Burr! It is cold! We have been in a winter storm watch since Saturday. The wind has been howling and hitting 45 mph. This morning it is snowing and hailing and the wind has not diminished at all. The road is a sloppy mess and my car needs a good wash again. But the weatherperson has promised that the storm will be gone by tomorrow and we will be in the 80s again by midweek.
The vet came out on Tuesday as promised. The Valley Fever tests came back on Friday, also as promised. The news was good and bad. Stewie and Cimarron tested negative, but Prince's test came back positive. Today I talked to the vet and picked up medication for Prince. She said he may never get sick, just carry the fever. It is unpredictable. I am still working with the lady who showed interest in taking the boys. She will have to decide about these results. I'm hoping she will come visit some day this week.
The alpacas really showed their personalities when the vet was out. There were 3 of us, all women who had to catch them and hold them while the vet took blood. We caught Cimarron fairly easily and he stood stoically while the vet stuck the needle in his neck and took his blood. Then we caught Stewie. Stewie did not want to be caught so he bucked and dodged and squirmed right out of my hold. The vet stood back and said," If you 2 can't hold them, we'll have to get a man to do this!" Well, I just looked at her because Steve had taken the whole day off before and she had not shown up! But we showed her anyway, the vet tech and I. The second time we caught Stewie , we caught him in the barn and crowded him into a corner so he could not escape. He still did not cooperate however. He cushed! Just laid down and then bounce up whenever the vet tried to stick the needle in him. So the vet tech pushed down on his hind quarters and I held his head and neck while simultaneously pushing down on his withers with my knee. I paid for that for several days afterwards with a very sore gluteus maximus!
Then it was time to catch Prince. He was the hardest to catch but he stood quietly while the vet did her thing without moving or flinching. He had a good trainer named Liz!
Monday, March 19, 2012
Tuesday, March 13, 2012
I need to put a beeper on my glasses! I carry them around with me then leave them when I have to pick something up, go away and WAAAA!!! I can't find them again til I back track everywhere I went in the last half hour, which could be a lot of places! Anyway, I found them now.
Some of the seeds I planted last week are coming up already. I am watering the raised bed outside so it will be ready to plant soon. Our humidity has raised to a whole 4% and there is no rain in sight, at least not this week. We are supposed to have sunny, blue skies and temperatures in the 80s. Wonderful!
The vet was supposed to come out yesterday morning to draw blood from the alpacas for the valley fever test. She never showed up. It turned out that she had an emergency surgery that took an hour and a half and then she had to perform an autopsy on a 3 year old male alpaca that had died suddenly. Turns out the alpaca belonged to the lady who might take my boys. She was devastated. She did not tell me why the alpaca died. She may not know yet. She did say it was her favorite male. I felt really bad for her.
Saturday we celebrated the birth of our first grandson. He turned 10 years old! Unbelievable! That means we have lived on this windy desert hill for 8 years now. One of my alpacas, Prince (Shoot to you, Liz) is now also 8 years old. Cimarron, gray with a white face, is 6 and Stewie, beige, is 5. My little red dog, Penny, a Tibetan Spaniel, is 14 or 15 years old. I think she tried to kill herself this past week. She started spewing really dark diarrhea about every hour or so. She got me up every hour one night, scratching on the door to go outside. I gave her a single pepto bismal tablet which seemed to slow things down a bit. She was still eating. She acted a little sheepish because she didn't get out in time a couple of times. My bedroom stunk to high heaven! Ugh! Anyway, I think I might have figured out what she ate, CHOCOLATE! The poo was the same color as dark chocolate and I saw her snatch a little piece of chocolate pop tart off the couch this morning before I could grab it. I hope she doesn't get sick again. She literally poisoned herself. Poor baby! I'll have to be more diligent in picking up after the grandkids or anyone else who happens to leave chocolate around or dropped on the floor. With Easter coming, it may be a chore.
Back to the grandson's birthday, we went to "Funtastics" which is a fun park in Tucson. You pay one price for a certain amount of time and get unlimited access to all the rides and miniature golf. The little kids liked the flying dragons the best. The big boys and the men liked the go-carts. It was the perfect day for the outing. The sun was out, no wind and it was about 70 degrees. Fabulous!
The vet is supposed to stop by today on her way to Tucson. I hope she does. I really want to get this test out of the way and find a new home for the alpacas.
Some of the seeds I planted last week are coming up already. I am watering the raised bed outside so it will be ready to plant soon. Our humidity has raised to a whole 4% and there is no rain in sight, at least not this week. We are supposed to have sunny, blue skies and temperatures in the 80s. Wonderful!
The vet was supposed to come out yesterday morning to draw blood from the alpacas for the valley fever test. She never showed up. It turned out that she had an emergency surgery that took an hour and a half and then she had to perform an autopsy on a 3 year old male alpaca that had died suddenly. Turns out the alpaca belonged to the lady who might take my boys. She was devastated. She did not tell me why the alpaca died. She may not know yet. She did say it was her favorite male. I felt really bad for her.
Saturday we celebrated the birth of our first grandson. He turned 10 years old! Unbelievable! That means we have lived on this windy desert hill for 8 years now. One of my alpacas, Prince (Shoot to you, Liz) is now also 8 years old. Cimarron, gray with a white face, is 6 and Stewie, beige, is 5. My little red dog, Penny, a Tibetan Spaniel, is 14 or 15 years old. I think she tried to kill herself this past week. She started spewing really dark diarrhea about every hour or so. She got me up every hour one night, scratching on the door to go outside. I gave her a single pepto bismal tablet which seemed to slow things down a bit. She was still eating. She acted a little sheepish because she didn't get out in time a couple of times. My bedroom stunk to high heaven! Ugh! Anyway, I think I might have figured out what she ate, CHOCOLATE! The poo was the same color as dark chocolate and I saw her snatch a little piece of chocolate pop tart off the couch this morning before I could grab it. I hope she doesn't get sick again. She literally poisoned herself. Poor baby! I'll have to be more diligent in picking up after the grandkids or anyone else who happens to leave chocolate around or dropped on the floor. With Easter coming, it may be a chore.
Back to the grandson's birthday, we went to "Funtastics" which is a fun park in Tucson. You pay one price for a certain amount of time and get unlimited access to all the rides and miniature golf. The little kids liked the flying dragons the best. The big boys and the men liked the go-carts. It was the perfect day for the outing. The sun was out, no wind and it was about 70 degrees. Fabulous!
The vet is supposed to stop by today on her way to Tucson. I hope she does. I really want to get this test out of the way and find a new home for the alpacas.
Sunday, March 4, 2012
This has been a busy week as usual. March has come in like a lion, blasting away at us with 30 mph winds. It has also warmed up some during the day to about 80 degrees. I also heard that we have a negative reading as far as humidity goes. If you can believe it our humidity was at -8%. The sky seems to be white instead of blue. I started watering the raised garden bed in the back so that there will be some moisture when I get ready to plant my veggies and flowers.
Tuesday I went to Sierra Vista and got a bunch of books for research and reading. Some of the books I wanted are at the Benson Library so I may have to go there tomorrow after I take my daughter to work. Most of yesterday was spent reading and brushing up on writing skills and research methods. I spent some time on my new laptop adding to my diary and proofreading the 2 or 3 paragraphs I have written for my book.
A friend recommended a couple of books to help with my writing so I looked them up online today. One of the authors, Sandra Dallas, writes books about Colorado. I will probably get a couple of hers to get an idea how to write about Arizona. The other author she recommended was a little more difficult to find because I was looking up the wrong name. I was looking for David Merrill when I should have been looking for David Morrell. I did eventually find the books she was talking about. They look like good references also.
My grandson climbed up into my raised bed today and helped me fill the seed starter trays with potting mix. We had to move indoors to plant the seeds because of the wind. We planted 3 trays with veggies and flowers, watered them and put on the clear plastic lids. They are like miniature green houses sitting on my book shelves. The sun shines in that south facing Arizona room so the plants should germinate fairly quickly. Then when they are big enough I will put them in the outside raised bed to be beat up by the wind and the elements. I will never be able to skip one day watering if I ever want to get any tomatoes or squash. The Arizona sun is brutal and takes no prisoners, unless you count those of us who are foolish enough to try to garden.
Tuesday I went to Sierra Vista and got a bunch of books for research and reading. Some of the books I wanted are at the Benson Library so I may have to go there tomorrow after I take my daughter to work. Most of yesterday was spent reading and brushing up on writing skills and research methods. I spent some time on my new laptop adding to my diary and proofreading the 2 or 3 paragraphs I have written for my book.
A friend recommended a couple of books to help with my writing so I looked them up online today. One of the authors, Sandra Dallas, writes books about Colorado. I will probably get a couple of hers to get an idea how to write about Arizona. The other author she recommended was a little more difficult to find because I was looking up the wrong name. I was looking for David Merrill when I should have been looking for David Morrell. I did eventually find the books she was talking about. They look like good references also.
My grandson climbed up into my raised bed today and helped me fill the seed starter trays with potting mix. We had to move indoors to plant the seeds because of the wind. We planted 3 trays with veggies and flowers, watered them and put on the clear plastic lids. They are like miniature green houses sitting on my book shelves. The sun shines in that south facing Arizona room so the plants should germinate fairly quickly. Then when they are big enough I will put them in the outside raised bed to be beat up by the wind and the elements. I will never be able to skip one day watering if I ever want to get any tomatoes or squash. The Arizona sun is brutal and takes no prisoners, unless you count those of us who are foolish enough to try to garden.
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