Mac appears to be a little sad, depressed maybe. So I google depressed llama and look what comes up…

Llamas with hats

While we were in Wisconsin, visiting a great  llama farm and chillaxing at Great Wolf Lodge. Our llama, Mac, miscarried her baby cria. We found the baby in the shed. It had no hair and was really small. We think it may have died when the dog attack happened and just now was miscarried.  While we were outside looking at the little guy, we heard cries from the back pasture. Low and behold, our youngest female goat had had 2 babies while we were away too. We thought she might be bred, but we could not figure out how, because we did not expose her to the buck. It had happened..

The baby goats are really small. These would be the smallest babies yet. We are crossing our fingers that they continue to thrive. They look good, just small..

I had my shoulder surgery on Thursday of last week and am still recovering. It is hard to not go out and cuddle babies and hug the llamas and horse. Next week…

By the way- the llama farm we visited in Wisconsin was fantastic. Fran, the owner, was very forthcoming with her advice and knowledge. We have gathered enough information, to intelligently start planning on bringing in more llama linage, building more shelters and focusing on a specific market for our llamas. We are excited.

I swear that “the forces that be” knew that this was the week that I get my bonus.. This is one of the first times in my life that I qualify for a hefty bonus and expensive issues happen at our house.
First, the septic decided to make us miserable. Yeah, it was Monday when I got that bonus. Tuesday, the septic spills over into our entry bathroom. Wednesday, the septic shit sucker truck comes and hauls away a load. I scrub and seal floors that were pooed on. Thursday, the septic shit sucker truck returns with plans to replace our pump.   He opens the septic tanks and finds them full again, he rethinks and pulls out the plans from the county for our septic and guesses that our water run off (which is immense this year) is causing issues in our laterals. I ask him how much and he guesses that after they fix the pump, if they can get to it with the rising water table, and all of the shit sucking trips maybe 1200  bucks or more. Thursday, I find out that the total bill for my shoulder surgery is in the thousands (why do I pay for health ins again??). Friday, I wait for the septic truck to come and haul away more.. I need a shower. I need to wash clothes.. I am afraid to flush the toilets.. And the male llama has decided that he wants to crawl under our post and rail fences.. I spent a couple hours trying rope around the bottom parameter of the corral fencing to keep the sucker in. I’m waiting for the husband to go to the lumberyard and get wood so we can add a 4th row of rail for the llamas. We will have to add it tonight, cause I can not catch the llama to put him in with the goats.
We have a family vacation planned for this next week. Should we leave when we have this run off and the septic problem, hoping that the huge drift that remains above the laterals does not cause more issues?? and a rogue llama?? What if we come back and find the basement flooded with poo and Cheese missing? Grrrroan.

I am going to call this. It’s Country Living 7, Jinx 0. I am getting my arse kicked.

Last night I waltzed in the door, after visiting my favorite hair dresser for a few hours around 10:30. I was alarmed to find the toilet had backed up in the front toilet room! I called for help, woke the husband. We spent 2- 3 hours futzing with the toilet and to no avail the solution was not in sight. I even drove around town looking for a store open, to buy a snake.. Found one at Walmart around midnight. O M G the people you find at Walmart at this time.. wowza.

Today, the septic gods came and removed the lid.. found out that our little septic tank was brimming. The pump was dead. They hauled off one big load (shit load) of excrement and planned on returning tomorrow to haul a 2nd load and clean the septic out as well as replace the pump.  There goes my bonus $ (down the shitter)..

I bought this video, online, that has Bobra Goldsmith that helps with training llamas. Link Here. I had a little fear of llamas because I just did not know what to expect. I would walk way around the llamas when hanging with them, as if they were a wild mustang tied to the post. Ha ha. Of course the kids saw my first attempt at playing with them and this imprinted in their little minds. They feel some fear of llamas, now.  This video was enlightening. I watched in awe as this 70+ yr old woman wrangled these unhandled llamas and taught them various forms of manners with ease. I was stunned. I was inspired.

It turns out that the next day I needed to catch our pony, who had not had a halter on for the entire winter and was hard catch period. I used a method I saw on the Bobra video and had the pony captured, haltered and ready to go in no time. My confidence was up. I caught and haltered the llamas not long after this..

I tried brushing the burrs out of the llamas. The were losing much needed hair (it is pretty cold this winter) and they were just not enjoying this at all. So I gave up and hugged their long necks and let them back out to the corral. I have caught Mac a few times since this first attempt to brush. She is the older and more handled llama. She will let me catch her, halter her, walk her and hug her long  llama neck. Cheese, on the other hand, will not take feed from your hand yet. He leads, but he is just not as trusting. This summer we will need to work on him some. I am assuming he is a little more hard to handle because he is a male starting to hit puberty.

I was chatting with a friend at work about the burrs. I told her I figure we will leave them in their coats and in the summer when we attempt our first shearing/shaving of them, the burrs will go then. Oh, this will be a spectacle in itself- for sure!  I mentioned that I fear their fiber will be a loss because of this. She asked me if I had ever heard of Grooma combs. I had not. She raved on and on about how miraculous these combs are and brought me one the next day.  As soon as I got home, I caught Mac (could not catch Cheese) and tried the comb out. If does work, but I think I need a detangler to go along with it to really make a solid dent on the burrs in these guys.. She was not into being away from her horse and llama pals, so I did not work on her coat too long.

I am sure I will read this post a year or two from now and laugh at my fledgling attempts at llama handling.

With the recent changes in our hobby farm theme (llamas), I feel it is time to do some updating on this little site. I took a look at the viewing stats and was amazed that we are getting so many hits.. Therefore- it is time I take better care of our viewers.

Keep your eyes peeled, as this site improves..

Yes.
Windranch has taken on a new direction. After not much consideration and lots of impulsive behavior, Jinx did not fight the impulse to buy a pair of Llamas from someone on Craigslist.com. ( Croy just read the start of this blog and said, “That just about narrows it down, doesn’t it?”. )
On Thursday I responded to an ad on Craigslist.com that offered up a single registered llama for $150. I inquired and the folks were honest enough to say you can not get a single herd animal and offered a 2nd llama for really cheap to pair up. I understood this, because when we bought our first goat, the people did not tell us about the herd instinct and the poor baby goat cried and cried for a companion. These llama folks were honest. I planned on mulling it over more.. But these people were really pressing to see if we were ready to buy. After some emailing, they admitted that they needed money for a bill and really would like to sell by the weekend. They lowered the price and offered to deliver. I bit. On Friday, I left work early and prepared for the new arrivals. Around 2 PM a pickup truck with 2 llamas rolled up the driveway and 2 nice guys took the llamas out of the back of their truck and helped me lead the llamas to the front pasture.
Did the fact that they had llamas in the back of a pick up give you a visual? It was amazing to see. And here is the real kicker… They drove up from Missouri with these guys in the pick up. Imagine the looks they got with the 2 funny looking animals laying down in their truck on the interstate!

The 2 are now out there, with the horses (who are keeping their distance). I think we will call the Male Cheese and the female Madonna. Still not in love with Madonna yet.. I do like Cheese, however.

Let me start from the beginning.. Tonight I sat down at my pc and logged into Facebook and saw my friend Mel had done another stupid quiz about pet peeves. I thought what the hell and started taking the quiz too. (I am a sucker for idiocy) I started up the pet peeves quiz and wrote in Whining in the little search box… and low and behold a photo of XOE came up.. I jumped up and ran and got the family, dragged them in here and we all had a good laugh..
I was stumped. Who put her face on the word whining, and where did he get the pic? So I googled “whining” in the Google images Yahoo! Images and MSNs Live search and all of these sites came up with Xoe’s image! you know where they got it? From the etling.com server (that does exist any more) back in 2004. That is when it surfaced on the first website, listed below. I am sure there is more out there..

Crazy huh? I grab other folks photos and use them in my blogs etc.. I just never fathomed I would see X on the Atlanta Falcons site, let alone Babble or ClusterStock.com.
Here are a few of the sites I found with Xoe on them..

http://www.freeprintablebehaviorcharts.com/whining.htm
http://life.atlantafalcons.com/index.php?showtopic=3841779
http://www.mepreport.com/category/websites/
http://machetera.wordpress.com/2009/03/06/how-about-a-little-congris-to-go-with-that-whine/
http://janeheller.mlblogs.com/archives/2009/03/like_cc_i_lack_feel.html
http://www.priorfatgirl.com/2008/11/full-force-rant-not-for-faint-of-heart.html
http://vnboards.ign.com/ac_friends/b5258/110273322/p1/?9
http://www.psystudent.nl/web/lijfstijl/57-mind/136-ik-weet-niet-wat-ik-wil
http://forums.mammothmountain.com/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=2054&start=45
http://www.larkinsway.info/archive/2004_11_01_archive.html
http://www.vividblurry.com/2004/07/
http://www.tektoonics.com/etc/parody/pocemon/scholarship_believers_independently.html
http://gamma.sitelutions.com/~toucans/sbc/secret/whiner.html
http://www.californiagoldenblogs.com/2008/10/1/625774/fantasy-week-in-review-wee
http://www.campussqueeze.com/post/People-You-Hate–New-Years-Edition.aspx
http://www.babble.com/CS/blogs/strollerderby/archive/tags/whining/default.aspx
http://dessertyears.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/camp-no-whining-after-extended-kryptonite-exposure/
http://www.gamestv.org/event/8781-masuj-dzika-vs-punkd/
http://www.clusterstock.com/2008/8/stop-whining-about-high-gas-prices-it-s-more-affordable-now-than-in-1960s
http://aire.blogstest.arlingtonva.us/cfl_lighting/

I will attach some more pics of Xoe in that series and a photo of Xoe now..

Here is a small photo documentry of this past month..

1. The baby goats are alive and well. We are keeping Oreo, the one with a white nose. Milkshake is going to go to a new home that raises Aussies and has other goats.

2. Sage’s photograohy skills are manifesting. She took the 2nd photo in this set. That is Dave the kitten. Dave got fixed this month.

3. That is Milkshake cuddling with us.

4. Took that photo of my chuck norris sushi with the iphone.

5. Burned some boxes. Kids love fire. Should we be scared?

6. Nice photo of Dave, in black and white.

7. This month we all got our teeth cleaned.

8. Jinx holding a goat.

9. If Sage and Xoe get up early and we get out the door early, sometimes I reward them with a trip to the coffee shop.

We have gotten several inches of rain over the last 24 hours. We officially have a few big run offs going through our property.. There is actually a loud current of water going through the goat field. I hope the kids do not try out swimming! The horse coral is knee deep in mud and muck. I closed the front pasture to save the ground from getting muddied from horses treading through the over saturated ground.

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