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Countdown to shearing
19 June 2009 00:09About 32 hours left. I'm still hoping that the rain will hold off on Saturday. Wet alpacas mean 1) they stand a great chance of getting hurt because it's more difficult for the shearers, and 2) the fleece needs to be handled differently (and we have more work afterwards) because it will be wet. Besides the joys of of moving a dozen obstreperous and large animals 275 ft from the barn to the garage where the shearing will be done. And back again, of course. Dar is working up some sort of Angry Alpaca Movator for the biggest and the baddest: Satine, Conchita, and Gertie. The rest of them will be a relative breeze compared to those three. It's actually kind of funny how spooked the rest of our friends are about working with suris. It's like huacayas have the reputation of being sweet and passive, and suris have the reputation of being . . . not so much :) I've heard several people in our group refer to them as devils. Unfair! High strung, that's what they are. But still sweet. To us anyway.
Dar has been cleaning out the garage - and if you've ever seen our garage you know what a Herculean feat that's been. I keep trying to help and she keeps kicking me out, so . . . I do little stuff around the periphery instead. It's looking very good, and she should have it finished by tomorrow.
We did a massive shopping run. Two different stores, overflowing carriages in each. I won't scare you with the total bill, but even the cashier gasped. And we're both all about buying stuff on sale, so that mostly goes to show the volume rather than the high prices. I don't know how we managed to fit it all in Q's little Ford, but we did. (And we get to do it again tomorrow, too!) We'll be feeding 20 people for 2 snack breaks, lunch, and dinner, so it adds up. I made two chocolate fudge pies this evening, which are resting in the extra refrigerator. (If they turn out halfway decent I'll post the recipe.) Tomorrow will be a lot more cooking and cleaning. And then Saturday we shear.
Well Dee and Fred will shear - the rest of us will have enough to keep us busy just helping with the animals and dealing with the fleece (which has to weighed, sorted, and cleaned), and of course, getting the animals there and back. They also have to be weighed and have their annual shots given, their nails trimmed and in some cases their teeth have to be trimmed as well. (I'm very squeamish about that part.) Hannibal will have his fighting teeth removed, and Valentino and Sparky will need to have theirs checked as well. It's a big spa day for alpacas. A big stressful spa day. Dar has some naturopathic sedatives to give them all, and that really helps. If everything goes well, we should be done by mid afternoon. (Please let everything go well!)
Meanwhile, I should have been asleep about 90 minutes ago. For some reason I'm a little stressed. Hmmmm. I wonder what could be the cause. Heh. I make myself laugh. Have a good one, guys.
Dar has been cleaning out the garage - and if you've ever seen our garage you know what a Herculean feat that's been. I keep trying to help and she keeps kicking me out, so . . . I do little stuff around the periphery instead. It's looking very good, and she should have it finished by tomorrow.
We did a massive shopping run. Two different stores, overflowing carriages in each. I won't scare you with the total bill, but even the cashier gasped. And we're both all about buying stuff on sale, so that mostly goes to show the volume rather than the high prices. I don't know how we managed to fit it all in Q's little Ford, but we did. (And we get to do it again tomorrow, too!) We'll be feeding 20 people for 2 snack breaks, lunch, and dinner, so it adds up. I made two chocolate fudge pies this evening, which are resting in the extra refrigerator. (If they turn out halfway decent I'll post the recipe.) Tomorrow will be a lot more cooking and cleaning. And then Saturday we shear.
Well Dee and Fred will shear - the rest of us will have enough to keep us busy just helping with the animals and dealing with the fleece (which has to weighed, sorted, and cleaned), and of course, getting the animals there and back. They also have to be weighed and have their annual shots given, their nails trimmed and in some cases their teeth have to be trimmed as well. (I'm very squeamish about that part.) Hannibal will have his fighting teeth removed, and Valentino and Sparky will need to have theirs checked as well. It's a big spa day for alpacas. A big stressful spa day. Dar has some naturopathic sedatives to give them all, and that really helps. If everything goes well, we should be done by mid afternoon. (Please let everything go well!)
Meanwhile, I should have been asleep about 90 minutes ago. For some reason I'm a little stressed. Hmmmm. I wonder what could be the cause. Heh. I make myself laugh. Have a good one, guys.
