Alpenglow, Sort Of

Okay, so we don't have high enough peaks around us for true alpenglow, but I like to think we can get something similar.  Last night as I rode the bus home I was treated to a rare occurrence - the sun was down behind the trees to my right but the topmost faces of all the trees to my left were still shining in the sunlight.  Coupled with the low overcast layer it was truly beautiful to see those smiling faces under the dark grey sky.  I reveled in it all the way home.

It's a Process

There are times when I can see the light at the end of the tunnel.  The farm we may someday still own.  The house we may still someday inhabit.  And then, there are days like today where the feelings of failure and dismay at the loss of our house and the ensuing difficulties with friends, creditors, and neighbors weighs heavily on our shoulders.

Like everything, losing one's home is a process.  Today, the process just happens to suck.

Silence is Golden

I was walking through the parking lot at my day job the other day when I noticed a repetitive shh-shh-shh noise over my head - like the sound of someone walking too briskly in corduroy pants.  I looked up to see that the sound was coming from a large crow heading for the trees across the street.

I love that I live and work where you can hear the sound of a bird's wings.

Making Babies

Okay, our menagerie does not include sheep, but you try to find an old timey graphic of a baby alpaca.

Seriously, though, Jen has been working hard during the breeding season this year.  Not only has she been trying her darnedest to get our small herd to grow, but she's been working near full-time at our friends' farm with their girls as well.  As of this telling a couple of ours are showing signs of buns in the oven and more than a few of our friends' are as well.

I don't know if it's the weather this year, or the especially heavy fly load, or even just the phase of the moon, but we seem to be having a difficult year for breeding.  Females that usually have no trouble settling down for a male are suddenly choosy and coy.  Males that have never failed us are disinterested or, in the case of one male, incapable of "proper entry procedures."

We also have a number of maiden girls this year, and at least one boy is trying this for the first time.  However, in a few years of doing this we've never had so many failures.  Alpacas have an 11 month gestation, which given the delay thus far in successful breeding means we'll be having babies a little later next year.  Oh well - it's an excuse for our daughter to get busy sewing new jackets for the babies.

All in all, though, life goes on and continues in its own tenuous pattern to grow on the farm.  We continue to get settled in our new place and our new lives.  It's getting easier, but winter is on the rise and I can't help feel a little unprepared for it.  Until then, there's lot to do and enjoy.