Introducing: Alpacamundo's Silas

It finally happened.

Apple had her cria.

He's a handsome Bay Black boy we're calling Silas.

Silas likes to eat, so he's off to a good start.

All of the dogs have met him, including Mr. Gunnison at 5 months old.

Alpacamundo's Silas is the son of Alpacamundo's Apple, the first cria born under our watch at our own farm and Enchanted Sky's Charlie Brown, our very first alpaca ever.

I was Incorrect

As of this moment Apple is still pregnant.  Today is her due date. So I was incorrect, she will not deliver early.

These maidens are hard to judge.  This is her first time down the pregnancy road and it was clear she wasn't comfortable with what was going on.  I thought she was going to deliver about 2 weeks ago...  I was never in the, "It's going to be today" mode but I was certainly in the "we're within two or three days of this happening" mode.

Then about 10 days ago, I noticed her momma hanging out with her more.  This seems to have relaxed her.  She's spending a lot of time in the shade and joins the others when I bring the water hose out and of course joins every one at feeding time.

She's progressing and I'm back in the "this could happen in the next few days" mode.

Cria Watch 2013

We've been closely watching Apple for the last few weeks.  She is our only pregnant alpaca this year and she is a first time momma.

Apple at the end of May, looking pregnant

She is due in about three weeks and is definitely uncomfortable.  I have some ideas about when she will deliver, but I've been wrong before so I am keeping that to myself.  ;-)

Slow Living: October 2012

We've had several freezes and some snow this month but there have been many days where a long-sleeve shirt or jacket is too much.  I do love the fall in Colorado.  It's a busy and beautiful time of year, but then I think it's always is.  ;-)

Here's my October's installment for the Slow Living Project.

NOURISH: Make and bake as much as possible from scratch. Ditch overpackaged, over-processed convenience foods and opt for 'real' food instead. Share favourite links/recipes/tips from the month here.

We had our last Farmer's Market.  I'm always sad for the season to end.  There is a smaller, less-frequent, indoor, winter market that I am looking forward to, but the dogs are not invited.  :-(

We've eaten many beets and potatoes from the Farmer's Market and are making a dent in what's left of our garden onions as well as the first butternut squash of the season.  Nothing says fall quite like a butternut squash. yumm.

PREPARE: Stockpile and preserve. Freeze extra meals or excess garden/market produce. Bottle/can, dehydrate or pickle foods to enjoy when they are not in season. Aim to reduce dependency on store bought items especially those known to contain BPA and other suspect additives. Stocking up on dry goods when prices are low counts too.

Canning season ended abruptly early this month with a hard freeze, a condensed alpaca birthing season, a new puppy and a few other things that needed to be accomplished.  But I did pick all of my winter squash right before the hard freeze.

I read that it's no longer recommended to water-bath can pumpkin butter, puree or otherwise.  Apparently pumpkin is too dense and therefore the center can not reliably reach the appropriate temperature for safe canning.  I was kind of bummed, but since pumpkins can be stored whole, I wasn't bummed for too long.  ;-)

I cleaned up the first garden and put everything away for Winter.

Miss A and I have also been preparing for our first-ever alpaca show over most of the summer.  We had our last practice day last weekend and both Miss A and Clementine are doing very well... even with the distractions of The Alpaca Dog.

Lastly, we built our new veggie garden.  :-)

I have some fencing and raised beds to build, but this second garden is about twice the size of our first garden.  I am looking forward to planting it in the spring.

REDUCE/Reuse/Re-purpose/Repair: Cut down on household waste by re-using, re-purposing and repairing. A ladder into a strawberry planter? A sheet into a dress? Share ideas and project links here, allowing others to be inspired.

I have been doing some "Spring" Cleaning. While it's not technically Spring, I have been cleaning, organizing, re-purposing, setting aside for donation and basically doing a deep clean in preparation for the winter heating season.

GREEN: up our lives. Start (or continue!) using homemade cleaners, body products and basic herbal remedies. The options are endless, the savings huge and the health benefits enormous.

I don't think we accomplished anything in this category again this month. :-/

GROW: plant/harvest. What's growing this month? What's being eaten from the garden? Herbs in a pot, sprouts on a windowsill or and entire fruit/vegetable garden -opt for what fits space and time constraints. Don't have a backyard? Ask a friendly neighbour or relative for a small patch of theirs in return for some home grown produce, they may surprise you!

Our garden finished up early this month, so I had a good final harvest of the winter squash, a few watermelons and a few other things..

Willow, the last of our expected cria, was born on Monday October 1st.  The three girls have been growing quite well and are the best of friends.  Of course I am only able to capture photos of two of them at a time... with continued distractions from The Alpaca Dog and under the supervision of Noodle (LGD#2).

We also had out vet out for Pregnancy Ultrasounds so we know for sure that we are expecting only one cria in June 2013.

CREATE: to fill a need or feed the soul. Create for ourselves or for others. Create something as simple as a handmade gift tag or something as extravagant as a fine knit shawl. Share project details and any new skills learnt here.

Only a little bit of knitting with wool and alpaca.

DISCOVER: Feed the mind by reading texts relevant to current interests. Trawl libraries, second hand shops or local book shops to find titles that fill the need. Share titles/authors of what is being read this month.

I discovered an Owl's Cough Pellet while doing my farm chores this month.  I had to pull out a reference book to learn what it was.  I realize now that I've seen a few of these this year in various states on the property.  It's a great discovery since it means the owls are back.  Hopefully this will translate into a decline in the mouse and rabbit population.... especially since we're entering fall without a cat this year.

We've also been studying election materials.  We want to make sure we're clear on what we're voting for and why... Election Day is just a few days away.  :-)

ENHANCE: community: Possibilities include supporting local growers and producers, help out at a local school/kindergarten, barter or foodswap, joining a playgroup or forming a walking or craft group. Car pooling where possible and biking/walking instead of driving. Even start up a blog if you haven't already - online communities count too! Or maybe just help out someone trying to cross the street! The rewards for your time are often returned tenfold.

Hubba volunteered with the Obama Campaign and I looked in on a friend's cat while she was away.

ENJOY: Life! Embrace moments with friends and family. Marking the seasons, celebrations and new arrivals are all cause for enjoyment. Share a moment to be remembered from the month here.

We have been enjoying our new cria and puppy quite a lot and I have been reflective on the last four years.

Hubba has been in Japan for the Oita International Wheelchair Marathon.  My understanding is that this is the largest all-wheelchair race in the world.  It's a fantastic event in a beautiful city.  Truly a tremendous International experience since racers come from all corners of the world.  I went with him four years ago and would love to go back.... perhaps next year. :-)

Time for a Baby Update

Wasabi is fitting in nicely.

She and the other dogs all get along very well.  She has learned very quickly that cria are not for chasing and is following the lead of the other girls for what's worth barking at.  She is a collector of things... big sticks, little sticks, half-eaten apples the squirrels have left behind.  It seems there isn't much she doesn't want to carry around.

I spied Willow snoozing on Sunday...

She sat like that for quite a long time.  I'm not sure if she looks comfortable, but she was certainly content.

Pearl was snoozing too, but Holly was watching my every move...

The little girls are gaining weight and chase each other around the corral most of the time.

The other day a coworker asked me what I do with the cria and I had to tell her that I just sit, watch them and giggle.

They're so funny, have very different personalities and are clearly very good friends.

Fiber Arts Friday: A Growing Herd

I had hopes of sharing some fiber-y goodness with you today, but we kept having babies...

Friday morning we were blessed with Holly.  Saturday afternoon we were surprised by Pearl.  Then Monday we were prepared for Willow to make her debut.

L-R: Holly, Pearl, Willow

It would appear that my plan to have all of our cria born around the same time has worked much better than expected.  Three healthy girls in four days.  :-D

On Wednesday, Daisy was confirmed not-pregnant (again) by ultrasound but Apple is definitely pregnant.  So we will be expecting one cria in June and then breeding everyone again next summer.

L-R: Daisy, Willow, Clementine, Apple, Keyla

In the meantime, I will be talking with some friends about setting Daisy up with their very handsome, more assertive, more experienced and hopefully not related herdsire.

Then later on Wednesday, Wasabi joined the family.  As we know, Tibetan Mastiffs grow a nice fur that makes a very squooshy yarn and they can produce quite a lot of it.  ;-)

A rare clear photo of 4 dogs.
L-R: Wasabi, Noodle, Wonton  with The Alpaca Dog in front.

The dogs are doing very well with each other and the new cria.

I hope you're having a beautiful Fiber Arts Friday.  Be certain to visit everyone linked in over at Wisdom Begins in Wonder.  :-)

Introducing: Alpacamundo's Willow

Well, after the excitement over the last few days, we were ready for Willow to join us.

We thought there was a possibility for a delivery yesterday, but a quick exam showed Keyla was progressing, but not imminent.

She was definitely in labor while I was doing chores this morning.  Keyla has been around this block several times.  So I decided to sit back and watch her after I was finished cleaning and feeding.

A few minutes later, I knew it was happening.  I walked over to the corral and instantly the head and front legs were out... Superman Style... exactly as it should be.

Alpacas are very social and curious, especially when a baby is coming.

10 minutes later we had a girl on the ground and Keyla was up tending to her.

Willow was on her sternum in about 10 minutes and standing at nearly 45 minutes old.

She was ready to suckle from the very beginning, but Keyla was not interested.  She kept walking away, but was otherwise very attentive.

If you zoom in, you can see Willow's hot-pink tongue poking out ;-)

After about 3 hours, I called our vet who made plans to stop by on his way home.  But then 30 minutes later, I spied them nursing.  whew.

Alpacamundo's Willow is the daughter of Enchanted Sky's Charlie Brown and Qaint Keyla.

And with that, our Cria Watch is over.  :-)

We feel very blessed to have three healthy girls.

Introducing: Alpacamundo's Pearl

Today was a much warmer day, with a less dramatic story.

Hubba was working with the dogs and Holly this morning while I did the regular chores.

I saw that Kocoa was feeling uncomfortable and was cushed off to the side, away from the commotion of puppies and cria.  I didn't think too much of it since I was not expecting her to deliver for at least 3 more weeks.  She's the reason that I'm not joining Hubba on his trip to Japan at the end of next month.

I did give Keyla an exam this morning to confirm she was not likely to deliver today.

Hubba and I then went to the Farmer's Market, came home and checked that everyone was still ok.  I layed down to take a nap since the dogs had kept us up most of the night and then Hubba tells me "there's another one."

In my half-asleep stupor, "Another one what?"

He said "A white one!  There's a white alpaca running around the corral!"

Queue Cartoon Head Shake

I jumped up and ran outside.  He was already to the corral.  I yelled "Whose is it?"

He said, "I think, Kocoa's, but I"m not sure yet."

Sure-enough, Keyla is still very pregnant and Kocoa has a beautiful little white girl.  :-)

As I mentioned, she was already up and running around when we found her.  She is warm, dry and has been nursing.  This is a much more typical birthing experience... at least from the human side.  ;-)

We're feeling very blessed.  Two healthy girls in two days.  :-)

Pearl is very likely out of our grey, Smokey's Bandit at Pastoral Profits, but may also be out of our light fawn, Blue Mesa Yoda.  Enchanted Sky's Kocoa Moon is her momma.  Pearl is Kocoa's fourth cria.

Happy Birthday Alpacamundo's Pearl.  Welcome to the world.  :-)

Introducing: Alpacamundo's Holly

It was chilly, damp and overcast this morning.  So much fog that we could only see a few hundred feet.  I did as I normally do... answered a few emails, made sure my software tools were working properly and that there were no big issues going on.  I did a few other day job related things, then went out to complete my farm chores.

Frieda has been uncomfortable for the last several weeks.  I gave her an exam last Sunday which confirmed she was still at least several days from delivering.  But this morning, she was especially uncomfortable and all of the right things were swollen and elongated in all of the right places.

I sent a text to Hubba telling him that I thought Frieda would deliver either today or tomorrow.  He texted me back asking if I ever heard of the little girl who cried "wolf!"?  But then cut his errand-running short and came home.

He agreed that she was in labor and a few minutes later we saw the nose and toes starting to poke out.

He collected the dogs while I watched Frieda to make sure everything was progressing and finish cleaning up the corral.

Things were going along just fine, then I saw that the left leg was not fully presented.  The cria was stuck!

I made Hubba hold Frieda while I pushed the cria back and got both legs loose.  (Yes, my hand was up in there.)  We let her continue but then the cria was gasping for air and Frieda was no longer pushing.  I intervened again, was able to rotate the cria enough to pull her out.

Frieda was pretty exhausted and not very interested in the cria at first.

As I said, it was a chilly morning and the cria was shivering.  So I got a few towels and eventually a hair dryer to dry the little one off and warm her up.  It was only when I started the hair dryer that Frieda was concerned about what I was doing and that perhaps that I was doing her job.

So I backed off and let Frieda tend to her new little one.

By this time the sun had burned off the fog and everything was just a little warmer.

The cria is a fighter and got up to her feet rather quickly.  It took her a little time to figure out which alpaca was momma and Frieda was not too excited about the whole nursing thing.  So again, I got Hubba to hold her, guided the cria to the milk bar and held Frieda's back-end so the cria could drink.

It took a little more time, but the two of them have figured it out now.

Intervention during an alpaca birth is rarely necessary.  This was my first time.  I am grateful to have been there at the exact right time and grateful to have had Neo-Natal training.  It all came back very clearly and I was able to calmly do what I needed to do.

The two of them are doing well now.

All of the dogs have met her, but it will be another day or two until we leave them all together, unsupervised.  This is only Wonton and Noodle's second experience with cria and the two of them, especially Noodle, are still a bit rambunctious for me to feel comfortable.

She is out of our grey, Smokey's Bandit at Pastoral Profits, and Alpacamundo's Frieda.  She is Frieda's first cria.

We have decided to call her Holly... Alpacamundo's Holly.  :-)

Cria Watch - 2012

Several weeks ago we noticed that our near-term Dams are starting to look pregnant... just a bit more triangular, a little hollow near their hip bones and a lower belly.

Alpacas are silent about how they're feeling, so watching for the little differences is very important.  Of course I have fallen into the trap of seeing things that aren't there before, but this time we know for sure that we are expecting 3 cria in October.

We now are on Official Cria Watch, although we have been watching our Dams for the last couple of weeks, especially Frieda.  This is her first time being pregnant and she seems quite uncomfortable with what's going on.

Apple (newly pregnant, fingers crossed), Frieda (due in October)
and Keyla (due in October) in the background

The good news is that Keyla is due on the same day as Frieda and has been around this block more than a few times.

Today

The first two of our expected cria are due on October 2nd.  Which had me realize today that we will officially be on cria watch in a month.

It also means that we're about two months away from the first snow and the end of our growing season.

Which means we're about two months away from learning if my bet on the hay prices was good or bad.

I'm feeling optimistic about this coming winter.  Much like I always feel about the first signs of spring.  But this winter I am looking forward to lots of snow and fully-frozen lakes and the end of a terrible fire season.

The Cria are Coming!

Yep!  We had our vet out today along with a 3rd year veterinary student.  :-)

We gave everyone their annual CDT vaccination and did a few other things.  Then we ultrasounded (that's not a verb, but you know what I mean) our "pregnant" girls.

All of our lady alpacas and a little bit of Wonton's head

They confirmed that three girls are pregnant and the-one-we-thought-probably-wasn't, isn't.

Since I'm not well trained on alpaca anatomy or how to read an ultrasound, I pretty much only saw a bunch of dark and light areas on a screen.  But I did see the heart beat for one of the cria and the complete head of another, which was pretty cool.

Clementine and Kocoa

Confirmed Pregnant:

• Enchanted Sky's Kocoa Moon and Blue Mesa Yoda (Yoda's first)
• Qaint Keyla and Enchanted Sky's Charlie Brown (Charlie's first)
• Alpacamundo's Frieda and Smokey's Bandit at Pastoral Profits (Frieda's first)

Frieda is the first of our farm's offspring to be confirmed pregnant... so will that make me something of an Alpaca Grandmother?  ;-)

Keyla, Apple, Frieda, Daisy

The three cria are due in early October.  Yay!

Just for Fun

A friend in Minnesota wanted to see how Clementine is growing up, so I took my camera out to see what I could capture...

I captured the "puppies" showing off.

Wonton beating up Noodle

 These girls love, and I mean LOVE, to wrestle.

Can you see the smile on Wonton's face?

Posing for pictures

The Alpaca Dog likes to get in the middle of it too.

He's the small dog now, but he's still the top dog.  Wonton still has a smile on her face. :-)

And of course I got a few shots of Clementine and her friends.  :-)

Clementine with her momma, Kocoa and Daisy

All of our girls having breakfast together

Apple wants to make sure we don't forget that she is cute too

Clementine be four months old next week.

We'll be asking the vet to come out in the coming weeks to make sure all of our "pregnant" dams are in fact pregnant and to give everyone their annual vaccinations.

We are also starting to make plans for breeding Noodle next year.  We will have her hips and elbows certified.  Then, assuming all is well, we plan to breed her in November-ish.

Cria Face

I caught Clementine hanging out with her brother, Big Thompson, the other day.  Is it just me, or are cria faces the cutest thing on earth??

Side Note: Her fiber is no where near as crimpy as her brother's... what a difference the sire can make!

Introducing: Alpacamundo's Clementine

So, our final official cria watch for 2011 lasted all of half a day.

I had just finished unloading the car after running errands most of the morning.  I headed out to the alpaca corral to say hello to the dogs before I went inside for lunch.

Kocoa was acting very uncomfortable and kept looking at her backside like "What the heck is going on back there?"  Though, I don't think she was thinking "heck" if you know what I mean.

I ran inside to let Hubba know I thought she was in labor.

We decided to bring the dogs inside so she could be in labor without puppies bothering her.

As soon as we got the dogs out of the corral I saw a tiny black nose poking out.

So the dogs went straight into the dog run and we sat down to watch.

This was the first time I was there to see the entire birthing process.  Actually it was the first time for both of us.  All of the girls were pretty interested in what was going on too.

I ran inside to grab my phone so I could call a friend to ensure everything was going properly.  The whole process took about 15 minutes.

The cria was up and nursing in just over an hour.

In fact, she was actually nursing before she was walking since she was lucky enough to get upright in the exact right location.

The puppies haven't met Clementine yet, but I thought you all should.  :-)

The puppies will meet her tomorrow after she has some time to get control of those long legs.

So this is Alpacamundo's Clementine.

She is the daughter of Enchanted Sky's Kocoa Moon and either Blue Mesa Yoda or Smokey's Bandit at Pastoral Profits.  We will have a blood test and new cria exam in the next week or so.

Not Pregnant

Our vet came by earlier today.

He did an ultrasound on both Daisy and Frieda.  They are definitely not pregnant.

Due to Hubba's and my travel schedules we did not follow the complete protocol, so chances are, they were never pregnant.

He gave us a slightly different protocol to follow, so hopefully we will be have better luck next time.

The good news: Kocoa is definitely pregnant.  She is due on October 17th.  She has been unpredictable for her first two pregnancies, so we will be on official watch starting October 1st, but I'm expecting the cria will arrive closer to Halloween.

Still No Cria

Our maidens didn't look a whole lot different after my recent trip to my client's office.

The puppies looked different, the cat looked different, but the "pregnant" alpacas did not.  So I made an appointment.

Our Vet is coming out on Friday to see what's going on.

400 days?

I've been reading some forum posts that indicate maidens can have a gestation period of more than 400 days.

Four Hundred Days!

That's more than 13 months.

Frieda and Daisy: Still Pregnant

We are currently at days 370 and 371.  Which is just over 3 weeks past due or 12 months and one week of gestation so far. Ugh.

Daisy has given me false hope several times over the last few weeks but Frieda has been pretty much normal.

They're doing all of the normal late-term things... standing over the poop pile with nothing going on, laying with their legs out to the side, cushing on their haunches, hanging out alone or near the gate.  Their bellies are very firm and quite round.  Today's exam indicates no change.  So I have a call into our vet.  It's time for a professional opinion regarding our status.

This Week

This week has gone by so fast.

Actually most weeks seem to go by fast these days.

It must be a sign of getting older, or at least of doing too much.  But also the days are getting shorter.  It's dark before I'm finished for the day and I'm no longer being woken up by the sun.


The view from our back stoop on a recent morning.


Wonton (aka LGD#1) has been on house arrest for the last several weeks with a broken toe.  She has one more week to go.  So she's been waking me up at the appropriate time, but as soon as she's back to work, I suspect I'll be needing an alarm again.


This dog is not spoiled at all.  Nope, not spoiled.


It's been a tough summer with hail storms, broken toes, surgeries and broken equipment.  So I thought I would share some good news from this week.

Unfortunately it's not cria... yet.  Both maidens are still pregnant.  Daisy seems to be progressing.  I thought for sure she was going to have her baby yesterday, but it seems s/he needs to bake a little longer.

Last evening's exam indicates Daisy is further along than Frieda now, but I know these things can always change.

Same photo as earlier this week, because everyone is still pregnant.


The good news I have to share is that my client has offered another project.  Yes, that makes me very happy.  :-)  Also, my current project is progressing.  Development is nearly complete which means integration testing is starting shortly.

So my current project is going well and my new project starts up next week.  We have babies coming and puppies being puppies.  Canning season is ramping up and work is happening on our basement.  So I will continue to have more than enough to keep me occupied (as if that is ever a problem).

The real good news is that I will continue to have regular income and continue to have interesting work to do.  It also means that I will continue to travel to MSP for at least one more winter.