Owl

We've had two days of not so good weather for those of us haying. We had .33 inches yesterday. It just now started raining again. The wind started blowing about 10 minutes before it started raining, with gusts up to 30 mph or so. I was looking out a north window when I saw a large bird fly out of the field..........it was an owl. It flew toward the house & landed on our fence behind the house. I ran to get my camera only to discover it had flown away. Walking to the west end of our house & my bedroom I looked out that window & there the owl was, on the grass. I tried a picture or two & he took off flying to the post next to the gate into the alpaca field. I also had flash problems. BUT I ended up with 3 good pictures of the owl before he left the post. I don't know if he is a baby or a fully grown owl, but I've never seen one this close to the house before. A very pretty bird!!

Hershey & Cinnabun's cria

Here he is, first cria of the year. A cute little guy at just under 12 pounds. He looks alot like Daddy, but also the same coloring as Mama. He arrived this afternoon all alone with no one watching. (Willie had been, but I let him leave the house at 1:30 thinking nothing was going on AND I was with Mom for PT for her). Anyway he's cute & was up immediately nursing & running around. Cinnabun is being an exceptional mama.

Leroy

Today was a sad day. Today I went to the funeral of Leroy Stutesman. Leroy was 81 years old. He worked for my Dad at his Ford dealership for around 55 of those 81 years. I remember when my Dad died & the bookkeeper totaled up how many years each employee had worked at Center Motor. She had Leroy down for 53 years. But when ask, Leroy said it was more like 55. He said that he worked a year or two & then left town for a short time & then came back. Leroy had a number of different jobs over the years at Center Motor but for the past many, many years he was a car salesman. He was unlike most car salesmen that you see these days. He never pushed, never forced. He was someone who people came back to over & over again to buy new or used cars. You could trust Leroy. He was extremely helpful to me after my father's death. Leroy was special.

The service today was held at the Fire Department.........very unusual & different. But not for Leroy........he was a volunteer fireman for many years. It was very appropriate to have it there. The one word that the pastor used to describe Leroy was that he had a servant's heart. Leroy was special, he will be missed.

Anniversary

Today would have been our 19th wedding anniversary. I had a number of calls from church friends yesterday saying they would be thinking of me & praying for me today. Our church secretary caught me Sunday & told me the same. It is so much appreciated. Today will not be an easy day.

Otherwise things are going well. Cinnabun, a maiden alpaca, is due today...........so far she looks happy, so I'm doubtful that she will deliver, but one never knows.

Tyler & Travis

Yesterday we sheared 3 of the cria from last year. If you remember we had two that looked a lot alike in the face. After much discussion & decision making I named them after Dennis' youngest grandsons, Tyler & Travis. I let the boys pick which one they wanted to be named after them. I named their "registered names" with a little more --------- Tyler Dennis & Travis Dee (Dennis used Dee a lot as his name with computer stuff). So named after grandsons with Dennis as a part of both. The lighter one is Tyler & the darker one is Travis.

Ranger

That's me on the left....................................................

An Alpaca Tale

We got Ranger in the fall of 2007. His mom died shortly after he was born (he was a huacaya out of two suri alpacas) and was bottle fed. Anyway Willie & I drove to Ridgeway in our explorer to pick him up and bring him home (stupid idea, the explorer ---- but then again I wasn't going to take the trailer either!!). I bottle fed Ranger until sometime in December when I contacted the person we got him from to say he was NOT wanting to wean himself at all. She said to do it immediately. So I worked on weaning him. Within 2 weeks of weaning him I saw him trying to nurse off of his friend's Mom. Cookie (Snickerdoodle's mom) finally allowed both of the boys to nurse off her!! Then it took us a while to get them weaned as there was so much snow it was hard to get them into a different area. Anyway since weaning them Snickerdoodle & Ranger have been very best of friends. Snickerdoodle goes where ever Ranger goes. They stick together like glue.

Today we sheared them. We sheared Ranger first & then Snickerdoodle. Ranger is still pretty friendly & would walk well on a lead. He was extremely "concerned" by what was happening to his friend. I'll post 3 pictures showing how close he got to the shearing & to Snickerdoodle. This is not typical for the alpaca to do!!

Shearing

Things have been busy just between shearing & getting ready to shear & other items. Due to rain we have had shearing problems. Alpaca need to dry off before shearing. We've had rain every afternoon almost. Dave & Ted, friends doing the shearing work full time, so it has been a challenge. We are almost half way through. Hopefully we will get a lot done today.

The garden is starting to grow, need to water today since there was no rain yesterday. I have pictures that I need to download & post............... I hope soon.

I'm working on a last couple of estate items, one of which has been a major item.

Keep my mother in your prayers. She isn't doing well and is having a lot of pain.