We had a very jolly Sunday running our Discover Alpacas day with interesting people, well behaved alpacas, plenty of sunshine and a marvellous rhubarb crumble.
We have acquired a spanking new fridge for the barn. It is dual purpose, to keep all the drugs, vaccines etc. and also a fizz store for the barn party on July 12. So outside in the yard are three rusty fridges, a tumble drier and a dishwasher waiting for the council to collect tomorrow. You have to pay but as the whole lot is costing just £35 to dispose of, I think that is a bit of a bargain.
The barn is very clean and empty now as all the graded fleece is on its way north for scouring on one of the Wool Board’s lorries. It is about to get a bit messy again as we are shearing on Thursday and Friday. Let’s hope it is dry as we can’t keep 160 alpacas indoors overnight. Last year we had a dry day and then a wet one so all of the second day’s fleeces had to be dried on our grading benches which did take a while. Whenever we had a dry day all the doors were opened and the top layer would dry off, then the second layer and so on and on and on.
Joshua has emerged from Bolivia and is now holed up in Quito in Ecuador for a couple of weeks before he flies home. The bus journey from La Paz took 64 hours and they were searched repeatedly. He said it was just like a film when one man had to open his suitcases which were filled with what looked like big bags of flour. I don’t think so! He was left behind in the tender arms of the police.