Happy Christmas to all!

Summery photo - no rain or mud!

Rain and wind - lots of rain and wind.  Mud - lots of that as well.  The girls are temporarily back in the front field and the garden as the back field is just too wet.  They find this very exciting but I am not sure I am going to have many strawberries next year.  This morning they were all jam packed in the poly tunnel having strewn hay around with gay abandon.  Photo did not come out well so a summery one instead.


Sadly my truck blew up the day before yesterday.  I left it running whilst taking Greeves his hay and there was a sudden noise like a pile of scaffolding collapsing.  I drove it slowly up to the sheep with a lot of clanking going on and by the time I had got back to the barn it was steaming from under the bonnet.  I abandoned it and Carl has now diagnosed multiple problems - luckily he has also fixed multiple problems so I am field mobile again.

Well, we have a tree up, most presents and cards are done and delivered, mine pies made, mince pies eaten.  I have the best ever Christmas crackers this year - I have a bit of a thing abut crackers.  I don't like pulling them, I just like looking at them and guessing what is inside.  I have still got left over crackers from donkeys of years ago that I bring out every year but a few years ago now I realised that Sam was opening them and taking out any good prizes and then sealing them back up again so I doubt if much of any use is left inside them.  This year's crackers are disappearing fast as they are particularly good and people keep walking off with them!  They are penguins which you can reuse, they don't bang just make a little parp sound (you can make a cheap Lidl version with a McDonalds cup - just push the straw up and down in the lid - we discovered this on our long journeys at the weekend!).

Last bit of present wrapping - accompanied by a GHN produced CD!!

Incidentally,  me wheel spinning out of the drive as the Carol singers approached was not, despite whatever the Grave Digger might think, avoidance tactics!  Kane (the new ram) needed checking as he is a little feisty at the moment

A very Happy Christmas to anyone reading!!

Goodbyes and Hellos

Well, what a weekend that was!  We have driven for miles! And I have eaten far too much takeway food to be good for me.  Harry, Alice and Saul have all gone to their new homes - always sad to see them go but their new owners are happy and I know they have all found excellent homes.

Weather here is not at all Christmas like.  Good for grass but bad for mud.  Getting the stock trailer out at the weekend was a nightmare with Carl having to resort to dragging it out with the quad with me on the back for ballast (and I have lost weight so I thought that was a bit cheeky!)  I can't give you wet alpaca photos so here's an old summer one!



And these are my new additions - The Dorpers!


With Kane the Dorper Ram.  Kane is not too happy at the moment as I haven't yet let him in with Leaf (my Southdown ram) - I think that move will need a bit of supervision and planning!

Catching up

I have been remiss in my blogging I know and that has been as I have had a worrying time.  However, all is now well - in fact all is VERY well.  All alpacas are extremely well - in fact they are very, very well and healthy!  So, what have we been up to?  Christmas Fayres and markets mostly which has meant a lot of knitting.  We have sold well and my mind is busy planning new things but I am being strict with myself and there is to be no more knitting until Christmas is organised, presents are wapped, sheep feet are tackled (ongoing problem), alpacas are moved around and - important this one - sold alpacas are delivered!  Due to getting tests done and results back delivery of alpacas had to be delayed so Saturday we are off to Cambidgeshire (or maybe it is Lincoln) somewhere flat anyway.  Sunday it is Winchester way and then over Salisbury way followed, if time, by a quick toe nail visit down the road.  Come to thing of it I might fit a little knitting in during all that traveling.  It does mean I will miss the Carol Service at the Methodist Chapel and I am not sure we will be in for the Carol Singers on Monday Evening but we will see how we go (can't open my front door anyway at the moment as it has a severe warp).
All alpacas are wet, filthy, bedraggled and unworthy of a photo but next week we will see!

I have also gained a cat.  Can't find who it belongs to but it comes every morning and evening and shrieks at me from a perch on the recycle bin until I feed her  (or could be a him).  My cats are afraid of it and cower until it goes away.  When it first arrived it was very thin - but it is not thin now!


Sunday I am also collecting my new sheep - now when am I going to do my Christmas shopping?