As planned, all of my female alpacas have now gone on to new homes, some of them close enough that I can visit them, and I have made new friends as a result of that as well. This all happened just in time, as I had to have my left knee replaced for the second time and this time, it is taking much longer to heal. The new surgeon I used, told me I was one of the "lucky ones out of 2500" to have the knee go bad. Fortunately, my farm sitter was available while I was recuperating from having a larger and better knee(keeping fingers crossed) put in. For the first two weeks, my sweet brother, Michael, came from St. Louis to take care of me and all of my critters. He also took care of some repairs that needed to be made, started organizing my messy garage, and kept me well fed as well. My all male herd is working out nicely, and there have been very few arguments among them since the girls have all left. They now also have more space in the barn, and much more pasture as well. Clean up is faster, too. Since I have not been able to do much this summer due to the knee, I have not skirted this year's fiber, and am trying to get that done before bad weather sets in. It is also nice not to be spat upon every time one of the animals gets close to me. None of the males do that, except to each other, so that is another advantage of an all male herd. They are all well trained to go out to pasture, and when I want to bring them back in to the barn in the evening, all I need to do is clap my hands, call out a few names, and they all gather by the gate, wating for me to open it, and then they make a mad dash to the barn, where they know fresh hay is waiting for them. I have not been at the Farm Market since July, and am hoping to be back there in November and December, when we only have two markets a month. That means I have to get going on making dryer balls, knitting scarves and spinning some yarn. Never a dull moment at the farm here. On top of that, I may have a Litter of puppies by the first week of December.