Mama Mia, It's a Cria!

Around noon today Kristin was chatting with her best friend on her cell when she glanced out the window onto the South Pasture and was a tad baffled. Was that Katie getting close to Mya, our llama that isn't all that friendly? But wait, Katie looks nothing like a skinny poodle, she's a trim American Labrador. What is that with Mya?

Could it be a baby llama?

Those are due in the spring. And what with all the trouble we've had with that toxic weed death camus, we'd given up on having a cria. Could it? Could it be? Kristin hung up on Julie and ran over to the Big House. Jim was about to have lunch. I was in bed fighting a fever. We all bee-lined for the pasture.

About that time Ande, our male llama figured out he had some competition; he'd been playing reindeer games over in the excavation hole for the wind turbine. Jim covered the cria. Kristin scrambled for the baby shots, and I, well, I tackled Ande. Honest. Ande was already after the cria. I grabbed him by his coat and took him down. Male llamas are known for kicking the crias so the females come back into estrus. We know from the previous owners that Ande did this last spring ('07) and I'll be damned if he was going to do it again.

I cursed Ande, telling him that Jared & I had saved his life last winter when he was choking on his cud and we intubated him and cleared his passageway, Ande owed me a life, dammit. Ande didn't try to kick me after my outrage. He laid there stubbornly, refusing to move, even after Jim got a lead on him. I don't blame Ande - I'd been pretty persuasive. Finally Katie came to our aid and helped Ande to his feet and we escorted him to the BOQ, otherwise known as the house paddock.

I took a nap. With a thrice sparained ankle and a whooping head cold, I was toast. Two hours later, I limped back into the pasture with my camera. Cria was standing steady & nursing!

The puppies are totally intrigued with the cria. Mya is usually a very standoffishish critter but she's learning who her friends are. Mya's ears are normally pulled way back in a very bitchy attitude. Motherhood must agree with her. Her cria will grow up amongst reindeer and puppies and as the only cria - with what breed will the lil' critter identify?

The reindeer were honoring Mya's space, but did you think the labs would?

Please notice, Mya's ears are quite forward!

No Place Like Home

The Beav was a great place to roost, but there's no place like Ranch Alacrity.

- The Doves

NPLH = No Place Like Home

Doves do have a Bedtime

Well, I learned a big lesson. When you say what time is the latest that you will release your doves, stick to it. Be firm.

I fudged by some thirty minutes. I was attending a Vail Valley Partnership function at the Dusty Boot and they wanted to announce the release...but it wasn't timely. By the time the doves were announced twilight was fading and the doves decided to bunk down in Beaver Creek Village for the night.

These are some savvy birds, heated streets, warm rooftops, a totally cozy environment to be had. It made for a poor release, but I totally deserved it. I'm just glad the doves have such a grand place to hunker down.

Best meets: Jenny Schechter of Heartland Payment Systems - I have hopes of having her volunteering with the assistance dawgs- we talked about going for a "roll"; Ken Pearson of Alpine Construction & Remodeling - I was intrigued with his CAPS certification - Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist; and best of all I ran into Lynette Horan of HR Services of Vail and I got a good report of her puppy now on Ester C! Lynette also won a gift certificate from the Dusty Boot but there was some confusion - seemed there were several Lynettes in the audience, but we made sure they had the right one!

The Finest Dove Photograph

That I have ever experienced! I was googling "dove release vail" and right above our site, on search page one, I can proudly type, I found this, the most amazing How do I Dove Thee™ moment.

I'm beyond awe. These photographers, Andy & Angie Wood, have created the perfect indelible memorable magic moment. Not only can I wish that we at Doves of Vail can hope to have an opportunity to work with them someday, but Kristin is already wondering if she & Jared can save enough to engage them for their future wedding at Ranch Alacrity.

The Incredible Edible Egg™

That's the trademark of the American Egg Board.

A singular incredible egg was of monumental importance on the Ranch today because it was our very first from our young flock of hens. Kristin located our first nugget of gold, but since she was mid ranch tour with Jared's visiting family, she set it aside for later gathering. Inappropriately, or appropriately enough, the dawgs dined on our first egg.

Oddly, it was a plain ole white egg. Most of our gals will lay brown and rainbows. I suspect the layer was one of the exotics with the feathered legs that arrived early in the year with the cocks, a surprise chick thrown in for every so many birds we ordered. That makes sense since they are a month or so older than most of the hens.

Nevertheless, celebrate with a round of the American Egg Game.

New egg layers will lay just about anywhere except in their roosts. This egg was laid in the water bath! Our eyes are peeled now, pun intended. The next eggs are for the humans that feed and care for the flock.

I have souffles on my mind. Mmm, a chocolate souffle, no less.
And egg money.

Young Jack

We have a young volunteer at the nonprofit that is simply irreplaceable. Jack is 15 and wise beyond his years. He's also so very much his age.

Jack adores all the animals here.

That can be difficult because we plan to eat a mess of them, quantity-wise. His job here is to help with the assistance dogs. (We don't plan on eating them!) But I know it's tough because we have plenty of chickens and turkeys...We also have llamas and reindeer, peafowl, laying hens, cats and of course dawgs, and they are all here to stay. Jack would prefer to be vegan.

Jack has been a lovely surprise. He grasps the teachings for dogs easily but he has many layers. We break the rules of social conversion and talk about politics and religion. And it's very stimulating. We don't fight, we debate, and compare references. This kid is an old soul. We segway through many topics but we always seem to get the core curriculum of the nonprofit's week accomplished. Amazingly, we always have a word to look up every week, to the the benefit of us both,

Ah, but I was so much older then, I'm younger than that now.

~Bob Dylan

What's interesting is that when I watch him with his own dog, he doesn't have the same touch that he has with the dawgs here.

We have to work on this.

Log Jam & Lumber Festival

How can I say how grateful I am to Habitat for Humanity ReStore of Eagle County?

For all the the advancements on the Ranch I've been buying raw lumber from them, averaging 10-30 cents on the dollar. It all depends on whether we pick it up from the donor site, saving them transportation costs, or we pick it up at the ReStore.

Habitat usually sells at 30% of value. If you haven't shopped Habitat, you should.

I'll be honest, we often get more lumber picking it up on site because we load up and then they tell us they have more for us, just come back!

One of the most wonderful things is that we get to go into the most reclusive, exclusive neighborhoods, and it's so lovely to see these areas. How else would we see them when they are behind security gates?

Are we Permitted?

After months, and I do mean months, of awaiting approval from the county planning commission, at last our wind turbine has recieved all of its permits.

That date was 25 September 08 and you can see what day it is today.

Our hole was properly dug in half a day by Keith, our amazing excavator, on 6 Oct, after the gang from GridFeeders came out and plotted out the exact location. on the Friday beforehand. It's still a great big hole. We're still awaiting the contractor to frame in the concrete and then we can pour.

The wind is blowing hard. There's just no Las Vegas ding to it. No turbine in the air yet. Gridfeeders has as much as I do invested; this is their first pivate wind turbine in this county. Hurry! Hurry!

Being first is very difficult.

Ouch!

I''m sore.

But not near as much as I thought I would be! No shooting up recyclables today, but I definitely want shooting back in my life.

Shotgun Separation

We're coming up on our 2nd anniversary at the Ranch in a month or so and finally I was the one to scare the coyotes off.

Yip. Yip. Those damn creatures like to creep in on our stock. Rory, our wonderful reindeer/stock dog will do battle with them. Boatswain, Katie & Ruby are good backup dawgs. However, when the coyotes come up the drainage and Rory starts to go down the drainage, it's usually time to fire off a shotgun.

We don't subscribe to killing coyotes. There is too much research that proves that it culling coyotes ultimately increases their population.

But 'Yotes don't like the sound of shotguns, and it puts an end to their predatory action for the evening. Usually Kristin is the first to stand out on the Looking Rock over the creek drainage and fire out above the mesa.

Kristin was a very tired camper. She's been sound asleep for hours. Rory was getting closer to the creek. Yip. Yip. Yip. Rory still has scabs from his last encounter. I looked in my closet - nice clean 20 gauge. Looked in the secret place for shells...box full, but aged.

I haven't fired a gun in years but all that hunting training came back in a flash. Out to the Looking Rock I went. Chambered, safety off, up to the left eye, aimed high, tightened the core, slow pull on the trigger. *Boom* 'Yotes silent. Even remembered to lower the shotgun before unchambering because this gun ejects across my face and I wasn't wearing glasses. Katie retrieved the shell and handed it to me. Good girl.

I forgot how much I adore that smell.

All these years I've been afraid to target practice because I was afraid of the kick on my back! I may think differently tomorrow, but what kick? I've got a mess of recyclables I want to aim at tomorrow!

Maybe it's cleaning all these chickens and turkeys that has me in a hunting frame of mind. I've never cleaned domestic animals before, always wild game. But now I have the smell of cordite in my nostrils.

I'm a Louisiana girl, so don't worry. If I shoot it, I'll eat it.