Well it's been almost a month since writing here.Time flies, it really does. Funny how age speeds the days along. Life is like a toilet roll. Slow to unwind at first and then as you get to the end the sheets disappear in no time.
So here it is. I was getting complaints from regular readers at the lack of effort here,so especially for Angie who logs on twice a day to check the updates.(Yes I know,bless. Still it's healthier than EastEnders)
Well it's been a month and not a good one I have to say. All alpaca breeders are aware of the scurge that is mites. I believe every one comes across it from time to time. Not normally a problem, as long as you spot it early enough it's easily treated.
We have just had a bad dose.A very virulent strain that hid itself in the underbellys and lower back legs almost impossible to see without turning the animal on to its back,or feeling for scabs through the fleece on the legs. But every one was checked and treated, some everyday or every other day for the last three weeks.It was mainly half a dozen that shared the same paddock but you need to go through them all. Quite a time consuming pain in the ass really but has to be done and now I think I can say we've cracked it and they are all healthy and suitably scruffy for the time of year.
However a much bigger calamity hit us yesterday and one that cannot be put right with lotions and potions.
Jayne and Patsy loaded the Mitsubishi with all their kit to do a spinning and craft fair at Guarec and set off at eight in the morning. I was enjoying a lie in, as you do.
The telephone rang persistently until I gave in and got up to answer it. It couldn't be Jayne she had only just left.
It was. Tearfully she explained she had had an accident about a mile down the road. I dressed and went to the scene with a sick feeling in my gut.
She had lost control of the car on black ice, completely rolled it, uprooted an oak tree in the bank and finished up the right way up in the hedgerow.There was another car on it's side in the opposite ditch. A victim of the same circumstance but an unrelated accident.
Incredibly the two girls were out of the car and seemingly unhurt, the Pompiers had already been called for by a passer-by and they were duly checked over in the ambulance and released.
The pick-up is a write off.
Sods Law comes into play too having driven for some thirty odd years without a claim on fully comprehensive insurance. Last year we had to make cutbacks on an ever increasing list of insurances and the pick-up was changed to third party F&T.
So, bit of a bugger really.
Any good news? Well, we have sold another puppy, just the one left now and things are definitely easier with one!
