It's almost Christmas!

We had a busy and fun weekend.  John brought up some furniture from Charlotte on his truck so Friday we were busy unloading and then setting up a bed.  I had painted the guest room the weekend before. It still needs a little work - floor trim needs to be repainted -but that will be a lot easier and can be done later.  He's bringing up the desk and dresser for that room on Thursday.

We went to a Christmas tree farm on Saturday morning.  There were so many to choose from, but we finally decided on the right one and then we cut it down ourselves!  We've never done that before.  Of course, when we got it home, we had to put it in the stand and set it up in the house.  We've been stringing lights and hanging ornaments on and off all weekend.  It's finished now though and looks great!

Communing with the girls - Bubbles, Opal and Tasha

Opal, our reindeer 'paca

We had fun out at the barn this afternoon with the kids.  Our big llama, Kisses, comes by her name honestly.  She gave me lots and lots of kisses this afternoon.  Opal was giving them out too!  I brought out a Christmas headband for photo opportunities.  Opal was the lucky participant.

Photos from yesterday's snow

Hi all,

Banjo (on left) and Patches (on right)

Tasha (looking thru the gate), Opal, and Bubbles (in back at the feeder)

Ace and Solomon cushing outside their pen

I'm sitting here eating my banana nut muffins that I made last night and realized that I haven't added my snow day photos.  So here they are.

I'm off now to deliver some goodies to a couple of neighbors and then back home to do more housework.  I'll post again in a couple of days.  Have a great weekend!

Wintry mix

I woke up this morning and saw about a half inch of snow on the ground when I looked out my bedroom window.  It sure was pretty. I don't think we had more than an inch though before it turned to sleet and then rain.  It's freezing now and the trees are all iced up.  

The kids have stayed in the barn or under the eaves most of the day.  I did take a few photos and I'll upload those for tomorrow's post.  I stayed inside most of the day myself... except to feed and check on everyone.  I focused on decorating the house for Christmas and finishing up gift projects.  I even did some baking tonite.  I just took mini loaves out of the oven - banana bread! Have a good night, everyone.

Preparing for snow

It's Wednesday night. There's just a mild breeze right now. The New River Valley is supposed to get snow starting tomorrow morning. I've heard reports of accumulation ranging from 1 to 8 inches. Who knows what we'll really get.  It's coming from Atlanta so it could be big!  If Charlotte gets freezing rain or sleet, we'll definitely get snow!

I put the kids to bed earlier tonite.  Everybody has fresh hay and water.  I peeked out there a few minutes ago and all was quiet.  The big boys are cushing (that means laying down - they tuck their feet underneath them)  in the dry lot.  I couldn't see the girls at all so they are probably in the barn.  Snow and cold weather doesn't bother them at all.  They have plenty of insulation with all that fiber on them!  They are walking around with giant fur coats on!

This is going to sound crazy, coming from me, former suburbanite here... one of my daily chores is cleaning up their poop piles.  It's not as bad as it sounds, and it doesn't smell bad at all.  (cleaning up the dog poop is a whole other story! total yuk!)  The boys, both big and small, are easy and quick to clean.  They keep their duties to a very defined area.  The girls, on the other hand, go where they feel like it, practically - lots of little piles spread out over the corner of the dry lot.  However, our alpacas and llamas are all very well mannered in that they have refrained from using the barn.  When it's this cold outside, the beans, (alpaca farmer lingo for poop because they look like coffee beans) freeze quickly so they are easy to scoop up.   Okay, enough of that.  I hope I didn't scare anyone away.  This is just part of the whole farming experience.  Anyway, when I'm out there scooping in the girls' lot, I'm using accompanied by Tasha, our livestock guardian dog for the girls.  I guess she wants to be sure that I'm being thorough!  Opal comes over often also. She likes to nibble on the edge of my jacket, hoping for a treat.  She's our PR girl.

I'll try and remember to take some more photos for my blog, so ya'll can put names and faces together! :)

Pixie and Tasha playing

Goodnite all! I'll let you know if the weatherman was on target for tomorrow! 

Wicked Winds!

It's  not actually winter yet but Mother Nature doesn't seem to know that! We're getting wind gusts of 30-40 mph thru our valley.  At least it's not raining or snowing....  It's frigid though! The temperature outside is probably about 10 below, if you factor in the wind chill. I just got back in from tucking the "kids" in for the night.  Our guardian dogs have taken to sleeping in the hay buckets out in the dry lots, under the eaves.  I guess the hay is pretty darn warm, compared to the ground inside.  The 'pacas and llamas are cushing in the doorways and just outside under the eaves.  They have nice warm coats to keep them warm! (all that fiber)

I'm curled up in bed with my kitty, Adam,  next to me and Pixie on the floor right next to the bed.  They're wondering when I'm going to turn off the light and go to bed!  I think I'll close down this thing now and read for a little while.  Good night, all!

Our first herd bealth by ourselves

My husband, John, and I became official alpaca farmers (Virginia alpaca farmers, specifically) on Saturday, October 2.  I should have started this blog our first week, but hey, better late than never, right?  I've been here full time since then and my husband comes up on weekends.  I can't promise daily postings but I will try to post weekly, if not more often.

I picked up the supplies on Friday at our local farm store.  They are great people there.  April and Dustin are the folks that I know best there at this point.  They always go out of their way to help.  I'm sure that they know we're novices.

Our first step in herd health was to round up our "kids" into the pens, halter them all, and get them weighed.  A high priority for this week will be to purchase hooks for the closet to hang and organize the halters.  We were guestimating on which halter would work best today.

Our only hesitant child today was Banjo.  We will definitely need to work on the lead with him.  He's used to the halter but doesn't like to be led.  Everybody saw some weight gain. We're very happy about that.   Opal was our biggest concern.  She had been very ill this summer with the humocus worm (we almost lost her!) and had lost lots of weight so we've been monitoring her very closely. She is now officially out of danger. Hurray!!!

The next step was to administer the injection for each animal.  Today we just gave them the ad and e shot.  I ran into a big roadblock! I was getting air into the syringe and then I couldn't get the plunger to go!  grrrr.  Maybe I gave up too fast.  Rather than risk hurting any of the animals, I chose to postpone the shots.  I'm going into town on Tuesday to get some advice on my difficulties and we'll have another attempt next weekend.

Good things about our first herd health day: all of our "children" were very calm and cooperative.  I trimmed the rear nails on Opal and did great!

Before I close for today, let me give a brief rundown on our "kids".  Our herdsires (I'll be referring to them as the big boys)  are Ace and Solomon.  Ace is the king but Solomon is always trying to take the top spot.  It can be entertaining to watch their antics.  Our little boys are Banjo and Patches.  Patches is a a llama. Our girls are: Ruby, Bubbles, Opal, and Kisses (Kisses is also a llama).  2 of the girls are bred and due in the spring - Bubbles and Ruby.

A side note:  farming is the last thing I would have ever imagined I'd be doing but I'm really enjoying it.  Our alpacas have had a calming influence on me.