Llama and Alpaca Kids are Growing!!

I have to get out and get some new pictures of the kids before winter arrives. We have been so busy getting the yard and barnyard ready for winter. Have all my Gladiolas bulbs dug up and the Dahlia root, have to trim back the foliage and get them tucked away, could not believe how large the Glad bulbs were after the way they bloomed all summer, hoping they survive storage over the winter. Have the garden pool drained, using the water to soak some of the shrubs and have drained the water storage containers before it really freezes so are getting there. RH has been busy the last two days getting the metal siding up on the Llama and Alpaca girls barn, can not believe the weather has been so nice and we could get everything cleaned up around the yard. Also have the back yard landscaped and planted with grass seed, hoping it comes up nice and green in the spring. This time last year we had a lot of snow on the ground. Am also knitting like crazy for the two Christmas markets we have coming up shortly, had totally sold out of everything at the end of the summer markets so is going to be a race to get enough knit up and Alpaca fibre carded up for the market. could not stand the dirty windows in the house so spent a day washing windows....they look great but my wrist was not feeling too great...had a panic attack for a bit...how can I knit with a sore wrist!! Better think before I do these things!! The decks are looking so bare without all my flowers, am thinking of getting a few little evergreen bushes to put in them for the winter....I think they should live over the winter if I water them good and let them freeze in?? I did see a picture that someone had put some dried foliage in their planters....hmmm...better get my ideas in place before it gets too cold...so many ideas and so little time!! Trying to keep my focus on knitting....focus on knitting....

Our Baby Llamas and Alpaca for 2013

Can not believe it!! computer and internet both working at the same time....is really getting annoying,just hope it keeps going until I get a post written!! We have not bred any llama or alpaca girls for a few years because of moving and getting things set up again, but last fall we bred four of our llama females and I bought a young male alpaca for our girls, we put them together and the girls just laughed at him as he was smaller than they were and decided we would put them back together this spring....well Black Mommy had a surprise for us!! I went out to check the llama girls and look what I found!!

I got a dark fawn colored male to breed to the black girls hoping for this color as their mother was brown, here we have a beautiful little boy!!

Will have to go out and get new pictures of him as he is a going concern now. He was so small when he was born. Now am hoping the other two alpaca girls are bred for next spring, can not wait to see what color their babies are!! Then here came our first llama baby from our beautiful Posy. A beautiful little girl, when I found her she was up drinking from her mother and busy to get going, she is such a nice little girl and so sassy so her name is Sassyfrazz.

The second baby llama, a little boy was a silver grey when he was born, his mother is Calley, have named him Silver Dust although I should have named him trouble as he spends all his time annoying the other mothers so is always being spit at...and it does not bother him at all...if he finds other babies sleeping...he gets them up...and I have caught him snitching milk from other mothers!! Bad! Bad! Boy! But so cute.

Third baby was from Emerson Rose who is a dark brown.....she had a white baby girl with dark spots...so cute....for some reason I want to call her Thistle...will have to wait and see if the name sticks.

Spice Girl looked like she would have been the first llama to have her baby as she was so large and uncomfortable, she had a baby a few years ago so was not that worried about her until it got later and later, and she was so restless, I walked miles I am sure going out to check her. We had a cold rainstorm come in so had all the llamas and their babies in the barn overnight and the next morning we could see she was in distress and was not even trying to have the baby so had to make the call to go in and see what the problem was and found the baby twisted and upside down but was still alive.....we worked for two hours and finally got baby delivered...alive...it was a miracle...we must have had an angel watching over us. Out he came and got up and looked at us and shortly after he was up drinking off his mother. He is our miracle baby for sure, looks exactly like his Dad and his Grandad. Still have not decided on a name for him.

So that is what kept us busy this fall, now we have these beautiful babies bouncing around growing some beautiful fibre for me to use.

Washing and Reskeining skeins of Alpaca and Wool yarn!!

Went up to the local fibre mill and picked up some skeins of Alpaca and some of wool last Tuesday so have been busy washing the skeins....all 120 of them....and of course had to dry them in the house as the weather was so cold. Just love those shower rods that do not have to screw into the wall...you just put them up by pressure. I got four of them and use two chairs to support them and hang the yarn to dry on them....is so great if I can do it out on the deck in the sunshine but in the house it takes forever and I wanted some of them for the market today. They were dry yesterday so that is what I did all day yesterday. I like to wash them to get the spinning oil off them and then re-skein them as it makes them look so nice, it took me all day but I got half of them done and got the info tags on them.....I was up until 2:00AM getting them ready to go. Could sure feel it in my elbow and shoulder today.

Hopefully I can get the rest of them done up this week but tomorrow we better get the root veggies out of the garden as the snow word was used on the weather station for Tuesday.....thinking...if we get the garden cleaned up...maybe it will not snow, it is so dry out we really could use some moisture as they are putting fire bans out...lot of grass fires lately, none near us thank-goodness. We also are getting the back yard ready to plant grass and would be great to get it planted. Will see what mother nature brings us!! Well am off to bed!

Quick Post as it is 1:00 AM and I should be in bed!!

Just a fast post as it is late and I better get to bed, have company stopping in early tomorrow....excuse me....I guess it will be this morning....it is already tomorrow. I think it is going to freeze....is only 2.4 out there, ran out and covered the few things that are still out, moved all the plants I want to save into the shed already. Today has been knitting more fingerless mitts plus everything else that eats up a person's day. so I am just going to post a couple of pictures of my flowers from this summer and then am off to bed!!

Caught one of the humming birds at the Gladiolus. My Glads were so fantastic this year we had Humming Birds flitting around all the time.

I just happened to have my camera in my hand when this little guy came along!!