At last, at last.

It was a beautiful day even with the occasional thunder storms. I spent most of the day outside, and it felt sublime to be working without wearing seventy layers of clothes and without the cold and the wind trying to beat me down.

Because the weather was so good, it was the perfect time to start on all those projects that have been building up. First and foremost was to replace our bedraggled, beat up, duct-taped mailbox. It was in such bad shape that Canada Post actually contacted us and told us that we had 10 days to replace it with something up to code or else they'd stop delivering our mail. The nerve! Heh. So off we went to Home Hardware and purchased us a shiny new mailbox, and then we spent about an hour ripping down the old one, rebracing everything, assembling the new jobbie. Before and after pictures are posted at pic365 if you're interested.

Next up (for me at least) was attacking the secondary poo pile that built up right outside the barn. We have the true poo pile a bit away from the barn and the paddocks, but the snow got so deep that we couldn't get to it, so we started one right in the paddock. It's a pretty big pile (I was contemplating posting a picture, but I took pity on y'all), so cleaning it up called for . . . a pitchfork! I have my very own pitchfork, and I am one happy woman. Now the problem is that the ground is so muddy I need a contraption to haul it all away. I really need a wagon of some sort.

The big news, maybe, possibly, is that Gertie may be getting ready to birth her cria. yay! And yikes! It's notoriously difficult to track when an alpaca's breeding takes. If you recall, everyone was completely taken by surprise when Adama showed up because no one even knew that Conchita had been pregnant - and that was with multiple vet visits and an ultrasound! So if the date of Gertie's first breeding is correct, and if it took immediately, she'd be due right about now. For the past two days she's been acting differently, and the other alpacas are treating her a bit differently, so we're on the lookout for a little cria to appear soon. Oh boy! Well, hopefully it's a girl, but you get the idea :)

The vet is coming over tomorrow to take some blood from our current crias Delilah and Adama; they need to be tested for BVDV before we can show them at the big alpaca show next month. We also need to halter train them. That should be fun. So all in all another busy day is on tap. And the weather is supposed to be even better than today. Yes!

The only not-so-good thing today was that I found out some more info about that job working the deafblind, and it's very different from what I thought it was going to be. I got a call back and was offered a casual position because of my visa status, but then she went on to tell me that the duties included personal care such as bathing the residents (three 19-year-old males) and changing their diapers. I declined, and she understood. It's not even a gender thing; there are some people who can deal with that kind of close care (my friend, Robin, is one of them), but I am not one of them. So, that job is off the list for me. I'm still waiting to hear from my former employer. Here's hoping that it goes more smoothly, eh.

Tomorrow will be warm and sunny. Warm and sunny. I may be too giddy to sleep.

Cat spam

( Behind the cut for those tired of the cat pics )