Friday, July 30, 2021

Souvenir Yarn 2021, and Accompanying Destinations

I was judicious in my vacation yarn purchasing this summer - only one skein. But I visited quite a few places over the course of several weeks. We headed to Ohio to see my mom, motored to NH to vacation with my in-laws, side trip to Acadia to see a friend, tour of Vermont (Montpelier, Burlington, and Stowe), and finally headed to my brother's farm and B&B in the Adirondacks. A second trip took us to OH and PA to help our parents with a variety of chores. Enjoy the tour!

Notion Fabric and Craft, Montpelier, VT. No project for this yet.

Acadia National Park - one of many carriage road bridges

Summit on Sargent Mountain

Carriage road

Formal gardens near Asticou Inn

Local fare: popovers with blueberry jam 

More good eats: FRESH lobster roll!

On the deck of the pod near Asticou Inn looking at the ocean

Hunter's Beach, rocky and iconic Maine coastline

Fun tree

Lost River Gorge, NH

Waterfall in the Lost River Gorge, NH

Lady Slippers in Lost River Gorge

Founder of Littleton, NH farmed down the road from our VRBO

Cog train on Mount Washington

Seats on the cog train on the way up. The angle helps you stay in your seat on the steep grade. (They flipped the other way on way down.)

Cog rail

On top of Mt. Washington. A neighboring mountain still has SNOW in mid June!

Cairns on the Crawford Trail, Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington has recorded the fastest wind on earth. Buildings are chained down here to keep them from blowing down/away...

Maple syrup farm near Montpelier. No one has to carry buckets here: sap flows downhill in the tubes!

Capitol building of Vermont - not open to visitors yet

Nearing summit of Mount Hunger, VT

Summit of Mount Hunger. You either step up or step down the ENTIRE time you are on this trail.

Geological formation in Lake Champlain

Carlton's Prize Island

Motoring in to Burlington

Burlington harbor

Sunset over Lake Champlain

Covered bridge in Stowe, VT

Did you remember that the Van Trapp family settled in Stowe, VT? The youngest son brews Austrian ales. This tavern - still owned by the family - serves Austrian food and beer. Just up the road is the Van Trapp Lodge.

Sacher torte!

Sunset at my brother's farm

Sunrise and a peek at Lake Champlain at my brother's B&B

Fast forward to end of July - kayaking on Lake Naomi, Pocono Pines, PA

Handsome fellow in the Poconos

Good eating while helping the in-laws: eggplant steak 
And so I don't forget, HERE is the recipe for the most delicious rhubarb tart I made for the trip. (Rhubarb is one of my least favorite foods, but this recipe is YUMMY!) It has been a delightful summer of seeing family and visiting new places. Many shops and restaurants still have limited hours due to the worker shortage, but we're used to cooking most of our meals at this point! Hope all of you are safe, healthy, and vaccinated.




 

Thursday, July 29, 2021

The Alpaca Yearbook Photo Nightmare

Sometimes you have to take care of business on your own... even if it does not go so well. Our shearing team didn't make the rounds this year, and so took it upon ourselves to shear our own animals. After shearing Ramble On Rose post mortem, we also had the equipment and a tiny bit of experience. We got 16 pounds of fiber, but the quality in each bag is not as high as if professionals had taken care of the job. 


We did learn a few valuable lessons:
1. Always use a sharp shearing tool. As soon as the blade was dull, it cuts zero hairs and annoys the animal.
2. Shearing the alpacas in the chute was less stressful than having them on the ground. There were no vocal protests, and they stood patiently for nearly an hour. Dark Star wanted to buck a few times and was mollified by some grain.
2a. Two people are needed to shear alpacas in the chute - one to shear, one to calm and hold the alpaca using the halter and leash. 
3. Shearing in the chute made it difficult to get to all the places. We had so secure the animals with belts under their bellies and two preferred to have their head between the stabilizers. We kept their halters on which prevented the heads from being sheared. Hence you see long swaths of fiber in awkward spots.
4. It's really difficult to shear an animal to make it look smooth. Hopefully next year my experience will help me do a better job.
5. We need to lay a tarp under the alpacas to assist with fiber collection. Picking up fiber off the dirt barn floor is not ideal.


Our number one priority this year was to make sure the animals were cooler in the heat. Next year, I'll do a little more reading before I get busy with the shears. Hopefully the fiber mill will still be able to use the fiber for something nice.
 
Dark Star half-shorn on Day 1. (More fiber off after getting sharper clippers Day 2.)

And let's take a moment to giggle about these hilarious hair cuts! I'm so glad they don't have to be published in their school yearbook And most fortunately, we didn't have to do any bison pulling...