Down by the Crick

As many are doing,today I am reflecting back on all we have accomplished and experienced this year. We close with a mild winter evening and a gorgeous sunset following a sunny warm day… we are feeling very blessed. Although we have had our ups and downs, trials and tribulations… it’s been a very nice year for us. As planned we have grown the farm in several ways. New fencing was installed to provide two new pasture areas for rotation and expansion. A new shelter was built in one of those new pastures. We also added to our herd through births and purchases.

At the beginning of April we traveled to ST. Louis, MO where we got to meet with Phyllis and Jon Turner to pick up Sierra and Cowboy. A quick exchange from one trailer to the other in the McDonald’s parking lot and we were on the road again home. Sierra and Cowboy have become farm favorites, even though Sierra’s disposition completely changed once she was bred with Dreamweaver!! According to Phyllis this is just what her dam used to be like. We are very excited to see what this pairing will bring us sometime in April.
Cowboy is just as sweet a boy as you will find and he has fine soft black fiber. I can’t wait to get some of that fiber to share with Phyllis and to spin, once I learn that is! He’s like a big teddy bear with his fuzzy ears that have now started to have little grey hairs popping out the top showing his grey heritage. It will be very exciting to see if he will throw grey cria one day. We are very glad we had the opportunity to add these genetics to our herd

We attended our first local public appearance at the Home and Garden Expo at the Adair County School complex. Weather was great and we took September Rain, Sierra and Cowboy to meet the public. We had a great day introducing everyone to Alpacas and we look forward to doing it again in 2012.

Soon it was time for shearing and birthing babies !! One of the saddest parts of our year happened when we realized that Ilsa was in labor and she was not progressing. There was no rolling around like she was in labor or pain, just a lot of squatting at the poop pile. As we decided to take her into the Vet’s office the sky darkened and it began to rain. Ilsa would not get up from in the pasture. We managed to get her onto a tarp and drag her into the barn, just before it started to pour. Then into the trailer and to the vet’s office. Unfortunately that cria was in a bad breech position and was already dead. We were so disappointed as this was our first cria from Dreamweaver. The female cria was quite large and appeared to be white or light fawn. Ilsa made a complete recovery and we rebred her to Dreamweaver for another cria in 2012.

We barely had time to grieve for the loss of this girl before we had another dam in labor on April 19. This time it was Sonatina who was carrying a very special cria from “Mary’s” Bentley. Sadly Bentley had passed away earlier in the year leaving just a couple of female cria on the ground and several in utero. This being Sonatina’s 4th cria the labor progressed nicely and she quickly delivered our little “Golden Boy” at 12:40 PM in Pasture B. Although we’ve had more male cria than female cria we were overjoyed when we saw this boy with the beautiful fawn fiber and the adorable face. He needed a special name to pay respect to his sire and thus he became Bentley’s Golden Legacy of BCF… aka “GL”. Today he’s a mild mannered boy with excellent fiber! He’s a sweetie and at 8 months of age he now lives with Wilson and Cowboy in the “little boys” pasture. He was the youngest in his first show at the Kentucky Classic in October and came home with the 6th place ribbon. He has a bit of growing and maturity to do and we can’t wait to take him to more shows in 2012!

As spring passed into summer we waited for Judith to birth her Dreamweaver cria. We waited…and waited and waited… and then finally on day 365 ! along came Alianorah. On June 2, which just so happens to also be my daughter’s birthday and my stepson’s anniversary, Judith started labor and in an hour or so delivered this spunky little white girl, Dreamweaver’s Alianorah..aka Nora. Norah was up and nursing well and Judith showed us some excellent mothering skills. We were just not sure about Judith as she has been quite a feisty one ever since arriving here in 2010. We were a bit surprised when she did not complain too much about us taking care of the cria after birth and periodic weights. She’s been a great mother with an excellent milk supply. Alianorah has grown into a very very spirited young maiden. Halter training should be quite an adventure with her. She was not cria tipped and therefore has that “velcro fiber” and we sometimes call her “haystack”.

The fencing began in earnest and a new shelter was built for the boys. In anticipation of having to wean GL and move him in with Wilson and Cowboy, we needed another shelter for Trueno, Chispero and Ike. The basic structure was built and the metal roof added in a couple of weeks. The shelter now also boasts a motion sensitive spot light to help ward off any predators that may be lurking out there in the furthest pasture from the house.

Fall brought us National Alpaca Farm Days. We had several groups of families come to the farm for a tour and to learn about alpacas. It was a small turn out and we enjoyed meeting some of our neighbors. We also had our Kentucky Classic Alpaca show where we entered both Wilson and GL for their first ever shows. Attendance was down a bit and I was very surprised to find that I was alone in the Juvenile White Male class with Wilson who was just 12 days shy of being a yearling. The judge complimented him on his consistency of crimp and growth being appropriate for his age. I had a great time meeting and greeting my friends at the show and I won a silent auction bid for a breeding to Prince of Dreams from Providence Alpaca Farm. He will be Sierra’s date for 2012 !

We look forward with great anticipation to 2012. We have more Dreamweaver cria to arrive and 3 from our outside breedings to Snowmass King Leonidus at Bear Garden Farm in WV. For a total of 7 or 8 cria to run around the pasture and play. It will be the first year we have had that many since the alpacas came home to stay with us. It should make for some great photo opportunities and blog posts. See you next year !!

Aside from a personal journal or diary, nothing tells the story of your life, family and loves like the ornaments on your Christmas Tree. This evening as I sat knitting in my chair listening to my husband snore in his chair, I gazed upon our massive 12ft Christmas Tree and admired the lights and ornaments, thinking about all the stories on that tree. So here’s the story of how my Christmas tree has grown… and grown…

It all began in the 1970′s when I started working at a local pharmacy that also sold Hallmark Cards and gifts. I believe the year was 1975 that they actually introduced the Hallmark Ornaments. As a young girl my meager earnings were spent on typical things like clothes, makeup and gas for the car. That year I began what has become a lifelong passion, some call it an obsession, of buying Hallmark Christmas ornaments. Each year I looked forward to their arrival in the stores and the “Dream Book”. Each year I would make sure to get at least ONE that had the date on it. Today my collection totals close to 500. I use an online database to keep track of them and their current value on the secondary market.. ( Like I’M EVER going to sell any !!! ) I’m not exactly sure of the number I have because I’ve been lax the past couple of years and have not entered them into the database. So I have some catching up to do this year.

I don’t buy ALL the ornaments each year… but I do have my favorites. Once I start a series, I make sure to buy it every year until they discontinue it. While living in Florida I would attend a secondary market show / sale in Tampa and try to pick up some that I may have missed to complete a series. My only regret all these years has been that I DID NOT buy the first three ornaments in the Frosty Friends Series, which is now the longest running series of ornaments with 2011 being number 32 and those first three are now worth several hundred dollars EACH.

Things my tree tells you.
I’ve had some lean years ! Yes there are years where there is just one or two ornaments from that year. Those are the years when I worked for lower wages, went to college, had a baby and funds were a bit short.

I love little animals. There are squirrels, rabbits, dogs, cats, horses, penquins, polar bears, teddy bears, mice, lambs, seals, owls and of course what tree would not be complete without Charlie Brown and Snoopy !

There’s the Babies First Christmas from 1983 for my son Joshua, 1987 for my daughter Lindsey and 2007 for my granddaughter Alexis.

There’s NEW home from 1991 for the first I had house in Florida, 1997 for my second house in Florida and 2008 for our house here in Kentucky.

There’s a series called Mary’s Angels that began the year my daughter was born… and continues now in it’s 24th year.
There’s a series of Crayola Crayon ornaments that are for my artistically inclined son.
There’s a series call Fairy Messengers that started in 2005 for Alexis.

There are many many firemen themed ornaments as a tribute to the many men in my life that have been in the Volunteer Fire Depts.

There is Ice cream in a cone, and in a dish with hot fudge. There’s chocolate bars, cookies, gingerbread houses, hot chocolate and candy canes.

There are Santa’s and elves, babies, Linus and his blanket, Winnie the Pooh, Fairies, Angels, Reindeer and Raggedy Ann and Andy. Many of the animals are on or in sleds, bicycles, boats, hot air balloons, planes, firetrucks, wagons, toboggans, pillows, baskets, trains, sneakers, mailboxes, walnut shells and cradles. There’s even a Santa on a magic carpet! They are skiing, jogging, running, sleeping, dreaming, reading, and rowing. There’s The Grinch, One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish … there’s even a pink flamingo in a chair on the beach!

What you WON’T find on my tree… Star Wars, Star Trek, Spiderman, Superman, Barbie, The Wizard of Oz, Basketball, footbal or soccer players and equipment, Sponge Bob !!!

There are also some much loved home made ornaments from the kids and cherished gifts from friends and family. My tree has gone from an 8ft real tree to a 12ft artificial tree. I love real trees and only bought this large artificial tree in 2007 because it LOOKS so real and it was on sale AND we got an employee discount. What girl can resist THAT! I am thrilled to finally have a tree that holds my ornaments…. well most of them anyway !

November is here and soon it will be the holidays. Where has this year gone! We have had fabulous fall weather the last couple of weeks with crisp cool mornings bringing us frosty pastures… then they turn into sunny warm afternoons.. sometimes with a cooling breeze. Paul has almost completed his little storage shed project and today we did a little winterizing on the boys run in shelter. It was nice to be able to accomplish this BEFORE the need arose !
Speaking of winterizing, we also got one of these nifty Thermo controlled electrical outlet for the heated water bucket for this shelter. It goes on only when the temperature gets below 35 degrees and turns off at 45 degrees. We’ve had it installed for the last couple of weeks and it’s working well ! Great investment, time and energy saver as well.

Today was a great day to be out visiting in the pasture and grabbing a few photos. Alianorah is growing up! and this week she was 5 months old. Since we did not cria shear her, she’s got that velcro fleece going on and these days she is wearing as much hay as she’s eating. We are looking forward to seeing what she’s hiding under all that fiber in the spring!

All the girls are looking good and Dreamweaver is keeping an eye on them. Rain still teases him on the fenceline..even though she is SUPPOSED to be pregnant.

I’ve been knitting like crazy to make things for the store and the holiday season. I recently completed a scarf and hat and now I’m working on another scarf. There is a big push this year to shop and buy from local artisians. So hopefully my store will see some of that business.

Below are some pictures of the kids in the pasture today. Dreamweaver, Jemma, Cowboy and Sierra!

This weekend was the Kentucky Classic Alpaca Show in Franfort KY at The Lakeside Arena. We attended with two Juvenile Boys, Wilson and Bentley’s Golden Legacy. This was the first show for both boys and the first time Wilson had been off the farm other than a trip to the vets office when he was a few weeks old. “GL” is a real sweetie and so easy to handle… he’s one of those alpacas that will follow you anywhere…. even if you don’t have grain in your pocket. Wilson on the other hand needs a little coaxing…however he did much better than his full brother Chispero who I took to Nationals 2010 and blogged about here.

On Saturday GL came away with the 6th place ribbon for his class. He was the youngest alpaca in the class and possibly in the show having just passed the 6 month mark on October 19, three days before the show started. Dianna said he had the BRIGHTEST Fleece in the class.

On Sunday Wilson was the FIRST alpaca shown in the halter classes which followed the obstacle / performance classes. He and I waited patiently… well, OK, I waited patiently. He was getting a bit frustrated with all this haltering and walking around and touchy feely kind of stuff. But then our big moment arrived and he walked right into the ring like a true champion. It was about center ring when I realized he just had his sights set on the exit gate and I nearly had to do a little trot to keep up with him. Then when it came time to take that right hand turn and go the center of the ring… he said, “I don’t think so”. At this point Dianna became somewhat confused because she was unaware that we were the only ones in the class and she was expecting the other alpacas in the staging area to join me. Little did she know that it was the next class. Who would of thought that the White Juvenile Male class would be just ONE. So she proceeded to examine Wilson, and he proceeded to fidget and kush and just be a little ornery. We got our blue ribbon, some nice comments and off we went. I entered Wilson just to have someone to keep GL company. I’ve taken the gate many times in the White Classes and kinda expected to do the same with Wilson. I still don’t know if he has what it takes to be in the top 6 of a class… but that’s OK for now and we’ll see what next year brings.

With showing out of the way for the day it was time to SHOP and bid on the Silent Auction Items. Which included some wonderful hand made items, breedings, transport certificates, feed, yarn, a poker set and the always present bottle of Kentucky Bourbon. At the show last year I got a certificate for 5lbs of processing at New Era Fiber. I had not used it and since they were there at the show I brought it in with 2 blankets from Dreamweaver to be processed. While at their booth a few things caught my eye….Like this lovely Purple Suri Boucle !! I bought 2 skeins. They name all the yarns after the animal it came from… this is Michael Boucle II.

Meanwhile Paul appears to see what I’m buying and then started chatting it up with the guys from New Era. I went off to watch more classes being shown. After a while Paul appears with a bag and presents me with yet another skein of yarn that HE purchased, because this caught HIS eye… it’s ROYALUMPTOUS ! Now what can I make with 300 yds of wonderful silky bright blue Suri !

The time came for the Silent Auction to end and I really only had my eye on one item. So with just a few minutes to go I went up and put my bid down for a breeding. I had brought along a sample of fiber from one of my girls and had previously had discussion with the breeder about the match. Several others looked at it also and all agreed it would be a nice match. So in the Spring of 2012 we will be breeding Shady Creeks Sierra Nevada to “Prince of Dreams” from Providence Alpaca Farm who went on to take his 7th Championship that afternoon in the grey class. I think I’m getting the hang of this breeding stuff!! It does not hurt that we have some awesome herdsires right here in Kentucky. In 2012…. I’m SHOPPING LOCAL !

The first of my Spin Off entries for this year have just returned in the mail ! What a nice way to brighten a dreary rainy windy yucky day. The box was nicely wrapped in brown paper… I opened the top and saw BLUE…. Then PINK … Then WHITE.. but who got what. I had sent 4 entries to Alpacamania (one of my favorite spin offs).

As I unloaded the box and inspected the contents I found my answer as to who won what.

The BLUE ribbon went to Shady Creek’s Sierra Nevada ! A solid brown girl I bought in April with fine fleece. She is bred to Americano’s Dreamweaver for her first cria next year and we can’t wait to see it.

The 3rd Place White Ribbon went to BCF’s September Rain. This was her first Spin off entry and first ribbon. Hopefully she can carry on in the tradition of her 1/2 brother and collect many more Spin Off Ribbons.

The 4th Place PINK Ribbon went to Esplendido’s Chispero. This was also his first Spin Off and first ribbon.

The Alpacamania awards ribbons to only the first 4 placements. Therefore my fourth entry for Esplendido’s Trueno Blanco did not win a ribbon, but I will give him Honorable Mention as he got a 6 place out of 7 entries !!! He has won several other spin off ribbons before.

I’m very proud of all my pacas !! We have more entries out there for VAOBA, CABO and FABA. And more are ready to go !

The weather this week has been fantastic… but it’s about to change. So today we took advantage of the decent weather to do some outside things. Paul spent time and rolled up the shade cloth we have hanging over the boys pasture. I scheduled the vet to come out to do the CVI’s for the show. I also spent time in the pastures during the evening chores just checking in on everyone. I don’t always get a chance to visit every day.

The vet visit went well and both Wilson and “GL” got a clean bill of health to attend the upcoming show this weekend. We were a little concerned about Wilson’s “man parts” because we have tried to watch for them when he is at the poop pile and we are just not seeing them. But the Doc found them to be in the proper location and approximate size for his age. The boys were the “easy ones”.

Once we finished there we went to the girls pasture to capture Alianorah so she could get her microchip inserted. Catching her was not the easiest task and we had to herd the whole bunch of girls into the center aisle and weed her out. With three of us holding her, the doc was able to get the microchip inserted without a hitch and I did not see one single drop of blood! Alianorah never knew what hit her and once she was released she took off like a shot.

Evening chores are always such fun…. for Alexis. She likes to go out into the pastures and pet the boys and feed them a little grain. She also takes this time to get in a little gate swinging… and the alpacas still have not figured out why she does this. My job is usually to take care of the water. Those bowls sure do get dirty and slimy. I also check the supply of hay and minerals. Today the boys needed minerals and they do love them. You would think I put grain in those feeders. Wilson and Cowboy were arguing over it. You can just call Wilson “Mineral Lips” !

October !! I’m such a procrastinator some times when it comes to writing. In case you had not noticed, I’ve also updated the blog template and theme…. I also did the website AND the store! I’ve still got a few pages to create on the website and some more things to add to the store. With the new development it will be easier to add and update the website. So click on over from the link here on the left and take a cruise around !

We’ve had a very nice fall here on the farm. The alpacas all seem to be enjoying the cooler weather. We had a few visitors for National Alpaca Farm Days last month. The weather was perfect and we enjoyed spending time talking paca with some locals. Hopefully we can have a better turn out next year.

After spending a few anxious weeks calling around and cruising message boards we finally got some nice hay ! I was getting nervous that we would not be able to buy enough for the whole winter all at once! It took two runs with the enclosed trailer on a damp and yucky week, but we did get 150 bales of nice Orchard Grass Hay…. the kids will be real happy this winter.

Our girls are all bred… well at least I think they are. Rain continues to tease her 1/2 brother Dreamweaver when ever she has to go by his pasture. Last weekend she even kushed on her side of the fence. I’m hoping she’s just a silly young alpaca that doesn’t know that she’s not supposed to do that when she has a bun in the oven. Most all the others just run on by. So April and May are going to be quite busy next year.

Show time is coming up next weekend for the Kentucky Classic. I’ve got “GL” aka Bentley’s Golden Legacy and Wilson going. Believe it or not, Wilson will be nearly 1 year at show time and “GL” will be just 2 days over the 6 month mark… and both are nearly the same size. So either Wilson is a little small or “GL” is large for his age… or a little of both. Here’s a pretty recent photo along with Cowboy who was 1 year in July. They are the three amigos !

Yes, Summer Dirt Days…. the days of summer where it’s so hot you are always out to hose down your alpacas, who immediately go out to the pasture and roll in their favorite dirt pile !! Then they graze for a little bit and do a little sun bathing !! It’s enough to drive an alpaca farmer crazy !

The girls that traveled over to Bear Garden Farms for breedings have returned home along with our young man, “Golden Legacy”. We call him GL for short ! All 3 girls got pregnant on one or two breeding sessions! We anxiously await those cria who will begin arriving the middle of May next year !

It’s been horribly hot and humid, but of course I don’t need to tell you that because practically the entire USA has had this weather this summer…. well maybe with the exception of the Pacific Northwest and Southern California. But enough is enough…. we have been 80 and up for temps and 96 and up for Humidity !! Yes, we’ve had some rain too.. but I think I was more than ready for a little break. All the heat and humidity wreaked havoc on our garden. The cukes started to die off first, but not before I harvested enough to share with friends and neighbors and eat one or two every day. The Crook Neck Squash got bugs and pretty much never grew very big at all, unlike a few years ago when we had a bumper crop of those. The Zucchini did very well for a while, but finally succumbed to the heat and bugs. We got plenty to bake some breads and eat with our dinner for a few weeks. The butternut squash continue to survive as well as a couple of cantelopes…. those that did not become a midnight snack for the raccoons. Paul found just the shell of the melon the next morning. The following night the visitor chose to dine on some corn on the cob !

The Butternut squash obviously like this weather because they have taken over the garden and are now growing up the chain link fence and out the other side.

The sunflowers that grew from the seeds planted over the winter by the birds have all been snacked on and eaten by some beautiful Gold Finches. Every day I watched them as then sat on top of the flower heads and pecked away to remove the seeds, leaving the hulls behind. I was never able to get close enough for a good photo. Meanwhile the GIANT Sunflowers I planted in the backyard are growing strong !

Our new little girl Alianorah is growing nicely and her mother has some very nutritious milk. She’s up to 45lbs as of today and very fluffy. I’ve tried several times to get a good fiber shot, but alas, she is very active and does NOT like you messing with her. Here she is with “GL” on 07/28. They are pretty much the same size, he’s weighs in about 7 lbs more, but he is 6 weeks older.

Not much else going on. School started last week and we are getting back into our winter schedule of getting up earlier. With Alexis gone 5 days a week now instead of 3, Paul has more peace and quiet to work on his book as well as tend to the farm work.

…. It’s complicated… camelid psychology. I’m not saying we have psychotic camelids, but sometimes I don’t think it’s that far off. Enter Sunspot 8 years old and never been pregnant. She hates to be sheared, hates to have her nails trimmed, hates to get fly spray… she just hates for you to do anything with her. She screams, spits, pees, kushes and throws her head around… sometimes she even poops. She is a big sturdy girl, around 180 lbs. So with this in mind it’s just real tough to figure out if she is pregnant or not. We’ve only owned her for just over a year and her previous owner was not real aggressive about breeding her. We gave her a few tries last fall and when it got late in the year we just said, oh the heck with it we will see what happens in the spring. Well now it’s Spring and we ultrasounded her in May to find her open and fertile !

We’ve bred everyone at least once and Sunspot had her turn on May 26. I might add that this was in a confined stall with very little space to “get away”. During other breedings she is just nonchalant, walking around with very little interest. So on Monday we decided to put her into the pasture with our herdsire Dreamweaver. Of course he went right after her and she led him on a healthy chase around the enclosure. Then things settled down and they pretty much ignored each other for a couple of days. She went into the shelter at night, he stayed outside. Then on Wednesday, the heavens opened up, the thunder rolled and the lightening struck… I’m not talking love vibes here, I’m talking stormy weather. Dreamweaver immediately took cover in the shelter…. Sunspot kushed down in the corner of the pasture. I was working downstairs and Paul was off the farm. I checked a little while later, Sunspot still sat in the corner. I went back to work…. checked a little later…. she was STILL in the corner…. then when the sky was dark as night and the rain came down in torrents I went one last time to check. I got upstairs just in time to see Sunspot get up, stick her neck straight out in front of her and make a beeline for the shelter !!! I suppose she finally decided that there WAS room in that 12 x 12 shelter for 2 alpacas !

Thursday…. we decided to spit check some girls and since nothing was happening with Sunspot we would release her from the “pasture of hell”. So while Paul brought Dreamweaver over to the girls barn… he left the gate open. Before he was 1/2 way to the barn, Sunspot came screaming by like she was running the Kentucky Derby…. straight for the barn. I opened the gate and let her in. When Dreamweaver showed up, we let him loose in the small barn paddock to “check his girls”… we’ve found that he has a good sniffer. So he chooses to go after Jemma…. who runs around in circles and in through the barn. Meanwhile, outside near the watering station…. Sunspot kushes !!!!! WHAT ! Soon Jemma runs right by her in her efforts to escape Dreamweaver… who promptly decides “Hey! let’s try this one she looks ready”! Jemma escaped to the barn and Sunspot sat still and bred for 13 minutes. But, while they were breeding Ilsa kushed beside them. So we will have to let Dreamweaver check on her tomorrow.

June 2 …. Paul came in from his morning barn visit and proclaimed….” Today is the day !” Sure enough a few hours later Judith finally went into labor. Alexis and I joined him in the barn where Judith paced back and forth and around in circles humming. Not long after we saw the nose and toes presenting. With the head out, Judith decided to sit by the barn door and take a little break.

As we all watched in excited expectation Judith calmly got up and walked around a bit more. Within a minute or two, but according the the camera time… not more than that Judith delivered a lovely 16lb white female ! And so it was that Paul was correct, for the 3rd time I might add. This being our 3rd birth on the farm and our 2nd FEMALE ever, we were very excited !!! Although I love all my boys, the girls have got to come too ! The cria was sitting up within the hour and nursing nicely by two hours. Just what I like to see, a textbook birth resulting in a healthy cria and a healthy dam. Judith is a good mother with plenty of milk and she does not get too upset when we mess with her baby. We’ve name her Alianorah or officially BCF Dreamweaver’s Alianorah. Here she is today at one week of age ! 365 Days gestation… that’s LONG WAIT Judith !