Two Whirlwind Weeks & An Alpaca Show!

Goodness! I can't hardly believe it's been nearly two weeks since my last post! I am shocked! Actually, I'm not all that surprised when I look at the calendar and see all that's been going on.

Last Friday night, Jon took me to The American Royal PBR Bull riding Finals. Wow, what a time we had! Jon just about choked though when the parking attendant told us it was $10.00 to park! It was always $6.00...what happened?! He was being playful and asked her if there were any discounts available. By her response, I could tell there WERE but she wasn't going to offer up any information so I blurted out..."What about if you just retired from the Air Force after 28 years of service?!" I did not expect it but she shook Jon's hand, said "thank you!" and "go park." She added that there were several empty spots up front and if we drove up this aisle we'd see them. Wow...

Saturday was our monthly "herd health" day and with 10 alpacas of our own and 6 boarders, it took us a while to get through everyone. Everyone that needed it got their nails trimmed and everyone got a shot of Ivomec that needed it (white tailed deer can carry a Meningeal worm that can be deadly for alpacas and Ivomec will help keep them from getting this particular worm). The cria (babies) all got vitamins and their first CD&T immunization. We also weighed the babies, their moms and all of the new boarders. We need to keep an eye on their weights just to be sure everyone is eating as they should and not stressing out over the move too much. Everyone checked out fine.

Sunday was a day of rest. We worked hard physically on Saturday and Jon & I were both SORE on Sunday so we spent a lot of time mowing grass. Jon on the tractor, me on the riding mower. We got a lot done! Jon also got ambitious and built hay feeders for all four shelters! They work great! While he did that, I gathered the things we'll need to take to the Mid-America Alpaca Show this weekend and cleaned out the horse trailer. We'll be camping in the parking lot RV sites at the show with our friends Rhonda and Bill Butler. It's a fun time for all.

I'm getting pretty excited for the show coming up this weekend in Topeka. We'll be showing our 18 month old grey male, Callaway Jaxon, our dark brown 3 year old male Cadbury Suprise, and our little yearling suri male Othello. This will be our first time showing a suri and really hope Othello does well. He's one of our "freebie boys" that were so graciously given to us by good friends in Colorado. Wouldn't it be something if he did well? Cadbury is for sale and we hope to get some interest in him at the show. I just hate to sell him though...his yarns are my most favorite! Oh, so buttery soft it is! I have to keep in mind...this is a business! I admit it's tough though.

So, the past week has been busy getting ready for the show...not just the trailer and our "stuff" to take but making up fliers to pass out, signs for the boys pens, etc. Tonight, I plan to work on some halter training for Cadbury...he's a little rusty.

Wish us luck in shades of blue and lavender!

Until next time!

A Weekend of Breeding

I knew that would get your attention!

This past Friday night, the barn builders delivered our two new alpaca shelters and boy are they nice! The metal on the new barns match the metal on our house & chicken coop. For those of you that don’t know, we live in a barn ourselves. Our “barndominium” is wonderful! Built just like a pole barn, we’ve got nice, 6” walls full of insulation so heating and air conditioning costs are minimal. Care-free siding and metal roofing make it virtually maintenance free. A couple of times a year we take a hose or power-washer to it and it’s good to go for another 6-12 months. After 3 winters, we’re still working on our first tank of propane and won’t need to fill it this year either.

I got off subject there but had to mention the new shelters matching the house. J Saturday, in the early afternoon, we loaded up Shannon and her 3 week old cria Montana, or “Tanner” as we call him, and drove to Iowa. We arrived at Bacon’s Alpaca Ranch and met with Gregg Bacon, owner of Shannon’s latest love Strider of the Shire. Strider is a beautiful true black alpaca that has won numerous awards…most notable is a Supreme Reserve Color Championship in Canada. The Supreme Color Championship is an international class where the Color Champions from every color class compete. Two judges choose the Supreme Color Champ. We were also able to visit with several of Strider’s offspring that Gregg had there on his farm and from what we can tell, Strider does a nice, consistent job in passing on his nice traits to his offspring. If you’ve ever felt black velvet, you know how his cria feel…just scrumptious! After the breeding, Jon and I found a nice Mexican restaurant and had a bite to eat and then retired to our hotel room for the evening. Sunday, we got up early and repeated the breeding then loaded up and headed home. Although, heading home was a little different than the trip up to Iowa. On our return trip, we had 6 additional alpacas on the trailer! We were able to meet up with Van Walter & his son as they delivered their alpacas that are now boarding at our farm long term. Van and his wife will be relocating to the Kansas City area where Van will soon retire. They have a new grandbaby here and will be coming to settle near the kids. We are excited & honored to have Van’s alpacas in our care. His are all suri’s and very nice ones at that!

Once home, we got everyone on the scale and settled in with some hay & water in their new digs. We’ll keep an eye on everyone’s weight just to be sure everyone is eating and maintaining their weight. We may discuss a diet plan for a couple of them at a later date, once they’re all settled in and calling Shady Creek Farm their home.

Until next time…

Coyotes in Our Midst

It was such a beautiful night last night, I decided to sleep with the bedroom windows open. At 11:30pm I was awakened by the howling of coyotes on our property. They were way too close for my comfort, especially with two alpaca cria in their pastures with their mamas. I turned on all of the outside lights and walked the perimeter of their pastures with a flashlight just to warn the coyotes that I was there. I managed to go back to sleep but was awakened again by coyotes at 3:30am! Don't they sleep?! This time, I tried the BB gun but it was worthless. I called to them from the porch telling them they had better move on to some other farm. I'm not sure if it worked or not. I do know, however, that I did not go back to sleep. *yawn*

A Weekend Retreat to Colorado

Our weekend was great. The trip to Denver was a much needed get-away for me. Friday evening, Jon picked me up at the airport and we went to the hotel and cleaned up and headed out for dinner. I had asked him ahead of time to find a nice Mexican place to eat dinner and he didn't. We got a recommendation from the hotel clerk but driving by the place, we decided to keep looking! We fired up the GPS and found another place that looked like tit might have potential. We were totally disappointed!! It was AWFUL! I don't think I've ever had bad Mexian food until now! I left full but was very disappointed.

Saturday we got up and headed to Trueheart Alpacas. It's a nice place down in the pines…real shady and protected from the elements! We visited with Heather and Taylor (our new alpacas) for quite a while. Taylor was not where she could run around so she was very typical alpaca. Very curious but didn’t want you to touch. Melinda got her and Heather in a catch pen and I was able to look them both over real good. I’m totally pleased with these girls. Taylor is gorgeous and so is Heather. From there, Melinda drove us to Pike’s Peak Alpacas where we got our hands on a LOT of their animals (the hubby was a good salesman!) anyway, long story short…Apollo is not describable in words. The picture on AlpacaNation is one from his yearling days so that’s what I was expecting. He is a very proud, robust, solid male and when I touched his fiber I think my mouth fell open and nothing came out for a while. I’ve never felt such density in my life. It was like touching a soft LOG. I don’t even know how to describe it. He’s got a real nice, defined crimp too. They’ve got about 8 other offspring of his there and they showed us every one of them and they were all identical. Solid, proud, and just incredibly dense. I am SO glad I saw this boy. I was a little concerned about breeding Heather to a fawn but I’m perfectly ok with it now. I’m even excited to see the cria!

Next, we went to Dundee Farms to see Axtion Jaxon (sire to our male, Callaway Jaxon). Hugh & Sara Jane Maclennon are THE most hospitable folks! We sat in their kitchen for a while and chit chatted and Cheryl Swanson showed up (she and her husband Michael own the other ½ of Axtion Jaxon) to see us. Michael was out of town & she wanted to come and visit as well. The Maclennon’s asked question after question to US just trying to get to know US! I don't know what I expected but I was pleasantly suprised they were so down to earth. I’m glad we went. They’ve got some super alpacas. They’ve got one fawn male that was JUST like Apollo in his density. Amazing. Their animals were all so sweet and friendly. We saw more A.J. offspring and A.J. himself. He is actually a bit on the smaller side. Not what I expected. His ads make him look very macho. They verified that the 2nd shearing is much better than the first and his boys tend to reach maturity in size and stature around 3 years old. So, all is well. They said Callaway is still his only grey that they know of.

Next, we went on up to Fort Collins where our new Suri girls are. I have pictures of our visit there (totally forgot I even had my camera in the car at the other places!) and a short little video. Cheyenne is just a doll. I love her to pieces! She’s totally curly and has great lock structure! She’s got fiber coverage on her face even, which is pretty rare. Best of all she loves to give kisses and loves to have her neck scratched! Just like Callaway did when he was little. I can’t wait to have her & her mama home next month.

We went ahead and stayed at the hotel Saturday night. The bed was oh, so, comfy!! Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast then Jon drove me to Aurora to the Air Force Base where he was stationed for 3 years and took me around all of his old stomping grounds. It was fun. We then hit the airport, turned in the car and came home. Our son, Justin and his girlfriend Jessica were still farm-sitting for us & were still at the house and stayed a few more hours visiting with us when we got home. Their new puppy is adorable! Justin is training it already and has Miranda (the other dog) under his thumb too. He’s been watching “The Dog Whisperer” a lot and has this training thing down pretty well. It was cute. He wouldn’t let us look at the dogs or talk to them until they were quietly laying down on their own! I couldn’t stand it.

One last thing and I’ll let you go.

Heather and Taylor arrived via transport by Dick Hageman this morning! They got on the trailer yesterday morning at 7:20am in Franktown, Colorado (Trueheart Alpacas) and traveled in style. Dick took great care of them and they arrived safe, sound, and curious! I got them settled at one end of the barn and gated the end so they would have fresh air and daylight. I want to get them weighed and look them both over real good after work tonight so I left them in. I also want to keep an eye on their potty habits to be sure all's well and no one is over stressed, then I'll give them free reign of the paddock for a few weeks.


Until next time...

The Birth of A Blog

Ok, so what's a blog? I really don't know but here's ours!

I read somewhere that you're really nobody on the internet if you don't have a blog and I hate to be left out of anything fun! More and more people are sending me links to their blogs and what fun I have reading all about things that they have fun writing about! So, I'm jumping on the band wagon and bringing Jon with me! Hopefully, he'll grace us with his musings here too. He sees things so differently than I do sometimes. That's all for now.