Good-bye January!

Today we got a brief respite from the brutal weather that we have been having here. The temps were in the mid 40's and we had bright, beautiful sunshine all day, what a great way to end a really looong dreary month! The animals reveled in the warm rays of the sun. Jasmine found a patch of snow to take a mid afternoon nap, and soak up the fleeting glimpse of spring. I felt compelled to go and put my hands on her fur, I love the cozy feeling of an animal's fur when they have been lounging in the sun, so warm and soft.
The chickens ventured out to scratch around in the still frozen ground. They always have access to the outdoors, but haven't left the comfort of their coop much lately, for fear of becoming chickencicles. It was good to see them out, cackling to each other and picking at imaginary bugs on the ground.

Ande is getting a little ahead of himself. For some reason his fiber is starting to roo (shed) off already....I am hoping that he knows something that we don't...maybe a sign of early spring????

He is starting to look a bit ridiculous. First, he started losing fiber around the top of his neck, and now it is working it's way down, leaving him with this lovely looking faux-hawk hair style. I must admit, that I have helped this along...I can't help myself....it's addictive. I see these loose tufts just begging me to pull them, most of the time they come out quite easily.

Sometimes I will find a spot that is more resistant to my crude removal techniques and probably pinches a little when I pull......which results in this angry Ande face...

When the angry Ande face fails to dissuade me from my fibery harvest, Ande calls in the big guns and tells Mama Llama how he has been wronged....she doesn't really care though.
Today, Ande got lucky. Auntie Marie stopped by for a visit, she is the keeper of the cookies, giver of snuggles, and makes it her job to right all injustices imposed upon animalkind here at Crosswinds farm. She will listen to his sad story.

Yeah, he's got her fooled!