Guess Who?

Guess who showed up at our house a few days ago? Isn't he gorgeous?! I'm hoping he decides to stick around. So far we've found one person who lost a peacock about 2 months ago, but no one has claimed him yet. He doesn't seem to be too excited about leaving, so I'm hopeful that we have our own new peacock. He really likes eating raspberries straight off the bushes, so he might stick around until the end of raspberry season at least.

Shearing Day!

Alpaca fiber is very warm. Several times warmer than sheep wool. My alpacas have been letting me know this lately by hanging out in the shade, taking a splash in the pond, and lying prostrate on the ground looking like they are dead. So, today we had the shearers come out to take the fiber off and make the little guys more comfortable. They didn't really enjoy the process, but they ran around and rolled all over the field like crazy afterward. They will be much more comfortable now and they'll have plenty of new growth to keep them warm next Fall when it starts getting cold again. The added bonus is that I now have bags and bags of fiber to play with!

BEFORE

 

DURING

 

AFTER

I'm not sure there is anything funnier looking than a freshly sheared alpaca!

That Time of the Year!

Everyone is busy making babies around the farm. Yes, the kitty was a planned pregnancy! She is from a long line of wonderful mousers and most of her babies are already spoken for. We didn't expect her to have 6, so I might have a few available, but we're more than willing to keep them ourselves. The mice breed even faster than cats do around here.

One of the banty chickens came out of the blackberry bushes with 8 little babies the other day. Later that same day we discovered this little beauty hiding a nest in the hay bales. Then today, I found this one hiding at the property line when I was mowing the lawn.

And then, Rod found this one hiding under one of the recycling bins.

Just what we need, a billion more banty chicks! They are great layers, they just go broody so often that they hide more eggs than we can find. We've thought about getting rid of all the bantys and just keeping the full size hens who don't seem to go broody as often, but we have plenty of room and the bantys are pretty self efficient as far as food goes, so we keep them. Enough of them get eaten by the Eagle and the coyotes each year that we don't get too over run. I really hate feeding the coyotes, but I can only complain so much about the eagle. It's pretty cool to have a resident Bald Eagle even if it does enjoy a chicken dinner every so often.

Updates! {May 2014}

I think these two are the most alike looking of all my kids.

WOW! I know I'm always saying I'm busy, but this last week has really been something. I had 4 sick kids for part of the week. Nothing major luckily, Owen ran a fever for two days, but Owen is well known for spiking high fevers for no apparent reason. Duncan also had a little bit of a fever and the 4 younger kids all had cold type symptoms. The two little ones still have drippy noses, but I think we're on the mend.
Connor had 3 drives last week in addition to his two driver's ed classes. so we had to take him back and forth all week instead of just two days like usual. His next drive is actually just at the end of class, so I won't have to make extra trips.
With the weather finally drying out, we've been busy getting the garden up and running. I've had my raised beds planted for a while, but the main garden areas were too wet to till until now. We've also been fencing in the rest of the pasture. With the alpacas joining the goats, we need a little more space.

Brenna NOT cooperating for pictures

Last week was the 4th annual Flats and Handwashing Challenge. I did actually finish the challenge, I just didn't manage to blog about it the last two days. I had a much easier time of it this year, which I attribute to only having one child in diapers and having nice enough weather to hang the diapers outside to dry. I'm still not planning to wash diapers by hand unless it is absolutely necessary, but I am planning on using flat diapers more often. Brenna has very sensitive skin and we have very hard water. I've had a horrible time finding a washing routine that keeps her from getting rashes ( she breaks out from disposables too, so that's not really a better option). The rash she had going into this week has cleared up entirely. Since I really don't want to hand wash all the time, I'm trying to use flats more to see if they just get cleaner easier since they are only one layer. I'm hoping to get the benefits of the last week while still enjoying my washing machine. I already hang dry my diapers whenever the weather cooperates, so that won't be a change.

Last night I got to attend the Helping Parents Night Out put on by Parent to Parent. Back before Owen's seizures stated up again( he had a few just after birth, then didn't have any for over two years) I attended the training to be a Helping Parent. Helping Parents are parents of special needs kids who agree to be a resource person for other parents with children who have similar diagnosis or needs. I haven't been able to make the Night Out event before due to Brenna's birth and Owen's medical issues, but this year I really needed a break, so I decided Brenna could go to bed without nursing for one night. It was just exactly what I needed! I got a mini massage and paraffin hand and foot treatments. I got to make a beaded bracelet and most importantly, I got to talk to other parents of children with special needs. Everyone brought appetizers and beverages and we nibbled and chatted all night (well until 10:30). Then I got to bring home a bag of goodies! It was so much fun, I think I'm putting this event at the top of my priority list for next year.

Happy Birthday Brenna!

 Brenna is two today!  Because her birthday fell in the middle of the week, we actually celebrated last Saturday. Since we had plans to pick up a friend from the airport and since we wanted to see our precious little Grandson Carlitos, we decided to take everyone to the zoo for Brenna's birthday.  After several nice, summery days it decided to start raining again, but we didn't let that stop us (at least not at first).

Brenna really wanted to take this little spotted mini donkey home with us. Other than that, the family farm area of the zoo was not much different than being at home.

I think the flamingos were Brenna's favorite. She just kept saying "Pink bird! pink bird", over and over pointing at each and every separate bird.

Cameron in front of the cheetah display. Unfortunately my cheetah pictures didn't turn out.

The zoo has these little footprints on the ground leading to certain attractions. Brenna was fascinated by them and ended up walking on as many of them as possible.

There was a speed check station near the cheetah display so the kids could see if they are as fast as a cheetah.

Brenna runs at about 2-3 MPH. Owen made it all the way to 4 MPH.

Morgan was pretty steady at 4  MPH, but did get up to 6 for a short time.

Duncan and Cameron broke the machine or something since it wouldn't read their speeds.

This bird was convinced that he'd get fish if he just acted like a penguin.

We took the little kids for a ride on the carousel, but Brenna decided she didn't want to go on it after all. Owen wanted to try riding on the seat, but then he expected another ride on a horse and was disappointed that he didn't get one.

Finally, the rain got too heavy for even us Pacific NW natives and we wrapped it up and went to visit Kristi, Simon, and Carlitos. Since it was Brenna's birthday, we let her choose something from the gift shop. She chose a super, soft stuffed cheetah, although she kept calling it a tiger.
Today, she also got a stuffed monkey that Devon sneaked off and bought while we were on the carousel, several pairs of earrings since she can change hers out now (and since she lost one of hers), a snake in a basket toy that she thinks is hilarious, and a box of cinnamon rolls for obvious Brenna reasons.