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Thursday, April 9, 2015

Outdoor Time Begins!

Grover loves to be the center of attention
We have had some glorious spring weather this week as well as storms and torrential rains.  But our weekend was beautiful.  I decided to start off Sunday by moving some alpacas around.  I had spent time Saturday doing maintenance on the 3-sided run-in building in the small pasture across from the guest house, as well as clearing some of the brush off the fences on that field.  The grass is growing nicely and last year's crias  are now over 10 months old and yet to be weaned.  The best way to do this is to move the mamas out of sight and out of mind (well not really out of mind).  So I moved Dulcinea and Tempest along with my two oldest girls, Peg and Chiquita, and Miracle all down to the summer pasture.  The two "weaners" are doing fine.  There is some whining going on, but they will be just fine and their mothers can put some weight back on.

It was a gorgeous morning and I really needed to update my website so I went out to take alpaca photos.  I have no good way to latch the barn door from the inside, so it wasn't long before Rowdy opened the door and he and Grover joined me with the alpacas and the LGDs in the back pasture.  Rowdy and Grover are generally not allowed in the alpaca fields as Rowdy has a very hard time controlling his strong (untrained) herding instinct.  But he was much more interested in dog play.  So this happened:












And this:
And this:

 


The body language here is too funny










I truly think a good time was had by all.  You can be sure that Rowdy was the instigator of all mischief, and I had a hard time limiting this to the 5 photos here.


In addition to moving alpacas, I moved some of my agility equipment around into a different configuration and I got my deck furniture (or most of it) out of the barn.  I hosed pounds of mud off the buggy (and Sam said the neighbors gave him a hard time about not knowing it was him without all the mud) and Sam has been cleaning out the garage.  That is a chore that has needed doing in a big way.

We have had rain and thunderstorms daily since Tuesday.  Last night it seemed one thunderstorm after another rolled through all night and dawn brought torrential rain.  When I went out to do chores, the water was almost up to the level of the big bridge.  When I came out of the alpaca barn 15 minutes later, it looked like this








Grover thought about crossing here but wisely changed his mind.  Though to be honest, I am somewhat reluctant to cross the footbridge when the water is racing under it from edge to edge.  It is a little unsettling.  

For a little while the chickens have a waterfront property



Sam has been working on repairing my loom by using a metal plate.  However, he put it on the wrong side of the post and where it is it interferes with the handle that tightens the warp when I advance it, so he will need to relocate it to the other side of the post.  Once that is done, I think it will work just fine.  I finished spinning the last of the the white yarn for my alpaca blanket and I am now working on the very last skein, about 2 additional ounces of a fawn color.  Once that is spun and plied, I will wash all the yarn and hang it outside to dry and then I will be ready to start measuring warp.  I added up all the yardage so far and I have over 5000 yards spun.  I started spinning it in the fall of 2013, so it has been a while in the spinning.  This blanket should be about 72" X 50" when woven and wet finished.  I have never done something on this scale before, so I hope it goes well.  I'd rather it not become a dog bed.  But then again, I don't know how I will keep that from happening!

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