Winter Comes Back - on the First Day of Spring

Winter is back, on the first official day of spring.  All the garden dreams are put on the back burner for a few days, while we wait for seven inches of snow to melt.  This morning, instead of getting to church, I spent an hour shoveling out the top of the driveway so we could get the gate open.  I had to get the winter chore coat out again, the gloves, and the ski hat.  It was hard, yesterday, trudging around in the blowing snow and cold, carrying the hay and feed buckets.

It was such a sad week at Calamity Acres, we lost Adeline, and it was not just the loss of a little dog, but a true friend who comforted and protected us.  We lost Yankee, our nine months old cria, who didn't recover after his gelding on Monday.  He had the most beautiful wool, cinnamon colored, and though llamas aren't cuddly, Yankee would come up to me and touch noses with me.  He was a very sweet llama boy.  On Thursday, we lost Little Brownie, one of the two last daughters of Old Rambo that we had left.  Then that evening, a new little yellow chick was dead in the little henhouse.  It was just too hard. 

The Sun Returns

Or at least, it returned for a while. Coming out of church this morning, a strange orange orb was in the sky, and the folks around me all laughed and asked "What was that?" since we had not seen it for a while. Unfortunately, at 3 PM Central time, it's beginning to disappear again, but not after the chickens have run back and forth across the pasture in it, and the horses reveled in it, and Mama and Yankee have laid and rested and chewed their cuds in it all day.

Picture one is looking west... picture two, looking east, both at 2:30 PM.

A Remembrance of Summer

Okay, late fall, to be precise! Tony and Yankee playing after their dinner... I hope you can see how they glide along above the grass! Ah, sweet grass! I remember you!

Llamas at Dawn

Frost on their backs at feeding time... it's cold here in Kansas in November already... what does this mean for the winter?

Yankee, Two Weeks Old

Tonight, Yankee and her big brother Tony ran up and down the barn pad out in the pasture, leaping like gazelles as they played Tag and Follow the Leader. Tony, who can run as fast as the fleetest deer, slowed down to chase his little sister, but ran at top speed when she chased him! Her legs are growing strong and capable, as she nurses from Mama and plays with Tony. She's a delight to watch, and we spent many happy minutes on the deck, watching them run up and down.