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Sunday, June 30, 2013
Lindbergh 6/30/2013 about 12 hours old.
Meet Lindbergh the latest edition to our suri herd. Born this morning at 6:59am and survived his first 106 degree day. He is a big boy 21.8 lbs. I know mom, Sunny, has to be a happy camper as he was riding around perpendicular to her back bone for the last week or so. It looked so uncomfortable to me with either a knee or elbow sticking out. Ouch. We named him Lindbergh after Charles Lindbergh as his father is Piccard and his full sister is named after Amelia Earhart
Sunny and Lindbergh
Meeting the herd.
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Thursday, June 13, 2013
Dallas about 3 hours old.
Dallas is the newest edition to Arapaho Rose Alpacas. He was born to Clarisse and was sired by Sentinel. Weighing in at 18.9 pounds. He is up and healthy, nursing and ready to go out and meet the rest of the herd. He seems to have great density and his crimp looks great.
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Wednesday, June 12, 2013
Amelia and Daisy at Camp Love-A-Lot
Camp Love-a-Lot is a is a two-week summer day camp for youths ages 10 - 15. Each camper is teamed with a dog waiting for adoption. The camper is responsible for feeding, cleaning up after, and training their dog while at camp.
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Saturday, June 1, 2013
Guinea Chicks
This is the time of year the Guinea hens start sitting on their eggs. It's also the same time we mow the long grass. It's not unusual for us to come too close to a Guinea's nest and they abandon it.
This year in anticipation I got an incubator. When they abandoned the nest I slipped the eggs in the incubator. So far 8 eggs have hatched.
The brighter side is they will assist in the snake problem.
Adult Guinea
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Friday, May 31, 2013
Lin with smaller snake (headless)
While the roses are beautiful this year this is the second year that I've had snakes. Yikes! I hate snakes! Have been here for 35 years and last year was the first snake year. The good news is this year the snakes have just been scary 2 gopher, one king and 1 rattler. Last year they were all rattlers.
The most amazing thing about the gopher snake yesterday is that it had gotten into my little chicken hutch where I keep my chicks until it's "SAFE" for them to go out into the real world. The wire on those cages are 1inch by 1 inch on the sides and 1/2 inch by 1 inch on the bottom. The snake was WAY bigger than that. Goes to show how much I know about snakes.
Well this gopher snake was attempting to eat one of my chicks. Guaranteed it would not have gotten out to the hutch with that fat belly. Well it didn't get out alive. I hate snakes but deal with them. While I was catching the first offender, I saw a second one slither past between the floor and the wall. OMG! There were 2 of them. At first I though it was a rattler but was just a slithering gopher snake.
The long and the long of it is I caught both and they were BIG the small one was just over 3 feet and the second one was over 4 feet.
How'd it get through the wire?
OMG I said they were big, yard stick in middle.
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Saturday, May 4, 2013
Before Mowing
The pasture is tall and it's time to mow. So I decided to get the lawnmower out and clean it up before I mowed. It's always nice to have a clean machine. Well you probably already know this. I did but forgot. ArmorAll works great on vinyl to get it nice and shiny clean. Well it also makes it really slick.
Really slick is not so good when it's on a lawnmower seat and you are mowing hills. HOLD ON. I almost slid out of the seat a couple of times.
The grass was so tall I couldn't see the irrigation sprinklers that sit about 2 - 2.5 fee high. I went slow and managed to get it all mowed without running over any. Yahoo!! The dogs Holly and Havana were busy helping but I couldn't see them in the long grass. Good thing Havana does not really like the lawnmower so stays away lounging in the shade under a tree. Holly on the other hand runs on the side away from the chute almost the whole time. She's one tired dog.
Looks how high the grass is
First pass
Holly and Havana
All Done!!!
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Thursday, April 25, 2013
Repaired Pipe
So it's time to get the irritation (opps) irrigation going. I've spent the last few days checking and fixing the water to the pastures. I guess I never fully appreciated how much time and effort it took when someone else was doing it.
It's pretty easy to figure you have a problem when you turn on the sprinklers and there is a flood of water bubbling up from the ground. Sounds easy enough dig a hole cut the pipe, make the repair and your done. Well not really. First problem I'm digging in hardpan, basically rocks and gravel with a little dirt mixed in to fix broken irrigation lines. Once you got your hole dug, line cut the line cut and repaired, you have rocks, sand and mud in the irrigation lines so when you turn them back on everything down stream gets blocked. Then you end up taking the fitting apart and often have to remove the sprinkler/and fittings. Hopefully getting them clean on the first attempt.
Most of the stuff I can fix myself but some of the dang fittings are on so tight I cannot begin to budge them. Thankfully, I have some guys here siding the house and can get them to use their brute strength and break the fittings loose for me. The fun is just beginning. Wish me luck, so far I've got 7 irrigation lines working but still have 16 to go. Keep your fingers crossed for me.
Cutting the Pipe
Cleaning the lines.
Trying to get the sprinkler off
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Sunday, April 21, 2013
Karen with Summer at the Classic
Back from the California Classic Alpaca Show in Pleasanton, CA. We had a great show with Summer coming away with the Color Group Award.
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Amelia "Wild Child"
I've been busy getting my youngsters ready for show. Amelia is my "wild card" the first time on her halter she had a tantrum and THREW herself on the ground. (Got to love those suri''s) She actually doing really well now. She will be joined by Cosette, Hugo and India.
Actually, I'm taking 8 to the California Classic Alpaca Show in Pleasanton April 13 & 14th. Drop by the stalls and say HI!
Cosette
Hugo
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Tuesday, April 9, 2013
Spring and Fantine getting the tasty bits.
Last week we got much needed rain probably about 3 inches here at the ranch. The good news is I got 2 pastures fertilized before it rained. Following the rain we have had some great warm weather that has just made the pastures and the weeds pop. So today was reserved for mowing. When I went through the girls pasture a couple couldn't resist finding the tasty bits in with the dead leaves.
Fantine finding the new grass.
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