Excitement on the lane!! We have a cria (a baby alpaca)!! A girl! She is all white. Weighed a whopping 19.4lbs.!


The other pregnant mamas are welcoming the new edition. She must have been quite the topic of discussion. ...farm living is the life for me! Sanetha

Life in the not so fast lane

Things have been busy on the lane, and not. Hubster retired. Finally and totally. If you think that means I have a resident chef, mower, laundry attendant, sweeper, gardener, or any other menial jobs, WRONG! Hubster has been gimping around on his knee. I have a big, lovable, toss pillow on the couch, with its knee on the ottoman.

We installed a storm shelter. Our plan was always to run to the living room closet. Now we have a 6'x 6' concrete hole. I can't think of any other reason to go down in there unless my life was in danger!

We planted the garden. Well almost. That pesky little thing called an eight hour work day keeps getting in the way of my garden. Tomatoes, pickling cucumbers, zucchini, squash, peppers have been planted, but little else. I did make a little herb garden out of a wash basin I'm quite proud of.


Rocky and I have been walking around the back pasture again. Twice Trapper has followed us around. Ever taken a cat for a walk? He has a short attention span. He walks a bit then sees a blade of grass that looks like something he should pounce on and I have to bring his attention back to our walk by calling his name numerous times. Tonight when I invited him on our walk he just looked at us and said "You just walk around in a circle. I'll stay here on this couch. Thank you for asking." Rocky went to the groomer last week. He is again the very handsome Sheltie he has always been.

Hubster forbids me from having him sheared again...

...like last summer.

Chick-ease!!

Hubster bought ten chicks. It is always fun to bring home the new chicks. We prepare their little home in the garage with food and water. Set up a light so they won't get cold. Then gently open the box so they can see their new home and we can greet our newest additions to the farm. All so sweet and country. When Hubster went out to check on them an hour or so later something had pulled them out of their little cage and bit their heads off. The two survivors were then confined to my bathtub in the witness protection program.

Hubster buys eight more. This time their home is in his game room. They are Americaunas. They will have blue and green eggs. He didn't put in the warming light, isn't it plenty warm in the house? Lost three.

If you are keeping track we then had seven. He came back from Orscheln's with the two little things on his list and SIX MORE CHICKS!

Did I mention that we have a chicken coop and hen house with seven adult territorial, bossy, old hens that won't accept some little chickies in their midst? Did I mention Hubster's plan to set up a new chicken coop/hen house in the alpaca paddock, as yet unbuilt. BUT WE HAVE CHICKS!!!


...farm living is the life for me. Sanetha

Our chickens have never come from the smartest eggs in the carton. We first purchased chickens in 2003. We had about forty chickens. They were safe from predators just by their number. Do you know how many eggs that many chickens can lay in a week? Each laid one or two a day. We were handing out dozens of eggs to anyone that stood still long enough. Anyone with their hands out to shake, to pray, to hug, to grab the door knob, wash their hands, got a dozen eggs.

I came home from work one hot summer afternoon. I always count heads as I'm feeding. This particular day I come up short by about ten chickens. I searched inside the hen house, in the yard, around the field. I saw a roll of fencing with feathers sticking out of it! What???!!!! The chickens were inside the rolled up fencing and got STUCK!! They couldn't back out or go forward. So when the first one got in there, did the others say "WOW getting stuck in that fencing looks like fun?! I think I'll try it too!?" They were in there so long they had laid EGGS! We had to unroll 100ft. of fencing to free our flock. From then on the fencing was stood up vertically.

During the next summer we remodeled our house and one of the construction workers asked us about the chickens and we offered them half our flock (by that time I think we were down to about 35 so we gave him half the flock. Hooray! twenty less mouths to feed!! But then their numbers were smaller and they didn't seem such a fearsome feathered flock and became the target of frequent predators. My husband sat on the couch one afternoon and saw a chicken go running with all its might past our open french doors, (watching a chicken run with all its might is hilarious!Must be how Jurassic Park producers decided their dinosaurs should run!) then right behind her was a low flying hawk hoping to get our fat little hen for dinner. My husband jumped up off the couch to see who would win and the hawk was climbing higher into the sky without our hen in its claws. About every other year since, we have purchased a new family of chickens, for one reason or another.

I hate roosters. Have you ever seen a rooster size something up? It walks sideways flapping its wings. Like its either going to mate or attack. Two or more roosters will fight until they are bloodied. The loser will leave to die or just leave. We would see it occasionally for awhile. One year we had a BIG rooster we called Foghorn Leghorn. He had a loud crow that our neighbors across the highway, through the residential area and the next dirt road over swore they heard every morning. One day my three year old grandson was in the yard and Foghorn Leghorn came up to my beloved grandson walking sideways and flapping his wings. He was sizing up my grandson!! I ran in between them and pulled my grand away from the mean monster. He joined the food chain later that day.

But we still have chickens. The coop is deteriorated. The floor is dirt. The roof is leaking. We have tastier eggs than we've ever bought in the grocery store. If they would learn how to open the door and let themselves out in the morning and shut the door at night they would be near perfect. As long as we don't have any roosters.

...farm living is the life for me. Sanetha

Transitions

We used to live in a small house in town next door to the business that has been in hubsters' family for generations. Hubster has baby pictures taken on the front porch. It was and is a happy house. We were newlyweds in that house. Though it was hubsters' house, I came to love it as our home. Both our children have taken prom pictures in front of the house. We found out we were going to be grandparents in that house.

We've had Christmas, Birthdays, Easter, anniversaries in that house. We sat on the front porch and watched the Saturday night cars go by. We tended the flowers we planted in the flower beds. In the backyard we had a wedding reception after hubsters son got married in Las Vegas. Hubster built a partial log cabin in the backyard.

We lived there the summer of 2000 when all the family came for a celebration in our backyard over July 4th. Roger (hubsters' brother) was there with his children. The summer we went on the Alaskan Cruise for our tenth anniversary. The summer we got the call that my father was dead.



Hubsters family history has been connected with that house and the business since 1917! Soon hubster will be retiring. The house is part of hubsters business so our family will be leaving this house behind. The house has been a rental for the past few years. We've worked hard the past six weeks getting the house ready for its' transition. It will have new tenants, new tastes, new life.

The nice thing about winter is there isn't much to do for the farm. Hubster has fed animals alot lately. I keep coming home from work after dark and they are magically already fed! This afternoon I cleaned paddocks and the 'pacas were all over themselves to get out of my way. What short memories they have! They were saying "Who is that? What is she doing here? Why is she going in the shed? Why is she getting in our feed bucket? Why is she.. oh yeah, she lives here and feeds us occasionally."

Thought I would show you a little about them. Don't let their innocent faces fool you. They can hurl spit in the blink of an eye!
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This is Almond Joy. We purchased her from a farm that named all their animals after candy bars. She had her first cria on their farm. Her second cria was stillborn. Her third cria is our Ebony (no candy bar names). Joy is usually a sweetheart. Let's us stroke her back. Takes lots of treats. We can even trim her nails easily. But...if she is PREGNANT OR TRYING TO GET PREGNANT, watch out. She spits, stomps, jumps, kicks or runs in an effort not to do what we want her to do. Nothing sweetheart about her when she is pregnant. But how can you not love those great big dark eyes!
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This is Ebony. Don't you just love her shy, sweet face? Her mama is Joy and they are usually together in the paddock. She was born in October of 2008. Even though Ebony is pretty close to being an adult, her mama got very upset with us when we took her out of the paddock last month to go to a show.
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This is Amanda. This picture doesn't really show her best side. (I'm still trying to figure out this new camera). She is our equivilant to a stud. She gets pregnant with little fuss. Struts her stuff with little fuss. And has had GIRLS! We bought her from a ranch in Laramie Wyo. We had a couple fun vacations picking her up and taking her back to be bred. Her official name is Via Caligula's Amanda. Named for her grand sire. She used to spit at me when I didn't give her treats fast enough, but now when I think she's in the spitting mood I put my hand up toward her face in a STOP sign and she settles down and just gives me dirty looks.
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This is Sophia. She was the first cria born on our ranch. We were such proud 'paca parents. She has beautiful white fleece. She won a couple ribbons as a yearling. We arranged a boyfriend for her in Wakefield, Ks. A handsome brown alpaca name Steiner. The product of this will be so much fun to see! She gave us a scare last summer when she was at another farm being bred. She had a bowel obstruction and had to have emergency surgery. Fortunately her caregivers were right on top of it and saved the pregnancy! She has been a little testy during her first pregnancy. Her paddock sorority kinda gives her a wide margin because she will kick anything that gets within her "space". But how can you not love someone during their first pregnancy?
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This is Caeser or Ceaser or Cesar or Cease her or Sees her. We were told that was his name. We call him Uncle Cesar. He is a gelding (you know what a gelding is Right? Wink Wink.)He is kinda in charge. When all the girls are in the field he sits and watches them. When he thinks it's time for them to come back in the shed he gets up and walks toward the shed and they follow him. If it's time to go to the field he gets up and goes and they follow him. He is the one that gets on the weanlings when they try to nurse. We purchsed him when Joy was pregnant and would be in the paddock alone. (Not good for a female alpaca. They can get so anxious they will lose their pregnancy.) We love Uncle Cesar for doing his job.
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We have eleven alpacas. They all are special in their own way. Just gotta' love 'em!
...farm living is the life for me. Sanetha.

A collection of lace and memories

If you can't read this it says "I'm a Raggedy Ann person in a Barbie Doll world". That pretty much explains me. I am a collector. Especially dolls. My husband buys me dolls for Christmas. Each is special on her own. Each has her/his own story. If I see a doll that looks lonely, I buy her. A doll I had when I was little, I buy her. A doll that is just plain beautiful, I buy her. I'm just a sucker for dolls. I name them if they don't come with an obvious name. I remember all their names.

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This is baby Chatty Cathy. My sis had one of these with dark hair. She brings back such special memories with my sis.


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This is Charmin' Chatty. She had records that slipped into her side that had cute sayings. If you see any of these little records I would love to have one. She also had black round glasses which are missing. But I just love her.

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This is Oliver. I thought he looked like the "Artful Dodger". Hubster thought I would like a boy doll.

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I named her Cynthia. I just thought it was a beautiful name for a beautiful doll with pretty curls.
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This is Princess Di. Of course. Her namesake was such a beauty. The world is less glamorous because Diana is not here.
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This is Pollyanna. Haley Mills starred in the movie. As a child I liked crystals that shined rainbows on the wall. I liked The fishing booth at Fun Night. You know, you put your "fishing pole" over a barrier and someone in the back put something on the other end.


My antique baby. I found her at an antique mall under some antique quilts. My granddaughter loves to walk around with her. My daughter is afraid she might break her. But dolls were meant to be loved by little girls and I love that maybe my granddaughter, like her mama and grandmother will love dolls.

I collect many things so in this area I will show you my collections. Please be patient with this collector/hoarder/accumulater/stuff lover.

...farm living is the life for me. Sanetha.