Not something I had considered.....

It has been awhile, and much has happened in our neck of the woods.  Fall is most definitely upon us and the wood furnace has been a comfort.  All of the rain that was denied us this summer has deluged us this fall, making those few sunny dry days delightful indeed.

A dear friend needed to find good homes for some of her fiber animals (I bet you can figure out which kind) and it was rather hard to say no to her given the situation.  Her business parter, at whose farm the animals lived, wanted to get out of the UP and head south after some life changes so he is selling out and wants to be gone by the end of November, hence the desperate search for homes.  I am honored to be considered a good home for those lovely ladies and they have taught me a few new things already!

Item number 1:  It is good to have friends.

Item number 2:  Having one good eye is a blessing.

(Luna, the alpaca in front, only has one eye...an accident we were told)

Number 3:  If you have two bad eyes, having friends is helpful.

(Star, the paca in front, has a cataract in one eye and very limited sight in the other.  She is Luna's mother...perhaps accidents are congentital for alpacas?)

Number 4:  Black is not ALWAYS black.  The golden brown alpaca's registered name is "Black Ice".  We call her "Soleil" because she is golden as the sun.  The wee cria next to her is a suri alpaca...also black.  (Brownish black is called Bay Black in alpaca speak.  Looks like dark brown!)  We have been calling her "dark matter" in fitting with the space themes but it is a bit clunky.  Have any suggestions???

The small white alpaca is "peggy Sue".  She came with that name and is a sweetie!  She has HUGE eyes, but wouldn't look at me when I wanted her too.

This is Lyra.  She is Soleil's daughter.  One eyed Luna looks on worried I am going to put eye medicine in her socket...she had an eye infection when we picked her up.  That sounds confusing I realize...but there is an actual eye sunk in the socket but it doesn't work.

We also have learned that it is easier to handle alpacas than llamas (they are half the size), you can pick up the leg of an alpaca to trim their feet (you have to lay on your face in the dirt to trim a llamas toes because they immediately lay down on top of their feet when you bring out the clippers), and alpacas are much more vocal than llamas with quite the range of tone from soft humm's to indignant squeals!

So, now Spinner's End Farm is home to two species of camelids (which seem to be getting along fine now after a brief altercation which put miss bossy Igraine in her place!).