Back to normal

We came home on Sunday 22nd but my pc has been in for repair and so have not been able to update the blog.

Mike's sister and brother in law came to stay on Wednesday and they have been a great help in catching up with paddock cleaning and other odd jobs around the place.   They are like us and like to have something to do.  Yesterday we all went to the Honiton Hill Rally which was originally a tractor rally but which had expanded over the years to include an auction of farm machinery and so on, crafts, demonstrations and the usual catering vans.     The weather was lovely and Mike was particularly happy because it is an event he has wanted to go to ever since we moved here but has usually clashed with other comittments.

Chris, Aew and Josh, Mike's grandson, came down for the afternoon bringing two of Aew's Thai friends to see the alpacas.    They had a great afternoon with Josh being particularly excited by the tractors which are his favourite thing.   Chris took him up into the cab so he could pretend to drive.    They left at teatime and we were on our own for the first time for ages, which seemed strange but pleasantly relaxing.

Nick came today and we separated some cria from their mum's who were getting a bit thin from feeding them.  We also checked the goat does to see that their milk was drying up after weaning the kids, selected four yearlings to take the Chardstock Street Fayre next week and checked that they remembered how to walk on a halter.  Nick commented on how good our stock looks in comparison to some he saw at a local show last week.  He was also extremely impressed with Dolly's natural herding of the alpacas.  It is not surprising that she has "the eye" as her grandmother is a working collie.    She even turned Bourree when the daunting alpaca tried to break away and turn back - no mean feat for a six month old pup.  She needs something to do whilst she is too young to compete in agility so it looks like working alpacas will be her new hobby.   She will like being able to chase them legitimately.

Luciana who had the face abcess is still giving us cause for concern.    Nick opened it up again today and bathed it with salt water and as she was covered in flies I made up a Citronella spray and we spotted neat citronella essential oil around the abcess site to ward of the flies whilst it dries out.   She will need checking daily for fly strike.   She has now had fourd days of daily antibiotic injections and we are hoping that it will now go away permanently.

Everywhere is looking very tidy since Mike put up the shed in the garden.    All the untidy bits an pieces are either in it or behind it.

Hay is impossible to find at the moment so we are rather worried about the coming winter, but Mike is constantly on the case and we hope to find some soon, although it will probably be very expensive.