It’s Maggie again. Susan is back safe and somewhat sound from TNNA. Her docs in Columbus decided she has idiopathic iritis. Keep in mind, idiopathic just means “we have no idea why you have it” iritis.

I’m driving her to a specialist in town tomorrow morning first thing for further treatment. The steroid drops and pain pills are keeping her comfortable, but bored beyond belief. She still can’t look at a computer screen for more than a minute or so, can’t really read because it requires too much light, can’t really watch TV…needless to say, she’s very much looking forward to the resolution of this mess!

Hi everyone, this is Maggie. Susan asked me to post and let you know why she hasn’t been providing all the promised updates.

In short, her eye is a wreck. She went to the ER in Columbus this morning, who sent her to specialists, who told her it wasn’t a scratched cornea at all (though they don’t know what the problem actually is), gave her very helpful steroids and painkillers, and have organized an appointment for her back in town on Monday. She said it was the worst pain she’s EVER EVER been in, but she seems to be doing better now, thanks to the wonders of modern medications.

She hopes to be able to attend some portion of the conference tomorrow, but obviously treating her eye is her first and foremost priority. I’m not sure she’ll be up to photography even if she does get to attend!

I’ll keep y’all posted as I know things. I’m sure she’ll be able to check the comments here if nowhere else, so feel free to send well-wishes (or diagnoses!) via comments here on the blog.

Kris and I just got to Squam and it’s even better than I remembered! Here’s the view from our private balcony:

More pics later today.

XO

If you’ve been waiting to buy a Fall 09 Share today is the day. We’ll be taking down the listing tonight. Spring 2010 Shares coming soon!

I’m hard at work coming up with the Spring 09 Shareholders colors. Long post tomorrow. Promise.

I’ll be flying to Dallas/Fort Worth today (via Detroit. Go figure.) so I won’t be posting until I late tonight. I’m sure I’ll have all kinds of news to share – travel is usually a gold mine of source material- and I’ll also be be posting the next winner in our Rhinebeck Workshop Giveaway. Be sure to check to see if you’ve won- you only have 24 hours from the time of the post to claim your prize or we will have to draw another winner.

In the meantime, enjoy some pics.

Thank you so much for your kind comments about my feeling low. Having all of you in my corner makes everything seem surmountable. There’s a lot going on on the farm but I’m too tired to write tonight. Tomorrow, I promise.

This is my cat Biz. On his new bed. That’s stuffed with raw wool from our sheep.

In case you can’t tell, because maybe you’re not a cat person, that’s a very happy cat.

As you probably know, we hate to let anything go to waste here at the farm. One by-product that we have worked a long time to find a use for is belly wool. Belly wool is just that – the wool from the bellies of the sheep. It tends to be too short to spin into great yarn, so it usually gets discarded after shearing.

Dogs and cats looooove wool. Many of our shareholders send us pictures of their dogs or cats snuggled into the pile of yarn they received as their shareholder “dividend.” The thing about our yarn is, it’s natural. We use an old-fashioned mill, that uses old-fashioned methods – no harsh chemicals dissolving every trace of the fiber’s origin. When the yarn comes back, it still retains some of the wonderful lanolin and a softly sheepy smell. That’s why our pets are so crazy about it.

And if they like the yarn so much, thought Susie, won’t they love the raw wool even more? The idea of wool-stuffed pet beds was born.

The beds themselves have been a long time coming. We searched for just the right covers- they had to be durable, but also attractive. They had to be easy to care for. And of course, we wanted them to be made by hand, in America. We talked to lots of people about what they would like to see in their perfect pet bed, and we went through several prototypes, each rigorously tested by our own dogs and cats.

We’ve finally got it just right. The covers, hand made by a small, woman-owned business, are a duck canvas that’s snuggle-comfy yet tough as nails and come in loads of great colors.  A zippered interior case completely encloses the raw wool stuffing so your pets can’t get at it, and removes easily when you want to throw the cover in the wash. And the beds come in sizes from small to jumbo, so whether you’ve got a kitty or a Newfie, there’s one that fits. We’re really over-the-moon excited about our new pet beds – hope you like them too!

Thank you Leslie Tane!