Sunday, February 3, 2013

Meeting Reuben




Meet Reuben, a handsome alpaca.




Reuben, Jasper and Levi live at L's place, just out of town. I rang L at work when we were ordered to evacuate last Tuesday- L is the sort of friend who is happy to have 8 of us turn up at her place when she isn't even home - what a treasure! She came home at lunchtime as everyone was leaving work to evacuate or were preparing to do so. L was more than happy to take us for a tour around their little farm.




L assured us the alpacas were friendly and would only sniff us while in their paddock. She was right.







 Reuben was very interested in my camera but I'll spare you the finer details as he sniffed the lens even more closely!




There are many types of wild birds at L's place, including Whistling Ducks.




Miss O and Miss E were brave enough to venture into the chicken coop with L. The chickens were very keen to leave the smelly mud for a forage in the green slushy grass.




After collecting the eggs, the people were also happy to leave the coop.


Hunstman spider, about 8cm or 3!/2" across while crouching like this


A Huntsman Spider in L's shed carefully guards her egg sack. L made a batch of raspberry and white chocolate muffins for afternoon tea before we headed home again, the flood peak having safely passed.




A little sunshine makes the river appear less threatening as we drove home. One of the children snapped these for me as we passed over the bridge.


Sailing club roof, the building is designed to be submerged during floods.


That evening Miss E declared it to be her "Best day ever" as she had a whole day at L's place. I love her perspective on things. A big thank you to L (and her husband) who are so gracious to us, even sending us home with a dozen fresh eggs from their farm. THANK YOU!


Sharing at I Heart Macro.

42 comments:

Unknown said...

Love Reuben the Alpaca! Such great photos....although that Huntsman one gave me a bit of a fright lol!

Hope your weekend is going well,
Sarah x

geanina said...

is gorgeos! :)
lovely pictures!

Birgitta said...

Many great photos here!

Marco Luijken said...

Hello,
Very nice shots of Reuben. I think he is very interested in your camera. So sweet!!

Many greetings,
Marco

Giga said...

To bardzo miłe, że byli ludzie, którzy przyjęli Twoją rodzinę na czas ewakuacji do siebie. Przy okazji zobaczyliście piękne alpaki. Śliczne zdjęcia zrobiłaś jednemu z nich. Dobrze, że Wam już nic nie grozi, bo rzeka opadła. Pozdrawiam.
It's very nice that there were people who took your family for the evacuation to each other. By the way, you saw a beautiful alpaca. Cute photos of one of them did. It's good that you have no danger, because the river subsided. Yours.

s.c said...

Nice photo's . I like them.

eileeninmd said...

Love the cute alpacas, I would love to visit an Alpaca farm. Reuben is adorable. I am so glad you were safe from the flooding. Great post and photos.

♥ Łucja-Maria ♥ said...

Photos very beautiful. The main thing that you adopted family, which grows these beautiful animals.
Well, the water has subsided.
I wish you all the best.
Lucia

joy said...

Lovely sweet creatures and wonderful family time:)

Lynette said...

Whoa! That's a giant spider! I would have trouble with that. hehe

The alpacas are adorable. :)

Beth said...

Reuben is so cute!! All of the pictures are great!

flowersandhome said...

Sounds like you had a great day,
even with the water getting higher and higher. the sky and sun in the pictures reveal nothing treaterous going on. Nature has all kinds of sides....
I absolutely LOVE Alpaca's. Just last week I was saying 'If I had a meadow, I'd put Alpaca's in' while talking about horses and sheep and so and how some can and others can't stay out in the snow, some like Norwegian fjord horses even love snow. Anyway, now I wonder, would Alpaca's love snow, I really don't know, probably not, they're not really seen around here much.
Yesterday I was thinking of alpaca's again when I was going through some leftover wool, and there was some alpaca wool as well, to maybe start a little crochet again.
Love Alpaca's.... that spider.... not that much.... Brrrrr
Bye,
Marian

Debbie said...

i am such a LOVER of alpaca, i am so glad i did not miss this. i have 2 friends with alpaca, i am always welcome at either farm!!

i am a "farm girl" wanna be!!

love your pictures, my kinda day!!

Michelle said...

Rueben and his friends look very sweet. I have to admit that the huntsman spider does not look so sweet!

Optimistic Existentialist said...

I was loving these as I scrolled...and then I came to the spider pic...LOL YIKES

Sylvia K said...

What a fun time for all of you and a great way to be distracted for a little while from the flooding!! Glad you were spared any damage! I love the alpacas and what a great capture of the spider!! Terrific! Hope all of you have had a good weekend and that things are getting back to normal!!

Courtney Breul said...

It all looks amazing! I love Reuben. I can feel the softness of his nose. :) That spider is something else.

Annette said...

What a fun way to spend the day. And what awesome photos! I want to reach through my screen and pet Reuben, but not the spider!

NatureFootstep said...

that´s a lot of water. Hope everyone stayed safe. :)

Mary Lamoray said...

What a marvelous post and what a perfect friend!!

Lisa said...

Giggle - I like the one of Rueben checking out your lens. ;-). Glad that you all are safe and that you had a nice day in spite of the scary circumstances. Okay, just how BIG is that spider exactly? Please tell me that she is small and that it was just your Raynox making her look so large! Very interesting egg sack that she has with it being so flat and round.

Karen said...

A lovely series of shots. The huntsman is awesome, they are an incredible size! Love the cute alpaca closeups.

thefisherlady said...

I love the closeups of Reuben, and the whistling duck, and the sunshine as you crossed the bridge....
I was fascinated with the spider guarding her huge sac of eggs! I hope you get a picture the day they all get carried on the breeze to their new homes! My oh my!
What a creative God we serve!
praying for flood waters to go down where they should be...

TheChieftess said...

Love the shots of Reuben's nose!!!

Dave said...

Glad you all had a nice day and were safe Karen. And your home and property. Alpacas are nice animals - Dave

Vision By Mila said...

Hi Reuben, are you cute or what??

Rosemary Aubut said...

What a cute little guy! Great captures, looks like everyone had a great day!

ChezVies said...

Beautiful pics..love the sky one n reuben is super cute. The spider reminds me of big spiders at my place which invariably found inside the house >.<

Rosemary said...

I love the resiliency of children. They have the best perspective on the world and find the best part of every day.

Unknown said...

Beautiful shots of Ruben. I love those dark eyes.

Juliana said...

Interesting animals)) so cute

xoxo, Juliana | PJ’ Happies :) | PJ’ Ecoproject

Anonymous said...

Those poor houses still underwater! And that spider - huge!

Lovely animal shots.

Anonymous said...

It does look like a lovely day, and I especially like the happy ending it had. I remember chicken coop smells from when I was that age, thanks for bringing that memory from the far corners of my mind. I love Reuben! He's adorable. I'm glad you are blessed with a friend such as L.

Unknown said...

Your photos here have me smiling. Reubens close up shots are too cute.

Hugs~

Rena said...

I love critter pics! The spider one is absolutely amazing. How big is it? Can't tell by the photo. And I never heard of a whistling duck...
Have a lovely day as you continue to recoup from the flooding!

Karen @ Pieces of Contentment said...

Thank you Rena. This Hunstman would have been about 8cm or 3!/2" across while crouching like this. I have added a caption to the photo now.

Valerie said...

Thank you for sharing your recent "adventure" as a result of flood threat - so glad you seem to be safe now. Don't you just love that soft, furry muzzle of the Alpaca? Thanks, too, for commenting on my blog (I see from one of your previous posts that you also can see these Lorikeets from your window). Blessings

Cat said...

I'm so glad that you had someone so kind to help you out while things were still uncertain and water levels still high. It's nice to see that everyone enjoyed their adventures on the farm. That spider looks a little scary and very protective of her eggs, great photo.

Anonymous said...

Your photography is amazing!
http://www.mcguffysreader.blogspot.com

Jeanne said...

So glad that you had a safe and very interesting place to go during this flooding!

A Colorful World said...

Glad your family is safe, and had a lovely time at L's house! What a nice day for the kids to be around the chickens and alpacas!

Dorothy said...

I am equally fascinated and scared stiff by that spider picture!!
Glad you guys are safe and sound.
Blessings
xx

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