The storm that is sweeping across the US …. again, meant that we had high winds and thunder storms during the night and so far this morning. Although at least we were spared the ice storms and tornado warnings that were over to the left of us
Mr Rob was prepared and yesterday put up tarps on the outside of the barn so that the Pacas were protected and he also moved both the car and truck into the barn ( once bitten, twice shy when it comes to the risk of hailstones)
So we are not going to venture out today. time to reorganize and tidy up ready for our guests
Yesterday I drove up into the city to finish off some last minute shopping, I avoided the main roads so that I could avoid any jams and was surprised how well it worked.
I then went off to the Peachtree Spinners Christmas party. There was lots to eat courtesy of the guild ladies, I provided a tray of prawns with dip and of course there was also an abundance of desserts.
This is also the nomination of awards – no expense spared ….. as long as it could be bought at the dollar store. There were, of course, a bunch of humorous awards dished out by Annie and her nephew who were both dressed as elves.
The Christmas raffle followed closely behind, separated by the value of the gifts to the dollar table and the 50 cent table. I had donated a knitting machine to the dollar table and had my eye on a table loom on the dollar table and quite a few things on the 50 cent table. Well I was not lucky with the loom but I did get a bunch of felting books and the wonderful Miss Linda won some silk caps and gave them to me with the promise to show me how to use them.
There’s not really a song time to use as a heading for this post., but today it was time to separate our pregnant mums from their cria.
Cria are doing well and very healthy but the Mum’s are looking a bit thin from still nursing and they need to be focusing on the babies in their tummy.
They seemed ok with it and they are in adjoining fields do they can still see each other, it will be interesting to see what happens tonight as they usually cush in mum and cria pairs.
Thursday in Connecticut we were treated to a couple of inches of snow, luckily not enough to stop me flying home but just enough to make everything look really pretty.
Friday Rob got the Christmas decorations out of the attic ready for us to put them up this weekend – I also went to Hobby Lobby and bought a dancing Santa hat, more on that to follow. Saturday we drove to Newnan which is about 30 miles south of Atlanta. It has a really nice town square with lots of antique shops and gift shops. Just right to start putting us in the Christmas spirit. We also saw this really interesting tree with all the roots are above ground
We stopped at a grocery store on the way back and saw this great VW Beetle — definitely owned by people who are looking to move up in the world
Sunday morning Mr Rob started to put our tree up – decorations to follow.
I then persuaded Mr Rob to go outside and wear the dancing Santa hat out with the Alpacas – they were …….. awestruck – Click here and turn the volume up high.
In the evening drove into town and to the Shakespeare Tavern to see the “Christmas Carol” performed. It was excellent and both the singing and the acting were first rate. What a great weekend!!
This has been the month for trying new things, I have had lots of fun, much to the rising panic of Mr Rob as he knows that means even more toys are about to arrive in the house.
First there was inkle weaving, this was a course I took in a very old Baptist church in Atlanta one Saturday morning. The course included all of the materials and you got to keep the inkle loom. It’s just for making, straps, book markets etc. But it’s a lot of fun and nice and portable.
Second strap with some nice raised patterns
Next was over to the Sunday spinners for a wet felted hat event – Very kindly led by Miss Veronica, who also made the best ginger trifle I have ever tasted. After many hours of placing fiber onto the mold, agitating with soap and warm water we were able to build something that really looked like a hat, Mine is a combination of Corriedale wool and some hand dyed Alpaca. It still needs some additional embellishment — but I am pretty pleased with the result.
My first hat drying out and waiting for the “pretty” bits
Then I went over to Conyers and spent the day with a really lovely lady from my Spinning group who had offered to teach me to weave. We had a lovely day and I created the warp, dressed the loom and then started to weave. Linda even let me bring the loom home with me so that I could finish it off. She knows I have alpacas and so gave me alpaca fiber to work with. It was so much fun, cant wait till I go there again.
Even though it’s pouring with rain today. Up at 7, made some oatmeal(porridge) for the chickens filled a bucket with warm water for the Alpacas and headed up to the top barn.
Everyone was pleased to see me, lots of humming from the Alpacas. First let the chickens out and feed them. Then feed the top barn cat, off to get mobbed by the pacas. Sort their grain, hay and water. Mr Rob was cleaning up the paca poo.
Then walk down to the bottom barn and sort out the food and water for the other cat. Who would have thought such simple things could bring so much pleasure!
One of my wishes since moving down here, was to see a live armadillo (saw plenty not looking so good at the side of the road) Then I was further aggravated by the fact that Mr Rob was reporting numerous sightings, but always when I was away. I was beginning to think that maybe he was telling stories, not too difficult to believe is it ?
But I was wrong, last week when we went up to carry out our late night check of the gang, Mr Rob was shouting for me to come over to the boys pasture. Sure enough there he was, and not a bit fazed by the giant spotlight Mr Rob was shining on him. Only had my phone so not the best picture ever, but I was happy camper. Thanks Mr Rob.
Very sad day last week — those darn wandering foxes helped themselves to 3 of our chickens. We were really sad about it, we are not yet hardened enough to take these things in our stride and especially as one of the ones gone was our favorite girl … Rocky
Plus two of our newer girls.
Those foxes are on borrowed time. We will need to get rid of them so for now our poor chickens are confined to the barn. We can’t risk let them free range until the foxes are gone.
This morning we went out to the mall for some bits and pieces and ended up coming back with a new TV. It’s a sixty inch LED smart tv. Makes a big difference, everything is so clear a bit like going to the movies in our own home.
This afternoon we decided to go for a walk out the back of our property, the alpacas wanted to see what we were up to.
The weather was glorious, the air was fresh but warm. The leaves looked great but are falling fast.
I was sat at my desk in the home office this morning and was surprised to see two young foxes wandering around. A quick shout to Mr Rob to go get the camera and we captured these shots. Then we scared them out of the garden and let the dogs out for a run around for a bit to make sure they did not come back.
As attractive as they were, the last thing we want is for them to become regular visitors. I am pretty sure that the Chickens and the Alpacas do not want them to be regular visitors either.
