January Thaw

As often happens in January we have had some warm temps along with rain that has melted a lot of the snow. In town there are only a few piles of snow left. We live in the woods and it always takes longer for the snow to disappear. When I went to feed the alpacas after work today I was happy to see some grass showing in our pasture. I was worried we would still have complete snow cover. Of course the alpacas are a mess. Snowstorm is wet and has clearly been rolling in the mud. Victoria was drenched this morning already, and had not dried much since. I can't see the dirt on her as well given her dark fleece. Kateri tends to stay cleaner than the other two. She was slightly damp and some dirt but nothing like Snowstorm. I think she spends more time in the barn since she is not as wet as the other two.

There was a lot of ice outside the barn, both the entry way and the back exit. In the front we are really careful when approaching the barn. The back exit is where the alpacas leave the barn which had me concerned. On Sunday Kateri slipped a bit, but thankfully did not fall. Today the ice was even worse so I took some of the wet straw and hay and put that over the icy patches outside. I figure the hay isn't tasty to eat now anyway since it's wet. That seemed to make it a lot less slick out there. I have heard of alpaca's falling and breaking a leg. I also notice Victoria slipping a bit on the mat inside the barn so I made sure the straw was distributed over the mat to help stop slipping there.

Thunder seems to be adjusting well to her new home. Ironic that since we got her we have had thunderstorms. I wanted to kiss her the first day she was here when she used the alpaca poop pile for her litter box. Fluffy usually goes in the barn which I end up having to clean up, yuck! This morning when I was feeding the alpacas Fluffy was no longer an attack cat but was wrestling with Thunder.