It all started with a nose bumping the back end. 

I was out doing a farm check between conference calls and I just had this hunch that I should go check on Brigid.  I noticed the "bump" immediately. 

My first thought was "Finally!" After waiting for 17 days I was ready for this baby.  I'm sure Brigid was even more ready. 

Bella however is completely oblivious to the pending arrival of her half-brother/great-uncle.

My second thought was, "This baby is trying to come out the rectum!"

My third thought was, "I hope she delivers before I have to get on my two-hour training call!"

I needn't have worried.  The baby found the right spot to exit Brigid's womb.  Nose followed by hooves followed by body.  Safely on the ground just in time for my phone call.

The entire process took only 30 minutes. 

Bella finally figured out something was going on.  The playmate she'd waited for for over three weeks had arrived!

It was a dark brown male, his color the spitting image of his mama's.  It wasn't long before he was up on those gangly legs and figuring out his new world.

I don't know about Brigid, but I was sure proud.  And relieved.  As once again I had to hit the road for work for a week shortly after the baby was born.

Our daughter has recommended calling him "Cocoa."  I think that might be just right.

Cheers -

OK, so that might be a slight exaggeration - we only moved 16 tons of hay - 32,520 pounds give or take, 542 60# bales.

But we moved them all twice.  Once off the field stacked into the trailer, then off the trailer stacked into the haymow.

So I count both times.

And so do my arms.  And legs.  And back.  And knees.

And that was only roughly 1/3 of the hay that came off our roughly 17 acres of pasture with this first crop.  The other 2/3 were taken in large rounds and small bales in exchange for getting the cutting/raking/baling for free. 

But I can't say we did it all ourselves. we'd still be stacking bales if it weren't for the incredibly generous offer of friends who showed up on the 4th of July and spent their entire holiday helping us out.

And then, if that weren't generous enough, two days later came back to help us finish.

I nearly cried when I saw them pulling down the driveway hauling a load of our hay off the field before we were even done with morning chores.

{cried in a good way, not in a "i-don't-want-to-see-another-bale-of-hay" way.}

{or maybe it was both.} 

So finally, after 4 or so days of it, the task was finished, the haymow stacked to overflowing, and we could rest our weary bones.

Until a day later, when I had to haul 288 pounds of chickens to the processor.

Cheers -

Meet our first cria of the season - a true black female out of our bay black dam Aspendance Valiant's Grace and Kinney Valley Alpacas true black male Our Peruvian Midnight Man.

This makes an unbroken chain in Grace's ancestry of females having females as their first crias as far back as the registry goes in the USA, 8 generations!

She looks exactly like her mama did when she was first born (below), so I'm hoping she'll grow into the same stylish looks as her mama.

Both mama and baby are doing just fine so far, even for this first-time mama - she must take after her dam Brigid (who is also now overdue!).

Meanwhile, the boys are arguing constantly over who's the daddy.

{PS - don't tell them, but neither of them are!}

Who could ask for anything more on a Tuesday?

What's that you say?  There's more?  Oh, and the baby heritage turkeys, at only a month old, are starting to strut already!  I nearly died {again} of cuteness overload when I saw them strutting their tiny stuff this afternoon.

Tom & Tom (collectively referred to as Tom-Tom) have been giving them all a good show so it's no surprise they're all starting so early.

Happy Tuesday y'all -