Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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Wordless Wednesday

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Bye, Bye, Birdie

Farina on Cupola

This is that last we saw of our Peacock, Farina. He was one of two males that we have had for a little over 3 years. Two weeks ago we had a group of friends over to the farm, and had opened the door to the PeaPod so that our friends could see the birds.

PeaPod

Farina must have been spooked, seeing strangers standing in the doorway, and he flew out the open door, landing on top of the barn cupola. I hoped that he would come back to the roost in the evening, so we shut Buckwheat in the aviary, and opened the doors to the house, turned on the lights and put a bowl of food in the doorway. We sat out there for hours waiting for him to fly into the house, but when it got dark, we went up to the house. Next morning we scoured the entire property for him, but he had disappeared.

We were broken hearted to lose him, but the worst was seeing how dejected Buckwheat was to have lost his friend. He called out several times the next morning, but Farina never returned. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worse, and we had several inches of snow and record cold temps for the next week. I doubt that a peacock could survive in those conditions without shelter.

We felt so bad for Buckwheat that we bought him a girlfriend. He had never known anything but male companionship, so we weren’t sure how he would react to a new hen. But it was love at first sight. We’ve named her Darla.

Buckwheat accepts Darla

By morning, he was singing love songs and showing off his tail. He has been very gentle toward her. Notice the head down posture. I can only surmise, as I don’t speak peacock, that he is letting her know he is not going to challenge her. Smart Bird!

Could be we’ll get some eggs come spring.

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Don’t Get Buried Under Your Paperwork

A goldendoodle’s first Christmas

Having an overly energetic puppy can bring a lot of extra stress around the holidays when you are introducing a lot of new and enticing objects to the dog’s already over stimulating environment. I can imagine the puppy saying, “Wow, you’re bringing me a tree! I can climb on it, chew and tug on the branches, lift my leg on it, scratch my back on the lower limbs. And you’re hanging toys all over it! What fun! Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.”

And then, if you are the sort that likes to tempt fate and throw caution to the winds, you will put gifts under the tree. Wrapped in PAPER… The greatest puppy attractant in the world. Lured by the temptation to dig his teeth into the wrapping and hear the sound of rending paper, the pup gets close enough to sniff the boxes.

Nostrils flare, tongue lolls… brain registers the delectable scents of candy, nuts, cheese and crackers, and DOG TREATS! A dog’s Nirvana right there under his very own tree.

These were my imaginings… my fears. I wrote a Christmas poem, “The Spirit of Christmas” which I posted here a couple of weeks ago, detailing the scenario that kept playing in my brain.

But all these worries were unwarranted. Bayley totally ignored the tree, the ornaments, and the presents that we placed underneath….Until Christmas morning and we started passing out the gifts.

“Let the games begin”

The sound of ripping paper was unbearably alluring. Bayley wanted to assist in unveiling the contents of the boxes, but her teeth didn’t stop at the paper. Cardboard and plastic were fair game as well.

In the interest of self preservation, we starting tossing the sheets of wrapping paper into the middle of the floor, where Bayley immediately set forth to reduce it to confetti. She occupied herself in this fashion all morning.

Even her Christmas gifts of chewies and stuffies were not as much fun as the Great Pile of Paper.

I had to overcome my natural OCD tendencies to keep the room neat and tidy…. to put each piece of paper as it comes off a gift into a trash bag, to gather all saveable bows into a box, to collapse all gift boxes into a pile for use next year. And you know what, I had a blast. One of my best gifts of all was watching my pup having the time of her life on her first Christmas.

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Paw Print Cookies

It’s not too late to make an extra special Christmas gift for your doggie friends. Bayley and Mayzie want to share the recipe for their favorite cookie.

Mayzie and Bayley dress as “Sandy Paws”

To make these treats, I press their paw into each cookie.

Just kidding. But they did serve as models for me to make the paw print press.

I used Sculpey Polymer clay to form the cookie press. This clay is available in any hobby store, easy to work with and then just hardens in your oven.

Dogs love these cookies. We made up several batches to give to all our doggie friends for Christmas presents. They do have wheat flour and corn meal in them, so if your dogs have any sensitivity to these ingredients, then you might want to use a different recipe.

THE RECIPE — Makes about 7 dozen

INGREDIENTS

3 cups all-purpose flour
3 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups quick cooking oatmeal
1 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast
½ cup dry milk powder
3 tsp beef bouillon granules
3 cups water

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F (150 degrees C). Grease a cookie sheet.

2. In a large mixing bowl, combine white flour, whole wheat flour, oatmeal, cornmeal, garlic powder, brewer’s yeast and instant milk. Stir in 2 cups water. Mix the ingredients well using your hands. The dough should be very stiff. Gradually mix in the remaining 1 cup water to make a bread-dough consistency.

3. Form dough into balls and press with the bottom of a drinking glass. or roll out to a ¼ to ½ inch thickness on a floured board and cut with a cookie cutter. Place the biscuits on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake the cookies 45 minutes, turn oven off completely but do not remove the biscuits. Let the biscuits sit in the oven overnight or for 8 hours. Store biscuits in an air-tight container.

So here we go. Let’s make some Paw Print Cookies.

These cookies cool in the oven overnight or for 8 hours, so it’s a good idea to start making these in the evening.

Start by combining all the dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.

I found that when using the paw print press, the oatmeal gave too much texture to the dough and the pressed paw print wasn’t all that clear. So I ran the oatmeal through a food processor to grind it up a bit.

Whole oatmeal

ground oatmeal

Don’t grind it as fine as flour. It should still have some texture to it.

As for the brewer’s yeast, you don’t have to add it if you don’t want to, but it is purported to have a lot of health benefits for dogs, from a shinier coat, less shedding, enhanced immune system, and a flea preventative. When I went to the health food store to buy it, it was only available in a huge tin, but the sales person showed me a product made just for dogs called “Pet Guard yeast and garlic powder”. I use 2 tablespoons of this powder rather that the 1 tablespoon brewer’s yeast and 1 tablespoon garlic powder. And you can sprinkle this on the food everyday for added benefits.

Once you have all the dry ingredients in the bowl, stir them up well.

Now add the 2 cups of water and start squishing.

This is a great way to get out some of that holiday frustration that you’ve been holding in. The dough is very stiff and my hands get really tired before the dough is finally mixed. Start gradually adding the remaining cup of water until all the flour is incorporated.

Roll the dough into little balls, about the size of a walnut.

These cookies are not going to spread or rise, so you can place them close together. Just allow enough room for pressing them flat.

I use the bottom of a glass to flatten the balls to a thickness between ¼ inch and ½ inch. Then I press each cookie with the paw print press.

If you don’t have a paw press, you can leave the cookies just like this. Or you can roll the dough out to the same thickness and cut with a cookie cutter. I have a 3½ inch dog bone cutter that I sometimes use.

Put the cookies in the 300 degree oven and cook for 45 minutes. Turn the oven off and leave the cookies inside overnight. They will still be soft at the end of the baking time, but by morning, they will be hard and crunchy, just the way your pup will like them.

R-R-R-Ruff Ruff (Yum Yum)

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The Reindogs of Twin Creeks

“Oh, Geez, Mayzie. Here we go again with the dress up”

“What the heck is this thing on my head, anyway?”

“Mayzie, you look ridiculous! Is that what I look like?”

“Well, the heck with this!”

“Uhh, Bayley…I don’t think you were supposed to do that.”

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Preparing Your Llama or Alpaca Fleece–With a Fiber Blow Out Box

Step by Step Tutorial on How to Build Your Own Box with PVC Pipe

After owning llamas for 11 years, I am finally starting to get interested in producing things with their wonderful fiber. Up until last year, we had been sending all of our fiber to mills that would process it from the fleece into a finished product, such as socks, rugs, scarves, and mittens.

I decided last year to have my llama fiber spun into yarn so that I could learn to make things myself. I have really enjoyed working with the yarn from my very own llamas. It is so soothing to feel its softness slip between my fingers as the intertwining loops grow into a finished creation.

I’m still very new to this process, but one thing I have learned is that there is a definite cost benefit to taking the extra time to prepare your fiber before sending it to a mill, or before processing it yourself if you are clever enough to be a spinner. When the mill receives your fleeces, the fees are initially based on the incoming weight. By the time it is processed into yarn, you can lose up to 50% of your initial weight if you haven’t cleaned it up a bit beforehand.

I’m only talking about llama and alpaca fiber here, as sheep wool contains lanolin, and requires additional steps, which I’m not going to go into. Before shearing, we carefully blow out our llamas to remove vegetation and dirt.

Blowing out the dust

How llamas get so dirty in the first place

Then we brush them to further remove vm (vegetable matter). But even so, there will be junk that remains stuck in their hair. Then there are the inevitable second cuts, the small pieces of short fleece remaining in the fiber, caused by shearing the same area twice. All this waste will be processed out, but adds to your incoming weight.

Now— an easy way to clean up that fleece right off the animal, the Fiber Blow Out Box. (It’s still best to clean the fiber as well as you can while it is still on the animal). Just put your shorn fleece into the box and blow it with a Circuiteer high speed blower, or a leaf blower will do. This allows the fleece to tumble and separate so that the dust, trash, and short fibers are blown out of the mesh of the box.

blowing the dust out of the fiber–off of the llama.

I saw a version of a fiber blow out box at a recent llama conference and came up with a simple and inexpensive way to make one myself. I’ve been using PVC a lot lately in building agility equipment for my Goldendoodle pup, Bayley. PVC is lightweight, inexpensive, and very easy to work with. I’m not a “tool girl” and I only need one tool to make most anything with PVC.

PVC cutter. This one cost about $10.

These are the instructions for making your own blow out box. It will take a couple of hours and will cost less than $30 in materials. The finished size is 24” x 34”.
It is important to be accurate when cutting and gluing, making sure each pipe is fully seated in its connector, and your squares are as true as you can make them.

TOOLS
PVC cutter
Sharpie marking pen
Measuring tape

MATERIALS

You will need three 10′ lengths and one 5′ length of ¾” Schedule 40 PVC pipe. All of the connectors are for ¾” pipe. I designed the box with these measurements to minimize waste. If you cut one piece of 10′ pipe into four 22″ pieces, you will have 32″ left over for your side pieces. The fourth piece of 32″ pipe will be cut from the 5′ section.

All the pre-cut pieces, ready to be assembled

1. 90-degree slip connectors (4)
2. 3-way corner fitting connector (8)
3. 22” pipe sections (12)
4. 32” pipe sections (4)
5. ½” plastic hardware cloth (36” by 15′)
6. White cable ties (8″ long) (100)
7. White Cable ties for door hinge (12″ long) (4)
8. Glue (see comments below)
9. Two 10″ mini bungee cords

ASSEMBLY

Let’s start with the 24” end squares. There will be 3. One square will serve as your opening door.

2 end squares and the door panel

Start by gluing four 22” sections to four 3-way corner fittings. Once your square is assembled, place it on a flat surface and adjust so that it lays flat.

24″ end square with 3 way corner fittings

A NOTE ABOUT GLUE
I don’t recommend using the PVC glue that is sold in the plumbing section. This stuff bonds IMMEDIATELY and does not allow for any readjustment that will be necessary to make sure all of your angles are true. Since this doesn’t have to meet a water pressure test, I have found that a plastic epoxy works wonderfully. This glue sets up in from 10 to 20 minutes, allowing you to tweak the joints once they are assembled.

Plastic welder

Make the second end square the same way. Then make the door square using four 22” sections and the four 90-degree connectors.

Square for opening door with 90 degree corner fittings

Place one of the end squares flat on the floor, and stick one of the 32” sections in each joint gluing as you go. Then place the top end square in place and glue, pressing firmly to assure the pieces are fully seated.

Your box frame is now complete and ready to be wrapped in the plastic hardware cloth.

Cut the plastic netting to 9′. This will be too long, but we will cut it to size once it is attached to the frame. Lay the netting out on a flat surface and place the box on top so that one end of the box is aligned with the edge of the net. You want the net to be the exact width of the box, so go ahead and cut the net to the correct width. It should be 34″ wide.

Place one of the end squares on the remaining net and cut two pieces. They should be 24″ square.
My advice, measure the net to the frames before cutting it. There could be variations in the dimensions of your box.

Laying out the netting

Now line up one edge of the box with the 34″ edge of the plastic net.

Position frame along edge of netting

Attach the net to the PVC pipe with the 8″ cable ties. I put 3 on each pipe, pulling the net tightly as you wrap it around. Once the net is secured, go back and put a couple more ties on each rail and trim off the tails. You can get an idea of what we did in this photo.

Initial wrap with 3 cable ties on each rail

Finished wrap with 5 cable ties on each rail

Attach the net to one of the square ends, but leave the other end open. This will be your door opening.

Then attach the net to the square that you made with the 90 degree corner connectors.

Attach net to door square

Now you are ready to attach the door to the box. For hinges you will use the 12″ cable ties. Connect one side of the door panel to a top rail of the open end of the box. 3 ties should be enough, and don’t tighten them down too much. You want the door to swing easily but not be too loose.

Use 12 inch cable ties to attach the door.

The door should swing easily.

To secure the door, use the two 10” mini bungee cords. It’s quick and easy to “lock” and open the door to load your fiber.

Bungee latches

Now you’re ready to try it out.

Load one fleece at a time. You want the fibers to be able to separate and move around as you are blowing it out.

Blow Out Box with 1 Raw Llama Fleece

Use a circuiteer high speed blower or a leaf blower and blow air into the box. There will be a lot of dust flying, but it doesn’t show in the photos.

Keep rotating the box and blowing up under the fiber to keep it moving. When you don’t see any more dust, (it’ll take about 5 minutes or so), it’s done.

You fiber should now look clean and fluffy.

Fluffy fleece

You may find some remaining longer pieces of grass and hay that is still in the fiber. The longer stuff won’t be blown out of the small holes in the net. This stuff you will have to pick out by hand.

Long hay pieces may remain.

In the future we’ll try to make sure our floor is clean when we shear. I know what happened here. We had a hay bag by the shute to keep the llamas entertained while we sheared, and they dropped pieces of hay into the cut fiber on the floor.

Shearing Santiago

As I said earlier, it is much easier to clean the fiber while it is still on the llama. Time spent on this step is not wasted. This blow out box will not clean a filthy fleece. It will merely remove any dust, dirt, small second cuts, and bits of vegetable matter that may remain in a relatively clean fleece. You might want to use a 1 inch plastic hardward cloth, but I was afraid of losing too much of the good fiber.

Please let me know if you decide to build one of the boxes. You might come up with even better ideas that I would love to hear about.

Next, I’m going to run this fleece through a drum carder to make it into batts that I can use for my needle felting and wet felting projects. I’ll let you know how that comes out.

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Llamas on Parade

There is no better way to herald in the Christmas Season than to go to the local Christmas Parade. Oh, except for, maybe, walking in the parade.

I love a small town parade. We have talked for years about walking in our town’s parade, but with our weekends being occupied with our llama trekking business, we were never available. But this year we made the time and we did it. What a great time.

Parade Lineup

We gathered up 6 friends to walk 6 of our llamas. We hung sleigh bells around their necks and put antlers on their heads. (The llamas , that is).

Reindeer antlers

The crowd loved seeing the llamas, especially the kids. They would bunch up right in the middle of the street to pet the llamas. Our llama, Silver, seemed to be the most approachable target.

Hi Ho Silver

Even the adults were Ga Ga.

At one point, our littlest llama, Pete, was mobbed by the children for a couple of minutes, holding up the parade behind him.

Pete Greets

Of course the rest of the herd disappeared down the street. When Pete tired of the adulation and realized he had been left behind, he dashed down the street to catch up, dragging his handler behind.

The crowd loved seeing the llamas, but it was evident that many didn’t know what the heck they were. We heard several “Look, it’s camels”; and from one sweet child, “it’s fuzzy reindeer”. Of course there was a lot of the usual mistaken identity, “Look, they’re alcapas.”

But oddly enough, these wooly, four legged mammals, are sometimes mistaken for emu; even by the nurses’ assistant that stopped by to enquire at the end of the parade route.

But the most important member of the group was the elf that brought up the rear.

Pooper Scooper Elf

Luckily I didn’t need to scoop any poop along the way, but I did hear my share of sideline remarks, to include, “She’s sure got a shi**y job”.

But back at the trailer, a job well done, Pete said, “Thank goodness that’s over, can I go home now”.

Home again, Home again, Please?

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The Zombie Apocolypse

Bayley’s Zombie Army

As you can see she goes right for the brain to immediately subjugate them to her will.

New Recruit

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