LOOKING FORWARD TO FALL!!!

It has been awhile since I posted anything.

It has been a miserable summer. Extremely hot weather, meager amounts of rain and really buggy. Needless to say, I have been pretty crabby for several months. I am so looking forward to the Fall which is just around the corner. I know we will still get some hot days for awhile longer, but I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I am just hoping we don't get as much rain as we did last Fall although we really do need a bunch to get back on track. I had hoped that Hurricane Earl would bring some rain our way, and we did get a bit, but it wasn't near enough.

To update everyone, Tip is doing just fine now. We never did figure out what happened. The West Nile Virus titer was negative and nothing unusual showed up in all of his other bloodwork. Oh well, as long as the cute little bugger is strong and healthy, that is what matters.

We will be microchipping the four cria tomorrow or Monday and getting their final papers in order. DNA testing is required by the Alpaca Registry to show parentage and they must be registered in order to show. We will be taking them to Lexington this year in mid-October. We went last year with Portfolio and little Annie, but that was really just to get our feet wet. I am excited to show our cria.

As far as this year's crop, we are thinking we will have four, the first one would be due in early November. I, of course, will be putting up posts about that as time gets closer.

The pictures are just some ones I have taken randomly.

The little frog was in the plant I have on the table out on the back porch. I think he is pretty cute.

The picture outside was of a storm that was approaching a couple of weeks ago. Notice that Colonel Parker was monitoring the situation on the TV.

And a few pics of my hummers. I haven't been able to get a good one of the whole flock, just too dang blurry. Little suckers are very fast!

UPDATE!!!

I want to thank everyone for their well wishes for my boy Tip. As you can see, he is up and walking around as of this morning. Still a bit weak, but damn, sooo much better. We still don't have the results from the West Nile Virus titers, but at this point, who cares.

He and his little bro Killa will stay in the basement for at least several more weeks. I don't want to risk putting him back too early.

This weekend we will set up a small pen outside the basement so they can graze for a bit before it gets too hot each day.


I will say, we are lucky to have a walk out basement with a single car garage door as access. That has allowed us easy access for them and any other critter that might need it.

SICK PACA ALERT!!!!

My boy Tipper is not doing well. He has major muscle weakness and can barely stand let alone walk. His temp is normal, he had good heart and gut sounds, is eating and drinking well and is alert but he just can't stand or walk much. Vet was out this morning, gave him thiamin, banamine and an antibiotic and left me the same for the next few days. Pulled some blood to test for West Nile. We are thinking that it is cummulative effects from this God awful heat.

We moved him on a blanket, travois style into our basement where it is 68-70 degrees to help him. Also brought over his little brother Killa so that he has company.

Good thoughts would be appreciated!

SWEET, SWEET RAIN!!!!!

We have been having a terrible summer, really hot and dry. We went for five or six weeks with no measureable rain and temps in the upper 90's and 100's. I even had to start feeding the horses hay.

Kevin and I decided to go ahead and stock up on hay for the year because it isn't looking good for more cuttings. We now have about 600 bales of good quality orchard grass stored. It is a wonderful thing to have that kind of storage building here.

Anyway, we have had some rain over the past week, thank goodness. Friday we had two separate storms go through that dropped a bit over 1" of rain. Perked all of the flora up quite a bit.

However, temps are going to be holding in the mid to upper 90's all week.

SIGH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


As you can see, the little Hummer was watching the beautiful rain from the rail on our porch. They like to hang out there under the ferns. Sometimes there are three or four of them perched there.

DAMN IT'S HOT!!!

It has been so hot here for several weeks. Our average daytime temps this time of year are about 85, but lately, they have been in the mid-90's and we have even been at 100 and above. It is supposed to cool down later in the week, thank DOG!

These are just a couple of pics of my pacas trying to keep cool. The beach ball has a sprinkler inside, Clare Bear sure enjoyed that. As you can see by the pics, they do love their fans.

Also have a few pics of sunset here at HHF!

GODSPEED MY DARLING DAD!!

My father passed away somewhat unexpectedly on Saturday 5/22/2010. As you can see by the pictures (these have been posted before), he was career Army. He was a proud Alumni of Texas A&M and a Veteran of the Korean and Vietnam Wars.

The pictures of him in uniform were of when we were stationed in Ethiopia in the early 1960's. My dad was in charge of teaching the Ethiopian Army how to operate the tanks that the USA sent over.

He was a Helluva great guy and I will miss his humor and kindness. Our Saturday morning talks and the stories we shared with each other were so very special to me!

His Spirit lives on here at HHF forever!

MY HEART IS HURTING!!!!

On Friday, I read a story about two seventeen year old boys in Ohio who have been arrested in the death of a three month old alpaca cria named Masterpiece. These boys stole this animal, beat him to death with a makeshift club and dumped his poor, lifeless body in some barn.

As I scratch and love on my cria, I can't help but think of Masterpiece.

I put the pics up of my cria because they are the faces of Masterpiece. These faces are what those two boys looked at while they intentionally beat the life out of him. Why would someone do something like that? I can't comprehend this sickness.



The State of Ohio is stepping up to the plate on this one at least. As of right now, one of the boys will be tried as an adult on the felony charges which include grand theft. The other boy's charges are still pending and the twenty three year old woman who was in on it is being charged as an accomplice.

I HATE what this world has become!