Lots going on

I have a new website up for the alpacas, http://www.freewebs.com/mypetalpaca/. I encourage you to check it out and let me know what you think. Hopefully these alpacas will find a good home. Then we can get some more animals and start all over again. We are treading softly as to not get in over our heads without any experience.
Lately I feel like I have so much to do, but this heat makes me sooo tired. Part of me just can't wait for it to get cold again. The other part of me wants to go play in the sun until I can't move. I haven't bible studied like I should lately. I tried to sit down with my husband tonight to bible study. What do you know? We got into a small disagreement before we even got started reading. It was about something unrelated to reading. It was really frustrating. I got upset, so Mike said that he didn't want to listen anymore. We could do it another day. At least I got out one paragraph on psalms 150. Better than nothing. I went and curled up in my room to read by myself.
The alpacas are all looking much better. The blonde is healing very nicely. I'm still waiting on shampoo for the suri with the skin condition. The limping suri is doing very well. He lightly favors the leg now. The other day, I realized that Frankie has a wound. He damaged his eye. It had pink and swollen tissue around the inside of the eye. He has a small puncture wound on his snout, near his nose. He also has a mild abrasion on the end of his snout next to his nose. What he did I have no idea, but his eye is returned to normal. His abrasion has healed nicely, but I am still watching the small puncture wound. I get nervous at that because I know that puncture wounds are bacteria heaven.
Alrightie. I should treat myself to a bit early of a bed time.

Alpaca update

We haltered the alpaca and strapped him up so that we could better tend the wound today. It wasn't too bad. Its gotten really pussy, but we did not find any maggots dead or alive in it tonight. We cleaned it out really well, removing all infectious material and applied the ointment and fly repellent. The vet said that as long as the alpaca started progressing in a positive direction that further action, including antibiotics, would not be necessary. This alpaca has such a sweet timid demeanor. I feel terrible putting him through the ringer like this. He was surprisingly cooperative while we were cleaning him up. Maybe he knew we were helping. There was only a few times he tried to fight, but I think that had a lot to do with the cold water on a cool day, especially when it splashed his jewels. Well, I guess officially he doesn't have jewels though. lol.
Tomorrow we go pick up some more fencing and go to the county auction. Our neighbor bought some pygmy goats and he said that our alpacas can come over and help knock down his overgrowth if we'd like. Pygmy goats, how cute.

Alpaca owie

Okay, our luck is not running so hot. The one alpaca who got cut while shearing is not looking good. He has the ever disgusting maggots in his wound now. So now we get to pick all those out. We had him in the small pin by the house to easily administer care. He was held with another alpaca and stayed there for a couple days. Last night something spooked them and the injured alpaca jumped, flopped and somersaulted over the fence bending it over. So we had to go chase down a panic stricken alpaca in the dark.

*sigh*

So now we also have a limping alpaca that we are eyeing. We found out that the alpaca that supposedly has staff actually has some other skin infection, so we are waiting on the shampoo to treat that one.

Now anyone want to see the gross owie. :) No maggots can be seen here, but there are some flies. We had blue Kot on the wound, but now we found from the vet that we cannot use that anymore with the present infection. I could blow it up more and really gross you out, but I thought I would spare my queasy friends.

Alpacas now enjoying the sun

Here are some pictures of the alpacas enjoying the sun. Before at this time of day they were hiding out under the shade trees. Now they are laying out in the sun, grazing in the sun, playing and enjoying themselves. I brought out the sprinkler; not because they looked hot, but because they love the water. Oh, and I also found out that before I had hosed them off incorrectly. You do not run water over their back before they have been shorn. This actually over heats them having all that water over their heavy fleece. You are suppose to only get their underbellies wet. That is where their cooling gauge is at also. It would be best to use a hose and do it yourself. If you set up a sprinkler going about 2 ft high, they will just lie down under it and get their top fleece wet.
So here are the pictures!!

Bishop is very curious and checks out the camera

Check out the awesome goatee that John Merrell left on Bishop!

Name the Alpaca!!

When we puchased these alpacas, they had no names. We have named most of them (yes yes, I know. It was pointed out to me today that I had mentioned I wasnt going to name then. TOUGH!! We're naming them)
ANYWAY. We have a couple that we have no names for. All opinions and suggestions are highly welcomed.





This grey we would like to name something... Egyptian.















This black one with a white face seems to be a white alpaca hiding in a black suit.






















This suri here with dark eye fleece

And finally this cream/butterscotch colored one

Shearing Success!!

We now have 12 sheared alpacas! John Merrell , who owns Gateway Farm Alpacas, is a life savor. He came all the way from his ranch in Scio, Oregon to spend a day shearing our alpacas. Not only did he shear our alpacas, but he taught us how to shear, catch, harness train, work with, toenail trimming, teeth care, feeding, paddock rotation and setup, and various other valuable tips and advice. He was very motivating and exciting to have at our "ranch". I found John by doing a Google search for shearing. He by far has the best shearing information anywhere. He even has a blow by blow chart on shearing. He also does shear sharpening for a fabulous price. He was so down to earth and a GREAT teacher. Can a brag about him more? Yes. He is definitely a valuable resource for the alpaca novice. Well, I imagine for the experienced also. So he has won a permanent link on my blog site.
Here is John checking out his work. All the alpacas looks so delicate after shearing.





John taught me how to properly hold the alpaca's ears while shearing the neck and face.








Here is John shearing up the neck

Here is John shearing the prime fiber, or blanket, off of the alpaca.

John is pointing out the alpaca's fighting teeth. They were previously removed, but have since begun to grow in. We didn't have all the tools we needed to remove them today, but he said that they should be removed soon. They are basically sawed off with an OB wire with handles.

There are more pictures on my mother's camera, so when I get a disc of those pictures I will post some more related to the shear-a-thon.

Shearing day rescheduled

Okay, now tomorrow is going to be the shearing day. I have a shearer coming over, my mother, my sister and her son and my cousin. Along with myself and my husband, I think all should go well. Im really curious as to how the wild ones are going to go....

Pray for patience and luck

Okay, tomorrow is the day. Mike and I are going to attempt to shear some of our alpacas. I do have a few volunteers for some help (or an audience to laugh at us). We haven't got in the better combs, but a 10 tooth comb did come with the cutters. They will work. I have a bone to pick with the company I ordered the combs through. I paid for three day delivery which would have been Friday and now today is Saturday and there are no combs. I ordered three different ones from Sheepshear.com.
We definitely will need all the prayers we can have for infinite patience with ourselves, each other, the alpacas, and the equipment. Pray that everything goes smoothly, equipment works properly, the alpacas are calm and cooperative, no injuries to the alpacas or ourselves, and that we actually have fun.
I thank the Lord for all the helpers we can get. There is lots to do.

End of the fun

The scammer called several times today. He wanted to know if we had sent the money yet. Finally Mike told him that his check was no good and that he would have to send cash. Mike was only able to say that the scammers check was no good before "Swansea Cole" hung up on him. lol
So, no more fun with the scammer. To bad there just isnt anything that can be done to get these people. How do you educate the public to not be so trusting and blind sighted? That is the only real way to stop scams like this. But they would just get better at what they do, I guess.

Scam!!

I couldn't resist. I emailed Swansea Cole the following email yesterday:

Ive received your payment in the mail. Oh my gosh! You are paying 2500 for transport? You are getting ripped off! Where did you find these people? I can just hook up my trailer and bring the two alpacas to you up in Washington. I cannot in good service pay someone $2500 for a couple hours of an animal transport. Does he supply a gold collar for the alpacas with this service? Geeze. I can bring these up to you, let me know.
Sarah


This morning Swansea Cole who is hearing disabled and must use relay sevice, called my phone personally at 8:27. The number came up as unavailable of course. He had such a thick accent that I could not understand him. We have been dealing with lots of people lately for a variety of projects so I didn't even think that this person that I could not understand was Swansea Cole. I had to interrupt his long fast talking to tell him that I have a hard time understanding accents and he would have to speak slowly and clearly. I deal a lot with email because its just easier so I didn't think about it when I understood him say look at email. Plus I was still half asleep. Yes, once in a blue moon the kids sleep in, usually when they are up late! Its a very nice treat.
So I logged onto the email expecting one of the dirt guys or truck guys that I have already been corresponding with, but there was a message from Swansea Cole. Here was his reply:


Hello Sarah,
Thank you Very Much..For your Conversation and Transaction,Why The Shipper is Billing me so Much Like That The shipper will Still Pickup some Other Items For me Like Furniture,Hot Tube,Jaccuzzi,So i have Gotten another Shipper Newyork city,That you will be sending the fund to and here is the Information for the Newshipper In Newyork..i will Appreciate you go ahead and Cash Out The Check and Send the Remaing Balance to The Name and Address Below:

Name:Patrick Inyang
Address:430 audobon Avenue,Mahattan,
Newyork.....10033.

Immediately you have Sent the fund to Him..Kindly get back to me with These Information below:

Sender Name
Sender Address
Exact Amount Sent
Money Transfer Control Number(MTCN)

With all These Information,This will enable the Shipper Pickup These Fund Via westernunion.Await your response via email Immediately you have Completed The Transaction to My Shipper.Thank you Very Much.....

Best Regards,

Swansea Cole



HA! So I did a Zabasearch of this new shipper. There actually came up some entries with the same name and address, one listing a phone number as (212) 740-3142. The date of that information was 04/01/2006


I found this posting on a website for Wisconsin arts and crafts, Waac Words:

[Ed Note: It is hoped that, if you receive something this poorly written, you will know that it is nothing but a Nigerian scam.]

Hello Sales, Pleasant Day to you,
My Name is Linda Smith,i live in #330 old richardson highway fairbanks,alaska 99701,USA,which i will like to order some products in your Company, But we want to confirm if you do ship to West Africa Address. If you do, i will be glad if you can get back to me with your correct website,so that i can select the items needed.I will appreciate your quick response to fullfil my promise of quick supply for my customers and meet up with theirdemand.Also, I will like to know which type of Credit card you accept.{ Visa, Master or America Express Card},so that i can forward you my credit catd details for you to make your charges asap.
SHIP TO:- Attn:- PATRICK INYANG
Address:-# 20 OREMEJI STREET
PAPA AJAO MUSHIN LAGOS
We await your prompt reply.
Best regards
Linda...


This one about forwarding credit card details makes me wonder if they swiped this guys identity. There is also a man by this name that is listed as a Branch Chair under the Science Teachers Association of Nigeria.


Then I found this website GIPEC College of Chaplains INC and on this members page all the way down on the bottom center is Patrick Inyang. The man who called me had a very thick accent that could have been a Nigerian accent.


So, I'm thinking of what I can say to Swansea Cole now. Get some amusing entertainment of how suave he thinks he is. I mean I know I'm wasting my time and I'm not going to get anywhere and they will just go right on scamming. But maybe someone will see this who has doubts and it will save them some money.

Report Scam

I filled out a report with the Internet Crime Complaint Center who handles online crimes. It is a partnership between the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C). Even though there was no crime committed because I wasn't as stupid as Swansea Cole thought I was - they still allow for reporting of suspected criminal activity.
Here is the automated response I got from them


Thank you for filing a complaint with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3).Your complaint has been successfully submitted. Please retain the following information for future contacts with the IC3:
Complaint Id:
Password:
If you wish to view/download your complaint or have any additional information to provide to the IC3, please use the following link and login with the above complaint id and password.
The IC3's mission is to serve as a vehicle to receive, develop, and refer criminal complaints regarding the rapidly expanding arena of cyber crime. The IC3 aims to give the victims of cyber crime a convenient and easy-to-use reporting mechanism.

Complaint Status

The IC3 receives thousands of complaints each month and does not have the resources to respond to inquiries regarding the status of complaints. It is the IC3's intention to review all complaints and refer them to law enforcement and regulatory agencies having jurisdiction. Ultimately, investigation and prosecution are at the discretion of the receiving agencies.

Evidence

It is important that you maintain any evidence you may have relating to your complaint. Evidence may include canceled checks, credit card receipts, phone bills, mailing envelopes, mail receipts, a printed copy of a website, copies of emails, or similar items. Please keep the items in a safe location, in case you are requested to provide them for investigative purposes.

Additionally, to learn more about Internet schemes and ways to protect yourself, please visit www.lookstoogoodtobetrue.com.


Nice. Any other suggestions?

Scam?

Just to sum it all up in one spot quickly...I was selling two of my alpacas to a person by the name of Swansea Cole. They explained via email and relay service (which is a phone service for those using a computer or who are deaf and they type their message and an operator relays it to me and vice versa), anyway they explained that two alpacas were wanted for his children. The first email he mistakenly referred to them as puppies. He never cared which two I picked, what they looked like or even what their disposition is. I think that would be important. He says he lives in Washington and is currently out of state at work. He wants to send someone to pick them up. I was suppose to give the person to pick them up their funds for the service. I told Swansea Cole when everything was all clear that wouldn't be a problem. But I just had this FEELING that it wasnt right. Somehow Swansea Cole was going to try and pull a fast one. Today I received the payment that states:


Sorry for the delay in getting the funds. Now that you have it, take it to your bank and get it cashed immediately.Deduct your amount for sales and transfer the excess funds via western union money transfer to the name and address below.
Receiver: ADOMA SAMUEL
Address; 2131 Ofrod Road
City: LONDON WX 1 0LP
Country: UNITED KINGDOM
call +447758658328
Email: globashipping200@aol.co.uk

Once the transfer has been sent and been picked up by the shipper I would contact you to tell you the shipment day okGet back to me with the following information's once the transfer has been done
SENDERS NAME:
SENDERS ADDRESS:
MONEYTRANSFER CONTROL NUMBER

With these information it would be easy for SAMUEL to pick the funds up in any of the western union outlet in the UNITED KINGDOM, And please make sure the shipper is notified through this e-mail address above. once the transfer has been done so that he can schedule the pick up date immediately Once again, take the funds to your bank and get it cashed same day you receive it, get it cashed and wire the excess funds via WESTERN UNION same day because time is not our friend again.Please note that you will be asked to pay western union commission for sending money through western union, kindly deduct the commission from the excess funds too. Regards


Okay. Does anyone see the alarm bells? Where did United kingdom come from? His letter was postmarked from London with no return address. His cashier's check is remitted by John K Edward from the Associated Bank of Chicago. Who the heck is John K Edward? Swansea told me that the alpacas were being shipped to Washington. Okay, so if he's being ripped of totally for shipment he would be paying $500. Okay $1000. He sent me a check for $2550 over the price of the alpacas! To Washington? We paid less than $200 to have 12 alpacas brought further. In the above email he insists that I should cash it and then directly wire his "shipper" money before his check has ever cleared. Now everyone should be seeing the flags and hearing the alarm bells.
Should I cash this and see where it goes so I can report him for fraud? Or can I turn it all in on a hunch and tell him the deal is off? I mean how stupid does Swansea Cole think I am?

Alpaca Shearing Party

Okay, that says it all. Shearing party this weekend, all the help I can use. Bagging, cleaning, holding, leading. Mike will do the shearing. Any takers? I didn't think so. Call me if you can though. Mom? Carrie? Anyone?

Two alpacas sold?

A couple days ago we had a guy call saying he wanted to purchase the alpaca that we had listed. He was using relay service for those talking on the computer or who are deaf. I gave me his email and asked me to forward more information. After talking a few times via email, he said that he would like to purchase two of them. He was going to forward payment and then he would have someone come to pick up the alpacas for him. Whoo ho. Two sold. Or are they?
The payment should be arriving today, but I just have this FEELING. It just isn't right. He says he's buying them for his children as a gift (which is what we did). But he doesn't care which one we give him. Not what they look like or even asked what their temperament was. Wouldn't that be important? He didn't know they were herd animals, so at first he only wanted one. After I explained to him they were herd animals he said that he would get the two for his children then. He doesn't seem to know anything about alpacas, which I suppose isn't uncommon. We knew a lot less than we thought we knew. In his first email he mentioned something about puppies. When I told him that they were not puppies, he said that he understood and was very interested. There are no huge waving red flags, but I just have THAT feeling. Somehow, this guy is going to try to rip us off. Ill keep you posted...

Alpaca poop

I put an ad in craigs list to sell alpaca manure by the 5 gallon bucket the day before yesterday. Ive sold two buckets for $3 each! That feeds the alpacas for at least a week. I thought that was just great. Its definatly great stuff though.

Standard TV and Appliance sucks Update

Well, finally last week I got Standard TV and appliance to issue a refund. After much hoop jumping. The repair man helped me go around standard by giving me numbers of their supplier and he also called viking. I had to threaten picketing and the news. First they called trying to give me a credit - like that would work. After days of insisting and telling her that I would be there to picket on father's day weekend, I got a refund. Now I just have to get the fridge out of my house. Standard delivery guys have been here twice and had to leave because they were not prepared. First time they did not bring a dolly large enough, or enough help. so they issued a request for another delivery day with the big blue dolly and a four man crew instead of two. Today they show up with two workers and the big blue dolly. So they left again with out the fridge. This time the delivery guy took pictures of the kitchen and what they had to do to get it out. (which is remove the top grill so it barley fits under the ceiling to tip it, remove two doors and zig zag it out - which is easier said than done). So hopefully they will come back prepared this time. Even the delivery guys obviously don't like Standard.

Alpacas can be dodos

The other day I went down to the Alpaca pasture to give them fresh water. I stood at the fence confused as to where the water bucket went... Then I saw the bucket. It was hanging around the neck of the little black alpaca like a cow bell. He was not happy. He is usually very lovey, but he was so upset about the bucket that I had to catch him in a big bear hug to pull the bucket up and over his head.
Then yesterday I was feeding the alpacas their grain in the morning. Ole blue eyes was inhaling the feed so quickly that he suddenly began to choke. The kids immediately knew that something was wrong. Joseph was especially upset and clung to my legs crying (which made it hard to react to the alpaca). At first the alpaca wasn't breathing and his eyes started rolling around. He was drooling and foaming like nothing Ive ever seen. He actually came up towards me, perhaps looking for assistance. I was seconds from action (thank goodness not quite there) when he suddenly heaved a horrible sound and explosively vomited everywhere. Now that really upset the kids. And that really smelled terrible. At that point he was making noise and coughing so I assumed since he was able to breathe that I should see if he could work it out. He continued hacking and drooling for about 10 minutes or so. He stayed by me and I kept talking to him to encourage him to work it out. I don't think he would have appreciated my approach too much. He was making this awful screaming sound like he was panicked. It was a horrible sight and I don't think Ill soon forget that. I was pretty sure at first that Ole Blue Eyes was going to die.
So today my husband built a covered hay holder. I think he did a fabulous job. It looks better than the ones I found on the internet. He made his out of wood and it holds nearly an entire 2 string bale of hay safe from the rain. I want to modify it to include a second trough for pellet seed in the morning. I heard you can put 3 inch smooth stone in it to help ensure that they dont choke on the pellet like Ole Blue Eyes did. The hay holder was really easy to build and I think its done really well. Ill take some pictures and post it.

Alpacas for sale

No no no. Not all of them. We never intended on keeping all 12. We want to have anywhere between 3 and 6...maybe 8. lol. We bought 12 with the intention of reselling some to offset the cost of the equipment, barn and alpacas. After the running of the alpacas, I went out to tell Mike that dinner was ready. I saw the neighbor lady who had helped us that evening and her husband peeking through the thick shrubs at the alpacas. They saw me see them and began to retreat back to their house. I waved at them inviting them to come over. They wanted to know what they were and what you could do with them. I summarized the alpaca trade for him, but let him know that these were just pet males, so there would be no breeding. We just don't have the time on our hands or the substantial out of pocket to purchase the pregnant females. They said that they had been looking for some animal to maintain the back of their property as they don't use it. At first they were just interested in opening the fence line and letting our animals graze back there, but then they were so taken by them that they said that they would like to consider buying two. Their boy, who looks about 10 really enjoyed them and had the alpacas eating out of his hand. We let him in to be near them and he got to pet a few of them. He really enjoyed them. The mother just wanted to do some research first. I'm sure she just wants to make sure that our price is not a rip off. Once she sees that our prices are excellent I'm sure they will be back. Yesterday I saw the husband out there looking like he was clearing a fence line.
I posted at ad that should begin to appear on Thursday. Its suppose to show up in all the local papers in 17 areas. We are considering perhaps selling alpaca pets as a business. Pets or for fiber. I cant believe how soft their fiber is. I'm going to call our tax advisor to see what incentives we could get on income and property taxes. Once everything is set up, it will all go so smoothly. It would be so much fun to have an alpaca pet ranch.

Running of the Alpacas

Sorry these blogs are late... Ive just been sooo busy with the alpacas, at night I'm pretty tired.
We decided the other night that we were going to move the alpacas to a second enclosure in the back of the property. I was hoping to have a few of them halter trained before we attempted this, but they are eating much more of the grass than we were lead to believe they would so quickly. With the second enclosure more than 75 feet away and no trailer to transport them, we had to come up with a plan of how to move them best. I decided to call the large alpaca ranch that we purchased them from and ask how they usually moved them and what they suggested. They said not to worry. The alpacas are herding animals. Even if you don't have any of them halter trained it wont be a problem. Just line up obstacles where you don't want them to go. Have one person lead and another walk behind them and they should follow the leader. Great. Sounds good. We put Joseph and Emily in the house so they wouldn't spook them and I carried Ethan. Mike carried the little trough of pellet seed, which is like a treat for them. Mike opened the gate and he started to lead them out. All looked good as they followed Mike out investigating the feed trough. They sampled the grass as they walked. I was admiring how beautiful they were as I walked behind them scooting along stragglers. A few of them turned to check what I was doing and then check where Mike was. I started to get the feeling that something wasn't quite right. The alpacas started cutting to the right and I walked over to keep them in line. Sure enough they straightened back out on course. My gut still told me that this was not right. The alpacas were shifting there watch from Mike to me and then I saw them take a long look around them. One last look at Mike and my positions and they started pressing Mikes position. They cut around him to the right, totally ignoring the pellets he was shaking in the trough to get their attention. Suddenly one pressed forward from the center and they were off at a run. I was so surprised. They were not supposed to do that. I watched them run for about 30 feet as they reached full run. That's when it set in that they were out of control. I looked over at Mike, his mouth open and shaking the feed trough still. I could see the shock clearly in his face. Only by the grace of God did they not cut to the right were the main road was and easy freedom to town and the highway. They cut to the left to the back of the property. I was hopeful that they would run into the 2nd enclosure that we had created in the back, but they cut to the wrong side of the trees. There was still a remnant of the old fencing around most of the property, but there were gaps to the right in the rear. I prayed the the heavy shrubbery and bushes would conceal this. I watched as they ran full speed kicking their feet in the air in excitement and ran to the rear of the property into the shrubbery. I kept chanting in my head, they don't challenge fences, they don't challenge fences... As they approached the overgrown old fence in the rear, they slowed to a stop. I sighed a momentary relief as they turned back to our property. Suddenly my gut wrenched as they turned back towards us at a run. It was like slow motion in my mind. The leaders eyeing Mike and my locations, the open spaces... Their fleece flowing up and down with each running step they took. Their padded feet made a surprising thudding sound as they ran. It was quite impressive. I was holding Ethan, but I made my best attempt to spread out my arms to discourage them from running past me. Thankfully the property was more narrow just past the dry creek bed, so Mike and I ran to this location to try and hold them off and force them to the back again, perhaps this time they would run into the enclosure. As they ran at me full speed all I could think was that they could not pass me. It seemed like eternity, but as they reached where I was standing they veered and ran back to the rear of the property again. Again they missed the enclosure. They ran at us again. This time they were more bold and got closer before they turned and ran to the back again. I thought they were gone. I wasn't sure if I could hold them off again. My brain was racing. How could we save this? Mike said he was going to run to the neighbors. I started to panic. What happens when they run at me and see that Mike is gone? There was no way that I could keep them there by myself. Mike reached the neighbors back door in record speed and pounded on it with surprising force. By the time the mother reached the door, Mike was already running back to our property. He yelled to her asking for her help to corral them. Then the alpacas gathered, ready for another run. Mike made it just in time to discourage them from passing. They ran to the right side of the property where there was no fence. They nestled themselves into the shrubbery, not noticing there was no fence yet. I started to panic more (I wouldn't have thought that was possible before that moment). I didn't know what the neighbors property looked like. Was it fenced? How easily could they get to the road in front of their house? To my amazement two of the lie down in the grass behind the shrubbery. One of them rolled on the neighbors young sapling they had planted. I looked over at the neighbor as she WALKED over and I stifled the urge to yell at her to run. Her two boys were soon running out the door to come assist as well. Mike yelled at them to create a wall and pointed out the enclosure. They didn't seem to know anything about them and I think they were nervous that they were going to get stampeded. The alpacas started to press further into the neighbors property. Mike started to make a run for the dry creek bed to get them to stop, but I think that the neighbor boy's playground frightened them from going any further. Out from their hiding they came and they made another run out to the center of the property before turning to make a run at us again. As they began their run, the neighbor lady finally made it into a position and the boys were steps behind. The alpacas seemed taken aback that there were suddenly more of us. They slowed rapidly and assessed the situation. Trying a new route, they made a run past the enclosure opening between the trees and realized that there was fencing on that side of the property. They turned and began a slow run back to the center. Before they could cross the trees and pass the enclosure opening again, I made a run at them to force them to turn and run where they were at. Thank God it worked and all but two of them ran into the enclosure, while the other two made it around the tree to the back of the property. Mike ran and closed the fence. What a relief! We were not worried about the remaining two as they will just hang around the fence trying to join the herd again. I profusely thanked the neighbors for helping. It seemed like the herd was loose forever, but the whole ordeal probably lasted 7 to 10 minutes at the most. As the neighbors went back to their dinner, my knees suddenly went wobbly and my stomach hurt. Mike was stuttering. He said all he could see was us chasing down the alpacas through town. The herd illuminating in the headlights of the car before they run away again. We were both exhausted. I couldnt help but to tell the alpacas that they were STINKERS. I felt terrible to put them in an enclosure after seeing them run so freely. It was truely a beautiful sight. I wished that we had that 10 acre farm instead of the couple acres that we do have. Im currently trying to get mike to give up all of the back property to them. I keep seeing them running in my mind. Kicking their heels up, fleece flowing as they ran, rolling in the grass - it was so beautiful.

Alpacas are delivered

So Mike didnt quite get the barn ready. A small strip was left undone on the roofing plywood. No roofing tiles or paint or any other finishing touches...But the alpacas have a place to get out of heavy rain fall and such.

They were delivered this morning in a red trailer. They were so cute and traveled so well. Of course the 12 of them started eating the grass...and eating...and eating. It was kind of funny how much they were eating. Until we realized that we were going to have to make the second pin ASAP!

Weather Vain for the barn

A coworker of my husband's heard that Mike was building the alpaca barn from scratch and brought in this old weather vain for us to have. He said he bought this house with a really old horse barn on the property and this was on top. The woman that lived there previously said it was in the family for generations. Its not the greatest picture, but you get the idea. I think it looks great!

Standard TV and Appliance sucks like no other

You know my grandmother bought a fridge from the man who started Standard TV and Appliance while he was selling out of his garage. Since she helped make Standard TV and Appliance what it is today, I think I deserve better treatment. That is, if being a regular customer just isn't enough. To cut out all the disgusting detail, Horrible Heather is telling me since we bought a floor model (reduced prices slightly at usually a few scratches). Floor model? No problem. Ive bought them before. Anyway. It was brought here broken, but they don't care. Since its a floor model, it was sold AS IS. I never expected AS IS to include BROKEN PIECE OF CRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAP. Who buys something AS IS assuming that it might already be broken and you are STUCK with it. I called viking and told them how this place was representing them. That lady is going to make some calls and get back to me tomorrow. Wont hold my breath. I would rather put that thing on the street for free than have anything to do with a viking product again. Definitely never shopping at Standard TV and Appliance again.
I asked Horrible Heather if Customer Satisfaction was their goal, or fixing the piece of crap. She said fixing it. I asked her if she bought this fridge, would it have sat in her house this long? She refused to answer my question. Well, KATU channel 2 said that they are interested in the details. Ill call the BBB. I wonder if I could post something to Consumer Reports. I mean, that is where I confirmed that the fridge wasn't a bad model to buy.
Gee. Im paying all this money out for uhhhhh, pretty lighted cabinet space.

Trade?

Anyone want to trade husbands?
Im loosing my mind.

Our Standard Tv and Appliance Nightmare

Once thing that I have not mentioned is that we bought a brand new fridge about a month ago. Our old one had the thermostat go out on it. Yes, it was smelly. So we went to Standard TV and Appliance (where we 99.9% of the time go for purchases). We decided to buy the large stainless steel built in fridge by Viking. Its a beautiful fridge with the one door on top and the sliding freezer drawer on the bottom. It took some talking to convince Mike that I shouldn't be on the floor in the produce drawer. I mean, how often do you really get in the freezer? It only seems logical that it would be in the bottom. I was so excited. When it was delivered it was such a handful to get into place. The ceilings were so low that we had to take the plates off the top of the fridge. Of course, they bent the plates. But that's okay. When I called to say that either I didn't understand the temperature controls or something was wrong. So the repair man came out and ordered new plates and showed me how to work it. I slowly increased the setting to the highest point in the fridge and it just wasn't getting any colder than about 42. So, I called the repair guy again. He came out last Friday. He looked at it and put the top plate on. The bottom plate wasn't back yet. He did some temperature readings and cleaned it out a bit. He said the defroster was on and it should work....About 2 hours after he left the alarm bells started going off on the fridge. So I had to restart the fridge. Then it only got things about 50- 54 degrees in the fridge. Note that the settings in the freezer are just fine. When the fridge starting going all wrong that Friday, it was too late. I couldn't get a hold of anybody except a lady named Queenie who told me that she couldn't help me. So I waited until the next morning on Saturday to make my calls. No management or anyone that could help me was available because They were "having a really big memorial day sale this weekend and nobody is available to speak to you. I can give you Heather's voice mail and she can get back to you on TUESDAY." I was upset (to say the least). I told her that I had no fridge. I had already lost over $100 in food. This is Saturday and she says I'm suppose to wait until Tuesday for help? What was I suppose to do for a fridge until then? Oh, she was sorry, but there was nothing she could do about it. WHAT!!?? I called back a couple times trying to get someone on the phone who I could talk to. Fat chance. Tuesday a lady named Heather called me and basically told me that she had to check into the situation and would call me back. She asked if I would be at the same number this evening. But did she call back that evening or return calls? NO. She called back on Thursday. She said that the policy was to try and repair the fridge. I told her that I had it less than 30 days. I didn't trust that model and I wanted to trade it for an another brand. She said that exchange wasn't possible unless this fridge was not repairable. And that was for the same fridge. She compared the fridge to buying a CAR. Like that's the same. Its more like my TV, and best buy would have taken that back. The fridge was broken when they gave it to me. This is totally ridiculous. I was very upset and asked her what was I supposed to do? I had a large metal piece of garbage in my kitchen. COME AND GET IT. She basically told me up yours. She was not apologetic. She was never polite. So I told her that my policy was that she wasn't going to get a dime from me for a piece of garbage and she could just take me to court. She told me that was my choice.
You'd think they would treat a long time customer better than that. Especially one that just bought a 5000 plus dumb fridge.

Mike and I allowed the fridge repair man to come one last time. He doesn't know what is going on. He is throwing darts and is wanting to install a fan that runs 24/7. So much for less energy. He's got lots of other parts he's talking about installing. Whatever.

So I decided to make public my problem with Standard TV and Appliance. Today I was going to go down there with my kids and my sister and her son and hold signs and balloons to tell our story. Of course I was hoping that Standard TV and Appliance would not like this and try harder to fix our situation. My sister got there first this morning at 10. She called me to tell me that they were CLOSED today. Nice. So I drove an hour to hang out with my sister and my nephew for an hour. Which wasn't bad. I was just ready for battle. Warpaint, head dress...

Sigh.

So tomorrow I am calling Heather at Standard TV and Appliance again to tell her that I will be out there... not this Saturday...(Joseph's birthday).... If they are open this Sunday, or Fathers day weekend, or both. There is a new station that airs stuff like this. Consumer reports special segment or something. Call the better business bureau. Anything else?
So until then we have a large cabinet for cans and dishes? Well, at least the freezer works. My uncle loaned us a little fridge that he had extra. That was such a life saver. So, I'm on the floor in the produce bins again. We keep accidentally opening the freezer to get to the fridge area.

Dont tell me what to do

Id like to believe that I'm pretty easy going. Although someone I love dearly recently told me that I'm anal... Anyway, that doesn't mean I'm not easy going, right? Never mind. I guess my point was that you can throw pretty much anything at me, but dont tell me what I can and cant do. That certainly makes me angry. It was quite hot out here and I wanted to spend some time outside with the kids. While I was out there, I decided to plant some of the dahlias that we had left (yes, lazy me! Some still are not in the ground. We didn't know where to plant them at the new house. Recently we just decided to stuff them all in the garden space to save them- this is besides my point). When I was all ready to plant until I was hot, my husband forbade me to be in the sun. He said that the heat isn't good for my MS blah blah blah. I told him that it would just make me have temporary symptoms that would go away shortly, but he didn't care to listen. Get back in the house before I'm in a wheel chair. Boy did that make me fume. Its okay to have me do a gazillion other things that could stress out my MS into a relapse, but when its something like heat (that only temporarily effects your MS, not causes further damage) and I'm just enjoying myself.. I'm a BIG GIRL. I can make up my own mind.

Barn update

Here is the progress of the barn thus far. The last picture was taken about an hour ago. My husband is out there right now working on it. We opted to make the peak nice and tall rather than squatter at the top.

So, this is what it looks like right now. Good news though, they are delivering the alpacas on Friday, June 8th now. They had a delay in the delivery, so now we have another week to complete it!

Looking Good

After a few days of pondering and scratching his head, we have some progress. Mike just couldnt figure out what angles to put the roof at to have it look proper. We wanted a taller point, not the more squaty looking roof top, but we just couldnt figure the math out in our head. So I got on the internet looking for ideas. I mashed a few of the ideas together and came up with 112.5 degrees on the inside point of the roof. But how long to make each board? The best idea we could come up with is to cut the angle and mock it all up on the ground. There we marked out on the ground where the barn would stand and marked the halfway point for the roof peak. Then we didnt get much farther. Until yesterday! My mother and her husband, Wayne, came over to visit the grandkids. Wayne spent some time out in the shop helping Mike to figure out all the angles and stayed to help raise up a complete rafter after setting up the template for Mike. It was wonderful to see it being built again. Now Im getting a bit hopful that it will be done it time.

Mike and his hammer Vs Time

Our alpacas are supposed to be delivered in about a week and a half. Well...My husband just started working on building their shelter. We decided to build a 10x12 red barn with a loft for storage and no doors (otherwise the alpacas wouldnt want to use it for being dark). Shall we take wagers on who will win? My husband completing the shed in time for the alpacas, or will time win the race?
Okay, I tried to upload some photos of Mikes progress so that you may better gage your wager BUT its not cooperating। So Ill add those in later। Basically he has the framing of the two side walls done। He has the back 12ft wall to do, frame in the roof, build the loft, add the siding, and shingle the roof. Mmmmm....

This is in the morning...

And this is in the evening...
Updated: After work this evening, Mike completed the framing to the back wall of the barn. Ill have a picture in the morning. It was a bit dark when he stopped. Maybe he's more motivated than I had thought?

Here is the updated picture for completed work on Thursday.

Dancing Penguin

Okay, so I had to share this one also. Emily was laughing so much. She kept asking to see it again and again.

Otters holding hands

Look at the video I came across... I couldnt resist but to share it.

My horrible moment as a mother

Well, one of them any way. My husband had been busy around the house and yard. We had thought we heard a critter in the house and it seemed large. He thought it was a rat, but I thought it was a mongoose (there are a few in the neighborhood). He put out a few rat traps just in case. Some of those have a heart live traps and some of those "snap its face off" traps. I decided to just leave the door open and see if my mongoose would leave. Sure enough, the signs and sounds of him disappeared. So after a couple days we took up the traps. I was in the kitchen cooking lunch when I heard this odd metal cling noise. I assumed one of the kids dropped something. Since my husband was on the couch in the other room, I quickly figured it was nothing because I heard nothing from him. Right? Well, moments later, I heard my baby, Ethan, start up a panicked painful scream. I ran out into the living room, but I couldn't find him! I looked while I listened for him to scream again. He was behind the wood stove. I was horrified. I screamed to my husband (who had been SLEEPING on the couch) No, the wood stove wasn't on, but we had forgotten a rat trap behind the wood stove. Ethan had figured out how to get up on the platform and found the rat trap. Thank God it had smashed above his chubby lower forearm and not on his fingers. He was so mad and hurt that he was covered in sweat. He had this big purple raised welt on his arm. Horrible Horrible. I cant believe I forgot it was back there. Cant trust a rat trap. However, I should be able to leave my kids with Daddy to watch them for a few minutes while I make lunch, yes?

THIS is not a toy. Especially not the rat ones that we used. They are huge. Makes me ill thinking about it again.

My baby boy has Staff!

My poor little boy woke up this morning with THIS!! Its horrid. In the picture it actually doesn't look as bad. He had a couple little sores (one on either thigh, one on his inner wrist) these were staff infections last month. I did all the antibiotic for ten days. But Look! Two to almost three weeks later my boy wakes up with this. At least it doesn't seem to bother him really. Or maybe his new ear infection is distracting him enough.

Favorite Fortune Cookie Saying?

Ive had this little fortune cookie saying in a frame with a picture of my kids. Ive got it in a prominent spot in the kitchen so I can see it every day.

Happiness is wanting what you have, not having what you want.

Have any that you especially like?

My stress is my kids stress

These last two weeks or so has been really tough. My kids have been off the wall and have had such terrible behavior. They suddenly became out of control in public and just pushing the line all the time. Minute by minute it seemed. Tonight I was so frustrated. After putting them to bed I calmed myself with a bit of bible study. I reflected and prayed to God silently for guidance. After about two hours, it came to me. Its all my fault. The sudden change in their behavior is simply mirroring my change in mood this week. My terrible time is why I really decided to start a blog in the first place. This month is three special days for me. My birthday, mother's day and my anniversary to my husband all in about a two week span. My birthday was miserable. My husband just doesn't celebrate anything really. He thinks its good enough to just make him rib eye for dinner. No special time, no special acknowledgements. He so worried that it will become obligations. He actually didn't even TELL me happy birthday. Or happy mothers day. But he did say happy anniversary today. He didn't even really talk to me on my birthday. In fact, we were pretty much in an argument. For long and dumb reasons, he made me tell him some of my thoughts (really - he threatened that he would go outside and separate himself from me if I didn't tell him). I should have lied and said something different than what I really thought. But that's not like me. I cannot do that. So, he didn't like my response and he still separated himself from me. Mothers day was the same, but I did little things with my kids on my own. Our anniversary, at least he said something. By that time I was so stressed out that it was going to be another horrible day.
So these last two weeks or so have been so completely stressful to me. Ive felt so unimportant and unloved by my husband. My children really picked up on that. I have a lot of ground to make up with my children for these last two weeks. I was at a website reviewing their top ten discipline principles to get ideas on what I was doing most wrong lately. Sadly, Ive really sucked. My bad mood made me short tempered. Ive disregarded the uniqueness of each of my children in my punishments. I have not had "special time" with my children - which probably really caused a lot of the problems. In allowing myself to be so moody and depressed, I modeled to my children this behavior as acceptable.
Sometimes I could just kick myself. It seems the harder I try to be a great mom, the more profoundly I screw up. I pray that my children make it through childhood and they look back at like what they see. I pray they love each other and have a tight bond. Above all, I pray that they acknowledge and accept the Lord as their savoir.

Clinical MS Explanation

So here is a more clinical explanation of MS, as requested:



Multiple sclerosis (MS) is at onset an immune-mediated demyelinating disease. That means the nerve fiber covering - imagine a power cable with no covering around the wire. You couldn't control the path of the electricity. That means you cant make it work how you want, like play your stereo. So in comparison, my covering around my electric nerve is missing in places and I cant always make it work the way I want, Like feel that that stove is HOT. In most cases, it starts as a relapsing-remitting disease with distinct attacks and no symptoms between flares. Over years or decades (some unfortunately from the get go), virtually all cases transition into a progressive disease in which insidious and slow neurological deterioration occurs with or without acute flares. Relapsing-remitting disease is often responsive to immune suppressive or modulating therapies (Like Avonex, Betaseron, Copaxone and Rebif), while immune based therapies are generally ineffective in patients with a progressive clinical course. Disability correlates better with measures of axonal atrophy than immune mediated demyelination. Therefore, immune based therapies, in order to be effective, need to be started early in the disease course while MS is predominately an immune-mediated and inflammatory disease. While current immune based therapies delay disability, no intervention has been proven to prevent progressive disability.

Here is the National Multiple Sclerosis Society webpage if you would like to do further reading

MS, my life and my family

Okay, so what's MS and whats it to me? I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis when I was 19. It basically translates into Many Scars. It means that my body is attacking its own nerve fiber covering which causes shorts in the system. So, my nervous system doesn't operate properly. As time goes on the damage changes. My body tries to repair it, nothing is as good as new. The damaged portions of my nerve fibers show up as white spots on an MRI, and they glow if they are currently being attacked. When I have an MRI of my brain done, I have all these white spots in my brain. It sort of looks like little pieces of the picture are just missing. So when I just cant seem to remember anything, I just joke that it must have fell out of one of the "holes in my brain". Sounds stupid, but sometimes making a joke out of your problems is a way to cope with it.
MS Really changed my life. I can think of little symptoms that I had in high school, early as 13 or 14. Blurred vision, unexplained muscle tremors, and vertigo. I just brushed it off because it didn't stick around long. But when I was 19 I had a huge attack. It was all I could do to walk. Oddly enough I couldn't keep shoes with no backs on my feet (like sandals). I couldn't feel anything from my navel down. It was the scariest thing. I would just be sitting there and suddenly a portion of my body went numb. One day my left leg was numb, later in the day the left side of my back suddenly went numb. I awoke the next morning and could barely get out of bed. Everything from just about my navel was numb. My right side was very weak. I had to concentrate and go so slowly while holding onto support to be able to walk. My speech slurred, my vision blurred, I could barely pee. I have to actually force myself to relax and contract the two muscle sets to make myself pee. A lot of times this makes me end up in tears. Going to the bathroom became a horrible embarrassing time in my life. Ive had accidents (thankfully at home - I would die if I wet my pants in the grocery store). I lost the contrast vision partially in one eye and significantly in the other. This means that I have a hard time telling the difference between similar types of reds and greens. There are those pictures made up of the dots that have red dots in the shape of a number and all the rest of the dots are blue. I remember when those were so obvious. How can you not see that? Well, now I cant with the one eye. With two eyes I can tell something is there, but I cant make out much of it. I had vertigo were I couldn't drive for almost a year. That is very difficult to not be able to drive when you are a homemaker.
Depression? Lord yes. Sometimes I think I'm doing well, but I guess I'm just hiding it all away. I don't have anyone to talk to about it. Before I found out I had MS I was well liked. I had lots of acquaintances and friends. I loved my job and was doing well and the coworkers/boss was great. Then I got slammed with the news that I had MS. I was so devastated. I went to work to try and get my mind off of it. Despite my one good friends advice, I decided that I wouldn't hide it from anyone. For maybe a month (to be generous) people were supportive, did sweet things, said encouraging things. But my problems with MS didn't go away, but their support did. Actually, I have to applaud my work. They were actually supportive longer than a lot of the people that I thought were my friends. In fact, one friend came over the day after I was diagnosed. I lived in a basement apartment at my mother's and step father's house. I was crying and depressed. I told my friend that my doctor told me I had MS. He stayed and didn't say much for a short while...then he told me that he didn't think that God wanted us to be friends. And he left me alone to cry. Several friends just stopped calling. So when work stopped being supportive and understanding, I felt I had lost so much. I felt like everything I knew was slipping away.
Slowly I began to be able to walk a bit better, only with a small gait difference. It was then that I meant my future husband standing on the sidewalk while I was on my way with a friend, Katie, to Starbucks. He was standing there with his brother and law. They were yelling and talking to people on the sidewalk around them. I thought, oh please...don't look over here.... We walked past him and he gestured in my direction and said "Heyyyy! I'm single!" I was a bit surprised and simply nodded slightly and said "Well, that's good..." and scurried off. After helping Katie study at the coffee shop, we started heading for my car so I could take her home. Suddenly I realized that we were going by them again. Katie wanted to stop because she was so interested in the odd men. I begged her not to stop. I was a bit scared of them. That is so funny to think of that now. I was scared of the man that would become my husband. He tried to talk to me but he realized that I was not interested. He told his brother in law to leave us alone because I wasn't interested. But good old Katie. She is so stubborn. She was asking them all sorts of silly questions. I'm not sure exactly why, other than it was Gods doing until he opened my eyes. Katie talked us into going to a local Irish pub. It was there while we watched the live Irish music and the dancers that I saw him differently. He was much calmer and we actually had a great conversation. He wanted to call me, but I was still a bit wary that he might be a nutcase. I gave him my work number and told him to call me at a certain time. The boys walked us back to my car. When we got to my car, he asked me if he could have a kiss. I was embarrassed. I didn't know him, and hadn't decided who he was. I told him no. He smiled and said "I can wait." I tried not to think if he was going to call me or not. He called exactly when I told him to. I believe he was as equally surprised as I was. We arranged a date to meet downtown in a couple days. I had a wonderful time. We just walked along the waterfront and talked (I mostly listened). After much time, we went back to his house for a movie. Really, I was having so much fun with him, that I just didn't want to go home. So he invited me to spend the night. He was clear that he didn't expect anything - he just didn't want me to leave either. I agreed.
I climbed into his bed in his tee shirt and a pair of his boxers and snuggled the blankets around me. He walks into the room and says "I hope you don't mind that I sleep commando," swoops off his boxers and hops into the bed. It all happened so quickly. I lay there rigid and bug eyed for a couple minutes. I just wasn't comfortable. So I told him that I didn't have the stuff that I needed to stay the night and get ready for work. Then I dashed out the door before he could convince me to stay (yes, I dashed out in the boxers).
He called the next day and I came over again. Then I was comfortable to stay the night and that he really didn't expect anything. My mom jokes that I went over there one day and just never came back home. I was away from him when I went on a trip with some friends that I had planned months before I met him. We all went to Vegas for three days. It sounds sappy, but that was so hard to be away from him. I was only away from him one other night. I had gone to the sweetest lady I know, Jean, and stayed at her house so that I could think about things. (I should mention that my husbands name is Mike) Mike and I had gotten into a huge argument. His angry words were very devastating to me. I thought things through and new I loved him and he loved me. Months after that, he proposed to me and we went to Vegas to get married. We just couldn't see all of our family getting together for a merry wedding ceremony. So, lets save the money and go to VEGAS! It was great! Stayed at the Luxor and we took a helicopter ride into the canyon and landed on a plateau for a picnic. It was beautiful. The sun was setting. The canyon was spectacular. I wish I had a real camera then. We flew over the Vegas lights at night on the way back. It was very memorable. No we didn't have Elvis marry us. We had a simple ceremony. My mother and step father came to witness and enjoy Vegas with us.
As soon as we got back into town, I didn't even make it into the house, I started vomiting on the lawn. I was pregnant! Thus began the saga of being pregnant for three years. So, Mike's daughter, another blue eyed daughter -Emily, first son -Joseph, and now the baby boy -Ethan. That pretty much hit the fast forward button through the gross stuff of being sick with hyperemesis. (I threw up until the babies came out). Oh, and as for the friend thing, when you get married - you lose some more. When you have a baby - you lose some more. So I have one, two , three , four. Those are the real friends. Through thick and thin.
So basically now, my life goes on. My MS has left me with a crooked smile (some numbness that especially makes me drool when I eat an ice cream cone...), bladder problems, intimate problems, blurred vision (sometimes painful), poor balance, terrible memory (I use to never have to study), slurry speech, cognitive problems, sometimes I just cant get a word out, vertigo, fatigue, muscle tremors/weakness, hand and finger numbness. And don't forget the depression. The medicine adds to that also. Its a side effect - not like it wasn't there already, but maybe that's why the depression isn't gone? This list changes everyday. Sometimes is shorter. Sometimes its longer.
Hmm. I should go to sleep now. Enjoy some before the kids wake up.