Another Scary Happening

That's Sonata ↑ who is JR's mom.

Do you remember my "snow slide off the roof" story? http://northstaralpacas.blogspot.com/2008/12/my-near-death-experience-0r-avalanche.html

Damn! It almost happened again. Same scenario - 45 degrees, rainy, I'm digging little trenches to drain the water away from the barn, and rumble, rumble, down comes the snow off the roof. There wasn't nearly the snow pile this time, but it's really strange that this could happen twice while I'm out there. What are the odds?????

Family news!!!! I just got off the phone with son Rob who teaches at Scranton U in Pennsylvania. He just got tenure! Congratulations, Dr. Smith.

Wooden Vase

This is the tiny (2 inch) bowl/vase/container that Greg sent me with my order. The original picture disappeared in my post below. How can he hollow out that tiny thing? I am going to visit his studio this summer.
I love his stuff. I think it reminds me of my wheel throwing pottery days.......

♪♫♪ Happy Birthday, Nicole ♫♪♫

No one could have nicer, kinder kids than I do. Well, they aren't really kids - youngish adults. Today is Nikki's 40th birthday! She is a teacher, coach, wife, mother, chauffeur...... All those hats that a young mom wears. She wears them well and I'm incredibly proud of her.



The bowl above should be in her mail box right now. I bought it from Greg Gallegos who has his workshop, Natural Selection Studio, in Haslett, Michigan. Click here to go visit his Etsy shop http://www.etsy.com/shop.php?user_id=6541634



His wood crafting is incredible and his packaging makes me smile. The lovely wooden bowls arrive in these soft felt bags that his wife makes. I had a picture of the free sample bowl that he turned and sent me, but I seem to have lots of trouble with my blogspot pictures. Sometimes they just disappear. I will add it to another page later.
I forgot to mention the bowl is from a Maple burl. I think that means a knot in a Maple tree or branch. Appropriate for Maple's daughter, don't you think?

Saturday Storm - Much Ado about Nothing

We were supposed to have 5 to 7 inches of snow today. The 7 a.m. picture above shows a nice quiet morning before I went to do chores. It was nice enough that I was able to shoo the horses out with a little hay while I mucked their stalls. I checked the weather map when I came in at 9. The storm is about an hour away in this map. I am in Ithaca - the very middle of the mitt.

Here we are at 3 in the afternoon. Not nearly as nasty as predicted, but I'm glad the 'pacas and horses are snug in the barn.

This is what the weather map looked like at 3. Way worse on paper than out the window. The storm was coming from the south and swirling around so that the wind was from the north east.

And here is the barn at 5, just before I went out to do evening chores. We got only about 3 inches but I will have to shovel out those doors in the morning to get the horses into their paddocks.

....and here she is.....dear, sweet Cassie, who is actually a ham about having her picture taken.

Storm Alert

I spent most of yesterday getting ready for the storm that is pounding midMichigan right now. The bay mare above is Abbey who is 30. She and the nearly blind pony, Kelly, get Phenylbutazone (Bute) powder on their grain twice a day to help them move around better. I liken it to the Ibuprofen that I take daily to keep me moving. They were just about out so I drove down to St. Johns to the vet to restock. Would hate to be snowbound and not be able to medicate them.

Here's little JR from yesterday morning. He's up to 33 pounds (should be 60 to 70) and I wonder what would happen if I weren't supplementing him 3 times a day with his gruel. I had to run to town for strained carrots, yogurt, and Glucerna just in case I use what I have mixed up.

While I was down at St. Johns, I went to Tractor Supply because as you can see from this picture, I am just about out of shavings for the horses' stalls. Usually I have the shavings delivered from a sawmill and dumped in the indoor arena. I haven't called Jim because either the snow has been too deep or it would have been too muddy for him to get in.

I don't really like to buy the baled shavings because it's so expensive, but didn't mind yesterday. Middle daughter gave me a very generous gift card to TSC for my birthday. She knows that I buy most of my clothes there ☺ and I'm sure that she won't mind that I bought bedding for the horses.

I'm taking interval pictures of the storm to post later.

Proud Birthday Granny

Thank you for the birthday flowers, Beth....and all the rest of you who remembered my birthday with cards and gifts. My age doesn't seem to stick in my head. I always have to say to myself - Let's see, born in '42, it's 2009, 2 from 9, ah ha - 67. Oh, my, that's closer to 70 than 60.

Meredith made some potholders to put in my Etsy store. You can see some on the desk above or in my shop - http://northstaralpacas.etsy.com/. The reason that I'm blogging about this is because it blows me away that a 9 year old can be so proficient. She does a lovely job weaving them on her loom, each one has a different pattern. She used my new Canon PowerShot to take the pictures in my little light box. She didn't like the color that she was getting so turned off the flash. I have no idea how to do that, then she showed me how to take movie clips. It's not fair, she's only 9!

This is totally her deal. After she downloads the pictures into the computer, I log in to my Etsy store and leave. She puts the pictures up, writes her descriptions-and-can "copy and paste"!!!!! I just recently figured this out. She calls me when she is done so that I can do a quick proof read and we hit Finish.

She took the cute picture of my sweet Max ▲. He does sleep a lot now that is is older.

☼

My two daughters and two granddaughters took me out to dinner, and the grand girls stayed overnight with me. That's always lots of fun.

Elizabeth, below is six, and keeps us laughing. Can't you just tell?

Family, Friends, Fiber

It recently occurred to me that I spend a great deal of time blogging about the crisis's, death, and the mishaps in my life. I live a wonderful, blessed, "oh, my gawd, I'm so lucky to be alive" existence. Saturday night I spent the evening with my two grown daughters, (wish that you were with us, Rob) drinking wine, laughing, and yes, crying together. Isn't it amazing that your kids can become your bestest friends? See, I'm blessed...


.....and then Sunday was spent with nonfamily friends who feel like family. Mary and Cary came over for a full day of fiber fun. The picture above is of Mary putting some delicious wool through my carder. Cary and I were watching - and, of course, making suggestions. And this picture over here → is Cary showing us how to draft the fiber off the corner of the batt instead of splitting it like we usually do.

Needless to say, we had marvelous food around since both of these women are awesome cooks (not me). But we had the good sense to keep it upstairs so we weren't snacking all day. Mary's delightful grown daughter, Anna, came over for a while. She made some wonderful banana (I think) bread that was spiced up to taste wonderful.

In the afternoon Billie, my across the street neighbor, came over and Beth with her son John stopped in. Beth and John had been in the barn and get this - weighed alpacas, which John recorded for me. They also trimmed some toes which I have been putting off for waaaay too long. And, now see what a great life I have..... Beth left a big container of white, chicken chili in the frig for me - with toppings - cheese, sour cream, and tortios. (I can't spell that & neither can my spell check)

☼☼☼ And the sun shone all day ☼ ☼ ☼ Ain't life Grand?!?!

For those of you who have inquired about Ivan and his colic - thanks for your concern and good energy. He's fine! Eating, pooping, banging his stall door - back to normal.

And little Jr (Libra) - he weighed 31.3 pounds last Friday. I'm encouraged that now the snow has disappeared, he will be getting green grass into his system. I'll continue to do the 10 ounces of gruel 3 times a day though. His buddy, born the same week, now weighs 81 pounds.