Monday, March 31, 2008 8:10 AM
Parts of the day were really nice yesterday, the sun would come out
and the alpacas all looked like they were at the beach. This morning
the sun is out, and everyone is again enjoying it.
Emma is looking uncomfortable this morning, once again my new cell phone
went "kerflutzee", so she'll probably deliver when I head
over there.
Sunday, March 30, 2008 8:37 AM
There's a tiny bit of drizzle this morning, barely enough to get the
sidewalk damp. The alpacas are enjoying their morning, and really so
are we.
Lat Saturday we found that Sonny had a loose tooth that had become infected,
the gum had receded, and there was all sorts of yucky stuff. We cleaned
it up, and checked it again Sunday. It seemed to be a bit tighter and
straighter, but the gum was still not back where it should be. We looked
at it yesterday, and the gum is absolutely perfect. No clue where the
tooth is though, maybe it went here.
It will probably kill his chances of a ribbon at Nationals, but we'll
take him anyway.
Saturday, March 29, 2008 6:57 AM
It's cool and cloudy here, and will be for the next few days. We may
even get a shower or two. We finally got the shearing scheduled, it'll
be on the 14th and 15th of April. As usual, it'll be Ken Jones doing
the shearing. Yep, just a couple more weeks until we have a bunch of
space alien looking things running around here.
Friday, March 28, 2008 6:57 AM
I went and got X-rays yesterday, they looked good and the doc said it
looked like I had sprained my (insert medical jargon here.) I got some
industrial strength anti-inflammatories and a really nifty knee brace
so I'm getting around much better.
I'm back on official baby watch, last year Emma delivered on day 320,
she's at 321 now. Let the games begin!
Thursday, March 27, 2008 6:42 AM
With all of the rains comes the weeds. We have a ton of them growing
really tall. Yesterday, I was out in front mowing some down. It was
a mild hill, but the weeds still have lots of moisture, and as I walked
down the hill, suddenly I was on my butt. You know those silly guards
they put on lawn mowers to keep stupid people from cutting off their
toes? They work, my foot went under the lawn mower as I fell, and I
felt the little rolly part of the guard stop my foot. Yep, I still have
all of my toes, yahoo.
If you thought you heard a sonic boom yesterday, it wasn't. It was just
the sound of my knee blowing out. Oh well, it's better than losing toes.
I'm heading out to see if I can get an MRI done. What fun!
Wednesday, March 26, 2008 7:02 AM
I'm not officially on baby watch for a couple more days, but there are
a couple of fatsos looking quite uncomfortable. I am looking forward
to having a few more crias running around here.
Tuesday, March 25, 2008 6:59 AM
I have my construction project just about done, and when it's completed,
Pati has another one for me. Well, actually, make that two, no, three.
Actually though, they're not just Pati's idea.
We're going to cool down to the 70's for the next few days, but there
won't be any cold days, probably until the day after shearing. We don't
yet know the shearing date, but Murphy always makes it cold the day
after.
Monday, March 24, 2008 7:54 AM
I got a "wild hare" yesterday and decided to go into construction
mode building a shade. Up and down the ladder, standing in precarious
positions, I can say my little toe feels great. Every other muscle in
my body is sore.
It was a perfect day yesterday, sunny, gentle breeze, and about 90°.
It'll be just a tad cooler today, another perfect spring day.
Sunday, March 23, 2008 7:00 AM
Here comes Peter Pacatail
Pronking down the Paca trail
Prinkety pronkity Easter's on the way
If you know the words to this song
Sit right down and sing along
I'll bet you think I'm really weird today!
Thanks Easter Bunny, Bock Bock!
Saturday, March 22, 2008 7:14 AM
It's going to be in the upper 80's this weekend, perfect days for Easter.
Cool thing about being over 50 is that I can go out today, hide the
Easter eggs, and see if I can find them tomorrow. I just love hiding
things from myself
Now, where'd I put my keys???
Friday, March 21, 2008 7:18 AM
There was a bit of moisture in the air overnight, I need to let the
alpacas dry out a bit and then get some pictures taken. We have a nice
green backdrop for the pictures, I need to use it before it turns brown.
We only have about a month before shearing, we're still waiting for
the dates to be finalized. Maybe I'll get lucky and be out of town?
Thursday, March 20, 2008 7:48 AM
Wow, I didn't even realize when I did my update yesterday that today
is the first official day of spring. It's a bit foggy and cool this
morning, but we're looking forward to the 80's this weekend.
We have the show string picked out for the Nationals. Paris will be
the only girl, Majik and Sonny will have to compete against each other,
Apollo and Tonto will be going also. I'd imagine there will be a question
or two on how we came to name an alpaca "Tonto Goldstein."
If I can't come up with a good answer, I'll just give "credit"
to Pati.
Wednesday, March 19, 2008 7:09 AM
Spring has definitely sprung. It's sunny, warm, and the lawn mower won't
start. If that's not a sure sign of spring, I don't know what is. Spot
is really a hoot to watch, he's decided that his favorite pastime is
annoying Lillith. It's fun watching a 25 lb cria neck wrestling with
a 300 lb llama. I really think Lillith enjoys it just as much as he
does.
Tuesday, March 18, 2008 7:50 AM
It was quite windy yesterday, but it's really nice today. It's perfect
growing weather for the weeds. It looks like the rain is over for the
year, so we can start knocking the weeds down so we're good when fire
season arrives. Yep, California has four seasons, Sun, Mud, Hot, and
Fire.
Monday, March 17, 2008 7:22 AM
We did lots of rearranging yesterday. We set up a maiden and not being
bred field, that ended up with 17 alpacas in there. Apollo and Kona
went down to boy's town. We decided to see if we could put them in with
Mo, and he had no problem at all with it. He really just ignored them,
and within a few minutes they were standing next to him and eating.
"Spot," as we're calling Marquita's cria, is doing great,
he does love to tear around the fields. He's really outgoing and independent,
it's not out of the ordinary to see Marquita in one field, and Spot
sunning in another field.
I have just a bit of clean up left on my trailer, then I can unhook
it and it will be ready for the next trip. I need to head to the phone
store today, my new phone went "kerflutzee."
Happy Saint Patrick's Day! Happy birthday
Cindy
Sunday, March 16, 2008 7:30 AM
I'm back from IAO, over the flu, so it's back to life at the ranch.
The Phoenix show had a terrific turnout of over 500 alpacas, IAO had
a terrible turnout of under 300. I'd imagine this may have been the
last IAO in Del Mar.
Paris and Majik did well at both shows, so they'll be getting an all
expense paid trip to the Nationals in Utah in May. We do need to set
up a new area for pre-show stalling with some grass so that the suris
have more luster, the dirt here is really hurting them in the show ring.
Thursday, March 13, 2008 8:48 AM
Yep, I'm up bright and early this morning, I need to head to Del Mar
for IAO. I'll get the alpacas vet and color checked, into the stalls,
and then crash in the cowboy condo. I am on the way up, but still only
at about 25%. I don't remember ever having a bug that zapped my energy
this bad.
Wednesday, March 12, 2008 12:29 PM
Well, I managed to drag myself into an upendicular position for a few
minutes. I've been mostly flatizontal for the last couple of days. I
think the worst of this flu/cold/creepin' crud thingy is behind me.
I'm still creeping along under impulse power, but I'm hoping the warp
drives will be up and running by the weekend.
Monday, March 10, 2008 10:29 AM
Yeah, I'm late with the update, after sleeping on my chair in the living
room, I needed to get some things done. Nope, I'm not in trouble, just
sick, and didn't want to keep Pati awake or give it to her.
As you can see, there's a new arrival, Marquita delivered a little boy
yesterday. He has his dad's face, including the moustache, and is a
cute little pinto. He's doing great, but Marquita is a tad on the nervous
side, so we just have Marquita, her cria, LB, CW and Lillith together
in one of the north fields.
The show was great, though I would have enjoyed it more had I not gotten
sick. Of all of them though, I was most pleased with Majik. He placed
3rd in a really tough class, and he caught the eye of a lot of grey
breeders.
I'd like to write more, but I'm going for some chicken soup and back
to bed.
Friday, March 7, 2008 4:34 AM
I'm up early, it usually takes me 30-45 minutes to be really confident
of my name in the morning. I do want to hit the road fairly early. I
lose an hour going to Arizona, but don't get it back on the return because
of daylight savings time.
I'll be back late Sunday, and write about it Monday. Y'all have a good
weekend!
Thursday, March 6, 2008 6:39 AM
We have most everyone upstairs this morning, I'll need to do some sorting
so everyone is ready to go first thing tomorrow morning. Of course,
there's always a straggler, Indy decided to stay down, so I'll need
to round her up in "limbo". I know, I have some silly names
for some of the areas around here.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008 6:49 AM
It's still status quo around here, no new arrivals. I've been busy getting
the trailer ready and putting all of my show stuff together. Because
of all the things that happened, I haven't been to a show since Phoenix
last year. I'm taking eleven alpacas, eight of which are ours, and ten
are from our boys. It's going to be fun, but a lot of work.
Tuesday, March 4, 2008 6:16 AM
Still no cria, I'm beginning to think that the plan is to deliver while
I'm at the show so that Pati gets the fun. I guess we'll see.With all
of the sunshine we've had the last few days, you'd think it would cook
the crias, but there's probably quite a bit more going on than just
oven temperature.
Monday, March 3, 2008 7:04 AM
It was a really nice day yesterday, we got a lot of spit testing done.
All of the girls said no, so the boys weren't happy at all. We were
happy that Storm now has his first confirmed pregnancy. He's 150 lbs,
which took us by surprise.
We splurged last night with a lobster dinner, yum. Overall, it was just
a great day.
Sunday, March 2, 2008 7:16 AM
It ended up staying foggy and gloomy all day yesterday, but the sun
is out this morning. We tortured walked a few of the kids yesterday,
they all did pretty well. Of course, what they do here and what they
do in Phoenix may be two entirely different things.
Saturday, March 1, 2008 6:55 AM
Happy March! Like they say, "In like a llama, out like an alpaca."
They do say that don't they? Whatever, it's cool and foggy this morning,
enough humidity to make the sidewalks wet, and the white alpacas brown.
The brown suris look really good though.
We'll be doing the last tune up on the show string today, hopefully
they'll all behave well.