Words, no pictures.

I'm not really disgruntled; I just like that icon. I am a little looped but not looped enough. I promised Dar that I'd get drunk tonight, but so far that hasn't happened. And I'm out of Bailey's. Noooooooooooooooo! I may end up scrounging around Ye Olde Liquore Cabinet(e) after I post this.

So why is wifey-poo practically ordering me to get drunk? Because I'm going through another phase of pernicious insomnia. Which again would be a great name for a band. Pernicious Insomnia - Songs to Beat the Sleep Right Out of You. I'll take two copies, please. Now I know that drinking doesn't give you a restful sleep, but when I pointed that out to Dar she came back with the "Like you're getting restful sleep now?" argument. So . . . what the hell.

And I'll be right back. Might as well drink and type, right?

Behold before me the emerald green bottle of Growers Granny Smith Aplle sparkling apple cider. We'll see how this works, shall we?

Ok, about 30 minutes has passed because I took one sip of the Growers and retched. Tasted like piss. Went out to the kitchen and met up with sffan and browncoat and the Nana; they talked me into trying the Cranberry hard cider. It? Tasted like cranberry piss. The search was on to find something alcoholic and tasty. Even my old beloved standby of Jack Daniels tasted off. So I settle for a sombrero (milk and Kahlua (Kaluha?)); I don't see much change, but at least it was tasty.

Anyway . . .it's midnight. I think it's going to be a long night. I have a prescription for sleeping pills (Imovane!), but it's $70-$75 to fill it, so that's out for a little while. Which is why we got into a big discussion in the kitchen about healthcare in Canada, Ireland, and the States. In the States not everyone has healthcare, but if you do, you also get the prescription coverage, so most drugs cost at most $10 for you to fill. Here in Canada (and the Nana said in Ireland), you get free healthcare for everyone, but you still end up paying for your prescriptions unless you have coverage through work. And then you still have to pay a dispensing fee when you pick it up. REally, people of the world - it's no great help to get free coverage to find out that you're sick if you can't afford the cure! Work on that, OK?

Meanwhile, back at Gertie's uterus, things are progressing. OR so we hope. Her udder is huge! And her vulva is really red and distended and more open than a few days ago. (I took pictures when she was being sheared. Dar told me to; it wasn't my idea!) And now it's looking like Conchita is going to give birth not too much longer, too. Satine is not pregnant, as we thought she was, so we're going to have to hook her up with some good-looking stud. (Breeding animals means you can say things like that and have it taken literally.) So we'll rebreed Gertie and Conchita two weeks after they've delivered (I know!) and have Satine taken care of, too. It's going to be a hot bed of alpaca sexin' going on here.

Let's see, what else. Adventures in lawn mowing. I took the lawn tractor into the back couple of acres to cut down the brush there, and I thought I was going to set everything on fire - if I didn't suffocate first. That tractor is on it's last legs. Pistons. Whatever. Belching black smoke, jerking along, going way too slow for the gear I had it in. We don't want to invest in major repairs since 1)it's wicked old, and 2) we'll be replacing it with a new lawn tractor next month some time. I still need to have a working tractor until then, though. Grrrrrr. And the push lawn mower (emphasis on push) almost bit the dust, too. I ran over a plastic bag because I didn't see it lurking in the high grass near the bushes. Not only did it disable the rotors, some of the plastic got sucked into the filter (or whatever) and started smoking in a scary way. That all got fixed eventually, too. Really, all I want to do is cut some fucking grass. Must it really be this big a deal?

I think we're luring sffan into being a weekend alpaca herder. She was out there with me this morning moving the alpacas around between paddocks and hauling hay bags and water buckets and such. Delilah came up and snuffled her, which was very cute. Let's put it this way: SF is going to buy some paddock boots to leave here so she can do the barn stuff when she comes to visit. I think she's one of us now :) Well, at least on the occasional weekend. She's too much of a city girl to give it up completely.

My mind just went blank. I think I need to do something that I just can't think of at the moment. It should be sleep, but you know . . . not. Reading maybe. I'll figure it out.

Cria nose!

Dar and I have been worried because we haven't seen Gertie's cria moving around for about a week now; we thought it might have died in utero. This morning Dar saw it drop suddenly into what looks like the pre-labor position. Then while we were both looking at her, the cria decided to pop its little nose against her mom's side :) If you can't make it out, just click on the photo and it will take you to the original where there's a note pointing it out.



Three white suris, all in a row. Left to right: Conchita, Adama, Gertie. They've been rolling around in the dirt so they look fawn, but really - they're white.