Thursday, September 25, 2008

New Mexico State Fair

Ok, just a brief pause to come up for air, things are, ah, crazy right now.

We almost didn't make it to New Mexico. Our Ram decided to die the night before we left (bad fuel pump!) and the Dakota is running on slicks these days, so for safty sake, it wasn't an option. We ended up borrowing a truck and a trailer and off we went.
The show was fabulous. Even Brian had a good time. Heilo brought home a pretty green ribbon, which we where thrilled with. Even at the small shows, white/light is an amazingly competative class, so any ribbon is a possative statement on your breeding program. Unfortunatley, every single picture I took was totally blury. hmmm, can't be the operator, must be the camera...

I'll have another opertunity for photos in November when Heilo, Aries and O. go to Alpacafest West in L.A. Rather I'd BETTER get some photos, or Heilo's new half owner (my mom) will have my hide.
A.F.W. is also having a People's Choice Fiber Arts Contest which should be fun. I just have to decide what to pull from my stash of finished projects to enter.

Before all that though will be the Pinetop-Lakeside Artisian Festival this weekend. So I'll be rushing home after work (don't even get me started on what a rotten work week this has been! suffise to say that I won the showdown between me and my computer, but not by much)load up the truck and be ready to hit the road a 3 a.m.

whooo, I'm going to have to schedule a vacation to recover from all this action!

Tuesday, September 9, 2008

What? The AC is out AGAIN??????

Summer is almost over, thank goodness. It’s been a rough one.
Not for the animals, they took it all in stride, but the electronics have taken a beating. We’re working on the sixth motor on our AC unit. To be fair, we’re talking about two separate parts, the motor on the condenser out side, and the motor in the blower inside, but we did blow up four blower motors in the span of one week.
We witnessed one of the most spectacular lighting storms I have ever seen, which was to precursor to the demise of the first blower motor. Lightning hit the pole in front of the house. It’s a fairly creepy feeling to be standing in the dark asking “do you smell smoke?”
Motor number two was the replacement we bought the following day. We didn’t notice it was a 1/3 hp motor, when the one we took out was a ¾ hp. It lasted about 15 seconds before flames were shooting out of that one. (ok, I exaggerate a little, it was actually a fairly small flame…)
Motor number three blew after we called the AC repair guy back (we were now enlisting professional help) because the blower fan wouldn’t shut off… ever (but the house was nice and cool). Apparently there was a short in the capacitor and when he hooked the ground up (which he neglected to do the first time), well you guessed it, flames.
So, now with a new capacitor and some new relays, motor number four seems to be holding its own. Of course, we lost power again last night. APS hates us and wants us to suffer.
The generators are getting a work out this year.
On other repair news, we kept busting a water line to one of the swamp coolers, but we have since replace the entire thing and I hope that will be settled for awhile.




Ok, so it hasn’t been all bad, our terri socks arrived from the mill and I have to say I am extremely pleased with the results. Our cable socks are on their way, and I expect the crew socks by the end of the month.
I’ve been busy at the loom. I’ll be attending a craft show in two weeks and have been trying to get as much done as possible before the big weekend.
I’ve also been busy halter training Adama and Heilo before the New Mexico State Fair. I think this will be a good place to get the boys started in shows. Here’s hoping they don’t knock me on my butt.