Wow, it’s been a busy, busy week this past week. I blink my eyes and here we are 6 days from my last blog entry, yet it seems like it was just yesterday. At the same time the weekend just seemed to drag for me. I found myself coming down with a cold, the kind that comes complete with a healthy dose of the body aches. You know, the ones that just make you feel like an overall weakling where you just want to hide under a rock. But alas! I didn’t sulk away from such a physical challenge. I double dosed my supplements, popped some more Inositol, and chased it all with swigs of Noni juice (from Costco…its kinda like bitters…ok, pop quiz: “What does Survivor contestant Ozzy say they use the Noni fruit for? Hmmmm??? Any guesses?)
Well, the end result is that I conquered that cold quick surprisingly quick. Like weirdly quick. Cool.
Our weekend projects included staining all the main fascia boards that will go under the eaves of the roof all around the house. The construction crew was ready for getting them up there. The work is quality, the pace is getting challenged by some weather (exerting some soap box control now). I will say it was nice to finally see some sheeting going up on the sides and some tarps at least covering the rafters. It is pretty angst ridden to see rain creating puddles where your wood stove is going to be located, even more stomach tightening to start to see some wood soaking the wetness in. My mantra for this week is “Roof gets covered from the storm, dry on the inside keeping me warm.” OK, let’s chant that together now. The latest pictures show where we are at.
Of course, it wasn’t all house construction though; the llama boys saw plenty of action this week. They all went on a hike down to the river. Glenn led the way with Knight (but we have come to now find his name is really Caballero); definitely the lead llama. Tim followed with Yago. As I watched, it was really interesting to see that Tim and Yago paired very naturally together. I followed them with both Stellar and Mucho. Mucho is the kind of llama that makes you stand back and proclaim, “Our little Mucho, how proud we are of him!” Stellar is actually the oldest and really dominates the herd, but with a softer touch. Knight likes to let Yago know he’s third in line; while Mucho the youngest is like “whatever…you three work it out amongst yourselves, I’m going over here to look at this flower.”
As we reviewed their registrations this past week, we learned that Stellar and Knight share the same sire (dad) and were born two days apart from each other; Stellar the older of the two. Then we looked and saw that Yago shared the same sire too! They are all half-brothers, all different dams (moms). But, alas poor Yago is the younger brother by a year, thus the family dynamic is set.
Today was the peak of the week for them…the vet came to visit! Bwah ha ha ha! They all got sedation since we were going to tackle cutting their fighting teeth. OK… #1 bet ya didn’t know llamas and alpacas have "fighting teeth", and #2 bet ya are cringing at the thought of cutting them. Don’t worry, its a good thing. Now, drugs are a good thing too, better to experience this as a pleasant relaxing memory rather than a potentially scary and scarring experience for a llama. Have fun with the pictures cause they basically were all acting like they just got into the cider house and fought over the fermented apple juice. The highlight, of course, was the arrival, with perfect timing of Mother Hildegard to check on how things were going and to see our place. “Umm, hi Mother H. don’t mind the drunken llamas, they are really happy here, honest!” Actually, it was fun, we had a great visit and I was happy to show her what we are up to.
So, now I’m back in the city. I’ll be here for a couple of events coming up. This Friday our banker from Northwest Farm Credit has invited us to attend Washington Agriculture & Forestry Education Foundation’s annual Connections Benefit Gala. It’s a great opportunity for some networking and meeting folks in the AgForestry industry. On Saturday, Glenn and I get to go to Oyster Frenzy at the fabulous Flying Fish restaurant in Seattle. The Oyster growers themselves will be there shucking away. We love the different oysters from around the Puget Sound and Hama Hamas are my personal favorite! I’ll be taking the camera, so well have some photos to share.
I’ll have to go get a haircut and have a little beauty day here tomorrow so that I can dress up and look all pretty like. It’s a nice diversion from wearing Carhartts all the time at the land. But, I must say I love me some Carhartts; especially with this wet fall weather coming on. Here’s my wish list item for each of us for Halloween: a Carhartt Fleece Active Jac/Thermal lined zip front hoodie! (XXL-TLL for Tim, Glenn and me, XL). Oh, per chance a generous patron out there would UPS them to us? (insert coy puppy dog eyes here). But, ya know, I just can’t wait until we are ready to get our company logo embroidered on something like that! That will be really an exciting moment.
Paca Pride Guest Ranch 