Sheep, Weeds, and a Road Trip

This weekend was hemmed in by worries about rain, but we got a good bit of yard work wedged in between various other activities.

Friday night, after work, I got up on the roof to clear oak silks out of the gutter. Last summer, we had some problems due to clogged gutters, and since then I have been determined to stay on top of the gutters. Literally as our house is too tall on some sides to use a ladder to clean the gutters, which means having to clean things from the roof.

Saturday was the 31st annual Maryland Sheep and Wool Festival. One of Evelin's co-workers told her about it, saying that her son loved to go when he was a kid because he got to pet sheep; now he likes to go to eat sheep. Evelin figured it would be fun for both of us: I could pet the sheep, and she could do the eating.

It was really interesting. We got to see a pretty wide variety of breeds, including Karakul, Cotswold, Icelandic, and Merino, as well as some alpaca. There were some sheep cheeses for sale, but, unfortunately, none for tasting. And tons of yarns and associated textile arts stuff. Evelin's been wanting to learn to knit for a while, but hasn't yet, so we didn't get sucked into the yarn madness that seems to have infected many of the people there.

We also got to see a sheepdog demonstration. It was really cool watching the dogs put the sheep through their paces, but it was even cooler when the sheep made a break for it and escaped the corral. The dogs were set loose and pretty quickly had the sheep back inside the ring.

That afternoon, I cut the weeds/grass again. I lowered the deck on the mower because it was looking too shaggy for having only been eight days or so since the last mowing. Plus, the lowered deck helped pick up oak silks. (We have five or more oak trees overhanging our yard, so there are lots of silks to clean up.)

I managed to finish up the yard in time for us to be late to Evelin's cousin's spring cookout, but I cleaned up and we headed out, listening to Smarty Jones win the Derby on the drive down.

Sunday was a drive up to Philadelphia to see P---, J--- and their six-week-old, O---. J--- promised Evelin some of her maternity clothes, and since Evelin's starting to pop, it seemed like it'd be well worth the trip. We had a nice visit and netted not only some clothes, but also a bunch of books, a changing table, and a little fleece blanket thing that O--- has outgrown long before it will be cold enough for him to use it.