This summer we were expecting three crias and now that they have arrived we are just relaxing and enjoying them.  Elvis came first during the Memorial Day weekend.  His mom, Lacey, one morning just looked a bit uncomfortable and gave me that look that "today is the day."  He was actually 2 weeks early so I hadn't even begun to get impatient or worried yet, but we were still well prepared.  It was a gorgeous day, but Lacey decided that the late afternoon would be best.  So shortly after 6:00 in the evening she delivered a gorgeous jet black male.  He could not wait to get on his feet and in spite of wobbling back and forth he was determined to get up.  My husband jokingly said, "Look he shakes his hips like Elvis!"  And the name stuck- Elvis.



Then we began looking for our other two girls to deliver the first week of June.  Marty, my husband even took off to be on cria watch while I completed the last week of school (I am a teacher).  The girls, Carina and Maria, decided to take it easy on Marty and wait a while.  The second week of June I began my summer break and told the girls, "Okay now let's get this show on the road."  However, they had other ideas.  They liked that I was hanging out a lot and reading books in the barn while I waited so they decided the second week of June was not the week for them.  About this time, my daughter, Gina decided to give them pep talks.  She especially concentrated on Maria, because after all she had been bred first.  We began the 3rd week of June without any new babies.  Gina gave lots of pep talks to Maria and finally late Wednesday afternoon, Maria decided to have her cria.  Maria  hung out inside the barn stall that had a fan, but not the one with the porta cool air conditioner.  It was cool and comfortable in there so she delivered a 17 pound dark fawn baby girl.  This was Maria's second cria.  Her first cria was named Music so we decided to keep with the theme and named this baby girl Melody.



The rest of the week we waited for Carina's baby to arrived, but Carina had other ideas.  I was signed up for a 2.5 day course Tuesday through Thursday of the last week of June because I was certain all of our babies would be born by then - silly me for thinking the alpacas would deliver all on time.  Monday I told Carina that this "should be the day"  so I could be home- she disagreed.  Then I thought Tuesday afternoon would be good because my class would be done by noon and both the other babies happened after noon, but Carina had other ideas.  Wednesday was the first all day class and I kept my phone close while my son and daughter watched Carina, but she hung in there.  So then I said okay only one more day of class, hopefully she will wait until Friday.  Thursday morning I went out to check on everyone and took one look at Carina and decided she probably would not wait.  My husband and daughter had to go to a morning dentist appointment so that left my teenage son, Brandon, home alone on cria watch - poor guy.  About 9:10 he calls and says I think it is getting soon, but don't come home yet- luckily my class was about 7 minutes from home.  At 10:00 he calls and does not sound quite so calm as he shouts "It coming! Its coming!"  So I rush home and Brandon and Carina are out in the field, but the baby hasn't came yet.  So I quickly change my clothes and rush out to the field.  About 8 minutes later Carina's baby is born.  He is a light fawn boy, who we name Leonardo.  Aftern we get him toweled off and in a stall with mom and some of her friends, I rush back to class while my husband and daughter return to watch and make sure he is nursing and doing okay.   I came home later that afternoon and he is completely dry, standing, and nursing.  I breath a sigh of relief and admire how handsome he is.    



Each evening the 3 cria begin to run and chase one another.  They are so entertaining.  We have rebred the mom's as well as 3 more females so next summer may prove to be even more eventful!  We are very thankful that this year all three babies were healthy, vigorous, and gorgeous.  The moms- Lacey, Maria, and Carina have been wonderful and each take good care of the babies.   We will sell one of the two boys.  Both are currently on the sales list, because I just can't decide, but the other will be taken off the sales list as soon as one sells.

It is the end of March and April is fast approaching.  One of my New Years' goals was to lose weight and get fit.  I have lost weight, but not as much as I would like.  I will work on getting another 5 pounds off over the next 3 weeks.  Below is my tracker.



We had ultrasounds done on the girls and both of our girls (Carina and Lacey) who were due this Summer held their pregnancies.  They are due the beginning of June.  Both girls are bred to our herdsire, Gaston.  I am looking forward to these babies, although I must admit all babies are exciting.  We also have two females (Shawnie and Madison) due in November.

April 27 we will host an after shearing open house from 10 am to 2 pm.

Well we are well into 2008 and have begun thinking about the upcoming shearing season.  I have set our shearing day for April 26 and plan on having an open house the day after on April 27 to showcase our fleeces, alpacas, and alpaca products.  I have decided since we will be shearing even more alpacas this year, I need to drop some pounds and get fit.  With that in mind I joined Nutrisystems.  In the first week I lost 4 pounds, but I am sure things will probably slow down.  I set a goal to lose an additional 10 pounds before Valentine's Day.  I will see how it goes.

Yesterday, was Friday the 13th.  We have waited for weeks for Madison to have her cria.  It seemed like she was never going to have this baby.  Last year she had her baby at day 345, which would have been July 3rd.  We waited around the the 3rd and the weekend as well, but she still hadn't had her baby.  Then on day 350 I was sure she would have, her baby.  She had gotten huge and the baby always seemed to be moving to the point I thought her sides would bust.



This past week we had 4 days in a row over 90 degrees and the humidity was oppressive, but Madison just hung in there hanging out by the water buckets and the fan.  Then Thurday the heat cycle broke and I thought well maybe today will be the day.  However, Madison must have been listening to the radio in the barn and decided that Friday would be an even better day for a baby and indeed it was.  Is she smart or what?

So Friday morning, which was day 355, Madison decided to come out of the barn and lay around the field.  She was looking bigger than ever and the baby was moving up a storm.  I kept an eye out on her, but was wondering if she was going to keeping me waiting another day or more.  At 11:17 Madison decided to get the show on the road and have this baby.  By 11:35 her cria was born.  The cria is a ...... BOY!  And what a handsome sweet boy he is.  Initially, he looked very white, but as he has dried it looks like he maybe a very light beige color.  He has lots of pigment around his eyes and lips.  In fact, the way his lips are outlined in dark pigment, it looks like he is always smiling.   We will be calling him Simon.



Madison is a great mom.  She is very protective of her baby, but has allowed us to handle him.   When he was first trying to get on his feet, I helped him get up a few times.  Madison would kiss me as if to say "thank you for helping my special boy."   He has gained a full pound in less than 24 hours so she has a good milk supply.    

Today we had 17 farm visitors!  A mom's group had contacted me earlier this Spring to set up a tour.  The children ranged in age from infants to school age.  I was a little concerned at first that I maybe biting off more than I could chew.  We had never had a group this large at the farm, although, I had taken the animals to a career day at an Elementary School and a Daycare center. 

Well, everything went off without a hitch and I could not have asked for a better group.  The children and parents were so engaged and gentle with the animals.  These children were so well behaved.  I told them they have spoiled me with their awesome behavior.  The children were very smart and inquisitive as well.  I just hope any future farm visits I have go half this well.  We were also blessed with a sunny, but cool morning so the alpacas did not mind hanging outside of their barn areas.

We decided to set it up so the animals were in a small enclosure, but could move away if they wanted to.  The front of the barn seemed the perfect place for this.  The children listened to an alpaca story, saw the animals, feed the animals alfalfa, and made their own alpaca pictures with alpaca fiber. 

As I woke up this morning and looked out the window, it appearred we were having a late April Fools joke.  I could not believe my eyes.  There was snow on the ground.  My girl, Shawnie, from New York, was out and about first.  You could almost see by her smug expression that she thinks the other girls are wimps.  They were all cozied up in the barn while Shawnie was out seeing what's up.



Meanwhile Cloud Walker is not impressed with this cold snap since we sheared all his fiber off last week.  He keeps looking at me in the most pathetic way.  I swear 3 days ago people were wearing capris and shorts.  Two weeks ago we made sure the fans were running and hosing the alpacas down to avoid them becoming overheated.   I keep telling him he looks dashing in his orange coat.

On Saturday, March 31st we woke up bright and early to attend a shearing clinic at Fireweed Alpacas.  I took two of the boys, Speed and Cloud Walker.  In the morning we went over the equipment, resources for buying shearing equipment, and places to send fiber.  We learned the difference between shears and clippers and how to put on blades, combs, and cutters.  There were many makes and models of shears and clippers.  Then we broke for lunch and visiting.  After lunch we hit the barn.  There were two set ups- one with a mat and floor tie down and another with a tilting shearing table.  We veiwed both in action, but spent most of our time at the mat and floor set up because that is the set up we will be utilizing at our place.  After some demonstration, Teri and her helpers let us try our hand at the shearing process.  We worked a great deal with Linda and she was an awesome mentor and teacher.  Below is a picture of Cloud Walker being shorn.  He was very sweet, relaxed, and content.


Ben, Patty, Cloud Walker, Linda, and Veronica

We worked quite a bit with Ben, Linda, and Veronica through out the day.  We worked well together.  Linda is from King William Alpacas and Veronica is from Mada Vemi Alpacas.  

Well, after a long wait our 2006 yarn has come back.  It was worth the wait!  Last year I sent my fiber to a mill in New York.  Once I checked on it's safe arrival, I learned the mill went bankrupt.  I thought I would never see my fiber again, but it was finally returned after 3 months. 

Then it went off to New Aim Fiber Mill in  Maine.  The owner, Nancy, was a good communicator and kept me up to date.  I was a little leary of using a mill again, but I really wanted our fleeces prepared into yarn, because the previous year's yarn I had used for two projects and sold the remaining yarn quickly.   Fortunately, I can say it was worth the trials and the wait!  Nancy does fabulous work.  Nancy did the browns and black pictured below and my friend, Kristen, and I hand spun the gray fiber.


Here is a photo of the black yarn.  It shimmers and is oh so soft.  It is Gaston's cria fleece.  I will use it for a special project.



Next is our brown yarn, which is a huacaya/suri blend.  I love it!  It has a nice handle and is a good weight for various projects.  I will offer this for sale to others.  In fact, Lynda has bought up 14 skeins of it already.



Next is handspun yard that Kristen and I have been working on.  This is Shawnee's fleece and it has come out beautifully.  I have enjoyed working with it.
 

I know I did not post in February, which breaks one of my 2007 goals to post at least once a month, but I had a good reason.  We are now fully moved into the farm, but we did not have internet access for 16 days.  However, February was a busy month.  I organized an alpaca get together with area farms.  There are a few of us in the area and I thought it would be great to get to know each other.  Rose Page and Ben Clark from Dameron joined us, Dana Russell and her neice Sue, from Clements, Jim and Elissa Moore from Bushwood, Ambia and Michael Peoples from Mechanicsville, and Angel Forbes Simmons from Aquasco.  It was a great evening where we talked alpaca talk and just enjoyed good food and conversations.  Below are a few pictures from our get together.

  Angel Forbes Simmons and Ambia and Michael Peoples




Marty Mattingly, Rose Page, Ben Clark, and Jim Moore




Doris Shorback, my friend/alpaca sitter and Elissa Moore.

Well the red alpaca cardigan is complete!!  Yippee!!  Now I only have 3 incomplete projects.  I am itching to do a pullover sweater with a rose gray boucle , but I am trying to complete some of the unfinished projects before I begin another new project.