The monsoon is warming up!  We are having clear cool mornings and then gradually as the sun climbs higher and the temperature rises, the fluffy cumulus clouds start building up to the south.  They get bigger and darker and closer until they are right on top of us with lightening and thunder and rain!  Blessed rain!  But we've only gotten a smidgen of rain so far.  The weatherman says we will get more after the Fourth.

Another diet bit the dust.  I could not stay on my "smoothie" diet.  It had too much fiber and was messing up my routine, if you get my drift.  Ha!  Anyway, I am still walking and trying to eat a regular diet without overeating so, hopefully, I will lose some weight and be healthy.  Being healthy is the main thing after all.  I'm certainly in a better mood.

I decided that the new kid will be named Casper, The Friendly Goat.  He acts a little spooky and skid-dish even after all this time of bottle feeding him.  At first I thought of "Spooky"  but I remembered I wanted to name this year's kids with "C" names, hence "Casper."  I don't think I am going to like him as much as I like "Little Buck".  He is my friendliest buck and greets me every time I go out to the pasture.  He likes to have his ears rubbed and his neck scratched and he's never lowered his head to butt me like all the others do.  

I have been contemplating about what direction I want to take with the animals and our little farm.  We are spending a lot of time, energy and resources on the animals without much financial reward.  I plan on sending some, if not all, of the alpaca fleece to the Alpaca Blanket Project.  We'll see how much they pay for the fleece.  I also hope to sell some of the angora fiber with my online store.  The angora fiber is more difficult to work with than the alpaca because of the lanolin in it.  It has to be washed in very hot water and it smells more than the alpaca.

I have a couple of sewing projects going.  I am making myself a sundress for the Fourth.  I also just finished two aprons.  One I gave to a friend as a thank you gift.  The other will probably be posted for sale on my Etsy store.  I want to make another one for another friend and then make several more for the store.  

I have also been researching cashmere goats.  Some people who have cashmere goats comb out the usable fiber from these goats or they can be sheared.  It sounds like more trouble than the angoras but the fiber is worth more money.  The industry is still developing in this country, just like the alpaca fiber industry, so I don't know how soon I would be able to make a profit from that source either.  One thing about farming, you have to have lots of patience.  Nothing happens over night.