Books I Love
December 2nd
8:32 PM | 
Posted by
Jen Pietsch |
Yesterday I told you about or oldest alpaca, today it's our youngest. It's any ones guess who is tomorrow! Feel free to leave feedback here all you folks that have visited us or lurk this fine blog.
Looking back on the day I shutter to think how it could have gone all wrong. Brooklyn her mom, was a maiden (aka a first time mom) and a beauty queen on top of that. And was in labor for EVER. Okay much of the day. She would moan, yell and separate herself from the herd- classic labor. Brooklyn seemed to be pushing but getting nowhere with the whole thing. She was wearing herself out.
I have been able to ease other cria out who were a little stuck but this one wasn't going anywhere. It seemed that Brooklyn wasn't dilating and Pippi wasn't going to get out.
Dr Schuler came out after my failed attempt to scootch the Pipster out and it took three of us (not including Brooklyn) pulling, prying, praying and holding to get the itty-bitty out.
She hit the ground at just shy of twelve pounds.
As soon as she got her feet on the ground from a pretty traumatic birth she was off. Brooklyn was a bit reluctant to feed her. Pippi wanted to nurse and Brooklyn wanted to be next to her, but nursing was not what she had in mind. Eventually Pip wore her down and got what she wanted and we all believed this would be the end of it.
No way! Pippi has to chase her every time. Brooklyn will take her to the far end of the field and maybe consent to nursing. Pippi is getting bigger and Brooklyn is getting smaller so they must have worked it out. The two are never apart and are constantly humming back and forth. To hear them is one of the sweetest sounds ever. She is a looker just like her Mom.
Here are a few pics. (Do you like how I put them at the end so you have to keep reading?)
That was a lot of tugging for such a little bit of a thing!
Brooklyn and Pippi- ALWAYS together
Look closely and you will see mama Brooklyn in the side of this picture.
Even Mother Doesn't Believe I can Do It!
Thanks Mom for your extreme vote of confidence. I can tell you are behind me all the way.
I have puzzled over what order to talk about all of my fabulous fleeced friends with you, but really haven't come up with a plan. (Don't worry I didn't hurt myself with all of that thinking.) I really don't have a favorite but there are days that some are more entertaining than others.
So...totally almost at random...
Number 126
Mickey is our oldest girl in number of years on earth but one of the youngest we have on our farm in spunk and attitude.
You are probably wondering why
- I prefaced her name with a number- 126?
- I call her The Queen - much like someone would call the president (whose name I cannot bring myself to utter) Mr. President.
- We sometimes even call her Susan
When Jeff, the kids and I moved to our new home I was seriously concerned how I would ever be able to tell all of these camels apart. My goodness they all looked the same. It took me less than a week of 'getting to know them' (scooping poop, feeding etc.) to figure out who they all were and how they fit in.
Mickey was a standout- she had a number tag in her ear...icky. Animals aren't numbers especially on my farm. The first thing I did once I figured out who everybody was, was to get that darn thing out of her ear. All it took was scissors. I saved the tag to remind me who she was when I moved in. It hurts me to even look at it.
The Queen
She is ALL that.
Mickey may be just a skinny little thing but man don't get in her way...or the way of her family. First in line for grain is always Mickey. Hay too, she is first. One more interesting thing about my girl Mickey is that she holds her head up high. We aren't sure if this is because she used to have really long fleece on her head or just really good posture but holy cow she always has her nose in the air.
Susan?
Okay we have reasons why we call her Susan- she reminds my husband, my Mom and I of my ex-sister in law. Not in a bad way at all, Susan is a very nice person with incredible posture and taste for the finer things.
So there you go Mickey!!
Here is the best stealthy picture I could find of her- skinny girl going under the fence!
Okay so I will go and take a couple of head shots!
My Gift to You
My gift to you is, no not hand knit alpaca sweaters or socks. Starting tomorrow and going through Christmas it is...
So see you tomorrow!
Troller Point
We pulled the boat out of the water today for the winter. Having docked it at our friends the Nutts of Warm Valley Orchard, the boat was used heavily...by sea otters! Man they must have thought they won the lottery. You can see just where the otters decided to spend the afternoon sunning themselves and eating crabs...you know...on my boat! It was kinda too bad we never ran into them I bet they were CUTE.
On the way home from West Sound Marina where the boat will get winterized before it spends the season on the farm we stopped by the West Sound Dock for the seasonal stop of the Alaskan fishing boat. What a smooth operation run by a really nice family. We bought a bunch of super fresh fish and prawns to last us quite a while. You WILL want to check out their web site! TrollerPoint.com You can think of us enjoying all that halibut!
The Boys are back in Town!
Last week we piled in the boat and went off in search of the male Steller Sealions that come up our way this time of year. Stellers are the largest of all sea lions. These giant pinnipeds hunt fish, squid, octopus and, rarely, smaller seals. They are found off northern Pacific coasts from Japan to California. We were lucky to catch a sighting of a few not as impressive as last year but still a great afternoon on the water.
I think they look kinda like pugs!
Thoughts on Donkeys
Yesterday was a picture perfect fall day. We warmed up to about 68 degrees and the sun was shining. Sounds like a great day for a run, most days do to me anyway.
As I was running around Mountain Lake in Moran State Park I got to thinking about the donkey girls. Here are a few of my thoughts:
- Why don't they smile more? They look like their heads are really weighing them down.
- Why are they always hungry? They seem to have a little extra around the middle they could live off of.
- They don't hurry...ever...one speed and one speed only.
- How can they poop so much? Two donkeys can make as much poop as all of the alpaca combined in a day. Who knew?
- What do they do all day? When the alpaca are standing around they chew their cud. Donkeys don't have a cud. Maybe gum is in order.
- Why don't they he-haw more? It is one of the best sounds in the world.
Cria and Mom Matching Game- Not Really
I had this vision (don't worry it was only a vision no voices or anything) of making a really cool cria and mom matching game. No such luck. By the time I was able to find the pictures and sort them all out, re-size them etc. I knew you were never going to play a matching game on my blog. Enjoy the pictures if you want to play a game well find one somewhere else.
We were so lucky to have four beautiful cria this year. We had two girls and two boys.
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