Meet Georgie and Snowflake

Hmmm...I can't seem to post any more pictures here at the moment, so I will just write a little bit.  Yesterday we headed out to Burnsville to pick up one more little bunny from a lovely woman who raises all sorts of fiber animals.  Burnsville is a haul, and we also got completely lost--they are doing roadwork out there, so the signs were off.  I was very glad that Jesse was there as I had thought to take the kids on my own.  But our getting lost did allow us to wander around the rural mountains on a completely spectacular day.  It was dry and clear, and everything was bright green from all the rain.  We live in a beautiful part of the world here, and I am so grateful.

Anyway, we did finally arrive, very grateful for a napping boy and The Horse and His Boy on CD for the little miss.  The woman who breeds the bunnies raises fiber animals on her farm.  She and her husband moved to the country after they had raised their children and her husband had retired as chief of police somewhere in South Carolina.  She was such a warm, sweet woman, who lovingly called her animals and my children Baby.  She taught Elsa how to hold the bunnies, offered to let David hold one (he didn't want to, although he declared over and over that he was very gentle and would never hurt the bunnies.)  Elsa held one, with whom she fell in love, and I held the other, with whom I fell in love.  They are the snuggliest, lickiest little critters.

She also showed us her studio, which was chock full of fleeces,  one of her two spinning wheels, a loom, and a toy sheep with which David was obsessed.  It was on this beautiful roaring creek.  She said she loved dirty work--she liked the shearing, and washing, carding and spinning more than she liked the pretty work--knitting and weaving--although she loved that too.  She had us put our hands in a big, greasy pile of sheep's wool, telling Elsa about lanolin, and declared that she just loved the smell.  Elsa was totally enthralled--I definitely can see a lot of fiber love in this girl's future.

We got two little sister bunnies, who were born on April 12th.  The boys had pink eyes, which I don't like as much, but these girls have sort of blue eyes.  Elsa decided to name hers Snowflake.  David wanted to name his George (he would also like to name the baby George)...I suggested Georgia, but no--we compromised on Georgie.  Elsa was thinking about Poppy for a name, but when I expressed a preference for it, she decided on Snowflake, which is appropriate.

It's funny.  We have a lot of animals now, which makes me a little nervous and a little happy.  I do remember being pregnant with Elsa and reading an article about how farm kids grow up with less allergies and less asthma.  I believe that the scientists thought this had something to do with exposure to more dirt and animals, and I remember thinking that we needed to acquire more animals.  Well, here we are--three cats, three bunnies, and four hens...But we are done with animal acquisitions for now.