It's back to work!

Yes, it's back to work today!

The last official day at work was on 22nd December 2016, and today is teh first day back after a long winters break.

Or is it?

When you work for yourself, you check emails every day, even on Christmas Day, or at least I do! The computer is on to wish friends and family who live far away a Happy Christmas, and so therefore is the phone and as everything just happens automatically, when it goes bing-bong, you check to see who it is. Awful really.

Having said that we had house guests from 16th December until 30th and it was difficult to really do any proper work, so I guess I had a proper holiday. I got plenty done in the garden, ate loads, drunk even more, slept properly, and even exercised in that most days I got my 10,000 steps in! I didn't on Christmas Day, but we are allowed an occasional lapse.

So, today, was back to work day, and boy didn't I get a lot done!

I did a leaflet drop, I sent out a small mailshot, I had one appointment which I am hoping will lead to something, I updated my CRM, planned the first quarter, although I didn't quite set my targets, which I shall do in a minute, I even managed to do an hours worth of digging & weeding in the garden, did 13,000+ steps, had a chat with my manager this evening, had a nice chat with an old client looking to pick my brains and a 15 minute motivational chat with a good friend of mine (something we do each week).

The next few days I am back to my employed job, but this working for yourself lark, is fun!

What do I do, watch this space!

It's just us - again!

Whilst it is great to have house guests, it is sometimes even better when they go home!

It's just us - again!

We have had a house guest or two, or 3 since 18th December, and finally it is just us again!

We had our 10 year old grandkid come and stay on 18th & he was joined by his mum & 12 year old brother on 24th December. They left us on 27th and on the 27th our youngest grandkid, just 2 years old, and her parents came to stay until today!

So, what are we going to do today?

Catch up with some chores! We have decided that apart from some milk we have plenty of human food but we are running low on goat food, a few treats for the chickens are required too, as they are locked up and cannot freerange they get a daily treat of some sort - today they had some apples, tomorrow they have a squash, and then we run out. I'll get some more apples, and see if they have some cheap melons or something that they will enjoy!

When we get back the chickens all need a good clean out as well and be given some fresh bedding. The goats yard needs a sweep too and our visting goats left yesterday and their pen needs a good clean out too!

The house needs a bit of attention but that can wait - animals first!

What day is it?

I thought yesterday was Thursday.

What day is it?

It's Thursday today!

Thursday is an important day in our neighbourhood, it's rubbish day.

So, yesterday, I put all the rubbish out and I also put out our recycling box and bags.

I did that because I thought yesterday was Thursday, but no, today is Thursday.

I noticed this because no one else in my neighbourhood had put their rubbish out, which I thought was a bit odd, although not everyone remembers during the holiday period as sometimes the council changes the day of collection which really confuses us all. But, having figured out that yesterday was in fact Wednesday, I had to go out and bring all the rubbish back in! I had to that because some neighbourhood cats do like to rip the rubbish bags to have a good scavenge!

So, today, I put all the rubbish out and I also put out our recycling box and bags.

And, today is in fact Thursday, so that's all right then!

A bank holiday!

I think it's Tuesday, a bank holiday!

Christmas Day was on a Sunday, Boxing Day on a Monday and we get an extra day off because Christmas Day was on a Sunday! A bank holiday, so what to do?

Well, here on our smallholding, it's much like any other holiday day, we start off by feeding the animals and then letting them out into their enclosures to while away the day. A couple of hours in the vegetable plot preparing the ground, a quick dash out to the shops, grab a sandwich, back to walk the dogs, a bit more time in the vegetable plot, an hour sat at the computer, and then it is time to feed the animals and put them to bed for the night!

In between times talking to our house guests, if they'll listen, clean out the boiler, eat, drink, that sort of thing. It's a bank holiday!

At least I did a couple of hours in the vegetable plot, I feel as if I have achaived something, otherwise it is just a waste of another day!

Christmas 2016

Merry Christmas everyone!

We have had the grandkids with us this year, and so a hectic time, but enjoyable none the less!

I have, however, drawn the short straw this morning as grandkid number 2 has had a proper paddy and I am staying in to babysit while the others all go out for a long walk. He is 10 years old going on 14, and he feels the whole world is against him and it is everyone else's fault except his own. I guess we all went through it and he will come out of the otherside.

In reality it was a long day yesterday and he is over tired so bed is the best place for him.

I noticed that I haven't written a blog here since January earlier this year since I posted that our llamas were for sale. A very stressful time finished in January & we did manage to sell all but 2 of our llamas. The walkers went to work at an activity centre in North London, Nazca went to guard some alpacas in mid-Devon & the rest went up to roam on a 60 acre farm in Scotland!
So, that leaves with 2 - Lima, the first one we ever got and her mate Clara!

This is Lima with her son Cuzco, must be nearly 8 years ago now!

During the year we also sold of two big 3.5 acre fields to a local sheep farmer so a major downsize and believe it or not, this has given us a load more time to get on with things we wanted to do to make our lives that little bit easier.

We have around 2.5 acres left in approximately 5 areas, two of them are for the llamas,a winter field and a summer field, we have 15 pygmy goats in another area, we have two small flocks of chickens, and the rest is our garden area, which has room to grow vegetables, room to play, a small orchard and some wildlife areas. So, we still have plenty to do!

Including blogging, so here's hoping 2017 we will have time to be that little bit more active on the blog front!

Our llamas are for sale!

We had a tough end to 2015 with a requirement to have our llamas TB tested - the good news arrived earlier this month to tell us we are TB free - however, the stress and discomfort that both the llamas and ourselves went through makes the whole idea of keeping llamas one that just fills us with dread rather than joy, so we have decided that it is time to call it a halt and move on!

We were breeding our llamas for sale in any event, so making a real effort to sell our llamas rather than just let the herd get a bit bigger every year, it sort of adds some reality to the situation.

Last year we made the decision to stop breeding as we were running out of room, but Nazca surprised us by getting Katie, Willow and Princess pregnant before he had the fateful operation, and despite failing the previous two years to get anyone pregnant.

This year he has produced Miss Take (Misty), Miss Hap (Happy) and BooBoo.

This is BooBoo!

I also turned 60 this month, a time to take stock and decide whether the directions I am taking are the ones I want, and whether it is time to make a change. All these things added together made it an obvious choice to sell the llamas - to good homes obviously - so that is what we are doing.

Not only that, but we will be selling two 3.5 acre fields that te llamas live in, once they have gone.

So, if you are interested in owning a llama (it must be at least two, as they are a herd animal) please do get in touch, and maybe check out our new website www.llamasforsale.co.uk - please spread the word!

Well, I nearly made a mess of that!

We were moving llamas today, with the forecast of some bad weather coming our way, it is time to think about bad weather and whether each field has enough shelters for the llamas.

We had 14 llamas (including this years two cria) ....

...in one field but that field only has one shelter big enough for just 6 or 7 llamas, whereas in a smaller paddock we have just 4 llamas and the shelter can take at least 10. We also have an empty field that can also take 6 or 7 in its shelter, so....

First up was to move the 14 llamas into the empty field - easy - but I had forgotten to close the gate at the bottom so instead of the 14 llamas stopping in that field while we did the next bit, they went on through that gate, round the side of our land, went up the side of the 4 llamas paddock, through a side gate (open because we had no reason to have it shut), they carried on and found our new hedge and decided to stop there and start munching it.

Panic stations as there a few poisonous plants in that are as well!

We managed, easily as it turned out, to get them to join our three llamas (not yet mentioned) who were living in the pond field (keeping up?) and as it happened were destined to meet up with this lot anyway.

Of the 14 llamas, only 13 of them went that way, there was one - Llancellot - who decided that there was a short cut, mainly because he saw his old enemy Nazca (one of the three) and was giving him some nasty snorts and spitting across a fence line - we caught him, Llancellot - and coerced him back to the empty field, no mean feat, as he clearly didn't want to go. He tipped me up once, or at least made me slip in the mud, but he went, but was very unhappy for a while as he was on his own.

So, at this point we have Llancellot on his own, 16 llamas in our small paddock, the pond field, and the 4 boy llamas who were wondering just what was going on.

These 4 were the next to be moved, as they were in the field with the big shelter, and as they are readily halter-able we planned to walk them on their lead ropes. First up was Wilbur & Gallahad, and as Gallahad hadn't really been walked before we took them through the empty field (Llancellot - his dad, was in a pen, rather than the field) and with a bit of tugging they both walked very well and were put into the bigger field that the 14 llamas had just vacated.

Next, Buster & Cusco, we decided to walk up the lane to join them, the thought of walking them past Llancellot wasn't worth thinking about. That went smoothly, so we had one set of llamas in the right place. Those four had a bigger field but a shelter that would comfortably accommodate them. This will be their home for the next six months, at least until spring.

Now, to split up the 16 llamas - we needed to put at least 6 of them back with Llancellot, so we chose Lima, our first llama (the matriarch) along with Princess & Tallara who were the other two of the three, who needed a bit more space, we put Clara, Bella & Evelyn who are three of our oldies as well. It took a bit of sorting to get them into two groups, but once done they were run back to the empty field to join Llancellot, who was a much happier llama.

So that left just 10 llamas, both sets of mum & cria, along with Poppet, Guinevere, Cola, Llatte & Wispa and of course Nazca, who all need a bit of extra training (except Nazca who is well trained already) and where better to do that but in the paddock closest to the house. It will be good for the youngsters to see the older ones being trained so that when it is their turn it won't be a surprise.

Phew, that's that done, but it wasn't the way we planned it!