Yello!

I’ve had a request for some news on baby Bandit, the little llama born in early June. As you can see in the pictures that we took today, she is doing well. Evidently the third time really IS a charm and her mama llama finally got the hang of the whole motherhood thing. Mother and child (along with our other two llamas) have enjoyed the summer running in the pasture eating lots of tender, green grass as well as hay bales. We recently ordered a small llama halter so that in a few weeks we can start getting her used to being haltered and worked with.

Yes – a look at the calendar confirms it! June 2006 is nearly history. June is the best month of the year for me because it pretty much is my month to do things I want to do instead of doing things that I have to do. I didn’t get a lot of things done this month that I wanted to – but I did accomplish some things. Here’s a summary of the past few weeks:

• *I’ve been walking every morning – sometimes with the girls and sometimes by myself. This morning was a 3 1/2 mile walk that really got the circulation going. And, I got to listen to lots of songs on the iPod too!
• *Some household cleaning and organization has been done – but there’s always more left to do. I guess that’s what July is for!
• *I’m playing the piano this week-end for Ryan’s wedding in Fremont, so I’ve been practicing a bit. Ryan is a favorite FCCLA student from the class of 2000 who will be starting his own teaching career in Omaha this fall.
• *Earlier in the month I spent some days in Kearney at the FCSTN teacher’s meeting – it’s always fun to see the other teachers and I was glad some of my responibilities on the state board are over. This year, as past president, I got to choose and surprise three teachers as Teachers of the Year. That was pretty fun!
• *On Father’s Day we took a drive with the family up to Ash Fall and then over to the winery at Pierce. It was great to spend time with all three kids just like we used to when all the kids were home – and the wine was good too! 🙂
• *Francis and I took lots of evening rides on the motorcycle. That’s always fun for me!

All-in-all, June was pretty awesome, as usual!

We were surprised last night with a new baby llama. We knew it was a possibility, but with a llama it’s pretty difficult to tell by looking if there is a new baby expected until the little one just shows up! Well, it’s a baby girl and so far, both the mother and baby seem to be doing fine. The mother llama had two babies in the past two years and had no maternal instinct. In fact, she would kick the babies away and not let them nurse at all. We bottle fed them, but both lasted only a week; proving that there is no substitute for mother’s milk and TLC, I guess. So, I hope that the third time’s a charm and this year she will finally act like a mother llama should. We think we will call the new little llama “Bandit” because she has a mask-like face. She’s a cutie!