Getting in the spirit

I woke up in a very happy mood today, for no apparent reason and despite the fact that I am no longer on the property ladder.  I decided to embrace the mud today (not literally) and revel in  its multi-faceted splendour!  I was not even dismayed when some of my Christmas decorations got splattered and fell off (I have festooned the Mule for the festive season - rather early I know).  I would like to recommend a blogger competition for the most festive field shelter but maybe that is not wise from a health and safety aspect (not sure whether I mentioned Carl's current preoccupation with Bonn Mots?  Apologies if you already know this but his current one, an old favourite, is 'Clean as you go' which is highly annoying but marginally better than 'Strive to Improve'!).
So here is my festive Mule - I shall wait a little before unveiling the festive field shelter (well, I haven't done it yet).  It did look a bit better at the start of the day.

The cats have now settled down and have started going outside.  They don't go out much, in fact they rather turn their noses up at outside at the moment - no where as much fun as the field.  They do like exploring the house though, particularly Little Wee who has a fascination with leads and the log pile!

Yes, the table is really a plant stand and it is in sore need of a polish.

Bugatti Veyron Super Sports

Very windy today and the feed bucket blew out of my hand - full of feed of course - and careered down the hill, chased by Bianca (one way of getting her to run I suppose!).  The sheep were very naughty.  It is good to have them very friendly most of the time but when I am taking hay in and they are all pushing and shoving me it is not quite so pleasant - I ended up drenched and in the mud!  I was told that if you smile at sheep they like it so have been grinning inanely at them for a while now.  I am not sure if that has made them very friendly or it is just that they are so used to me but they do stare at me in a very quizzical fashion.

I took pity on Trouble this afternoon, the bottle fed, as it was so horrible in the fields.  I made her up a little bottle but she only really drank half of it.  I think she just likes a bit of a chat every now and again!

The worst thing of all at the moment is the mud - acres of it - and I have lots of toenails that need doing.  This is what I dream of at the moment not a Veyron, it would only get stuck in the mud,  http://barnacre-alpacas.blogspot.com/2011/11/counting-sheep.html !!!
A barn with a concrete floor!

Sorting by Size

This morning there was ice on the troughs - first time this year.  It was only thin ice but shows it is getting a bit colder.  Of course back at the rental house it was much milder and there wasn't the strong wind that I had on the hill.

Yesterday we did a bit of sorting out of alpacas and I have now split the girls into the skinny ones and the fatties.  The skinnies are on the best grass with extra rations and the fatties are sulking!  Bianca is particularly annoyed about having a little less food and having to walk up hill to get it - in fact her double chin  went into serious wobble and her gigantic thighs trembled as she shook the earth pounding her way up hill!

Dude is seriously happy as he is now at the top of the hill with girls in whichever direction he looks!

I caught myself this morning planning who to mate to next year - not even got these babies out yet!  Trouble is I am longing to try out Greeves - even if he does need a step ladder!

The daftest woman around - probably!

I cannot believe how stupid I am sometimes - all day searching for the raddle, wondering around with pen and paper writing down the ear tags of anyone Rammy looked keen on - only to have Sam tell me amongst howls of laughter, that Rammy never has had a raddle on this year - The Shepherd painted his chest in the manner of The Victorian Farm!  I could have sworn he had a raddle on - and I spend a lot of time looking at him - ah well!  I think his painted bit has worn off anyway as no one else is getting marked, even number 10 despite me seeing him get on her.

Having made that mammoth mistake I have been keeping a low profile today - spending a lot of time on the telephone and the computer!

A bit of leg sucking

This morning I had to scrape the car!  First time this winter.  It turned out quite nice - a bit cold but no rain or mist.  I have had one catastrophe today - Rammy has lost his raddle and I can't find it.  They are not in a very big paddock and I walked all over it - but no raddle!  Now I have no idea who is still to be done - number 10 has been because I watched and it was all a bit of a non event - Number 10 ate throughout and took not a blind bit of notice, it was also pretty quick.  Last year an alpaca ear tag came out and I still haven't found part of it.  Someone said maybe the birds took it - must be a flippin great bird if it took the raddle as well!

Back to my current preoccupation with midgets - Axle is now just over 3and a half months old and he is still little - but also thin.  He is, however, very lively - here he is prior to running over and attempting to jump on Trouble.  Trouble is the first with Flem to the front - she has the abscess.

I don't know whether you can see it but he also has very runny eyes.  I am investigating a growth supplement I was told about to see if this might help him.
Trouble is now not having her bottle and she has gone back to sucking on Bert's leg.  This is what she did as a cria - Bert has never had any milk whatsoever but all her babies seem to suck on her front leg!

The Midget?

Another murky, grey damp day today and all alpacas are looking like drowned rats!

I keep thinking Greeves is still tiny - Here is a rear end view - the only way Greeves would face today.

Here is his best friend, Harry - a perfectly normal size alpaca -

And here they are together.  Greeves is looking a much better size now I think and it is partly my imagination that makes him seem such  midget!

Counting Arnolds

Having travelled 1268 miles in the last 48 hours I am somewhat not with it and this is a quick blog.

Despite being tired we managed microchipping this morning, something Carl does as I do not like the size of the needle.  I also checked over all the babies and tackled Flem's abscess which is pussing up again so I obviously have not got it clear yet.

Grace, the Southdown, had a slight limp so Sam trimmed her feet and sprayed them - there was the beginning of foot rot but we have, I think, caught it quickly.

Now I have a busy day tomorrow as the livestock trailer has to be cleared out and cleaned (it is currently home to approximately 24 boxes of Christmas decorations) and I need to catch up on a bit of John Deereing around the electric fence - plus, of course, collect  little poo!

. . . and I know the blog title means nothing to anyone but me - But Arnold has to be a very wealthy man!