“See you tomorrow,” I said to Enrico on Tuesday night. I was thrilled at how the preparations were coming on. A line of posts was up, large wooden posts ready in the ground for the larger of two gates we were, in short, getting on swimmingly.

“Unless it rains,” he said.

“It can’t rain!” I squeaked. “The alpacas are supposed to be arriving next week.”

“That’ll be up to Him,” he said looking upwards.

“You mean controlling the weather isn’t among your many talents?”

He laughed, but then said the forecast was Not Good.

It has poured. bucketed and stair-rodded it ever since. So the alpaca preparations have ground to a squelching halt and I am once more thwarted. Sooo frustrating!

 

Today was a beautiful springlike day – perfect for the alpaca preparations. Enrico and his friend Carlo came with a mini excavator and the first thing they did was move three olive trees that were a) too close together anyway and b) possible dinner for the alpacas.

I’ve read quite a bit already on whether or not alpacas eat olive trees. Accounts range from “nibbled a few leaves” to “destroyed my young olives”. Anyway, Enrico and Carlo moved three old trees and left three where they are, so we shall find out, won’t we, if olive trees are on the menu or not.

I Love Excavators

I have never seen trees moved so fast and expertly in my life. Come to think about it, I don’t think I have ever seen trees move full stop, except when I do it, which takes bloody hours. The fab little yellow excavator created three huge holes, scooted over to the trees, dug up one, carried to the hole, plonked it in, job done. Oh, it even filled the space where the olives were with earth taken from the new hole and patted it down. Amazing. I want an excavator.

However, the afternoon was to see even more impressive excavator magic. I wanted to move a little-used gazebo from the top part of the garden to the alpacas’ enclosure. Alan and I put it up six years ago with a lot of swearing as I remember! Enrico, Carlo and his brother Sergio decided the best way to relocated the three metre by three metre gazebo was to lift it up, metal post holders and all and carry it to the new position about a hundred metres away.

After some nifty work with two logs and a lever to remove the four posts, we (yes, I held a corner post!) carried the gazebo to its new location and then my friend the excavator was brought in again to insert each post into the ground down using a strap system. Totally amazing.

Finally the guys have cut down two huge pine trees. One was leaning at a dangerously rakish angle and the other was too close to its neighbours. So they have now gone . Took about ten minutes! The branches are now burning on a bonfire and the trunks will be cut up so we will have all the wood we need for next winter.

What a great day!

I have started the countdown to the arrival of my four alpacas: two white huacayas, Diana and Emilia – a white suri, Champagne, and a black non-breeding suri female, Nicola.

The white females are all pregnant, as I intend to make this a business as well as a wonderful lifestyle change. So the intention is to breed alpacas and then sell some of them as well as spinning the fleece and making products.

At the moment I am clearing the area where they will be living and waiting for Enrico, my “wood man” (ie he delivers the wood, he isn’t someone I have stashed away in the woods!) to do the fencing and convert a little used gazebo into a cosy shelter.

I am gnawing my hands with frustration at how long this is taking and filling in the time by discovering new talents, like woodwork.

Away in a Manger

My alpacas will need hay and also camelid food and so where better to serve these up than in a manger? I Googled “manger plans” but all that resulted in were lots of teeny tiny Christmas cribs. Realising “manger” was probably a bit too First-Century-Bethlehem, I tried “Hay Feeder”. This was much better and I came up with a set of plans from the Canadian government (I think) for “Hay and Grain Feeder for Sheep.” Perfect! Thank you Canada.

I downloaded the plans for this wonderfully complex-looking bit of kit and then set about making my own version, courtesy of all the bits and pieces of wood I have lying around, augmented by a quick couple of visits to the DIY store. This took absolutely ages, if I am honest, but now I have finally finished.

I can honestly say I can’t remember when I have enjoyed myself so much. Who would have thought sawing, measuring, hammering and measuring again could be such fun? I was so taken with my manger I even worked on it on a Sunday afternoon in the shed in the pouring rain accompanied by a sodden English Setter who nearly became a rescue dog for the second time by daring to put his huge hairy paws on my pristine plywood feeder.

Now all I need are the alpacas!