Prisoners, Intruders and Escapees!

This week has been especially eventful! We need a vacation! On Tuesday we took Cagney and Lacey in to get shots, and ended up leaving them with the vet to be spayed, so when we got them home on Wednesday, we had to keep them in the kennel to restrict their activity. We moved the kennel into the alpaca shed as we had rain predicted, and didn't want them exposed to the weather. They didn't like being cooped up, but were pretty good about it.
On Thursday night as I was doing my nightly trek to the barn to turn off the fans and close the doors, when I walked through the front, I heard a noise to my right and Belle growled. I looked, and there was a raccoon eating KC's food! We looked at each other eye to eye (with his little burglar mask), I calmly collected Belle, turned off the fans, and left! (In all honesty, it was a little one and didn't look very threatening, but I wasn't taking any chances). We had the vet come out for a farm visit on Friday morning. he checked Minnie and S'mores out said they looked fine, (except for the burrs) gave Fawn a vaccination, and said we could let the puppies out for a little activity.Friday night we got that expected rain. And RAIN it did! Suffice it to say that the pond is full and overflowing again, and the grass is looking a lot more healthy, too.
In the alpaca books they say alpacas are "easy" ...just give them a shelter that is dry and clean.....well that is easier said than done, especially when your land slopes down and all water is running to the shed! (shudda thought of that one!) So Kim and I are out in the rain trying to divert the water away from the shed. We worked a little more on Saturday during the break in the weather, and time will tell if we have managed to secure the floor of the shed (OR AS KIM CALLS IT, THE ALPACA HILTON).
This morning after feeding everyone, and starting to come back to the house, I accidentally let Cagney out. It was total chaos! Moxie and Belle were barking at her to go back, Lacey was barking to get out too, and Cagney was having a great time. Eventually, I put Moxie and Belle in the house (while yelling "KIM I NEED HELP") in the hopes that they would get Kim ("What, Lassie? Is someone in trouble?) and in the meantime, Lacey climbed OVER the gate and got out too, just about the time that Cagney discovered the Ducks! Where are the video cameras when you need them? Cagney chased the ducks who scattered for the pond, but did that stop her? NOT A CHANCE! Both Cagney and Lacey were in the pond swimming after the ducks, and eventually Kim heard the commotion (mostly me SCREAMING) and came out with leashes. I caught Lacey, but Cagney was still dog paddling her heart out! I think she only came out because she was tired. Clearly we have some dog obedience school needed.
Well, that's our news...I think I'll take a nap now....

Love, Ronda

P.S. for those who have asked, the Cleanup Crew (Billy and the girls) is making amazing progress!

Life at Nueva Vida

We had our first "outing" today. We were successful in catching and haltering Minnie (she is the smallest, so thought we would be good to start with her). She was hard to catch, but easy to halter. I put her on a lead for a few rounds around the pasture, and then Kim and I walked her to the barn to weigh her. She was a little intimidated when she saw Fawn in the pasture by the barn, so ultimately, we had to enlist Michael to help (literally lifting her onto the scale) She weighs 106.8 so she has gained a little! (She was 105 when she arrived, which is a little underweight) Tomorrow is S'mores day out!

We have the appointment with the vet for a farm visit on Friday morning. (We had the puppies spayed yesterday). He will examine and ultra sound the girls. (Hence the increased need for us to be able to "catch" them....we don't want to look like amateurs, for goodness sake!)

Seems like we are making progress, but I tried to brush the burrs out of Minnie and I think they are there for life! (The only thing that seemed to work was picking them out one at a time, and forget getting them out of her top knot!...me oh my!)

The clean up crew is doing great work...we have to hurry and fence the next pasture as I think they will soon be ready to tackle it!

Land Management Team

We had our Land Management team start yesterday.....ten South African Boer Goats! They must have been really hungry, because Kim and I swear that we can tell a difference in the land clearing already. We have them on loan from a friend of Michael (the kid who is working for us). There are 9 nannies and a Billy. You'll be happy to know that only 4 of them have names, Billy, Cloanie, Patches and Saddleback. They are pretty big (not what I expected at all) and they are really serious about tearing down brush...it's pretty interesting to watch. We're starting to feel like real ranchers!

We put in a misting system on the back porch today, not sure how we feel about it...it is a little cooler, but a lot more humid....guess we should have expected that!

Hope all are well, it's been busy around here (and HOT)! We're staying out of trouble!