FarmVille

Oh, Facebook. You used to be a simple social networking site that allowed me to find out information about fellow students without the trouble of actually talking to them. But oh, how you've grown! Your users are no longer limited to college students, you've incorporated a Twitter-esque NewsFeed and iPhone-esque Apps, and you've acknowledged the necessity of "It's Complicated" as a "Relationship Status" option. And then, just when humanity was fairly certain that you had already confiscated its soul, you added Games to the menu -- and Earth waved the proverbial white flag as FarmVille unhinged its jaw and consumed society, bones and all.

When I first arrived here at the farm a friend of mine made the joke that I was living "FarmVille". I agreed. We laughed. I forgot about it. But then...

...a lost little sheep really DID wander onto the farm!

I glanced out the window and saw about 15 goats all standing straight and looking intently in one direction (that's another benefit of living surrounded by animals -- it's like having 150 fire alarms that never need their batteries changed). I followed their gaze and saw this gal grazing on the lawn very nonchalantly. Unfortunately we didn't get to keep her long -- she belongs to a neighbor, whom ASTL called and who came and picked her up -- but hopefully her visit will help me Level Up to a Stage Four Agriculturist.*

In other news, this past Sunday was Shearing Day for the alpacas! While doing the morning chores, QG and I wrote this ballad (sung to the tune of "I Saw Three Ships") in honor of the epic event:

I watched alpacas lose their fur --

On Shearing Day, On Shearing Day.

I heard them shriek and felt them spit --

On Shearing Day in the moooorning!

...okay so we really only wrote one verse and it's not even that creative. Nonetheless!

Shearing Day was definitely interesting. We would wrangle one alpaca at a time, harness its head, lead/push it to the shearing area, and then put rings ("hovels") around its feet and pull them taut so that the animal was stretched out on its side with me holding down its big fuzzy head. The older alpacas are pretty used to shearing by now, but the younger they are the more they struggle. The youngest alpaca was a very feisty girl who shrieked the entire time (a sound very similar to screeching brakes), and spit several times. But alpaca "spit" is not like llama "spit". Llamas spit watery saliva, like humans. Alpacas regurgitate partially digested ruminate and projectile puke it. Deeeeeeelicious!

Before shearing:

"I used to be overweight..."

After shearing:

"...but then I went on the amazing Shearing Diet (TM)!"

This is the little girl who was so feisty.

Sure, she's adorable NOW, but believe you me...

Shearing aside, the other main new activity is banding the buck kids who are not going to be breeding bucks. This involves QG holding the kid upright while I hold its two back legs apart and ASTL stretches a tight rubberband around the top of the kid's testicles. In a few weeks the testicles just fall off and we throw them away. I feel like there are a lot of feminist jokes I could make about this activity...but I just don't have the balls. *rimshot*

When I'm not working, I've really been enjoying life here. QG, ASTL and I have a good 'ol time discussing the news while we fix the milk for the bottle babies, or just shootin' the breeze during the brief periods when nothing absolutely needs to be done. I go to the coffee shop most afternoons and the ladies who work there all know me now ("Decaf Americano today?"), and I've driven all around the area observing what is truly beautiful landscape. I've also been taking a lot of pictures:

The view from the lakeshore in town

The view from a promontory up the coast a bit

Does this tree remind anyone else of the scene in "E.T." when his heart is

glowing brightly through his chest? ("E TREE PHONE HOME...")

One of the trucks in the Truck Graveyard on the farm

Somehow I was able to sneak up on this eagle-man

and take a picture before he flew away.

...I wasn't as quick with the seagulls.

"So much depends..."

Pretty plum blossoms

There is a lot of beauty in simplicity.

μηδὲν ἄγαν,

Dorkas

*To my knowledge, this is NOT a real FarmVille level. Actually, I don't know if FarmVille even has levels. Anyway, I've already ruined the joke by explaining it so I might as well stop now...