THE BIG SNOW!

Well I got my wish, a really good covering of snow 3-4 inches by the end of the day. I even woke early to see if had arrived as forecasted and it had, very exciting (big kid)!  I can't help it, I just love the stuff! Yes it's a pain when it comes to getting the animals fed, and if you have to go out on the roads it's hazardous ... but for the little amount we get here I enjoy the change and just love the smell and the feel of it crunching underneath my feet and how beautiful and brand new everything looks. Thankfully we didn't have to go out in the car anywhere, bread and sweeties were bought from the village shop on the way home from our walk!

The weanlings looked a bit confused by it all this morning .. their first experience of snow and they were all sat out in the field when I looked out first thing. As soon as it got light they all went into their shelter and they have been there ever since!

Thankfully I had done a double hay-up yesterday in preparation but by this evening a few hay feeders were looking low so out with the sledge to haul the bales about. I know it's a bit basic but we don't have the luxury of a quad or little buggy thing and for the amount of animals we have it's enough in the short term.

 Snow pacas 

Meon River scenes 

Jazz and Polly 

Droxford church 

The Boys

Bond - poor chap!

The Sorcerer

The weanlings venturing out for 2 mins to see what I'm doing!

SOME THINGS GO BETTER THAN OTHERS

Amazing, we've had some dry days and so I've been halter training.  Rebecca has helped me a lot with this but now she's back to school I have to keep going on my own and so far so good. Today we (the pacas and I) progressed to a short walk along our woodland path with me taking two at a time. This seems to help hugely, maybe because it's all so different in there they cling to me a bit and have each other for reassurance. As I have 21 to do this year I have split them into girls and boy groups. Just training the girls at the moment and 10 out of the 11 are walking quite well. Melissa however refuses to go anywhere and flops down on her side and plays dead ... the only way I can get her to walk on the halter is to follow loose buddies about where she chooses with me following behind her, maybe she'll get the hang of it soon?

The season of advertising seems to be upon us and I am filled with dread... hours spent designing them and choosing pictures and wondering what to write in editorials.  I have spent at least 3 hours today on it today, was quite pleased with the results, only to discover that only half of it seems to come out when I try and send to anyone -- aaahhh.

Photos of the girls in training - I had a lovely morning with them with lots of cuddles!

Macy Grey and Anastasia

Mila and Crystal

Marah and Brie

Cotton Fields and Enigma

Berry Cherry and Bonnie

Melissa - won't walk to the woods!

A DAY OUT AND TAPEWORMS

A day trip to London, just an hour on the train and we left the sleepy green pastures of Hampshire to be immersed in a world of concrete and crowds. Madam Tussaud's seemed like a good idea until we stood in the line for around 10 minutes only to come to a sign that said Queue 2 hours from this point! Apparently even if you book ahead on-line you still have to queue for 40 minutes to get in! Not known for my patience we got back on the tube and made for Harrods instead!

We lunched and we browsed, and we fantasised about winning the lottery and being able to afford those sparkly dresses that cost hundreds even in the 70% off sales,  amazing £12,000 Lalique vases, gorgeous handbags, wacky beds. For a couple of hours we drifted through the various departments until our feet were aching and we felt shopped out, although we had nothing to show for it!

Another tube journey and off to Covent Garden for a mooch about until the rush hour had subsided and then back home on the train opposite commuters falling asleep with their mouths open .... not a pretty sight!

London is great in very small doses and thankfully it's near enough to do that every now and then, certainly a good exercise in appreciation - I do love my home in the sleepy green pastures of Hampshire and I am very content with my simple life breeding alpacas, even if I sometimes go all day without seeing a soul - I am very lucky indeed. If I won the lottery I would buy a barn for the pacas before I bought sparkly dresses anyway!

We had another dry morning - amazing, thats 3 in a row! All the weanlings are now eating hard food and it's lovely to see them all tuck in to their breakfast. Just when I think all is under control as I tidy up outside the weanlings shelter I found a poo with tapeworms on it. I had no idea who was shedding, but if one was then probably more have them too and so out with the panacur and drench syringe and they all received a generous dose. I will keep a close watch on them and do some faecals in a week or so, it should sort them out but sometimes they need to have a few consecutive days of panacur to clear tapeworms.

Weanlings having their breakfast

Sorry, yucky picture of poo with tapeworms, the white bits which are not in focus, but thought one of you might be interested, though on reflection you would probably have preferred to see the lovely Lalique vases!