I am in my hometown- Fort Worth, Texas- for my very favorite event of the year, The Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo! In Fort Worth, the Stock Show is the biggest of big deals. Every school kid gets a day off and a free ticket to the show, and ranches from all over the Southwest arrive with trailers full of livestock.

In addition to the nightly rodeo, there is a midway and carnival rides and livestock shows for sheep, goats, pigs, poultry, rabbits, and more breeds of cattle than you ever knew existed. There are daily horse back events like barrel racing and calf roping.

My favorite thing though is just walking through the barns. Watching the people who have carefully raised their animals get them ready for the show gives me a lump in my throat every time. There is a kind love, a mutual respect between man and animals there that defies description.

In honor of the Fort Worth Stock Show and my love for my hometown, the nice folks at Country Outfitter are letting me giveaway a beautiful pair of Justin Boots. Which is incredible because, if you’ve been reading my blog for a while, you know that I am positively evangelical about Justin Boots! They are made right here in Fort Worth.

I’m not about to commit to writing the number of pairs of Justin Boots that are in my closet but I had no problem at all picking three gorgeous pairs for the giveaway that I would love to have for myself.

Red Classic Boot

Black London Calf Boot

American Tan Cowhide

Okay, here’s how to enter to win one of these lovely pairs of boots: Leave a comment on this post telling me which pair you would choose if you win and where you would where them. One entry per person and (just this once!) we can only ship to U.S. addresses. Entries will be closed on Friday at Noon and the winner will be posted here with information about how to claim your prize. Sound good?

Good luck, Y’all! And a Texas-sized THANK YOU to Country Outfitter for allowing me to host such a great giveaway.

I have taken, by actual count, eleventy jillion pictures this weekend of the Fort Worth Stock Show and Rodeo. I’m only going to post a few pics here, so as not to bore most of y’all to death, but the gluttons among you can see a slide show of the Stock Show here and the Rodeo here.

(You can click these to enlarge, BTW.)

These are all from the Rodeo of Friday night. At least two of the women who went with us had never been to a rodeo before and we had all kind of fun. Handsome cowboys were seen, cold beer was drunk and funnel cake was eaten by some (but not me, cause I’ve been sticking to my diet in spite of incredible temptation.)

EDITED TO ADD: I understand that some people find the very idea of rodeos inhumane and cruel. It’s an issue I struggle with myself from time to time. I do think they are substantially different than circuses with animals acts, which I cannot abide for an instant, or bull fights. But that may just be because of where I grew up. That being said, there are certain events in rodeo that I can’t watch.

I’m writing this from the Charlotte airport between flights, so forgive me if my thoughts aren’t fully formed yet.

-Lucy continues to improve and her breathing is getting stronger, less labored each day. She’s still on heavy meds and will be seeing the vet again on Tuesday. I’ll be home by then to take her myself and I have lots of questions for the Doc.

- Paige and I are are working on personal thank you notes for everyone who contributed to Lucy’s vet bills. I would have them done by now but for my guests! Please know that the delay in getting them out doesn’t accurately reflect our gratitude.

-The Fort Worth Meet-Up yesterday was a lot fun- lots of pics coming in the next post. Thanks to everyone who came! We’ll definitely be doing this again next year- I’ll post the dates way in advance so more of you can make it.

I leave for a week in Texas tonight and, to tell you the truth, I’m dreading it. Not being there so much as getting there. And maybe a tiny bit being there. It’s weird because I used to love to travel and now it feels like I’m being punished for something. Flying is just so dispiriting and exhausting. I always forget to request a good seat when I book my ticket and I really resent paying an extra $25 to check a bag.

I also hate being so far away from the farm for so long. It’s silly, I know, but I really feel so very at home here at Juniper Moon. It’s a very special, comforting, nurturing place and I know I’ll be homesick before too long. Not being able to drop everything and come home in case of an emergency makes me anxious.

I also know I’m going to have a great time with all my mama, my friends and all of you who are coming for the meet-ups we’re having. I’m just in a fussy mood, I guess.

Feeling sorry for one’s self is never particularly attractive, but it’s even less so this week when so many people have lost so much in Haiti. I was thinking that, if it’s okay with y’all, we might divert some of the money we’ve been raising for the Heifer Institute to the Red Cross for Haiti. Please let me know what you think. It seems such a tiny thing to do in the face of that kind of catastrophe…

As you can imagine, I’m getting pretty excited about going to the Stock Show with y’all next week. Since quite a few locals have let me know they will be joining us for at least part of the weekend I thought it would be a good idea to put together a schedule, but it will undoubtably change based on everyone’s interest and mood. I’ll update my twitter feed every time we make a move but you should also probably email me for my cell phone number, just in case.

1/21 Thursday:

Out-of-towners start to arrive. I’m keeping the afternoon open since I don’t know what time everyone is getting in, but I’m thinking we’ll have dinner 7 p.m. at my friend Bobby’s restaurant, Piola, which is a couple of short blocks from my mama’s house. I have eaten at Piola yet but Bobby’s restaurants are always amazing and Mama and Carrie love it. Here’s a menu and a map to find it.

1/22 Friday:

8-9 a.m. Morning walk. Participation is not mandatory.

11 a.m. Meet at my Mom’s house for FWSS&R We can walk or drive, depending on how cold it is and how lazy everybody’s feeling. Admission to the Stock Show is $8. Friday won’t be as crazy crowded as Saturday and the schedule is a little lighter but it gives us plenty of time to see all the animals (the best part) and the cute cowboys (the other best part.) There is also a huge farm equipment show and more saddle, spur, boot, hat and livestock equipment vendors than you will believe.

We’ll have lunch at the Show- think State Fair food- and split up if necessary so everybody can see everything the want to see. The Cowgirl Hall of Fame- which is all kinds of awesome- is in the same complex as the FWSS&R and is definitely worth doing. Admission is $8.

6 p.m. Railhead Smokehouse for dinner. Universally accepted as the best Bar-b-Que in Fort Worth. Lousy with cowboys all the time but especially during the Stock Show. Great ribs, cold beer, not for vegetarians.

7:30 p.m. Rodeo. Okay, here’s the deal with the rodeo: It’s expensive ($22) but totally worth it, especially if you’ve never been AND it includes your $8 Stock Show admission for that day. I think the Saturday rodeos are already sold out, or nearly so, so Friday is our best bet. BUT- and it is a big but- it will sell out by late next week. I will order the tickets Tuesday so I have to know if you are coming by no later than Tuesday morning. I’ll put the tickets on my credit card and send you a Paypal invoice once I know who is coming. Email me at susie AT fiberfarm DOT com and let me know if  you are in.

1/23 Saturday:

8-9 a.m. Morning walk

11:00 a.m. Boot shopping at Justin. If you’re thinking of buying boots, the Justin Factory Store is the place to go. This year I am looking for dress-up, going-out boots but I can’t decide between black and red. Leaning heavy toward black though.

After boots shopping we’ll head back over to the Stock Show. There are lots of events on Saturday so check out the schedule, including a couple of sheep breed shows.

[Are you bored reading this yet? I confess, I'm a little bored writing it. I'm not so much a planner but I felt like we needed some kind of basic schedule. Ugh.]

6:30 p.m. Meet at Joe T. Garcia’s for dinner. [2201 N Commerce St, Fort Worth, TX 76164] Joe T.’s is my favorite restaurant in the whole world! Amazing food, kick-ass margaritas. We’re getting there early because we really want to be outside on the patio and by 7-7:30 there will be a long wait. IMPORTANT: They only take cash! There is a cash machine there if you need it. Dinner and a couple of margaritas is about $25 per person.

After dinner we can go dancing in Northside or collapse from exhaustion. Totally up to you.

Okay, that’s the schedule so far. Let me know if there’s anything else you’d like to do in Fort Worth.

The thing about January and February on the farm is that there is never much to report. Our routine becomes much more, well, routine at this time of year. Farm chores in the morning, a quick change out of filthy farm clothes followed by office work, throw something together for lunch, back to answering emails and OH LOOK! it’s time to change back into farm clothes for evening chores. It could be monotonous if it weren’t for the animals and their personalities.

Don’t misunderstand me- I welcome the slower pace that comes in winter. Soon enough we will be kidding and lambing,the farmers markets will start up again, summer visitors will arrive and our lives will once again be just this side of chaos.

Speaking of lambing and kidding, it’s time for y’all to start thinking about naming conventions for this year’s lamb and kid crop. Long-time readers know that we chose a naming convention every year for the new babies. There are a few good reasons for this but my favorite one is that it’s a lot of of fun. Last year we named the baby goats after fonts and the lamberoo after states.

We will be taking naming convention nominations on this post. Because I’m feeling lazy, I’m going to copy and paste what I wrote last year about what kinds of names we are looking for. Here’s what you need to know: The category needs to be something with lots of naming possibilities. Candy was great cause there are umpteen jillion kinds. Think broad. Characters from fiction? Good. Characters from Dickens? Fine.  Characters from Salinger novels? Not so much.

We have already used Candy, Herbs and Spices, Presidents, Nannies from movies and fiction, States, Fonts and Islands. I am actually still a little bit in love with state names and could easily be talked into continuing on with that convention until we get them all. Last year’s lamb crop was pretty paltry and we only got as far as Delaware.

Come up with a convention for the lambs and one for the kids. Remember, we only have three bred nanny goats this year, so I’m expecting five kids, maybe six. We have LOADS of bred ewes so the convention we chose for lambs has to give us lots of options. Most of our ewes should twin and one might even triplet!

We will winnow the list down in a couple of weeks and have y’all vote. Put your thinking caps on! The first one to suggest the conventions we go with gets to name the first lamb or kid in that category.

I keep forgetting to tell you that I dropped my camera on New Year’s Day. It already needed to go into the shop but after the fall it was really, really broken. It’s fixable but it takes forever to get it to and from Nikon so I was really bummed. After struggling with it for days I finally gave in and ordered a new camera.

The timing was horrible- January is always our slowest month for sales- but I just couldn’t be without a camera for the next six weeks. I bought another Nikon that works with my lens so it wasn’t insanely expensive. But I still hated having to buy it.

Until I used today and completely fell in love with it.

I really enjoyed taking pictures today and feel like I’ve broken out of my creative rut.

A couple of quick housekeeping things. Erin has put up a Follow the Fleece for our Fall 2009 Shareholders. Wondering when you will receive your yarn? Click here to watch the progress.

For those of you coming to our Fort Worth Stock Show Meet-ups January 21st-24th, I’ll be posting a bunch of here in the next couple of days with our schedule, locations, etc. I’ve gotten some emails from North Texas readers wondering if they can join us and the answer is a huge YES!

I arrived in Texas this afternoon and drove directly from the airport to Joe T. Garcia’s, my very favorite Mexican restaurant in the world. Good Lord, I love that restaurant! I’m only here for a couple of days and I hope to get to eat at Joe T’s at least once more before I leave.

I usually hate short trips home like this but I’ll be back in January for the Fort Worth Stock Show. The Stock Show is one of my very favorite things IN THE WORLD and I think y’all will love it as much as I do, so we’re having a Juniper Moon Fiber Farm Stock Show Meet-up January 21-24, 2010.

We’re planning a girls-only weekend of margaritas, rodeo-watching and flirting with cowboys. I can accommodate 8 people at my Mom’s house so you won’t have to worry about paying for hotel rooms. The only expenses will be  food and tickets to the stock show. We’re also planning a trip to visit my boot man at Justin for anyone who wants to buy cowboy boots. Of course, anyone living in the D/FW area is welcome to join us too!

Email me at Susie AT fiberfarm DOT com to rsvp or if you have any questions about flights or anything else.

XO

Not much.

The end.

Just kidding! About the “the end ” part anyway. I really didn’t do much but sleep, eat Mexican food and shop. I hardly ever sleep or shop at home, so it was a break in my routine.

In addition to some clothes and shoes that I needed, I got a copy of my very favorite magazine, Texas Monthly. I love that magazine so hard! I also bought a couple of novels that I have been devouring all week. I hardly ever have time to read and it was glorious. I also hardly ever have time to watch movies, but I watched TWO whole DVDs this week: Kung Fu Panda and Mama Mia.

Despite the fact that I was basically a hermit the whole time I was here, I think this vacation did me a world of good. I’m going to go home with a new attitude and try to implement some changes in my life. Like exercising. I used to exercise religiously but the past two years have been so busy…well, you know. I’m excited about starting to workout again. I even order the Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred DVD after reading approximately 1 billion tweets about how great it is.

I’m also going to try to cut down on my Diet Pepsi consumption. Actually I’m going to try to cut it out but I’m trying to keep everyone’s expectations low.

And now for the winner of today’s Rhinebeck Workshop spot:

Congratulations Lisa! You have 24 hours contact us at prizes@fiberfarm.com and let us know which of our awesome workshops you’d like. Please include your first and second choice as we are waiting to hear back from one prize winner. See the list below for the classes that are still available. Everyone else, check back here tomorrow to see if you are the next winner. You DO NOT need to re-enter if you’ve already commented on this post, but you can help us out by tweeting and blogging about the giveaway. If you haven’t entered yet comment on the post below, not this one!

These are the classes we have to give away:
Kathryn Alexander – DooDads and Finishing in Knitting – Thursday October 15th - CLAIMED!
Donna Kay - Beginning Handspindle – Friday October 16th – AM
Annie Modesitt – Backyard Leaves – Friday October 16th – PM CLAIMED!
Janel Laidman – Kitchen Sink Yarns – Saturday October 17th – AM CLAIMED!
Lily Chin – Crochet Tips and Tricks – Saturday October 17th – PM CLAIMED!
Nan Crawford - Felted Soaps - Sunday October 18th – AM
Nancy Schroyer - Dyeing Self Striping Sock Yarn – Sunday October 18th PM

Thanks so much for all your sweet comments about my disastrous trip to Texas yesterday. I finally made it to DFW at Noon today. Then I went to Joe T. Garcia’s for lunch and took a four hour nap. So, so far, good trip.

I’ll write more tomorrow when I actually, you know, do something.

In meantime, we have another winner in our Rhinebeck Workshop Giveaway.

Nancy, you have 24 hours contact us at prizes@fiberfarm.com and let us know which of our seven awesome workshops you’d like. Everyone else, check back here tomorrow to see if you are the next winner. You DO NOT need to re-enter if you’ve already commented on this post, but you can help us out by tweeting and blogging about the giveaway. If you haven’t entered yet comment on the post below, not this one!

Okay, first let me say that I’m a bit run down and haven’t been thinking very clearly lately. Not very clearly AT ALL.

Because last night, when I looked at my e-ticket, I would have sworn on an entire stack of holy books that it said I was flying out of Albany NY. Only it turned out that I was looking at an old travel itinerary. An itinerary from my trip to Texas in January.

So, after busting my backside to drive from Woods Hole, MA, where we keep our off-Island car, to Albany in time for my 4 p.m. flight, I discovered that not only was I in the wrong airport; I was in the wrong STATE. I was actually TWO STATES AWAY from the plane that I was supposed to be on. You can’t miss a fight any more completely than I did this afternoon, y’all.

And, to be honest with you, I pretty nearly just broke down in the airport. Somehow I managed to pull myself together enough to find my car and check into the nearest Holiday Inn where I washed my face, pulled myself together and booked another flight. For tomorrow morning. Out of Providence. Which is still two states away.

Now I’m killing time until I have to leave Albany and drive back to Rhode Island for my 6 a.m. flight tomorrow morning. Isn’t travel glamorous?

The winner of today’s Rhinebeck Workshop giveaway is:

Deb, you have 24 hours contact us at prizes@fiberfarm.com and let us know which of our seven awesome workshops you’d like. Everyone else, check back here tomorrow to see if you are the next winner. You DO NOT need to re-enter if you’ve already commented on this post, but you can help us out by tweeting and blogging about the giveaway. If you haven’t entered yet comment on the post below, not this one!