birth.  Hope is due Sept. 20th and that is about the time Wendi will be able to come home for good.  So keep your fingers crossed and say a few added pryers that this plan works out....

Okay so I have this idea.... Next week is my last week of school work so I think instead of having to think of things to blog about I think I am going to take you on a walk though our house ... Kind of anyway.  They say you can learn alot about someone by where they live.... Today I will start with the creatures of the house.  Animals are everywhere.  They are in the house, the back yard and the pasture and roaming free ... The oldest of the bunch is "Buddy"... He is going to be 15 next month... He is a Manchester Terrier ... But I call him BatDawg!!

He spends his time hanging out wtih Penny in front of the fan ...

Don't forget Hank ...

and Drover ....

I will say that there are more cats then dogs ... There is Macy and Duke ...

But did you know that there is also DC

And don't forget Tom ... Slickette is around somewhere but she didn't want her picture taken ...

There is also Jr and Macy's look alike, Sabastine.

Petunia can be seen in her pen hanging out

Momma escapes the pasture to hang out with her from time to time...

There is always the ducks too...

Not far from the back gate you can always see Dolly ....

Oh and did I mention how hard it is to get out the back door just to see everyone ...

Sometimes I wish there was a way I can be in the right place at the right time to get you the great scene I get to watch everyday.  Here is a tid bit I tried to recreate ... Check it out ....

    Well, it is that time again.  That is right we went to Relay for life.  I hung out with Billy and it looks like Billy and his Mom and Me and my Mom will all be this years team for St. Jude's walk.  I will post more about that later but for now I am heading to bed....

FYI ... The bag below is the Man for which the "J" stands for in R.J.   Good Night World....

   Well, I started my day working on School work.  Next week I will be done.  Being home educated can mean one of two things.  I could be educated year round if Mom wanted to or she can give me a break.  I will finish my 8th grade courses in the middle of next week so I am hoping for a break but we will see.  
    I did sell off one calf for my stocker note and it sold really well.  That means I will pay off the note tomorrow and with it I earned two calves that I get to keep.  Other then that I did work on my Alpaca shareholder packets.  They will go out in the mail in  a day or two.  I love the picture I got to put in this time.  I think it is the best so far. 

    Well, I am told by YoungShepard that I was suppose to blog once this week.  The truth is every time I tried he said he had something important to post.  So I was pushed aside for things like annoucing the birth of Cherokee.  I don't mind if you don't.  To be honest, I am a very schedule set kind of person but I think that comes with running the farm and the shelter.  Animals in general are set to a schedule by nature so I guess that is why I am that way.  So I tried to post on Wednesday, just like last week.  My plan is that if I am going to post it always be on the same day so that those that want to read it can and those that don't can skip that day.  
    With that said I have to say I have not gotten alot done so my post will be short.  First, I finished YoungShepard's  scarf that I made him for Christmas.  It is made of some wool yarn that I got as roving from Tempted Yarns and spun up.  It is just the right size for YoungShepard to wrap around his neck under his coat in the winter.  (No I haven't woven in the ends or blocked it yet)

The other item that actually got worked on was the Park Place Wrap.  I am proud to say that with help from a friend I don't know if I got the pattern right but like always it looks like the picture only in a different color.  I am on row 24 of 49 I think. 

There was one more thing that I have in the works but it is just that I forgot it last time I posted.  It is a large winter bedspread for Little Man. You see we don't have central heat or air.  So in the winter we use wood and gas heaters to heat the house.  The bedrooms, however, have no heat at all.  So we use electric blankets to stay warm when the gas and wood heat struggle to keep up in the middle of the cold winter nights.  Well, YoungShepard loves to have a hundred blankets on top of his electric blanket.  He says it keeps the heat in.  Again there is no pattern to it.  I am just using different blues and some white to stripe a simple tunisian stitch.  I do tend to like tunisian crochet when I want an item to be warm.  I don't know if it is just the tight stitch that I like or not but when it needs to be warm I think it needs to be tunisian.  That is just my thoughts anyway. 

I don't even have a plan or pattern for the color changes either.  When I get tired of one color or I think it is enough, I just grab from the big basket of Blues I have set aside for this project.  There is everything from white to dark to light ... Here see for  yourself.