Margaret came over about 5:30 last evening. I had Tinker out of the pasture on a halter and lead. She and John made holding him look easy. John held his head and Margaret braced one leg under his chest and just lifted up his injured foot. Tinker didn't struggle or rear up or anything! Amazing!

Tinker's foot was amazing too. It still has a scab on it but it is solid and normal. There was no blood or pus or softness to indicate that it was anything but normal again! Hallelujah! I am so thankful that he is well and thankful for Margaret's help and support.

Tinker's ear was torn up pretty badly. That is a sign that Prince probably needs his fighting teeth cut . I thought they had been done a couple of years ago but maybe they weren't all in at the time. Tinker also has a few sharp fighting teeth. John and Margaret said they will come back and clip the teeth for us. I will call them on Sunday and see when would be a good time.

Tinker was not so co-operative when I took him back to the pasture after John and Margaret left. He was pulling and rearing and I had a difficult time getting the halter off. I know it was because he was anxious to get back to his duties as head honcho of the pasture but it wasn't fun for me and I will be reading up on training and handling alpacas.

I got a new digital camera for Christmas so I hope to have some time to take pictures and get them on this blog. Soon it will be 2010! Can you believe it?

Christmas is over for another year. As much as I enjoy it, there is a lot of work involved and this year there was some added stress, so I am glad things will be getting back to normal.

My car broke down on Christmas Eve. It will be fixed today so I will have it back this evening.

The alpacas gave me a great deal of worry over the weekend too. We could not restrain Tinker successfully in order to change his bandage. He was feeling much better however, as evidenced by his violent fight with his brother Prince. On Sunday morning when I went out to feed them, they were lunging at each other, rearing up reaching over the fence, screaming and running. I could not keep them away from each other. Then in the evening it got worse. Tinker threw himself at the gate so hard that he popped the chain off and went right through. It was pitch black outside and freezing cold. So I went out in my robe and PJs and opened the gate and just let them go at it. Monday morning, they were still posturing and screaming some but I thought the worst was over. NOT! They had another knock-down-drag-out-rolling in the dirt fight. Tinker lost the bandage on his foot and the tear in his ear had reopened and was bleeding all over the place.

I thought it would never end, but it did. I noticed Prince was at the far end of the pasture , sort of hiding in the corner. He would not come up to the barn. I was afraid he was hurt now too. When I walked down to check on him, he looked fine, but Tinker came running toward us with his head down and his neck stretched out. He was telling Prince to stay where he was! Prince turned away from Tinker, his face in the corner. Then Tinker went back to the barn and started eating. The other boys have just tried to stay out of the way of all the fighting. Buddy did not bark all night and Tinker did not sound alarm calls all night last night. So maybe things are settled. I will have to make sure Prince gets food and water though, even if I have to haul it to the far end of the field.

Also, I hope that Tinker's foot is healed enough, but I may have to put a new bandage on it. Margaret has offered to help again so I will call her today and see what she thinks. If we do put a new bandage on, it will have to wait til Steve gets home from work so that we have enough people to keep Tinker still while one of us puts it on. I'll keep you posted.

There are some good things about waking up early. This morning I woke up at 5 am and looked outside. Big, huge snowflakes were gliding softly to earth. I don't remember getting snow this early as long as we have lived here, what, 6 years now. It did not pile up to any depth for which I am grateful. There is still a dusting in protected areas and on trees and bushes. The sky is still all cloudy and white. There may be more snow yet.

The peace and quiet is another blessing of getting up early. The babies and most adults like to sleep in. It gives me time to think and reflect or just plan my day. It makes it easier to laugh and get through the noisy, chaotic times when kids are screaming and playing and running and animals are barking or fighting or otherwise engaged in life.

I hope this snow has not been enough to damage Tinker's bandage. I don't think it has been. It looks like he stayed in the barn and only came out to do his business. There is no snow out there just a dampness. Maybe the sock on his foot was enough to keep the bandage dry. At least, that is what I am hoping.

I finished my Christmas muu-muu yesterday. Today the plan is to wrap gifts, make food and get ready for tomorrow and Christmas day. Steve has the rest of the week off. He bought some new stock panels to repair the alpaca pen and the goat pen so I hope he will be able to do that soon. The grandkids may come up for a visit while their mom does some last minute shopping. It will be a busy day and I will be worried whether or not I can get everything done. In the end, what is supposed to get done will and the rest won't be that important. And that is another benefit of waking up early.

Today was a good day at Saguaro Hill Farm. This morning Steve and I took Tinker back to the vet. It was not an easy task getting him in my SUV. I pulled and Steve pushed and Tinker finally got the idea and stood in the vehicle. He was complaining the whole way, giving us his loud "Hummmm" repeatedly. Once we got underway, he cushed and remained pretty calm.

Once at the vet, he leaped out of the car. He behaved very well, just looking around and checking out the horses who were there getting new shoes. He even let a complete stranger rub his neck and pet him.

The vet came out and removed his bandage. The smiles came out then. She was so happy and relieved. She said"It looks very good and now I know it will heal. You guys did good!" We really didn't do much except give Tinker his shots and take care of him as usual. She then put on a new bandage and a clean sock. After giving me bandages and more antibiotics, the vet sent us happily home! Thank the Lord and the vet!

We have to give him his antibiotics for another week and change the bandage once a week for about 3 weeks. Tinker should be healed by then. I'm supposed to call the vet back and let her know how he's doing, but she didn't think she would need to see him again! Hallelujah!

The propane guy came and filled up our tank today. Don't have to worry about hot water for several months. I also got my mother's Christmas card and gift today. I did a little bit of sewing. I finished a table runner for our Christmas dinner and started on my Christmas muu-muu. I feel that all things have been gathered and are ready to go for the big day. I just have to make cookies, wrap gifts, stuff stockings, clean house, prepare food, finish my muu-muu, well, you get the idea.

Here it is Friday already! I don't know where this week went. I feel like it is still Tuesday and I just took Tinker to the vet. It is Friday evening however. Tinker is doing better, a lot better than he was on Tuesday. He's walking almost normally again.

I delegated the job of giving Tinker his shots to Steve. I get very nervous and shaky when I think of giving shots. I've even stuck myself, but Steve is calm and steady. So I get to hold Tinker and twist his ear, while Steve puts two injections in his behind! The first night wasn't so bad. Tinker didn't know what to expect I guess. The second night was more difficult. Tinker twisted away and threw his head up and even reared a couple of times. I got a puncture from the fence and a scratch and a bruise. So tonight I decided to do it differently. I fed all the animals first. So everyone was calm. Then, instead of tying Tinker to the fence and holding him, I haltered him but did not tie him to the fence. I held him around the neck with one arm and twisted his ear with my other hand. It went a lot quicker. He did move forward a couple of times but he did not rear or throw his head around. Maybe tying him to the fence freaked him out. Anyway, we only have to do that two more times. Monday we go back to the vet and see how the wound is doing. I keep praying that it will heal quickly. I am also thankful that we haven't had any rain so keeping the bandage dry has not been a problem. That could change at any time.

One of the other alpacas had a problem tonight too. After Steve and I finished with Tinker, I noticed that Cimarron was in distress. His mouth was opened and green slobber poured from it. His nostrals were flared out and he was stretching out his neck. He had a look of panic in his eyes. He was choking from the pellets we feed them. It happened one other time. Steve and I went after him. He is not hard to catch especially when he is having a problem. We stroked and patted his throat and neck. Eventually, the panic left Cimarron and he coughed. The slobbering stopped and his nose stopped flaring and went back to normal. Kardigan, the black alpaca, ran up to Cimarron and chest bumped him, as if to say, "Hey Bro! Get over it!" They moved away from us. Posturing, the way males do, their heads up high, their spit flying, I knew things were back to normal.

I think that choking thing happens when they try to eat too fast because they are competing for the food. I will be more careful by making sure that I dump the pellets into a feeder full of hay instead of an empty feeder from now on. I am also going to have to figure out who to put with Tinker. He cannot stay by himself forever. Cimarron and Stewie are pretty calm. Kardigan and Prince seem to get along OK too. They are both pretty dynamic. Maybe it would work dividing them up that way. I won't know until I try it. I know for sure that I will not be putting Prince and Tinker back together. I would also like to get at least one more alpaca, a white one. That won't be for awhile though and, who knows what new problems a new alpaca would cause????

Yesterday I called the vet about Tinker. He was limping and really favoring his left front leg. He had a big lump on his toe and I became alarmed. The vet could not come out. She was too booked and wanted me to bring Tinker to her. I didn't think I could do that with the vehicles I have. The vet tech suggested that I try getting the lady from the big alpaca farm to come out.

This morning Tinker was not any better so I called Margaret and Melissa. They are my neighbors down the road who have a large alpaca herd. They were more than happy to come out and look at Tinker. They cleaned Tinker's foot and wrapped it in one of Steve socks. They gave Tinker a shot for the pain. Then Margaret called the vet for me again after she assured me that Tinker would fit in my SUV.

So Tinker and I went to the vet. We spent two hours there. The vet shaved his foot and cleaned it thoroughly. She took x-rays and wrapped his foot in a big clean bandage. Poor Tinker! Poor me! I'm glad I took him because it is a pretty severe injury. The vet thought he may have broken his toe. The x-rays showed that he just jammed his toe joints together. There was a big swollen ball on the side of his toe that was filled with pus. The vet did not find anything in the wound. She thought he may have had a tumor on that foot that broke when he injured it. She said she will worry about that if the wound does not heal properly.

I have to give Tinker two shots a day until Sunday, one is a pain medication and the other is antibiotic. He'll get one in each side of his butt. Poor baby! Then on Monday, we go back to the vet. Please pray that he will be much better and heal quickly. I do not want him to suffer and I do not want to have too many more vet bills or I will have to get a second mortgage on the house!

For those of you who were worried about Little Bones, I have returned her to her own pen. Margaret, who has raised goats for many years, told me that Bones isn't big enough or old enough to get PG yet. I am relieved about that too. So,if she is not already pg, she will have a reprieve until next season. She seemed to avoid Falkor pretty well so, hopefully, I got her out of there in time.

Such a traumatic day! I prefer the slow, uneventful days! My body is aching too from holding Tinker and getting him in and out of the car. Alpacas may be small as far as livestock goes, but try holding a 150 pound alpaca while he's rearing up trying to get away from his pain. And it's not fun watching someone clean and dig into a wound that you know is painful, even if it is necessary! I am very very grateful to Margaret and Melissa and to the vet. Thanks so much!

Aah-uoooooo! Yip-yip-yip! The coyotes are close this morning. I went outside, turned off the holiday lights and just listened. They moved slowly down the hill, away from the chickens. Then I heard Buddy bark and know they must be off our property. I hope Mikey found a safe warm spot to hide from them. He didn't come in last night. I'll find out when I go out to feed everyone.

It has been crisp and cold since the storm passed. Caramel is not being very cooperative with Falkor. I guess she isn't ready yet. Little Bones on the other hand is "flagging" (wagging her tail) every time Falkor comes near. I will move her today into his pen. I will have to move little Mouth back in with his brothers for awhile. Maybe Caramel will get in the mood with Little Bones in the same pen with them.

Tinker is much better. His hind quarters are moving normally again. He is favoring his left front leg a little still. This has not stopped him from running around with the other boys. He startled Steve the other day when I was gone shopping. He started making this really "funny" noise, Steve said. I asked "What kind of noise? Was it a high pitch yipping noise? And was he standing real tall looking at something?" "Yes," Steve said, "It scared me cause I never heard that before! What the heck was he doing?" "Oh! That's just an alarm call!" I said, "You never heard that before?" Tinker seems to be the herd leader as far as alarm calls go. One day he started and I looked out the kitchen window to see if the neighbor's dog was out there again. I saw this huge tumble weed rolling toward the pasture! Ha! I was relieved there was no dog but I couldn't do much about the big tumbleweed! Sometimes Tinker starts sounding the alarm and I don't see anything that would cause it. I always check just to make sure though. Same thing when Buddy barks, I always at least try to check. I don't always at night because he barks almost non-stop at night. At night I listen for changes in his bark that would signal a real danger, like a snake or a person intruding. If I don't hear those subtle changes then I don't worry as Buddy is just doing his job.

Today is pen cleaning day and, since we will be moving goats again, we'll probably do some more toenail clipping. I can feel my aching back already! Ha!

The Storm that swept the whole country and is still progressing did not damage us much. The chicken coop turned upside-down by the wind. We did get snow this time but it did not stick. The wind was the worst factor. We had gusts up to 60mph and cold, my, it was freezing, literally. I delayed feeding the animals until about 10 am just because they were all hunkered down against the wind and cold and I did not want to disturb them.

When I did finally go out, the snow was blowing and my hands about froze off. I moved the alpaca feeders into the shelter just so they would go in the shelter too. The shelter is divided in half just so we will have a catch pen and for separating the new boys when we first got them. I think it is time to rearrange that so that the boys would not feel so cramped together in there. We can move one of the wooden panels to the outside and maybe keep some of the rain and snow out. When we get these bad winter storms, I feel like the animals do not have adequate shelter. Thank the Lord we do not get this severe weather often.

I also had to go into the goat pasture to feed the little bucks. I wanted to put their feed and hay inside their shelter so they would not have to get wet and be in the cold wind. They all rushed out to meet me of course. I decided it was the perfect opportunity. On the way out I grabbed Mouth by the horns and dragged him into Little Bones' pen and shelter. So now each goat has a companion and hopefully, more adequate protection from the weather.

Little Bones and Mouth butted heads a few times but seem to get along OK. It is amazing how much alike they are. Mouth is a Pygora however. Little Bones is pure Angora. The difference in their fleece cannot be missed. And, of course, Little Bones is more beautiful in the face! Ha!

Tinker continues to hobble about. If I could afford it I would call the vet for him. I pray that he will be OK.

Today it is clear and the wind has stopped. The moon and stars were bright and beautiful when I fed everyone this morning. Thank goodness that everything bad and good eventually passes.

We had another winter storm watch but still no snow. It is d--- cold for us. All the water buckets have been frozen in the mornings. So I make sure they are filled up when it warms up enough.

Tinker turned up limping on Friday. He acted like his back was out of whack so I guess Prince finally got the best of him in one of their many violent fights. I am watching him. He does not seem to be in any real pain. He is walking a little funny but not as bad as the first day. He is putting weight on both hind legs and he is not staying by himself. He is not fighting as much with Prince although I see Prince still tries to engage him. Prince also started a fight with Kardigan so I think Prince is the aggressor in all the fighting. I guess he thinks he has to prove he is top alpaca. I also remember his former owner telling me that Prince's mother chased and harrassed the other female alpacas in her herd. So it may be that I will have to isolate Prince if he keeps causing trouble. I pray that Tinker will continue to recover too.

Steve cleaned pens yesterday, as usual, and then I helped clip goat toenails. You don't know how weak you are until you start wrangling animals! OH MY! How my back does not like holding goats for nail trimming. As soon as we can we need to get a goat staunchen so that this job will be easier on them, but mostly on us! Caramel did not like being on her back one bit either. Little Bones was very wiggly too. The job got done and then we put Caramel in with Falkor. They will stay together for a couple of weeks and then I will put Little bones in with him too. Little Bones seems a little lonely right now. I am thinking of putting Mouth in with her for company. He is fixed so he cannot impregnate her. He also seems a little abused and isolated being in with the 2 other young bucks. They are a bit larger than he is and boss him around alot. He and Little Bones are about the same size so maybe they would both be happier together. Don't know if I can accomplish this relocation by myself though. It may have to wait til next weekend when Steve is cleaning pens again.

We got our first 3 Christmas cards on Saturday and I am starting to hear from people who got mine already. So fun! Hearing from old friends and new ones. The Christmas Eve Party planning is going well. My daughters have assigned me only three dishes this year so my work is less. There is still the cleaning up before and the decorating but I am getting that sorted out in my head and all should go without a hitch! Well, maybe...

We had our first winter storm watch on Saturday night. We were supposed to get snow down to 4000' on Sunday night. Since we are at 4800' I thought the yard would be blanketed with the white stuff yesterday morning. I can't decide if I was disappointed or relieved that we did not get snow. There is something magical about waking up to a snow covered landscape. On the other hand I would have really worried about my husband driving to work in slppery conditions. Since we only got rain, the worst that happened was that I had to go out and empty feeders of water in the morning.

Sometimes I think the alpacas aren't very smart. They have a shelter but they opted to get wet during the storm. The three new boys bunched up together and cushed (laid down) next to Falkor's pen, sort of out of the wind. Prince and Tinker fought over the shelter and then neither of them stayed in it. All of them had wet backs and droopy bangs. They didn't seem to mind. On the other hand, none of the goats got wet. They either stayed inside or bunched up together in their shelter. Maybe goats just hate getting wet and alpacas don't.

I have not moved the goat does in with Falkor yet because of the weather. It is supposed to be nice again this weekend so I will try again then.

Today is the "First Day of Christmas." I am mostly finished with the shopping. I enjoy the decorating. We got the tree up and decorated after Thanksgiving. I also put out my little California Missions and other houses for my Christmas village. Our grandson is loving all this new shiny stuff. He keeps pulling ornaments off the tree and we keep putting them back on as soon as he isn't looking. I did not put any breakable ornaments on the tree just because I knew an almost 2 year old would not be able to resist them. It would take the fun out of having the tree and the ornaments if I tried to prevent him from handling things. So I don't.

Today I will be mailing my Christmas cards with letter and picture. We are planning a Christmas Eve family party with lots of cookies and hors d'oeuvres. I hope that we do get a good snow storm for Christmas.

The day after tomorrow is Thanksgiving! Happy Thanksgiving y'all! I wanted to write a few lines now as I will be very busy preparing for the big feast tomorrow and may not have time!

The day before yesterday, Sunday, Tinker and Prince were having a huge feud. They were both tearing up and down the pasture. Prince chasing Tinker. They both had their mouths hanging open in the most disgusting alpaca way, green spit dangling. Tinker would try to stop and hide at the end of the field among the prickly pear cactus but Prince would find him and start the chase all over again. I went into the field thinking I would split them up and slow them down. Yeah, right! For about 2 seconds. They just finally ran out of steam. Well, now, is a good time, I thought. The two biggest boys are almost exhausted so maybe they will be too tired to hurt any of the new boys. So I opened up the gate between the pens and let them all go! We had some running and lots of exploring. Prince and Kardigan did one big up- on- your-hind-legs-belly-neck bump and then it seemed to be over.

They don't seem to have bonded yet to make one cohesive herd. They are just trading sides of the field. Tinker and Prince don't much like each other but they are obviously still a "herd." Kardigan, Cimarron and Stewie are also still a herd. Having seperate feeding stations is working out well. I filled up water buckets yesterday. Stewie immediately dumped the whole bucket over! Don't ask me why! It turned out to be a good thing. I found out that plain old vinegar works just as well as bleach to clean out gunky water buckets. Vinegar is probably better for the animals too.

Caramel and Little Bones are playing alot together through the fence. They are both pretty frisky in the cool morning air. It will be fun to watch when I put them in the goat pasture. They won't know what to do with all that space. Hopefully, we will get everyone moved, I'm thinking, the first weekend in December. That way it is easy to calculate birthing dates and the weather should be better for kidding in April or May. Maybe I better figure in the shearing too. That is supposed to be around March 27 this year. Since goats gain most of their baby weight in the last couple of weeks before birth, they shouldn't be too uncomfortable for shearing in March.

Have a great Thanksgiving and be Thankful, if for nothing else, at least for the food you put in your mouth! Ha!

Thanksgiving is only a week away! Amazing! Seems like the stores are already stocked and picked over with Christmas stuff. I don't think there will be anything left to buy on "Black Friday."

At the urging of several people I have decided to breed my goat does next month. I realize that I will once again have to bottle feed whatever kids Caramel has. She had beautiful kids this year though so we'll give her one more try. It will be Little Bones' first breeding so the outcome is rather unpredictable. I will also attempt to sell my bucks. I would like to have only does as they are easier to handle and not so hard on the fences. I hope to get at least one more doe from this year's breeding.

Next week, when Steve is off for Thanksgiving, we will move the goats around and put Falkor and the does together. They can stay together for 6 weeks or so. We'll have to see how Falkor behaves in a larger pasture. I'm hoping that he will be too interested in the does to try and escape or tear the fence down.

The alpacas have calmed down a great deal. I am starting to consider opening up the pasture between the boys and letting them all be together. I have also started feeding each of them in their own space. This seems to cut down on the fighting.

I was a little concerned with my neighbor this past week. They have a huge dog. I'm not sure what kind of a dog it is, maybe a Great Dane Lab mix. It is huge like the danes but colored like a golden lab. It also has the long skinny tail like a dane. Anyway, it is young and huge. The neighbors usually keep it penned up in their front yard. Lately I have noticed them letting the dog out and letting it wonder around their property. This is fine except when I see it racing up and down the fence line with the alpacas. The last time the alpacas sent out alarm calls, I went outside. I just watched the dog and watched the neighbor watch his dog until he called it away from the fence. I sincerely hope that is not repeated. Domestic dogs are the biggest killers of livestock. That is why I have my own livestock guardian dog, Buddy, to keep dogs and other predators away. I may have to consider changing the pasture set up so that Buddy can roam the outer perimeter and keep the alpacas away from the outside where they are vulnerable. That means more fence and, either moving the shelter or building another one. Money, money money!!! Sure would be nice to win that lottery! Ha!

Today is Veteran's Day. Thanks to my husband, brother-in-law, father-in-law, my dad and all others who have served and died to keep this country safe and free.

Today I have to replenish the feed for all the animals and do some Christmas shopping. Of course, there is the usual challenge of juggling funds, prioritizing and finding the best bargains. The thing about living in the desert is that sometimes, even if you have the funds, you cannot find the product for which you are searching. Our local feed store is currently out of timothy pellets. They don't think they will get any in for a couple of weeks. I have been feeding the alpacas alfalfa blend pellets and bermuda hay this week, the same as the goats. Steve and I will drive to Tucson, about 35 miles, today to another feed store that carries timothy hay at $23 a bale. We will purchase enough bales to, hopefully, last until our feed store gets in more pellets. I don't think the alfalfa pellets and the bermuda hay will hurt the alpacas but it will not be the nutrition they really need either. Alfalfa is really too rich for them. At least the pellets are not straight alfalfa, but a blend.

I have tried to import some picture of the beautiful gypsy horse that I fell in love with at the Celtic festival this past weekend. See if I did it right.

The yard sale was a great success by yard sale standards. I sold quite a few things on the first day and had a steady stream of visitors. The second day I decided to actually count people. Over 100 people came the second day but they did not buy as many things. I didn't sell any of the pillows I made. I did sell 2 of the bags for bags and an ounce of alpaca rolags in a bag! I was thrilled about that because I didn't really expect to sell any fleece. I met some funny and interesting people. One lady said her husband still wears a tie she bought from me 3 years ago. The most fun was showing the kids the animals. The kids loved the young buck goats and seeing the alpacas. One man said he bought 2 goats in Oregon several years ago to clean up blackberry bushes on his property. He was shocked because I am trying to sell my pygora buck and wether for $100 and $75 respectively. He said goats have really gone up in value. You'll never guess what he paid for his! $5 each! It must've been a hundred years agao! Ha!

I decided not to put the money I made back into the farm this time. I decided to take the kids and grandkids to the Celtic/Highland Festival in Tucson instead. It was a fun day. Men in kilts were playing bagpipes, girls were dancing Irish folk dances and there were frisbee catching border collies. We also met a lady who had the most beautiful horse I've ever seen. He was a black and white purebred Gypsy stallion. We took the grands on a buggy ride pulled by that horse. He was the calmest Stallion I've ever seen. Turns out the lady who owned him lives near us so I hope to visit them again soon.

I'm sorry I did not take any pictures. My donated Sony digital camera doesn't hold a charge very long and is cumbersome to carry. Steve promised to get me a new camera for Christmas. I will takes loads of pictures then just to post here for all of you.

Mikey showed up last night in time for dinner. He and Loki stayed in the barn last night. I didn't notice Buddy barking all night. The moon is still up this morning and the sun coming up is making the few clouds all hot pink. Gorgeous!

I am out of alpaca pellets this morning so they will only get hay this morning. A trip to the feed store will be necessary. I'm also out of chicken food and have to pick up a prescription at Walmart. Sometime today I have to finish setting up for the yard sale. I guess I will go to the bank too and get some money for the sale. I'm thinking ones and change.

I just finished a book by Jon Katz titled "Soul of a Dog: Reflections on the Spirits of the Animals of Bedlam Farm." This man is an award winning writer who has published several books. This was a rather small volume and easily read. The whole thing is about wether or not dogs and other animals have souls and if they go to heaven. He is specific, though, only using his animals as examples. I enjoyed the book, although, I don't know that he actually decided the issue or not. I guess it is something about which people will make up their own minds. I have liked all of the books I have read by this man. I would like to find a copy of the first one he wrote about his farm and then I will know how he ended up on a farm in upstate New York all by himself. I have an ulterior motive for reading his books too. They give me ideas about my own farm and writing about it one day.

Writing has always been something I do. I write in a jouirnal. I wrote stories in college. I even had one published. I have written children's stories. I haven't made a name for myself or gotten anything published for money. I am not a professional but I enjoy it just the same.

There goes Buddy! Barking his head off again! Better go see what's up!

Seems like Buddy barked all night last night. The moon is full and the weather is mild again. I guess that makes all the critters happy to be out at night. The cats did not come in to be fed at the usual time last evening so they ended up outside all night. I've noticed that Buddy barks more when they are out all night too. I think he knows what they are doing or if something is after them so he keeps up a protective racket.

I was startled when I opened the front door to let Penny, our little red dog, out, and Loki, my favorite gray cat, was crouched at the door and came running in. It was still pretty dark so all I saw was a gray blur, could've been almost anything. Then he acts all grateful to be inside, purring and climbing on my lap to be stroked. I don't mind. He is my favorite cat afterall. I wonder where Mikey is though and hope he is OK too. Mikey is bigger and wilder than Loki. I didn't see him last night either and haven't seen him yet this morning. I won't worry unless he doesn't show up for supper again tonight. He seems to have enough sense to stay pretty close to the house when coyotes are about. He will come in the yard and stay close to Buddy if he feels very threatened. I always feel bettter when both cats come in for supper and stay in the barn all night.

Steve got the garage all cleaned out yesterday. It was full of cobwebs, mice stuff and loads of spiders! Yuck! He did not complain even though it took most of the day. I feel so relieved now and grateful to him for doing it. All I have to do is put the clothes and books out there and get ready for the garage sale. Before he did the cleaning I just felt overwhelmed and worried that I would not be ready for the sale. Steve is the best!

I got a lot of sewing done yesterday while Steve cleaned the garage. I felt like the best thing I could do to help him was just to stay out of the way. I tend to tell him what to do and give advice on such projects which drives Steve crazy. So yesterday I stayed in my work room and did my own thing instead. I got 6 pillows finished and about 16 bags for storing paper bags. I hope to sell the bags for about $5 each but may have to go down to $3. The pillows are sets of 2. I will try to sell them for $15 each or $25 for the set. I am not confident that people will think these are good prices because of the economy. We shall see.

Today I will be keeping my youngest grandson again. I don't know how much work I will get done. I hope to get all the books moved and start putting price tags on things. Maybe at nap time...

Our weather did change. We got to about 29-30 degrees a couple of nights in a row. We didn't have much rain, only enough to make the car windows spotted and dirty. It has warmed back up to about 40 at night and 80 during the day. This time of year the human family takes precedence over the animal population.

We took the grandkids and most of our family to Apple Annie's in Wilcox,
Arizona. It has become a tradition. We all pile in our cars and drive the 30 miles or so to Apple Annie's Pumpkin Patch. Once there we take a hay ride to the huge field of pumpkins. There the grandkids find their own unique pumpkin. They all love running around finding that special one. Then we load all the kids and pumpkins back on the hay wagon and pay for the pumpkins. I'm sure it would be cheaper to just buy pumpkins at Walmart but it wouldn't be as much fun. After the pumpkins are selected we go to Apple Annie's sprawling apple/peach orchards for lunch and gift shopping. There are always tons of people, but we went early this year so it wasn't so bad. We got hamburgers and kettle popcorn. The best part is dessert, which is a huge slice of apple pie topped with an even bigger scoop of homemade vanilla ice cream! I bought a whole pie to enjoy at home later. I also bought some pumpkin butter and a small jar of flavored honey.

We ended up with about 6 or 7 pumpkins. On Halloween they all got carved up into various scary faces and lit with candles. After that everyone got into their costumes and went to Benson for Trick or Treating! We has a knight, a ninja warrior, a pirate and a princess. Cute, cute, cute! The little ones got the hang of things very quickly and came home with their sacks full! Enough candy to last a year! Great fun and great memories for all!

Now it's time to start thinking of Thanksgiving and Christmas. Sometimes it seems overwhelming this time of year. I have agreed to participate in the neighborhood yard sale this year too. I have been cleaning out closets and trying to get organized for that, which is this coming weekend. Steve is taking a day off from work to help clean out the garage and set up for the sale. I'm making pillows and bags for bags to sell. I have gone through my book collection and clothes but I still feel like there isn't a whole lot to put in the sale. I will put out some of my fleece from the alpacas and the goats but that doesn't seem to sell in a yard sale. People usually want a "bargain", which means the lowest price they can convince you to give up your stuff. I have to think of it as cleaning out and getting rid of stuff I don't want any more. A little change in my pocket for "junk" is better than paying the dump to take it. And there is always that old philosophy, " One man's junk is another man's treasure". So we do the work and hope for the best.

Last night Buddy, my livestock guardian dog, was released from the yard. We do this almost every night so that he can get some exercise and scour the area for any wild critters before we go to bed at night. This usually cuts down on the all night bark fest that Great Pyrenees dogs practice. One of the wild critters that is fairly common around here is the skunk. You can just about guess the rest of my story.

I saw Buddy rolling around, all four feet up in the air, having a great old time. I went to let him back in the yard and immediately got smacked in the nose with the overwhelming aroma of skunk. Then I saw Buddy jump up and grab a black something and fling it up in the air! Oh my gosh! Gross, gross, gross! I thought he killed the skunk and was playing with the dead animal. He dropped it when I went out so I let him in the yard and then went to investigate. It was only the skunk's tail! Gross again!

Holding my breath as best I could, I put the tail in a plastic bag and placed it in the garbage. I don't know if Buddy killed the skunk or just played with the remains. He smells to high heaven either way! But not as bad as last year when he encountered a live skunk and got sprayed straight in the face and chest. Luckily for me, I wasn't here last year when it happened. Steve was and had to clean him up! Yukky job! I don't think I will have to bathe Buddy or anything this time. The smell has dissipated a great deal this morning, but also our weather is supposed to change drastically tonight. I don't want a wet dog having to deal with freezing temps and cold rain. So we will all have to endure and hope the stink goes away fairly quickly by itself!

This morning I woke up to the sound of alpaca alarm calls! Tinker raced along the fence line head up and making that high pitched noise. Then Buddy joined him with his deep warning bark. What the heck! I ran out the back door to see what was going on. The neighbors field was full of big black angus cattle! Yikes!

You have to understand, I really really don't like cows! My daughter makes fun of me. She says I'm afraid of cows. Well, maybe I am a little. They are huge and dumb and unpredictable. My grandfather made all us kids stay in the hay loft one time when a neighbor's bull got loose, so maybe I am afraid. Cows can carry a disease called BVD. It causes them to lose their calves and other hideous stuff. Anyway it can be passed to alpacas so I really don't want cows on our property.

I thought about calling the neighbors and letting them know the beasts were there, eating their trees and trampling the plants. I figured they'd be more pissed off at me for calling them at 6:30 than at the cows. They were up soon anyway. I heard someone banging on a bucket or something and looked out again. The man was beating on a piece of metal and a whole herd of cows was headed right for my fence! Oh My Gosh! All I could do was watch and hope for the best! As soon as the herd saw the fence and the barn blocked their way, they turned and headed for the neighbors gate where they had come in. Thank the good Lord! There were about 6 or 8 big cows and a couple little calves running with them. They went out the neighbor's gate and over the hill. Just the same, I closed my gate when Steve left for work. I don't want to have to chase any of those beasts off my property!

Ever since we got the new alpacas, Prince and Tinker have been fighting like mad. I mean screaming and chasing each other all over the pasture, biting and kicking. They were so violent that they both fell down a couple of times. I also noticed that Prince was staying in the shelter and Tinker was keeping him there. They started a new poop pile in the shelter which does not make me happy!

Today the violence seemed to be lessened somewhat. They were both in the shelter looking over the fence at the new boys. I am still reluctant to turn them all lose together. The new boys seem so much younger and smaller than Prince and Tinker. Tinker is a big alpaca and while Prince is not as big as he is, Prince can hold his own against his half brother. I don't know if the new boys would fare as well. Stewie is especially small compared to all the others. It would be nice if I could find one more small male alpaca to be company for him. Then I could put all of the big boys together.

I am pretty upset with Falkor lately too. He has been butting with all his might against the gate in his pen. He has managed to move the pen next to him so that the fence is bent and sticking out about 6 inches. I'm afraid if he keeps doing it he will collapse the whole fencing network of all three pens. So I am hoping to get his new pen built very soon, like maybe this weekend.

Today our weather changed drastically. The wind was just blasting and the tempurature dropped to about 79 instead of 85 or so that it has been. Mellie and Little Bones spent a lot of time inside today. Falkor hid by the side of the barn when he wasn't butting the fence. It is only supposed to be 50 degrees in Tucson tonight so it will probably be cooler here. We are up higher at 4800 feet and, of course, there is the wind still. So we will get straw bales this weekend too. The cost of straw has gone from $6 last year to $7.50 per bale now. At least I have my business account now. So hopefully all these higher cost will help with taxes this year.

I got the pictures back on the shearing. It took place on Friday. Danny has been shearing since he was 16 years old. He did a very quick efficient job on our 6 goats.

He started with Falkor and finished with the 3 new boys. Now I have 6 more bags of fleece to find a use for.

I did find someone today who will turn my alpaca fleece into scarves or blankets in about 7 weeks. And I joined the Alpaca Blanket Project which is a project to turn US alpaca fleece into US Pendleton blankets. I am excitedly looking forward to having both of these products to sell from my farm soon.

Saturday was a fun day too. A friend and I went to the Tucson Wool Festival at Kathy Wither's Ranch. I met some very interesting people who had some great items and fleece for sale. The best part for me was seeing all of Kathy's goat kids who were born this past spring. So cute and so many colors. I do want to get a couple more does eventually. I have to get a pen built for Falkor first and a new pasture fence put up.

Anyway, enjoy the before and after shots. Go to Kathy's website to see pictures of the wool festival: www.uniquedesignsbykathy.com.

My new alpacas arrived yesterday about 12:30. Two nice men, Bill and Rudy, delivered them in a huge truck piled high with hay and an alpaca trailer. Bill was afraid he might lose his hay coming up our steep hill.

The alpacas were haltered without incident and we lead them to their new pasture. Prince and Tinker, my resident alpacas, got very excited and raised up on hind legs trying to make contact over the fence with the new boys. Prince and Tinker look huge compared to the new boys. They are mature alpacas though. The new boys are younger and not quite full grown.

The new boys are gorgeous. Kardigan is jet black, his ancestors include Royal Fawn and Dom Lucilio. He was born on January 27. 2007. Cimmaron is a bunch of colors, including gray, maroon and white. He has General Schwarzkopf and Chaka Khan in his background. His DOB is January 28, 2006. Prince Stuart, or Stewie, as Bill called him, is light fawn. He has fantastic fiber and has Caligula in his background. He was born on August 20, 2007. He is the smallest of the three. In Bill's opinion, Stewie would be show material if he would get a little bigger. Maybe he will grow since he is only two years old. I will probably call him Stewie too so as not to confuse him with Prince, whose name is really Viking Prince.

So far there hasn't been any real fighting among the old boys and the new boys. Maybe because they are on separate sides of the fence. Alpacas are very respectful of fences and do not try to bust through them like some animals do. I will let them get used to each other for a week or more and then take the temporary fence down and let them all have the run of the pasture.

It is so cool to have a real herd, 5 alpacas! WOW! I also met some really nice alpaca people in the process of getting my new boys.

This past weekend, Steve and I traveled to northern Arizona. We visited good friends, went hiking, antique shopping and visited an alpaca farm. It was absolutely beautiful fall weather. The aspen trees were turning bright shimmery yellow and other trees had turned red or gold. We had a very fun and relaxing time.

Today I am not so relaxed. WE ARE GETTING THREE NEW ALPACAS TODAY!

We tried to take pictures up north but the battery died on the old Sony. We got a few pics of a baby alpaca but no pics of the foliage or the alpacas we bought. I will post pictures of them soon.

I took a major step yesterday and opened my business account at the bank. I will pay for the new alpacas from that account.

Also, while we were up north, the shearer called me back. He will be coming out on Friday to shear the goats. It is going to be a busy week, getting the new alpacas, shearing the goats and Saturday is the Tucson Wool Festival at Kathy Wither's place. I am looking forward to that.

Another week has slipped by so quickly! Our weather has gotten cooler and very windy. Today there are lots of clouds and lots of wind again.

The wind spooks some of the animals. Like right now, my daughter's dog, Lux, is trying to hide at my feet. She doesn't like the noise of the wind or all the loud unpredictable bangs that come with it.

I love the fall flowers. Steve drove me down the frontage road Sunday so I could take pictures of the sunflowers growing wild. Someone said or wrote that there used to be many more of them but some highway person got the idea that they were ugly weeds and started spraying to get rid of them. They must've missed these or don't spray the frontage roads. Even if they are weeds I still like them.

I'm still waiting for the shearer to call me back. I put in another call to him yesterday. It's starting to make me nervous this waiting. My mother said I should learn to shear the goats myself. She's probably right!

Yes, I know, it's been awhile. Sometimes I just get so busy and forget what happens around here to write about. This weekend I had my entire family over to celebrate my birthday. It was a very nice time. Lots of food and fun.

Steve and I moved the goat shelter and the chicken coop over the weekend too. Sometimes it is best to make do with what you have, which is what we do a lot lately. Actually, I just supervised the moving. Our son, Sam, helped Steve do the actual physical act of moving things. The goat shelter was just shifted some, to face more squarely to the east. This gives the little bucks a little more shade from the sun in the morning and the afternoon.

The chicken coop, formerly also a goat shelter, was turned completely around. It now opens toward the west. The chickens seem to like that better. I don't know why exactly. Maybe the trees and bushes posed more of a threat to them than the evening sun. Anyway, we put some old pallets in front to close the opening and make it more cozy for the chickens. I also put some old dog crates and some new plastic filing crates inside for use as nests. I can close them inside by shifting one of the pallets like a sliding door. I haven't felt the need to do that yet.

We also removed one of the sections inside the goat barn where Little Bones and Caramel stay. Now little Bones has an indoor space as large as Caramel's. There used to be 5 kennel runs in the goat barn. We have reduced that to 3 runs in order to give the goats more space and more inside shelter. Eventually I would like to get another pasture fenced for the does and just use the kennel, now the goat barn, for does who are about to give birth. Hopefully in a few months, we will have the funds for that and other improvements around here.

We are thinking about winter too, although, we have been having record heat lately. It was 103 yesterday. Not cool! Ha! I'm thinking about how much straw we will need for each shelter and each pasture. I do not think I will breed any of the does this season. Poor Falkor! He won't have any fun for awhile. Oh well. It will be better for the does and for me. They will get a rest and get in better shape and I will have time to figure out my goals and what I really want to accomplish with our little farm.

I have contacted the shearer but have not heard back from him yet. I will call him again if I don't hear by the weekend. I have been busy sewing. I made a long skirt for my daughter's halloween costume. I also finished an apron for Christmas and have another cut out to sew. I seem to only be able to work in my "shop" early in the morning or late. It is just too hot during the day. I told Steve I need a room air conditioner out there so I can get more work done!

After 36 years, I lost the diamond in the first "promise" ring that Steve gave me when we got engaged. I still have the ring on my finger with my wedding diamond. Steve said that maybe we could trade them both up for a new ring. Maybe, just maybe, I deserve it after all these years! Ha!

It is so cool this morning that I dragged out one of my flannel muu-muus to keep warm. Yes, I made flannel muu-muus. I adapted a short sleeved muu-muu pattern and a long sleeved nightgown pattern and made several. They are long and comfortable and if I get really cold, they are big enough to put t-shirts and longjohns underneath! Ha! I usually don't need that many clothes here but I am thinking of getting some high-top slippers to cover my ankles.

We decided that Big Red was getting old and senile. He was crowing all night instead of just in the morning. The neighbors complained about the noise. So I gave Steve permission to put everyone out of misery and shoot the old bird. He was then deposited in the wash so the coyotes and buzzards had a nice little feast, Big Red, not Steve. I'll probably keep it a secret if I ever decide to deposit Steve in the wash! Ha! Just kidding!

I plan on calling the shearer today and setting up a time to shear the goats. I read another angora breeders page online. I guess most angora breeders sell their fleeces in the original condition in which they come off the animal. They remove as much vegetable matter as possible and sell then as is by the pound. It looked like this particular breeder sold hers for about $24 per pound. That's a lot of money if you get 4 or more pounds from one animal.

This weekend is "Alpaca Farm Days." Alpaca farms across the country are having open houses and inviting the public to visit their farms. Some will also have demonstrations, food booths, spinners, weavers and food. It is an opportunity to touch the alpacas and see what raising them is like. I hope you will all go visit a farm near you. Someday, when I get more alpacas, I will join in the National Alpaca Farm Days too.

I forgot to say that I did manage to get the chickens moved. They are not very bright however, and have not used the shelter at night. We plan on turning the shelter around, putting a new roof on it and making a smaller entrance for the chickens. Maybe they will like it better and I will be able to close them in at night. Otherwise, Big Red crows all night disrupting everyone's sleep. It would be nice to get one of those Amish built chicken coops. Maybe someday...

I read a bird article that said the hummingbirds and the bats really are leaving the area for the winter. It also said that some hummingbirds stay all year and to leave one feeder full all year. Today I will fill one of them up and try to keep it full this autumn and winter.

It is cool again this morning, only about 60 degrees. That means it will get to be at least 90 degrees before the end of the day. The pool will be a little too chilly for me but maybe Steve and the grandkids will swim.

The cooler weather has me thinking about keeping the animals warm this winter. I will have to figure out how many bales of straw we will need and where to put them where they will do the most good. Straw bales make a good wind blocker for the alpacas. They are also good insulation for the goats and chickens. We usually only have one or two snow storms so I don't really need permanent heavy duty shelter for all the animals. I worry more about keeping them cool in the hot summer.

I hear Little Bones bleating and demanding her breakfast so until next time, have a great day!

I love the fall here in Southern Arizona! The nights and mornings are very cool and the days are warm and sunny. The wind has picked up again and seems to blow non-stop. This morning it was coming straight out of the east, a good sign that the monsoon is over.

The animals seem to enjoy the cooler temperatures too. Buddy and Lux raced and played all over the yard this morning. I had to remind Buddy not to jump on me, he was so exuberant! The alpacas ran up and down their pasture. The goats play fight and leap around. The goats will have to be sheared again soon. They produce so much fleece that they need shearing every six months. The alpacas won't be ready til the spring.

The hummingbird feeders are empty again this morning. Maybe I won't fill them again since it is fall. The bats and the hummingbirds should be leaving for warmer winter skies soon.

My workroom is cooler now. I have started sewing fall curtains. The fabric is a simple cotton print of fall leaves. They are simple rod pocket panels so I hope to finish them in a couple of days and get them up by the "official" start of fall on the 22nd. After that I will finish some projects for Christmas and do some spinning. It would be nice to get enough yarn spun to make more hats for family members this year. So, I'd better get busy before my grandson wakes up from his nap!

Steve fixed the old goat pen yesterday so now I can move the chickens into their own space. I was going to do it last night but got too tired and forgot. Getting old does that to you! Ha!

The hummingbird population has gotten smaller since I was away. I don't know if some of them left because the feeders were empty or if they migrated already. There are still some here but not the 15 to 20 I was seeing before vacation. The feeders are still being emptied but not by the hummingbirds.

The bats have arrived! They can empty all three feeders in one night. So I am filling feeders up every morning now. The bats are harder to watch than the hummingbirds. They are almost like a shadow and sometimes it seems like you imagined them passing. These are not the small bats that eat the bugs under the security light. These are bigger fruit bats. They don't land on the feeders, they hit it as they pass. So there are splashes of the red liquid feed on the house after they leave. Late last night I got up to let the dog out and watched several bats hitting the feeders. Just a flash of brown wings in the darkness. I probably couldn't see them at all without the small string of lights on the porch. Nature is amazing and seems appropriate for this time of year.

Our trip to the great state of Oregon was pleasant and unmarked by any travel difficulties. Thank goodness! We mostly ate too much good food and slept alot. We got to visit all the relatives and had a couple of family get -togethers to mark nieces and great nieces birthdays. Overall, a very nice visit.

Upon returning to Arizona, we learned that we missed the most rain we have had all monsoon season this year. My daughters said that it rained for 3 days straight. Now everything is greener than it was when we left and some of the weeds finally got fence high. It is still rather humid and damp feeling. The weatherman says this is the last of the monsoon this year. We shall see. The rain or the season has cooled the temperature somewhat. We have only been in the 90's since we got home. That is a relief.

All the animals are fine and didn't seem to miss us too much. My daughters did a good job of taking care of them. I missed all of them though, especially the dogs. We saw "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" while we were away, a very cute movie. It made me homesick for my dogs and all the animals.

Now that we are home, there is a lot to do. I need to schedule the goat shearing for next month and start thinking about the holidays. I'm wondering also if the neighbors are planning a community yard sale this fall. I may have to be part of that this year just to get rid of STUFF, Or maybe sell some fleece.

Just a short note to let you all know that I will be off line for a short time. I'm leaving our little farm in the capable hands of my 2 daughters. I'll return on Sept 9 and tell you all about our trip.

Our birthday celebration was a big success. Everyone had too much food, did serious damage to the margarita mix and I only stuck myself with a shish-ka-bob stick once! Ha! It was a beautiful sunny day and all the grands and everyone else went swimming. Some of us swam twice, once before dinner and then again after. The grands were thrilled to swim after dark with the pool light on.

Later, upon getting out of the pool, we had another wild visitor. Buddy and Penny alerted us to another snake in the yard. This time it was not a rattlesnake. It was a good sized King snake all black and shiny! The older girls tried to trap him to remove him from the yard but ended up just chasing him out. We didn't want the dogs to hurt him. He slithered safely out of the yard to the rock garden by the garage. Hope he catches some of the kangaroo rats out there or keeps any rattlesnakes away.

After the snake went away, we watched bats swoop and dive after moths under our security light. They are like the swallows of the night. The grandkids were awed and not scared. The light shone through the bats' wings outlining their bodies and legs. I can't imagine how many bugs there would be if it weren't for the bats and the birds.

On a sad note, I went to let the chickens out yesterday morning and found our only chick had died overnight. I don't know what happened. Maybe one of the big chickens didn't like her or something. I will be glad once we move the chickens to their own place and get some new ones. We are only getting a few eggs from these hens and not very regularly at that. But they are too old to make a good dinner so I'll just keep taking care of them in their old age. They were good layers at one time. I once got 2 dozen eggs in one week. I was selling eggs to get rid of them. I don't think I bought any store bought eggs for 4 years! So I don't mind keeping the old hens. They have been good to us.

It is nice and cool this morning, about 66 degrees. The weatherman said it would only get down to 77 in Tucson. So maybe we will only hit 96 degrees today instead of 106 predicted for Tucson.

The hummingbirds are going crazy around the feeders this morning. Trying to count them could make one insane. They never stop moving and they all look pretty much alike. I try to count them in groups but even then I am never sure. I think there may have been about 15 of them here this morning.

Buddy is still not over the snake incident. I had to provide another bucket of water for him away from where the snake was. He seemed to rest OK last night and he is himself this morning except for not going near the old water bucket. It must've been a very close all for him. I didn't see the snake the first time either. They blend in pretty well with the rocks and the terrain around here. Steve did get the rattle last night while I was doing the dishes.

Today we are celebrating our oldest daughter's birthday. I still have to get a few things at the grocery store. Last night I cut up chicken and beef into chucks to put on shish-ka-bob sticks. I soaked them over night in a mixture of soy sauce and pineapple juice. Today we will put the meat on skewers along with vegetables like peppers, mushrooms and pearl onions and pineapple chunks. I will cook up some wild rice and make a fruit salad. I also bought a tub of margarita mix. It should be a good time!

Last night was not a very restful night. My little red dog, Penny, barked to go outside about an hour after I went to bed. I got up and waited for her to do her thing, trying not to nod off, cuz I didn't want her to bark again and wake up the baby or mi esposo. We stumbled back to bed about 10 minutes later. An hour or so after that, my Livestock Guardian Dog, Buddy, started a racket just under our bedroom window. I got up again and yelled at him out the window. He just looked at me then proceeded to bark even more and more hysterically. That's when I noticed the big rattlesnake between Buddy and his water bucket. "Oh! Sh-t", I said, "It's a damn snake!" Steve says, "A snake?" and rolls right over to go back to sleep.

So I stuffed my feet in my sandals and headed out the back door. I wanted to get the big flat shovel but the snake was between me and the garage. Just as I stepped out the door, Buddy startled the snake and it slithered very quickly into the corner by his water bucket. Nice! NOT! "LEAVE IT, BUD!" I ordered the dog. He went off to the front yard but not very far. He kept his eye on that snake , his head low, but at a distance. Good dog!

So I managed to get the shovel out of the garage. What to do next? I tried to chop the head off a couple of times but the snake was quick and in striking mode now. There is a big flat tile by the water bucket so I just pinned the snake down with the shovel so that it couldn't go anywhere or bite me or Buddy. "Steve!!!" I yelled. I heard a muffled,"Yeah?" "I need your help, NOW!" "Just a minute ," he says. A minute or so later, the front porch light comes on and mi esposo comes out in his robe and sandals. He got in the garage and got the hoe. While I held the snake with the shovel, he managed to sever it's dangerous head from it's body with two swift blows. What a relief! So I put the dead snake in a bucket by the trash cans. Steve wants the rattle as a souvenir but we didn't want to worry about that in the middle of the night. It will stink to high heaven by the time he gets home from work and cuts it off today. But, hey, I'm sure not going to do it!

Buddy wouldn't go near his water bucket the rest of the night. I had to put another bucket out front for him. He was pretty nervous and jumpy for awhile. Thank the Lord, he did not get bit! That is a really good command to teach a dog, "Leave It!"

It was the first snake we've had this year and I hope it is the last. We usually can expect two or more snakes to show up in the spring and then another 2 in the fall. Yet another sign to me that things are not normal this year. It is not fall yet. It is a weird time to have a snake looking for cover. Or maybe it was looking for a meal. I found one of those big Sonoran Desert Taods trying to bury itself in one of my flower pots this morning. Penny alerted me to that. Dogs are great!

The Storm did some damage to the gas station down the road. Instead of "GAS" the sign now says "G S". We are missing some roof tiles from the garage but mostly just got soaked.

I cleaned out the barn yesterday. I decided I can use some of my old dog crates for chicken nest boxes. I moved some of them to the pasture where I will put the new chickens when we get them. I got some good ideas while I was working which I wrote down in my "Farm Log."

Steve removed a large cholla cactus from the goat pasture. I thought he had removed all the cactus from that field when we fenced it in. I noticed a piece of cactus hanging on the front of Little Buck and another on Mouth's side. We started to remove the cactus from the goats yesterday too. But a storm directly above us started flashing lightening and thundering so we decided to wait. I will try to take care of that again today. Cactus cannot do anything but make trouble on unsuspecting little goats.

The fields and hills around us are actually turning slightly green. It is very late in the summer for this to be happening. Usually things green up at the beginning of July when the monsoon hits. This year that didn't happen. Usually by this time everyone is grumbling about how tall the weeds are in their yards. Not this year. There aren't any weeds. It's kinda scarey. It means we haven't had enough rain. I worry about the fire season next month. I guess worrying never accomplished anything. We'll just have to take things as they come.

I'd say the monsoon is back with a vengence. Yesterday about 2pm, we got slammed with heavy rain and wind. The wind was very scarey. It sounded like a tornado or a train going through. After that let up we had rain on and off throughout the night. Everything is soggy now. We still have a good cloud cover this morning. Maybe there is more rain to come.

The two little bucks and Mouth got pretty wet. They have a shelter but the rain was slanting in the front of the shelter so they hid behind the shelter. There is no roof in that direction. I'd like to get or design more substantial shelters or just have a way for everyone to stay in the barn when the weather is so bad. The alpacas shelter works pretty well for them. They were dry and so was the inside of their shelter. Little Bones, Caramel and Falkor have very good shelter if they want to use it. Little Bones got pretty wet but Caramel and Falkor are dry. At least it is still warm so I don't worry about them too much.

Today I need to refill the hummingbird feeders. With so many hummers using them, the feeders empty in about 2 days. I was buying commercial sugar water but it is more convenient and easy to make my own. The birds seem happy either way.

After waiting for 6 weeks to hear from the guy I ordered fence panels from, I canceled my order this week. I think some people think that because you order a small amount of something or you are not a big farm you aren't worth their time and effort. Oh well, his loss.

We lost one of the baby chicks this week too. He got injured somehow and then I think Falkor stepped on him. I think the one that is still well is a female, which is good. Yet another reason for chickens to have their own pen instead of being in with bigger animals.

The mesquite trees have been loaded down with some weird beetles lately. The beetles are big and heavy. They are very unusual looking and I wish I could get a picture for you. Someone said they might be Palo Verde beetles, but I haven't a clue what they are.

The monsoon seems to be back. I hear thunder now and yesterday we got a nice little rain. We need more rain , lots more.

We got the three young males moved to the pasture by the barn yesterday without incident. Thank goodness! They seem perfectly happy in their new surroundings.

I thought we were going to lose one of our dogs on Saturday night. My daughter's dog, Luxie, is a border collie mix. She is a black, brindle color and mostly a good dog. Anyway, on Saturday night, Buddy started barking and Luxie was whining and running around in circles. Sara found a Sonoran Desert toad near the two dogs. Apparently, Luxie was trying to play with or eat the ugly frog and Buddy was trying to keep her away from it. Buddy knows about those wicked frogs! They taste awful and make him foam at the mouth. He learned long ago not to touch them. Luxie is new to farm life though. She must've gotten right on the toad. She looked like Wiley Coyote in the cartoons after getting blown up! She could not focus her eyes, her legs were all splayed out as if she were sliding on ice, her tongue was all red and hanging to the ground. She was not in a good way. We made her drink lots of water and some milk. We took her back outside and hosed off her feet and her face. We looked up the toad on the internet. We had actually done all that we could do for her short of taking her to the vet. The website about the toads said that they carry a neurotoxin in glands by their ears that can be fatal to dogs. It said to wash out the dog's mouth with water and take it to the vet. Luxie seemed to be recovering so we did not take her to the vet. She is fine now.

Last night there was another Sonoran Desert toad in the yard. Both dogs barked at it but nobody touched it this time. Sara removed the toad to the end of the driveway. No harm done and one border collie a lot wiser about farm life here in the desert.

It rained all day today. It was like tropical weather. We need the rain and it cooled things off. I do hate the wet sloppy ground. All the animals get soaked, the pellets disinigrate and the hay turns to green mash. It takes forever for everything to dry out when we've had 1 to 2 inches of rain in a day. I hope none of the goats get pneumonia. I don't know why they get all wet. They all have a perfectly dry shelter to stay in.

I am on my last gallon of goat milk for Little Bones and Little Buck. They are only getting a bottle in the morning now. So when this gallon is gone, that's it, the end of bottle feeding this year! Thank goodness! If I get any more does, I hope they will be able to feed their kids themselves. I'll have to get tried and true does. It would be nice to get a couple of bred does so that if they had girl kids, I could eventually breed them all back to Falkor. I haven't decided if I will breed Falkor and Caramel again. I have plenty of time to decide. The breeding season for goats is from September through December. If I do breed Caramel again I know I will have to bottle feed the kids.

The thing is if you raise and bottle feed kids, it is difficult to let them go to new homes. And waiting for kids to be born, well, that about kills me too. Anyway, like I said, I don't have to decide yet.

The size of my goat herd has been drastically reduced as of yesterday. Mr. P. who purchased 3 does from me last August, yes, a year ago, finally came and picked up 5 goats. Valentino, Silverado, Butterfly, Snowy and Bold-Fresh all went to their new home yesterday. I would not let Mr. P take the only buck, The Donald, at the same time. I did not want any hanky-panky going on in the vehicle! Mr. P will have to come back when he has a separate pen for The Donald. The good Lord only knows when that will be! Ha!

Originally I had sold Jenny, Bobbin and Lucy to Mr. P. As he continued to procrastinate, I began to see that it would not be a good idea to sell those wild, untouchable goats to someone else, especially someone who is new to goats. So after Jenny had Bold-Fresh and Mouth, I sold her at auction. The same happened to Bobbin, the mother of Snowy and The Donald. Of course, all of Lucy's kids were born dead. The kids are all hand raised and friendly so Mr. P should be happy with all of them. Butterfly was the hardest to catch. She did not want to go in that truck. Like Mother, like Daughter. Jenny, Butterfly's mom was also my wildest, wiliest doe.

I decided to keep Mouth as a companion to Little Buck. He is my only pygora goat now. All the others are pure angora. I still need to register them and change the ownership on Falkor and Caramel. I hope to do that soon. It is not expensive so I really have no reason to procrastinate.

It is weird not to see Valentino, Silverado and Butterfly in their pasture this morning. I will miss Valentino especially because he was my first bottle-fed kid and because he was my only black goat.

Steve and I will move Mouth, Little Buck and The Donald to Valentino's old pasture. It is closer to the barn and easier for me to feed all of the goats at once. Then we will clean up the pasture in the front of the house. We want to get some new chickens to put in that pasture. I plan on replacing the roof on the goat shelter and putting some nest boxes in there. Then we will get some Delawares, a heritage breed. They are supposed to be big calm chickens good for eggs and meat.

Wow, wow, wow!! We have been invaded by hummingbirds! I have never seen so many in one place and it is our place! Ha! I have 3 feeders hanging on the front patio. I have seen as many as 6 birds at a feeder at once with others darting about the other two feeders. It is almost impossible to count the little suckers. They are hardly ever still and, boy, are they fast! They are like little helicopters waiting in line to take off. They charge each other to get their time at the feeder. Of course, I was only able to get pictures of one at a time. I am surprised I got the pictures I did. They are different colors and patterns. Some are brown or grayish. Others have a solid dark head. And I did see one with a ruby iridescent throat. It is a real blast to watch them and hear the noise they make, chirping,as well as the whirrrrrrrrrrrr of their wings. Awesome!

I also got a few pictures of my white hen and her chicks and our big rooster.

We are about to get slammed with a big noisy storm so I will post more later.

The weatherman says the monsoon is disappearing. It is too early and we haven't had enough rain. This morning seems cooler than usual. Could fall be coming already?

I am a little disappointed because a loan we were hoping for has been turned down. There is still a chance that another lender will approve one, but I am wondering if maybe it is just not the time to get into more debt. I have to get busy and start my business officially. I keep hoping for a big windfall but maybe that isn't what I should be hoping for. I think I should learn to find victory in small accomplishments.

The goats are crying out for their breakfast. Falkor was trying to climb the fence for mesquite leaves this morning. The alpacas were the only ones who seemed relaxed. They were lounging in their shelter chewing their cuds. Buddy is especially enjoying the cool morning. He is especially frisky and I had to keep telling him not to jump on me! He's pretty good about backing off and running across the yard instead. I can tell he'd really like to just land his big feet on my shoulders and give me a big wet doggy kiss. He weighs as much as I do though and I'd probably end up flat on my back screaming, "Help me, I've fallen and I can't get up"! Not a pretty picture, funny ,maybe, but not pretty.

The hummingbirds have been very active too. I've seen several at the feeders lately. They should be getting ready to migrate soon. So should the swallows. I will know that fall is really here once the hummingbirds and the swallows are gone. I saw several bats last night. We have a big "security" light in the back yard between the house and the barn. I could see bats darting in and out of the light catching moths and other flying critters. Sometimes bats like to feast at the hummingbird feeders too. I think bigger fruit bats do that. Once they discover the hummingbird feeders, they can empty a feeder in one night. They also splatter the red sugar water all over the side of the house and spill lots on the ground. I haven't noticed that happening yet this year. I just refilled the feeders and so far none has been emptied in one night.

It is 7am. I usually get everyone fed by this time so I'd better get it in gear. Lots to do today!

I moved Little Buck only a week ago. He had blood on his horns again this morning but it doesn't seem serious. Maybe just toughening them up. Mr. P is supposed to come pick up his kids this weekend. That will solve the problem of the bucks fighting.

Liz and Dennis arrived safely at their new home. Liz called on Sunday to let me know. Thanks Liz.

I heard coyotes howling, well not howling, more like yipping, this morning on the ridge behind us. They seemed fairly close and made all the neighborhood dogs go nuts. Haven't seen many rabbits lately and I haven't seen Shadow, my gray cat, for quite some time. Coyotes have to eat too. It seems a little early to be hearing them so close by though. Usually it is late September before I really notice their cries. Maybe we are going to have a rough winter this year or maybe we just haven't had enough rain.

I bought some "Static Guard" at the store today. It is supposed to make carding the fleece easier. So I hope to get some work done on that soon.

The baby chicks are doing well and getting bigger every day. They are still yellow and white but not puff balls any more. I will try to post some pictures of them soon.

My good friends, Liz and Dennis, should be in their new home by now. I hope they had a good trip and that everyone arrived in one piece. I will miss them lots but they will be happier in their new home once they get settled in. God Bless you guys!

It is a brilliant hot Arizona day. We should be back into the monsoon cycle this afternoon if the weatherman is correct. A bang-up, wicked thunderstorm with lots of rain would be terrific. Of Course, I'm hoping the clothes out on the line will be dry by then and I will have plenty of time to get them down before that storm hits!

I got some more pictures added to my files so thought I'd add them. I don't think I've talked much about our little red dog, Penny. She is about 12 years old now and still going strong. We think she is a Tibetan Spaniel. She adopted us all those years ago when we still lived in California. She just ran up into our front yard one day and refused to leave. We advertised in the local paper but no one ever claimed her. So we became her forever home. She is a terrific little dog.

And here's a better picture of Buddy. Maybe you can get some idea of how big he is. Of all my animals, I think I will always love the dogs the best.

This morning it is windy and dusty. We haven't had any rain in a couple of days, hence the dust. It is 76 degrees at 7 a.m. so I figure we'll get up to 106 by 3p.m. or sooner. We could use some more rain. Most of the monsoon thunderstorms seem to be to the west of us this year. I hope we don't get skipped altogether. I like the occasional wicked storm!

The swallows' second group of hatchlings are starting to leave the nest. They aren't quite ready. One of them fell out of the nest yesterday afternoon and landed on the patio. I managed to keep Buddy and the cats from getting it so far. The parents are sticking close by. Since it made it through the night, I am hoping it will live long enough to fly away. It is making a great effort, flapping it's wings and staying hidden under the drain spout. You go little bird!

Little Buck and The Donald seem to be getting along OK. The blood has dried and no horns were lost. I have cut the bottle feeding to twice a day in preparation for weaning by the end of August. Little Buck doesn't seem to be a part of the herd yet. He is holding himself a little apart from the rest of them. He does get his nose in there for the pellets and the hay and he doesn't seem afraid. He is about 3 weeks younger than the rest of them but he is a good size. I cannot tell him apart because of his size, but because of his fleece. He's much curlier than the rest of them and a little off-white. They are pure bright white and fluffy more than curly.

I did make it to the feed store yesterday so we are all stocked up for now. I'll probably send Steve for hay again on Saturday.

Yesterday evening we moved Little Buck, the buck born with Little Bones, into the pen with the pygora kids, Mouth, Bold-Fresh and The Donald. The Donald is the pygora kid that we did not wether. His name struck me when I noticed the great "Donald Trump" type hair he has between his horns. It is like two waves parted in the middle. Anyway, it made me think of Donald Trump's hair so I call him The Donald now. I'm sure his new owner will call him something else.

It looks like The Donald and Little Buck didn't get along so well during the night. Little Buck has a bloody horn this morning. The Donald has blood on his horn and neck. None of it looks as serious as Little Buck's horn. I hope there is not enough damage to threaten his horn. It would be a shame if his horns did not get as magnificent as his daddy's, Falkor, horns. I will keep an eye on him today to make sure all is well.

I moved Little Buck away from his mama, Caramel, because he is 14 weeks old now. Other breeders have told me that bucks can breed at 3 months of age. Little Buck was chasing Caramel around their pen and attempting to mount her so I thought it was time to move him. The Donald is supposed to be picked up this weekend along with Mouth, Snowy, and Butterfly. I'm hoping that Little Buck will get to be friends with Bold-Fresh, then I will keep him. If it turns out that Little Bones and Mouth get along better, then I will keep Mouth. I'll have to wait and see. Mouth is definitely more friendly with me than Bold-Fresh is now, so that may be a factor too.

I forgot to close the chicken door last night when I bottle fed the kids, probably because I was moving Little Buck. So at 12:30 a.m., my rooster started crowing like crazy. He's demented. It was pitch black outside! Since we have all the windows open, I had to go out and put the rooster inside so he would shut up and we could get some sleep. Of course, that started a chain reaction. Little Bones jumped up and started bleating and looking for her bottle. Then Caramel got up and remembered that her baby boy was no longer with her. She started bawling. It was enough to wake the dead! And, as if that wasn't enough, I heard a coyote start howling down in the wash, which set the dogs off! Holy cow! I almost wished I'd let that demented rooster keep crowing!

Today my mission is to buy more feed. I'm always buying feed. I'm almost out of alfalfa pellets and chicken feed. The timothy pellets for the alpacas ran out yesterday and I should probably get dog food again so that I don't run out of it. So it's off to Walmart and the feed store!

Another weekend has come and gone all too quickly. We are always busy but some how we don't always manage to get everything done. It was hot and humid but we didn't get any thunderstorms. This year's monsoon seems a little dry compared to previous ones. There is still time to get more rain I suppose. I just remember that this time last year the weeds were already topping the fence. This year they are barely sticking up shoots and everything is still pretty brown.

My favorite cat, Loki, caught two big old rats this week. I walked in the goat barn yesterday and there he was sprawled out on the floor, half a rat laying next to him. I got the dust pan and removed the carcass to the manure pile. When I returned Loki had regurgitated the rest so I had to remove that too. Yuk! Disgusting! Loki is doing his job though. Good kitty!

We once had 6 cats on the property. Not all at once. Our first cat here was a little black and white female. She was an independent little hellcat. My son named her "Evil". Suited her just fine even though the vet tech disapproved. Then we adopted Blanca and Mikie from a school teacher in Tucson. She said she had rescued them from a bad situation in Mexico. Neither of them was very friendly. We kept them in the goat barn for a long time until they got more tame. They were finally able to roam the property and would come back to eat and sleep. One day Blanca didn't come back. So then we got Crabbit. She was a little bob-tailed cat with tiger stripes and a weird little hobble walk. Hence the name, a cross between cat and rabbit. She didn't last long outside either. And we had Shadow, a solid gray male. And Obie and orange tabby. They couldn't get along and eventually Shadow drove Obie away, never to be seen again. Shadow just recently disappeared. So now we just have Loki and Mikie. Loki still likes to be in the house and Mikie stays in the barn. They both stay pretty close by most of the time. They know that if they are in the yard, Buddy can keep them safe from dogs and coyotes or any other threatening critters. They are both beauitiful cats, but Loki is my baby. I hope they are both around for a long time.

It is hard to believe that we have almost reached the end of July! That means the year is more than half over! Amazing! I remember when I was much younger thinking how long a year was. Now I think how short a year is and how fast the time goes. Perspectives change with age, probably in more ways than I imagine!

The new chicks are still with us and are growing quickly. Speedy little birds. They manage to keep out from under Falkor's feet, dodge the rooster and the other hens and stick close to mama hen. She is under constant stress, her feathers all puffed out to ward off the other chickens. She clucks softly to the chicks constantly except when she's after another hen for encroaching in their space. I would move them to a space of their own except that might cause worse stress, to me trying to catch them as I avoid Falkor's playful horns, and to them by chasing them.

The pygora kids have stayed away from the feeder box since their escape was foiled. I will figure out a way to make it more secure this weekend with the help of my industrious spouse. Maybe we could just put a piece of fence over the front of the box. That way I could still feed them but they would not be able to climb into the box like they can now. That would solve some of the problem of them wasting so much hay also. Of course, their new owner is supposed to pick them up in another week so that would solve everything! Then we can change that pasture into the new chicken enclosure.

To do that we will have to put a new roof on the goat shelter and figure out how to install nesting boxes. The shelter probably needs to be more enclosed too in order to keep the chickens safe from coyotes or other predators at night. And, I want to get some new chickens, some Delawares. They are large white chickens with black speckles. They are also a Heritage breed so I would be helping to preserve the breed. So much to do!