Alpaca Boys, Scarlett Rose, Goulburn Auction and Orphaned Lambs

At present it is really hard to get any work at all done because I am raising 2 orphaned lambs, Pete and Dud.  Pete is doing well and loves his food, guzzles the bottle down with gusto, but Dud managed to steal a few half feeds from a ewe and having tasted real milk, he's not keen on my powdered replacement!!  He's still deciding whether to hang in there and live or give up and die.  I have been force feeding him and he's getting better, keep your fingers crossed for him.

Skinny is not looking too flash at the moment, his dilated pupils are a give-away that an asthma attack is imminent!

The Goulburn Poultry Auction was on again on Sunday, a speccy peacock who needed 3 cages because of his full train, a couple of nice polish hens and a few other good lookers, but managed to keep my hands in my pockets.

Went looking at alpaca boys, went with the intention of 'liking' Dusty a lovely rose grey male... but foolishly also looked at Sampson, a black with an excellent fleece... decided on Sampson!!

Dusty:

Dusty's fleece, hip, mid side and shoulder:

Jim with Sampson:

And his fleece shots, again hip, mid side and shoulder:

Also met Romeo who is a lovely boy:

Got to meet Porsche and her son Ferrari, and also catch up with Bentley :)  Bentley and Ferrari are good buds :)

The lovely Porsche:

Lunch with Freya and Shayne at the Astor in Goulburn was fun, and delicious, and then on to Canberra to visit Scarlett Rose... she had just woken up when these photos were taken, a bit mean, but time was a-tickin'.

Garden News and Old News

The old news is that Mum's visit came to an end over a week ago, and she journeyed home on the train, now safely back in the wilds of Templestowe!  No baggage handling on a Sunday, even if you've got a first class ticket!!

Also in the old news category is my trip to the Charles Ledger Show at Moss Vale where Mark from Alabaster Alpacas kindly took the time to explain the difference between a good suri alpaca, and lesser one.  I saw lots of lovely animals and had a good time chatting, but when I got home found the only photos I'd taken were of some camels that were sharing the show grounds that day!

The flowering quince is looking speccy again this year, and I'm pleased to say that the crimson rosellas have so far left it alone!!

It has however had some pruning thanks to Ruby, who fancies herself as a bit of gardener, her favourite job is pruning... wish she'd do the fruit trees!!  LOL!!  Both ears up now, and looking a lot like her mum Minto :)

Botanic Gardens - Canberra

Yesterday we visited the Botanic Gardens in Canberra.  Before we set off I made my first attempts to get a good 4 generations pic!!  Hard to get Scarlett to look at the camera when its on timer!!

More pics and chatting:

Got the hat... must be ready to go!!

Then we set out and once there found a nice spot to have our picnic - delicious egg sandwiches, expertly made by GG from farm fresh eggs :)

Another go at 4 generations pic in the gorgeous Canberra sunshine :)

The gardens were lovely, lots of 'stuff' in flower.  We enjoyed a lovely walk around the rainforest area and then up to 'mallee' garden, good view across the carpark to parliament house.

Lots of very showy wattles:

Several different banksias:

Beautifully scented boronia:

Ferns, ferns and more ferns in the rainforest area:

Grass trees in full swing:

The hardenbergias were going off!!

Even the spent flowers were looking arty:

Paper daisies doing a good job of hiding the rubbish bin:

Silver Princess:

Saved the name of this plant, but having looked it up since its not the right one... will have to go back!!

Even the white heath looked good :)