The kids were complaining that they were having “the worst summer ever”. Helen was in fact having a yucky summer, she fell off her pony and broke her wrist. Having a cast in the summer is the worst! Kenni felt she was having a yucky summer on principle because she is 14 and everything is horrible. So I decided to take them to the beach for a couple days. This was a radical move on my part as I almost never go anywhere. We do around 5+ alpaca shows a year. I love going to alpaca shows! You are with your own kind, your posse, other folks who don’t think you are a freak for buying incredibly expensive livestock. Also alpaca folks are just the nicest folks around. However, I almost never get to go anymore as we are on cria watch just about year round. We have had in the neighborhood of 40+ alpaca births and around 20 sheep births and at least one of us has been home when one was born. We’ve not seen them all (sheep are especially sneaky) but we are here checking checking checking. I don’t mind not seeing a birth that is not why we are hanging around, what I worry about is not being here when a mom has a rare birthing problem. I’m the one that tends to do the birthing stuff especially if there are problems. I took the neonatal course first (where you learn to correct stuck babies, dystocias). Andy my devoted hubby has since taken it too but sadly I just don’t trust him on birthing. He always thinks things are fine, I always tend to think things are bad. He actually didn’t notice a baby once when he was home on cria watch. Little Helen went out to the barn to check on things for me and came running back that there was a new baby walking (WALKING as in already up and) around. Andy had been back and forth to the barn and just thought it was the previous baby who happened to be the same color. Yikes, how observant is that! We have not had that many stuck babies but if we had not been home when they were stuck it would be bad (dead baby or even a dead mom). I do think Andy would notice a stuck baby hanging partly out of a mom but you never know.
Sooooo as we technically had a short break on cria watch. I told the kids we could go to the beach for a couple days. I even told them they could each invite someone to bring along. As they have gotten older and become less thrilled with each other’s company a “friend along” has proven to be a bonus. Sadly none of Helen’s friends could go but one of Kenni’s could. So off we went to Delaware Bay where my totally cool friend Gail has a little beach house. We had a lovely time, the weather was perfect. The kids loved the beach. Helen loved the shells and all the little creatures she could see. We saw two Osprey nests!!! Kenni loved wearing her bikini and floating around artistically on a raft. They both loved going to the board walk and that’s where the trouble started. They both insisted that we buy hermit crabs to take home. They have been to the beach with their grandparents before and came back with hermit crabs. They viewed this as a beach tradition.
My argument against this was that we already have lots of animals (45 alpacas, 15 sheep, 3 horses, 4 cats, 1 jumbo sized dog, 3 bunnies, 2 tortoises, 3 turtles, 2 iguanas and 1 beta fish. Why the heck did we need to add in hermit crabs to this already insane number of animals? They insisted that it was their money. I tried more logic, every time we have gotten hermit crabs they died relatively quickly. One lasted 18 months but the rest were gone before we even got to know them. I said they are the only pets that should come with their own little coffins! Its too sad, you guys cry and its awful. Like an idiot I let them go off on their own and of course they came back with hermit crabs. Worse yet these had little painted shells. Helen’s was painted blue with a little dolphin on it and Kenni’s was painted yellow with Sponge Bob on it. She doesn’t even like Sponge Bob! These poor little crabs who already live in lovely shells now have their dignity stripped away by being forced to live in garish painted shells with idiotic cartoon characters on them. I was briefly obsessed with curiosity on how they paint these shells. Are the crabs in them when they do or do they paint a bunch and hope the crabs move in??? Are there folks who do this for a living? Crab shell painters?? I guess I don’t really want to know. As the girls approached with their new temporary pets. I said, “What name are we going to put on their little tomb stones this time?” The rest of our beach time was spent in debating what names they should have, and ultimately they came up with Vinnie (for Sponge Bob crab) and Shelby (for dolphin crab). When we got home I resolved that things would be different this time and started searching hermit crab care on the web. As I was doing this I realized that the last time they had hermit crabs I resolved that things would be different and searched hermit crab care on the web but still they died. I want PETA to get in on this! They need to stop the trade in hermit crabs! I know I’m an “enabler” but darn it couldn’t they at least make t-shirts and bumper stickers that say “How many crabs must die?” Well perhaps hermit crab care knowledge has improved in the last couple years. I highly recommend http://www.hermit-crabs.com/ We got the crabs situated in an aquarium with the proper humidity and temp. They seemed happy but we’ll see. We’ll see.
The night we got home Midnight Hour our fiercest alpaca mother had her cria at 9:45 over 3 weeks early. Andy who missed the beach trip just in case she did go early, went out to the barn and noticed a baby hanging out of her rear. (See he is observant). The baby, a lovely black girl is fine. Her father is our black stud Checkmate. We decided to name her “Caissa” after the goddess of chess. So this week we have 3 new family members, Caissa, Shelby and Vinnie. I’m thinking Caissa is the only one who will be with us for very long, but you never know.
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I forgot that we spell Kenny with an "i" now.
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