Proms, Graduations and Shearings

Prom and graduation season always makes me a little nostalgic. This feeling came on when my first daughter, Amy, graduated from high school and has happened every May since then. I used to sit on my front porch on the evening of graduation (when I didn't have one that I had to attend) sipping wine while I waited for the joyful cacophony of honking car horns as soon as the ceremony was over. It's what they do in a small town. This year the motivation behind my nostalgia is two-fold; my first granddaughter, Olivia, will be graduating from high school and I will be attending my 50th class reunion! I look forward to attending Olivia's graduation. I'll cry. I'm not sure how I'll feel when I attend my class reunion.

Both Olivia and her freshman brother, Max, attended prom this year. (One of his track teammate's girlfriend's, best friend, needed a date.) Seeing both of my older grandchildren dressed in formal wear brought tears to my eyes. I thought my own daughters grew up too fast, but grand kids? It's almost inconceivable that the two little redheaded toddlers are going to high school.

Max and Olivia ready for prom

My youngest granddaughter, Zaidee, who lives clear out in Portland, Oregon, will be turning 12 years-old this year. I'll soon be writing about her prom if the years fly by as swiftly for her as they did for Olivia and Max. Received this picture of her digging clams on the Oregon coast earlier this week.

The last Thursday in April we had shearing at our farm this year instead of hauling animals 12 miles down to a friend's place. After almost five years of owning alpacas we felt that we knew enough to set up a station here. Mary Jane, our shearer, spent the night with us so she could set up the night before, allowing us to begin at 8 a.m. Our friends who live one road over and down four miles brought their three animals down and joined us for the day's work. Myron and Rhonda, who had completed the shearing of their animals earlier in the week came up to help, too. Everyone pitched in heaving animals onto the table, vacuuming them with a shop vac, bagging fleece and sweeping up afterwards. 

Mary Jane, pushed through until 2 p.m., finishing our six animals before we broke for a pot luck lunch in the store. I had made a crock pot full of sloppy joes, my friend Lisa brought her famous cheesy potatoes and Rhonda brought Rich's favorite Ballreich chips. After lunch Mary Jane finished up the last three animals and was ready to shove off at 6 p.m. for her next stop down near Mansfield.

Each year I'm amazed at the actual size of our animals underneath all of that fleece. By the end of winter they all look so hugely fat! Took, our oldest female seemed to be way overweight and I was almost afraid what she would look like after she lost her fleece. Before shearing she looked like this:

Now she looks like this:

Took may be a bit overweight but not nearly what I had expected before shearing. That's her daughter, Mango, in the background.

Our two little boys, Mocha, and his half-brother, Dionysus, were the biggest surprise. They looked huge before shearing. Mocha was Mango's cria out of Black Night (Myron's sire) and Dionysus was last year's cria out of our sire, Nikko. They were born almost exactly a year apart. They looked like this before:

Now that the weather has gotten warmer and the grass is growing, these two almost never stand still long enough to get a good closeup shot. The minute I show up near the pasture with my camera they stop grazing and start putting on a show; kicking up their heels, chest bumping and running back and forth in an effort to impress. If I'm lucky and creep quietly out onto the back with my camera ready, I can catch them as they look up from their grazing. So this is the best I can do to show you the "after" picture:

While we were shearing I gave a call to our vet and ask that he come out to help with two necessary tasks. The first was sad to say the least. I'm sorry to have to report that our herd sire, Nikko, a beautiful animal, had to be put down. He had been becoming more and more aggressive in recent months.

It all started last fall when he tried to jump on me. Fortunately, Rich was in the pasture with me and caught him before any real damage was done. Another time he tried it with Rich and was held off. Mocha, who is about 18 months old, is beginning to get his male hormones. This means that when he was near Nikko he often rolled up his tail, an impudent action that males do to assert their masculinity. Nikko often became agitated and aggressively jumped on the fence trying to get at Mocha.

The last straw was when Nikko rammed the gate that separated their pastures, broke the latch and got in with the little boys. Fortunately it happened on a Saturday when Rich was home from work. He heard Mocha's screeching and by the time he got to the pasture, Nikko had Mocha by the neck. When Rich, perhaps a bit recklessly, jumped in between to separate them, Nikko bit him on the neck. Between the two of us we managed to get a halter and lead on Nikko and Rich dragged him back into his own pasture where we secured the gate. From that point on I worried whenever Rich had to go into the pasture to refresh his hay and water.

We still agonized  for the next couple of weeks about whether to put him down or not. The night before shearing, Rich and Brian, our neighbor tried to put a harness on Nikko in preparation for locking him inside so his fleece wouldn't get wet in the rain that was predicted. Rich and Brian are both tall guys and they still had trouble handling Nikko. That's when we knew that he wouldn't get any better and we just couldn't have a violent animal on the farm. So, sadly, the next afternoon, after he was shorn of his gorgeous, soft fleece, Nikko had to be put down. We buried him out under the old oak tree where the sawmill used to stand.

The second task that we had for Bob, our vet, was a much happier one. We have been trying to breed our beautiful brown Leezza ever since we got her with no success. She came to us with a free breed back to one of the herd sires at Amy J's Homestead Alpacas and though they tried several times it just didn't take. The next year we tried to breed her to Nikko. It appeared that she had been successfully bred because she passed the "spit" test  (see entry for October 24, 2013 for explanation) which is said to be about 80% effective. We waited 11 months and nothing. If she had been pregnant she must have either absorbed or aborted a microscopic fetus.

So we tried again with Nikko last fall. She passed that spit test twice. We didn't know whether to be hopeful or not so we waited. When we attempted to clip her toenails one day last winter, the usually biddable Leezza, was a bit testy. She let us do her front nails and then decided that she'd had enough and began bucking and dancing away from us. When Mango was pregnant the first time, her usually laid back nature disappeared and she became a "touch me not" and a bit grumpy, much like some human pregnant women do. When Leezza started exhibiting this behavior we decided that if she was still ouchy in the spring then we would have a blood test done. Dr. Bob called the other day with the best news ever. He is 90% sure that Leezza is pregnant. So now we wait until October with our fingers crossed.

Leezza before

Leezza after

Now we can relax until October when we hope all three females will each be delivering a new addition to the herd. There's nothing like watching those new crias pronking around the pasture. It's joy set in motion and one of those everyday things that just make you smile.

Mamas??

And They Say That April is the Cruelest Month!

Less than two weeks ago when Rich took down the winter snowman display and put up the Leprechaun and Pot 'O Gold, it looked like this:

I had to clear away the snow to snap pictures of my sprouted chives in the herb garden and the daffodils out by the front fence.

Callie insisted on going  outside to play ball in the snow but every time I tossed it she returned with a frosty ball full of snow. It's usually difficult to get her to drop the ball for another round but not that day. Even she didn't want to hang on to it very long, dropping it when she returned to me and champing her teeth repeatedly. She must have been feeling the cold on sensitive teeth.

Within a couple of days the snow was gone and the Mocha and Dio were feeling frisky with the milder temperatures, longer daylight hours and the promise of spring. I caught them chest bumping and neck wrestling in the pasture on one of the warmer days after the snow melt.

Little Dionysus, the younger of the two half-brothers, is usually the instigator of the play time, with Mocha man being the patient older brother for only a limited amount of time. Mocha puts up with the neck wrestling and chest bumping. Dio gets really fired up with this rough housing and eventually does a speedy circuit of the pasture and finished by jumping onto Mocha's haunches. This is where Mocha draws the line and twists that long neck of his around and accurately lands a wad of spit in Dio's face. The little guy backs off and runs for mama, Mango,

This past month as Dio neared the six month of his short life we noticed that Mango had been pushing him away most of the time when he attempted to nurse. Saturday was such a lovely day that Rich and I decided to move the two little boys to a pasture of their own to complete the weaning process. Both of the boys seemed a little befuddled when they first entered their new pasture and eventually began exploring the newly sprouted grass. Rich had put some sweet feed in the trough of their new condo and it didn't take long for them to discover it.

For some reason their transfer seemed to really upset Nikko who ran up and down their common fence line making peculiar agitated noises. Whenever the little guys got near their gate Nikko poked his head between the slats attempting to bite at them. They have always had a common fence line when they were in with their mama, Mango and Nikko did not behave like this. Nikko kept getting more and more worked up and his ire seemed to be aimed at Mocha who is nearing two years of age. Mocha is clearly beginning to feel his hormones since he often does that tail roll up thing when Nikko is near the fence so I can only assume that what happened next is because Nikko feels that his place as king of the herd needs to be defended.

Nikko had been continually ramming the gate trying to reach the little boys when they were near and eventually pulled the latch chain right out of the wooden slat where it had been anchored. He chased the little boys up the runway and cornered them where he began jumping on Mocha and fiercely biting his neck.

I was inside and heard Rich calling my name and alternately yelling, "No!" When I slipped on my shoes and ran outside I saw that the empty pasture and immediately realized what had happened. As I rounded the barn I grabbed a slat off the wood pile and ran into the girls' pasture. Rich was holding Nikko around the neck with his front legs off the ground but the two little boys wouldn't go back to their own pasture. This was one of the times when I think that these animals, as cute as they may be, are as dumb as a box of rocks. Even though Nikko had attacked Mocha, once Rich had pulled him free, Mocha and Dio stayed right in the middle of the fray!

I grabbed a halter and lead and eventually Rich and I got Nikko haltered up and pulled back into his own pasture. Rich held him there while I secured the little guys in the runway. Nikko is now in the pasture right behind the house and isolated from the rest of the herd. In this whole process, Nikko somehow bit Rich in the neck which was a little scary. In theory, humans should never get between two fighting males because the human will never come out unscathed. In actual practice, when one sees a mature male hurting an immature eighteen month-old if we don't intervene the outcome for the younger male will likely be dire.

Now we have some decisions to make since Nikko has shown some aggressive tendencies toward me in the past and I won't go into the pasture with him. After this latest episode we need to discuss our next course of action with the vet and other more experienced alpaca owners. Nikko may need some "alterations" in order for us to be able to keep him. He's a beautiful animal and the source of the largest amount of very fine fleece of any alpaca in our herd. Decision day is on April 27th when we will be shearing the animals. What to do?

Meanwhile, today is "pi" day (3/14). So to celebrate I baked this razzleberry pie from my brother-in-law, Tom's famous recipe given to him by a lovely woman named Marie;-)

Why Didn't I Visit My Sister This Week?

Ok, ok, ok! I know it's mid-February and I know I'm in Ohio. But, come on, 19 degrees, 20 mph winds and snow? Last week it was in the 50's and I know that overall, we have had a very mild winter and I shouldn't be complaining, but...

Even the alpacas whose place of origin is in the high mountains of Peru, are hunkering down inside their cozy barns and bungalows, and are nowhere to be seen.

Last week, during the milder weather the animals, in particular the two little boys, Mocha and Dio, were feeling a touch of spring fever. With the longer daylight hours and the sparse grass exposed in the pastures, the entire herd was spending most of each day outside in the pastures. One afternoon, Rich and I strolled around the end of the barn to find the boys neck wrestling, chest butting and generally frolicking in the barnyard. You can't help but laugh at those two frisky, young alpacas.

Mild mannered Mocha, a year older, outweighs young Dionysus, who is definitely the instigator in most cases. Because of his sweet nature, Mocha, never seems to play too roughly with the little guy. They seem to be good company for each other. It's a good thing that they do because it keeps them from agitating their mother, Mango, who is in the pasture with them. Soon that situation will have to change for two reasons. In another month it will be time to wean Dionysus. At about that same time I expect Mocha to begin showing serious signs of having male hormones. Both of them will have to be separated from Mango for obvious reasons and our only other male is herdsire, Nikko. Now that he has had a chance to "romance" the females, Nikko is under the impression that he is the "king" of the herd. He tends to be a little hostile toward the younger males and so they can't be put into the pasture with him lest he harm them. Since these two younger guys have been living in the same pasture for some months and are used to each other, we should be able to put them together in their own pasture.

A few weeks ago before my trip to Florida, I had the chance to do a spinning demonstration for a daycare/preschool center in a town where I taught for many years. I always enjoy teaching the little ones about alpacas and the uses for their fleece. I have samples of cleaned and carded, un-spun fleece, otherwise known as roving, for them to touch and play with and several knitted scarves and shawls for them to hold. I show them pictures of our alpacas and tell them a bit about the size and nature of the animals. Far and away the most fascinating part of the short demonstration for the kids is the spinning wheel and the magic of spinning fleece into yarn.

I always make a point of letting each child come to the wheel and make it go around. They seem to like the feel of pedaling first one foot then the other, much the same as their tricycles, and watching the wheel spin faster and faster. I hope it impresses some of them enough to want to give real yarn spinning a try when they are older.

At the end of every presentation I answer questions and then we pose together for pictures that I can post on the blog and they can hang in their classroom.

I want to thank my old friend, Gayle, the director of the daycare, for giving me the opportunity to visit with and talk to the kids.

February 1

This is the kind of day when you can sit inside looking out at the sunny sky and almost imagine that spring is near. Even the daylight hours are getting longer causing the birds to sing in the mornings. But the fact remains that this is Ohio and it's still winter for a couple of more months. The weather report for tomorrow is calling for a high of 51 degrees F and 60 to 100 percent chance of rain in our area and a whopper of a snow storm in states west of us. I doubt that the proverbial ground hog will see a shadow tomorrow. Yep! It's still winter in Ohio.

I really don't have reason to complain since I just got back from a week in Florida visiting my sister. In late December, noticing that I was a little down after the holiday, Rich made the off hand suggestion that I might go visit my sister. He didn't have to say it twice. I found cheap tickets the next day and made the reservation!

I flew into Punta Gorda where my sister, Laurie,  picked me up and we drove north to visit my niece, Anne, in St. Petersburg for a couple of days. Anne and her husband, Drew, were the perfect hosts, allowing us to stay with them in their renovated bungalow. They have done the work themselves and their home is charming. I got to check off one of my bucket list items when we all piled into the car and spent a day in Tarpon Springs. That's the gulf side village where Greek sponge fishermen settled during the 1890s and today it has the largest concentration of people of Greek background of any US city. It was like stepping into a tourist town in Greece where all of the natives were speaking Greek to each other. We met a lovely woman in the Greek import shop who gave me some advice and information to look for when researching my grandfather's background. Of course, we dined on a delicious Greek meal in one of the many Greek restaurants.

Back in Ft. Myers Laurie's friends were all so welcoming and gracious. I was entertained at a community lasagna dinner by the lake in her condo complex and later a tapas party with a small gathering of neighbors. Laurie and I did lunch one afternoon with her friend, Gloria, a lovely woman. The afternoon before I came home we went to a charity fashion show/luncheon with 11 of her friends at a country club nearby. Even with all of the social engagements I still had time for yoga on Laurie's upper deck, a few morning strolls about the neighborhood, reading on the lanai and enough shopping to last me until spring arrives in Ohio.

The weekend before I left for Florida, Rich and I celebrated our 15th anniversary by spending a night in one of our favorite hotels, The Dearborn Inn, and going to the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Michigan. Like I said before, I really have no reason to complain about the winter. It has been very mild this year compared to the past two years and I have had plenty of distractions.



We have been to the Henry Ford several times and still I learn something new each time we go. There is just so much to see. Rich and I were clowning around in one of the children's exhibits and I got him to pose in the giant hot dog bun beside the Oscar Meyer Weiner-mobile. That's one big hot dog!

We have noticed that with the longer hours of daylight and the milder temperatures, our two little boys, Mocha and Dionysus, have been feeling frisky. Both of them are kicking up their heels and chasing each other about the pasture. Little Dio has hit that stage in his development where he behaves like a toddler and is unable to walk anywhere. He will suddenly jump and twist in the air and take off running for no apparent reason. Just because he can. They are so cute at this stage and always make me laugh at their antics.

Mango and her boys

Aaaaah!

I can breathe a sigh of relief now. I have all gifts purchased, wrapped and sent. We have one Christmas celebration under our belts already. On Sunday we celebrated with our daughter, Amy, son-in-law, Steve and Olivia and Max, the grand kids. For some strange reason there were no pictures taken except the one above that Olivia snapped with her phone. It says a lot that we were so absorbed with each other that we just forgot the pictures.  I realize that our time with Olivia, a senior in high school, and Max, a freshman is dwindling and therefore, precious. She will be off to college next year and Max is very involved in cross country and track. Isn't it ironic that when the kids finally grow into the independent people that you want them to be and that you enjoy being around you see less of them? They are off to Colorado today to spend Christmas with their other grandparents. I wish them a safe journey.

We have a house guest this week so things will still be lively around here. The kids left their dog Calypso to stay with us while they went west. Our Calliope (Callie) is a happy dog whenever her sister, Clyppie, comes to visit. The two of them always enjoy having each other to romp with and they are finally at an age where they keep the craziness to the outside. The two black labs dash and dart across the lawn chasing the toys that we toss for them. They often go after the same large rubber ball and end up in a tug of war.

Callie and Clyppie last July 

They two girls look so much alike that I often find myself commanding, "Callie, sit!" while Calypso stands in front of me in a puzzlement and Callie is actually in the background, already sitting. So this time I tied a small red ribbon to Callie's collar and a green one to Clyppie. This visit, at least, I know which dog I'm yelling at! They play so hard and non-stop when we go outside that when they come in they both collapse in exhaustion and immediately drop off into one of their frequent naps. I often find them sprawled in a mirror-like formation on our living room floor.

We have two more Christmas dinners, one at our house with Rich's mom and dad and his brother Dan. The final one will be on Saturday, down the road at one of Rich's other brother's house. I took the easy way out this year and for the kids I had Rich pick up some smoked pork and brisket from City Barbecue and I made the sides. For Christmas day, we got a ham from a great little meat market in the country, Hasselbach's, near Fremont. The party is so much less stressful for me if I buy the main dish and just fix the sides. (Thank you, Ina Garten) This is one of those tricks I learned from watching all those cooking shows that Rich makes fun of. This way I can spend more time with my guests.

I wish you all a very happy holiday season! No matter which one you celebrate I hope that you get to be with the ones you love. If you can't then try to spread some of that love to who ever you encounter on your life journey. I wish you love, joy and peace for the new year.

By the Rich and Linda log house construction team.

What a Strange Winter in Ohio!

Mango and her two "boys," Dionysus, 3 months, and Mocha, 1 year

I'm pretty sure that when I look at this post at some time in the future I'll ask myself why I put up a picture of the animals in springtime. Actually, this photo was taken just a few days ago when the temperature went up to almost 70 degrees F. This December hasn't felt like winter or Christmas time at all; nor does it look that way. We are very festive on the inside since Rich and I put up the store decorations on the week before Thanksgiving and the house decorations on the following weekend.

Altogether, we have seven Christmas trees, three in the store and four in the house. There are also many more small wooden tree decorations in the store for sale, including the ever popular (with the little kids) lollipop tree. Our farm store is the place to come for those last minute gift items. Mention this blog and I'll take off 10%.

We have some newly created gift items in the store, too. Rich made some new multi-wood cutting boards, including one in the shape of our state that is selling like the proverbial hot cakes. These cutting boards are made from an assortment of solid hardwoods that were milled right here on our property from trees culled in our woods. There is maple, cherry and walnut in various combinations. My favorite is the "slice of swiss" cheese board that I use for parties quite often.

I also have two new bulky alpaca yarns thanks to my friend Andrea who supplied me with a couple of bags of alpaca fleece from her animals. I owe her big time for this because these bulky lopi yarns are one of my best sellers. Last year I sold most of my white to two different people on my Etsy store, and all of it sold out within a few months. This year's white is lovely but the black is my favorite. The black has a beautiful shine to it that makes it fairly glow. All of my yarns are available on Buckeye Star Alpacas on Etsy. I'm definitely saving some of the black to make something for myself!

Again, thanks to Andrea, I have some rug yarn to sell and it's just beautiful. It is 100% alpaca, with an alpaca core which is how my new mill makes it. Carrie and Rob at America's Natural Fiber Works in Somerville, Ohio produce lovely yarns from our fleece. I can hardly wait until shearing time in late April when I can get a wider variety of yarn weights made. This year I think I would like to have some fingering and DK weights made and, of course, more rug yarn. I'll be making some rugs for sale in the store and at the Farmer's Market next summer.

This year I began shopping in October and finished up recently. I have everything wrapped and hidden away until the Big Day. I even finished knitting all of my gift projects and won't be frantically knitting the week before Christmas like last year. I have two pair of socks knitted, one for each of our daughters. It's OK to talk about gifts in this forum because my own family generally doesn't read it! I am just finishing a bonus gift, a soft white alpaca ski cap for my granddaughter, Olivia. Since I was done with everything else and always have to have something to busy my hands with I decided to throw this in at the last minute.

We will be celebrating Christmas three times this year; the first this Sunday with the kids who will be celebrating the actual day with the other grandparents. The second will be on Christmas day with Rich's parents and one of his brothers, Dan. Then the day after will be the big family celebration with the rest of Rich's relations. After that I should be tired enough to just sit back and relax in January when, who knows, we may finally get a snowy winter.

Here's wishing you all a Happy Hanukkah, Merry Christmas, Happy Kwanzaa and just a generally wonderful holiday season from Rich and I and all the critters out here at Buckeye Star Alpacas!