Visitors

It has been a wild & crazy 2+ weeks. My mom fell & fractured her pelvis in one spot. She is working on rehab in a nursing home. My sisters have been over. My brother has been in Europe but is back in Houston now. Sandi (Dennis' daughter) & family were here for 3 days & 4 nights. We had a great time. The above picture is Tyler & Travis feeding two of the yearling alpaca boys. They were a great help with the animals including combing the rabbits!! Hopefully things will calm down for a while now.

Cria # 3

I knew Olympia would deliver today just by looking at her yesterday. She typically has easy & quick births. This one was just that way. We got another boy & he is a handsome guy for sure. He has white on all 4 legs, bur more on the right front leg. He has a crown like Olympia's but then at the very top of his head he has another white spot.

Cria #2

Well, I was highly suspicious of Ghost this morning............but Ghost always delivers on a Sunday, so decided to ignore her. Sure enough immediately upon leaving she produced a very cute male cria. A neighbor driving by called the house because he saw all the alpacas sniffing this baby on the ground that was acting "very strange". He thought a baby was dying. This one has to have a 4th of July name for sure!!

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.