Miscellaneous

Yes, I am still here.

No, I haven't forgotten about the blog.

Yes, I do feel guilty about not blogging more often.

No, guilt doesn't improve the quality of my writing.

Yes, I have been busy.

No, it isn't any one particular thing.

Yes, I have spun and knitted in the past week.

No, I don't have pictures to show.

I've been making progress on several fronts around the house. The primary chores include getting firewood in before it starts to rain. Have you seen the price of propane lately!? We have two fireplaces and with propane priced like it is, we're going to use as little propane as possible this winter which means we'll need a lot of firewood. I'd like to get it stacked into the shed before the rains start so we'll have dry firewood for the winter.

Another fall project has been making jelly and waffle syrup. We have apples, pears, and blackberries ready to pick. The pears are a light crop this year and I don't have the time to dry them, so we're making waffle syrup from them. The apples didn't get sprayed, so they harbor lots of insects and won't store well. We're making syrup from them, too. The blackberries are a good crop so we're eating some fresh and making jelly from the rest. It's the usual story of 30 minutes cooking for 30 seconds eating, but I will enjoy the waffle syrup this winter.

I have taken the odd moment to spin and knit. I'm actually working on two knitting projects using handspun alpaca -- scary. What's even scarier is that I have progressed beyond garter stitch to stockinette and garter in the same row. Complicated! Using handspun. I'm making some sample swatches to show off fiber for marketing alpacas. The finished object is actually a skein and a swatch much like what would be entered in a spinning contest. I could make the swatch very quickly using crochet, but I think I like the finished results with knit swatches better. In fact, the more I work with knitting versus crocheting, the more I think handspun alpaca rewards knitting in most applications.

I'm taking advantage of the swatches because they are practice pieces that can become functional finished objects. My skill has improved to the point I can pick up a piece after twenty-four hours and A) usually figure out which direction I was working; B) usually figure out if I need to knit or purl the next row; and C) usually figure out how to fix things if I failed either A or B.

As far as spinning goes, I'm working on a soft and crimpy light fawn fleece, spinning it raw. The fleece has been carded twice, but the draft is still uneven and fairly tight. I tend to get clumps of fiber passing through the draft together and as a result, I'm getting an uneven thickness. My choices are to card again or to work with the fiber as is. I haven't decided yet.

Maggee is doing well and is very vigorous. She's gaining half a pound to a pound per day and running around the pasture. Like all cria, she hasn't quite discovered what to do with herself while the rest of the herd grazes. She tries to copy mom and nibble at the grass, but she really isn't sure what to do with it and she gets bored easily and then has to wait for the herd to finish grazing. It's the age old cria's dilemma. In a few weeks, she will start eating grass seriously, but it will be a couple months before she grazes as much as the adults.

A Ribbon and a Name

On Friday September 3rd, we traveled with six people and four alpacas to participate in the Alpaca Adventure at the Oregon State Fair. This was a very relaxed, conformation only, alpaca show designed to show off alpacas while helping attract participants to the fair.

Alpaca shows come in several types. The most common type of show is the halter show in which fiber and body conformation are both judged. Fiber is judged on the animal and a minimum fiber length is required. The other common show is the fleece show in which shorn fleece is judged without the alpaca present. Conformation shows look strictly at the alpaca's body conformation without looking at fiber. A final type of show is the composite show in which the fiber and conformation are judged separately and then a final score is tabulated. Since most farms in the Pacific Northwest shear their alpacas in May or June and since alpaca fiber doesn't grow very fast, the only real options for an early September show are conformation and composite -- and the former was chosen for the Oregon State Fair.

The humans involved in our trip to the Alpaca Adventure were Ron and Marilyn from Alpacas of Shepherd's Pasture, LaVon from Turkey Gulch Alpacas, Rachel from Hi-Mark Alpacas and, of course, Kim and Pam from Upper Alpacas. The alpacas involved were Glory and Isaiah from Shepherd's Pasture, Khachet from Turkey Gulch, and Del. Glory is Georgia's Granddaughter and Isaiah is Chloe's full brother. Rachel was along to help LaVon and to show Khachet.

We took the alpacas to Turkey Gulch on Thursday before the show where Glory got acquainted with Khachet and Del with Isaiah. Friday morning, way too early, we got together for the drive to the State Fair. Once we arrived, we put the alpacas in their pens -- Del and Isaiah together, Glory and Khachet together -- and looked at the program.

We discovered that Glory and Khachet were in the same class and that Del and Isaiah were in the same class. We're friends, so we can deal with this.

Del is registered as a bay black, but he has enough tiny spots in his blanket to qualify as a multi-colored alpaca. Gray and multi-colored alpacas are grouped in the same class in small shows.

The girls showed in the morning. Rachel showed Khachet and Pam showed Glory. Khachet took the blue ribbon and Glory took third.

I spent much of the day watching the judge and listening to the judge's comments. I noticed that she liked compact alpacas and put a lot of emphasis on the shape of the head. The more I listened, the less I liked Del's chances. Del is a tall, rangy, alpaca -- about as far from compact as one can get -- and while he does have excellent depth of jaw, he also has a bit of a roman nose. He's not the ideal animal to be showing when the judge is looking for compactness.

When Del and Isaiah's class was called, we were rather nervous.

The first alpaca into the ring didn't walk well and Del was right behind him. Actually, the first alpaca had a good gait, but he just didn't feel like walking in the ring. He'd take about three steps and stop. While the alpaca in front of him was busy not walking, Del was busy trying to pull Pam around the ring. It was rather interesting watching Pam try to bring Del to a stop to avoid a collision with the alpaca at the front. Pam and Del did pretty well, and eventually, the judge was able to judge all the alpacas.

The first alpaca into the ring was given the blue ribbon. I admit he was a nice looking alpaca even if he didn't feel like walking around the ring. Then the judge looked at Del and Isaiah. The ring steward started to walk toward Del, then walked back to the judge, then went to Isaiah for second place. Del was awarded third place.

Do I think Del deserved third place? Of course not, but I'm biased -- very biased! All of my alpacas are above average and my animals always deserve the blue ribbon!

In her description of the animals, the judge did comment that Del's legs were very good. Neither of us remember the judge's exact words, but I think she was indicating that Del had the best legs and in particular, the best front legs in the class. Since I don't recall the judge's exact words, I can't be sure. Then again, I think I already said I'm biased.

We chose to show Del because his legs are so very straight and his movement is so very, very fluid. This is a huge strength in a conformation class. I have to admit to being disappointed with third place -- something to do with being biased. But I have to look at things realistically. We're showing an animal best described as rangy or lanky in front of a judge who's putting a lot of emphasis on compactness. Third place is not bad at all. The judge commented on Del's legs and it is obvious she saw his movement. I can be disappointed that Del's ribbon isn't blue or I can be pleased with how well he did despite his shortcomings in the compactness department. Third place in this class says a lot about how strong Del's strengths are.

As a group, we took four animals and brought home four ribbons -- none lower than third. I think we did pretty well, especially if you consider that we ended up competing against ourselves.

And that's enough about the show.

We have decided to name our cria Maggee. Her parents are Magnum and Jubilee. We combined the two names to arrive at Maggee. Jubilee and Maggee are doing well. Maggee is starting to run short distances in the pasture.

No new pictures of Maggee today. Hopefully, we'll get better pictures tomorrow.

The Best Laid Plans ...

Today is my first day off work since our show last Friday. I planned to write a show re-cap and tell you all about Del's ribbon. I might even have been planning to write something about Jubilee's cria being due on the 25th. At this point, I don’t really remember the rest of my plans for the day -- except that they included picking blackberries, picking tomatoes, picking beans, and possibly some spinning or carding.

If you own livestock, however, plans change quite a bit in a big hurry.

When we went out to do morning chores, we noticed Jubilee was behaving a little odd. We can't describe any specific behavior, just that the behavior was somehow a little different. The girls were in the small pasture and we decided it might be a good idea to move the herd into the large front pasture we use as our birthing pasture. Jubilee wandered into the shed and cushed in the sand. The rest of the herd trotted out to the fresh grass and started grazing. We knew something was up.

By the time we had finished morning chores, we were certain Jubilee was in labor. Pam gathered the cria kit, then settled into a chair in the shade to watch with binoculars. I decided to start picking those berries. I think I had all of five berries picked when Pam informed me that not only was Jubilee in labor, but a little black nose was now visible. I stuffed the handful of blackberries in my mouth and helped move the cria kit to the pasture.

By noon, Jubilee's cria was on the ground. By 12:10 pm, she was standing.


Here she is less than an hour old. She's still a little wet with amniotic fluid and she's still figuring out how to move those legs.


Here she is about four hours old. Notice how she has dried out.

It's been a long day and I'm tired. The tomatoes aren't picked, I haven't touched fiber, and the beans will have to wait.

And there is another cria in the pasture. After four male cria our first two years, it is quite nice to have two female cria this year.



The new baby doesn't have a name yet. We have a couple ideas in mind, but so far, nothing has jumped up and fit the baby. We're trying to find Irish, Celtic, or Norse names that fit the baby and sound feminine. I'll post when she finally has a name.