RMFIH '14 - A dogs best freind

This one is a local story from around Thanksgiving. Not only should we help each other, we should be willing to go the extra mile for a furry friends too.

http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/20131101wounded-pit-bull-saved-sensation.html?nclick_check=1http://www.azcentral.com/community/phoenix/articles/20131101wounded-pit-bull-saved-sensation.html?nclick_check=1

Restore My Faith In Humanity 2014

So it's a new year. 2013 ended with a whimper, leaving a slightly bad taste in my mouth. In an effort to not dwell on the negative, I'm starting a new project: Restore My Faith In Humanity.

As part of my effort to remind myself to be positive, no matter what, to see the silver lining, even when I would rather just wallow in self-pity, I am scoring the internet, talking to strangers and keeping my eyes open for examples, big and small of people doing good deeds for others.

We're starting out with this: a yahoo story about a guy in PA taking time to help out the elderly in his town during the recent cold snap, by delivering anything they need so they don't have to venture out into the cold.

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/pizza-store-owner-delivers-medications-to-residents-during-blizzard-232427794.html

Stay tuned for more stories of inspiration, or add one yourself.

Smile! It will really piss off a grumpy person.

While I was attending an open house at a friend's farm this past weekend, I had a woman call asking if she could come out to the farm and see the alpacas. Of course I told her she was welcome, but that weekend would be tough, maybe she would be able to come to our open house in a couple of weeks? That sounded like a plan to her, she started to ask for some more info and then said, well that's alright, you update your blog.

..... Uh, yeah. About that blog.

 

Obviously, I have not been keeping up. I'm not even sure where to begin. We attended the annual Fall Festival up in Pinetop again this year. Sales were pretty good, beating last year. Sales aside, we always have a good time at that show and it's great to see our show friends again. This year we were next to a woman that makes clocks out of old door hardware. I was highly impressed with her work, but couldn't think of a spot to put another clock. Maybe next year.

I also went to the Southwest Fiber Festival down in Tubac earlier this month. That was a long drive, but well worth the effort. We blew away last year's numbers.

This coming weekend is an off weekend for me, then it's three weekends worth of shows in a row. The weekend before Thanksgiving we'll be up in Sun City West at a new show we're trying out this year. Then off to Chino Valley for the annual Christmas Boutique at Singletree Farm. Finally ending up at out place for the 7th annual open house here.

The weekend after out open house, our partner farm, Mesquite Valley Ranch in Gilbert will be hosting another open house, but we'll be resting up and getting the house decorated for Christmas.

And then I'm going to take a nice long nap.

So I've finally managed to get some work done out in the shop. I've been avoiding the place for the last couple of months, well, because it's 130 freakin' degrees out there and I'm totally sick of being hot.  But show season is rapidly approaching, and I've got to get some product put together or the alpacas won't eat this winter.

 Actually, as fat as they've all gotten, it probably wouldn't hurt them to not eat for awhile, but they can get quite whiney when they are hungry and the constant humming would probably get distracting.

But I digress...

I got about two dozen skeins of yarn dyed up and a bunch of two ounce batts ready. During the month of October, there is a yarn crawl organized for the state of Arizona and Tempe Yarn wants us fully stocked over there. We are also donating a hand-woven rug to Tempe yarn as one of their giveaways for the event.  So all you yarnies, make sure to stop in and show Tempe Yarn your support.

Kittens, kittens and kittens, oh my!

Oh Happy Day! We spent the weekend trapping kittens. In the end we caught thirteen really, really pissed off  cats. An achievement I am particularly proud of as we only had 12 traps. I have become a very efficient cat trapper and earned myself a spot on the Spay and Neuter Hotline's Facebook page. Makes me kind of wish I had showered before schlepping all those cats up to Tempe.

Any hoot, there is a single holdout left in our colony and I'm 80% sure it's a male, so I'm less stressed about catching up with him than I was about getting the females before they all reach breeding age. He won't be making kittens on his own. Our colony has gotten as big as it ever will (PLEASE!).

For any one keeping count, we have spayed and neutered 31 cats since the end of May.  I swore this would be the last generation of kittens, and I think I am winning the fight.

And once again, Brian spent some time being amused by drunken kittens wandering around the property. The kittens were less amused.

and then there is Yoda.

I know this blog is suppose to be about alpacas, but lately our lives have been revolving around kittens (okay, my life. Brian is far less concerned about the fuzzy little buggers.)

The count for kittens under the house is now at thirteen. Actually it has always been that high, I just finally managed to get them all out in the open for an accurate count.

Plus one in the house.

Yes, there is a kitten in the house, on purpose. In the open, not hiding under the floor boards. For a two to three week period, the momma cats developed a nasty habit of scattering kittens everywhere; under hay bales, under car parts, in between  irrigation pipes. Which is fine except that the kittens, now having to wait until their mothers came around to feed them, would start yelling at the top of their little kitten lungs for a meal. It was very distracting.

I finally started gathering kittens up and stuffing them back under the house where their mothers were hanging out. (Here cat, you lost this!) This plan was working rather well until we came across the last lost kitten. When I went to fetch him from under the hay, I discovered that he was not in great health. His eyes were swollen shut and he was just bones and fluff.  Stuffing him back under the house would probably just mean a slow death.  I challenge anyone to  condemn a kitten to a slow death. Even the most hard-hearted villain would have a hard time doing so.

So he came into the house so I could clean him up, feed him and make him well. While I was washing out his swollen eyes, Brian made a comment: "He looks just like Yoda. Hi Yoda!"

Crap.

Well now he has a name, we have to keep him. So Yoda, weighing in at a whooping 12 ounces, became a member of the family.

Now two weeks later he has more than doubled his weight. His eyes are looking good and he has gained enough confidence to lie on his back and play with Molly's nose. Molly for her part, has agreed not to eat him.  Even Daisy will play with him on occasion, but only when the mode hits her and on her terms. (which usually involve her flipping Yoda onto his back with her nose, then stomping on his belly.)

Even Dot has gotten in on the Yoda bandwagon. When she comes to get the dogs for doggy daycare, Yoda goes with her. Can't have him spending all day by himself, after all.

One of these days, I'm going to get back to writing about the alpacas, I promise.

The kitten saga, or How I lost my mind and destroyed my house.

Two weeks ago, my friend Pat asked me if we had any kittens. Well, yes! I replied. We have four that are tame enough to be pets, two males and two females. She was headed out of town on vacation, but when she got back, she said she would take the two males.

So she called me Sunday afternoon to let me know she was back and would come over for the kittens after awhile. Being the good and dutiful friend that I am, I tried to lure the kittens out from under the house, where they spend the heat of the day. (along with their mother, three more adult cats and at least nine more kittens) I managed to get the two females, but only one of the males. For safe keeping, I put them in the laundry room until Pat could come and choose the ones she wanted.

Brian, wanting to see what I was up to, took a peak in the laundry room after a few minutes. He then informed me that there isn't a kitten to be seen.

Well shoot. I can't have them hidden away when Pat gets here, so I go looking for kittens. I manage to find two (one boy, one girl) in short order, but I cannot find the third kitten.

I stashed the first two in our small bathroom, thinking there are no hiding places in there I can't get to, and go back to search for missing kitten number three. I finally manage to find her in the motor of our freezer and by bending my body into many unnatural positions, manage to get her out. Triumph!

Off I go with my little prize, to put her in safe keeping with her siblings. But wait! There are no kittens in the bathroom. What the....

So stashing rotten kitten number three in a box, I set off to find the little rats, er, kittens. Turns out, there is a tiny gap between the floor of the vanity and the top of the kick board. The kittens had squeezed themselves through it and where under the sink. At least I hoped so, as Brian pointed out; what if there was a gap in the floor where the pipes come up and the kittens where now in the insulation under the house.

Okay, so now I'm panicked, think I have just condemned these poor hapless kittens to a slow starvation under the floorboards of the house. Or how I was going to convince Brian to start pulling up floor boards to get them out. Luckily for me, Brian is a much calmer person and came up with option number three; he pulled the kicker board off the vanity. (some splintering occurred in the process, but I'll deal with that later)  We could now see the three kittens huddled in the corner. I decided they were safe enough there for the time being and went to calm myself.

When Pat arrived a few hours later, I got down on my belly and retrieved the first kitten. The second kitten followed quickly after. To get the last kitten, I had to reach as far as I could and twist my shoulder. once I got the kitten in my grasp, I realized my arm was now stuck under the vanity. I have to tell you, I just put my head down on the floor and decided I would die there before I admitted I couldn't get free. After what felt like to me, an eternity, but I'm sure was really just a couple of breaths, I tried to turn my arm in various directions to see if I could pop it loose, all the while keeping my grip on the kitten, who was now biting my thumb. At last, I find the right combination and pull both arm and kitten from beneath the vanity.

Pat ended up taking the two girls, and I let the little boy go back to his mom and brother under the house. Pat's granddaughter was thrilled with her new little friends. So, other than some scrapes on my elbow, a few tiny teeth marks on my hand and a bathroom that is going to need some repairs, the story had a happy ending.

By the way, when I asked Pat how the kittens had done through the night, she let me know that they had escaped from the kennel she had set up for them so they wouldn't get lost, and they were hiding under the sofa. At least they weren't somewhere between the walls.