SOMETHING YOU DON'T SEE EVERYDAY

So...off I go Friday night to feed the critters, howling wind & rain (imagine that), and I really considered not going as I knew they had lots of hay and were fine but I kicked myself in the butt and sick of being soaking wet I drove up. I opened the gate and walked in, all the goats and alpacas were standing by the barn and casually looked up at me and went back to eating. I was wondering where Simon and our new llama Ceara were and then I noticed them standing together, nuzzling each other on the far side of the field. Then I realized something was wrong with Simon's leg and I immediately panicked thinking he had been hit by a branch and had broken his leg. I started across towards them with my heart in my throat, took about 10 steps when Simon's leg walked away from him! I, being the calm person I am, ran back to my car, damn near took out the gate turning around, roared down the hill, threw open the basement door and screamed, "JIM, PHONE, TOWELS, BABY!!!!" A few more frantic phrases and back up the hill, phoning Darcee on the way. She came running up, I picked up this little one and with Darcee hanging on to my sleeve (which still cracks me up) and Momma literally walking on my heels we put them in a stall, closed the gate and proceeded to try and dry off the babe and warm her up. Jim showed up with more towels and nurse Darcee and I did a really good job. It was absolutely overwelming, so totally unexpected. I still haven't had a good sleep since she has shown up because the weather is still just so bad with no end in sight.One hour old

The evening continued. Rose, who actually owns the mom knows all about alpacas & llamas but apparently not about them being pregnant as she was as surprised as we were. We only have had Ceara for 3 weeks and we can keep her if we want to. I thought she would be good company for Simon and she truly is, he is a different animal since she has shown up and he is so good with the little one, not to mention they look a lot alike. I think he's telling the others that he's the dad. The truth is that one of Rose's studs got out some 360 days ago and had his way with Ceara. Now the decision needs to be made if we want to keep them or not...hmmm...farm status...18 hours old

36 hours old, first time out of the stallBeautiful Ceara and her little unnamed baby girl, I just wish all the grandkids could see her.
Now, back up the hill to put her in out of the newest damn storm.

NEVER RAINS BUT IT POURS

And pours and pours and pours. Good old November, it really can be ghastly!! It didn't start out too bad. Everything and everyone was well, we even got a new llama by the name if Sierra (the spelling was quickly changed to Ceara), she is actually a buddy for our one llama Simon and if we like her we can keep her. Turns out she is really sweet and after a few rather tense days Simon has really fallen for her.
Now back to the weather, I honestly don't think I've seen rain like it and the winds are insane as well. A friend even had an alpaca killed by a falling tree.Luckily for us the winds never came at a really high tide but regardless we did not fair well. I was happily bragging on Sunday that I had a sewing room again after many years and couldn't wait to get started on a few Christmas items on Monday. Went to Fabricland, went singing into my craft room and splash, splash, splash...not nice! Turned out that our perimeter drains were completely blocked by roots, what a mess. It's only one room but everything had to come out. We had to tear out the underlay and then try to get the carpet dry. It's pretty dry now but it doesn't smell very good so we may end up having to replace it. And the rains are still coming and there is another gale blowing at I type. We were hoping that they had it fixed and all looked well for a couple of days but it's seeping back in again so....so I actually don't know what we do next. There are so many people flooded out in the valley that you can't find anyone to snake the drains until at least mid December so I guess we just pray for some dry weather...unfortunately that is no where in sight... Pictures to follow

You know you're officially a farmer when...

Spooky Simon

Jim's fire, notice the spots of diesel...he'd make a crappy boyscout.

Sue's fire.
In Jim's words, "Crap! You can see it from outspace!"

You know you're officially a farmer when #1 You pee in a stall rather than walk down to the house #2 You spend 4 hours burning brush in your field and love it and #3 You are so excited when you realize you can actually burn alpaca poop and straw.......oh how my life has changed

ONE HAPPY DOG

THANKSGIVING 2009

Not a very warm weekend but fun none the less. Sullivan lasted on the swing with Aunty Pat for about 5 minutes and then fell fast asleep.

Laughing with mom

Walking the boys

Not a big fan of the tractor, I had fun though

The infamous 'kid quad'...I'm sure this is Kyle's fault

Finally found a helmet

Apparently Chopper is a big fan of the stroller, who knew?

Sitting around the campfire with Dad

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY TO OUR BEAUTIFUL LITTLE EVELYN

THREE YEAR OLD WITH CAMERA

I just found these pictures and it cracked me up. I miss you Luke!! This is what happens when you have to wait for Linds to get her Starbucks fix, you give your grandson your camera.

Crap! We're Up to 35!!!

So the population of the 'Brass Ark Farm' has gone from 20 something to a whopping 35 (including the farmer & his wife). It went up by four chickens (that will lay blue eggs), down by 1 old girl literally tipping over (hope I go that way. Well not with my poor old feet wrapped around a perch and falling into chicken sh-- but you know what I mean). Then there was the one that Casey killed (the other one survived just didn't lay an egg for a week or so). Then we got four more Rhode Island Reds and now we have a kitten that someone dropped off. Darce & Chris were kind enough to keep her until all our company left but now we have the little demon. She is not a cat I would ever have picked out but Jim loves her and she is pretty cute with the sharpest freakin' claws I have ever seen. I bought a beautiful soft pink button down shirt 2 days ago, wore it yesterday and everbody kept saying how nice it looked and then I came home and picked up the kitten... Everything was fine and then for no apparent reason she decided she needed to leave. I didn't want her to fall but she was having none of that. So she ripped my shirt in four places and me about the same. Now this wasn't a flimsy shirt but a no-iron heavy cotton shirt! Then I looked at the scratching posts! Shredded! I figure she will probably kill us in our sleep...

So, now I would like to introduce you to 'GRACIE'
Not named after me but because the 'neighbours' (love you guys by the way) pointed out that now we have, Will, Jack & Grace...Oz is really pissed off that we now call him Karen...Oh, I forgot to mention that I love the little critter but I'm scared to get attached in case Brenna does her in...it'sso relaxing around here watching the 80 lb dog stalk the 1 lb kitten...getting better though, I think

OFF TO CHINA

So here is my new post and I have to begin it with, "JAMIE, JOHNNY, SULLIVAN & HEATHER!!! IF YOU DARE THINK YOU ARE MOVING TO ANOTHER COUNTRY THEN THINK AGAIN!!! I HATE IT!!! Well, I guess if you move to Hawaii that would be okay but that's about it!"
We said goodbye, see you in a few months... to Lindsay, Kyle, Luke and Evelyn today. They are on their way to their new posting in China. Wow! Now we have grandbabies in China and Taiwan, so far away.It was such a good visit other than a few of the gang having the 24 hour stomach bug. Evelyn is amazing for all her 10 months. Walking well, saying quite a few words and generally being tough as nails. And I guess she has to be living with her big brother.I had so much fun with Luke this time. The last time I saw him was Christmas and now he is out of diapers and he speaks so well. He just cracks me up. We collected shells, rocks, sticks and eggs and despite what his father says we built fences not a cemetery. Both the kids loved the girls, those would be all the chickens. At first Luke was a little unsure but pretty quickly he was right in there feeding and checking for eggs. I have to say more than anything else though with Luke I was most impressed when he said, "Please may I leave the table?" I love good manners, well done Linds and Kyle. The other thing that really impressed me is how strong he is, especially when you don't get a warning of the upcoming pillow fight and he darn near knocks your head off your shoulders. The good thing is my chiropractor put my neck back in line today. Loves this little tractor Aunty Heather bought him.

Both kids were a lot overwelmed by the dogs, especially Brenna who runs around the yard at about 80 mph and flattens anything she hits. Brenna had learned from Graham that little hands come out and feed you anything they happen to be eating at the time and she drove poor little Evelyn crazy. Luke caught on pretty quickly and learned to head to higher ground if he was eating something really good.
Looking for bugs for the girls with Mom

Aunty Heather was also here for a few days. It was great fun having Luke wake her up every morning. It was a wonderful visit and I hope the kids, even the big kids, enjoyed it too.
I miss them all so much already and can't wait to go to see them in their new home plus then I get to see Dann, Jenn & Drai!!!World's Best chocolate truck, he was so worried his dad was going to want a bite.

I love this. This is Luke listening to his Grandma & Grandpa singing the Margenau happy birthday song all the way from Hawaii. And it certainly must have been better than the Comox version because he hid his head for that one. Too funny!

GREAT WEEKEND (AGAIN)

Phoning Mommy on the baby monitor and telling her all about his weekend on the farm. Hilarious!!

"The chickens are over there Mom and there are 10 hens and 4 chicks..."

"Nana keeps hugging me and kissing me and she's driving me nuts!! And Brenna keeps stealing my animal crackers!""Grandpa John taught me how to say, "No Brenna! She still stole my cookies."

"I'm way out here all by myself and the signal might be getting weak. Mom, Mom..."

"Crap! I think those freakin' chickens are following me..."

"These are the girls Mom and I ate two of their eggs for breakfast. I miss you Mommy."

NOT CUT OUT TO BE A FARMER

(Uncle Bob & the Girls)

I was raised by wonderful parents who totally lived off the land. Wonderful gardens and fantastic berries. But seriously I don't think there is a family photo from 1899 to about 1965 that doesn't have a dead critter or 12 in it. I think it was on my first real date that I had a 'beef' steak. The thing is that I always hated it. I hated the deer hanging in the garage, the grouse, the pheasants, the ducks, I understood it and still do but it's just not my thing. I am a total suck for animals, small, large, furry, feathered, doesn't matter, anyway it was a bad night.
We have (at the moment)10 hens and 4 female chicks, 3 hours ago we had 11 hens and I am ridiculously attached to them. They are dumb as posts but they are friendly and they trust you. They trust you to feed them and water them and protect them and they give you great eggs in return. They also trust dogs because Will & Brenna are wonderful with them. Tonight I let them down. Even as one of my new 'girls' came running to me I didn't think Marty's Casey would hurt her but in a blink of an eye he grabbed her and ran. I pried his mouth open and she died in my arms and then he got another and she will probably die tonight.
It was horrible and all I can think about is how bad it will be if, not if but when more die, the alpacas or Simon... I love these damn critters so much too much.

I must have been adopted...

Another Great Day

Today was a fun day for the boys and Cinnamon, we finally got the driveway gated off so they can go out there and get the last remaining grass in the yard. It's been terribly dry and we've been feeding hay all summer.

I have to admit I'm getting ridiculously fond of these critters.

My Simon who has decided that no one or two or three (in today's case) is going to catch him.

Darcee taught Cinnamon this so she thinks she's taller...

My buddy Alpaca Rose

My other buddy, who I adore, Ryan. He's so good with the alpacas.

Lovin' the green grass

Heading for Darcee and Chris' orchard