Sudokuaholics Anonymous 11

“Family and friendships are two of the greatest facilitators of happiness.”

Thought this was appropriate for us all. So happy that Midge's sons are coming home.

What luck to find that pen knife, Heidi! It could have lain there for a long time. I was reminded of my grandmother's story of losing her wedding ring during the depression. They could never afford another. After the WW2, she was out in the garden planting vegetables and what does she dig up - her gold wedding ring! They had married in 1913.
Col is doing well enough now. His medications are helping and also knowing when to stop, sit down and take a break helps.
I wll post some photos of Lone Pine and our visitors.
Take care people, ciao for now!

The white faced calf is a heifer and the solid black is a bull calf.

My 2 look like they have a while to go. The Red Angus looks about 1-2 weeks to go, and the Black Angus (Mom is a Red Angus) looks like she has about 3 -4 weeks to go. The black one has a 50/50 chance of having a red calf. The other one will definitely be red.

I just had a pleasant surprise. The cow that I thought had a week to go just had a very nice purebred Red Angus heifer calf! This is her first calf, and she's being a great mother.

How lovely with new life on the farm.
We are pretty hectic here - full house and van to come back from the beach this weekend.
Brother back in hospital having more of his foot amputated - drs can't believe he is still with us between cancer, ascites, diabetes and dialysis and the underlying staph infection. We have lousy genes but are persistent!!
Daughter and partner hoping to buy some acreage at an auction on Sat. - very exciting for them. If they do, my van will go there for weekend stays.
Back to work, will callin again soon.

Today was the Kentucky Alpaca Assn's annual Alpaca Spring Fling. Lots of booths with alpaca products like yarn, socks, scarves, hats, sweaters, blankets, pillows and stuffies, mony plenty of other items for sale. Also various talks and an alpaca obstacle course. Lots of fun. And it was a beautiful day so it had a huge crowd. I bought some alpaca socks for me, and a pair of alpaca socks for Mike as a thank you for all he does for me.

''Mony''? How did THAT get in there? It should say ''and'' instead of ''mony''.

The last calf of the year will be born in the next 24 hours. It's going to be tiny, since mom is barely showing. Mike thinks it'll weigh about 50 lbs and I think more like 40 lbs. I have my alpaca cria scale ready to weigh it when I tag it right after birth.

A normal sized calf is about 70 to 80 lbs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cJime6tuEZA

A wonderful tribute to that amazing man, Harry Belafonte.
March 1, 1927 - April 15, 2023.

I hadn't heard of Harry Belafontes passing... Thanks for mentioning it.

After watching the video, I realized there was so much I didn't know about Harry Belafonte...

He was truly a great man. His passion and devotion to Civil Rights was his driving passion in life. Dr Martin Luther King, Jr was one of his closest friends. Belafonte was concerned that if something happened to him, his family would be in trouble, so he took out a huge life insurance policy out on Dr King, with his wife the beneficiary. When Dr King was assassinated, his widow was taken care of for life.
He repeatedly risked his life for the movement. One time he was chased by a bunch of Ku Klux Klansmen, who were shooting at him, while he was moving funds to help the cause.

That last cow, a first time mother, has been driving me crazy. I thought she was going to calve a few days ago. She FINALLY calved a half hour ago! It's a good sized black bull calf. She's being VERY attentive, thank goodness.

Mike and I are baffled. That cow really hid the calf. She didn't look pregnant, and looks exactly the same now as she did before she calved. If I hadn't seen her calve, I wouldn't have believed she'd given birth.... especially to a 70 lb calf!

Tomorrow morning is Alpaca Shearing! It'll be hard work, since I have to catch each one, halter it, then bulldog it for the shearer. I plan on doing the catching and haltering before he arrives, so all I have to do is grab the lead rope. get them in position, then bulldog them once he's here. I anticipate a good collection of bruises. Alpacas don't like being handled.

The people showed up with their 2 alpacas this morning. I was able to halter them , get them in a pen, and tell them that they're both young intact males. i told the couple that they could leave their alpacas here and pick them up tomorrow so they didn't have to wait. The shearer is running late. He'll be here in 30 minutes.

RIP, Gordon Lightfoot... The legend lives on.........

Hadn't heard, DOrA. I attended one of his concerts years ago and enjoyed it immensely.

My body is aching.... but all 10 alpacas got sheared.

I just realized I didn't relatr the story of those 2 alpacas. Two and a half weeks ago, a guy named Joey contacted the Kentucky Alpaca Association looking for help. He had gotten 2 alpacas and was looking for someone to shear them, but had no idea where to look. I was the closest member to him, and my alpacas hadn't been sheared yet, but were scheduled, so I contacted him and told him he could bring them over here to be sheared today. He had gotten them at a farm auction and didn't even know what gender(s) they were. So today he found out he has 2 young intact males, who have now been sheared and had their hooves trimmed.

Got my lawn mower back this afternoon (it had several problems) and finallygot the lawn mowed. Ihad to set it at the highest setting, so it looks rough, but it'll look better when I mow again on Sunday at a lower setting.

Hello there, sorry for my absence. I have no excuse.
I, too, hadn't heard of Belafonte's passing, nor of his activism and generosity.
I'm now humming 'Island in the Sun', obviously going to be my earworm for the day.
I had heard about Gordon Lightfoot and spent a day or so humming Sundown and Edmund Fitzgerald.
We had a nice visit from Rolanda and Peter and did a bit of local sightseeing and for a few days before putting them on a train to Cairns in tropical North Queensland. A great place to visit!!

Exciting Kentucky Derby. I feel very smug since I picked the winner, Mage.

Very quiet here. I'm getting all sorts of small chores done.

A bit the same here Heidi!
The last few months have been busy getting many things in order around here. Now that's all done, I seem to keep up with everything - too well. I said to Col last night that I'm becoming too OCD. If anything is out of place I fix it straight away. If something needs to be done, I do it straight away. Not me at all!
Winter has come a few weeks early here. We haven't had the air-con on for at least a month. We put a blanket on the bed. I have socks and a cardigan on at 9am!
I hope everyone is well and happy.

I just removed yet ANOTHER skunk from my barn. I'd have thought that I'd decimated the local population by now, but they keep coming in my barn.

🌼🌺 HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY! 🌹🌸

My strawberry plants are already producing strawberries!

I just downloaded pictures of some of the alpacas, taken a couple of hours after they were sheared.

Thank you, I had a 2-day Mother's Day.
My son and 2 of his girls plus partners came over on Saturday to see me bringing food for morning tea, A nice family morning.
And yesterday we had high tea at my Grandson's unit (apartment). He and his fiance had made a delicious spread of food, and it was lovely to see their life as a couple in their cute little, but well appointed unit.

This Friday evening we are going to see Hayley's new home with her partner. I'm excited about that as well.
It's a strange feeling that these kids who I have known and loved since birth are grown up and out in the world.

Lovely sunny day here, about 21C. D and I did a mosaic class on Mothers Day - so much fun. She did a classy fossil and I made a kindergarten octopus. I have done leadlighting for many years so it was fun doing a simple session with others. Son made pizzas for tea and we watched the AFL footy - perfect (we won).
Son no.2's gf from Thailand still with us - goes home on Sunday after 6 weeks. She has been a very welcome guest but time for her to go - she is gettng a bit homesick.
No. 3 back in Darwin and no. 1 doing his betting from here for the next couple of weeks. Hubby gone to Sydney for the week so while the cat is away .........
Hope everyone is well, cheers.

Woo Hoo! I got all the mowing done today, inside and outside the yard, down the driveway and all the frontage along the road. It took 2 hours, but it looks great. And it's supposed to rain tomorrow.

I should have started mowing, yesterday, before the Thunder storm. Grass was dry and ground was firm enough not to sink in. Then it rained. It normally takes 8 to 10 hours, with a 6' brush hog, to mow what needs to be mowed. It's also time for herbicide along the fence line...

Saw the first Monarch Butterfly, of the season, the other day. Pretty.

We're having severe thunderstorms right now. A tornado was sighted 15 miles north of me an hour ago. It's a good day to be inside.

Yesterday was Kentucky's Primary elections for state offices, from Governor on down. A friend of mine was running for Agriculture Commishioner on the Democratic ticket, and SHE WON THE NOMINATION! I am ecstatic! Sierra is one of the smartest people I've ever known, loaded with common sense and years of experience in Agriculture. She was Summa cum laude in High School, and University. I've known her since she was 10 years old. If she wins the election in November, this will be a wonderful step foreward for Kentucky.

Morning all,
I'm assuming your area avoided any real severe weather Heidi.
DorA, I love to see a butterfly in the garden, doesn't seem to happen as much as it did when I was a kid. Maybe too much urban sprawl.
Midge, I have been doing mosaics for years now. I usually do tables. WE often used to buy bases of old singer sewing machines, hubby would put a sturdy marine ply on top and I would do the mosaic top on it. He helps with the grouting and sealing. I have also done mosaics on stepping stones. I can't do it any more because of arthritis. Except for one. I had a table waiting for me to start on when my dog, as a puppy decided it was her territory and started to sleep on it. Nearly 15 years later, she now has a kennel on it. She won't live in the house - weird dog (mini-poodle). Anyway I have the tiles ready to do a chess board on it when I can get access to it. If I can't do it some of my grandies will.

I notice that Julie hasn't been posting here for months.
I just checked FB and she hasn't posted there since early January.
I hope she is okay.

I'll try to call her tomorrow. it's too late at night to call now.

I've tried emailing and phoning Julie, with no response so far. I'll try a few more times.

Just talked to Julie. She's been in and out of the hospital with a series of problems, and just got home from rehab a few says ago. She's feeling better than before and may come back here to visit. I don't feel authorized to share her more intimate details.

Thanks for doing that Heidi!
Julie is a private person and I would not expect to know anything more other than that you have got in contact with her. I do hope she will soon feel well enough to post here occasionally.
If you're reading this Julie, best wishes that you will feel well enough to return to regular life soon.