Don't you hate it when your car breaks down...

It's kinda like that with owning Llamas and, well... I guess animals in general...The vet bills alone this week were like the time when the car breaks down, right when you thought things were shapin' up...

Bolt kicked a hole in the floor of the van during transport from Salem, it happened to be right behind the rear right wheel well.  Well, That so happens to be the same place that, directly below, is the exhaust pipe.  It seems as though he kicked thru and put his foot on a hot tail pipe from a long drive.
We figured this out after a week of detective work; and learning not only how to deal with Llamas, but how to deal with an injured one and how the hell it got injured.  The vet agreed that our theory seemed to be consistent with the injury and the healing.  It took us awhile to figure out why he hadn't bled at first, then we realized he probably sloughed off the blistered skin which is why he had a bloody foot long after he was limping.

This happened right as we turned off the highway into Sequim.  Bolt kicked in the hole and got pissed, which pissed off Cody, at which time they started spitting at each other, which also happened to be when Sharon was filming and laughing because I was yelling at them to knock it off...Ahh, the thrills of livestock...

On the plus side, I haven't spent a dime on materials for building the chicken coop, the Llama corral, shelter or stall.  I have been saving up all the random gate hardware and nuts, bolts screws and any kind of fastener that one tends to acquire when you build stuff.

My dad and stepmom were in town this weekend!  It was great to have the help, Dad helped me get the roof on the shelter, chopped wood, pulled nails out of old barn and deck wood, and helped build a stall for the Llamas inside of the big barn.  Whew!  Since the Vet has been by, we now know Bolt needs to stay in and chill for at least 7 days, so the stall was priority.  It was a huge help to have extra hands that didn't have a squirmy, wiggly 1 year old preoccupying them.

Sharon and I cobbled together a chicken coop out of pallets, Pallets are amazing things, I have so far used them for stalls, chicken coop, the barrier between the Llamas and us on the ride up, A hay feeder, different gates, they have really been useful, not the prettiest things but utilitarian and free.

It feels good to be back at it.  My back is still super tender, but I can finally get working again.  I just have to choose my chores carefully and spread out the physically hard stuff over a longer period.  On one hand that kinda sucks because its getting colder every day, but on the other hand, what the hell else am I gonna do with my time.  Everything seems to get done one way or the other.

I think I'll go shoot some time-lapses tomorrow and give my back a sleepy afternoon on some hill somewhere.  Hopefully I won't get too wet.

Ta Ta