What did I do after I closed the shop yesterday? No matter if you want to know or not, I am going to tell you because I did somethings that I had been putting off............ I am the Queen Of Procrastination!
It was hot.........a good day to wash wool.
This is a raw fleece. "Raw" means fresh off the sheep........not washed or anything done to it yet. It smells like a sheep, for some people this is an unpleasant odor.... I like it. This particular fleece, while dirty, had very little VM*, and had been well skirted*. (See Glossary at the end of this post)
Here are my hands adding wool to a tub of very hot water, and Dawn dish soap.,,, picking out bits of stuff* as I add it to the wash water. I then left to do other, less desirable chores.
Like cleaning the junk out of my car! Being a pack rat, to me, my car is just a mobile closet, another place to store valuable stuff.
Or stuff I don't want to deal with...... Oh, denial is a wonderful thing sometimes.
"Did I really pay that much for a book, what should I do with the evidence of a junk food indiscretion?" If I leave the receipt or the wrapper in the car, I don't have to admit it!
So on a 95 degree day, I decide to face my dark side..........it was just slightly akin to hell for me.
Back to the wool..... Here it is in the first rinse, again in hot water.
Looks much better, doesn't it? That's because the wash water looked like chocolate milk when Dave dumped it for me.
Dave is working now,,,,,,,,,he just wants to get it over with, I think. It's after five, he thinks it is time for a cocktail.
The entire wool washing process was witnessed by a little wren, making a terrible racket! He or She was upset with us for being too close while He or She was busy building a nest.
From Wild-Bird-Watching.com
In spring, the male wren arrives and begins to establish his territory. You'll know he has arrived when you begin hearing him sing from his perches.
As you watch, you'll notice he begins placing sticks into prospective nest holes. He may build as many as twelve different nesting sites. After pairing with a mate, the male takes the female to each of the nesting sites he has begun building.
The female selects the one she likes and begins to rebuild by adding soft materials to the nest before laying eggs.
House wrens are cavity nesters and as such, are an ideal candidate for attracting to birdhouses. In fact, these birds seem to prefer man-made nest boxes to natural cavities.
Now, we should take a lesson from the wrens....... the females only choose a mate until the male has made SEVERAL suitable homes for them!
Glossary:
VM???? Vegatable Matter,,,, bits of hay, chaff, burdocks, etc.
Well skirted??? to skirt: to remove low-grade wool and foreign matter from the outer edge of fleece. That means Poop,,,,, most of the sheep poop had been removed!
stuff??? More poop
I spotted in in a lane, or driveway, I guess. The lane has been there for more than thirty years, and I have driven over it many, many times, with cars, tractors, trucks, and even ATV's. Never noticed this rock. I asked my Dad, he never saw it. Finders Keepers!
Dave had the idea to put an old elk horn on the stump so the vines can wrap themselves around it. Where does one find an elk horn? In the shed, of course....an example of the packrat in action again.
