Kas jauns? What's new?

Vanessa is such a sweet looking alpaca. This is
not the face a male alpaca sees, she is not so sweet
then in the slightest.

After asking me how I am, "kas jauns?" is the next question my Latvian teacher asks each week. So what is new this week? I did get skiing again, but I hobbled around. I got a bit of a blister on the first day and my socks made it far worse on the second day, despite the plaster I put on. So I think that might be it for the winter, but still better than last winter. There was hardly any snow last winter and when there was I didn't have the time to ski. I'm pleased I got over my embarrassment of skiing in front of others though and so maybe next winter I might get out sooner - if there's enough snow that is. 

Don't worry Rocket Ron, the nasty cold stuff will
soon be gone and warmer days are here.

We are getting a coat for Silla's cria. You can almost
guarantee that she will be outside most of the time in
rain or shine. We're going to have keep an eye on the
little one when it comes to make sure it doesn't suffer
from adverse weather, whether that is cold or heat. I
don't think Silla cares what the weather is, she will be
outside. Note that icicle, it got within 10cms of the floor
before it broke off in the warmer weather.

The icicle hanging off the roof in
close up.

Brencis looking all nice and calm.
He wasn't very bad having his
toe nails cut but it did take 
someone big enough to drape over
his back to keep him calm. I'm
just not tall enough to do that.

I needed to be out on the land on Saturday as we had someone who had was bringing alpaca food and agreed to help to get Brencis' toe nails cut and his vitamin injections given. I decided to stay out there and to do some snow shoeing. It was a good day to be out on the land though, as it wasn't as cold as it has been but still cold enough for crisp snow. It's the first time in a long time since I've been snow shoeing We had a lovely walk around our forest and at least the boots I used were nice and comfortable so no hobbling around by the end of it. Sadly that might be the last time this winter, as the snow is now rapidly melting. I was hoping I might get the chance to walk around the ski track here as I haven't really found out where it goes to yet. I wouldn't like to just walk on it as I think there would have been a few icy patches and skating is definitely not something I'm good at. 

My snow shoes

Not my tracks, but animal tracks.
It makes you realise that we are not
the only ones here. It is much easier
to see the presence of multiple animals
through the winter.

Soaking up those rays of sunshine. Still not 
strong enough for vitamin D yet and so they'll
be getting another dose this next week.

This meant I only had one day to get on with my granddaughter's patchwork dresses. I've been steadily getting on with them but time is ticking on and it is difficult to know how long it will be before we move out to the caravan. The skirt section is finished for one of the dresses and another one needs two more rows stitching on. At least my sewing machine is more or less working properly this week. I still need to dye some more fabric for the largest one. I am at least getting quicker as I now have got more of a system for tacking the rows together. It is a lot of fabric when each row is 11/2 times bigger each time. 

Valeria's toothy face

Josef's toothy grin

Ilvija has been playing in the snow while I work

Today I had one of those work days when I really wished I hadn't started but it had to be done. I use spreadsheets a lot and I find them useful enough to sort out my ideas, but making lists of articles is not my idea of fun. I had to also merge about three or four spreadsheets into one and sort through them. It took me until way past normal clocking off time to get done because it is needed for tomorrow. And of course I also found an issue that hadn't been picked up earlier. I lost count of the number of times I tried to get the numbers to agree before I found out what the problem was. Anyway, hopefully it is all sorted now and it's fingers crossed that a colleague can make the minor adjustments needed to a figure to complete the article that needs submitting tomorrow by someone else.

The snow still looks so fresh, but soon it will be 
gone

It did get reasonably deep, although
we've known more

Brencis in close up

Amanda has been looking weary. Her first time
pregnant.

A gorgeous day but it was cold

Freddie behind and Jakobs in front having a bit
of a disagreement

Turbjørn finding the warm spot again

He got a new coat this week. Hand-made in Latvia

The snow has been that high that a deer just walked
over the double fence we had around the orchard

My vegetable garden. There maybe carrots and 
turnips under there. They've certainly been
protected by the bales of hay, fleece and a thick 
layer of snow

Finally they are all getting the hang of this warm 
spot

The little greenhouse has been getting quite warm
in the sun

Toasty!

Ian had to open the windows for the chickens. The
problem is that we will have to ensure that no
wild birds can get in due to the Avian flu. Something
to work out before the migrant birds return soon.

Rocket Ron