The End of an Era

  

This was a hard one.  I believe this sign has been hanging out front by the road for at lzeast 10 years.                       

Soooo, I finally took it down.  Without the alpacas or Alan here, I won't be giving tours anymore, so I will also not have a store here. 

I'm thinking of redoing it as "Lost River Farms.  I still have all the paint, and I think I could make it work.

And here is the arbor without the sign.  Just many of the changes I've been forced to make since Alan died.

Since I have three different farmers leasing the land, I think I should change the sign to "Lost River Farms".  Make sure people know this is farmland.

So, I've had some great times with the family the past two weeks.  And for Mother's Day weekend, my DIL is celebrating her 30th birthday with a Kentucky Derby Day.  Everyone has to wear a hat.  It will be fun.  Have you seen Secretariat yet?  It's wonderful.  I remember watching all these races, but I still watched the movie with my breath held, wondering if he would make it.  Fun.

Back to Palm Springs?

It's April 14th, and this is what I woke up to this morning!!

I admit, last week while I was in Palm Springs, I laughed when I heard there had been snow in areas near home.  I was warm and enjoying the sun and pool and ambiance, so hahahahah.  Guess I got mine, huh?

This was what it looked like yesterday.  My friend is planting one of my pastures in flowers to sell at the Farmer's Market this summer.  She is using a method called No till, Low fill.  I think that is right.  It's a layering method, that some people call lasagna gardening.

We put the tent and table in the middle so we will have a nice little retreat this summer.  It is going to be so beautiful.

So, last week in Palm Springs, I only got these next two pictures because my battery died and I had forgotten to pack my charger.  Do I have the worst luck with cameras or what?  So anyhow, these two black swans visited us every morning with their 5 fluffy babies, as shown below.

I had a wonderful time there, staying with my brother and some wonderful ladies that really knew how to have fun.  I treated myself to two massages, an Essential Oil Wrap and time in the Eucalyptus Steam Room.  Ahhhhhhhhhhh.  I should have stayed another week!!

I'm spinning about 3-5 skeins a week now, with my new electric spinning wheel.  I could be doing more, but I'm just relaxing.

I've also been making yard art.  This sets on a pole in the garden.  We need the brightness until the sun finds it's way here.

The snow has stopped, but I think this will be a good day to stay inside and knit and spin.  Yeah.

Re-Branding

I have re-branded.  I know, you all know me as FiberFabrications, but I have always done business as Lost River Alpacas.  Now, with the sale of the alpacas, I had to change my status at the Market from Farmer to Crafter.  This is my new logo and business card.  The Market opens tomorrow, and I am psyched.  The car is packed and ready, now I just need to decide what to wear.  In this crazy Pacific Northwest, you never know if it will rain, sleet, blow, shine, or heat up.  Sooooo, boots?  Okay, I got it.  Layers for sure.  Gotta be able to strip when it gets warm.

So the other day, Josie and I took a ride to the vet's in a VeeDub.  She was not impressed.  I've never held one this size in a car before.  We had alot of laughs.  Poor baby has ricketts, the first ever for one of my alpacas.  She will be getting Vitamin D injections and should recover well.

Here she is getting her hocks x-rayed.  Deb, our vet tech, is getting a kick out of this.  Look at Josie's face.

At this point Josie says "Okay, I'm done now."

Jumping back to Monday, this is the dumpster that we almost filled with miscellaneous metal stuff.  It should bring some decent money.

Looks like it has stopped raining.  Think I will go outside and plant.