Snow has melted...

Now I can't slip out of the pasture anymore. Stuck here until next winter..Glad I got some large game bones to chew on for a few days.


Wishing it would snow again
Josh

Dang! I've been busted!!

Dad took a picture of me with Cleo the cat curled up on me while I was asleep on the ground. I tried to wake up and shake her off but he got them. He is threatening to post it as well. My credibility will be shot!! Dogsters, what am I to do????

Afraid the coyotes will laugh at me.
Josh

I think he's nuts... but I like it!

Dad and I have this new game we play when he comes into the girl's pen. We stop, look at each other, he crouches down then we bound towards each other then I run around a couple of hay troughs. We do this a couple of times then he scratches my ears then my butt ( I like my butt scratched!), then my chest and tells me how good a boy I am. Not sure if he's feelin' ok, but I enjoy it. Maybe it's because I have been a good boy. HMMM. Being good=Daddy playing with me and giving me attention. I hope I can keep this up!

Bukka's Home

Daddy brought Bukka home today, or I should say his ashes anyway. Bukka's spirit has not left. I can tell. Daddy spread him all over the pasture then sat down with me and petted me. He told me he was proud of me on how I have taken my job really seriously. I have to. I can't let my brother down. For a while I did not think Daddy liked me. He even threatened to shoot me after he pulled me off of Bukka when I attacked him for getting attention. I really don't blame him. I feel bad now for being so jealous. I would rather he pet me and give me treats. I think I will curl up with Cleo tonight and remember the good times with Bukka.

Josh, the best livestock guardian Star Valley Alpacas will ever have..next to Bukka of course

It's up to me now.

This was my first night EVER without my brother Bukka to help me guard our flock. Or should I say me help Bukka. When Dad fed me last night he scratched me behind the ear and told me "You have been the back-up, now you have to run point." No more sleeping in the barn waiting for Bukka to bark. No more trying to find ways to get out of the pens and run free. I have a serious job to do and I will not let my brother down. See you at the bridge someday Bro. Somehow I know you will be backing me up now.

Josh

Bukka's Dad writes about today

"Bukka crossed the rainbow bridge at 12:45 today. I took this pic this morning. I also have some fur of his where we had to shave his neck after he was sedated. Josh was in the stall next to him and saw him lying there. I will be taking his body to Jackson to be cremated tomorrow."

Go with God, Bukka. All your friends already at the Bridge are waiting for you.You were such a good, good dog.

Mom Jennifer

Please hold Bukka and Josh in the light

Their Dad has made an appt for the vet to help Bukka go to the Bridge this Thursday. His limp on his bad leg is worse and we do not want him to suffer.

Please say a prayer for Josh that he will not be too lonely. He will still have Cleo the barn cat for companionship.


Jennifer

Goodbye Josh and Bukka, from Mom

I didn't think I had any tears left after writing my good-bye to Mac, but man- I was wrong.

My Mom just sent me an email asking me to kiss you both Wed AM before I leave and I just began sobbing.

I love you both so much, ever since I saw you as 5 month old puppies when your Dad drove you home after meeting your breeder in Cheyenne.

Josh, I love your bad-boy spirit- getting s face full of porcupine quills, dragging home elk parts some hunter left after a kill, getting sprayed by a skunk TWICE, escaping the pasture I don't know how many times, meeting me at the pasture gate so calmly in the morning, chewing on the barn steps & buckets and feeders, walking in front of me and stopping like a 110 pound speed bump. I love your relationship with Cleo the barn cat- John actually saw her sleeping ON you one morning in the field! Hey, I don't blame her- you are softer and warmer than the snow. I love how you crave attention and aren't shy about demanding it! I love that you are still such a little boy so much of the time, even though I'm looking forward to your growing up. And now I won't be here to see you mature...

Bukka, you have always been an old soul, as your Dad called you- even as a puppy. The mature and responsible brother, barking for Josh to come back when he went missing, looking after the crias like a big brother, so gentle with all the smaller creatures.

You are the brother who got bone cancer in your leg- we were all hoping and praying(even on Dogster) that it was just a bad sprain.It wasn't. The pain meds seem to be keeping you comfortable, thankfully. You even romp and play some with Josh and still "chase" cars driving by your pasture as best you can.

I think Josh knows you are sick- he's being nicer to you.After the vet comes to help you leave your sick body behind, I've asked John to let Josh see your body. I don't want him to wonder what happened to you. It's going to be a little while longer, but not too much more. Winter comes early around here.

I'm kind of sorry I won't be here to say good-bye to you before you go to the Bridge, but kind of relieved,too. This hurts enough. I'm afraid you and Josh will run alongside the car as we leave, like you usually do- not realizing I won't be back.

OK, enough crying for now- I can and will shed more tears later, in VA. This is not your fault- it's a grown-up human problem, all too common. But most people in this situation don't have to leave a barn full of animals, including two great barn dogs. Well, one great barn dog and his silly, sweet brother (sorry Josh.)

Smooch,
Mom

Oops- Thunder get off her!

Alpaca breeding is normally a carefully thought-out decision. The humans think about an animal's quality, color, lineage, fiber characteristics they want to enhance or minimize... Or, occasionally, the animals decide to breed themselves!

This happened at a farm in Charlottesville, VA when a young female alpaca decided she was ready to grow up. She hopped over a fence and got herself bred.

And it happened at Star Valley Alpacas today! Thunder has discovered that if the fence isn't secured exactly right and if he pushes really hard, he can get out. And Cinnamon is a lovely young lady on the cusp of maturity...

Dad came out to discover the young couple "in the act". This is probably like your parent walking in on you if you're a human teenager- not good. So Dad broke up the love-fest. It's kind of like Romeo and Juliet, if you think about it. Hopefully it will not have a similar tragic ending; Dad will "spit test" Cinnamon in 5 days to see if she is pregnant.

The idea with spit testing is that if a lady alpaca is pregnant and you walk an amorous male by her, she will spit at him to let him know she's not interested. If she cushes (lays down on her belly with her legs folded under her), she's showing that she's receptive to his attention and therefore, not pregnant. This is not fool-proof, but it's a pretty good sign and you repeat the test periodically.

Well, I'm kinda pulling for for the young couple. It's not easy being in "love" despite society's disapproval- or your rancher Dad's.


Bukka, who saw the whole thing

Alpaca Stormy grows up

Young Stormy had shown occasional interest in girls, but he preferred to dominate the younger males in his pen. The humans speculated about his possible sexual preference, in a loving way.

Today Dad presented him with Reflection, Mr. Bojangles' mother. Stormy acted like he had been breeding all his life and made Brio the existing herd sire VERY jealous.

We're hoping for a cria as special as Dew Drop, the alpaca who went back to VA.

In other news, Lady Day's mother Violet continues to spit first and ask questions later. She got Mom in the face the other day when Mom was just walking through the pasture to give Josh and I some treats.

Somehow, I don't think being spit in her face for no reason is one of the things Mom is going to miss when she goes back to VA...


Bukka, your intrepid barnyard reporter