The Faces of Friends

Every morning and evening, I'm greeted by the most beautiful and eager of faces. I have to say, I'm the highlight of their day. I bring the treats and provide most of the excitement that they experience in each 24 hour period. Their huge dark eyes fix on me while they wait, just out of reach, for their grain.

Alpacas are so stoic that you can't tell something is wrong until it's nearly too late, but just give them the hope of a treat or the promise of a good spraying down on their legs, and the poker faces disappear. They're all eagerness and self-forgetfulness when the good stuff comes out.

Baby face, you've got the cutest little baby face...






















Look Mommy! The alpaca is smiling!!

Brown...

More toys...brown on brown...and more brown.

Three Babies in One Day!!

Yes, we had three, count 'em, three, babies in one two hour period today. I got home from town, looked out in the pen and yelled, "We have a baby out there! No,....wait, we have two babies!! Oh my gosh!.....we have three babies!!! All of them were still wet, two were up, one couldn't have been more than 15 minutes old and all the after births were accounted for on the ground.

So here they are! The black is a little male out of our Timothy and Zayne. The big brown one is a boy as well out of Zion and our Taliesin. The little rose gray with the white face is a female out of Miss Rose and Black Knight. The first two are out of completely home bred and home grown stock. Miss Rose and Black Knight have produced three gray females in a row now. This little one has an umbilical hernia so she's wearing a belly band.














And then there's our little Rowdy. Sadly, he lost his mama to a perforated bowel last week. She was such a sweet girl and gave us such a sweet little baby. He's our bottle baby now at the tender age of 2 months, and has just gotten over the shock of losing his mama. He's attached himself to a young maiden of ours, Zakaree, and they're quite the pair. He's an awfully good boy, very vocal and a little confused about all these babies. Today, he thinks Miss Rose is his mama, so he's been tossed into a separate pen for now. Rose's baby needs to get all the colostrum she can get and Rowdy will only deplete the supply. Rose would have taken him, too, if we hadn't interfered. She has some mental challenges and would have abandon her baby in favor of Rowdy.

We have one more female to deliver, our silver gray Eliana, and she's due any day now, if our timing is right. Oh, I just love babies!!

School Ramblings...

After 9 years of home school, my oldest daughter started as a freshman at the local public school two weeks ago. I have to say that I miss her terribly. I still have one more at home for school, but I've never been the kind of mom who can't wait to ship the kids off to school in the fall or to camp in the summer. I've enjoyed every one of my children, from the adult boys to my youngest at 11.

Oh, I know she's happy and enjoying herself thoroughly. I know that it was high time to get her out from under my protective wings. I know she'll bloom in the school environment. I know she already has loads of friends and will make more as time goes on. I know, I know, I know,...but the house seems oddly empty without her.

I felt the same way when the boys went to school, but I still had two little ones to keep me busy. It's just different this time. Perhaps it's my age and perhaps it's the anticipation of an empty nest in the not too distant future. Whatever it is, it's hard to have her gone from 7:00 am until 4:30 pm and not be part of what she's doing.

So, wake up mom! I tell myself. She needs to be away from you. She needs to figure some things out on her own. Ssssiiiiiiiggggghhhhhh..... OK. I get it. I don't like it, but I get it. I'll live and I'll get over it eventually.

The youngest has just started school here at home on Tuesday, so we're off and running with that. She's a lovely girl and, being the youngest, has waited all this time to get her mom alone and all to herself. I hope she's not disappointed with what she gets. She's quite the social butterfly, but not very good at thinking for herself in a crowd. She'd be carried along by the popular opinion and the group consensus on what's appropriate behavior and what is not. She would be forever in trouble and it's not worth it to me to lose her at such a young age.

Well, I'm feeling better just for writing this down. I have plenty to keep me busy here until the youngest is old enough for high school. I'd better get focused and get going. I have three concentrated years in which to help fashion a girl into a young woman.