Jake Comes to Visit

At the end of April we enjoyed a visit from Alan, Aleisha and Jake.

Jake enjoyed some time in the yards with Dad, he was fascinated by the llamas and alpacas.

Cuddles with Gargie :)

 And Eggy - keeping all the littlies happy :)

They took their puppy Coco home when they left, sad to say good-bye to her, its been fun having her here, and her brother Yoyo will miss her heaps, but know she will be happy in her permanent home.

Little Al and Young Jake

We all keep telling Alan that his son looks very like his mother, and nothing like him... but Aleisha has made this pic combo with Alan as a baby on the left and young Jake.... looks a lot more like peas in a pod than I would have guessed!!

Christmas Day

We had a lovely Christmas Day, and here, belatedly, are some pics :)

Christmas Day Ducklings and Boxing Day Feast

Alan and his dog Jerry came to visit for Christmas, unfortunately Jerry (French Bulldog) was not keen on sharing space with Kiki and/or the cats!!

Dan and Freya came for lunch on Boxing Day, so we had a Christmas Feast, Take 2!!!  Scallops cooked on the bbq, 2 types of prawns (tiger and crystal), Moreton Bay Bugs, potato salad and all washed down with some nice cold Veuve :)  Delicious!!

Shake-me-up-Judy's ducklings hatched on Christmas Day.  I  took her and the ducklings that were out to a new safe mumma pen and put the other eggs in the incubator.  Next day I handed her the 4 that hatched overnight which she readily accepted into the brood.  These are Ancona (Bantam) x Call ducklings for the pied program :)

Comings and Goings

Last Sunday we said good bye to Wia and hello to Namoi and Vevina.  We were unable to meet Wia's exacting standards in a mate and hope we'll do better with the new girls.  Namoi is listed as black but registered as dark brown.  I think she's a very dark, dark brown, she's been mated to a rose grey, and we're hoping she's pregnant, will do a spit off test in a couple of weeks to find out.  Vevina is black and has been mated to a black suri (heterozygous) so 50/50 chance of huacaya offspring.  The new girls are settling in well, and learning the drill, they have both come into the yards of their own accord on the last two mornings :) and seem very keen on the museli we serve for brekky!!

Wia

Namoi (left) and Vevina (right)

 Vevina (left) and Namoi (right)

And again

 Here are some of the other coloured girls at Currabungla:

I was really taken with the grey girl with the dark face, havent seen this colour combo before

John and Penny thought lambing finished 3 weeks ago, but these 2 ewes pulled a fast one and presented them with lambs only a couple of days ago.

Alan and Aleisha are visiting.  Al showing his usual reticence for being photographed!

Kiki is enjoying the extra company, here helping Aleisha with our game of Querkel.

The days are getting cooler and Kiki thinks there is only one thing better than being on the couch with a pillow and a doona...

And that's being on the couch with a pillow and a doona AND Aleisha!!  I will be checking her bags when she leaves tomorrow to make sure Kiki is not concealed within!!

Halter training continues for youngsters, Jester is a star pupil, very friendly and improving daily on the lead.

Noisette is coming along.

She usually enjoys a cuddle, but here it looks more like a cruggle (cuddle x struggle)

Misty - who found the presence of the trailer in the adjoining yard very 

interesting!!!

Yuri is doing the separation from his mother Yolanda tough, and she's not faring much better.  They spend a lot of time mmmm-ing to each other across the plantation that now separates them.  Weaning is not a cria's favourite time!!

Freya at the National Gallery

Yesterday we all went into Canberra to see Freya's piece in the sculpture garden at the National Gallery.

Some of the other exhibits:

We took a bit of a stroll along the edge of Lake Burley Griffin, where the bacteria levels have fallen enough for the fountain to be turned on again :) and through the park to National Library, round Parliament House and generally the scenic route :)

After chasing the red rump parrots all over the farm, I found dozens of them in Canberra and much more habituated to people... no long lens to hand, but still got close enough for pics!  They seemed to be everywhere!!

Afterwards we joined some of the other artists at the Belgian Bar in Kingston for strawberry beers, very tasty :)