I normally pride myself on being decisive; for making decisions and standing by them. They may not always be right, and I may reflect from time to time, but I seldom look back with regret. I like to think that I am fairly philosophical (having a calm and stoical disposition… reference Collins English Dictionary!).
Well, all that should now be in the past tense. I have become a ditherer. I change my mind more often than the weather changes (mind you that isn’t too difficult around these parts…rains here on a pretty regular basis).
First of all it was the World Alpaca Conference;
December…not going at all can’t spare the time away.
January…we are going. I book a very nice hotel in Oxford and we are going to combine 2 days of the conference with some alpaca free days.
February…I have cancelled the hotel and we are doing the whole Keble College package. Paul will have alpaca overload by the end of it, but as this is by far the cheaper option, he is willing to make the sacrifice!
Next it is who to take to the British Alpaca Futurity. Again I seem to have been dithering for months…I blame the organisors…for extending the closing date…not good for ditherers. The problem is last night I had a dream…I was at the Futurity and I was upset that I hadn’t taken Explorer...he was upset that I had left him at home…was this an omen…possibly? However, as part of the same dream… I also fell into some sewage (yes dreams are strange things)…and I can tell you that I did not come up smelling of roses…so maybe not a good omen? Anyway I am back to being indecisive and trying to decide how fat is too fat.
The last bit of past tense…is the not looking back bit…I have applied for a job…just very part-time…but it would appear that the nurse in me is missing work!
I mentioned on the last blog that we had three cria yet to be weaned. Here they are below, from the left; Boots, Adelle and Quintos
No ifs and buts here...just butts
Quintos and his dam Silverstream Hoity Toity
We are watching with interest to see how Quintos's fleece develops. He is extremely dense, extremely bright, and has excellent conformation...he just didn't have the fleece character that we expected when he was born (more curl than crimp)...however, this is beginning to change...he is getting some crimp...quite broad in style at present...but it is definitely changing.
Quinto's fleece...I will get some proper fleece shots at some point (when Rosemary tells me how to!)
Me?! Tell you?!
ReplyDeleteYou do a brilliant photo as it is!
We are also debating the Futurity - not who to take but whether we will be able to go due to arrival of the lambs.
Did Quintos have a long gestation? We had one that we wasn't what we expected at birth, it resembled a suri. To be perfectly honest we were so miffed we didn't really look at it again for ages but by the time he was shorn it was so much better and fleece number two was a completely difference bag altogether.
ReplyDeleteI am hoping that we will find the same Debbie. He was born at just under 12 months gestation, late for an autumn birth I guess.
ReplyDeleteInteresting regarding length of gestation as Ebony (370 days cooking!) is only just starting to develop crimp at almost 6 months old. Her fleece is long and fine but had little crimp at birth. It is already clear to see that her next fleece will be much crimpier!
ReplyDeleteWe won't be at the Futurity,(just can't justify 2 expensive alpaca trips to UK in one year!), but I will eagerly read everyones news on their return!
Definitely a gestation thing.
ReplyDeleteRafiki was born at 363 days, weighed 11 kilos, big and ugly, he was medium fawn and his fleece was very Suri like.
Come shearing time we had a huge surprise as a handsome brown boy was revealed and now as an intermediate he is in the show team!