Fiber - Finally Digging in to the Three Bags Full!

If you read or follow both of my blogs you will be seeing double!  This post fits the creative blog and the boys blog so I'm using it on both.  I've never done that, but as they say there's always a first time!

Starting fiber

The boys were sheared in April and I have three bags full of their blanket fiber, plus two smaller bags from their legs and neck.  I just love saying three bags full - makes me think of that sweet nursery rhyme,  Baa Baa Black Sheep have you any wool,  but I digress.   On the third day of classes in Bend we will learn to assist our shearer, to sort, clean,to card,  and even needle felt some of the fiber. I don't want to get there and say I have three bags full but I've never touched it except to sort and put in bags, so today was the day to put my hands on it.

Hand Carders

I pulled out some of the blanket fiber from Lefty's bag.  Pretty and white, but with lots of vegetative matter aka vm.  So I started by just pulling it a part with my hands, making it light and fluffy and pulling out little pieces of dried grass and twigs.

Next, I used my hand carders.  They also make hand crank ones and electric ones (very, very expensive), but, for once, I decided to see if I liked doing the fiber myself or would I choose to send it to a mill for processing before I jump up in cost. I had so much fun today and saw how slow this process would be - fine for a little, but I see a hand crank carder in my future!

Blanket left to card does not
include the legs or neck!

Roving - ready to spin or felt

Trash after carding

 It took about 10-20 passes with the carders to get out vm I wanted out and even with that there are a

 few specks, but for the most part it's clean.  When I was finished I had two small pieces of roving. This can now be used to spin directly from the roving or use for needle felting or other crafty things.   Pictures show how much I started with, how much vm came out of it, the carders and the finished product.  And it took about an hour or maybe more!  And then there's what I have left of Lefty's blanket and remember I have two more bags from the other boys, plus all of the legs and neck bags and so you see why there is a hand crank carder in my future!

The boys had lots of visitors this week and so more about that coming soon, with some fun pictures.  And I leave for Bend tomorrow!  Exciting time for me - haven't been away from home for 6 days in a long, long time!  I'll miss all of my boys and Bill will be doing alpaca duty while I'm gone!  The hottest week of the year!  Keep him in your prayers!

                                

Skinny Boys

Get rid of us?????? What???

It's been so busy around alpaca land that I've not had a moment to post!  So much has happened and I'm going to try and cover most of it, but, of course, the "shearing" is the star!

When I left off last month I was working on taxes and just about ready to be rid of the boys!  They certainly haven't been what I expected, but they are my boys and I have learned to love them.  For those of you who follow my Bev Ann's Mixed Bag Blog you know that I have had some tough times with them in the last month.  More and more God shows me through these three guys what it's like to have trust and then have it gone in a flash and tried my patience more than I could ever have imagined, but in the grand scheme of life, it's been one big laugh!  What I've learned is that I
take way too many things way too seriously.  They are alpacas and they are going to stay alpacas and I'm finally OK with that.LOL One day it's love and the next maybe not so much, but we're working on it!

If Bill heard me say that he would laugh, because he knows that too can change in a flash!

The week before shearing I was working with the boys twice a day - they would come into the catch pen, I would put on their halter and lead and we would walk in circles.  Lefty and Sammy actually let me  pet them a little!  Pancho simply thought of ways he could dig in his heels and not walk.  He would finally walk as long as I held the food bowl out, but not because he wanted to.  He is a stubborn little guy.  As shearing day grew closer the goal was to keep them as dry and clean as possible.  That's when Pancho discovered the berry brambles along the back fence.  He rubbed himself in them and drug long sticks all over the field!  Yes, that makes for a great fleece!  I cleaned off the fence and he still found limbs who knows where, but he found them.  And then on the Saturday before shearing on Tuesday the rains came.  They have a nice area to stay dry and where was Pancho?  He was lying in the yard in a huge puddle with water rolling past him.  All three got wet, but nothing like Pancho!  So on Sunday Bill and I came up with a temporary fence across the concrete part of the back overhang!  We can now let them go up there and stay dry and clean limiting them to their stall and the new area! It worked as the storms on Sunday afternoon came and went and the boys were dry!  So on Tuesday morning they were dry, they were somewhat clean except Sammy who had eaten something that just didn't agree with his stomach!  Yes, Bill held him and, well, let's back up to Monday night!

Pancho in puddle!

Pancho all wet with brambles!

Lefty with his wet head!

Bill ask me what time I wanted to try and load them up. What time should we get up? We wanted to be at the ranch by a little before ten and so I said if we start around 8:30 that should be plenty of time.  Oh what was I thinking?  I was thinking I had those perfect alpacas, you know the ones who are so thankful to be mine that they will do anything I ask them to do and do it smiling!  Well, now let's move back to Tuesday morning.  I've got my clean jeans on and thankfully my rubber boots when we discover the mess called Sammy!  I call Laurence and find that I need to hose him off!  Oh and don't forget to try and keep the blanket dry!  The blanket is the main part of the fleece, the best part!  And so  I get their halters on and that didn't just happen, but I will spare you the details.  I lock two of them in their stall and Bill holds Sammy while I hose him off!  And what does every dog do when they are wet?  Well, so do Alpacas!!!!!  But he's as clean as I can get him (and I'm not) and we begin the walk to the trailer.  It has rained so much we couldn't pull the trailer to the back, so we begin the long walk down the side of the building.  Now, we're really only talking100 feet or so, bur we needed a lot of patience.  Lefty and Sammy walked with Bill and I had Pancho and a food bowl.  Why is there never a video camera around when we're doing something new with these boys!  We would have been a You Tube hit when we finally made it to the trailer and they came to a stop.  They don't want to step inside the trailer.  Finally I lifted Lefty in with Bill pushing him from behind.  But before we could celebrate he was back out!  Finally, after we literally stopped and prayed over the boys and what we needed done they were all in and we were on our way.  God is so faithful and oh by the way, it was ten o'clock!

Cushed down in trailer

We drove the hour there and arrived with the boys cushed down in the back, rested and ready to visit their old home!  From here on it was a piece of cake.  Amazingly Pancho's fleece was the cleanest and the nicest.   We met some great new alpaca owners and they boys actually enjoyed being at their old home.  And now they are skinny!  The process wasn't near what I expected (is it ever?) and the boys didn't seem to mind the shearing at all and seemed to enjoy being around some of their old herd mates.

After

Before

I was very proud of my boys after I heard some of the others "screech' through the entire process.  No pain is involved, but you would have thought they were being killed!  As soon as it's over they jump up and go about life as though nothing has happened.  And, there was one that spit the entire time!  My boys were perfect!  Well, until we started to leave.  Once again Pancho dug in those heels and refused to move.  Laurence took the lead, told me Pancho had my number, and started walking toward the trailer and you guessed it, so did Pancho.  He walked with him like it was his favorite thing to do including jumping into the trailer, so yes, Pancho has my number!

Once, home they headed out into the pasture and we sighed a breath of relief. "Our" first shearing was over!  Notice the "our", this was much harder on me and Bill than the boys!  hahaha  We put away the halters and leads and looked out in the pasture to see Pancho lying on his side!  Out flat!  We had never seen this and panic set in.  I ran out and he jumped up and began to graze.  I relaxed and looked over to see him flat on his side!  More panic and a call to Laurence, but before we heard back Pancho was up and grazing.  We learned they like to sun themselves following shearing!  Oh, I will be so glad when we've had them long enough to not panic when we see them simply lie down,  or some other silly thing they might do that sends us into a tizzy!

The body/blanket fiber!

Top small bags are the legs and neck fiber

So the end result is that the boys are cool and I have three bagsfull of fleece.  Still haven't decided exactly what I'm going to do with it.  Will I send it off to a mill, clean and card it myself into roving?  I just don't know.

The next big adventure will be my trip to Oregon for training!  Just a month from now, so if we all can survive that long maybe our lives will improve! Fingers crossed!

Seven Weeks and Counting!

I can't believe how long it's been since I posted!  Time is flying by and yet sometimes it feels like it stands still.  They boys are creeping up on two months and I believe they finally believe this is home.

I hardly know where to start to catch up with all that has taken place in the alpaca world.  When I last left off I had just begun trying to get them where I could think about haltering them.  I had just received all of my tools and we were working in the catch pen.  Amazingly in just a week or so of working with them individually in the pen I was able to put their halters on them and began leading them a little bit.  I started with placing the halter in their feed bowl.  They would stick their nose through to get to the food.  At one point Sammy pulled his head out of bowl and halter was just hanging on nose (see two pictures) and it took a minute for him to shake it off. I'm sure when I go to my classes in Oregon in June I will learn that I wasn't doing it correctly, but at least we seem to be accepting each other's role and tolerating each other.

 The more I was with them, the more they seemed willing to let me touch their heads, we haven't headed to any other part of the body yet, but them we had to make some changes.

Sammy out for a bite of grass.

But let's back track just slightly.  Their small fenced pasture had lost it's green!  They had it down to nubs, so in order to encourage them to be led with halter and lead I took them out into the large pasture where the grass was very green and lots of it!  Sammy was the first to go out and he ate to his hearts content and then we would walk back in to the catch pen.  I would remove the halter and let him out and then work with one of the others.

Pancho out for his turn!

Now remember, they watch each other carefully.  So the entire time we were out and Sammy was eating, the other two were watching and trying to get to that grass.  Now I put their halter on add the lead and start out and they didn't want tot walk.  Finally Pancho figured it out and went out and ate, but Lefty wanted to part of it.

Then came the rain that flooded everything and changes in their stall and my catch pen and so we decided that we needed to let them out to eat, lead or not!  So on a Sunday afternoon, we released them to the big pasture and prayed they would come back in for pellets.  They did!  The next day I let them out again with just me at home and really prayed they would come back in for pellets and they did!  Now I go out open the gates, they go out and they come in on their own for water, shade and their dung pile!  They wander in and out like it's the natural thing to do, until evening and then they come in and I close and lock the gates, so they're in their smaller pasture and that seems to be just fine with them!  I honestly never imagined this could be so easy.

On the negative side, I haven't been working with them and their halters and must get back to that soon as we will be heading out on April 30 for shearing.  I don't know what to expect with shearing and don't really look forward to it, but we must do it or Texas heat would kill them and, of course, I am excited to see what their fiber is like.  Hope it's great, but time will tell.

I must say that this hasn't been an easy last three weeks.  Early after my last post I was ready to put them up for sale.  Their lack of trust of me and the frustration of working with them almost took it's toll.  Accepting that they are livestock and not domesticated animals has not been easy for me.  I've never had anything  but dogs and cats.  They are more like cats, but really not like either one.  It rains and they stand out in it or lie down in the mud and roll.  My mind says protect them!  Bring them  in, keep them dry.  They say let me be an alpaca!  My thoughts are not your thoughts, my ways are not your ways!  See any similarity there with us and God?

I have found many God lessons with these boys and they have assisted me in writing a recent devotion regarding trust in God (my part) and their trust in me!  I'm learning to say I trust you Lord and letting them go!  They are learning to trust me a little and draw a little closer!  But not unlike my walk with the Lord, they pull away and I wonder why, I'm sure just as He looks down at me and wonders why.  Makes no sense for either of us!

And so today, I sit here and watch them run in the pasture and it is a joyful run.  I watch them graze and thank God I have them, trusting that I will learn how to handle them and they will learn to trust me and we will live in harmony!  Believe me, no one wants that more than my sweet hubby who has been living with me on this roller coaster ride!

He surprised me with a new (old) trailer for them this week.  But more on trailers and fences later.  Got to get back to reality and get those pesky taxes done!

Week 2 - Really, Only Week TWO!

I am in pen - trying not scare them as I leave!

Week two began with some serious changes!  We let them back out into the pasture and left the big gate to the stall open.  We opened it - they wandered out and right back in and then out for grazing.  It was good to see that they didn't rush out like they were getting out of jail.

Later that afternoon I went out shook their food can and they came right to me.  I let them eat out of my hand a few bites and stopped.  They wandered back out to the pasture.  In my last post I shared that I had made up my mind there had to be a better way and waited for my two books on handling to arrive from Camelidynamics, well I actually ordered them from Amazon, but they were written by Marty Bennett who founded Camelidynamics.

While I waited I continued to visit them during the day and evening and give them a little food each time they came into the stall/pen.  They came in readily, sometimes running!  The first couple of nights I felt better to close them in for the night, but by Tuesday I just let them stay out all night and that's what they continued doing for the rest of the week.  There's a motion light and a couple of nights they have triggered it as they did some running around in the pen, but other than that it stays dark and they seem to be happy and safe.  And I continue to try and breathe!  Letting them be alpacas and not trying to treat them like a household pet!

The books arrived on Thursday and I began to read!  By Thursday night I was almost blind and very confused.  I saw that Camelidynamics had a Guild and so I joined on Friday and was able to express my concerns about learning how to handle them on the forum.  Marty Bennett responded not only on the forum but sent me a wonderful, encouraging email and suggested I might want to attend one of the training clinics.  And so, I leave Texas for Oregon on June 14 and spend five glorious days there, four of which will be hands on training for me!  You see their theory is you don't train the alpaca, you train the handler!  And in the meantime I ordered some tools that I think will help me learn from the books how to be a loving, trustworthy handler and the clinic will be the refinement.

So, now there's hope!  With Donna and Laurence and now Marty and the Guild members, I will have the help and encouragement I need to learn how to handle them in a way that will allow them to be alpacas, but, alpacas that can be used in social situations.

Those of you who know me well, know that God is present in every thing in my life and this is no exception.  In my concern and frustration, I prayed so hard over these three guys. I prayed for wisdom to learn how to handle them and for them to find peace and trust in their new home and God has answered with new skills to learn and old and new friends to help me and them along the way.

 My friend Lawsona with a big horse!

Praising God my alpacas are small!

Wednesday I stopped by a friends house that has draft horses.  This is my friend with the zebras and longhorns that I post pictures of so often on Facebook, but I had never been to her house.  I drive by, I take tons of pictures of her animals, we see each other at events and she always tells me to stop in, but I don't. But Wednesday I knew the Lord said turn in to her driveway, she will give you wisdom and she did!  These horses make my alpacas look like puppies, but I knew Lawsona would have encouraging words and her advice was to just relax and spend time with them.  Grab a book and a small chair and sit in the pasture with them.  Study them and stay relaxed.  Just be!

That's how she trained an "untrainable" horse!  She got to know him  and he got to know her and trust was the result.  And so I went home and began to just hang with them and I know they appreciate that I just want to be with them, to get to know them and as my new friend Marty says to let them know that I just may speak alpaca!  Not with words, but with the understanding of what they need, the fears that they have and the desire to not force myself into their space.

Already not grabbing at them this week has paid off.  They come right up to me, sniff me and when I move they don't run.  They may back a step away, but not running away.  They follow me all over the pasture as I do work, staying close enough to watch my every action and seem to be interested in every duty I have.  In the barn with much less room, I try to move away and not at them and they no longer seem to mind my being so close.  I'm trying to stay out of their personal space and I'm surprised to see how often they move up close to me, even if for just a moment. The hardest part is not reaching out to touch them, but I'm learning and they seem to notice the change!

So week two ended on a high note!  One filled with encouragement, peace and hope!  What more can we ask for that!  God is good, ALL the time!

They're Here! Home Sweet Home

It's official - they're here - February 16, 2013!  It was so exciting to see Laurence and Donna Binder, Bluebonnet Hills Alpaca Ranch,  pulling in with the trailer in back!  All three boys were cushing (lying down with all four legs under them) when I first peeked in and looked quite comfortable.  Pancho and Lefty stood up as soon as I poked the camera in, but as you can see Sammy was content to stay down.

Fortunately we had put the new locks on the gates ( easy open ) and filled the  hay rack, so we were ready for them.  They got out of the trailer with their halters on and so we added a lead and off they walked into their new home.  Laurence showed us how to trim their nails and we petted and hugged on them.  Fortunately that doesn't have to be done often and I plan on walking them down the driveway, so that will help keep them filed down.  They have soft pads, not hooves, so they're very easy on the land. I practiced putting the halter on and then we took them off and let them take off to explore their space on their own.

Last weekend when I was on the couch, Bill got the lights put up around the stall and in the feed/storage room.  We put a soft floor in their stall, it could have been the floor of many colors, but decided on the grey side.  I don't think they would care one way or the other, but grey it is.  The rack is in and when the side gate is open, they will have access from inside and out.  The auto-water bowl is the covered area as is the hay rack.  Bill has worked very hard to have everything ready for them, including picking up hay this morning. We have the stall gated so when we give them their food in the mornings they will come in and we can catch them to put their halters on.  The more I work with them the more they will grow used to me and hopefully will not always run the other way.  As long as they're on their leads, they are sweet and nuzzle us, but once they're free they want to stay that way!  You walk toward them and they walk away!  They are not dogs!!!!

Laurence looked at some patches of grass that I was questioning and so I dug some up once they left and it was just Bill and I and the boys.  Oh, that reminds me we do have another boy, Jack, and he was in his yard when the boys arrived.  He can see them and he barked and barked, so I let him come back to their area.  The plan was for him to stop at the gate, like he did last week, but the boys weren't there last week, so he jumped right through and headed right for them.  They got scared and began to walk away at a pretty fast pace and of course he loves to run and chase, so this looked like a game to him and before we knew it there was a chase on in the yard around us.  We caught Jack and the other three just went back to eating as though nothing had happened.  Needless to say we have some work to do on their relationship!

Back to the grass issue, I needed to weed eat and I did and they just wandered around as though I wasn't doing anything.  They would stop and look at me and go back to their business.  They really seemed to enjoy looking around and oh my goodness they seemed to really enjoy our grass!  Honestly this is even more exciting than I thought it would be, but at the same time it was comfortable!  Like they were supposed to be here - we are happy - hope they are!

The hard part for me is leaving them alone  tonight, and that's where we are now, night time.  There's a small light on and there's a motion light which has gone on a couple of times, but then it got dark and I just had to go check on them.  They were cushing and I guess trying to sleep after a long and very exciting day.  Lefty stood up and looked at me, like what the heck?  Are you going to bother us all night? So I said my good nights, reminded them where their water is and came in!  It has been dark out there ever since, so I guess they're down for the night.  I have never even had an outside dog, so this is really hard for me, but I will get used to it and they will be fine and tomorrow is another day!

Pancho, Lefty, Sammy - Official Arrival Day Photo!

I hope Bill can get some pictures tomorrow as I catch and halter them for the first time all by myself!  He might have to be helping me rather than being the photographer, but we'll see.  I've quit looking out the window every few minutes and actually plan on heading off to bed as soon as I hit publish - so good night from Jack and the alpacas!

Walking the Boys!

Last time I posted, I said I would be going to the ranch to visit with the boys and see if they would walk for me!  Oh, my goodness, what a difference a couple of weeks made.  They walked right along with me as though they had always been doing it.  They are such quick studies!!!!

Snack!

All legs!  

But, before I get to them I have to tell you about the surprise I got upon arrival.  As I pulled in Laurence was walking out the door.  He said, "Come join me - I'm headed out to check on the new baby!"  Yes, the first cria of the year was born last Thursday morning and he was adorable.  I had never seen a cria and this one was just around seven hours old. Lauarence was a little concerned as the momma was a little over due; however, he only weighed 12.5 lbs. so it was a good thing she held on as long as she did  He was small, as they hope they will weigh at least 15 pounds, but oh what a cutie!

Mommas watchful eye1

He was lying down when we got up to them, but Laurence gave him a little lift and up he got.  He has the skinniest little legs, but he was moving all around.  Laurence said they're usually walking around within five hours of birth.  Sure glad our babies aren't doing that!

He tried to run and I wish I had gotten a video, those legs flying every which way.  Cute, cute, cute.

Nose to nose!  Sweet boys.

After, enjoying the miracle of this little guy, we moved on to our yearlings, Lefty and Pancho.  Laurence put out a little food into the feeder and all of the yearlings came running.  He separated our our two and put their harnesses on and we led them out of the group.  Pancho was a little hesitant to go out the door, which required stepping over a six inch board.  I had read that sometimes even a 2 x 4 would cause them to stop, and I saw it in action.  He literally jumped over the board.  We worked with him, taking him in and out and he finally got where he stepped over with just a tiny little hop.  Lefty just walked out like he'd always been doing it!  Who knows why Pancho disliked that board so much.  Anyway we walked up and down the pastures, visited with the new baby and got to know each other.  Alpacas are very curious and so they loved seeing new alpacas and especially the baby. Momma was a little leery, but she let Laurence hold him and me pet him. The day gave me peace as I found I was able to keep them inline when they got a little frisky. At one, they do get frisky. At two, they get frisky, so I will be working with them regularly so that they can be used to educate children and others about these sweet animals.  I'm looking forward to some home school field trips in the near future.

After an hour or so with those two, Laurence went to a separate pen and got Sammy!  What a hoot he is.  He had been halter/lead trained last year and hadn't been on a lead since shearing time last April  He walked along with us like it had been yesterday.  Something to remember, once they learn a behavior, they don't forget it, so teach them the right way from the beginning.  It was, also, the first time Sammy was around the other two.  He just turned two, so he's with the two year old alpacas and the good news is that they all seemed to like each other.  They will be kept together for a few days before they come to our house to be sure they've bonded.

I left the boys behind and came back home knowing that they will be joining us soon.  I believe we've decided on the 16th of February and so I won't see them again until they arrive at our house.  Which means we now have a deadline!  We need to finish up fencing, gates, their
stall floor, automatic waterer,  and get the hay feeder in place and I'm sure a hundred other things we haven't thought of yet.  To complicate all of this, I came down with the flu (boo hiss) on Thursday night so Bill has had his hands full!  On the other hand, with my voice nothing but a squeak for three days, it has made for a quiet house for him and our sweet puppy.  Just hoping I get well fast so I can mow again  and try to rid the yard of all of the dangerous grasses and weeds.

 Things should be quiet on this blog for the next 10 days or so and then I'll be back with pictures of the arrival.

Growing Closer!

Getting ready to hang gate!  

What a weekend!  We have worked our fingers to the bone (slight exaggeration) and we are beat tonight! (no exaggeration!!!!)  We're moving right along with our preparations for the boys to finally come live with us.  Thankfully, we had a wonderful weekend to work outside.  In fact, yesterday I was in a sleeveless shirt and sunscreen!  Yes, it is January, but it's also south Texas and we just never know - winter today - summer tomorrow!

I mowed and used the weed eater all around the back yard, the barn and the new alpaca area.  Yes, you got that right, weed eating and mowing!  For those of you with snow and ice, that is what we have to do to not have snow and ice!  :)

Gate is hung! 

Bill completed the digging of post holes and we got the remaining wooden posts in the ground and cemented in.  We hung two gates and some fencing, along with completion of the stall.  We also moved dirt, cleaned up all around the alpaca area filling holes and checking for noxious weeds!  As I said at the beginning, what a weekend!  On the bright side we ate out last night so no kitchen to clean up and we had a dinner at church tonight so once again, food without clean up!

One of the back gates - 12'.  We now have 2 of seven done!

Thursday I go up to the alpaca ranch and work with the boys on their leashes and see if they will walk with me!  I will take lots of pictures and hope I come home feeling like they are ready to move down soon.  Still planning on the middle of February, but that will be here before we know it.  Excited but nervous!

Be back Friday with lots of pix.