Having gone to Mole Valley Farmers to pick up sundries, including a can of wasp nest destroyer, I forgot it!
Never mind, Pauline (Pipley Court Alpacas) came to my rescue and gave me a can, so tonight at dusk, revenge was sweet, or so I hope, and the the deed was done. So, tomorrow I hope that on investigation I find a lot of dead wasp and we able to enter the barn without worry. On the other hand I might find that it didnt work and there are hundreds of very angry wasps with dreadful hangovers waiting to get their own back!

We have been surveyed, well we found a blue survey marker on the fence to our entrance,
the size of a tennis ball or just a bit smaller with a yellow stick on number in the middle.
Marked survey marker (yes) but who, I have contacted the council who inform me that if it had been them it would be marked with a contact number, so the mystery continues.

So if anybody knows who or what it is please contact me as I would love to know.

Just after this was found a cyclist came down our drive (anybody that knows us knows that it is a very long drive) cycled round the corner to our yard took a photo of the scenery and then cycled off!

Needless to say I have taken it off  and now probably am in deep do dah with some official somewhere. If only we knew who?

Whilst watching a nature programme a little while ago I was informed that wasps are indeed good for your garden. Well that is fine but they are not good for the barn which is where I disturbed a nest that I had no idea was there and did not in fact see until I was clearing up. Hearing a lot of buzzing noise I thought it was large flies of some description (of which we have many) until they started to sting me in large numbers at which point I made a hasty retreat.  Lots of me was red, lumpy and burning hot. okay not too much imagination please!

Four days on I am beginning to feel normal, well as normal as I could be, I will in future take more notice and I will exact my revenge on them!

Don't be silly , I do not like mud! No, yesterday we made history by  walking with the freemen, mayor, town crier and sheep down Glastonbury High Street to preserve the right to do so. All seem to being going well as we started off,  when concentrating on the alpacas I did  not see the ruddy great pot hole and preceded to go a** over t** as they say, trying to do it as gracefully as I could knowing full well there must have been six hundred cameras flashing , okay I exagerated but by gum there was a lot. I got to my feet as though nothing had happened and smiled , thinking again well we will see that one on Have You Been Framed this winter!

Andy stayed with the alpacas in the market place while Pauline and I had a stall in the Town Hall for the Fibre Fest, selling all we had to offer and it was a brilliant day

Next year it is for two days in August we have been invited again but I do not  know if we will be walking down the High Street with the alpacas but I have marked it in the diary as
"Watch for the b***** pot holes.

We have to say well done to Lynsey Skinnner at Dreamfield Alpacas for at LAST getting her permanent planning today. Lynsey has truly been through the mill with the planning department and committee over the past five years. Not helped by those that wished to destroy her future. WELL!!!!!! DONE!!!!!.

We have been so busy in the last few weeks trying to get extra work on the valley done before the weather changed. We  worked really hard especially yesterday because they had forecast so much rain, and what did we get a few spots and a lovely day!. ah well back to home weather forecasting (looking out of the window and seeing  whats happening).

Well not me personally!  We are just checking the second spit offs and by Monday that will be it.

We have several that are pregnant to The Diplomat, very exciting for next year, also we have used Valley Alpacas Cinnamon (now owned by Pauling and Roger at Pipley Court Alpacas) and that too should result in  fabulous cria.

We then can put all the girls over the other side of the valley onto some very nice rested grass.
Catching up on other jobs Andy has repaired the new, well second hand bale grab  ready for use for next year, whoopi that means I will become redundant and not have to manhandle bales into the barn! He has a little more to do on the bale sledge and we will be set for hands free haymaking!

Last night Andy was putting the dogs out at about eleven o'clock when he could see a
torch in the bottom of the race in front of the house, he shone his torch down and he could see three men with dogs, they then made off towards the wood, after a quick phone call to the keeper (He alwasy lets us know when he is lamping) it was a quick phone call to the police.

I have to say their response time was extremely quick, but obviously they couldnt find anything, even though extra cars went around the lanes. But its is extremely worrying.
This morning when Andy walked along the drive to unlock the gate he found that they must have been dropped off at the gate walked along the track going through one of the paddocks, leaving a gate open, luckily none of the boys decided to explore!
Next will be a phone call today to find out about any wireless security we can install, we have looked in to it before but the drive is 400 metres long and the technology was not good I just hope that it has improved!

Where on earth do the weeks go, it seems like only yesterday that we were shearing, and now we are gathering in the hay.

Whilst buying some in (and I will say now it is just as expensive as last year and rumour has it that it will be just as scarce) we are making our own this year. Domestic arguments are now on as to when we should bale, Andy says today and I say tomorrow as I think it is  not quite ready.

We are also mating at the moment, and I will say please watch the for sale page as we should have one or two of our females pregnant to The Diplomat listed soon

For anyone who has not seen him he made the front page of the BAS magazine this quarter.

I went with Lyn Pepper (Tai Wind Alpacas) to the Bath & West Show on Friday and it was  very hot in the tent with the Alpacas. Luckily around the show, what little we saw of it,
there was a very nice breeze. The last few days here it has been quite cold blustery and thankfully,   a decent bit of rain. Hay has been made at Pipley Court Alpacas, Pauline and Roger were very quick of the mark this year, well done them as the grass is thin on the ground and hopefully they may get a crack at a second cut later on. We now are waiting for that five day slot to get ours cut.

I can not believe that  it is a fortnight since we sheared, it was a very windy day and even in the shelter of the barn we were having difficulty in trying to sort fleeces. The weather held and although been a little colder since we have not had any problems.
During shearing one of my females decided that today was the day to give birth, all went well and she delivered a lovely white male weighing 11.5kgs. We seem to breed them on the large size here! Colin Ottery did a great job as usual and I did manage to take a photo.

Making ready the barn today for shearing on Monday, so we are watching the weather  and of course tonight its freezing cold, raining and blowing a gale.
Still the weather men say it is going to get  better, do we believe them,NO.

Tomorrow we will move all the pacas around so that Monday should a be quick and slick operation! Well thats the theory and as we all  know it probably wont happen like that.

So Fingers crossed

We thought we would take some photos of dippers and his awards, we had to take them in the barn as it is far to windy to take them outside. David Bailey we are not and so they are as good as we can get them!