They're Coming, They're Coming!

Zoey is a little apprehensive about the alpacas arrival!

The alpacas are arriving on Sunday!  Hooray!  Our neighbor and hay cutter owns a large stock trailer that he has graciously agreed to lend, along with his driving skills to retrieve the alpacas on Sunday.  In preparation for that Jeff and I have been working our tails off in a frenzied push to finish the fencing.  We have spent every day this week pounding posts, digging holes for wood posts, mixing concrete for said posts, stretching fence, and clipping fencing to posts.  We are plum tuckered out.  The excavator arrived on Tuesday and did the final grade.  We are now fencing, fencing, and fencing.

Jeff showing off his post hole digging prowess.

Digging posts, a slow physically demanding job.

 We decided to use wood posts for all our gates.  We tried mounting them on our metal T-posts but they just didn't seem sturdy enough.  So we dug two foot holes for each wood post and filled the hole with the wood post and concrete.  I'm glad it was just six wood posts for the gates and not for every fence post.  We would still be digging post holes when the snow flies.

My friend and new love!

I have fallen in love with our truck.  We purchased this lovely lady from our son-in-law in the spring.  It wasn't until we started our fence building that I really had an opportunity to drive it.  She has been our work horse.  I've driven her around our pasture to deliver posts and fencing, to hold tools, and to stretch fencing by clipping the wench to her sturdy hitches.  She is a wonder and I think I need to name her.  I'll have to ponder on that or I'm open to suggestions?  She is the only vehicle we own (and there are four of them currently, why I do not know) that I can drive without being glued to the dashboard so I can reach the gas pedal.  Being short is not usually advantageous in today's large vehicles.  We would have been hurting without her.  Yes she has a few miles on her and a little wear and tear but so do I, so we are both in good company.

Zephyr Hill Farm's first ribbon!

Twizzler produced the 2nd place winning fleece.

I entered Twizzler's fleece that we had shorn in May in the Suri Network's All Fleece Show, which was held in August.  I did it with no expectations, except the experience it would provide for me for future shows.  Twizzler, however had a more ambitious agenda.  Her fleece placed second in the white fleece mature class.  That is quite an accomplishment considering she is six years old, this was a national show and I didn't know what I was doing when I skirted her fleece (cleaned it by picking out grass, dirt, and foreign matter).  I'm astonished and tickled pink white!  This will be a bragging right when I go to sell her babies.  In case you're not familiar with what a fleece show is, let me explain.  When the alpaca is shorn in the spring, the prime fleece is collected and saved. I then skirted it, trying to not disturb the integrity of the fleece. I put it in a clear plastic bag and box, and dropped it in the mail along with an entry form.  At the fleece show the judges evaluated the fleece based on 10 criteria.  The fleece score was added up and awarded a placement based on the total score out of 100.  The judges note "Some excellent luster throughout!"  This show was held in Denver, Colorado.  Fleeces were sent from around the country.  This makes me smile!

Sweet Caroline

On a sadder note, this week Caroline injured her eye and ear.  They both became infected and as a result she may lose vision in that eye.  Barrie Lynn, whom I'm purchasing the alpacas from, said it was quite the experience to clean out the maggots (yes I did say maggots) from her ear and she's seen a lot in her 20 plus years in the business.  Now Caroline is on antibiotics, 2 times per day, and needs ear drops 4 times per day.  Nothing like having to jump right into the ins and outs of alpaca farming from the get go!  I haven't heard anything more since the vet came on Tuesday, so no news means she must be healing.

Zoey doing what she does best!

Linus zonked!

Finally, like the cats, I'm toast and hopefully will be creating my own zzz's shortly!  I'll try to take many pictures on the "Day of the Alpacas".  Stay tuned!