7.29.2006

Who's New at the O'K Corral



Meet Switzer (at left) and Lacey (in the foreground), who just arrived last Saturday. You may notice the family resemblance--Lacey is the 3 year-old daughter of 14 year-old Switzer. I'm posting this (not-so-great) photo of them in the barn first, so you can see what an interesting beigey-grey color Lacey's fleece is.

Llamas are herd animals, so the two girls came together to keep one another company. The exciting news is that Lacey is pregnant, due to have her first cria (baby llama) in October, give or take a few weeks. The dent in Lacey's chest fleece (above) is from leaning through the fence on whose other side, as we all know, the grass is always greener.
Switzer, being 14, is an experienced llama mama and will hopefully help Lacey along with her first pregnancy. The other reason Switzer was chosen to accompany her daughter to our farm is that she suffers from some arthritis, and our place is much flatter than her previous home and should stress her joints less.
The surprising news is that Switzer may also be pregnant! A particularly lively, fence-hopping male llama by the name of Sal paid her a visit and it is entirely possible that his seed was not sown in vain. We'll have to wait until fall to have the vet confirm whether or not she too is with baby.

Meanwhile, Graty and Llannie are quite fascinated by the new arrivals and have learned to make all sorts of strange new sounds (snorts, raspberries, tuts, clucks, and snuffles) to express their various feelings on the matter. I'll keep you posted...

However, I don't want you to have to go completely kitten-less, so here are shots of our latest XXX-Treme Cage Match, held in the increasingly popular Laundry Basket Arena. Weighing in at 5.25 lbs, we have 4 month-old Isis "Moose" Kyle in the black robes, facing off against her fierce competitor, 6 month-old Morgan "Squirrel" LeFay at a wiry 4.5 lbs in the silver-striped trunks.
Ladies and gentlemen, let the battle begin!



Once again, I believe it was, uh, a draw.
The competitors retire to their dressing room to recuperate...judges?
Judges?!

17 comments:

Anonymous said...

congrats on having new arrivals along the way! your new llamas are too cute! and the kittens... i miss the days when mine would have wrestling matches in the laundry basket! they'll still play in them these days, but it's usually pawing through the little holes and taking turns jumping in and out of them :)

mrspao said...

I love your kittens! They are gorgeous. Congratulations on your babies-to-be!

metal and knit said...

Love the kitties so cute for a cage wrestle.

RheLynn said...

Congratulations all around! Your family is growinng ;o) It's funny to hear the llamas making snide remarks at each other before they get to know everybody!

Kitten Cage Match!! The competitors look like they are friends outside the rink, but definitely no faking here ladies and gentleman, they're in it for the roar of the crowd and the bite of the ear :)

verasunshyne said...

Llamas!! I'm so excited for you! yay!

Unknown said...

The two new Llamas are so adorable. I want one...LOL! I can't wait to see a llama baby too. YAY!

Anonymous said...

2 out of 3 times the black kittie was on top ...so I declare black kittie the winner!!!

The llamas are adorable. Good luck on your llama mamas.

Anonymous said...

Welcome to the new Llamas (and Llama(s)-to-be. As for the outcome of the laundry basket match, I would have to say it appears to be a draw with both contestants having been victim to that infamous "sleeper" hold. Uncle Arthur

Anonymous said...

Oh to have a life of a cat!!!!!!!!!!!
Perhaps in my next life I will come back as your cat. -LOL-
The llama's are so cute. WOW, another llama baby on the way. Our family just keeps getting bigger and bigger-LOL.
Can't wait to see all the precious animals in person.

Holly said...

Welcome to the new llama's! I hope the pregnancy(ies?) go well! Is it ok for a llama to have a baby at 14 years? I know nothing of llama's but they're beautiful and look happy. Love the cat photos! They're too cute, makes me miss having little kittens around. All mine are over a year now, but still play like kittens from time to time.

Anonymous said...

Shannah,

Lacey and Switzer deffinately look like they're having a good time there. I'm so glad that you guys bought all of our crias that year :-D I can't imagine a better home for them. They are deffinately loved. Oh I have fair in Mason with a llama show at 4pm on saturday the 5th so if ya wanna come and watch Belle and I woop some butt at county fair that'd be awesome! Also I'll have my needle felted hand bag in the fiber arts competition there.

Hope to see ya and hear from ya soon!

Sean
Humming Acres @ Queso Cabeza Farm
http://www.i-show-llamas.150m.com
http://www.quesocabezafarm.com
http://www.southeastllamarescue.org
http://www.michiganllama.org
http://www.alsashow.org

Obsidian Kitten said...

Sean (see comment above) is the rly excellent friend who raised and trained Lacey! he also felts and makes lots of cool stuff. you can see pictures of Lacey in the ring at at her former home on his blog, pretty cool to see her when she was littler!

also some llama babies! =)

Knitted_Painting said...

aww there's going to be some little Crias!^_^
hehe that can't be a fair fight because Isis has extra thumbs!
Our kitten Kal-El (Kallie) is now 9 months old and he's always wrestling with his toy "The Snake" and always making funny noises when he is lol he's had it since he was 3 weeks old so it's his lil buddy^_^

MsFortuknit said...

So those are the new honeys ey? They are so super cute! Have they spit on you yet? I swear they are so cute!!
Its nice to see the demonseeds resting!

Maybe Ill catch you later! Did I tell you that I took one of my new goofballs, just a half and was out of it all bloody day and am just coming out of it now?

Obsidian Kitten said...

today old Switzer DID actually spit at me, but i think it was just that i gave her a little too much heavy petting, lol

she looked so good after a thorough brushing and she really seemed to enjoy it. then we went for a short walk in the pasture and i was rubbing her neck and suddenly THWACK! she got me right in the side of the head.

BEESTLYproducts said...

Llamas!!! AmazinG!!! *wonders if the spare bedroom is big enough to hide one* The kitties are the cutest things ever :-)

Chris said...

Llamas and crias and kittens, oh my! :) Great photos all around.