Hair Raising

Hubster & I made a recent furniture purchase off Craigslist. Excellent deal, but the reward was a little bit of a drive for us to pick up. About 1 hour 20 minutes west. Had to get up early in the morning to beat the heat. Too early & definitely way early for this Mama to be awake enough to dish out breakfast for four! So we grabbed McDonalds hotcakes for the kids & headed on our long drive west. Mmmmm, grande/skinny/vanilla latte with a steaming mask of hotcakes. My friends, this was a touch of heaven, fresh in the morning. Ahhhh, this is my "me" time!!! Come on-you know you want to try it now, yea you do-embrace your inner silly side!

Our destination was an Alpaca Ranch! Kewl!! This family literally raises hair for a living. I thought alpaca was just a schmanzy name for llama...nope, not the same. Who knew? We left Daddy to load our chevy with our purchase, while the boys & I were given a personal tour of the alpaca ranch! Lookey who greeted us..... I know, I had blink a few times at first also. So fluffy, but yet almost mythical looking. Like 1/2 Chewbaca, 1/4 dog, 1/4 giraffe? Little fluffy red dude was actually full grown adult from what I was told! Don't you just wanna squish on him? So sweet looking!

We were then taken into the inner sanctum of the alpaca ranch, the barn. There were about 30 little sprongy guys & girls in there. We were shown the yearlings or toddlers first. Simply precious can't describe how cute they are!! Not much bigger then a lab or large/medium sized dog, with big round chocolate eyes & soft luxurious feeling hair! Ooooo, they were adorable! They're friendly too, gentle & huggable.

Check out the 1st little guy Ben found to pet! I lurv his squishy little fluff cheeks, almost like a teddy bear!

Jo didn't know what to make of these creatures, other than he wanted to feed them. The owner gave him some hay & Jo piled it into the animals water trough! He looked at him like "whhaatt?" while she fished it out of the water.

Next came this guy who was a sure to be the next Sire of some future young ladies...I hear he's destined to be the hunkiest of the herd! Look out gals!

Somebody forgot to tell this Sire that the mullet with frosted tips went out in the 80s. Kinda looks like a DQ twist of chocolate & vanilla, but the kid working the counter was to lazy to "twist" the flavors!
 
We learned that alpaca only have bottom teeth & can smile. They eat & drink less than most livestock. They are super clean & easy to pick up after. They have communal poop piles where they all "take care of business". It's like deer or rabbit pellets too, not like cow pies or horsey piles! And did I mention their wool is highly marketable? As soon as they're born they're sheered & continued to be sheered, both because of the heat & price of their hair. I wish I could've felt a rug made out of their fibers or like a black sweater! Ohhh, I bet they are soft! This ranch only raised the alpaca as a lifestyle & to sell to other people for making fibers with. 

 They are fascinating creatures! The kids & I had so much fun with them & learned a lot. Made the whole drive worth it. Moments like this rev up the wanna be teacher within me. Or at least the homeschooling/field tripper gal within. I love experiences like these & cherish them. This is the stuff you can't get in a book or classroom. Real grass roots & important for lots of folks to know about.

Just in case you're wondering some of the higher end 100% peruvian alpaca sweaters on Ebay are selling about $54.99. I don't think they probably have the same quality content in the fiber as these alpaca did. I would guess & would pay big buckaroos for a black top made out of alapaca!

Ps-Any one else having problems with the new version of Blogger? It took me so long to get this edited & posted!