The Journey: Something's in the air

Got any food mate? The volume is creeping up from these
guys and yes they do have hay and yes they do have water
and yes they do get a helping of oats every day. Sheep are
just noisy. Makes you think when God compares people to
sheep!

Something's in the air? Unfortunately this week that is not all good news. Ian is still sick, although he is better than he has been and now drives himself out to the land. He comes home as it is getting dark feeling pretty grotty though. Into the bargain, I now have a cold. Fortunately I didn't get all the aches and shivers, just a sore throat initially and now a bunged up nose. This has meant we have spent the last week sleeping in separate rooms so we don't wake each other up.

Handsome dude!

Contemplation on a murky day

To add to our woes (but dear reader do not be too despondent, it could be whole lot worse) the road out to our land is closed. About half way along, the road has collapsed down a steep embankment into the river. Initially we thought they had closed it to work on it, but no! They have closed it and stabilised the area, but that will be it presumably, until spring. There is some confusion as to whether it can be used or not by the locals requiring access so that we do not have to take the long detour, which means an 18km trip instead of 6km one. At first we took the long route round because the roads have been so bad with the continued rainy weather we have been having and because we thought they were working on it. Now the rain has stopped, the sun come out and the temperatures dropped then we feel happier about taking that route as the road won't be so unstable or resembling liquid soup.

The caravan in its winter quarters

What a difference a day makes. A sprinkle of snow and some
sunshine and the world is a different place

At the beginning of the week I was fine and drove Ian out to the land. Of course he wouldn't stay away from his animals, he wanted to go and see them, even if it meant spending the rest of the time in the caravan snivelling - although to be fair he often felt worse in the dry, warm atmosphere at home. I helped him with the heavier jobs like poo cleaning after our holiday break, since it was a step too much to ask someone to do over that time. There was about three wheelbarrow loads from each alpaca house to clear and then I put a good layer of hay for bedding on the top. After that Ian was able to manage most routine jobs and I just helped out when he needed an extra hand, like topping up the hay, which requires shifting more bales of hay.

Lady V is much more sprightly with her Vitamin D and
mineral injection. Those old bones need some sunshine
vitamins. I know the feeling

Taking lunch with her

We took one of our calendars with photos of our alpacas to the local vet who has been so helpful to us, as a thank you for all the work she's done. She didn't think she had done so much, but she has. Even if she didn't know how to help, she did her research and we discussed together the best way forward. I think we work together as a good team and that is the best we can hope for in a rural location with no previous experience of alpacas. She was thrilled with the calendar and looked through every page while we were there. It was nice to give something that someone appreciated so much.

Freddie glowing in the sun

Meditation in the sunlight

We have already started getting people ringing about visiting the alpacas this year, but nothing has come of that so far. Part of the problem of course has been the weather, but with more settled weather forecast then it is more likely they will come. We've also had an email reply from another alpaca owner who is interested in keeping in touch and learning about the alpacas. This is good news and something we hope will develop over time.

George is still getting milk from his mum, but he is also
quite keen on the squash he gets from time to time

George and his mum maybe different in colour but they do
have a similar shaped face, especially the nose and ears

Chanel glowing in the sunshine

So that's about it from the house of plague! There has been a lot of bone broth in this week. A lot of time just moping about, coughing and spluttering, but life goes on and we are recovering. Good job as I am also in the middle of finishing off the amendments to my latest academic paper and then it can be resubmitted. It's a good job it was only minor revisions that are needed

And because there is not much to write about during a week
of illness then here are lots of alpaca pictures. Here they are
the girls, setting off down the field