Letter from America

We made our first sale of a hand made aran sweater to the USA today. The lady had tried to pay on line but our website only accepts UK credit cards at the moment, so I promised to look into how she could pay. I phoned my bank who were very unhelpful. Their way was either very costly or if she sent an international cheque it would take 6 weeks to clear. I mentioned to the customer services person that we were actually in the 21st Century and how could it possibly take that long to clear a cheque? No wonder the banks are in trouble if they cannot even do a simple transaction like that!!

Anyway, I had a look at paypal which we mostly use for ebay and found that she could send me dollars and they would convert it into sterling straight away no worries. It arrived this afternoon and her sweater will be despatched tomorrow.

Tilly is looking well but I took her and Maddy to the vet for vaccinations and the vet checked her heart and it has still not improved. She seems happy, which is the main thing.

Mike went to Shepton Mallet hospital today for his pre-knee replacement. He is going into hospital on the 7th January and is hoping to be back to normal by Easter.

The last of our cria have just had their second blue tongue vaccinations and we have started to halter train the weanlings. Last year we left it a bit late and it was quite embarrassing having to drag them around at their first show, so we do not want a repeat this year.

The chickens have made two new nests in the barn. Luckily they are just on different levels of the straw stack. Not sure where they will go when we have to use the straw, but at the moment we do not have any alpacas in the barn so it is not needed. They are still laying well and I cannot remember the last time I have to buy eggs.

We are trying to get the kittens on to mixed food like the dogs. So far they have tried their biscuits with egg over them, a little cheese, some raw liver, and some left over eggs and bacon. All seems to have been accepted with no ill effects. They have been out with the all the dogs in the living room quite a few times now and today they went into the garden with the dogs, so progress is being made. They come when called and the neighbourhood rings with my repeated cries of "come on girls" when calling the alpacas, "Chick, chick, chickens" (in an egg laying tone)for the hens, and "puss, puss, puss" for the little kitty kats.