Long awaited update

Well, it has been a while since my last post.... A lot has gone on since then. First of all, we never got a real Monsoon, in fact the weather guy say's it was a "NonSoon". All we got was high Humidity days that kept us from running the Swamp Cooler in the house, instead we ran the A/C which costs 3 times as much. Jeanne and I have rebuilt the rows in the Garden, and Jeanne has begun planting winter crops, like Broccoli and Lettuce. The Gob Kitty now lives in the Green House because he became angry with Jeanne and was peeing on her while she sleeps, So out he went.... I made a Kitty Door in the Green House and put his Carpeted Kitty Motel out there.
He seems to enjoy wandering about like "King of the Yard" and appears to be smart enough to hide out from the recent Coyote activity around the yard. There have been several Coyotes right outside the yard fence (probably wanting our Chickens) but between Ben, and Wonder, they haven't dared to enter the fenced yard. I hope that remains the case, otherwise it'll become open season on Coyotes around here....
The heat got quite oppressive for a while there, but the fans and cooler in the Barn seemed to keep the Alpacas happy. Finally though, the weather has turned and the evenings are just beautiful, and most days are well under 100 degrees.
Now the bad news, We lost China Doll to Valley Fever. She suddenly became very thin, and developed a cough. We did the "Expensive" Vet thing, all to no avail as she died in the night last Thursday. Our neighbor Cecil came over with his Case Backhoe, and dug a nice deep grave out back where all of the other fallen pets are interred, and she joined the ranks, looking very small and delicate. Now Jeanne and I are beginning to re-think this Farm stuff. Now that Feed has more than doubled in cost, and the value of the animals has dropped off, it just isn't very practical to continue with a Fiber Herd of Alpacas. Now that the Female is gone, and we certainly can't afford to replace her, there is no chance for reproduction, and thus no income to be made from selling cute new critters. We are weighing our options, and have had a couple of offers from other Fiber Herd beginners who would love to have "The Three Amigos" so there is plenty to think about. We were just about to buy a $1450 Chute to make working with the critters easier on us (and them too) but now I'm stalling till we make a final decision about keeping the Boys.... We have even considered re-structuring the whole property so we can try our hand at the "Weaner Calf Business" for a while.... Much cheaper to feed, and much more profitable to sell to the packing plants. " Just don't get attached to them"
Well, so much to think about for now.... More later. Bob