Of lions and lambs

[altivo]

Well, this year the proverb held true (though I think it has failed for several years running.) March 1 was blustery and snowy, with temperatures well below freezing. Today is sparkling with sunlight, and after a very light rain last night the air is clear. Huge white and gray clouds are kiting rapidly overhead on strong winds, and the grass is coming up green. Best of all, the temperature: yesterday we hit 65 F. and today should be almost as warm.

One lamb born this month as well, probably the only one we'll have this year (we're cutting back on growth.) Time to plant peas. Lettuce and spinach that my mate planted under cold frames are sprouting nicely now.

Happy spring to all of us who live in the north. For my friends who live way down under, a rich harvest and a mild winter, I hope, with promise for the year to come. *nuzzles and licks and goes looking for the kite he has hidden in the tack room*

Comments

[porsupah.livejournal.com]

Oooh, fresh peas.. good enough to eat straight from the pod. ^_^ Nice to see pea pods and fresh peas in some supermarkets now - frozen aren't bad, certainly, but the process still takes away some of the flavor. (Though nowhere near as much as tinned, oogh.. although I'll admit an occasional fondness for mushy peas =:)

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Actually I grew up with canned peas and don't mind them, though I agree with you that frozen and fresh are better and not at all the same thing.

We like the snow peas and yes, rarely cook them. I can't resist eating them right in the garden, straight off the plant. The horses like them as treats too, better than carrots, apples, or even peppermints.

We use them raw in tossed salads a lot, and occasionally in stir fry.

[hrrunka]

Both my grandmothers had vegetable gardens, and some of my earliest memories concern eating raw carrots (just pulled) and peas (from the pod) in the gardens...

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Peas from the pod are good, but the edible pod snow peas are even better. Pod and all, crunch!

[typographer.livejournal.com]

I suppose, but I used to love sitting on the back porch, shelling peas and eating them as fast as I could. One of my grandpa's favorite pictures of me was when I was about three, wearing overalls with every pocket stuffed to bursting with pea pods...

[nekura-ca.livejournal.com]

One lamb born this month as well, probably the only one we'll have this year (we're cutting back on growth.)

Probably? Are sheep one of those animals that you don't really know if their pregnant until the little one shows up?

My favourite gardening time was helping my dad thin out the carrot rows, and getting to eat the tiny little carrots, they're so sweet at that point.

To spring, here's hoping you get the rain when you need it, the sun when you want it, and a healthy garden all summer long.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh, you can do various pregnancy checks on a sheep, of course, but we don't bother. We're not in commercial production, it's just a hobby and the sheep are just pets really. You often do not know if they are pregnant by looking, though. By the time the pregnancy would show, the winter wool is well grown out so all the ewes just look fat or fluffy. By the time birth is immanent, then they get swollen udders, which is a pretty sure indication the lamb(s) will appear within a day or two, but even that can be hard to spot visually because of all the heavy wool. We generally shear in April, which is after the lambs are born. Commercial raisers do it earlier, but my mate is sure the sheep will freeze to death if we take the wool off too early. :) I humor him.

So, this year's uncertainty. We have only two ewes left in our flock. The rest are neutered males except for the one intact ram. One of them, the younger, has given birth. The other is four years old now (certainly still within the productive lifespan of a healthy ewe) but has not given birth in the last two years. She is as large as the ram and quite willful, and I suspect she simply doesn't let him mate her any more. Her first and only lambs, a pair of twins, were healthy enough, and we still have the male of the pair, now a wether. The female twin was given away along with her own twin lambs last spring, and is now part of a 4H wool project in Michigan.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Here in Seattle the Lion and Lamb month is actually February. And it came in like a lion and went out like a lamb. Although, now that I think of it...

It was very bright and sunny this morning on my way into work, but they're saying we're going to have scattered showers with some thunderstorms tonight.... and since February went out like a lamb, March came in all sunny and clear, so March came in like a lamb and may go out like a lion. Albeit more like a cub, since it looks like most of today will be gorgeous.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Heh. My ten day Seattle experience would lead me to conclude that if the sun shines in Seattle, the end must be nigh. A uniform gray limbo with occasional showers (of neither lions nor lambs) would be the norm. ;P

[typographer.livejournal.com]

We specifially roll that gray weather out for tourists.

Right now it's bright blue skies above with lots of bright white clouds on the horizon. The last day parts of the city had rain was Tuesday -- and then it was 0.05 inches, 5/100ths of an inch.

[flaredragon.livejournal.com]

Gah! I knew it! Seattle was miserable when I went up there the one time. It's a conspiracy!! X)

[typographer.livejournal.com]

Actually, people usually get fooled the other way: The visit in July, August, or September, our driest months, when the skies often really are the bluest you've ever seen, and the greens the greenest green. The mountains are gorgeous and can be seen in multiple directions from downtown. The water is fabulous. It's warm but usually not stifling.

So they make the mistake of moving here. And it starts raining more in late September. Then sometime in October they experience their first streak of several days in a row where it doesn't rain all that much, but it's overcast all day long.

And then our wettest month of the yeat, November, hits. The true wimps are whining by December or January. Not all, though, some hold out. Particularly when we get gorgeous days like yesterday in the late winter/early spring, they think, "Okay, okay, I made it through the winter. I can handle this."

And they're mostly okay until June. When they expect it to be summer. And there are sunny days, sometimes many in a row. But then the rain and the overcast comes back. Because the summer weather pattern seldom begins in Seattle until about July 7.

June does in a lot of non-northwesterners.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

*snicker*

I was there in early September, right after Labor Day, precisely because I was told it would be the best time. Didn't work that year. I never saw Rainier except from the airplane where it stuck up through the clouds. Drove out to the Olympic penninsula to see mountains but only saw fog and a few mountain sheep that blundered into us in the fog. Visited Snoqualmie falls in a cold gray drizzle. Went up to Victoria and tour the island there, and got a glimpse of sun while in the Buchart Gardens. Otherwise, the only sun I saw the whole trip was one day when we drove east out into the plains and down to Yakima. Came back up into Seattle like a ship driving into the fog. Bah.

[typographer.livejournal.com]

The last two weeks of August are historically the driest...

...and then in September hints of rain start coming in, and yep, you can easily get a couple weeks of grey, although it won't all be. I would be willing to bet that the day you where in Victoria, it was sunny elsewhere. I've seen that happen a lot to visitors.

Heck, a few weeks ago it was bright, sunny, with a few clouds over my office, but just four miles north at our house, sleet was coming down, and Michael had to call to tell me all about it.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

I'm sure you're right, and no doubt the sun did at least peek out a few times during those 8 days. Memory being what it is, I just recall the disappointment, especially, of the mountains. I had really looked forward to seeing and photographing them. Snoqualmie was pretty even in the misty rain, and my host treated me to an elaborate breakfast there at a table with a window overlooking the falls (probably cost him a bundle, I didn't see the check.)

Anyway, I'm too much a midwesterner probably. San Francisco didn't plant any yearnings in me either. :)

Ahh, the geese calls of Spring

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

as opposed to the sad calls of Autumn.

Yea, is 69+, windy and mostly sunny here today, although more thunderstorms will be forthcoming later.

Bear is out trimming that annoying maple tree branch that hangs low over the mare's pasture that will inevitably cause Selene some damage or other (that girl can hurt herself with bubblewrap I swear). It is also a duck-under when driving the Farmall mowing the field, something we will be doing in a month or so.

The sheep you gave us are doing well with the 4-H family we gave them to, from last I heard. I suppose, unless you want the wool or the mutton or.... *ahem*... zoo with, the pet aspects of sheep are easily overtaken buy a good ol' dog or, in my preference, a horse or pony.

Speaking of dogs, Rockytop is HUGE and growing. Heh... but he is turning into a very beautiful and handsome German Shepherd, one of my very favorite breeds of dog, so life is good although he is very busy busy busy busy bus... well, he is into everything and is a major handsfull. Yet very smart and will be a lot of fun to train (very soon... my Cori's choke chain collar fits him a bit loose but he is fast growing into it...)

Enjoy the time before it turns HOT and HUMID!!!!!

Imperator your loyal, trusty and sexy mount. *grin*

Re: Ahh, the geese calls of Spring

[altivo.livejournal.com]

loyal, trusty and sexy

Those adjectives are insufficient to do honor to your elegance and quality, love.

Yes, sheep are limited as pets, but lambs are extremely cute. (And wool is very useful, too, even though I find sheep quite inedible.) As for the Z word I think you know already that only equines could possibly have a chance with me.

But that doesn't mean I don't like other species, and dogs are my next most fave. I really, really need to meet Rocky. Even more, I need to see you sometime.

The visit is manatory.

[goldenstallion.livejournal.com]

Dear Rider.

This is no problem in any way I can concieve. You, your mind, your body, your willfull life very comfortable coming to here, with me in my own of course just as hard-lived. Come to me and see me and us again. Welcome most welcome and honored in us always. Make the date real and we will be here for you, or, at least, I sure will. I miss you my best friend.

Steed and Imperator

Re: The visit is manatory.

[altivo.livejournal.com]

Oh good. I had been planning to take the last two weeks of April off, but now it's not clear whether I can. The boss is onto me about not using up my vacation, yet she and other coworkers are gone all the time and I can't be gone as well. It's what happens when you work where there are public hours to be covered regardless of who is sick or absent, and all the coworkers are women of the age where they are just starting to have grandchildren.

Seems like every month someone is having a new grandchild and has to take off to Timbuktu for a week or two to see it and celebrate. As you know, I'm not much into babies anyway, but I have to be polite and smile at baby pictures all the time.

Anyway, maybe April 21-23? Or the next weekend, 28-30? I want to see your Tonka and play with Thunder and Rocky. And I need to hug you just because.