HP, Alpaca Sex, Tree Planting
I've just finished rereading Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in preparation for Saturday and enjoyed it a lot this time around. I think I skimmed through it so quickly two years ago to find out what happened that I didn't give myself the opportunity to savour it much. This time, I liked the Voldemort backstory in particular, and found the part where Harry was fulfilling his promise to Dumbledore towards the end really quite agonising. I can't wait for the moment on Saturday when I get to hand over my money and carry Deathly Hallows out of a store. While I'm not any kind of major-league HP fan, I think it's exciting to have been alive over the period these books were being written.
Minnie had to be re-bred the other day since she she didn't act pregnant at her 14-day spit-off. As a rough check for pregnancy, you offer the male to the female again 14 days after mating. She'll either sit, indicating she's receptive, or spit at him, which is a sign that she's likely pregnant.
After 20 minutes of energetic sex, during which the male "orgles" throughout (you can hear it here), Mr Stud Male Alpaca hopped off and Minnie got to her feet, rather rumpled as you'd expect. The owner of the male and I were in the middle of a conversation, so we left them in the yard together while we finished chatting. After a couple of minutes, the bounce was starting to return to Minnie's fleece, and she eyed Mr Stud Male speculatively. Touching her nose gently to his, she batted her long eyelashes at him and suggested she'd be up for another round. He gave her an offended look, spat at her at close range and said, "Once is all you get! You want more, tell your people to make another appointment!"
I know the day didn't suit everybody, but I think I'd better say Sunday 12 August for the tree planting day, with the 19th as a possible backup in case the weather is really awful. If I leave it any later, they won't have very long to get their roots into the ground before it starts to dry out again. Say 11:30 for some alpaca and llama socialising before lunch, and then some planting and further food bribes in the afternoon. If you could RSVP for catering purposes that would be great, but no pressure to attend! I think we're so efficient now that even just a few of us could make a huge dent in this year's tree order in not much time. ETA: The especially keen will be starting at 10 am, so turn up when you like.
I've planted about 100 seedlings so far this season and had a revelation the other day while walking around on the other side of the creek with a bucket full of York gums and melaleuca thyoides. Looking for places to put the new seedlings, I could see for the first time that this project is not going to go on forever, like it's felt it would so far. One day there'll actually be a plant growing in every available spot, and maybe five years after that, there'll be diverse, thick vegetation along both sides of the creek from one boundary fence to the other. As things grow, it's getting harder and harder to take photos that look as impressive as things do when you're standing in the middle of them, but this is the main area we planted in 2005, when all of these plants except the trees right at the back were new seedlings. And these are the first trees I planted on the property, with a 5'9" person provided for scale purposes. (I'm told I'll regret planting that kind, as it's a terrible branch dropper that will keep me busy chainsawing and repairing fences for the rest of my life, but you live and learn and right now they look good!)
Minnie had to be re-bred the other day since she she didn't act pregnant at her 14-day spit-off. As a rough check for pregnancy, you offer the male to the female again 14 days after mating. She'll either sit, indicating she's receptive, or spit at him, which is a sign that she's likely pregnant.
After 20 minutes of energetic sex, during which the male "orgles" throughout (you can hear it here), Mr Stud Male Alpaca hopped off and Minnie got to her feet, rather rumpled as you'd expect. The owner of the male and I were in the middle of a conversation, so we left them in the yard together while we finished chatting. After a couple of minutes, the bounce was starting to return to Minnie's fleece, and she eyed Mr Stud Male speculatively. Touching her nose gently to his, she batted her long eyelashes at him and suggested she'd be up for another round. He gave her an offended look, spat at her at close range and said, "Once is all you get! You want more, tell your people to make another appointment!"
I know the day didn't suit everybody, but I think I'd better say Sunday 12 August for the tree planting day, with the 19th as a possible backup in case the weather is really awful. If I leave it any later, they won't have very long to get their roots into the ground before it starts to dry out again. Say 11:30 for some alpaca and llama socialising before lunch, and then some planting and further food bribes in the afternoon. If you could RSVP for catering purposes that would be great, but no pressure to attend! I think we're so efficient now that even just a few of us could make a huge dent in this year's tree order in not much time. ETA: The especially keen will be starting at 10 am, so turn up when you like.
I've planted about 100 seedlings so far this season and had a revelation the other day while walking around on the other side of the creek with a bucket full of York gums and melaleuca thyoides. Looking for places to put the new seedlings, I could see for the first time that this project is not going to go on forever, like it's felt it would so far. One day there'll actually be a plant growing in every available spot, and maybe five years after that, there'll be diverse, thick vegetation along both sides of the creek from one boundary fence to the other. As things grow, it's getting harder and harder to take photos that look as impressive as things do when you're standing in the middle of them, but this is the main area we planted in 2005, when all of these plants except the trees right at the back were new seedlings. And these are the first trees I planted on the property, with a 5'9" person provided for scale purposes. (I'm told I'll regret planting that kind, as it's a terrible branch dropper that will keep me busy chainsawing and repairing fences for the rest of my life, but you live and learn and right now they look good!)