Where to begin?

Since lambing season began in May it has been nonstop crazy busy.  

Here are some of the (non lamb) highlights:

Sam turned 10!

Seven visiting kids, hotdogs over the campfire, cheese doodles and watermelon.

Oh yes, Deja had her twins during the middle of the cookout so I missed that.

 

  Got back just in time to light the candles though!

 That very same day, at the same time as the party, Lila had a girl scout end of season gathering at Chamberlin's Ole Forest Inn which was a bit on the swanky side.  She refused to wear a dress.

I rather like her fashion sense...the cotton glovelets have a smidge of lace at the bottom and the white imprint of a skull on the back.  She was the coolest chick there.  

The food was ALL desserts!

Since then, the lambs have kept growing.  Sam received a camera for his birthday and has been practicing taking lots of pictures.  He loves the lambs (they are even bigger now!).

 Sam patting Uist.

 THIS is what has taken up the vast majority of our time. 

Setting fence corners (Will's tenon and mortised cedar posts) and gates...

(isn't that awesome grass?)

and stretching fence.

(I will have another post on this later).

This is a new face!  Her name is Snickers and she has been living at our house for less than two weeks.  She came to us full of kittens!  She is a tiny wee kitty and is a sweetheart.

 Snickers had five kittens under Will's dresser nine days ago.

I moved them into a box in my closet after heaping all the clothes out onto the floor....

and she moved them underneath the bathroom sink, because, you know, that is a more comfortable spot.

Two calico's, one orange tiger, one black/brown tiger, and one black kitten with white paws.

Their eyes are just opening now and I will get more photos of them up soon.

The kids want to keep all five....

Lila came back from Authorquest an amazingly confident writer with new ideas and processes for writing.

What a wonderful opportunity!

This is a photo of Lila with Johnathan Rand and I'd love to know the story about the guy behind the tree...

 The sheep were shorn last Friday....

 ...and now all this needs to be skirted and washed and processed

(along with the 20 alpaca blankets which I'm working on this weekend).

This weekend I'm also working on finishing up the garden...way behind there.  All the plants are in the ground and I've spend much of the day carting waste hay that is mixed with sheep and camelid poo to mulch the tomato plants.  Will is on his way home from an auction in Escanaba...buying lumber for the bunny barn and goodness knows what else!  He scored a couple of cool things from an auction last week in the central U.P. which I will take photos of to show you later.

May and June have flown by too quick!  Haying starts next week, we need to prep for the Ewe-per fiber fair and then getting ready for our trip to NH...and I haven't lined up a house sitter yet (gulp!).  Any takers???

 

Photos from Author Quest

Johnathan Rand posts photos to his blog so we parents out of contact with our kids can see what they are up to! I hope he realizes how much that means.....I think I will tell him.

Here we are checking in...

Group shot.....she is way in the back

A small breakout session

I can't wait to hear what the story behind the pack goat is!

They read their writing around the camp fire in the evening.

It is called "fire reading".

Morning exercise.

Making friends.

Corinne and Lila....bunk mates!

 

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Writer's Camp

 

This is where I left our junior writer this morning.....at camp Wolverine to attend Author Quest! She was so excited and a little nervous and quiet too. First time away from home for four days!

Camp Wolverine is a retired DNR fish hatchery from 50 years back and there are old raceways filled with aquatic inverts, huge birch and white pine and lots of old buildings to explore. It will be a magical time.

It was crazy with the 60 registered kids, counselors, and family members. I got her settled in her dorm bunk and she was busy making a name tag for herself when I left. There were some fun girls bunking next to her and they dubbed that corner of the room "friends corner" so no doubt she will be in good hands. That didn't stop my eyes from leaking when I got to the car though....and I already miss her fiercely.

 

 

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Weekend Wild Visitor

We have a visitor this weekend....a barred owl that was hit by a vehicle on M77 north of Blaney Park. It has suffered some head damage; the left eye is swollen shut and the beak partially broken near the top. It sat on the road for a couple of days before someone called the office to report it. It is drinking water and eating a little bit. Today it will go to a rehabilitator for assessment.

Yesterday was a nice warm sunny day; lots of flies out. As I was giving out visitor a drink I noticed flies on the would and shooed them away....and saw they had been laying eggs on the feathers near the eye. I like maggots just fine in their place, but I hat when they are on live animals! Eeesh. So I had to clip away the feathers from the wound to get rid of the eggs and some of the bloody mess. Puir wee thing.

It is definitely more perky today so I think the owl and the rehabber have a decent chance of success, depending on that beak injury. It would be difficult for an owl to survive if it couldn't use it's beak for ripping and shredding...maybe some sort of epoxy might work?

 

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Afternoon Fun!

We found the Slip 'n Slide!

 

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Lila's Constructive Day

Lila spent yesterday afternoon and seven hours today with Linda at the Lavender Cottage sewing. She has a natural talent that Linda is trying to encourage at only the cost of materials.

Pajama bottoms

Dress that she says "looks like a potato sack".

I like it.

 

And if she wants to make sacks for our potatoes that is fine with me!

(They still need to be planted)

 

 

 

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Confusion

I think our amarillys is confused with all our cold weather. It decided to bloom again.

The blooms were so big it got top heavy and came crashing to the floor from its perch on the window sill, so we now have a bowl with blossoms gracing the table.

Next post will be about our big Sam Fin, promise Danny!

 

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Alpaca Shearing

On May 10th, we experienced our first alpaca shearing event.  We weren't sure exactly what to expect, but were educated through the process quickly and learned how to improve upon our organization for next year.

First, you need to catch an alpaca.  Will was our alpaca wrangler and he did it gracefully!

You catch one, convince them they need to step on the plywood and then you pick them up, someone gently grabs the head and pushes it down while the handler lowers the animal.  It actually can be done fairly gently.

(the picture is fuzzy because everyone is in motion!)

 

 

You need to have a spot where the alpacas can be tied; the legs are hobbled together and the animal stretched out on a mat or plywood. 

Someone needs to be at the front of the animal holding the head down and when the front legs are shorn they need to be held out and up as well.  It takes a minimum of three people in addition to the shearer to function. We actually had five.

Joanne, on the opposite side of the shearer, is collecting and bagging the fiber.  Ideally there is someone steadying the hind legs as well, like the photo below.

 While the shearer is working, others are busy scissoring tails and topknots; giving vaccinations, trimming toenails and trimming down teeth.  We didn't plan ahead about the teeth but don't have many that are overgrown but will be ready to go for next year.  

Will has the dremel tool required and I will steel myself to do it!

 It unfortunately turned cold the day after shearing and everyone huddled together in the barn for a few days.

Waiting their turn.

The final product! 

Things we learned:  

• An unhappy alpaca can keep up a constant scream for twenty minutes.  
• An unhappy alpaca can spit and drool regurgitated fermented gut contents for twenty minutes (this smells and looks like baby excrement). 
• Sometimes it is necessary to learn a new skill like suturing a big cut and it is okay to feel discomfort.
• It is good to work with people that you like because you are in close quarters with one another

Things to improve for next year:  Ear plugs might be nice for the person holding the head, keep a bunch of rags handy to sop up the alpaca spit/drool, we need more lighting in the barn, get a mat to put on top of the plywood, keep a suture kit handy for larger cuts, keep the first aid kit in the barn with you instead of running for what you need, evaluate teeth prior to shearing and be prepared to grind overlong teeth down, 

and eat lunch earlier!

It took us eight hours to shear twenty alpacas and it was a long day.  Starting earlier next year and being better prepped will keep our time down.  

We also had a set of twin lambs born just as we were going in for lunch!  

I think I was sore for days....