Like a volcano, I may erupt

I have spent the last few days being very cross.  In fact I have been so cross I have not blogged - even this blog has been revised several times to remove all trace of the subject of my crossness.  I have, however, just sent off my membership for the Large Black Pig Society of which I feel I will be very proud to be a member.  I will not bore my readers with my pig adventure (which may not actually happen anyway, but you can find out more on my separate Pig blog (I will try not to mention here this area of speculation again!)

It's no good, I must sign off as crossness is brewing up again and £120/£75 for 6 months/what do I pay membership for (flippin' dog shows) is flashing before my eyes.  I will return when I have reached a state of calm.

It's rained a bit

We have not had flooding as badly as many but it has been very wet - and it still is!  Sam is out on flood watch at the moment.  He likes to take an evening trip out to check the fords and I have had to have a 'chat' with him about the dangers of water (actually, he is very sensible but he does have a fascination with floods which began as a toddler in Italy where it rained a lot and he was constantly shrieking 'Floodage!' from his car seat!).  We had to move one lot of girls due to a very wet field shelter which we have never had before and we did have a big problem this morning moving the livestock trailer - the tractor had to be called into play.  That in itself was a bit of an operation as I had to stand on the axle and spray Eazi Start into the hole thingy on top whilst Carl turned it over.  Not good as I was wearing  my best trousers.  The alpacas are spending their time on the highest available ground.

Most of the sheep are sodden - apart from these two, George  and Two Tone, who have taken up residence in the hay shelter!  They just pop out when they see me coming.

The Ram has chosen Stumpy (the one at the back) as the one he likes to lie with!

And Christmas preparations have begun as today I defrosted the freezer!

Asphyxiation

A very productive, if cold, morning of cleaning all field shelters, watching the ram, filling hay racks and generally tidying up.  Trevor, Storm and the rest of the Mums and cria are enjoying their time in pylon paddock but the photo is a trifle boring compared with last night's photographic masterpiece I am afraid!

This evening we are suffering rather.  Carl has finished installing the woodburner and last night it was lovely.

Tonight, however, the wind is up outside and this has turned it into a smoke belching monster.  Carl is up a ladder with his head torch, the dog is passing out in the lounge, Sam has disappeared down the garage to buy chocolate and I have retreated upstairs - which is where Little Wee is heading as the belching smoke terrifies her!

Alpacas at night

Well, what did you expect?!

Visibility - Good

I am out of the mist - today visibility has been much improved, not that I have seen much of it as I have been stuck on the computer updating the online shop for much of the time.  I hate doing it as it always seems to get in a muddle and the pictures go in the wrong place.  I usually start off with enthusiasm but gradually get bored and then  my product descriptions get daft.  Just can't help it.  Here is a picture of one of my new items - The Market Traders (don't ask!).  You can visit the shop if you really can't resist viewing my knitting - Westhill Knitwear

And tomorrow the ram arrives - bit late, I know!

Is there anybody out there?

Nothing to say today.  I am lost in the fog - and so are the animals!

A lover of tomatoes

Today I made the Christmas cake - and burnt it slightly.  Hopefully, a bit of scraping, plenty of brandy and a layer of marzipan will sort that out.

Sam and I spent a good while taking photos to update alpaca seller and doing a bit of handling with the cria.  This was made more difficult by Bert who tried to get in on everything. 

Bert caught me eating a tomato (attempt at a diet) and now loves tomatoes which she eats very noisily.

So, more photos than words tonight.  First up is Dippy.

Then Mick, Sam's alpaca.

In fact Mick is so cute looking here is another one, with Arctic who appears to have no ears!

And JJ

Finally, Bert who insisted in getting in the way all the time - probably searching for tomatoes!

 

Reservoir Dogs

Very sorry about the lack of blogging but Carl has had some time off work so we have been having a holiday.  Mauritius?  Greek Islands?  Scuba diving in the Alps,  belly dancing in Morecombe . . No, we stayed at home and tackled a long job list!  And we are very pleased with ourselves as we now have a wood burner (not quite working yet and took a while as there was no chimney), all alpacas body scored (some fat) and toe nails trimmed, received visitors (well the alpacas have, not us), fenced, moved sheep, visited a place I will tell you more about another time, moved field shelters.  It does not sound much now I have written it down but it felt like a lot!  We tried to take a trip up north but just ran out of time.

This morning I moved the boys into their winter quarters which was slightly dodgy as they had to run past Dude - Alf and Dude were desperate for a bit of a go at each other, Yossarian was leaping around like a maniac and Greeves was trying to get in with the girls.  Harry just didn't know which way to turn!  After much puffing and panting we got there.There was then a great deal of posing at the fence

Marching in the manner or Reservoir Dogs

With the occasional jump around

And a bit of grazing thrown in

I then went to check the sheep and as usual Two Tone and the other pet sheep charged over for some serious back rubbing.  I was bending over to get a bit of weight behind the back rubbing when I noticed another sheep appearing just behind me - couldn't believe it when I turned round as it was the leader of the Scottish Black Face gang!  They were, at first (the other three still are) very flighty and I had to seriously focus on not reaching out to touch her - which was very tempting.  One day, when she has gained confidence maybe she will  accept a tickle in the field - that would be a wonderful achievement.

A touch of snow

We have had a sad event here but I want to forget it at the moment so I will tell you about that another time.
Yesterday I was woken up by a very excited Carl telling me it was snowing!  It didn't last long although there was still a faint trace of snow on the ground on the hill at lunch time.  All alpacas are perpetually damp at the moment but that does not stop Lady Tulisa dashing over to see if there is any chance of a bottle whenever I appear.  Just after my quiet moment with Bea, Tulisa appeared behind me humming - you can just see her beginning to realise I am there!

I have spent two very unfruitful days attempting to move the sheep electric fence.  I was doing well without a single tangle, despite having to move it from behind the pylon, when I realised there was not enough.  Sam assures me just two strands will be a mistake so I have had to stop and wait for some more to be delivered.