INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION

It was a beautiful evening for sky watching. We went out at 9:30 to watch the international space station fly across the sky. It appeared right on schedule, but was so small, I couldn't get a picture. It moved very quickly.

Den tries unsuccessfully to track it with his spotting scope, but it was easily seen with the naked eye.

PARADE OF HOMES 2009

Shauna, Dan, James and I attended the parade of homes last Friday. We love checking out all the latest decor and landscaping. Shauna is due in a month and paused to rest on one of the patios. We were all feeling the many flights of stairs that we had to climb.
This was my favorite house. Dan and James loved the one with the downstairs media center, featuring a floor to ceiling screen and comfy theater seating.
Taking it easy in one of the beautiful backyards. This was the only pool, but they all featured the built-in outdoor kitchen.
This was Shauna's favorite house, complete with 8 rockers on the porch! We weren't all that impressed with the decor this year, but there were lots of architectural details. Most of them featured some kind of homework, family management center, which was different from previous years. The house that won all the honors was one of our least favorites--it had flooring from an old barn hayloft. It might have been green, but it was also ugly.

Prize Winning Produce!

Whoa! Look what alpaca poop can do for your garden!

I put this beauty on a dinner plate, so that you could appreciate its enormity!

Garden update

Because my life is so boring, I have to fill my blog with pictures of my yard. This picture is for Suzy because hydrangeas are her favorite flower. She even had them for her wedding bouquet.
I have tons of bean, squash and peppers. Good thing I can share them with people at church and work.
Den is mowing the pasture. Not because it really needs it, but because it is going to seed.
Here is the front of my house. I had to water everything today because we have not had rain since Saturday, and it has been hot, hot, hot!

Happy 4th of July!

Dan and Shauna hosted their annual 4th of July BBQ last Saturday. Shauna and James are excited about the upcoming birth of a little brother at the end of August.
Spencer, Suzy and Sydney came down for the celebration. Sydney starting crawling!
Grandpa Den with Sydney...does she look happy? Does he look sleepy?
Shauna made and Suzy helped decorate this beautiful 4th of July cake. It looks too good to eat...and yet we eat it every year! Den and I left before everyone walked down to the Upper Arlington fireworks display. We timed it just right and saw the Marysville fireworks from the freeway.

Chieftan makes news!

Windmill Cove (our alpaca farm) got some free publicity this week. We were excited to see that our male herdsire, Chieftan, was featured on the Alpaca Guy's blog.
A Big Year for Lancaster’s Highland Chieftan

by Cooper Smith.

No doubt about it– ‘Lancaster’s Highland Chieftan’ had the most impressive spring show season of all the Huacaya males. This is a male who only got better with age, winning Championships at PAOBA, MAPACA, and AOBA Nationals while competing in the 2+ yr class with cria already on the ground! Lancaster was bred and owned by Highland Alpaca, but co-owned with Windmill Cove Alpacas. His histogram stats are impressive on their own:

Date of Birth: 6/20/2006

2007: AFD 18.9; SD 3.3; CV 16.9; %>30=0.6
2008: AFD 18.6; SD 3.7; CV 19.9; %>30=1.0

Chieftain’s sire, Peruvian Lancaster has produced a number of winners to date; however, this National Champion son seems to be the best to date.

* * *Watch for Chieftain to be featured in our upcoming “Show Animals of the Year” awards article. Stay Tuned!