Combing Cashmere

Yesterday was a lovely day and I was able to spend most of it outside. I had a small bread order, got that finished early and delivered and then headed outside. I did the early chores and checked on all the critters. The other forty meat birds arrived Monday and this morning we had lost two. The Rangers on the other hand are all still well, even after being frozen and thawed! One strike against the broilers.
I had to vaccinate and deworm the puppies. Doing it with no help proved to be quite interesting. Trying to make sure I didn't do one twice was the first hurdle. They have learned to squirm out of every place I put them and gather at my feet when they see me coming. Giving the shot was like trying to vaccinate an earthworm, they are so wiggly. That done, I took pictures of them so I could get them advertised and sent off to their new homes as guardians. I put them on craigslist and promptly got booted off. Seems I didn't read the agreement down far enough that said no dogs allowed on the list. Oooops!! ;o)
That finished I gathered my combs and buckets and went to comb out the cashmeres. The girls weren't sure about being caught and tied but after I started combing they were quite cooperative. I sat on a bucket and pulled huge hand fulls of fiber from them, stuffing the fiber in the bucket. This worked really well. I know it felt good to them as they are starting to shed and have become quite itchy. The next most in need of combing was one of the big bucks. He was not at all interested. Catching him and getting him tied was like wrestling a grizzly bear. Except he has horns, great sweeping horns, that seemed to catch every inch of my arms and legs. Combing him was no zen experience as it was with the girls, he flipped and flopped and was thoroughly ticked. Doing the best I could, I finally let him go. Bruised and battered I limped to the house determined to do something that did not have four legs, horns or a brain. I do have two large buckets of fiber to show for my efforts though!
I spent the rest of the afternoon raking the mulch back in the beds that had washed from the torrential rains we had earlier this week. I had also promised my family that we would have a decent supper, at a decent time. Well supper was more than decent. The time? 8:03.....