Sat. Eve, April 11th… It’s never what it seems… at least I don't think so…

Today we didn’t do anything I said we would this morning. The wiring didn’t get done… none of it. Why? Because I felt that familiar pull between my shoulder blades when I went to get a cup of coffee after blogging and I decided with the chill and dampness in the air, the fact that Vick’s entire family is in the sick zone and then that recurring sharp stab in my back… I figured the heck with it. I mentioned later to Vicki that I feel like we’re behind schedule with getting the building stuff started and all, but it’s early yet! I need to keep this in mind and not do anything stupid that will jeopardize our summer plans, so I decided to lay back and take it easy. That said..... Vicki then decided, today would be a good day to head to Albany and pick up her supplies for her projects, which are in process. She needed cherry blossoms and some other things for her hospice projects which we picked up. We had lunch at Ichiban’s and then we went several other places.
We are going to Monticello next week to look at a yearling cria… a little male Huacaya, that is ¼ Accoyo. We talked to Isabelle to see what she thought of him and she confirmed that he will be a nice long, well crimped and fine wool animal to add to our herd. It will also give us another unproven male should we be lucky to find a good female somewhere in the future. We could then choose to breed her to Iggy or Bollero. (his full name is Peaceful Breeze Bollero) Vicki is looking for a cria to be close to… starting out as buddies so it will come to be fussed over. Luke will want that some time soon, but Iggy may never trust us enough to be snuggled…… It’s a pleasant thought to go out and watch these domestic camalids browse and remain so docile…… peaceful… at ease. They are extremely fun to watch and therapeutically good for your nerves and perpetuate calmness. Vicki just got an email from Isabelle and she has volunteered to go along down to Monticello on Tuesday to pick up the little boy cria, named Bollero and help us bring him home. We will put him in the rear of the pickup, for the ride home. Below are some pictures of a pair of swans on the Athens reservoir, some wild turkeys on Schoharie Turnpike, a few doves on the rear deck, our alpacas and chicks. The last alpaca picture is of Bollero…… the little guy we want to get on Tuesday.






A lovely swan





Mr. and Mrs. Swan. Later we'll see a little of little ones. We'll take pictures.....





A Gobbler withan eight inch beard

♪ ♪ ♪ Three doves in a barel..... ♫ ♫

Luke and Iggy

This is little Bellero... We'll get him on Tuesday, hopefully.

Chick, chick, chick.... chicken......play a little song for me.....♫ ♫

All five of the little guys are doing great!

Saturday April 11th… Looks like the rain is done for now… Happy chickens today!!!!!

Looks like all the critters will again be able to spend the day out and about, as they loved to do. The rain has diminished and it looks like fair to sunny weather for the entire next week. I’m glad, because the chickens love to be out free ranging all over the yard and we have a lot of yard work to perform. We will be starting to build the hospice gift shop and putting a porch roof on over the picnic table, BBQ grill and rear door, to end our dampened use of the rear deck. Vicki and I will then be able to sit out there and enjoy the back yard and Pupskill lake views, even in an all day drizzle this summer…… How nice that’s gonna be. I might even be able to take the laptop out there and write my books in the fresh air. How cool!
I’m about to venture out to turn the crew of animals loose for the day and see if we have any new chicks hatched, or starting to hatch this morning. We’re up to five now with the two orphans Isabelle placed in our care. It would have been six, but one died in the shell yesterday, while we were gone for an hour. Strange…… it should have continued to hatch and been fine. There must have been something wrong with it…… oh well… you know what they say… you can’t fool mother nature. These things happen for the best, even though we don’t always see the best in them.
Today will be a good day to install some lights in the loft area of the barn. If we can perform that… and install some receptacles…… the barn wiring will be completed. Sounds like a good plan on a rainy morning and by the time we’re finished…… I bet the sun will be shining and it will be a warm, beautiful day to behold.

Friday, April 10th… Lost a chick in hatching… Gained two from Coxsackie……

This morning I spent a lot of time trying to refine my building program which I’ve had for some time now and never quite understood. It has a manual like a New York City phonebook, and is rather intricate in nature. It’s called Punch Professional Home Design Platinum Pro Suite and was rather pricey when I purchased it some years ago. It has CAD and several designer suites, such as Photoview Image Importer that allows you to create a project tailored after a picture you’ve taken some where, a 3D furniture workshop, a cabinet wizard to create kitchens, a function called RealModel and an Estimator function to figure all the material necessary to create your project along with a cost estimator. It’s COOL……… and I’m trying to use it to come up with that material list I said I needed for Middle Field Lumber.
This morning before we left to pick up all of our Easter Dinner groceries, we had a chick just poking through the egg shell, We watched as he kept pecking away at the shell. It hadn’t started last evening when we last looked, but this morning, he was diligently working at hatching. We also got a call from Isabelle at the alpaca rescue to tell us she had two rescue chicks for us if we would take them, so we told her we would swing around on our way from shopping an pick them up. We did… and when we got home, took them to the brooding house and placed them in with the other chicks. We then checked the progress of the chick that was hatching and found him dead…… still in the shell…… We were shocked!!!!! I wonder what happened? Well, we are now at five of the little guys now (shoulda been six!) Oh well, maybe tomorrow!!!!!!!

Thursday April 9th… The hospice gift shop pad is ready……

Today, we finished digging the pad for the hospice gift shop and tonight I’m going to figure the lumber list so we can call Ed Pooters, Jr., of Middle Field Lumber and let him cut our order for us. We told him last fall that we would be calling in the spring, so I guess we better get with it.
We spent a little time at the library doing our artwork with the group we meet with about once a month. Vick started a new painting and I finished the pencil work on a Pastel I’m trying. I didn’t take Vicki’s pastels with me, because I didn’t think I would complete it as quickly as I did, but there I was…..finished and without my pastels. As luck would have it, our friend Carol had brought her pastel set and offered to let me use them. So now, I’m doing a pastel painting and actually liking it. Below are pictures of the group and our session.
We have two healthy, chirping, chicks in the brooding house and another trying to break through. We didn’t see if there a were any more or not, because I don’t like to lose the temperature by looking. Maybe tomorrow, we will have three or more chicks.
Iggy and Luke would not come in again this evening. I guess we will try again to see if they will come in now.
(I doubt they will)

This is the pavillion in the town square

A panarama view of the square

The library at Greenville

This is Phil. One of our trusty egg customer friends.

Winter berries

Other artists work displayed on the walls.

talking about the displayed art.

Vicki and Bunny looking at prints

Carol looking through Vick's Kalideoscope I got her for her birthday.

Phil preparing to paint.

Phil painting a masterpiece.

Carol and Danielle yacking and laughing as they "create".......

Julie talking and painting..........

Thurs April 9th… Our Boys Were Out All Night Long… little buggers……

Last evening when we tried to put the alpacas in the barn for the night, they led us on a merry chase around the pasture, for about twenty minutes, before we finally decided they could just stay out if they wanted. Isabelle told us that they were free to be in or out at her place and that we didn’t have to worry about coyotes with Iggy here. We did close the barn though, because Timmy and Tiny reside in the barn entry and are defenseless against predators. Iggy and Luke can get under the roofed porch, had a full bale of hay, water and all the grass they could eat, so I don’t think they faired too badly in the deal. I’ll go out as soon as I’m done blogging and open the door and give them some feed, which they’ll love.
We need to check on the chicks (2) that hatched and see if we have any new beaks popping through the shell on the other eggs in the incubator. The ducks won’t start hatching until the 14th, I think. That should be a real trip…… they are twice as active and four times as loud as chicks. I love to watch them as they run around during their busy day, eating and drinking, nuzzling one another and cocking their head to the side to look at you, every now and then. They’re so comical……
I started ground breaking for the hospice gift shop last evening, so this morning some time, I’ll resume digging and leveling the site that it will reside on. Once the foundation area is down & level, we will frame and pour a fifteen by twenty concrete floor. Once that is finished off, the plate bolts inserted and fully dried, we can start to erect the building itself……… that said…… I guess I better get off by duff and order the lumber for the structure, Huh?

Wed. April 8th… The Day after Vick’s Birthday & We’re Still Celebrating……

Vicki had a lovely Birthday and I made her a brownies in place of a cake. (she’s not a cake person) We enjoyed a perfect seafood dinner at Brio’s in Phoenicia. If you’re ever in Phoenicia, NY, just off of route 28, out of Kingston, on your way north, make sure you stop in Phoenicia, to try out their food. EXCELLENT!!!!! Well worth a special trip if you can spare the time. We’ve added pictures of our entire day out and about, below. Enjoy them…

We’ve had two chicks hatch out and more on the way. It’s really hard to keep the humidity up so the egg shells stay soft and permeable so the chick can breath. As soon as number two is in the heating box, we are gonna place a bunch of soaked paper towels under the screen and allow them to hold the moisture and make it easier to re-saturate them, rather than pouring water into little troughs. If you miss the troughs, the water runs out all over the table, through little holes in the bottom of the incubator.

We just spent a little time with Iggy and Luke, both in the barn and out in the pasture, so they can continue to become used to us. This morning, I gave them a little feed in their pans and while Luke was eating, I scratched his ears and rubbed his neck. This is the closest I’ve been allowed to be with them. They will kick readily if approached, especially when both are in the confined area of the stalls. When we harness them, we’ll have to make sure one is out and one is in, so we can harness them one on one. That way we can move easily along side them and the other alpaca will not spook the one we approach. With them both in there, as one watches you approach, the other bumps it or moves and scares the one you are trying to approach, then the both jump and kick. It’s kind of like…… shoot now and ask questions later… only, kick now and see what made that noise or movement afterward. I haven’t been kicked yet, but I know I will be. Isabelle said it feels like a bee sting…… it only hurts for a minute or so and isn’t all that bad. I won’t mind if they do kick me, but I don’t think I’ll put myself in a position to be kicked until they are used to me anyway. Then I won’t feel so bad and like I caused it to happen by approaching them before they are used to us. I guess Luke will be the easiest. I understand that Iggy might have been abused a little at one time or another, so he’ll need a little more tender loving care… Something Vicki and I have a lot of and can give regularly.

Around noon, we are gonna go for soup and bread. We enjoy soup day, once a week at the Two Kids Bakery.

Later in the evening, we are going to Lexington for dinner with family. I hopefully will be able to learn a little bit about Photoshop Elements 7 from my nephew, Kenny… if he isn’t out with friends tonight.




Beautiful lake made by the beavers





A paradise setting in the North




A beautiful place called St. Joesph's Passage





How very picturesque. This is calandar material.





None of this is posted land








More beaver activity. click on the pictures to enlarge and see the tree the beaver are cutting down.

A beautiful trout stream

Devils Tombstone State Park

Bear carvings... how cute

Rip Van Winkle himself

The Phoenicia Indians

The Phoenicia Post Office.

HUGE

Above is the Phoenicia Grocery Store, Beer distributor, Inspection Station...all purpose store.


This is main street. Such a quaint little town.

A Mini Park.

The bulletin board and the ALARM.

An original fire alarm monument.

A hose tower. Originally used for drying fire hoses.

Now advertises "Learn to rappel" ...... maybe both.

Such a tiny fire house to have a hose drying tower....... Quaint.