Extreme Makeover...anybody need a haircut??

This weekend the Alpaca's got an extreme makeover. It was time for their yearly haircut. 

We went to the ranch where they came from and jumped into the action.

The kids wrangled and held heads while they got their haircuts. Adrian helped flip them on to their sides and hog tie them. The kids even brought a few of their friends along to help out as well.

I took on the job of fleece sorter.  It was my responsibility to separate the good fleece from the not so good leg and neck fleece and label and bag it all. 

It was really dirty and exhausting, but it was such a great experience. The Rancher who gave the Alpaca's their haircut was from Australia. During the winter down under he comes to the U.S. for our Summer and does shearing all up and down the coast here. 

For me it was such a great experience handling the fleece from all of the alpaca's I really got a good feel for all the different types and qualities of the fleece. I am really looking forward to getting it clean and processed now and being able to use it for crafts. 

My selfie picture from the day since I was taking all the pictures I am not in any of them. I had to take my own picture hehehe!!

We also attended the award ceremony for the Local Fair that Anna participated in. Let us introduce to you the Grand Champion and first place ribbon holder for the Junior Preserves and Junior Craft Division of the Fair. Anna had a really great time, and all the thanks goes to her amazing 4H leader Mary, who has been such an encouragement to us this year as we are learning about animals, and fairs, and being part of a club. We actually wanted to give up and quit a few times and Mary wouldn't let us.
We need more leaders and encouragers in the world like this don't we!!

“So be sure when you step, Step with care and great tact. And remember that life's A Great Balancing Act. And will you succeed? Yes! You will, indeed! (98 and ¾ percent guaranteed) Kid, you'll move mountains.” 

~Dr. Suess

The Love & Hate of it...

ughh Facebook

I have such a love hate thing going on with it. My family who I never get to see because of distance is on there so I love posting pictures so they can see what I am up to. But then I do have some acquaintances that end up being a peanut gallery of comments and opinions that I don't always enjoy. 

You can't always go by what you see.

My husband pointed out to me that a picture that I posted on facebook was cut off unless you opened the picture and it looked a little funny...

at first I was kind of like OH DEAR!! 

Well there is more to this picture of course!!

Ahahhahhaha!! I will have to more careful with what I post you might get the wrong impression of me lol!! 

 Moose is still at the Trainers. We decided to put shoes on him. He is very flat footed and she felt most of his soreness was coming from that. I haven't seen much weight gain on him. She said he might lose weight because they are working him so hard. When I went to see him the other day he looked the same to me, although he did look more sore in the front. Hopefully though we are on the right track to getting this rescue guy looking and feeling better. It would be wonderful if by the summer we could be riding him. He still has a ways to go though. I really do miss him not being here I can't wait until we bring him home. 

The Alpacas got picked up yesterday by the farmer who gave them to us. It is shearing weekend which means on Saturday they will be getting a haircut and then I will have some Alpaca hair to process and clean. So we currently have a very quiet ranch with no animals. 

We purchased a used Chevy Silverado truck this week. I can't tell you what a blessing this is. We have needed a truck for awhile now. We have been relying on other people to help us tow or get hay and it has been really such an inconvenience. A guy in town sold it to us. Cost less than a new big screen T.V.  Yeah it is a gas guzzler but it was cheap no car payment, runs great, and is set to tow anything. Since is it not our primary means of transportation the gas won't be an issue. We still can't believe how cheap it was, have you ever checked out the prices of trucks? Even used ones, it is shocking really.  We are so excited one mans junk is another mans treasure!!

Yummy curry noodles in my new pottery bowls...

Drawing from this week... Birds, Hands, and Henna

Slowly getting back into my sketch book. Definitely need to make it a habit!

How was your week??

~Heather

“The only way to get through life is to laugh your way through it. You either have to laugh or cry. I prefer to laugh. Crying gives me a headache.”

~Marjorie Pay Hinckley 

Desert View Tower

Adrian took me for a little Mother's Day trip out to the desert in our Jeep. We love rambling around in the Jeep with the top off. We ended up near the end of the Cuyamaca Mountains over looking the town of Ocotillo. The place was called the desert tower. This funny quirky guy greeted us, and I think he lives there as well. I love the desert. There is just something so appealing about the intense heat and the sandy landscape that I find so attractive. I could have spent all day wandering around out there. And typical California style some UFO sightings were also involved. 

Enjoy the pics!!

For Mother's Day Adrian also treated me to some more pottery pieces. My household dishes are made by a local artist who is an amazing potter. I love how the color of my dishes are all different. I picked up some bowls with handles which will be great for soup or oatmeal or a giantic mug of coffee. I also picked out some more plates, chip and dip bowl, and some little heart bowls that we will use when we are cooking for fresh ground spices. 

My newly patched up Toms, to cover up my big toe that was popping out ... I hand stitched a wool felt heart to them and this is actually holding up very well. 

I recently have felt very convicted to lay off the crafts some and get back into art. It is time to pick up my paint brushes again. I have found recently people keep calling me crafty, and although this may seem weird I really don't like to be spoken of that way. Ugh I shudder at how people always have to use words to describe and classify.  It really opened my eyes though. If I had to be called something it would have to be Artist. And it reminded me that I am definitely not doing enough art. Art really is my passion and it is time to dust off my paint brushes... Adrian has been teasing me with bad Prince jokes I now will be formerly known as Crafty,  but now I will be going by the name The Artist LOL!! {insert giggle here}

Maybe that is the purpose of a name tag, to inspire us beyond what people can see. 

Well I hope where ever you find your self today the sun is shining, you are smiling, and your feeling very inspired to shake off the dustiness of a boring life!!  

“Art washes away from the soul the dust of everyday life.” 

~Pablo Picasso

when friends visit...

Unexpectedly I found out that my friend from Miami was going to be in California and she was able to extend her trip and come and spend a few days with me. We had a quite a bit of catching up to do since I have not seen her in years so most of the time we just drank tea and talked...but we did make it out of the house a few times. When we have friends visit we always take them for a stroll around the coast to see the pretty Pacific views...

“Let us be grateful to the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom.” 

~Marcel Proust