Roads and Trials!
This past weekend I was attempting a trip down to Durango, Colorado, a 15 hour drive over 3 mountain passes. We didn’t make it very far. Just south of Denver, as my son and I paused to decide which way we were supposed to turn at Fairfield and Bowles (apparently we were lost again!!) we paused in the intersection. As we were debating about the map a very nice truck pulled up and rolled down his window to tell us our trailer tire was bouncing down the road behind us…. So we checked. Yup, one complete tire plus bearing and break drum were missing! So we pulled over to the grass on the side of the road and hiked back to get our tire.
As you can imagine, at this point many hours of trying to find help on Saturday morning in the south Denver area ensued. IF you are ever in this situation, I suggest you call A Convenient Change L.L.C. at (303)904-3889. Ask for either Kenny! =) They are wonderful, knowledgeable, mobile mechanics in the area from Denver to Colorado Springs.
At this point my trailer will be fixed, thanks to many helpful people for having the knowledge and space to store it for me. We will attempt the run again in October sometime. Hopefully it isn’t too late to get the animals picked up before their home sells!
So you ask, “What is the point of getting all these unwanted camelids in one place?” Well my answer is that the connection between Pachamama’s Way and SageRidge Mill is symbiotic. The camelids in the sanctuary provide beautiful fiber for processing into roving and yarn that is sold by SageRidge. In return SageRidge Mill provides grass and shelter to the camelids. Symbiotic!
The money generated from the sale of sanctuary animal fiber is put back into the animals themselves, in this way they are self-supporting. We also offer these animals for “sale” for a mere donation of $200.00 each. They all need good homes and so many are wonderful animals for 4-H projects or for that handspinner who wants a special fleece to work with each year!
If you are interested in helping to support the camelids of Pachamama’s Way, please go to www.sageridge.net go to the Ranch Shopping link and look at the list of item types we have for sale. These animals are producing roving and yarn, plus dog beds and saddle pads. We also have hats and scarves and some sock styles for sale.
So, this Christmas, make your shopping symbiotic. Get a gift that will keep your loved ones snuggly and warm and also help out an alpaca in need!
Thanks,
Linda Atkinson
Moving..... Moving up... Moving around... Moving o
Thank You!
Fall Again!
Hello All, It's September again. Hard to believe that the summer went so fast. I don't know about where you live but we had a wonderful cool wet summer her in NE Wyoming! We had green grass everywhere and not nearly as many grasshoppers as last year (except for in my flowerbed where they at my chives and other herbs to the GROUND!).We've had an exciting summer. We had twins born to us, please see our web page called Tia's Story to fully read all about her twins girls, Lia & Mia, who were born in June this summer. It was an amazing experience and we have had great pleasure watching their progress as they grow!
I also finally got my page up about little Theo.... who was so sick and is now successfully moved over with the big boys this summer! He is a miracle walking around every day.
We did not make it to the State fair this year, mainly because we took time for a trip back to Michigan to visit family. It was a wonderful time.
The biggest news is that processing in the mill is picking up. We have been blessed with several new customers who have come out for workshops and instruction in the art of felting and the business of making yarn!
Thank you to:
Karen
Gail
Bonnie
Lacey
Terry
Rebecca
Tamara
&
Chris
It has been a pleasure meeting and doing business with you. Your fibers are beautiful!
The end of Summer =(
It's here. We have made it past Halloween and into the dreaded days of snow and cold..... Everyone keeps complaining... well everyone except the crew in my barnyard.. they are THRILLED to have all that hay stacked up so nice and neat for them to just sit there and munch on!I got my hay around the middle of September and even though the grass was green and plentiful, where do you think my entire herd was parked?? YUP... right there at the hay stack!
I took some really cute picture of my group of "piggies" but I am still trying to figure out how to get them to load on this blog site... so maybe I will try again tomorrow??
Needless to say, we have had snow here on and off since the beginning of October, which caused a lot of damage to the trees in town because the leaves were still on. Mother nature has a fine plan for the trees loosing their leaves BEFORE it snows so that branches and entire trees don't fall over from the weight of the snow that the leaves will hold! This year, Father Winter fouled that entire plan I guess..... ha ha... leave it to a man =)
So while I am counting bales of hay to make sure we can get though to the beginning of May and everyone has enough to eat, my crew is actively shaving the bales off on the sides or as far into the fence as they can get to the hay! I wish they could count and I wish they just understood that they are gonna be wanting that hay in February!! Ah.....
I am however, looking forward to riding more. It is always nicer in the winter with the muffled hoof noises on the snow and the calm, chilly days for wandering here and there. Sledding is another favorite pastime here which is entertaining with a group of alpacas standing at either the top of the hill watching you go down or worse.... at the bottom of the hill trying to get out of the way of the sled!!
Hot chocolate (or coffee for mom =) and cookies as it won't be too hot in the house to do baking like it is in the summer! A good book to read in the evenings... and of course, turning the heater up!!
So, I hope you enjoy your winter and probably while you may enjoy these things too.... we will all be looking forward to next summer together!
Re: Tears
Linda: So Sorry to hear that you had to put down the new cria, All to often in life doing the right thing is not the easy thing to do.
As your mom would say in time this to will pass, Hope the next born cria is healthy. Your Cuz: Patrick
Tears
Today was not a funny day, today was a teary day.Yesterday we had a beautiful snow white cria born. She was struggling to get up as I pulled into the driveway from my errands in town. She caught my attention right away and at first glance I had a bad feeling about her. She didn't look right. So I put the car in park and walk over..... she is on her back feet and her front knees. Her front legs are bent at a 90 degree angle and I can't get them to stretch out straight!
So, I get in the car and pull up to the house and head in to do a little research.... I read about tendons, my first thought, but that should be able to be splinted. So I decide to get a bottle, because obviously she is going to need a little bit to get her moving and trying to straighten those legs out, and head out to move her and mom to the barn so I can look at the situation better. She loves the bottle!! She was hungry. She has beautiful white curly curly fleece and pink nose and ears and big dark blue eyes....
I get her and mom and sister settled with hay and water and grain. I only get nipped once and spit on once by mom for daring to touch her cria. I head back into the house to call the vet and assess the options. My vet, bless her heart, manages to get to the phone and chat with me, she tells me about splinting and I say no way is that gonna work with this, so even though she has a horrendiously busy day for the next day she says that in the afternoon when she gets done preg testing out past our place, she will swing in. Remember we don't actually live Near Anything... so "swinging in" is actually going out of your way to get here..... Thank you.
So today I fed the cria, and she looked to me when I came out for food. She would chug it and try to get up on those horrible front legs and humm humm to her mom who was humming right back. The whole day I almost feel guilty for helping her because I just know it isn't going to end well.
The vet arrives in the late afternoon, and takes one look, she checked down with the big camelid department at CSU and he said that if you couldn't stretch it a bit at least with some pressure then it was probably a defective knee in some manner and could not be fixed except with costly surgery and then it probably wouldn't take very well.
The choices are simple, put her down or watch her get massive sores on her knees and try to keep up with everyone (which there is NO way she can do this) and be, well useless and behind and struggling and failing her whole short life until some dog or coyote get her this winter.
So we put her down. My sons are upset with me, but it was the right choice. I held her while we did it, she was looking to me for a bottle.... very hard. It is done, mom is still out there protecting her little form for the night, not understanding that I took her cria away from her. My son says he will bury her in the morning, we will see, the ground is so hard I just don't know if we can.
Today was not a funny day, it was a hard one, but they happen I guess and we will continue to move on with time.
Grasshoppers
Ah yes.... Grasshoppers! Gotta love 'em. They are so disgusting! and everywhere this summer, at least in our area of the country!
They have eaten my flowerbeds and my pasture (except of course, for the pigweed!!) down to nothing. Even the chives are gone!!
My garden, however has been blessed. Our chickens run free range in it, and many people ask how I can stand having to share my zucchini and tomatoes with the chickens, well I don't mind a few pecks here and there because they are also eating tons of bugs in my garden and it shows. My trees and weeds and yes, even the few actual vegetable plants I got in this year, are growing well in my garden because the grasshopper population is almost zero in that small area of Sheridan County, Wyoming!
So, thank goodness for my chickens. We have lots of chickens. Last winter, the local fox was kept fat picking off the chickens who refused to live in the chicken coop at night and preferred the hatstack. Almost every morning there was feathers here and there and one less chicken in the bunch! So this summer Joe decided that we needed to hatch a whole bunch of chicks to replace them (gotta keep the fox fat in the winter ;-)
So we have lots of chicks in all ages running around the place with their hens.... LOTS of chicks... Have you ever seen chicks following their mother? They don't pay attention and she strolls off, suddenly the chicks notice she is gone, look around, and ZOOM off they go over to catch up with her, legs flying, frantic because she has moved away. Then they get busy with whatever has caught their attention and mom strolls off again and ZOOM they have to catch up with her. It is funny in itself to watch them.
BUT the other morning I was drinking my coffee and watching out the window at the hen in the pigweed. She was acting kinda crazy. There were those beloved grasshoppers everywhere and I think they were slower that morning because it was cooler out than it had been for the last couple of weeks. So here was mother hen, with about a half dozen or so chicks following her around, out there chasing grasshoppers in the pigweed.
Off she would go to the right, running fast and after the grasshopper...Wow, mom's gone, ZOOM go the chicks after her. At that point mother hen has decided to chase a grasshopper that is way to the left of the group, so as the chicks are running right to catch up with mom, the hen is running left after the grasshopper and she tramples over the chicks in the crazyness of the chase!
Okay, now I am chucking into my coffee thinking chickens are truly crazy!
Got that grasshopper, good chicken.... oooh there is one to the right.... trample chicks and then here they come, go left, trample chicks, and here they come again, go right, trample chicks, back to the left, trample chicks..... You are getting the picture. There were little chicks running everywhere through the pigweed trying to both catch up to mom and stay out of her way!
I was laughing hysterically now, coffee practically forgotten, wishing I had a video camera because it was just a laugh till you cry moment.
Good morning ;-)
Fairs
County Fairs, State Fairs... it is that time of year again. Normally I really enjoy fair time. The kids and I go out and spend a day or two at the fair visiting my crazy friends whose kids have 30+ projects going on at the same time and they are frazzled and sunburnt and exhausted. This year I have officially joined their ranks of craziness!
We had a booth over at the Campbell County Fair. While getting to go look at the exhibits and animals and mini "shows" that were going on was fun, sitting at our booth for 4 full days was, well lets be honest here, rather boring. Yes, there were moments that make it worth it, but man the hours in between can just drag by and if there isn't decent coffee available... You get the picture ;-)
Honestly, trying to sell alpaca products; hats, scarves, socks, etc; during July is crazy! There are some crazy people out there who can certainly make me chuckle when they are trying on hats and scarves while wearing shorts and tank tops!! But bless them, they are already shopping for Christmas.
So I guess, bottom line is, they are worth getting off the ranch and getting to socialize with others who love fiber and all things that can be made with fiber.... so I will be at the Wyoming State Fair next week and if you get a chance hunt my booth down and stop for a while to visit... if you want to bring coffee along, well then I will be spoiled ;-)
me
hey mom, this is kinda weird you know since we live in the same house and all lol :)
buuuut here i am blogging you, yes its cuz i dont want to go out and do chores ;)
Have a nice day
Ok, I am blogging you. Now I know the best way to get ahold of you lol. Have a really nice day.
Shelly
ETSY
Another new learning experience today! Everyone knows about e-bay where you can sell about anything, but today I learned about Etsy where you can sell anything handmade!! How perfect is that for me and my business?!?!
Okay, so I have these felted stoles I have made that I am just enthralled with and can't stop touching and trying them on... they make you feel Beautiful ;-)..... so my friend, Amy, is kind enough to come over and take a few pictures for me... which of course, I can't get to load today.... so I will work on that further tonight for you all......
If you want to see them, they are at www.WyomingAlpacas.etsy.com Go check not only my stoles out, but also the hundreds of cool handmade things from around the world!!
Later,
Linda
New Things
Well, this year has been full of changes, and today is no exception. I am trying to find out how to blog today.... never done it, but my friend tells me that it would be a great addition to my website which hosts my personal business and also my life's passion (besides my children!!).
So today is a new thing called blogging. Supposedly, the stories of crazy things that go on daily on a ranch are funny to people not involved in the incident at the moment... so I will try to add some of those if I can. It is always harder to express craziness in written form, but I will give it my best shot in the near future.
So, right now, I am going to "post" this and then go see if and how it all turns up on my webpage!
Later,
Linda
