Pacasitting Day 4

Although my last day of Pacasitting was yesterday, I didn't get this written until this morning.

If you read the first paragraph of the previous 3 days of Pacasitting, you can fill in the blanks. I arrived at 7AM,__ __ __ __ __ __ __. In other words, no babies.

The weather went from cloudy to sunny to overcast to sunny to cloudy. The best part...no rain! The ground is drying up really well with only a few mud puddles left. The Alpacas were laying all around the fields, truly enjoying the nicer weather. I really enjoyed spending hours sitting in the fields, hanging out and observing them. Or, were they observing me? Gabby and Michelle are so funny to watch. They are buddies and play alot. I couldn't help but laugh when I saw Gabby rear up and chest butt Michelle. Kids! In the nursery, I caught Indy (born January 2007) trying to nurse from Priscilla. I scolded her and she stopped. I told Rick about it, so she may end up getting moved in to the maiden field. I didn't try to move her thinking maybe she won't do it again. Unlike Zsa Zsa, who was relentless at trying to nurse.

After Philip left, I noticed there wasn't much hay in the middle and north fields. Pati had told me if I needed to put hay in the fields to use the rolling cart and take it a few flakes at a time. The bales are pretty bulky and heavy. I know the secret to putting a bale on the golf cart is leverage. I've watched Rick many, many times. I figured I could do it! After all, someday I'm going to have to put hay out in my own fields, so I better get used to do. First things first. Before I can drive the golf cart in to the field, I have to move the Alpacas. I started with the maidens in center field. I picked up an armful of hay in their feeder and walked into the alley with it. Yep, they all followed. I closed the gate and they were fine munching on, what they thought, was new hay. I pulled the golf cart out of the garage and headed for the barn. At one point, I got stuck in a mud puddle on the way down. It's not too difficult to push a golf cart out of a mud hole :) On to the hay. I'm standing in front of a tower of hay bales, hook in hand. It really wasn't too hard to position the bale and drop it on to the back of the golf cart, then push up the bale with my body and secure it to the cart with straps. Off to center field. I got the bale off the cart and in to the feeder with the help of the hook. Done! I drove the golf cart out of the field, then went back in and opened the gate for the girls. Doing the north field was a little more of a challenge. More Alpacas and Llamas to deal with. But, I was able to move everyone where I wanted them to be and get hay in the north and northeast field. I was pretty proud of myself.

I hung out with the boys for quite awhile. Because of the rains, weeds were popping up again. They love the weeds with the yellow flowers. I picked a bunch and treated all the boys. I took a bunch in the field with the little boys and they all ate from my hand, even Patron! I wanted to take Felix for a walk, but Patron has become quite attached to him. I didn't want him to freak out if Felix left. So, I walked Alpha with his new halter. Yep, he has a brown halter with his name in yellow across the bridge of the nose. It fits perfect. Maybe next weekend I can put a halter on Patron and walk him and Felix. After our walk, I let the boys out in the alley and the playground for a few hours. Kona and Apollo got to join them again today. They all had a great time running around and being boys.

Throughout the day, I kept checking on north field just in case someone decided to have a baby.
Nope.

Rick called around 1PM and said he was on the road back from Utah. Pati was at the airport trying to get on an earlier flight home. I talked to her last night and she was able to get on an earlier flight from Salt Lake, but got stuck in Las Vegas, so still didn't make it to Ontario until 9PM. Rick should make it home today.

It got cool and overcast around 3:30, so I went ahead and did treats early. Everyday, I made sure Prissy had her special treats in the nursery. I left about 4PM.

I had a great time Pacasitting. I would have liked it even more if Summer had cooperated and had her baby. But, it wasn't meant to be. That's O.K. I had 4 days of experiences that will serve me well in the future. A big THANK YOU to Rick & Pati for trusting me to take care of the herd.