Confessions of an Internet Junkie

While the State-siders are munching on various delicious foods with family and friends, it's just another Thursday up here in Canada. And a cold, gray, damp, windy Thursday at that. I've been out shoveling wagon-loads of alpaca poo while being supervised very closely by the younger crowd: "Whatcha doin'? Where you goin' with that shovel? What's in the wagon? Can we eat this?" ("This" referring to the hay that gets caught up in the shoveling, and, no, you can't eat it.) Then it was time to take part in the major production that is moving a 700-lb bale of hay into the girls' barn. Deb uses her skidsteer to lift and move it, but a lot of stuff has to get moved out of the way to give her room to maneuver. We pen the girls and babies on the other side of the barn while this is going on, and they're surprisingly calm about the whole thing, contentedly nomming away at their side of the manger while this noisy machine clanks around, spewing diesel fumes.

We're on a break before we head back outside to finish the rest of the chores for the day. Veggie pizza is in the oven. That's the closest we're coming to pie today :) Also, I thought I'd finish posting the rest of the menagerie at that little farm I've been posting about. So far there have been pics of llamas, alpacas, goats, pigs, chickens, roosters, cats, and a dog. Let's bring on ( cattle and (a different) chick and ducks. Oh, my. )

This is Delilah and her baby boy, Samson. These are the llamas that Dar wrote about in her LJ - the ones who led to all of that adventure. We went to check up on the baby last Sunday. As you can see, mom and baby are both doing very well.

( Llama mama, baby, and daddy, too. )

Rocky wishes you all a Happy Halloween.

Dar and I made a house call to a near-by farm that had a sick alpaca. We love going to this place, because the owners love animals and they have what amounts to a mini zoo. This sweet little thing should be about four or five months old now. I have plenty more pics (alpacas, goats(!), pigs, barn cats, chickens, a very psychedelic rooster, and Spot the dog), but I'll to have upload them tomorrow.

These were solid white when I first spied them just past sunrise. By the time I got to take this picture in the late afternoon, they had blackened. Pretty fragile, I guess.

The setting sun cast the shadow of our truck and trailer against a corn field as we traveled home from the fair.

Pixel knocked over a bowl of alpaca rovings ready to be weighed.

( Upstairs Cats, Downstairs Cats )

It is as soft and fluffy as it looks.

( They're growing so fast. )

The first baby born this season, and the first for us in this color. We're thinking of calling her Buffy.

( Cria pic spam! )

She had a rough start. Dar found Satine trying to give birth, but all that was showing was one of the baby's legs. We don't know how long she was stuck like that, but Dar pushed her back in, and the birth continued as it should. The baby is low on stamina, though, and she hasn't figured out the nursing thing yet. She's close, she nibbles around the teats, but she hasn't latched on yet. Good thoughts, please, guys.

( Pixel )

It's been raining, cold, and windy, so not much of an opportunity for outdoor pics. Pixel is always my go-to girl :)