Goodbye, but not past tense...

Well, by this time tomorrow, I will have no llamas. 

I really love the girls, but have found, I can't care for them well enough.  More accurately, I can't do the maintenance, toes, and shearing, they need on a regular basis.  Husband has pitched in, but doesn't like to. 

I had a gentleman that was just perfect for the job, and was going to call him.

Then he had an accident, and can't shear anymore.

I have been trying to find someone to shear my 2 girls.  Most of the responses are on the order of, ONLY TWO?  With a look that is similar to finding dog excrement on your shoe.  When I do get someone that will, the price is... Well, a lot more than what the gentleman had been asking. A lot more.

And we have to pay insurance, because they are considered livestock.

Then there is the fiber.  I have been unable to get the fiber made into roving.  I have several bags worth (waaaay more than 3 bags full, sir) and when I call, most of the processors say up front, no, we aren't taking any.  Or, if they do, they want to do something other than I want. 

I have one that is so close by, but was told llama fiber is only good for rug yarn, and that's all that company will make out of it.  But, I didn't want yarn, wanted to spin the fiber myself, (sort of the point as a spinner...)  They also said the guard hairs can't be removed.  I am not sure if they meant that company couldn't, or if they meant just generally.  But you can remove them, and the resulting fiber is wonderful, not "scratchy rug yarn" at all.

So, after a great deal of thought, some conversation with Husband, and staring at my heavily in need of shearing girls, I started looking.  I wanted them to go to a home with sheep, or other llamas.  Considering I have been seeing ads where people wanted them for meat, I was a bit picky.* 

I have had people tell me they want a llama to guard their chickens, or ducks.  I try to explain that llamas need other animals like another llama, or a cow or sheep, they don't see birds as fellow "herd animals". 

Zing!  As it goes through one ear and flies supersonic out the other...

So, I found a gent, and he, as it turns out, owns a llama ranch in Washington.  I really don't want to give the girls up, but this guy has raised llamas for years, and they will be with a big herd.  They will be able to be cared for the way they need to be, and have more llamas to interact with...  (I hope that's a good thing, in Dolly's case, she is an Alpha, and does NOT like to be second when there is food around.  Toni, on the other hand is mostly, Yeah, whatever...  So I guess it works out.) 

So, even though I know it's the right thing, (right now we are going into 80 and 90 degree weather, and they are very fuzzy, think of a heavy parka in Phoenix midday), I am feeling... downhearted.  I guess I am trying to look at it, they need someone who can do a good job, and I tried to find that someone.  I guess that is the important thing. 

But I will still miss them. 





*Yes, llamas can be used as a meat product.  I just don't want them to be used as food. 

Chicks, kittens, llamas, stories, and socks.

I will have some pictures up soon of the new chicks at our house.  There is 2 hatched, at this point, and one hatching.  I can't see the other two eggs.  Taurus is notoriously nasty about letting me put my hand around her to see or collect eggs, so I am not surprised...

I will also be getting kittens pretty soon.  Our neighbor's cat exploded, blooey, kittens everywhere, and I have been given 'picks of the litter.' (I asked for 2.)  So, with any luck, you will see more kitty pics, too.

We still have the llamas on "cria watch", but so far, no one seems like they are even fat, let alone ready to give birth.  Sort of a disappointment, but they haven't been shorn, either, so it's kind of hard to tell.  We'll continue to hold them in the small field until about mid July, and if nothing has happened, we'll let them back out into the big pasture.  It certainly wasn't for Lorenzo's not trying!

I have been enjoying music from Sherlock (BBC), and was just picking some randomly from YouTube. I must have accidentally hit the wrong one, because I started hearing Cumberbatch (the guy who plays Sherlock in the series) reading Kafka!  Turns out it's a program from BBC radio where stories and books are read.  I proceeded to look up the radio's website BBC Radio 4 Extra.  What have we here?  Dr. Who?  More stories?  Yep, I am going to have to look, er, listen to this a bit more.  Plus, I found more stories on YouTube, so I am really beginning to like the 'hands free' method.   (I must admit, though, it's a little strange to go to a VIDEO website, to listen to something that is just the AUDIO portion.  Meh...)


I am knitting socks.  I should be knitting baby blankets, and fish, (more about the fish later), and finishing some other projects.  But I want to knit a pair of socks.  Do you ever have a fall back, you have this and this and that, but you do x?  Call it procrastination, time use, whatever.  I just wanted to knit a sock or two.  I will have to get back to my other knitting, but hey, we can all use socks at one time or another, right?

Bumfuzzled...

"We need to do something about the grass in the garden..."

Husband looked at me.   I said, "I want to put in raised beds, could I just set the beds on TOP of the grass?"

"No, as the grass died back, it would create lumps and bumps you might trip on."

Oh...

"What about me getting out with a push mower?"

"It's almost to your butt, that would be too much for you OR the mower."

Oh... *sigh*

So, after some more discussion of varied and sundry ideas, that really might work if I had unlimited personal strength, money, or hordes of willing helpers...

Having none of those, we continued to ponder.

"Hey, why don't we move the llamas in, they can eat the grass down, and you can have some free fertilizer!"

Hmm... That could just work!  We decided that we'd move them in the morning.

Husband had to go get some business taken care of this morning, so I decided to see if I could move the llamas myself.  I managed to corral two of them.  The others came up and started checking out the feed bucket, so I caught Lorenzo, who is a little love, (except when he broke my glass chicken waterer, grr), and I walked him out to the garden.  I put a water bucket out, and he just started eating like it was completely normal.

I then went in to get Dolly.  Nothing doing, she didn't want to be around me, she bolted and ran around the field like her tail was on fire.  Oooooookay, we will take care of Dolly later...

I then went in and caught Toni.  She grumbled, and pulled against the rope a little, but once she figured out I was walking with feed in the other hand, she decided this looked promising.

Until we got to the garden.  The gate swung toward her, and she stopped dead.  I pulled, she stood.  Until I blocked the gate, so she didn't see it swing, she wasn't going to do ANYTHING.  I finally, with a little tugging, got her in the garden with the gate closed.

Rudee tried to help.  I debate on whether he was actually doing much, help wise, but except for laying down in front of the gate, pinning it closed, when I was trying to lead a llama out, he did okay.

But, I was pooped.  I had weeded again (only 2 wheelbarrows full, yes, I did learn my lesson...), and went in the house a bit to rest.  Husband came home, and then helped me get the other two into the garden.  He went out and put a lead on Annie.  Surprised me with how easily he was able to get her into the lead, she is the least cooperative one of the bunch.  She fought the lead a little, but he walked her over, and I managed to get the gate open, and shoo the others away while he led her in.

Finally Husband managed to corral Dolly, who was nearly crazy by this time, wanting to be with the others, (llamas, like sheep, are herd animals, and DO NOT like to be by themselves), he put the lead on her and I thought she was going to take his arm off running.  He just held on, and she jerked to a stop.  We sweet talked her, and finally got the lead on properly, and I ran walked quickly to the gate, and shooed the group away again, as he walked up with her dancing all over the place around him, not quite wall-eyed.  He calmly walked her in, sweet talking the whole time, and once the lead was off, and she realized she was with the others, she calmed down.

Then the whole group looked at us in complete confusion.  Why are we in here?  What did we do to get stuck in this tiny hole? (Considering I call it the County Plant Jail, it seemed sort of appropriate...) But we looked them over, they'd all calmed down, and except for the bewildered looks, were settling in  well enough.  I think in a very few days, they should have the whole thing eaten/walked down, and we can move them back to the other pasture.

And as usual, Husband, He who doesn't "do" animals, was able to calm and lead the gals like he'd done it all his life.  And sweet talking them, too.

The ol' poop...  ; )

Wha'd we do?  Dang, and I don't have a tin cup...

Breakfast. (Picture heavy.)

(To explain, I am trying to put some weight on Llama, she is elderly, and didn't seem to hold her weight up during the winter.  So I am feeding her in the chicken house, and the others are very jealous... And yes, it is chicken chow, but it's nearly the same product as some of the other feeds I have used for the llamas.  Go figure.)

Nom, nom, nom...  I loves me this chicken chow...

Hello, I heard the word CHOW used.  Where's mine??

Me, too!  Chicken chow is my favorite! 

Why is the door closed?  I am ever so... annoyed...

Oh, you have a camera.  If I smile, do I get chow???

Ah, sunshine.  You know what would be nice? 

Yes, indeed, I would love some chow.... 

No?  But I am so cute!

HEY! MOM!  Why are all the spitters up front?

SPITTERS??? How RUDE!

Um.  Food?  

Llama day...

So, I couldn't think of any great topics to blog about.  So, instead is a few snaps of the fuzzy four leggers.

Dolly (right), Lorenzo, (center) and Toni, (left)

Have been waiting impatiently for me to feed them.

At least as impatient as they get, anyway...

Llama.  Guess who found the muddiest spot on the whole place to roll in?

Sigh... 

Annie, who insists on tipping over any bucket,

to make ABSOLUTELY sure there isn't one scrap of grain 

she might have missed.  Not ONE!  Looks like she might 

have gotten into some mud, too.

Swell...

Good thing I love these little monsters!  ; )

Time. Zoooooom, there it goes!

I thought it had been about 4 days since my last blog.  Ahem.

Not.

So, Just to let you know that I am among the land of the living...  Yon update on Le Doings.

I read all the comments.  Then tried to use my computer, which promptly committed some random blast of poo, rendering it useless for such things as GOING ONLINE.  (I am writing this at the cop shop, and Husband has said that I can use his computer when he's out in his shop.  And since he has a big order from the company he works for, I should be able to get some computer time...)  I still get emails.  That is something, I guess.  I just can't convince the computer that google.com is NOT a virus.  I have narrowed it down to my Norton program, I think, so with any luck, I hopefully shall get some sort of solution after running a restart.

Again...

I want to say that on the comments, La Shaune, your comment that there should be a knitting bag in the shape of a Tardis has given me an idea, which I hope to work on soon, and will post in the (hopefully) near future. 

Sharon, you should email me and I would see what I could do about the bag... If you don't mind a wait. :)

messymimi and Danielle, the even more annoying part, I exercised all week, and he didn't! Bah!!

Rain and Dreaming, this is the first time I have ever had dealings with a GPS, it was beginning to make me wonder what the fuss was about.  But in the city, it was a huge help, especially when I missed a turnoff...

bon bon, yes, I have found that knitting and sci-fi seem to go together.  Guess it's all that string theory, heh heh heh...

So, I have been helping at the Ren Faire site, cutting grass and weeding, putting off my garden, where I would be... cutting grass and weeding.  Life can be interesting that way, sometimes. 

My llamas... Have been very friendly with one another, all except Llama.  She just walks away from the fray, grunts, and just watches the antics.  If I don't get a cria* out of this, it won't be for lack of (Lorenzo's) trying! 

I have now had cucumbers, a few zucchinis, and 2 crookneck squash from my garden.

I have had a few tomatoes, but every one of them so far have been cracked because of all the rain we have had.  I keep thinking we could trade, give a few days of rain to some of the other states that are roasting, and they could give us about a 5 or ten degree up in temp to help with growing.  Right now, we are having weather more suited to April in this area, then August.  One bright spot, the fire danger is relatively low...

I was watching a movie, just getting into it, and our lovely digital programming got me, the signal went out.  (Insert various non-lady like words here).  I had a little bit of time before I went to the cop shop today, and went to the library.  I remembered they had videos.  I started snooping, and TA DA!  The movie that I had been watching was there.  I snapped it up, and most likely will watch it tonight or tomorrow.  Hey, I have the card, might as well use it, right? 

I was reading that if you just do the same exercising, that your body can adjust to it, and you don't lose weight as quickly.  So I have added a daily set of sit ups.  I started at 100, and am now up to 300.  It seems to take forever.  But this week I lost about 1 1/2 pounds.  So we shall see.  I keep trying to figure out how to add push ups, but so far my knee won't cooperate.  (I have no kneecap on one side, so pressing on it for long periods doesn't work.)  I might a "knee pillow" of some sort, and start with like, oh, 10 push ups, see if I go into paroxysms of agony, if not, increase.  It's one of those things that I just have to go slow.

And I am up to the 8th handwritten page on my book.  It's a start!  Few hundred to go...
Heh.

Wishing all my readers GOOD computer time,
Cat

* cria is the term for a baby llama.

Shearing and panicking

So, wanted to show you a photo of Lorenzo, sans fiber.  (It was almost criminal to have to bunch the fiber, rather than to use it for spinning, but when you have 2 people who are learning... It ain't pretty, folks.)

We have him shorn so he doesn't overheat, and that's about the best I can say for it.  I think I am forgiven, however.  For all of those asking, YES, llamas spit.  Lorenzo was frustrated, and spat at me after 40 some minutes.  Think of an extremely obnoxious 2 year old with good aim and a mouth full of half chewed peas.  Not dangerous, just gross.

Anyway, I tried to take a photo of him the next day, and he must have decided I was giving out treats...

Let me tell you, this looks reeeeally close in the viewfinder!

But I finally was able to move far enough away from him to get a 'decent' photo.  So, here is Lorenzo, sans fluff.  He looks TINY without the long locks he had!  (And unfortunately, sorta gangly, too.)

But, it went as well as I guess I could hope for, except I found out, I need to make some adjustments, as I can't hold a llama leg up on my knee (No kneecap, so I couldn't support the leg, without my leg buckling).  I will have to make a device I saw a farrier use, a jack with a v shaped top to hold the leg while I am trimming.  Husband, bless him, got that duty.  He didn't mind that a bit.  

Shearing, not so much.  I didn't mind shearing, except that Lorenzo's hair was so thick, I had a hard time getting a good start. (His butt has several different shear directions, because of this. Not classy, at all...)

In other news...

Last Wednesday, I did my usual shift at the substation.  I sat down, turned up the scanner, and was just about to blog and play on the computer get to work, when I heard one of the deputies give an address.

OF MY NEXT DOOR NEIGHBOR!!!

I listened, and, of course, Murphy's Law went into effect, meaning that they were busy, and stopped talking.  All I had caught was "runner".  I called husband, who, also true to Murphy's Law, didn't answer his phone.  I told him something was happening at the neighbor's, please please please, don't go outside.

And I waited.  No more on the incident.  Stew. Fret. Worry.

More stewing.

What is going ON??!?!?!!

Sgt. came in for lunch.  I thought about asking him, but knew he generally worked in a different area.  Then another deputy came in, and I tried to be real casual, hey, did you happen to be working at XXX address?   

He said yeah, why? 

I pounced.  That's my neighbor, and I didn't hear what happened, just that there was a runner?

He got a slight smile, indicative that some bad guy pulled an extraordinary dumb.  Yeah, you know the kids clearing brush at your neighbor's house are Juvenile Delinquents, right?

Yes...

Well, one bright boy, (Sgt. comes in, grinning), decides to make a break for it.  He runs from our road, to the next road behind our place.  Now, this isn't all that far, as the crow flies, but there is a lot of brush.

Blackberry vines, to be exact.  I guess the deputy just followed the broken branches, and blood trail from the kid going in a nearly straight line to the next road.

Sgt. then picks up the story with a nearly feral grin...

Yeah, the kid was standing at the edge of the road, and trying to get one of his buddies to come pick him up.  I decided to give him a ride, after all, he did deserve it!

I cracked up, the Sgt. looked like he was just about to rub his hands together in glee.

So, the neighbor is fine?  (She is elderly.) 

Oh, yeah, I don't think the kid even slowed down past her house. 

(Thank G*d...)

So, I went home, and Husband asked me about the phone call.  I told him, and he said, yeah, I got your phone call, and walked around the house to see if there was someone outside, since you didn't leave a lot of detail in your message.

Not a lot of detail.  "Please, please, please, do not go outside."

He walked around the house to check if there was someone outside.

Excuse me, my mental gears have stripped...  AIIIIIIIIIIIIIGH!!!

But, all's well that end's well... But I know that one kid isn't going to be on work crew anymore!

Casanova's haircut and pedicure, transgender chickens, and guessing games.

Tomorrow is the big day.  I had to re-arrange the schedule a bit, since Husband has been swamped with work, but he and I will be doing toenail trims on all the llamas, and shearing Lorenzo.  The new girls don't have long enough hair for it to be worth shearing, and I am not shearing Llama, as she is getting quite old, and seems to need her hair for keeping HER warm.  And I also don't want to stress her any more than I have to.

Oh, why did I mention Casanova?

Wellll, we were in the garage, and Husband heard this noise.  I suspected what it was, but we walked out and looked out in the pasture.  Annie and Lorenzo were enjoying each other's company, in the biblical sense.  (Poor Lorenzo, Toni was having a fit, and spitting at him vehemently, so he was being heavily chastised for enjoying himself.  He just turned away from Toni and went back to enjoying himself.  Annie seemed to have no opinion on the matter.)  This went on randomly for a day or so, then Annie decided she'd had enough, and ran him off.

The next day, we heard Lorenzo again.  Looking out the window, we realized, he was enjoying himself with Dolly!  (And Toni still didn't approve.  Toni seems to be a bit of a prude...)  So, we have been having random llama p0rn the last few days.  I wonder if it's giving the roosters ideas...

Speaking of roosters, we also have been having 3 birds crowing in the morning.  We have 2 roosters.  One little black hen has decided she is going to crow, and no one is going to stop her. (If I can get my camera to do the record thing, I will try and put it on the blog later.)  She started a few weeks ago.  Now, if there is no rooster around, one hen will sometimes crow, and sort of take over as a lead bird.  I reiterate, I have TWO roosters.  And they didn't like her deciding to crow.  They pounced on her, hit her with wings and feet, plucked feathers, what ever those little shelled pea sized brains could come up with to get her to stop.

She just got mad, fought back, and crowed as she ran away.

The roosters have now come to the conclusion that she is not going to stop crowing.  They have now switched to the method of dealing with her that my family refers to as "high ignore".  If they don't pay attention to her, she isn't a problem.  And she just walks around, clucking happily, catching the occasional bug, laying the occasional egg.

And crowing.

(You go girl!)  :)

My birthday is Sunday.  I don't know what to wish for with the old birthday cake, but I will think of something, I am sure.  I have had a few people ask me how old I am.  I will say to all of you that are curious, I was born in '67.  You do the math.

This isn't to be rude, quite frankly, more often than not, I have to do the math myself, because I can't remember.  This is why, unlike a friend or two of mine, the big 4-0 was a big woo-pee.  When I wake up some days feeling like I'm 17, and others like I am 89, the actual number doesn't mean all that much.

So, everyone gets a slice of virtual birthday cake from me, and may you all have a wonderful day.  I will probably be recovering from dealing with 20 llama toes.  And one horny llama haircut.  (Photos only if I can manage it...)

And listening to 3 crowing birds...

(Oh, and since a few people asked, the stuff I take now is Aleve.  I have found it works great for me, however YMMV...)

Pictures, feelin' good, and just... on the go.

I have felt good, for a change.  The bright, shiny new doctor listened to me, made some suggestions, and I am taking a different over-the-counter med... And it works.  I have taken several meds, including several expensive prescription things, that didn't work.  My former doctor, (Husband has begged me to stop calling him Dr. Horse's Ass...), ahem, my FORMER doctor just would say I was fat, and write up something, I think just to be rid of me.  I know at least two of them didn't work at all.  Expensively didn't work at all.

But now, it's a... would it be an upward spiral?  I am feeling better, so I am able to do more, which helps me lose weight (more about that in a minute), and so I am feeling better yet.  Is this not a great thing?

For example, I could barely keep up with the weeding the last few years in my garden.  (Well, okay, it wasn't too hard to weed the year I had to have everything in planter pots, but that doesn't count...)  This year, since I have put the garden in, I have been able to get all the weeding done in about 2 days.  It's not perfect, and there is the occasional missed weed, and some grasses sneaking in after I am finished, but compared to years before, it's like a different person is dealing with it!  See???

I also was looking at my window boxes, I am trying to make them more year to year, I will add little bits as time goes on, to replace the things that die back, or that I bought that are just one year plants, but I thought that it seems to be doing well.  I did sort of expect the sweet potato vine to be a bit more... Well, vine-y... But I think it's filling in and looking pretty nice... Even if the snapdragons decided they were finished well before I thought they should be.  Poops.

The llamas are getting settled in, I am still not able to touch Annie without her getting panicky, which will be so fun soon, as we are getting ready to give everyone toe trims, and Lorenzo gets a shear...  But they are settling in.  

Boy, for some strange reason, they like me so much in the mornings when I am handing out food.  (They are finally putting on some weight.  They were very skinny when I received them, the only one not 'bulking up' is Annie, and I am giving her extra food.  She doesn't mind, and it keeps her out of everyone else's feed.  Annie and Lama are continuing the battle for Llama Alpha Female, so far Lama is the winner, ears down! And the occasional spitball...)  

It's hard to see, but this is Annie and Toni.  Dolly wasn't close enough to photograph under the tree.

I have been recording my weight every week, but haven't put it over to the right.  I just need to catch up, part of it was the computer having its 19th nervous breakdown. (hee)

But part of it, I had it on a paper, when I was at the 'cop shop', I didn't have the paper, and most of the time, when I was home, the computer didn't work.  So, as of Wednesday, I am down to 229.4.  I want to get back to where I was there at 226, but considering I have wavered as high as 234 one week (!!!!), I won't be too upset.  So, I am still working on losing the lard, just haven't been as blogity about it of late.

So, knock wood, the computer has been holding, I am going to start with a more regular blog, and maybe, perhaps, by some stroke of luck, the computer will keep the rubber on the road, so to speak...

Here's hoping for continued 'go' in computers, me, and life in general!

The computer is holding... (frantically knocking on wood...)  So, what have I been up to? 

Of late:

I quit one of my volunteer jobs, I am still in the group, just not in a leadership role.  I was finding it, sadly, a waste of time, doing studying and work for no good reason that I could see, and there was a very pointed personality conflict between myself and another person, so I decided, enough is more than enough, and left.  This also lead to my finally deleting my Facebook page, which on a scale of importance, I placed about two degrees above absolute zero. 

Well, maybe one...

But I am still there, but in a support position.  We shall see if this alleviates some of the antagonism between the two of us.  I figure, I still want to help, so if I am a "grunt", I can just show up, do, and leave, I don't have to argue about every little thing.  Might be a cop-out, but at least I won't be grinding my teeth to the roots...  Adding to that, a lot of the things I have to do for this group include computer work, and my computer chooses when to work...

It wasn't going well.

I haven't taken a picture of it yet, but I have a fairly nice garden growing.  With the exception of a mole/gopher that is going through the pumpkin area.  I am getting ready to do something highly lethal to this creature if it doesn't leave my plants alone.  On the bright side, I planted, and after some discussion with Husband (read: I am doing it this way, dammit), I just water the plants, not using a sprinkler, but the hose, and I am pleased to report at this time, I have very few weeds.  It's supposed to rain tonight or tomorrow, so I will probably have a sudden infestation, but at least I am holding my own, for now.

I lucked out and got some fresh hay for this season.  The hay that I had was getting a bit... old and losing the seed, and had mice in it, and and and... So I had planned on getting some new hay.  Well, Mom and Dad negotiated with a neighbor that wanted the hay they had standing, and they "sold" it for 20 bales for me.  I got fresh hay, they got hay for their horses (I think), and we all seem to be happy about it. I have one old bale left, and it will be put in the chicken house temporarily, as I have run out of cedar shavings.  It works, in a pinch... 

I am going to be trimming llama hooves this week, hopefully.  This could be an experience.  I haven't done this before, so, erk.  We shall see.  First time for everything I guess.  If it gets too extreme, I still have the name and phone number of the guy that sheared and trimmed for me last year.  (I will be shearing, too, but it might just be for the relief of the llama overheating.  I only have done a very little shearing, so getting nice fiber for my spinning might be a long shot for me...)  For the obvious reason I can't take pictures and shear, this will probably be a before and after deal.  Blogs as events warrant.

I have a lot to do around the house and place tomorrow, if I keep my brain somewhere close to actually being in the "on" position, maybe I will take the camera with me and get some pictures for the blog.  Hope springs ever eternal.  And maybe be able to peruse/comment on other blogs, for a change. 

Where have you heard THAT before??? 

Llama names, haircuts, and demos.

So, I know it hasn't been that long, but it seems like forever since I last blogged.  Lots of "on the go", lots of being away from the computer, and when I finally got TO the computer, the internet went out!  (insert eye roll here)

I still haven't been able to comment on other's blogs, I can't even "comment" on my OWN blog, to respond to those who comment.  This is really beginning to bug me.  I like commenting!  I cleaned out the cache, like several of you have mentioned... I am wondering if it's something on my computer.  Or if I have screwed up a setting I didn't notice on Blogger. Or... Something!  But I think I might have to comment on my own blog by mentioning it in the NEXT blog.  At least that's all I can think of... 

(Husband has suggested using the computer for target practice might be a tad extreme.  While I agree, it has gone from curious event to extreme annoyance, and I can NOT fathom what I have done, or not done, to make it happen!)

Blah, blah, blah. 

I know, you wanna hear about the llamas.  We have them all together, it reminds me of a middle school dance, the 2 on one side, the new 3 on the other, and they just all look at each other.  They had just a minor bit of fuss and spit when they met, but just very 'I am a llama, I spit' thing, not the potential war that could have come about.  They are all a little skittish when I feed, (which has the old ones curious, I don't normally feed in the summer, as there is lots of food, read: chest high grass, but the new ones are a bit underweight), but there was no food fights or big problems.  Llama, the old female, doesn't seem to like having them around, but she isn't fighting, she just ducks away and glares, so I figure she'll just have to get used to them. 

And they all have names now.  The chocolate colored one is Dolly.  The one with "eyeliner" is Annie (name courtesy Husband), and I finally got a pun for the last one.  Toni.  (If you don't get the pun, here is what I based it on, Tony Lama.)  Husband groaned appropriately when I told him, then said, but Tony is a boy's name. 

Tony with an i, honey.

But, Tony is a boy's name!

An i on the end makes it a girl's name, hon.

???

So, even though he is still under the impression I have given my girl llama a boy's name, all is well.  They seem to be paying attention to it, but it will take a bit before they start reacting to each name personally.

I also finally carved some time out to get a haircut.  My neck was starting to hurt, my hair had become so long!  In fact, I told my hairdresser, I needed to invest in tags and a flea dip, or get my hair cut.  I kid you not, when she finished, it looked like she had a puppy in the dustpan.

That can't be all MY hair!

You are the first customer, it's ALLLL your hair!

(Yikes!)

Right now I feel like I should be staring at my belly button, so much weight is off my neck.  So, now, hopefully, I can drive with the window open a little again, without blinding myself with random hairflap! 

I did a performance for a 7th grade class.  I had a partner, he had brought all sorts of period weaponry (which really suprised me, most schools have heart failure when I forget and leave my Leatherman visible.  This school, on the other hand, thought it was wonderful that we could show them "real" period items.)  Most of the groups were male, with just enough girls that there was the, ew, I don't wan't to muss my hair vibe, as well.  I had planned to do things a bit differently, but with the high testostrone levels, (teacher's included), we went heavy on the "look at the cutlery" stuff.  It went well, if a bit annoying to find that the school didn't tell us until we got there that our "Elizabethan" group was in classes that had studied to about, oh, 1140 AD.  (The Elizabethan era started in the 1500's.  Tiny bit of gap, that...)  I had to do some bits of "this came after", hence the 'look at the cutlery' backup.  One fun thing that came out of it, we had a "full dress" practice outfit, with padded coat and hood, gorget (neck protector), helmet (about 8-10 pounds, the kids kept wanting to know why it was so heavy.  We reminded them it was to protect the head from being cleaved by a sword... Oh...), then let them HOLD a sword, and they could have a photo taken.  NO girls wanted to be sullied with all that 'stuff'.  There was a near battle for the boys.  So, I suggested the girls try on the Queen's velvet riding coat.  Eww.

Can't win 'em all.  They seem to enjoy most of my tale telling, and were (mostly) pretty good sports about the dancing we did, so I think it went fairly well.  I just wish I could convince the teachers around this area that Middle Ages and Elizabethan were different periods.  (It would be like saying that Obama and George Washington were contemporaries, basically...) 

Eh.  Kids liked it, my partner had a blast, no one became chop suey, all is well in the land of school demos.  Even if everything before 1995 is "ooooold", according to the kids.  (And stuff after is questionable.)

(insert second eye roll here...)

Aminaly thingies!

So, I have been promising chick photos.  Heeere they are!  Taurus is still not liking the camera, but the chicks have been getting rather blaze' about the whole thing, they don't even look when the camera flashes now...

A baby by Mom, the others have snuck out of the caged area.

This is the best one of them zipping around outside the cage...

And Husband and I are celebrating an anniversary at the end of the month.  So, I have been trying to get some llamas.  What does one have to do with the other?  Well, let me show you my anniversary present from Husband... I haven't given them official names yet, so for now it's one, two, and three...

 

One...

Two...

THREE!!!

They have decided the chicken house (where the food is), needs to be properly watched over.

I have some names... One will be called Dolly (Dali).  (Yes, I continue the puns...)  Husband said he gets to name one, and since it's our anniversary, they are all girls, so he wants one named Annie. 

So, I just need to think of one other pun-filled unique name, and we will have something to call all three. 

I have them blocked from visiting the other llamas presently, they can look at each other over the fence, but not have any contact.  I am sort of wondering what will happen when Lorenzo gets a load of all these cuties...  Lama will probably not care, just scoot them over so she can get what she wants, and life goes on.

We shall see...

Here for a bit, anyway...

I have been on the go a bit, so I just have had time to check in, yep, it's still a computer, then run off to the next bit of goofiness that defines my life.  Some good, some annoying, the usual. 

I decided to treat myself.  I spent a little more than I should have, (that's not hard, when I am around flowers), but I made a plan this year.  I planted perennials in the window boxes.  Here's the little project in the window, and one that I will probably put on the porch.  With some luck, I will have them grow back, and I won't be replacing them so often (not all are perennials, but enough that it will fill in some.)

(Please ignore the fact that the boxes all need washed, I started this in the evening, and didn't really look too closely.) 

In other news, I am having the worst luck in the llama addition department.  I saw an ad on Craig's List, emailed, got a response with a phone number. 

Called, left a message. Zip.  Then emailed, double checking. Zip, again. 

I am not going to beg to go buy something!  So, I continue looking.  And yes, I do want to "increase the herd", for those who were asking.  So, I will just go back to looking at news ads, and see what's available in the farm ads... I know there is a local auction nearby, too.  Haven't been to an auction in a while...

I managed to get the front pasture relatively weeded. (Much, much more to go.)  I will have to work on it little bit more as I can get up the hill.  I saw the neatest looking tool, it's called a weed wrench, and I do so want one.  When you have Scotch Broom TREES, this looks like the tool to have.  But, I have loppers, and a saw, and so, the battle continues.  (messymimi:  where I used to live, the 2 major exports were said to be poison ivy and rocks... I have found two tiny sprigs on the top of the place, so they will be summarily executed when I get up there with my loppers...)

I am pleased, most of the seeds I started are actual little plants now!  I re planted some peppers, and put in some more tomatoes, so those are needing to get caught up, so to speak.  (I even planted a HOT pepper, I guess to share, 'cuz neither Husband or I eat them, I just wanted to see what it looked like.  But we have enough neighbors and friends, it shouldn't be a big problem.)

Taurus is still sitting!  If I figured it right, she should be having chicks about the 22nd.  This will be nice.  I have a place all set up for her.  Now I just need to get her and the babies to be convinced that is the place to be!  This might be easier at night.  Let's just say, Taurus bites, and hangs on.  I usually want to wear gloves when I am working with her, and now it will be even more so! 

And lastly, I think I forgot to weigh last week.  That was when we were taking Auntie G back to catch the plane, and so I spaced.  Soo, I weighed today, and lost .4.  Works for me!  I am not entirely sure how, other than I think I weeded so much that I hurt my eating muscles! (grin)  Or at least the pick-up-to-eat-stuff muscles!

So, there is today's gumbo of little short blurbs.

Catch as Cat can...

Just checked on some llamas.  Husband asked when we might be getting them. 

Um.  Well, of course, the first part is getting the person to call back.  After that, how about...

Well, how about Monday... No, that won't work for me.  Tuesday?  Husband had something then.  I have Substation duties on Wednesday and Thursday...

Well, do you think they will think I am a flake, for needing to wait almost a work week?   This goes for Blogging, too, since if I am gone, I can't access the ol' computer...

Yoiks.  But, on the bright side, I have been downloading information from the local extension agency, and hopefully will find out tomorrow (or soon, at any rate), what the spike-ity bushes are.  I suspect gooseberry. 

I am recovering from... Yes, from overdoing it. 

Again. 

And now, reading the information on Scotch Broom, it might be for naught, because they can recover if you cut them down when it's wet.  And well, it's raining again... And the ground was soggy to begin with.  I may just start marking the little stinkers with lumber tape, and wait until it gets good and hot, then take them down!

Hot. Oh. Yuck...  But it needs to be done.  Wonder if I can find some kids desperate for summer money.

Hmmm.

But not until next week.  So, if I am not blogging much, I will, however, be trying to stop by and say hi to my blogger buddies!

Whatever. I C the light! What the...?

I have been watching Llama, she doesn't enjoy the fog anymore than I do. I think we are BOTH glad it's gone.

That being said, the two of them have been high-tailing it to breakfast in the morning. This part of winter, our fields aren't producing a whole lot, so they get grain, and hay. Soon, they go back to hay, then when things start coming up in late spring, they can forage again.

It was so funny today, however, Lorenzo was doing his usual round and round, I am soooooo hungry... Llama looked in the window of the hen house, sighed, then put her nose on the ledge. Yeah. Breakfast. Am I awake yet? I am at the right feeding area, I think... I swear if I'd taken longer than a few seconds, she might have dozed off, right there! (I have a little sympathy for her today, I slept like a landed trout, and am not to jazzed about the day either.)

FINALLY, after reading through all the guitar books I have, and watching several different videos online, I am making something that sounds like a buzzy, but acceptable C. Part of it was misunderstanding the way I was supposed to hold my fingers, the other I was playing an E that wasn't supposed to be in there. Added up to a nasty sound.

I still haven't quite figured out how to hold the guitar in a completely comfortable way. I guess I compare learning to play the guitar to learning to drive. Going from trying to understand break, gas, clutch, gears, (then, much later, on an automatic, NOT using the clutch... GAH...) , to trying to keep fingers in these calisthenic positions that change every 4 to 8 bars (right now), while the other is just twangin' away... I am sure that I will start to get the hang of it, I already feel more comfortable with it than when I started, and can usually change chords with not too much problem. (But using the driving comparison, I still 'grind gears' on occasion.) So, there is some vague hope that I will indeed be able to play a song by Christmas 2010.

I think.

Maybe.

Heh...

Now then. That scale. That annoying, evil, nasty... rotten... (censored) scale. I know I've lost weight. I have pants on that I couldn't zip, that I now can, fairly easily. I have been keeping out of the goodies for the most part, exercised daily (to the point I had a stitch in my side one day, so I know I am doing something...), and so I hopped on the old scale, figuring I had to be down.

Gained .2 pounds.

I am going to trust that I am actually doing something right, because I don't think I can be GAINING weight, and wearing SMALLER pants, right???

Unless the pants are made out of some of the same material as Dr. Who's call box... Pants with a black hole in them? It was suggested by Husband that I weigh myself tomorrow and see if it's still up.

I don't think I want to. I think the stupid scale would do some dumb thing just to lead me on.

In fact, I am beginning to suspect that that scale is a second cousin of Christine. Maybe I should have some large implement of destruction nearby, just in case.

No. Better not. I would be tempted to use it pre-emptively...