I smell of alpaca and menthol/camphor. Very sexy.
Is this not the proper perfume to attract the men? No? Will only attract alpacas with pain in their joints?
Hmmm. I will have to rethink my approach.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Monday, May 3, 2010
Day 14 with alpacas: no spit, accepted into Americorp, Skirting a fleece
Yes indeedy, the day before shearing and I have not been spit upon. Tomorrow will come quickly, though. 7:00 a.m. start time. They are doing the 'big girls' first, which is about 30 'breeding age' females (and crias, the babies). I'm guessing when we enclose them in the barn and whip out that shearing table the spit will be flying.
Got an email that I've been accepted into Americorps. That is a good thing, but sadly it is only as the 300 hour volunteer, which means I keep track of my hours and at the end of the internship I get $1000 applied to whichever loan I choose. There is no stipend. (alas) I am glad to at least get the $1000 toward student loans, though. Perhaps being 'accepted' here and 'accepted' into Americorps is the start of a trend. Yes? Yes.
Learned how to 'skirt' a fleece last week, and got to practice today. Basically you take the main part of the fleece (the blanket), and separate it into 'firsts' and 'seconds'. Good fleece and not so good fleece. Then you pick out all the icky tough 'guard hairs' and shake out/pick out any grass seeds, twigs, etc. I am good at picking out small things and making it clean. :) It's like sorting seed beads, very Zen! YEAH!!
I told them I want to learn how to shop-vac an alpaca tomorrow. That needs to be on my resume: shop-vac-ing an alpaca. I'm not sure what I will do with that skill, but it needs to be on there. Perhaps in a library storytime?
And yes, they literally take a shop-vac to the alpaca before shearing. It cleans off a lot of dirt/seeds/straw.
I do not think the alpacas will like this. Perhaps this will be the spitting point, the shop-vac.
Got an email that I've been accepted into Americorps. That is a good thing, but sadly it is only as the 300 hour volunteer, which means I keep track of my hours and at the end of the internship I get $1000 applied to whichever loan I choose. There is no stipend. (alas) I am glad to at least get the $1000 toward student loans, though. Perhaps being 'accepted' here and 'accepted' into Americorps is the start of a trend. Yes? Yes.
Learned how to 'skirt' a fleece last week, and got to practice today. Basically you take the main part of the fleece (the blanket), and separate it into 'firsts' and 'seconds'. Good fleece and not so good fleece. Then you pick out all the icky tough 'guard hairs' and shake out/pick out any grass seeds, twigs, etc. I am good at picking out small things and making it clean. :) It's like sorting seed beads, very Zen! YEAH!!
I told them I want to learn how to shop-vac an alpaca tomorrow. That needs to be on my resume: shop-vac-ing an alpaca. I'm not sure what I will do with that skill, but it needs to be on there. Perhaps in a library storytime?
And yes, they literally take a shop-vac to the alpaca before shearing. It cleans off a lot of dirt/seeds/straw.
I do not think the alpacas will like this. Perhaps this will be the spitting point, the shop-vac.
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Alpacas are like cats
They do not like to be caught, and want to approach you on THEIR terms. Most of them are not really interested in humans, except for when it is feeding time. There are a few exceptions. There is one female who actually LIKES people, and will come lean on you and let you pet her. She also does not want you to leave the pen, and will block the gate with her body.
There are some 'brown' ones (which I think of as redheads), who all come from the same mother and really get in my face. Literally. They want to sniff me, and sometimes try to take my hat. The male, in particular, will walk up to me while I'm raking, or filling water, and stick his face right in mine and sniff and snort. This freaked me out the first time, but I'm getting used to it.
This one in particular....
There are some 'brown' ones (which I think of as redheads), who all come from the same mother and really get in my face. Literally. They want to sniff me, and sometimes try to take my hat. The male, in particular, will walk up to me while I'm raking, or filling water, and stick his face right in mine and sniff and snort. This freaked me out the first time, but I'm getting used to it.
This one in particular....
Really wants to know....
What is going on?
No, seriously........what are you doing with that metal thing?
Day 13 with alpacas: no spit yet, rode on a tractor, my bosses
I convinced Sister Paul Bernadette (PB) and Chad to let me take their picture. Here they are! They are both very nice and patient with my slowness. This is in the 'alpaca office', where we start our days.
Friday was a fairly quiet day, and it was just myself, Chad and Jerry (volunteer) on the morning chores. PB and another person took some animals down to another owner for breeding. I think it was a 3 hour drive each way. Ack!
Since we finished early, Moe (the director) asked Chad to move some hay wagons from a field to across 150 (state road). There's only one seat on the tractor, so I got to ride on the back part, balanced on the hitch bar, holding on to the side/upper bar. I am QUITE happy to report I did not fall off once!
The first hay wagon didn't have anything on it, so I sat on the front edge as Chad drove across the property over to the 'biomass converters'. The second wagon was full of tree limbs. BIG tree limbs. Chad had me stand up at the back of the bed, holding on to the back slats. We only had one slight mishap, in the orchard, where the limbs on the bed of the wagon got caught in the limbs of an apply tree and I got caught in the thwacking. Nothing bad, though. I am unscathed. Mostly I felt not very useful, more like a little kid tagging along. But I completely enjoyed riding on the back of the tractor, AND on the hay wagon. It was like a private tour of the property. :)
No spit yet, but shearing is this week. There are 60 animals. There will be spit.
Saturday, May 1, 2010
Housing situation during internship
I have had many questions from friends about the housing here. Here's where I am.
The floor layout is in a square, around a central courtyard on the main floor.
There seem to be 26 rooms total.
Rooms per side are:
8 rooms
7 rooms
9 rooms
13 rooms
This is the hallway where my room is.
There is one women's restroom, one unisex bathroom (with a tub), one men's restroom, one women's shower room (two showers), and one room with 2 bathtubs (currently out of order and used as bicycle storage.
Unisex Bathroom. Very pink.
One lounge area, with tv and AC window unit.
One shared kitchen with the following: microwave, stove with crooked burners, rice cooker, crock pot, waffle iron, and a few sandwich presses. No dishwasher, no coffee pot. :(
I guess I'd better start eating more grilled sandwiches.....
There is a housekeeper who works 7-3:30, and apparently will wash my towels and sheets if I leave them outside my door. Supposedly there is a floor manager in the same office. I have met neither, since I am not here during those hours.
The best that I can tell, this floor houses long term visitors and employees who need seasonal housing. I have met only one person, the softball coach. He is older, and has what looks to be an apartment suite in the corner. I have heard the door opening across the hall from me, but have not met that person. I exchanged 'head nods' with a guy from down the hall while he was doing his laundry last Friday.
It is rathe eerie, but not at all scary.
The floor layout is in a square, around a central courtyard on the main floor.
Rooms per side are:
8 rooms
7 rooms
9 rooms
13 rooms
This is the hallway where my room is.
There is one women's restroom, one unisex bathroom (with a tub), one men's restroom, one women's shower room (two showers), and one room with 2 bathtubs (currently out of order and used as bicycle storage.
Unisex Bathroom. Very pink.
One laundry room with pay washers/dryers and an ice machine.
One lounge area, with tv and AC window unit.
One shared kitchen with the following: microwave, stove with crooked burners, rice cooker, crock pot, waffle iron, and a few sandwich presses. No dishwasher, no coffee pot. :(
I guess I'd better start eating more grilled sandwiches.....There is a housekeeper who works 7-3:30, and apparently will wash my towels and sheets if I leave them outside my door. Supposedly there is a floor manager in the same office. I have met neither, since I am not here during those hours.
The best that I can tell, this floor houses long term visitors and employees who need seasonal housing. I have met only one person, the softball coach. He is older, and has what looks to be an apartment suite in the corner. I have heard the door opening across the hall from me, but have not met that person. I exchanged 'head nods' with a guy from down the hall while he was doing his laundry last Friday.
It is rathe eerie, but not at all scary.
Day 11 with alpacas: No spit, and my pants are whistling at me
Day 11:
This morning about 9:00 a.m., I am alone at one end of a pasture, raking up alpaca poo, when I hear a man whistling and calling my name, like he's trying to get my attention. There is nobody within sight, and the only male is my boss Chad. Chad is out working on fences, and I can see his truck WAY out there. There is no reason for Chad to be whistling and calling my name. So there I am, alone in the field, with my hand over my eyes, turning around and around in circles, trying to figure out who is calling me. After a few minutes I figure it's someone calling someone else, and it just sounds like my name. I go back to raking poo and ignore it.
Then a little later, when we're pulling into another pen, I hear the same whistling and calling. This time it really sounds like it's coming from my PANTS. I fumble in my pocket and pull out my cell phone, where my Dad is on speakerphone (and I am too confused to figure out how to get it off of speakerphone). It seems my phone called him twice, and he had been trying to get my attention. I was very confused as to how this could happen. It wasn't until after our break and some coffee I realized I had put my camera in the same pocket. It must have hit one of those buttons on the side of the phone and called the last number dialed. Ahhhh...technology. Outsmarting me once again.
Yep, not spit on yet. Just a matter of time, though. I'm busy enough trying to figure out why my pants are whistling at me.
This morning about 9:00 a.m., I am alone at one end of a pasture, raking up alpaca poo, when I hear a man whistling and calling my name, like he's trying to get my attention. There is nobody within sight, and the only male is my boss Chad. Chad is out working on fences, and I can see his truck WAY out there. There is no reason for Chad to be whistling and calling my name. So there I am, alone in the field, with my hand over my eyes, turning around and around in circles, trying to figure out who is calling me. After a few minutes I figure it's someone calling someone else, and it just sounds like my name. I go back to raking poo and ignore it.
Then a little later, when we're pulling into another pen, I hear the same whistling and calling. This time it really sounds like it's coming from my PANTS. I fumble in my pocket and pull out my cell phone, where my Dad is on speakerphone (and I am too confused to figure out how to get it off of speakerphone). It seems my phone called him twice, and he had been trying to get my attention. I was very confused as to how this could happen. It wasn't until after our break and some coffee I realized I had put my camera in the same pocket. It must have hit one of those buttons on the side of the phone and called the last number dialed. Ahhhh...technology. Outsmarting me once again.
Yep, not spit on yet. Just a matter of time, though. I'm busy enough trying to figure out why my pants are whistling at me.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Day 9 alpacas: No Spit, Kubota Queen
HaHAAA!! I got to drive the Kubota today TO the compost pile! AND I learned how to use the dump truck feature. I will integrate this into my plan for global domination. Somehow....
Today we moved a lot of fences, to allow the animals to graze on pasture that had been allowed to recover, and grassy areas that had grown. Then there was raking more old 'winter' hay up off the enclosure area. PB (Sister Paul Bernadette) said I'm getting stronger already, able to lift that wet hay into the truck bed. :)
I feel like Heidi's friend Clara, gaining strength with the fresh air and herd animals.... very picturesque, eh?
They were checking fleece depth/quality on the alpacas today, to prepare for shearing time.
May 4, 5, 6. 12 hours days at least. I'm excited, aren't you?? I predict that is when the 'no spit' trend will be broken.
Today we moved a lot of fences, to allow the animals to graze on pasture that had been allowed to recover, and grassy areas that had grown. Then there was raking more old 'winter' hay up off the enclosure area. PB (Sister Paul Bernadette) said I'm getting stronger already, able to lift that wet hay into the truck bed. :)
I feel like Heidi's friend Clara, gaining strength with the fresh air and herd animals.... very picturesque, eh?
They were checking fleece depth/quality on the alpacas today, to prepare for shearing time.
May 4, 5, 6. 12 hours days at least. I'm excited, aren't you?? I predict that is when the 'no spit' trend will be broken.
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