Just another week gone by!

Ilvija before shearing looking like a little
teddy bear

Time flies when you're having fun they say. Time just flies anyway I think. Another week gone and more shearing done. We've almost finished. We just have a mini-zoo left to do. This last week we sheared the rest of our girls on one day and the rest of the boys a few days later. It has been a bit difficult trying to fit the shearing in this year. First because it was too cold early on, then too wet and travelling to do other's. Finally we had a few days when the rain was only forecast to start later in the day and Ian is now fast enough to get it done in a few hours, at least on just four or five animals. After we sheared the girls, we had literally just packed up everything and thinking of sitting down for a coffee when the rain started, but at least we managed. It was also manageable to get it done and still have time for me to get on with some work, if I worked into the evening anyway.

Long legs, not like her Mum

Such a cutie.

How are we going to tell these too apart. Ilvija is 
definitely a little mini-Chanel.

The swelling has gone down but there
is still a crick in Turbjørn's neck 

I mentioned last week that we wondered if Turbjørn had some arthritis in his neck. The next day Ian came into the caravan and said you had better come and have a look. Turbjørn was sat upright but his neck was most certainly not straight, it had a definite kink in it. We had the vet come out to look, but she doesn't really know much about alpaca necks - this is something a bit different to the problems we've had with alpacas up until now. She gave us some anti-inflammatories and Vitamin B complex and the swelling at least seems to have gone down. He still has a bit of a kink, but due to the wonders of modern technology and an appeal on our Facebook page we have someone who is studying animal physiotherapy coming to have a look this next week. We lined up a few other jobs while we are at it that we would like some advice on. It will add to our knowledge anyway.

A pond frog

These ones do like to sunbathe

Mari looks very smart.

Brencis is so nosy, each time Ian switched off the shears  

he would come and look to see what was happening

Father and two of his sons. Tellus in front,
then George and then Brencis

It was a short blog last week because I have so many deadlines due and so much work including on our farm that I was rather inundated. The amount of work is beginning to slow down a bit and by the end of the week I will have finished some major milestones. More on that next week though. What I did forget to mention is that we had one of those, "What was all that about?" moments during shearing at one place. It is normally a lively affair at this one particular farm as one of their alpacas is rather spitty and uncooperative. This time it wasn't that particular animal that caused mayhem though. We were shearing one of the alpacas when two of the ladies helping suddenly jumped up and ran to the back of the barn. There was a bit of a commotion and we saw the bull kicking up quite a fuss, but it only dawned on me afterwards that he must have been on the wrong side of the hefty fence. He was corralled up before I even realised what had happened and Ian was oblivious because he was focussed on the shearing. Now that would have been rather exciting if he had got out, but the sort of excitement I'm quite prepared to miss out on. Still all was well in the end, which was a good job as one of our helpers is due to give birth this month.

Jakobs is looking spottier, I'm sure!

The grass has grown a lot

We have started the plans so that we are open for visitors this next weekend. People have already been ringing up and we have agreed to let them visit. We don't mind small groups with a little advance warning. What we will not be doing is having people just turn up. We want to be prepared for visitors and so people will have to book in advance, no matter how far they have travelled. Also Latvia moved out of the state of emergency this last week and although there are still deaths from Covid19 there have been no new cases in the last two days and even before that the number of cases had been pretty low. There are still some restrictions on distancing and masks on public transport but for outside events the restrictions are minimal. We plan on only doing outside tours and not doing so much of a demonstration like we used to. Not quite sure what will happen on very hot days or days when it rains yet. We will find out. 

Just too hot!

Relief in the rain

George looks much happier to have less fleece.

As I said, work is winding down as we head towards the end of a project I am involved in. Little did I know how much I would learn about the Baltic Sea and how much the marine environment is beneficial to people. I have learnt about the different ways that pollution gets into the sea and the way that the sea processes those harmful substances. Some are neutralised and some are accumulated and cause us harm. Then there are underwater eelgrass meadows that are nurseries for the fish we eat - isn't that cute? Reed wetlands filter water for us, so there isn't as much of the harmful substances in the water we swim in. That and so much more. You can see a bit of what I've been doing here (link), I was on the health and well-being team. 

Josefs before shearing

He really needed a haircut

Dapper!

A very leggy looking Josefs

Freddie with his new haircut.

I still have another project to finish that I'm working on. This one was just a short project for me, as they needed some help to finish that one off, also about the sea, but also other blue spaces and health. Then I start work on a new project but more land based this time. At least that keeps me going part-time until the end of the year. It keeps me busy and some income coming in anyway. At least part-time I might be able to actually clean up my computer and sort through the hundreds of files I've saved ready for a project of my own - well maybe. There will also be the garden to sort out. The weeds, as usual are getting ahead of me. At least this weekend, in a brief spell before the rain, I managed to find parsnips, beetroot and garlic. The carrots look a bit thin though. Either they haven't come through or still coming through. I'll find out next week and re-sow if there are not enough of them. 

Sweet Freddie before he was sheared. He was amusing  

because he made such a funny noise before while  

he was being sheared. 

 

A spruce tree

All the boys sheared now.

Ian at least tackled the greenhouse monsters, aka grapevines today. They look so sweet as they start to grow and then suddenly they change into a raging monsters that threaten to strangle you as you go in through the door. It is amazing how much it grows in just a week. At least I have a ready supply of leaves to bake bread on until the end of the growing season. They save on baking paper, oil and wear and tear on my silicon baking sheets. Which is good, because I bake bread every few days anyway, virus lockdown or not. 

Lady V looks like she has a spring in her step since being sheared