Pictures

Emma with Ipo Nani in the background
Emma
Emma & Ipo
Morghan navigating the herd
Morghan
Morghan and Jubilee

Introducing Upper Alpacas Emma

Ipo Nani delivered our final cria of 2006 this morning – yet another girl. After four male cria to start our alpaca business, we have been blessed with five female cria in a row. I guess all that complaining about starting with four boys has paid off – either that or the statistics that inevitably catch up have caught up with us.

Mother and cria are doing well. Emma is Ipo Nani's first cria and she's done very well for a new mom. The birth was relatively easy and Emma was trying to nurse before she could stand. Ipo has been very attentive and has an excellent nursing instinct. One never knows how an alpaca will handle her first delivery or respond to her first cria. Ipo is proving to be a very good mom and we're quite pleased.



Emma is a sleepy baby and still wobbly on her legs. Morghan was running the pasture her first day. Emma runs about twenty steps. She's been spending most of the day nursing and sleeping. Cria start differently, and within a week, we expect Emma to be racing Morghan across the pasture.

None of our female alpacas are pregnant at the moment. Alpaca gestation is 345 +/- 30 days. It's going to be quite some time before I can once again substitute an impending cria for actual blog content. Cria pictures may entertain for the next month, but sometime soon, I have to get back to the fiber so I have fiber content to blog about.

Introducing Upper Alpacas Morghan

Yesterday morning, I got up and Pam told me to get dressed. I asked why and she said, "Jubilee's having a cria."

Don't ask. It's not that Pam just "knows" these things, she is that good at reading animal behavior.

As we were finishing a rather hurried breakfast, Pam decided it was time to go outside for the cria. I was being my rather frantic and worried self and Pam decided to use me to run errands. First, I was sent for iodine. When I delivered the iodine, a head and two legs were visible and I was immediately sent for towels and a bucket. On my return to deliver the towels and bucket, this is what I saw.


The Herd Greeting Morghan

And here are some pictures from later in the day when Morghan had dried out. As I write this, Morghan is starting to run and play, Cailin is getting excited and starting to play with her.

It's a Girl!

Jubilee had her cria this morning. It's a girl. Sindre is the father making this our first alpaca grandbaby. Fawn with black feet and nose -- not the color expected from this combination. Pictures to follow.

More Pears, More Cria Watch, and Less Sock

The pears continue to ripen faster than I can process them. I filled the fruit dryer with pears yesterday and I've (almost) managed to fill it again today. In filling the fruit dryer and making a batch of waffle topping, I used up all my washed pears, so a great deal of today's pear effort went into washing more pears. I'm optimistic I'll have the fruit dryer filled by the end of the evening and everything set up to put a few more slices on before I leave for work in the morning. If I'm really productive, I 'll have another pot filled with pears ready to cook into waffle topping.

At the moment, however, I'm tired of cooking and not feeling very productive.

For a while this morning, I thought cria watch was going to be interesting. After deciding she had enough pellets before her bowl was empty, Ipo wandered into the shade, kushed half on her side, and proceeded to utter some of the strangest noises I've ever heard her make. Some of the noises sounded very much like prolonged grunts.

Ipo has always been a very vocal alpaca. I think she probably has the widest vocal range of any of our animals, and certainly she uses a wider noise on a regular basis. Ipo hums a lot and she has a great range of hums from plaintive to trilling to an urgent bleat. She growls at her food dish and while she's eating especially good grass. She grunts from time to time.

Ipo making noises? That's nothing.

Ipo making strange noises? That's not really a big deal.

Ipo making three new noises in two minutes – noises that sound very strained – noises made while she's lying half on her side looking very uncomfortable – all in late pregnancy?

Like I said, I thought for a few minutes cria watch might get intresting. Instead, Ipo straightened up and started chewing her cud.

If you can't guess from the title of this post, I decided to rip the sock back before the heel. The sock was too short and I basically mangled the heel don't think I followed the pattern properly at the heel. I've ripped back before the heel and I'm in the process of lengthening the foot before I attempt the heel again.

Thanks to all those who responded to my posted comments about Socks that Rock. It seems sacrilegious to purchase wool sock yarn when I have so much alpaca to spin, but I think I want to get some STR to get the feel of a really good sock yarn.

More Socks, Pears and Cria Watch

Status here is much like the previous post. Work is wearing me out, pears are taking most of the spinning time, Jubilee is still pregnant, and Ipo is still pregnant.

I think I have made progress on the sock. The heel is turned mangled and I'm back to knitting in the round. I haven't started any ribbing yet. I don't think I did the heel very well and I think the sock is too short for Pam's feet. At this point, I'm trying to decide if I should finish the sock for the experience or if I should rip it back before the heel to add some length to the foot.

If I rip the sock, I have a chance to make a complete and functional pair, but the cheap cotton is already getting that knitted-ripped-and-separating look. If I don't rip the sock, Pam won't be able to wear it, the heel will be permenantly funky, and I'll end up with single sock syndrome.

I haven't decided which is better for the learning experience, but I am leaning toward ripping at this time.

I have managed to dry a few pears -- not nearly as many as I would like. Pam has made some into waffle sauce for the winter. Tomatoes are ripening. Strawberries are still producing. Eggplant is wonderful, and zucchini is starting to taper off. Hopefully, I'll manage two or three more batches of dried pears -- not enough for the winter, but better than nothing. Apples are next if they don't all become windfalls before I get to them.