Welcome Rapunzel

This morning Red Riding Hood gave birth to a very pretty appaloosa female cria.  We've named her Rapunzel.  She's already up and about and has figured out the milk bar, Ms Hood is a first time mum, and she's done it all by the book so far, so its working out very well :)

Everyone is very keen to meet the newcomer, Aymara with her head through the fence!

Pete without Dud

Unfortunately we were not able to save Dud, and he died quite a few weeks ago.  Pete seemed very upset by the loss, and spent several days deciding whether or not to join his pal.  When I took this pic, I thought it would be the last one of Pete.

But luckily, he pulled through...

and is now thriving :)

Pete finds the alpacas as interesting as they find him, he likes that if he runs at them, they run, and then he can chase them!!  It seems like a good game :)

Snakes, Goannas and Roses

On Wednesday evening I found Kiki in the orchard with a small red belly black snake, the snake was peppered with teeth marks and pretty near dead, I called both dogs away and put it out of its misery.  Ruby was mostly a spectator - as usual, smart dog!

Yesterday morning it was obvious that Kiki had been bitten and she was very subdued, light sensitive and generally out of character.  I took her to my friend Gayle's place to give her a Vitamin C shot - not a one person job.

She spent all day in bed under the couch, finally got up at 6pm and seems pretty much back to normal now.

Yesterday evening she gave me another heart attack as I looked over the fence in the middle of feeding chooks and ducks to see her in the orchard, yet again with a snake in her mouth!!  ARGHHHHHH  Closer investigation revealed that it was the dead snake from the day before... but really, it tells me that she's learnt nothing from the whole experience!!  Most vets will tell you that there is no scientific evidence for using Vit C in the case of a snake bite, but this is the second time it seems to have 'worked' for my animals, one alpaca, one dog - all good!

Other creepy crawlies in the garden this week included this young goanna.  Cute now, but won't be getting so close when its a bit bigger!

The roses have been doing their thing and looking gorgeous, something good happening in the garden - no reptiles involved!!

Reptiles and Amphibians

This morning I came across a large brown snake when I was feeding the ducks, he disappeared from beside a pen very quickly, so I was pretty sure he had gone into the pens of the next ducks and chooks I had to feed.  Quickest in, out, feed, leave routine ever!!  Later I went back to do the water... but in the doorway of pen 1, I came across the snake again!!  No water till much later ducks!!

I rescued this frog from the dogs (twice)!!  Hopefully he's found a better place to hang out.  A shingle back lizard wasn't so lucky, I rescued him once and carried him up the hill and gave him the usual advice - "don't come back".  But he ignored my words and the second time I wasn't able to save him :(

Scarlett

For several weeks (6), I missed out on seeing Scarlett, but we had a chance to catch up last weekend.  On my previous visit she had been a wriggly little girl who could roll from her front to her back, and back again.  Now, she is crawling at full pace, sitting, swaying, clapping and smiling at the Wiggles and copying speech patterns, she is also much bigger!!

Lucien, Rhys, Gracie and Chloe

Yesterday we delivered Lucien and Rhys to their new home.  While they were settling in and exploring we enjoyed a delicious lunch with their new owners and met their dogs, Chloe and Gracie.

The boys enjoying some lucerne chaff, behind them, the view was outstanding!

This is the delightful Gracie, still just a puppy :)

And Eddy, the well known small dog hater, instantly fell for Chloe ... the feeling was pretty much mutual!

Its Been A While!!

Its been quite a while, but need to start with some pics of my grandson Rhys with the blanket his Great Grandmother made for him - promised to put these up weeks ago, sorry Mum!