It seems that when I'm too busy to blog, it's because I'm gathering up HUGE amounts of material to blog about! Today there seems to be a brief break in the action, so here goes....
The double rainbow is a greeting to all of us from Dr. Jana. She shot it from her deck at her new house outside of Albuquerque, NM. What a beautiful view! Her phone number is the same so give her a call if you are in that area. She would love to see you!
Despite the Covid issues, we have had a lovely summer filled with friends visiting and crias being born. And it's been a FANTASTIC summer for flowers and vegetables. Look at this rosebud! I couldn't resist including it. You can almost smell it, can't you? 😊
As usual, Farmer Don is busy building habitat for his many critters. This last week brought turkey chicks. They are, after all, turkeys, so not the most adorable of creatures, but they have a really endearing whistle that they make when they are busy during the day.
I remember the delights of playing in the sprinklers when I was a kid. I loved turning them on and running through and standing over them when it was hot. There was no air conditioning in those days (so primitive!!), so getting wet was the way to cool off.
Apparently the alpacas feel the same way. We have just gone through a really oppressive 10 days of high heat and high humidity - at least for us-- so we turn on the sprinklers everyday for the pregnant girls so they can cool off.
Can you even see the sprinkler?? The crias haven't gotten the message yet, and how could they get close in any case?
Nancy brought her friends to visit her alpaca over the weekend. Mom, Dad, and 6 darling kids had a great time being sniffed by Tira Misuser and Jupiter. These yearlings are really starting to look for a relationship, and they are not quite sure what kind of a relationship they should be looking for, so humans are worth investigating. The kids and the alpacas had a great time. Dad blew the Shofar for us, too. It sounded amazing out over the pastures. All the alpacas stopped to savor the sound.
A couple of weeks ago the Windy Hill Alpaca Owners Club had a Fiber Play Day. We all met under the trees to play with our favorite fiber toys for the day. We had knitting, crocheting, weaving, dyeing, and spinning all going on at once. We got to ask questions of everyone working.
Look how clever Deb is about arranging her dye cups to do multi-color yarn and keep the colors separate and the counter clean. The yarn is soaked first in water and vinegar, then when it's in the dye, the capillary action carries the dye throughout the yarn.
Some new and some returning friends from the Ventura County Spinners and Weavers Guild brought their looms and wheels out to join us. What fun it was seeing those looms creating gorgeous patterns.
During the summer when we have our births, my office moves to the edge of the OB pasture. My phone, laptop, papers, etc sit in my computer bag and I get to watch the moms ready to give birth while I work. Somedays, though, I carry it all out there and never get anything done because the alpacas are calling my name. There are babies to manage, Vitamin AD shots to give, name tags to make, treatments for various alpacas by the barn, friends to talk to, ultrasounds to do, spit tests to organize, breedings to plan, sprinklers to turn on and off...well, you get the picture.
And pretty soon...POOF! It's sunset again! It's getting dark earlier now, so my evening hours to work outside have been cut a bit. I guess it's good to go home eventually.
Have a beautiful sunset and a restful night.
Cindy
Alpacas at Windy Hill ~ 7660 Bradley Rd. Somis, CA 93066
cindy@alpacalink.com ~ www.alpacalink.com ~ 805-907-5162
