I'm back.....

Well, it has been nearly four years since I posted... wonder if blogs are still getting traffic? Facebook has certainly changed a lot of things. If I see interest in future posts I will revive the blog.
Unicorner Farm has changed since 2010... we still have Tunis sheep, we only have 3 miniature horses left, still have Goldie and Fancy, have added a new llama for the sheep, but the biggest change is all our new feathered friends!
We have dived into the poultry business. Best friend Ann and I started "Bossie Biddies" and now raise all sorts of poultry. From exhibition chickens ranging from tiny Seramas to huge Orpingtons and Wyandottes, with some rare Appenzeller Spitzhauben, Brabanters, and Icelandics thrown in. We also raise guineas, ducks, peacocks and turkeys. Our website is www.bossiebiddies.com.

Fun Weekend for the Girls

A couple of weekends ago I attended a ladies' retreat with fellow church friends and family. We always have a blessed time and enjoy the Christian fellowship and fun.

The retreat location is near Round Top, Texas, a fun little town that is known for its massive antique market. Vendors were setting up when we were there for the following week. 

Another neat place near Round Top is Festival Hill. They have a beautiful chapel that was moved there. We love to visit it each year. Here is a website that has a panoramic view of the inside:

http://festivalhill.org/campus-facilities/the-edythe-bates-old-chapel/

Click to View a Great Video - You Go Girl!

Tamara Lowe at Christ Fellowship

A "wow!" sermon in 1 minute and 41 seconds!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUQYJ77qa50

Another mini filly!

Wow, we are on a roll! It's a girl year at Unicorner Farm!
Here is the latest, born last night to our newest mare, DeeDee (Double Dare). It's a pretty little sorrel girl with a blaze. Her dad is Dragon.

Another fabulous ewe lamb!

We were blessed with another healthy ewe lamb, delivered a little after midnight. "Textbook" delivery and she was up and nursing her mom Ruby only 10 minutes later. Now THAT's what I like to see.

Now I need a name for her that starts with "U"... I had hoped for a gemstone after her mom's name but there don't appear to be any that are easy to say.

And yet another FILLY!

Three in a row! Our pretty black mare, Satin had a black filly. She is sired by "the old man" Lone Star Rowdy, our senior stallion.

Not a lamb this time...

It's getting into foaling time now... our pretty Mary Jane had a filly! She usually has colts, so we were excited to see this little girl born yesterday. Isn't she a wildly marked little thing! Blue eyes and all. Her dad is our Rowdy Batman.

Lambs, lambs, lambs

Wednesday Bob finally received the last piece of equipment needed to get the webcam going. He needed an antenna to mount in the barn so the signal could reach the house network. So Thursday morning I went off to work knowing that I could finally keep an eye on the ewes in the barn. It is wonderful! Wow, what a worthy investment and it cost less then the price of a nice Tunis sheep.

About 11 a.m. I noticed my sweet ewe, Quby was going into labor. So I asked my boss if I could take an early lunch and headed home. We live 30 minutes away, but I came into the barn right after her water broke. It took a bit of pushing but she delivered a ram lamb that unfortunately had a birth defect - a very under-developed lower jaw. He didn't live but a few minutes. Luckily she had another little boy a few minutes later and while she was cleaning him up I removed the poor dead guy. Here is a photo of her and the second born.

After I knew he was okay and up and nursing I went back in to work.

Bob gets off work earlier than I do so he was able to get home to check on them. Other than being an over enthusiastic mom, demanding that the poor guy get up to eat more often than he wanted to, Quby and son are doing fine.

Thursday afternoon I received a call from my sweet friend Ruthie, who sold me the first five Tunis ewes back in 2007. She had decided to sell out of sheep for a while and had two elderly ewes she thought she would just keep in retirement on her farm. But Tunis are long lived and great mothers so obviously Fleur didn't realize she was in retirement. She was once again pregnant. Now Fleur is Lily one of my favorite ewe's mother. So when Ruthie asked me if I would like to have her I quickly agreed. But Ruthie warned me she was due any day. I told her I would let her know when I could come.

Quby's daughter, Dot waited until 11 p.m. that night to go into labor. With a little help (it was her first lamb) she delivered a chunky little boy. Here she is cleaning him up. She learned quickly how to be a good mom.

Friday morning came early, but I called Ruthie and asked if I could come. Bob had hooked up the trailer for me so I took my first trip by myself pulling the trailer. It wasn't too bad, I just hoped I wouldn't have to back it. Luckily, Paul, Ruthie's husband was there when I arrived so he turned the truck and trailer around for me. When we loaded Fleur, Ruthie's other old girl, Dink bawled terribly so I offered to take her too. Poor old Dink is 15 years old and has arthritis, but I hope we can keep her comfortable for a few years more.

We put the girls together and bedded down the pen well since it appeared it wouldn't be a long wait for Fleur's lamb. At 1 a.m. this morning I checked the monitor and she appeared to be pushing. So about 1:45 she delivered a darling little ewe lamb! What a blessing, thank you God and Ruthie.

So that catches me up on the blog for the last three lambings. We have at least four maybe five more to go. Hmmm, I think I will go take a nap. ;-)

More lambs - praise the Lord!

Friday I spent several hours moving fence panels around in the barn. We found with the new cameras there were some considerations to be made to get better reception in the house. I moved the "mamas in waiting" pen to the front stall in the center row. That meant I had to also move our new stallion, Dragon to another location... and lamb proof the panels next to his run. I didn't want a lamb crawling through the panels to visit him... he might think that was a great toy.

When Bob came home Friday evening he moved the cameras around for me to get the best views. He moved Mimi into the waiting pen just in time. She started lambing about 9 that evening.

He was still in the barn when she started delivering so it was nice to watch an "uneventful" delivery. She had her little ewe lamb first, cleaned it up a bit and then laid down and had a little ram lamb. I helped her dry them off since the temperature was dropping.

She was a great mom, licking and talking to them and urging them to the right place for their first meal. It wasn't long before both had nursed. I hooked up a heat lamp so they could dry the rest of the way. It is amazing how much fluid is involved!

Saturday morning I could hardly get out of bed. Basically I just took some meds for my sore muscles and my now stuffed up nose and moved to the recliner. I hated to miss such a pretty sunny day, but I just couldn't get going. I finally went out at the evening feeding time with Bob and snapped a couple of photos.

Bob worked most of the day on trying to get the new router to connect the cameras to the web so we can watch online. He was able to at least get the laptop and desktop to share our internet service so that will be a great help. He's still working on the web camera, lots of new stuff to learn.

Next in line is one of my favorite ewes, we call her "Quby". She is such a sweet ewe, and quite beautiful. She comes from Louise Dunham's Darling Tunis bloodlines.

Finally... Binkie delivered

We finally have our first lamb of the year. There were twins but the first ewe lamb was stillborn. I blame myself because I didn't check on her during the night. We had the baby monitor on and couldn't hear anything going on. But when I went out to feed this morning, Binkie was lying down with the first lamb out and cold and the head of the second one out.

She must have run out of energy delivering. I quickly felt of the cold lamb to see if there was a heart beat, but I couldn't feel one. Then I helped deliver the second, which took just a little steady pull and she slid right out. Poor Binkie was so tired it took her a moment to get up.

A brisk towel dry and the little girl was shaking her head and ready for the world. Binkie took over the clean up and I left them alone a while. I tried some more on the cold lamb but couldn't get any sign of life. I couldn't see anything wrong with it other than it was dead. Pretty little ewe lamb, these are the heart-breaking moments of raising these sweet babies.

I fed the "3 musketeers"... our miniature stallions... and the other sheep their breakfast and gave Binkie hers... she does love to eat. Then I went in to get the camera to snap some pictures. By the time I came back to the barn, the lamb was walking around a bit looking for her breakfast. I checked to make sure both "faucets" were working and pointed the baby to them. You can always tell when they latch on because that little tail starts wagging.

I would have loved to stay and watch them but I had to go to work, though I was now running a bit late.

I'm already trying to think of a name for her... my first year's lambs were named with "R" names, then we bought two that got nicknamed with "S" names, then 2009 was the "T" year... but I'm not sure about "U" names... Even with the farm being Unicorner. ;-)

Any suggestions?

Five Finger Prayer

1. Your thumb is nearest you. So begin your prayers by praying for those closest to you. They are the easiest to remember. To pray for our loved ones is, as C. S. Lewis once said, a ‘sweet duty.'

2. The next finger is the pointing finger. Pray for those who teach, instruct and heal. This includes teachers, doctors, and ministers. They need support and wisdom in pointing others in the right direction.. Keep them in your prayers.

3. The next finger is the tallest finger. It reminds us of our leaders. Pray for the president, leaders in business and industry, and administrators. These people shape our nation and guide public opinion. They need God’s guidance.

4. The fourth finger is our ring finger. Surprising to many is the fact that this is our weakest finger, as any piano teacher will testify. It should remind us to pray for those who are weak, in trouble or in pain. They need your prayers day and night. You cannot pray too much for them.

5. And lastly comes our little finger - the smallest finger of all, which is where we should place ourselves in relation to God and others. As the Bible says, 'The least shall be the greatest among you.' Your pinkie should remind you to pray for yourself. By the time you have prayed for the other four groups, your own needs will be put into proper perspective and you will be able to pray for yourself more effectively

Our first mini foal of the year!

Wow! That was a surprise. Jasmine delivered this gorgeous little filly yesterday.

We basically forgot that she was bred once to Star last year during our struggles with her '09 colt, Trooper.

When we realized it would be such an early foal, we didn't breed her anymore. But it only takes one time!

At least the weather is mild right now and we thank God for giving us this small and perfect little filly.

Prayers needed for the U.S.

A very touching presentation about praying for our nation!

http://www.greatdanepro.com/Pray%20For%20America/index.htm

Holiday time

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday weekend. Ours was great, good food and a mostly healthy family.

We had nice weather and was able to do some much needed work outside Friday and Saturday. Hedges trimmed, a new gate between pastures that will help us to rotate the horses on the rye grass Bob planted.

Now it's time to look forward to CHRISTMAS!

Remember that dry hole?

Our new stock pond has finally filled up. It took exactly a year! I just checked the post I did when it was dug (October 30, 2008). Here is a photo taken at sunrise yesterday with a little fog lifting off it. We actually are seeing a little "color" in the trees. We might actually have an autumn season this year. Beautiful clear, cool days this week!
We had so much rain in October, I hope that the farms we buy hay from can now get in and bale that last crop. We need to fill the barn!

Good for 10 more years....

I have had my colonoscopy, have you? After Bob's bout with colon cancer this year, I want to encourage others to get the screening that can save your life!

I had my first one yesterday and it really wasn't bad. Much better than going to the dentist! And my results were better than Bob's, no polyps so I can wait 10 years before having another.

Dancing With God

Received in an email this morning....

Dancing With God

When I meditated on the word Guidance,
I kept seeing "dance" at the end of the word.

I remember reading that doing God's will
is a lot like dancing.

When two people try to lead, nothing feels right.

The movement doesn't flow with the music,
and everything is quite uncomfortable and jerky.

When one person realizes that, and lets the other lead,
both bodies begin to flow with the music.

One gives gentle cues, perhaps with a nudge to the back
or by pressing lightly in one direction or another.

It's as if two become one body, moving beautifully.

The dance takes surrender, willingness,
and attentiveness from one person
and gentle guidance and skill from the other.

My eyes drew back to the word Guidance.

When I saw "G": I thought of God, followed by "u" and "i".
"God, "u" and "i" dance."

God, you, and I dance.

As I lowered my head, I became willing to trust
that I would get guidance about my life.

Once again, I became willing to let God lead.

My prayer for you today is that God's blessings
and mercies are upon you on this day and everyday.

May you abide in God, as God abides in you.

Dance together with God, trusting God to lead
and to guide you through each season of your life.

This prayer is powerful and there is nothing attached.

If God has done anything for you in your life,
please share this message with someone else.

There is no cost but a lot of rewards;
so let's continue to pray for one another.

And I Hope You Dance Through Each New Day!

Hay, hay, we need more hay...

With the lack of rains in our area, we are finding it hard to locate good quality coastal bermuda hay for the horses and sheep.

Our pastures have turned to dust and broomweeds so we know that we will need a lot of hay stored.

Bob was able to get a load of rounds brought in from east Texas. This was the first time we have ordered a semi truckload. Thankfully, I work for the manufacturer of material handling equipment. My boss let us move a new model out to the farm to lift the hay off the trailer. That is an MLT 735 model and it is specifically built to be an agricultural machine. It has a hay clamp attachment on it, but can also use a bucket, hay spear, silage facer, etc. to do work on dairy farms, feedlots and ranches. If anyone is interested I'd be glad to help you find a dealer in the U.S. (or world)!!!

It made things much easier, lifting two of the big round bales at a time.

Later that day while taking some scrap metal to the recyclers, we found a field of square bales, freshly baled.

Bob was able to get 62 bales on the trailer which we happened to have with us. It was a case of being in the right place at the right time. While we were there several other people stopped to inquire about the hay. There will be a shortage this year.

I am so proud of Bob, he is amazing, I call him my hero! Less than 3 months after his major surgery and now with his "semi-colon" he is out there in 102 degree temperature loading up hay. The Lord has been good to us!

We will need some more, but we feel much better with having this now stored.

Too blessed to be stressed?

A great saying, I have had to repeat it to myself quite often these days. We have been busy even though work at the office has been slow. We have used the extra time off from work (me on 32 hours a week and Bob on a week off each month) to get some things done around the farm. It has been super hot and humid so we do our outside work early or after sundown.

We took time out to go to Jeff and Robin's house warming and wedding reception Saturday. Looks like they are already finding out the joys of home ownership... tree roots in the sewer line backed up the downstairs toilet at peak party time. But everyone seemed to enjoy the party... we took a stab at the Jamaican theme in honor of their honeymoon destination. I spent the day before baking pineapple upside down cupcakes and rum cake. Bob did a great job helping cut up veggies for shish kabobs. There was plenty of food for the big crowds that came buy to welcome them to their new home. Robin's parents brought lots of fresh fruit and deli sandwiches.

Holy Alphabet

Although things are not perfect
Because of trial or pain
Continue in thanksgiving
Do not begin to blame
Even when the times are hard
Fierce winds are bound to blow
God is forever able
Hold on to what you know
Imagine life without His love
Joy would cease to be
Keep thanking Him for all the things
Love imparts to thee
Move out of " Camp Complaining "
No weapon that is known
On earth can yield the power
Praise can do alone
Quit looking at the future
Redeem the time at hand
Start every day with worship
To "thank" is a command
Until we see Him coming
Victorious in the sky
We'll run the race with gratitude
Xalting God most high
Yes, there'll be good times and yes some will be bad, but . . .
Zion waits in glory . . . where none are ever sad!