Baby Watch continues…..

Well, we are still waiting.  This is the summer that I keep thinking that we’ll walk out to the barn, and a baby will be waiting.  Not yet.  The positive side is that the crias are better off coming on time.  The down side is that it is driving me crazy.  Since I don’t have any pictures to show yet for this year’s crias.  Here are some from last year.

Dusty was born last May to Starla.   He is a cutey and has fun hanging out with his friends, Mocha and Gold Rush.

  Gold Rush and his dam, Duchess Carmela, just an hour after he was born.

   Mocha born on the 24th of August last year.  He looked just like his dad, Flashforward, when he was born.  Flash was the first alpaca born on our farm.  It brought back some tender memories. 

Maybe tomorrow will be the day.  In the meantime, we are still on baby (cria) watch.

Thankful for the Rain and on Baby Watch!

Thankfully we had over 1 ½ inches of rain last night. The heat here has been in the 90’s for most of July, and of course we have had high humidity along with that. My husband saw a few barn doors that did not make it through the storm last night, on his way to work. After he called, I promptly went out to take a peek at our doors, hoping that I wouldn’t find any damage. What a relief; our barn is fine and we won’t have to do any repair after the storm.

We are in full-blown baby watch right now. Alpacas are pregnant for 11 months, give or take a couple of weeks. So we have an idea when the new cria will show up. Sometimes we are greeted with a surprise in the barn or pasture. We have five pregnant females, with Carmela due any day. Needless to say, these ladies have been “slightly” uncomfortable during this intense heat and humidity. With the rain last night, our girls are joyfully munching on grass in the pasture.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Earlier this morning I caught Majesty enjoying some bites of our Rose of Sharon bushes, that are just on the other side of the fence. Majesty is just a couple of weeks shy of a year. She is doing great, growing well, and her fleece just glimmers.

Spinning with a Drop Spindle!

I just started spinning on a wheel last year. Up until then I had been using a couple of drop spindles to create my yarn. When I looked at this free ebook, I wanted to pass on this wealth of knowledge.  Enjoy!

http://www.spinningdaily.com/Drop-Spindle-Spinning/

This free download has several expert spinners sharing their techniques. It’s an excellent resource.

What’s Up?

Here’s a shot from earlier this spring of Gold Rush trying to figure out what I had in my hand.   You’d think they would get used to getting their pictures taken.

Rainy Spring Days!

The alpacas are just loving this weather. They don’t care if there are a few raindrops. We have definitely had some rain!! Actually being out in the rain will help clean their fleece. Shearing is approaching very quickly. It’s next week!! We have a busy couple of days making the barn ready for the shearers. I’ll be posting before and after pictures. They are quite comical after their yearly haircut.

After a long winter, the alpacas are just loving all of this lucious green grass.

These girls can’t get enough of that yummy grass!  Usually when I’m out trying to take that great, cute alpaca photo, they become very curious about the camera.  Majesty is thinking about taking a closer look, but she quickly goes back to her scruptious evening snack.

Welcome, Oshkosh!

Well, we are venturing into the world of huacayas.  For those of you new to alpacas, these are the alpacas that have that teddy bear look to them.   A couple of weeks ago, Oshkosh came to our little corner of Indiana.  He is a beautiful grayish “blue” alpaca.  I can’t wait for shearing!!  I’m not kidding, when I look inside his fleece, it does have a blue look to it.  I have a feeling the shearers won’t be gone long before I’m carding and spinning his gorgeous fleece! 

 

Signs of Spring!!!

Wow! Winter is almost over, I think.   God reminded us that Spring is actually here, with a 65 degree day.   As I was outside today, the temp. seemed colder and colder. Oh well, Indiana weather… What should I expect.  In no time, I will be longing for the coolness of fall. 

The snow has melted, the daffodiles are peaking out of the ground, the pastures are greening up, and the alpacas are longingly gazing at that green grass.   They were out on the pasture for an afternoon the other day.  I felt guilty bringing them in.   We want to let the grass grow a little before we let them out to graze the day away.

  

Alpacas do many funny things.  One of them is to eat snow.  This alpaca, Chocolate Mocha, decided to enjoy it so much that it left a “snow beard.”

This winter brought another exciting change:  I was able to finish staining my spinning wheel and actually spin on my wheel.  How fun!!  My legs were actually sore one day after I had spun for several hours at a time. 

I spent many hours at my wheel creating yarn for Christmas gifts and for our web store.  I have much to add, but it is a begining.  I often think how much joy God had in creating this world, especially the garden.  My joy at creating different yarns is extremely tiny compared to what God must have felt.  What a humbling thought.

Fall Thoughts…

Fall is in the air.  After a long hot summer it is so good to hear the combines in the fields harvesting the crops and the crisp rustle of the leaves.

What a week this has been.  We have had the awesome opportunity to know and love two people who are now with the Lord.  I just hope and pray as I walk down this path called life, that I can be the living example for Christ these two have been for us.

I’m still trying to finish putting up the rest of the tomatoes into salsa.  We eat way too much of it, but it is so good.  Then the canner will retire to the basement until next summer.  I’m looking forward to spending more time with my spinning.

During Bible Study a week ago, we were talking about how many times, we just talk without thinking.  A friend brought up something that their family uses:  Is it truthful?  Is it nice?  Is it necessary?  It definitely gave me something to think about and something I will be using, because too many times I speak without thinking.

What’s out there?

       

These two were taking it easy after a morning of playing in the pasture.  I glanced out my kitchen window, grabbed the camera, and took off out the door.  Well, I thought I entered the gate quietly.  By the time I was in position for the picture, the cria on the left had stood up and of course, they were not looking my direction.  Our alpacas so many times are looking off into the distance.  I often wonder what has gotten their attention.

Crias taking a snooze!

Our three newest crias seem to be always on the go.  Our daughter was looking out the kitchen window the other day and said, “Mom, go get the camra.  We need a picture of this!”  Seldom do these guys and gal slow down.  This was one of those moments and they were all actually sitting down(cushing) at the same time, and they were together.