Getting Creative

So Daughter #2 and I are being creative. But we're not the only ones around here.  It's been 24 hours of creativity.... really.

Daughter #2 got a phone call from one of her friends to say that there was a birthday party in the plans and could Daughter#2 stand going out on a 26 foot cabin cruiser on a nearby lake for a day and stay out for a sleep over. "OH YES" was the response... I'm really happy that she is going to get this opportunity... she hasn't done much this summer so this will be a great highlight for her.  Meantime she came to me with a bit of a dilemma.  She didn't have a birthday gift for her friend and didn't know if she could afford one.  I figured it wouldn't matter if she had had money since there are no local stores that have decent gifts unless you want to buy something that has the name of our town written on it like touristy stuff or unless you want to buy lottery tickets... this for a 14 year old girl would not go over well. So Daughter #2 and I got our thinking caps on and finally came up with a plan.

We decided that we would experiment with making a t-shirt and earrings for her friend. Now this friend is an interesting character.  She loves chickens.... like not cooked chicken but the living breathing animals. She has chickens since like us they live on a bit of a hobby farm.  She names her chickens.... and she talks to her chickens and she takes her chickens for walks... on a leash... and she has even been known to dress her chickens up... this is a kid with a real chicken thing going on... She has shown up at shearing time and when we saw off the alpaca teeth she has scurried off with the bits of teeth that we would just throw on the ground... a few days later she has come back with alpaca teeth earrings.... so we like to call her eccentric... it is a polite name for what others would regard as odd.  We love her and think the world of her...

So Daughter #2 and I planned out a t-shirt for her.  I had just bought a package of cotton extra large plain white cotton t-shirts for Teapot since as he gets older he finds the winter draft dreadful and wears them under his clothes. Out came the package and so began an odyssey of making a one-of-a-kind chicken t-shirt. There are two chickens on the shirt drawn on by Daughter #2 and a path of chicken tracks across the shirt from lower left to upper right, dividing the two chickens. This was drawn on in a special marker that I have for drawing on fabric. Then she took my Procion dyes and painted on the design (after soaking it in all necessary chemicals). It has turned out awesome.  Today she is putting on the saying. It goes like this, "I dream of a better world where the motives of road-crossing chickens are not questioned." Then last night Teapot and Daughter#1 went to the end of heritage days barbecue and Western style dance. They had a nice time... we had all meant to go but there was more creativity a-foot.  Daughter #2 and I stayed home and made chicken earrings.... yup you read that right. So Daughter #2 will be giving her chicken crazy friend.... (crazy meant in the most kind terms of course)... a chicken t-shirt and felted chicken earrings.... very original I think. Here are some pictures...

Meanwhile there was some surprise creativity going on out in the barnyard. Mishka (the female alpaca) has for weeks enjoyed the pleasure of getting out on grass since Teapot put up some temporary fencing so that she could go out on our lawn.  It was working well until a few days ago when our wither male sheep from last year decided that Mishka smelled really good and started trying to mate with her. (Yes that's a sheep and an alpaca trying to mate.... this seems almost beyond weird especially when we did his balls in when he was born.) Mishka took it all in her stride... literally and I wasn't terribly concerned since when he tried to mount her his jollies only came up to her knees.... and Mishka quite frankly looked somewhat irritated but like she was laughing at him too.  We cornered him and flipped him on his butt and had a good look and there low and behold was a nut.... just one. Da--! We had missed one.... (that sometimes happens if their jollies haven't totally decended)! So now the not-wither-half-ram has met his maker and is in the freezer. This suited Mishka quite nicely though the other sheep are missing the black one.  And I have a new fleece to wash.

But that is not the end of the story... the actual creativity took place yesterday.  As I was saying Mishka has been enjoying grass all summer. Now you will remember that Mishka miscarried this summer after hoping for a cria all year we were disappointed in June when she aborted spontaneously.  Meanwhile once summer came we decided that my boy alpacas would enjoy munching grass and leaves in summer pasture... so we put them down in that paddocks that we fenced last summer.  AWAY FROM MISHKA.  Yesterday I looked out the window and the what to my wondering eyes should appear....

He looks like he's having fun... but I'm not sure about her!  Mind you she doesn't look upset.

Yeh! So obviously he managed to smell her pheromones.... and get out of his paddock which is way the hell down on the end of our land and find his way over or under or around her fence and get happy with her. Hmmmm.... !

We had meant to breed her this month so nature took care of it for us..... I guess next year we will be having a cria.... with a little luck. So here they are in all their glory.... you may not want to watch this... if you get embarrassed easily....

So with all this creativity on the go... it's hard not to think about other creative things. I'm working on my tablecloth/runner... and I've started working on my Sumak weaving.... this I will show in another blog post.... I don't want to overwhelm you all... (I'm sure seeing alpaca sex is overwhelming enough....)

Have a great and creative day... whatever your creative outlet is... (wink wink) ; }