One of the things we love about this property is all the wildlife that coexists with our llamas.
This time of year, both pronghorn and deer take up residence.  As dry as it has been I have seen more twins with moms than I remember in past years.
Yesterday I let the female llamas out into their upper pasture.  Then I saw how close the llamas were to the other wildlife.

We drove over to Savery Wyoming to look at a slightly used John Deere tractor.  This time of year we were able to take the Snowy Range Road "over the hill" but it was still a long trip - about two-and-a-half hours each way.

On the way over we got caught up in a cattle drive.  Three adult cowboys, one youngster, and two dogs herding the cattle down the road presumably to another pasture. 

On the way back to Laramie we saw two male moose.

 

 

Pretty spectacular trip!

 

Liz Jones is a photographer and documentary producer.  She is also a new llama fan.  Liz came over yesterday to take pictures of the llamas - she was just curious about the creatures.  Then, she stayed to shoot a video trailer.

Check out Liz's web site and the film she is making in Wyoming - Absaroka!
www.elizabethmariejones.com.

It is always such a good feeling when we get all the hay in for the year. 

Llamas eat about 1 ton of grass hay per year.  So, we got 37 1000 bound bales in in Thursday - enough to cover all our llamas, the three we board, and have enough for a cushion for the end of the next year.

In August, the summer  triangle stars are directly overhead at night.  The brightest of those stars is Vega.  When we knew our llama Vega was having a cria, we researched her name, learned about the summer triangle, and chose the name of one of the other two stars for her baby - Altair.
Here is a picture of our Vega. 

And here is a picture of the August night sky with the "other" vega :

Well, I cleaned out the tack room today.  Getting ready for the next installment of straw and hay and alfalfa.  Each year around this time, I move as much out, rake out the pieces on the floor, throw out the trash that has acumulated over the winter, and sort through the tools and nails and screws that somehow ended up on the shelf instead of in the tool box. 
For about 10 days the tack room will look really good.  Then we will fill it up with 70 pound bales of hay.  And I will do the same thing next year about this time.

The Frack This? artists came over for a closing reception last night. What a great group of artists!  I didn't get any pictures because I was having too good a time to think about photographing the party.  Cara, Jason's wife, really bonded with the llamas.  Michael got his first kiss from a llama.  Jeff and Lindsay hope we have two llamas pack trained by their next trip to the back-country.  I'll post pictures of their work when I can.

Larry brought Tippy and Canute to the front yard this afternoon.  We needed some "lawn mowing" done.  Tippy got straight to work.  And then, after about half an hour, he was done.  He just sat down and waited to be taken back to the rest of the herd.

A short morning walk with two llamas was good exercise. We haven't had the range of wildflowers this year, but we did see some beautiful thistles.

This is Dewey, probably my favorite llama.  Sometimes I feel that Dewey is part human.  Besides being highly intelligent, she is also capable of being empathic.  Here's one Dewey story.  One time she and two other llamas escaped.  We chased Dewey and her buddies for several hours to no avail.  Finally, I got close to her and told her I was tired of chasing after her.  Within moments Dewey and her two errants friends turned around and walked back to her corral.

The July-August AARP Bulletin came in the mail, today.  I have to admit, I don't usually even look at the AARP Bulletin, but today there was a llama on the cover.
Inside was a story about alternative activities for people with Alzheimer's Disease.  Apparently the Life Care Center of Nashoba Valley in Littleton, MA has a live-in llama!  Nice to know we won't even have to move when we reach that stage.

We have had so little rain since May.  Everything is so dry.  Maybe that is part of the reason why we haven't seen many antelope babies.  But last weekend I saw a newborn.  Then, of course, I had to look for the mom and baby each morning and each evening. 
Life, even in the dryest of springs!

We have learned so much!  Nine years ago we didn't know the difference between straw and grass hay. Today we move thousand pound bales of hay like pros.

The reward we get - happy, excited llamas!