31/01/2009 by Rosemary.

The view from the garden this morning.

It has been a very busy week.  I have been teaching all week and reception children keep you on the go!  We have not had time to do much with the alpacas except feed them but they are quite content!  Today we went to Blandford in the morning and I bought a new camera so we could do some photos for the diary.  It was on special offer and I did not understand what they meant about the number of mega pixels but Sam thought it would be a good buy.  He bought a free-view box for £15 which he says will give him lots of channels to watch on the television - as we rarely have time to watch the ones we have at the moment and the television only gives us a good picture if the wind is in the right direction and the kittens have not attacked the cable, I am not sure what value he will get from it but he is pleased with it. Carl has spent most of the day cutting up logs for the fire - they say it is going to get colder and it is pretty cold already!  The temperature is dramatically different over the road in the fields to the temperature here in the garden.  When I went over this afternoon it didn’t feel too bad until I got into the field where the wind was howling and the girls were queuing to get in the shed.

I spent the afternoon poo collecting which was great until the tractor broke down - again - and I had to haul the bucket up and down the hill by hand.  We use an old Westwood garden tractor with a trailer on the back to drive up and down collecting poo with  bucket and spade but it is not really powerful enough for the hills (Carl says it is my fault it breaks as I drive it too fast).

Good news - the hens have started laying again!

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25/01/2009 by Rosemary.

This is exciting but a little worrying!  I’m worried I’ll publish something with spelling mistakes or that does not make sense.  Sam says, “That sounds silly Mum.  Just tell them about the alpacas - no-one but the Grannies will read it anyway!”  He is right of course!

I actually wrote this on the 19th but then the kittens attacked the router on the computer and I lost the Internet for a while.  It is back now so I have updated it slightly and I am going to try to upload it.

The 19th was wet, cold and misty.  The alpacas looked filthy and mud was gradually working it’s way along the hall carpet.  BUT we were very, very happy as Spike had just returned after being away for seven weeks.  Spike is our first home bred cria. We had to send him away to wean him as we had not set up a suitable paddock.  When he arrived back he went in with the two wethers and settled immediately.  Dobby got very excited and made a nuisance of himself a usual!  Spike has really bonded with Caedmon and follows him everywhere.  Caedmon keeps touching noses with him and pushing Dobby out of the food trough so Spike can eat.  Caedmon was good with him from the moment he was born.

Over in the girls’ paddock everyone seems happy.  Carolyn, Spike’s mum looks over at the boys as she chews - it looks like she is checking he is behaving - but she doesn’t seem interested in trying to reach him at all.  We have six girls, five of them are pregnant.  Roberta always wants her food and has a little paddy if she is not fed first.  We have to feed her in a separate pen as, if we do not, she goes round all the troughs spitting and nuzzling all the food to put the others off and then she comes back and leisurely clears up while the others look on with droopy mouths.  We feed them in old guttering in wooden stands Carl made and she has worked out how she can move the guttering with her feet out of the stands to get at any crumbs left behind by the others.  She is a very clever alpaca.

It is now Sunday afternoon and Carl is fencing by the barn so we can make a run round the edge of first field.  I am working at my other job for the next six weeks so I am supposed to be getting ready for that before going over to feed and trim toenails.  I shall write again at the weekend and try to add some pictures.  Must start Spike’s halter training once he has had time to find his feet.

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