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On Saturday I drove over to SEFF in Atlanta on Saturday afternoon for a lace knitting class with Romi Hill. It was the techniques needed for her Ice Queen Cowl which is available from Ravelry as a free download.

It was an excellent class and she is a really lovely teacher, I learnt some basic things, provisional cast on as well as some interesting things around beaded lace and Russian join.

When I came home I decided to add a beaded picot edge to the Holden shawl I was finishing off. Sunday, I went over to Marietta and the spinning group and learnt some interesting techniques with drop spindle, Andean plying.

Then I rounded off the few days with a visit to the needle nerds at the McDonald on Chapel Hill Road. They were a real fun bunch and I look forward to spending time with them again. They are a mixed bunch of knitters, crocheters weavers and spinners. They also have a book group that I am looking forward to attending. So many inspiring things and not enough time to do them all.

We are not the only ones that love our chickens. This guy has been chasing our little ones for the last two days. I’ve seen him swooping down a couple of times. So far our girls have been able to dive for cover. Not without some commotion though. It’s a very long shot …..

I’m loving all the new (to me) bugs and such. This guy is a real fancy pants.

 

 

We got notice that they were loaded onto the trailer at 5 pm on Sunday and due to get to us late Wednesday. So we spent quite a few nail biting hours waiting for them to arrive.

The transporter driver called and gave an arrival time of about 8.30pm. Mr Rob drove up to the top of the driveway to guide him in. We were so happy to see them.

The girls were clearly well treated on the journey over as their first inclination was to get back on the trailer.

As usual, the way to their heart revolved around food and they quickly settled down.

They were really not sure what to make of the chickens and clearly they were nowhere near a flight path in Denver as they kept looking up when the planes flew over. My girls were really pleased to see them arrive and Kloud ( who is pregnant) kept leaning through to kiss the little ones on the head.

 

Even the boys were keen to see what was going on.

 

After much excitement and many texts and emails to let people they had arrived safe we left them to settle down for the night.   Of course there will be many more pictures to follow.

 

 

Alpacas are stoic animals and by the time they are exhibiting any symptoms they are usually very ill. So there are a number of things you can do to stay ahead of the game.

Make sure you know your animals so you can pick up on any subtle changes in behavior. FAMACHA test for eyes, this is when you look at the insides of their eyelids to check for anemia. And last but not least check their fecals for parasites, this has meant sending a sample to the vets up till know but with the impending increase in herd size, we decided to invest in a microscope.

And here it is Ta Da ….

Comes with its own camera and software so that we can do the initial analysis ourselves then share the results to get a second opinion with the Vet.

 

On Sunday I thought there was a chance I would be away all week, so feeling sorry for Mr Rob, I bought a large apple coffee cake bar. That way he would have a nice snack with his afternoon tea.

Well to cut a long story short, I ended up coming back early Tuesday morning but…….. where is the cake, surely no one could have eaten a whole cake in one day………. well no one but Mr Rob.

Note to self, either don’t buy large cake or try and build some sort of timed dispenser so he can only get one bit at a time.

So ……… Here we go…… 4 weeks ago I was offered a new job that I accepted, but the thing that caused panic was the imminent start date. Hence the lack of any regular blogging. But it certainly warranted a catch up. My sister arrived late on October 7th for a little mini break, boy we walked some miles and had a lot of laughter along the way.

On the Sunday we walked out the back of our property and down to the river, it is only about two and half miles in total but it was very warm and humid so we were “glowing” like crazy by the time we got back.

We also spotted a very interesting footprint – too large for dogs or fox, either a very large coyote or a mountain lion.

Monday we took the dogs to the Sweet Water Park for a very nice six and a half mile walk – it was nice and quiet there and the temperature was not too bad under the trees.

 

We were so tired after it all we decided to stay home and have some home made pizzas. Tuesday Miss Kat and I decided to give Mr Rob a break so we went shopping to the Dawsonville Outlet Mall. We managed to stay there most of the day and I will let you guess how many bags got loaded into the car by the time we were finished. Quick trip to Outback Steakhouse for dinner then home to relax.

Wednesday we decided to give the Silver Comet trail a go and Mr Rob drove us to Lithia Springs area to get on the trail. It is really good its a rail trail so flat and well cared for. It was surprising how many people we passed either cycling, running or walking especially as it was mid week. We also managed to see 2 snakes, a praying mantis and a lizard.

Mr Rob came to pick us up at Hiram not before Miss Kat managed to get herself into the police vehicle that patrols the trail.  The two policemen were very friendly and were happy to let her sit in the car. Miss Kat left that evening and we were sad to see her go.

On the Friday we left for Callaway Gardens as we were helping out at the Fiber Festival, we had to take both vehicles as I was starting work on the Sunday in New Orleans. The show went well although we could have done with a lot more foot traffic. It was also the first time I got to show off some of my bags and I was pleased how well they were received.

New Orleans was interesting as it was the new companies client conference, I flew from there to Kansas then home on the Friday. Last week was spent in Hartford which is where I am going to be spending a lot of time in the future, which is hilarious given my move south but at least I will get to see the autumn leaves in the north east.

The weather here is great at the moment. Much less humid, high 70’s during the day and cooling off at night. With only 3″ of rain, it has been dryer this month too. I have already started to rake leaves so I guess we are heading for autumn.

Moving to a new place 900 miles south means there is so much to find out about the land, the weather, what will grow and where. I have tried to resist the urge to make big plans as I wanted to see what happens naturally.  It’s been fun to see the existing plants developing and having seen them, Miss Lynne and I are better able to make plans. More fruit trees are the very next things to be planted before winter comes.

On the pasture front, I’ve been pleased with the way they have developed and they are in good condition. I’m sure the extra rain helped this year. There is still 3 months to run before I’ve seen the whole cycle but things look good in the main areas. In the old pasture (Area 1 in the layout) I have work to do to address the erosion issues but it has been interesting to watch that area with no grazing alpacas.

On the vegetable front we have had mixed results. The squash went crazy and we had enough to feed Georgia and I must learn to read the labels more carefully as the zucchini turned out to be MUCH larger than I expected. The carrots and beetroot were  tasty and the peppers are still producing. Our favorite item was the swiss chard. It seemed to grow and grow. The high rainfall and general humidity didn’t help with the tomatoes, or the melon. They rotted before they could get ripe. It has been an unusually wet year though.

The growing season is long down here so we have replanted the beds for a second crop. More carrots and swiss chard alongside the still producing peppers in one bed. Peas in the second bed. I’m not entirely sure if they have enough time but lets hope so.

For me, the biggest question about the veg plot was its position. I didn’t want to put too much effort into it until I knew its growing potential. We put the two raised beds on just about the only flat piece of land. The issue was that the sunshine does not reach the beds until around 10am, I didn’t need to worry so I guess we’ll be building more beds this winter.

I’ll let Miss Lynne update on the Alpaca side of thing but I can tell you that she is getting very excited about some new arrivals!

It seems that there is a new creature to catch my eye, every time I step outside the door. It must be the time of the year. I saw this 3″ monster climbing down the River Birch tree that shades our living room and rear deck. It turns into the giant Lunar Moth. Isn’t nature wonderful.