Friday, March 19, 2010

I'm surprised at...

......the interest in these strange flowering bulbs, here is a picture of one that has just begun to poke through the soil.
And one that is beginning to show its colour. It appears that the millipedes have been nibbling, darned pests, nothing, it seems will get rid of them.
Here is one in bloom , on a stem about 6 inches long. As the flower fades the leaves will slowly emerge looking like two long Ox tongues, hence the common name Ox tongue lilly. Botanical name Haemanthus Coccineus. (thanks Cathy) They like to be in a crowded situation in the garden where they seem to thrive. Mine have yet to reach the crowded stage as I have given so many of them away over the years and this is all I have left. Any one wishing to have some of these, look out at country weekend markets, this is where I got mine. They are hard to find in a garden nursery.
The sun rise this morning....looking east from our house toward the Mad Gnomes place (see the solar panels on their roof) If you click on this picture to enlarge, it looks much better.

Red sky in the morning....Shepherds warning. It does indeed look like we will get a little of that wet stuff that falls from the sky today. Fingers crossed !!!
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Thursday, March 11, 2010

Look at what I "found".......

.......on Ebay !!!! a beautiful skein winder. The first picture shows it folded up when not in use.
Next is how it looks ready for use.
Lastly, here it is being used. Winding some alpaca yarn that I spun a couple of years ago. Having this winder means, no more whinging about aching arms, aching from them being outstetched while holding the skein (from, you know who) no more twisting around the back of a chair because you know who complains too much about his aching arms. LOL Now I can do it from the comfort of my armchair !!
Having searched for one of these for a long time, I was very happy to "win" this never used one. They were common many years ago but since the commercial yarn has been wound into balls ready for use they are hard to find. Would you believe that I can remember when the only knitting yarn available was sold in skeins...not balls. LOL
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Sunday, March 7, 2010

4 weeks old

Here is the little calf born 4 weeks ago, just starting to put on a bit of beef, so to speak. We still have to supplement his milk as his Mum only has milk in one quarter, and she is as skinny as a rake. Mumma cow hardly ate anything for almost 3 weeks and we thought we would lose her but she is picking up , albeit very slowly. She will only eat her hay if it has molasses poured over it.
This is the Mumma cow that had extremely severe mastitis, poor thing. I feel for her. The vet says she will be dry from now and will never regain her ability to feed except for from the back left quarter. Probably some of her teats will fall off!


If you hear I have died from shock it will be because the vet's bill has arrived. LOL
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