Brrrr!

The cold doesn't seem to bother them!

Having critters helps you get used to the cold weather. Of course, having warm clothes helps too! This morning when I went to feed the critters, the temperature was -2 degrees with a windchill of -17 below. This week has been sort of a lazy week for us, trying to recuperate from Christmas and visitors all last week. My husband has the whole week off and the kids have been letting us sleep in a good extra 5-10 minutes each day! So this morning I was feeling like staying in my pajamas a bit longer than normal. But I also had to feed the critters in the bitter cold. What to do!? Make my husband face the icy weather? No, I chose to feed the critters in my pajamas. But first I threw on my coveralls, coat, mittens, scarf, and Arctic Muck Boots. And they kept me warm! Yay for Carhartt knockoffs! Seriously though, if you need some good clothes for working outside during the winter, check out Berne brand from Thiesen's. Half the price of Carhartts and they are great! I also have loved my Arctic boots from the Muck Boot Company. They keep my toes toasty warm!

Macho Merry Christmas!

Male alpacas are called machos.

End of the World

I had my first mani/pedi this week. I don't tend to do girly things. I don't wear make up every day. I have never had a massage. I am sure there are plenty of other girly things I don't do but I can't even think of what girls do. So this was a big deal for me. It is amazing what you can be willing to try just for a couple of relaxing hours away from the kids. And look! Now I have pretty toes, complete with a beautiful snowflake. Now if only we would get real snow...

Beautiful Day

Today was a gorgeous day. Temperatures in the upper thirties and plentiful sun definitely did not make it feel like December. So what did we do on this beautiful day? We took advantage of the fact we would not freeze nearly to death working outside by cleaning out the stalls and the pasture. Jealous, aren't you!? Now our chickens, goats, alpacas, and cats have a cleaner place to live and play.

Tulip felt it was time to have her picture on the blog again.

We also decided to try our first attempt trimming hooves on the goats and alpacas. We started with the goats and they weren't too bad. They don't mind human contact. In fact, they love letting us pet them so they were easy to catch though they were not overly fond of having their hooves trimmed. It helped that their feet were in good shape and didn't need much trimming. 

He looks innocent but watch out, Blaze can be feisty!

Then it was time for the alpacas. I really wasn't sure how this would go. The alpacas are used to me and come over to me when I enter the pasture. However, they don't really like it when I try to pet their backs and they will not tolerate me going near their faces, unless they are just sniffing my hand. They also aren't too sure of Jon and I was going to need his help.

First problem was how to catch one. They came to me in the side pasture and I closed the gate so they couldn't go far. No way would they let us get near them though so I lured them one by one into a stall with a bucket (they were hoping it contained food). Then I threw a rope around the "victim's" neck so I could hold him while getting the halter on his head. Then Jon held him in place while I trimmed the hooves. I was pleasantly surprised at how well that process went, at least for three out of four. 

Then we took on Blaze, my shyest boy. While trying to rope him, I got kicked twice in the knee. In the same spot. Good thing alpacas are little and have padded feet or that might have hurt! We eventually got the halter on him and then the fun really began. He fought us but we finally wrestled him to the ground so I could trim his fee
t. Since we got the alpacas, many people have commented that they just wanted to lay on the alpacas because they looked so fluffy and soft. Now I can say that I have done that and yes, they are SOOOO fluffy! Too bad it wasn't more relaxing. Plus, the half that wasn't on my living alpaca "rug" was in 'paca poo so it wasn't nearly as enjoyable as others have dreamed it could be. I am glad I cleaned the stall well though so I wasn't lying in nearly as much poo. 

Oh, and did I mention I also got spit on by an alpaca for the first time? Yep, it was gross. Food, hay, and spittle right in the face no down into my shirt. I was a few feet away from the alpaca at the time so I am not sure whether he was actually spitting at me or another alpaca but I suspect he was just bitter because of his unwanted "pedicure".

Can't resist the 'Paca Pics

I had to take more pictures of my little alpaca buddies. I tried to take close up pictures of each of them but some were more cooperative than others. It is a little difficult getting good pictures of them while they are eating but I also thought it made for some pretty funny expressions on their faces.

Breakfast!!!

It has been interesting to see their different personalities over this past week. I think I've figured out the alpaca hierarchy of my little herd. It seems that Huxley is head honcho, followed by Tobi, Chaucer, and Blaze. Tobi and Blaze are the  younger two and they tend to get into some battles with each other. I find it funny that my goat, Wetherby, has taken it upon himself to act as referee when those two get into fights. The couple of times when Blaze and Tobi have started fighting, Wetherby walked up and head butted them until they broke it up. Then he just walked away. I guess he likes to keep the peace in his pasture.

Tobi needs to learn to chew with his mouth closed!

Huxley has a nice swoop of hair.

Blaze is very expressive.

Chaucer wasn't so excited about having his picture taken.

Farm Lessons

Farm Lesson #1:

Don't forget to take the egg out of your coat pocket lest the dog jump up on you and break it in said pocket. 

Life in the Trenches

Once we had our trenches dug for the electric and water lines, the kids had fun playing in those trenches while Mommy and Daddy spent a lot of time and effort filling those trenches back in with dirt. Most of the week, I filled in the trenches while the girls napped. Sometimes I also shoveled dirt while the girls were playing outside. We were under a bit of pressure since the weather was turning cold and the ground was starting to freeze, which made the process much more difficult! But we really didn't want our brand new water lines freezing up! We finished up just in time, with a little help from our neighbor and his tractor. That same night, we got about three inches of snow. Now, instead of a huge trench, we now have a large ridge line. I'm not sure what's better. But at least I now have electricity and water at my barn!

Even the chickens and cats enjoyed playing in the trenches!

'Paca Pics

If you don't like alpacas, then you won't like this post. I happen to think they are adorable. And so fluffy! Don't forget the fluffy! Some people post pictures of their cats or dogs. I post pictures of my alpacas! Well, I guess I also share pictures of my dogs and cats, too. And my goats. And my chickens. And random wild animals. These pictures are just from my cell phone. Soon I hope to use my nice camera to get some really nice photos but for now, these will have to do.

So far the alpacas seem to be doing well in their new home. They are already getting used to me and I was able to pet a couple of them this morning. Did I mention they are very fluffy!? Unfortunately, my goats have turned out to be a couple of bullies and they sometimes try to scare off the alpacas. I think they just want my attention (or any treats I have) to themselves. Kinda makes it difficult to try and befriend the alpacas when the goats keep chasing them away from me. It has also made feeding time somewhat problematic. I've been learning to distract the goats first with their food so I can let the alpacas eat theirs. We'll get this figured out yet!

Alpacas!!!

 Our alpacas finally arrived today! How does one have alpacas delivered when you do not have a trailer to haul them in, you might ask? By minivan, of course!

Tobi is waiting patiently for Blaze to get out of the car.

They weren't so sure about going into their new pasture.

They were happy to have grass!

Still eating...

Blaze just noticed the goats in another part of the pasture.

 

 

Tobi now noticed the goats.

 

The youngest two alpacas showed up first and I was able to get some pictures of their arrival. The other two alpacas, Beau and Bisque, came after it was too dark to get pictures. I will share pictures of them later. So far, they don't seem to mind the goats. Tobi first approached the goats and as he sniffed their noses, he got scared and took off running. The goats took off the other way. It was pretty funny. Now they seem to be interested in just ignoring each other. Should be interesting to see what tomorrow brings!

Diggers

This Fall, the thought of winter scared me. For most of the summer, I used a LONG hose to supply my critters with water. Occasionally, I also had to haul water with buckets and water is fairly heavy. I dreaded the thought of trying to carry buckets of water down the hill and through the snow for my nineteen barn-dwelling critters. So I made my husband get me some water down to the barn. I also demanded electricity to the shop so he could do wood-working all winter. Okay, so maybe these things would be beneficial to him, too, so he readily agreed.

I was nice enough to not make him do all the work at least. We actually hired someone to do the plumbing and the electrical. So one day we arrived home to find giant diggers (as my girls call them) in our yard. The work was about to begin! We had fun watching them dig a huge trench from behind our house down to the barn. The trench was six feet deep and dirt mounded along either side. Getting to the barn became much more challenging and I was now without power in my barn since those lines were cut. But I knew it would be worth the temporary challenge so I could have water nearby.

We had fun watching all the digging going on!

Goat Walk

Post Preference

Pepper prefers perching on posts!

I Love Fall!

Autumn is my favorite time of year! I love the cooler weather and the changing colors on the trees. At our old home, we didn't have many trees but here we have lots of trees, with a variety of colors flourishing in the Fall. Of course, that means we have some leaf raking to do but I enjoy that. And the girls love jumping into the piles, so that makes it even better! My favorite tree on our property is the tree in the front of the house, just outside our front window. At this time of year, it turns a radiant red and on days that the sun is shining, our entire living room glows a warm and welcoming matching hue. It just makes me happy!

Nuggets

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She loves her chicken, Nuggets!

We have a very special chicken. Her name is Nuggets. She used to be called Red but when she started escaping several times a day, her name was changed. We threaten to turn her into her name but unfortunately she is the scrawniest chicken we have and a rather good layer of eggs so I doubt that will happen.

We have tried to figure out how to stop her from getting out but everything we have tried has ended in failure. Other birds who were escaping have now been thwarted but not the determined Nuggets. Many times a day, we glance out our window to see her running laps around the fence. Other times, we find her in the barn. Sometimes I need to chase her up the stacks of hay to catch her. Such a special bird. 

Trying to catch Nuggets as she scrambled up the hay bales.

She got smarter and climbed on the straw between the stalls where I couldn't reach her!

My Life Rocks

Literally. I spent a great deal of time this Fall hauling tons of rocks around. We decided to put rock around our fire pit so mowing around it would be easier. We also put rock around our front tree because nothing but weeds and poison ivy would grow underneath it. Once we got the garden cloth down and the border done, it was my job to haul rocks. That took a long time! And boy, was it a good work out! The girls had a blast playing on the giant rock pile and got nice and dirty from it. Even Bella enjoyed playing on it. I sometimes found it a little difficult to dig out rocks from the pile, what with kids and critters in the way!

I'm glad it is finally done and I think it looks pretty good. It is much easier to mow around both places now and I don't have to worry about anyone getting into the plethora of poison ivy around the tree! Slowly but surely, we are getting rid of the poison ivy and I'm even daring to hope that I might not come down with a bad case of it again next year. Now I just have to convince the girls to leave the pretty rocks in place rather than add them to their ever-growing collection!

Post Post

My husband has been hard at work again. All the posts are up for the new 'paca pasture!

Next step is to get the fencing up and then the gates!

Then we just need to add alpacas! Yay! Oh, and get more hay. And get alpaca feed. And continue to get the rest of the property ready for winter. We are tired.

Goat Fun

With the weather being a bit cooler these days, I noticed that the goats were more playful than usual. Unfortunately, I have not been able to get a video of their playfulness but it did remind me of a video I took a while ago so I thought I would share it. This was when Jon was trying to build the chicken coop and he had his tool table in the goat pen. The goats thought it was great fun and may have been slightly less than helpful while playing on the table!

Goin' to the Dogs

Last Tuesday I was at church for a MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) meeting. I ran into the lady that I purchased my goats from and she asked me about Wetherby and how he was doing since he had been very sick. We chatted a bit and then she asked if we would be interested in an 8 month old puppy. We were planning on getting a golden retriever puppy from her dog's next litter sometime in December but she wondered if we would like a slightly older golden. This puppy was from her dog's litter last year. She told me that the dog was

well-behaved but the owner needed to find her a new home due to allergies.

Since we weren't really planning on getting another dog anytime soon, I said I would need to check with my husband and would let her know. He was a bit surprised to find we had been offered yet another animal but said I could look into it. So I emailed her back and said we might be interested. About two hours later I took a call from one of our church's pastors. Confused as to why he might be calling, I found out quickly that he was the owner of the dog.







He dropped off the dog, Bella, on Wednesday afternoon so we could see if she got along with our family and all the critters on the farm. She was such a sweetheart! Definitely a lot more energy than our nine year old dog but she was very well-behaved. We couldn't resist her and when her owner came to pick her up that night, we said we would keep her. She has been here ever since.

Bella and Bowser get along great. Having a friend seems to have perked old Bowser up a little and he tries so hard to keep up with Bella. He has started chewing on toys again and now stays by our sides when we are out and about on the farm. He never did that before!

I feel so terrible that her owners could not keep her but I like to think we are giving her a great home too! At least, she certainly seems happy here with us! And I know my girls are thrilled to finally have a dog that plays with them!

Fetch, Chicken, Fetch!

The girls came up with a new game the other day. They discovered that the chickens were fascinated by one of the cats' toys, a small plastic ball with a bell inside, so what did they do? They began to throw the ball for the chickens. And the chickens actually chased the ball! I couldn't believe it. Our crazy hens play fetch better than our dog! Granted, our poor dog is getting old and these are spring chicks so it isn't a fair comparison, but he never was all that great at fetching. I was warned when I got him that Rottweilers are fairly lazy dogs and I have found that to be true. But I never suspected that he would be out-fetched by CHICKENS!

Another Weekend Gone By

We took our goats for a walk.

If you read this blog, you know that last week was a bit crazy for us. I am happy to report that we had a much better weekend this past weekend. However, it still was not exactly what most people would call normal.

At first, Wetherby was not overly fond of this activity.

Tulip seemed to have fun

Wetherby enjoyed exploring the back yard.

Tulip got a little thirsty

The deck was lots of fun!

I got attacked. At least I didn't get bit though!

My view of the goat attack

Goat grooming

The girls decided it was warm enough for a swim in the pool

Scary kitty!

Marking the fresh cement

Making her mark, too