When we were in the process of purchasing our home, the previous owner offered to sell us her donkey and llama. She used them as guard animals to protect her goats. We planned on having goats and figured guard animals would be good. The llama was very aloof. She would not let us near her. She turned out to be a great guard animal though. Drew decided he wanted her as his animal and started working with her. After a while she would quickly snatch a little grain from him but really didn’t want to be touched. Recently he asked for a halter for her. I thought it was a crazy idea but I like giving our children chances to try their ideas so I bought him one. I was floored when he got it on her and doubly so when he started leading her around. So he continues to work with and I now have faith we will be able to get her sheared this year after all. And in case you are wondering, no she doesn’t spit.
The day Talia was born we filled up a 150 gallon stock tank for me to labor in. We noticed that day that the water kept running out. Going forward we would run out from time to time and have to wait for the well to catch up. About a two weeks ago it got dramatically worse. Finally this week we didn’t have enough to flush toilets and shower. We had to bring in big containers of water to flush toilets and take 30 second showers. Last weekend we had one repair guy out and he found one issue but it did not fix the problem. So yesterday we finally found out the problem. A different company did a test on the line from the well to the house. There was a definite leak. It was just a coincidence that it started after filling the stock tank. So today on a snowy 26 degree morning, an excavator came. He dug down deep to the water line and water started shooting out. There was a pipe that was broke through right at the pump head. Somebody had used piping that was not made for that purpose and tree roots had made their way through. It was an expensive repair but it would have been worse if the leak had been further up the line. And just for fun I got to try his Bobcat out. So we finally have water again. Yeah! Can’t wait for that hot shower.
The past couple days have felt like Spring around here. Spring on the farm is an exciting time. Does kid so there is a fresh supply of milk. Chickens start laying. Two days ago we found a bunch of eggs in the nesting boxes. The chicks we purchased in the fall are laying! Here is a link to a fun post Drew put on his blog. It is a funny video of our rooster.
I thought I would get a picture of her while she can still fit in the sink.
Our dining room is a bit odd shaped so when it came to looking for a dining table, nothing out there really fit what we were looking for. We also needed one that was large. So we decided to make our own. It is square and fits 8 people easily – more if we squeeze a little. Brian did the bulk of the work with some help from the boys. I think it turned out great.
She weighed in at 6lbs 4oz with a full head of hair.
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