The clock ticks on!

We have been in pensive mood here in Patouland and I apologise if previous blogs have lacked a bit of humour. It just seems a bit difficult to be zany when I think of alpacas. If I think of alpacas (which I do a lot, as we all do I bet) I think of Lily. When I think of Lily I start to worry that we have missed something or that we should be doing something or that I should have done something better.....or different. I assume you have the picture?

Anyway, when we do take the time to detach and look at the big picture things are looking bright. Lily is going from strength to strength. I have been at home all day today and I think she has grazed more than any other member of the herd. She had one long flounce in the sun, as did the others, (I might have had a bit of a flounce myself this afternoon) other than that she has been munching all day. She runs. I know that may seem something small but to see her run is superb. Sure she's not pronking or anything like that but every now and again she breaks into a trot for a few yards.

We still have a way to go, she is still very thin and by the look of her gums, still anaemic but she is fighting like a tiger and we really believe in our hearts that the silly old sausage is going to make a full recovery. She can't go just yet because we love her and she loves us loving her, or something.

So what else have we been up to? Well I trekked westwards into bandit country last weekend to visit Monseigneur Timothy at the Incatan for another masterclass. This time it was power tool time as his Timness taught me how to grind alpaca teeth with an angle grinder.

Priscilla, one of our foundation females has the fastest growing teeth in the west. Because I had sheared the herd myself last year teeth grinding got missed and poor old Priscilla was starting to look like an inverted Bugs Bunny, with his eyes on his chin................and his ears upside down...well you get the picture. Anyway after my masterclass and a visit to B & Q on my way home I was fully equipped for some serious dentistry. The following day Priscilla was dealt with and now has a supermodel smile.....................well almost.

Other than that the only thing of note alpacawise was that we decided to treat the whole herd with a coccidiosis drench. Purely because we have never done it before and we just wanted to put our minds at rest. As usual the only problem was Bobby the resident spit fountain. It was like trying to plug a hole in a dam. As I moved closer to her mouth with the drenching syringe the flow of spit increased. I didn't realise that alpacas could actually switch to 'fully automatic' and spit continuously without seemingly taking a breath. My hand, the syringe and the fence turned green in about 5 secoonds. She was even spitting whilst the drench was going in and I really don't know how she did that!

Anyway I must be off, small boy requiring a bath. And yes I can still smell it.