Teeth, yet again!

Yes - back to the grim world of dentists for me!  I had two days of intense pain which culminated yesterday in bouts of crying, curling up in bed and wandering distractedly about the field brandishing the poo shovel and collecting nothing.  Following far too many paracetamol than can be good for one person, Yesterday afternoon I phoned the dentist and begged him to see me.  Today he did.  He drilled, he poked and he injected.  I loved that injection - no pain for a good two hours!!  Sadly pain returned but I am now on a pain break as miraculously, following a painful bowl of soup - the pain has gone.  I am typing this with my head held very still in the hope that the pain will stay away.

My plea to all my readers today is - look after your teeth!  I want no-one, not even the people I am not terribly fond of, to suffer this agony.

Back to alpacas.  The girls now have a new field shelter which they are already very fond of.  Carolyn is now in with Lina and seems to be taking over top dog spot.  Lina is a bit put out by this and got quite annoyed this afternoon when I was giving Little Star a neck rub.  She jumped on her and chased her away and then came and stood by me as if to say, "I'm the important one here!"

Now the pain is returning and Sam has just come in to say two chickens are not in bed - Carl is moaning that the torch has gone missing!

Wet and Windy

Horrible wet weather today - just what you want for a few Lambivac injections!  Never mind - it was all done, all body scored and any feet that seriously needed it trimmed (as little as possible of that!).  Then Carolyn and Sunbeam and Prue and Barnaby Rudge had to swap herds ready for the weaning plan in a few weeks.  We had to stay at the house in shifts as we were waiting for a fleece collection and then, once that was done, there were a few hedge trees to plant and a lot of poo to collect (it didn't all get done - too wet).

I then had to go and sort out Dad's tax - poor Dad, he has been gone for over a year and they still want tax from him.  He never had investments or suchlike and worked until a few months before the end (teaching art to groups) and still they want tax!

Blowing up a gale out there at the moment.

An Alpaca Day Out

Sam has been in charge today - and a very good job he made of things - even a bit of nettle trimming thrown in!  Granny popped up and got roped into feeding him and then escaped to make more sketches of the alpacas.
So where were we?
Firstly, we made a whistle stop trip over to Ashton Lane Alpacas were we revelled in beautiful suris and talked wool (even Carl is becoming quite knowledgeable on knitting now - despite the fact that he cannot knit!).  We then did battle with the Sat Nav as we made our way to Easterwood Alpaca Stud.  We had been promising ourselves a trip over there for ages but there hadn't been an opportunity up until now.  I can honestly say we were completely blown away by what they have there.  We were so impressed with their crop of cria.  Sadly, young Navigator was sold - someone is a very lucky new owner of that one.  Now, I have forgotten the name of the next cria we saw but I have never seen one that colour - glorious!  A sort of peachy fawn and stunning crimp literally everywhere.  That is not to even begin to mention their up and coming stud.  We were so bowled over time was whizzing by!  Jeff and Sheila are always so welcoming and their log cabin was a real palace (lovely bit of tiling Jeff!).  We talked and talked alpacas and then Sheila brought out the knitting - really impressive and not surprising it is selling so well.  The online shop should be good when it is up and running.  It was a real effort to tear ourselves away but we really had to in the end and, after a debate over M3 or M4 (it was M3 in the end) we wended our way home - a very satisfying day!
I think the photos recording  the visit  are crying out for captions - -

Particularly this one where Jeff appears to have had quite enough of us for one day,  "GET OFF MY LAND!!"

Alpacas and cup cakes

Sam had a great time at Granny's with my brother and finally reappeared this afternoon after a little light lawn mowing.  That meant Carl and I could take a trip to Ashdale Alpacas.  I only had one pair of gloves to contribute to the knitting emporium as my baby blanket was rejected, being too small for even the smallest of babies.  Carl was desperate to get down there to see the progress Si has been making on the new barn.  I have to say that I have never seen such perfect blockwork in my life!  It will be one posh barn.  Irene also has a cup cake sideline and they are delicious - we brought some home and I had to photograph them before we ate them!

Finally, we had to wave goodbye as Irene masterfully organised her alpacas (the little one next to her is a dog!).

Mend the Mule Day?

As expected, Mend the Mule Day didn't proceed very far.
It was really windy this morning - torrential rain last night - so no T-shirt today Jayne!  This morning even the garden seat took flight and sailed across the lawn.  Carl and Sam went off first thing with the old car on the trailer for a trip to the scrap yard - it was closed!  They'd all gone off shooting for the day!  They then went into Blandford where Sam purchased a packet of screws and a very smart JCB jacket which looked brand new but was only £3 in the charity shop - he's very proud of it. The search for parts for the Mule amounted to a dead end but a lead for Monday so that was the end of that for the day.

Carl then set to banging in fence posts for the neighbour whilst I continued my poo collecting which takes forever without the Mule.  Had to be cleared well though as tomorrow morning we have lambivac injections to do and a trip out later on - so long as Sam is back by then.  He went to Granny's this morning and phoned just now to say he was staying down there for the night - she has a better television and is a better cook!

Pedal Bin Liners

Bin cleaning - horrible job!  Once upon a time I used to use my old carrier bags to line the kitchen pedal bin - very hygienic, very easy but now, in my efforts to save the planet, I have seen the error of my ways and march into the supermarket armed with a mismatched selection of my own bags (unless I forget them of course).  This is fine but I no longer have bags to line the bin.  Everything, therefore, gets tipped into the bin where it festers away until someone empties it into the dustbin.  I then have to wash out the horrible mess in the bottom.  I would far rather be collecting alpaca poo but the bin was seriously needing attention  first thing before it crawled away on its own.

Fields then beckoned and I took a few photos.

The sky is beginning to look a little more wintry but this morning I was in a t shirt, it got quite warm.  Much colder now though and the log burner is roaring away.

Greeves continues to, very slowly, put on weight.  He rarely stops grazing but still looks a real baby to me.  He seems to have adopted Lily as his surrogate aunty as he is usually with her.

Thoughts are now tuning to weaning, not for Greeves though.  It is a job I hate; we're going to try something slightly different this year.  Instead of weaning all the babies together into a separate pen with Dobby as foster uncle (a job he did not enjoy last year) I am going to attempt to wean the boys and girls separately.  This is rather complicated as it will mean swapping a couple of the Mums round first to make it work.  That is the task for Sunday morning as tomorrow is Attempt to Mend the Mule Day.

Pretty Prue!

Sorry about the spasmodic nature of the blog recently; we've been so tied up with planning various things recently that time seems to be flying by.  The weather is turning rather cold here - even a bit of frost this morning - and another field shelter is becoming a little urgent, as much to put the hay in as for anything else.

I thought I'd give you a picture of Prue this evening.  She has not been on the blog for ages and is my blue eyed white - and there is a long story behind why we have a BEW!  Prue is a bit of a loner who will never feed her babies anywhere near the other alpacas.  She sleeps apart from the herd and rarely interacts with the others.  She is also the easiest animal in the world to handle - lifting her feet to have them trimmed, practically laying down by herself to be sheared and never making a fuss about injections.  As other breeders will know, BEWs tend to be deaf - Prue may possibly be a little hard of hearing but her eyesight seems phenomenal.  It is hard to tell if she can hear as she is very placid and has never jumped or been spooked by anyone coming up behind her suddenly.  However, she does love her food and does not share!  She happily spits her way to the trough and is not prevented from eating by this, unlike everyone else!