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The weird weather in the south continues. The locals keep apologising to us; “It’s not normally this wet/cold”. It was VERY wet last year.

This winter has started off VERY cold and yesterday we had 2″ of snow. Oh my. Did that cause chaos or what? Atlantans are just not used to snow and ice. They don’t have this infrastructure to cope with such events like the northern states. If you add in the inability to drive in such conditions you will understand that the roads were not a place to be yesterday! There were bangs, bashes, slips and slides. Some were stuck on the road for 6hrs going nowhere. There were kids stuck on school buses and lots slept overnight at school. I stayed at home in the warm in between feeding and (warm) watering the animals. There was only limited poop scooping as it was frozen.

As always, the chickens were total amusement. As it began snowing, they were out and about on their normal circuit of the property. As the grass got covered they made their way to the barn to gaze out in bewilderment. Come the end of the day, when they would normally go back to the coop, they simply refused to cross the snow to get in. They needed persuading 🙂

This morning I cleared a path to their normal feeding area. They ventured out for a few minutes and then, one by one, retreated to the coop. I let them have breakfast in bed today. Poor things.

The alpacas are quite a sensible bunch as they came straight in when it started to snow. This morning they are out and about in the sunshine.

Our barn cats, Big Cat and Knee High, live outdoors and are coping with the weather well. Big Cat has lots of fur and Knee High stays in the cat igloo with the heating mat on full! Big Cat is braver and was out exploring the territory this morning.

Meanwhile the pampered pooches, Cagney and Lacey were loving a run around in the white stuff that they’ve not seen in over a year.

 

I can hardly believe it but we have been here a whole year. We haven’t made a lot of changes about the place. As we were new to this part of the country, I wanted so see how things happen naturally. As we start the new cycle, it’s time to put thoughts into action.

My priority for last year was to understand the pasture growth. We have hardly a flat spot on this red Georgia soil and when it rains, it runs straight off ….. taking the soil with it. Erosion is a big potential problem. The pasture is seeded with Bermuda grass. It does very well in the hot summers but is not, as yet, very dense. I’d like to increase the density to help slow the water flow. Over the last year, I experimented with different mowing schedules and it seems that the density increased more in the areas that were more frequently mowed. I will extend that area, I think.

One of the first jobs I had to do, last year, was to remove the leaves from the pasture. This would help with the acidity of the soil. Last year I was out there with a rake. On Monday, I was out there with a collection bag attached to the mower … much quicker! Then it will be time for the lime, weed killer & fertilizer routine.

On the animal front we have increased the Alpaca herd from 5 to 16 with 4 young ones expected in May. Lots more poop for me to scoop. We’ve gone from 3 barn cat to 2 and with the chickens we’ve been up and then back down to 8. After a couple of months break, they are back to laying again.

We have 25 chicks coming in April so I’d better get busy with the coops. Other new arrivals in April will be 2 bee hives ……. no, never done that before either!

A new year and a new adventure.

 

 

So much for “Hotlanta” ….. it’s blinkin’ freezing. I woke up this morning to the predicted 8f (-13c) temperature. Brrrrr,

I had taken some precautions to help the animals cope. I’m pleased to say they all seem to be taking it in their stride. I built a hay wall to give the ‘pacas a little more shelter from the cold wind. I think they see the benefit in more than one way.

The sun is shining and the sky is clear even though it’s well below freezing. The alpacas are enjoying themselves in the pasture. Some take any opportunity they can.

The chickens polished off a big bowl of oatmeal (porridge) and the two barn cats have been seeking out the sun.

I’m staying indoors with a constant supply of hot tea!

The day started very well, Mr Rob had got up early and lit a log fire so when I came in from feeding the animals I was greeted by a lovely warm living room and pretty flames licking up in the fireplace.

After a leisurely breakfast we started to get Skype calls from the UK, great to speak to family. But I have to say one of my highlights was not only getting to talk to my daughter and granddaughter but also seeing in the background that my daughter was following a fine old family tradition.

When she was little and money was a little spare, I saw a picture in a magazine of a branch minus its leaves decorated with pretty lights and Christmas decorations and thought what a great idea. Killed two birds with one stone, saved money and looked stylish and so the legend of my “Christmas twig” was born. It was the source of much laughter and tales over the years.

I was thrilled to see that she had taken Alana out to choose a branch and decorate it and so keep the tradition alive.

Midday we drove up to Alpharetta to have a Christmas buffet lunch with friends. There were over 20 people visiting and there was an abundance of good food, fine wine and great company. We have enjoyed our first Christmas in Atlanta and we are now waiting for my sister and her family to arrive tomorrow. I am also going to have another weaving lesson tomorrow with the wonderful Miss Linda. I think we are going to start placemats.

Hard to believe but on Saturday we will have been the proud owners of this property for one year and also the official owners of our first 5 alpacas,6 chickens and 3 cats.

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.

I feel like the Grinch.

Friends back in Pine Bush NY tell me that they’ve had over a foot of snow in the last couple of days. Well, I’m feeling quite nostalgic for the white stuff. On the other hand, I won’t miss the inevitable power outages that we were used to. Miss Lynne, who is working in Connecticut, confirmed the frigid conditions. Meanwhile I was basking in temps in the low 70s yesterday.

To ensure that Miss Lynne retains her Christmas spirit, when she travels back south, I have been decorating the Christmas tree. Good job we don’t have house cats.

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.

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.

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.