Countdown to Shearing Day

I thought I'd take some photos of the boys before the big shearing experience next Saturday.  Choco, one of our 2 year olds, has the nicest fleece by far.  I can't wait to get it off him and onto my spinning wheel.  I love the expression on his face here. 

Cosmo, our big white boy, is always ready with a goofy face for the camera.  He's got some nice, soft fleece, too.

This is Frankie, our little deaf Suri alpaca.  His fleece isn't very long, but he'll get sheared with the rest of them.  I think this will be his first time and his fleece will be fun to work with.  He needs a bang trim more than anything!

And here's Jimmy, who has the most interesting coloring pattern of all our boys.  I love that ring around his face.  Hopefully, he'll get some dental work this weekend and fix that underbite.

Spring, where are you?

Just when I thought this awful winter was over, a storm blew in yesterday bringing more snow and freezing temps.  The wind chill was down in the 20's and we got some accumulation that lasted through today.  I'm hoping our garden survived.  I covered everything I could.  Chet had already planted lettuce, tomatoes, peppers and some fruit trees that could all be killed by the freeze.  We've also got garlic, onions and potatoes in the ground that should be fine.  This picture was taken just 3 days ago.

I also planted an herb garden in front of the house with easy access from the kitchen.  I love to cook with fresh herbs.   

I've got rosemary, basil, chives, thyme, sage and lavender here.  The soil here is mostly clay, so we added a lot of peat moss and alpaca manure (which we have PLENTY of).   Actually, Chet has been pretty successful in selling alpaca poo - gotta love Craig's list!

My very own riding mower

I've had so many new experiences since we got our alpacas and moved to Texas.  Here's another milestone:

My very own riding lawn mower and my first time out on it.  Leia and Luke look a bit worried, but everyone stayed safe!