Fall is in the air


As we walked the barn this morning it was apparent that fall will soon be upon us. Actually, fall seems a bit late coming this year. The leaves are just now beginning to turn, while a few are also beginning to drop from the trees. In a week or two I am sure we will be buried to the knees in leaves when all of the large Maple trees that surround our house suddenly drop their leaves.

It is nice finally have some cooler days. The weather today has been excellent for catching up on all of the barn activities we had been putting off during the warmer weather.

We saw our first frost in Lewis’ pen this morning. Lewis is always invigorated by the cooler weather. When it is hot he spends a lot of time in front of his fan. Once the temperatures begin to drop, Lewis is always right beside us as we work–begging for the back scratches he loves so much.

Laura and I have finally made it back into the house and are trying to recover from all of the heavy work we have been doing all morning. It feels good to finally sit down for a little while. Laura has started a batch of homemade vegetable soup. The aroma coming from the kitchen is making me very hungry. We are going to splurge after dinner and have a piece of hot cherry pie with a big scoop of vanila ice cream! So much for watching our weight this weekend!

Fred

Champagne Goes to his new home!

Champagne Cruz left for his new home with Tori and Mike Howk of Tennessee. He got to ride home in the luxury of a nice, big van, and has been met his new room-mate, Socks. Tori really loves Champagne, but Socks was not so sure at first that he wanted to share his family with a newcomer! On last report, the two boys are working out their differences as only our camelid friends can.

We helped Tori select Champagne as a PR llama. Champagne likes people, and was my favorite pick as replacement PR llama to train for Delta Society. We know Tori will have a lot of fun with Champagne, and together they will bring happiness to many people.

In Champagne, Tori also got a wonderful fiber llama. Champagne took First Place in the Juvenile class Spinner’s Choice Fiber class at Llamafest in September!

We wish Tori and Mike the best of luck with Champagne and their llama program. It is always very gratifying to make wonderful new friends like the Howk’s, and have the opportunity to place one of our favorite llamas in such a wonderful, loving home!

Our New Piano (Loom)


Sunday was an exciting day for Laura and I. Laura had located two used looms in Ft Wayne, IN which looked as if they might be a nice step up from her 24 inch rigid heddle loom. Both are Harrisville looms. One is a 24 inch model and the other is a 48 inch 8 harness, 10 treadle loom. As you can see, it takes up the space of a good size piano! We had to partially disassemble the loom to get it into our mini-van.

Now that it is in the house we are reading through the instructions to make sure we know how to reassemble it. There are tons of pulleys, chains, leather belts and treadles that need to be reconnected. I guess this will be a good fall project for two mechanical engineers; Laura and I are both Mechanical Engineers (Purdue).

Laura is looking forward to getting it all setup and starting her first weaving project.