Palm trees!

The flying J outside of Tucson...65 and sunny...cool in the shade but
warm in the sun.

Spectacular sunset in El Paso

We drove into El Paso at dusk and witnessed the most awesome sunset!
The clouds reflected a rainbow of colors as the sun dropped below the
horizon, with sillouettes of the mountains creating a dramatic frame.
Simply breathtaking!

But that was soon to be topped as twilight blanked the valley and the
lights began to glow like a million twinkling stars...and as we
approached the darkened foothills which rose above us - the tiny
lights of the city surrounded us as if we were contained within a
beautiful snow globe. Wow!!!

We drove on to Los Cruses NM and spent a pleasant night at the Motel
6, which takes "pet friendly" to the extreme. The small and
comfortable room had pergo floors! No icky carpeting! Now that's
impressive! Of course the tick tick tick of Luc's nails on the floor
did wake me a few times as he plotted a break-in to Maya's crate.

The hot shower felt great after a good salad at Applebees...and our
road cooties got washed down the drain.

We're nearing Tucson and the scenery is spectacular. What a beautiful
road trip this is!

Dreaming of sheepy days ahead

Finn is getting ready for the big driving day ahead while Nancy checks
the weather.

Checking the weather forecast

So we had to stop in Gainesville cause the wintery mix got a bit heavy
and we decided not to go the extra 60 miles to ft worth. We stayed at
the not so Super 8 and had dinner at the nearby Luigi's Italian
restaurant where the extreme garlic disguised the taste of the gravy
laden pasta...a good thing I suspect!

Nancy checked the forecast for wed and it looked great- and so it is!
Sunny and 55 as we drive thru west Texas. We hope to make it to Les
cruses tonight.

We passed quite a few signs promoting what seems to be a local
favorite - Fried Pies - and we have been building up the courage to
stop...but we may have missed our opportunity...haven't seen a sign in
50 miles. Bummer!

California here we come!

Do you think those californians are ready for us?
.
We got off to a later start than planned but we are now getting close
to Tulsa OK after spending the night near Purina Farms in Missouri. At
the oh so familiar travelodge motel.

After a warm night in the motel that only two menopausal women can
create, we hit the road before 7am. It was so cold last night the side
door froze on the van and we had to load the dogs thru the front door.
Geez!

All went well with the dogs in the room which is an amazing thing
considering Maya is in full blown season and we have two intact males
with us. Maya was sequestered in her crate as was Nick, while good boy
Luc was loose in the room taking turns sleeping on the bed with me or
Nancy.

All good so far! We are on a mission, and plan on stopping in Ft Worth
tonight.

Yeehaa!!!

A job well done!

All of our St Croix and cross bred (St Croix/Cheviot) ewes spent the fall with Sam the Ram here at Dancing Hearts. Sam was quite busy breeding all the girls, so we plan on having lots of lambs in March.

Sam went on to meet his new harem in Minnesota with our friends Gene and Pat Weringa. Pat took this photo of Gene and Sam posing when they arrived back home. What a handsome pair!

We borrowed a Cheviot ram from our friend Margaret, and that wool ram did his work at Nancy's farm where all of our cheviot ewes were bred this fall.

So, we hope to have a nice crop of lambs at both farms this year...some pure bred St Croix, some pure bred Cheviots and some crosses from Sam the St Croix ram. Because we haven't lambed the last three years, we decided to go with two different rams to increase the number of pure bred ewes in both of our favorite breeds.

If you're not up to speed: my friend Nancy Flynn and I co-op our flock and rotate them between farms to keep them fresher and to move them around when conditions warrant. It works out very well, and we have happy healthy sheep as a result!

We are both looking forward to early spring when our lives will be blessed with the new lambs...nursing, playing, having lamb races and just generally being cute!

BTW: You can now easily post your comments!

I changed a setting in this blog that allows anyone to post comments, but I have the option to remove the comments in case some stranger posts rude or inappropriate comments. (ya never know...)

Looking forward to hearing from you!