INVITATION!

I am posting about the farm but have moved it to our new website. Wordpress is a much better program to work with and we have added lots of stuff to the site. You can purchase alpaca products if you would like, but for me, it is about posting info and pics about life at HHF. The website is still under construction and I need to get the comments turned on, but I hope you will hang in there while we work things out. Please visit Hummingbird Hill Alpacas! Cathy

Sunset at HHF. Hoping for some rain and a break in the temps. I hate Summer and the pacas hate it even more!

HHF Updates!

Well, there has been lots going on here at HHF and in my life. The pictures (except the hummers) are of everyone we have lost since the last post. Buck started with seizures again and I decided it was time. He was laid to rest in June of 2012 in the far back field. Skippy, who was almost fifteen, started failing rapidly. She was laid to rest in July 2012 on the hillside with Spot, Shannon and Aran. Casper, we believe was bitten by a copperhead in April 2013 and joined Skippy, Spot, Shannon and Aran. Artemus failed and passed in late April. He had cancer just like his son Jasper back in 2009. Finally, my mother passed in November 2012 after a year long battle with lung cancer. So, needless to say, there has been some sadness here. As Forrest would say "that is all I have to say about that." On the bright side, Kevin retired from the brewery in January 2013 after 32 years. He takes care of lots more things here so that frees me up. He is also able to really get into doing more with the Alpacas. I will update you about what all he is doing in a later post. I have done lots of updating to the house. Stuff I have wanted to do for years. Another post for the future! We took several of our girl pacas to a really nice farm in Charlottesville to be bred to some very nice males, and in the process, have acquired an amazing young male that will upgrade our herd. My daughter is doing great, she is interning in D.C. with the American Red Cross and only has one more semester to go before graduation and she has a wonderful boyfriend that I really like! My stepdaughter is also doing well, she graduated from Randolph-Macon and is currently on her way to Montana to begin her new job there. Yep, I plan to visit! After Buck passed, I had to get my old man Spunky a new friend. What better than a mini donk? Dinky is sooooo cute! Yes, another post. All other critters doing well. That should cover it for now, hope everyone has a great weekend!

Trying to get back into the swing of things

Hoping to be back and posting about the farm and all or our residents. This is a test to see how this works. One of the reasons I stopped posting was because of problems with Blogger. So we will see.

PACA CUTENESS!

Some updated pictures of my girls.

Darby is doing well. We are supplementing her with some extra milk because it doesn't seem that Drizella is producing quite enough. Just a few extra ounces three times a day. She readily drinks it then goes right over to mom and nurses a bit more.

Our next show will be the first weekend of December and we will be taking Shenanigan, Rowena, Fiona, Guiness and either Tipperary or Dakota.

They changed the date from mid October to early December and moved the venue. It will be held at Meadow Event Park just outside of Richmond. This will be SOOOO much better for us, it is a bit less than an hour from us instead of three hours from us.

Meadow Event Park was the horse farm where Secretariat was born and raised. The State bought it and has turned it into a very nice place. This is where the Virginia State Fair is now located.

GOODNIGHT IRENE!!!

We survived Hurricane Irene with minor damage. We are far enough west to have the Tropical Storm force winds and rains instead of the full Cat 1 storm. It was a bumpy ride though. We lost power mid-afternoon on Saturday and are still out. Thank goodness we have a pretty big generator It is out there just humming away!

Had a couple of trees down, some limbs down and lots of debris. The only thing that I would consider to be real damage though is that side of one of the barns got blown off. Of course it was the lady pacas barn. We found them wandering around, happily grazing and flirting with the boys. They were easy to herd back in with breakfast though. No injuries and I think they enjoyed their little jaunt.

I got a couple of pics of the storm, but the worst of it came later and the pics didn't turn out at all, too dark.

My poor little hummers took a beating. They were soaked and would light on that string and shake their feathers out. I was pretty worried about them, but I think most of them weathered the storm just fine. They were back at the feeders early Sunday morning.

UPDATES!!!

WOW, has it been a month since I posted? Big doings at work and at home have kept me very preoccupied.

These are just some updated pics from around the farm.

Garden is mostly doing very well, tomatoes suck but guess who will be inundated with squash and zuccini? The cucs are doing well but the green beans are not. My two favs are not going to pan out, SIGH!

Lots of other plantings doing well.

Threw in some pics of critter visitors we have here.

And, of course, had to throw in pics of a hound and his cat, LOL!

How do you like my new bed? Kevin found it on Craigslist for an extremely reasonable price. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this bed. I have always wanted one just like it!