Thirty seven degrees!

Wow- I just can't believe how it has cooled down around here. Since I am from NH I love cool and cold weather and am usually in a state of longing for it. It is so much easier to do chores when it is brisk!

Yesterday was one of those happy-sad days for us. Snowman went to his new home and family. He has been with us since the beginning of our alpaca adventure- we bought him from Mount Airy Alpaca Company back in the summer of 2003 and came to live with us on January 24th, 2004.

Snowman is a blue eyed white and probably deaf, although that has been really hard to decide from day one - he is so well adjusted! At his first farm, Mount Airy, he was 4H trained and the favorite of young Nick Perez. His move here was no doubt pretty hard on Nick and Snowman had to 'write home' a couple of times to let Nick know he was doing well. While at Mount Airy he was filmed by National Geographic and became a TV star! Well, I suppose that I should fess up and say that while Kate was being interviewed and filmed, Snowman insinuated himself into the film!

Once we became a little more established we started taking Snowman and a 'friend' or two to the county fair, the Virginia Renaissance Faire and to church summer camps as part of our exhibit. He made for the best PR alpaca! So tolerant of children and noise. That was really our 'sign' about his deafness. At one church event the pastor's wife held his lead so that his face was but inches from hers and sang a beautiful hymn to him. Apparently every time she has done that with an animal the animal becomes mesmerized. Not Snowman- he wouldn't even make eye contact.

Last year when we did the renaissance faire out in Roanoke we decided to have the alpacas knighted by the queen. That is when Snowman became Sir Snowman... Life got pretty interesting having to curtsey in front of him! Just kidding - he didn't require that of us, unlike his buddy Angus who most certainly did!

Now that our herd has grown and since we were blessed with four male crias it was time to let Snowman move on and make some happy memories with his new family, the Jones' in Orange County. He will be very happy there and someday we won't miss him quite so much!

Until the next time!

Saturday, October 7th.... What happened to September????

Well, what can I say? The last time I sat down to update this it was hotter than heck outside and I wondered if cool weather would ever be back. Today I had to turn the fireplace on. Somehow I have lost an entire month. That is really scary.

Since I wrote last we have had the State Fair show here in Virginia. I offered to clerk and spent an enjoyable afternoon doing so. Linda Hatcher was the show superintendent with Ruth Inglefield judging. This year the show wasn't AOBA certified. That really wasn't noticable as far as I could see. There were around 100 alpacas this year which was a big improvement over entries last year.

Last weekend was the last Renaissance Faire of the 2006 season. It was in Salem City. Last year we had a trailer mishap and lost two of our alpacas in the middle of a busy intersection. It took a few minutes to gather them up and all turned out well. This year it was very strange to pass through that same intersection! I really enjoyed having the faire in cooler weather and have to admit that it would be nice if it could always be in October!

Lost the computer for a week or so. It picked up a virus and we ended up having to get a new hard drive put in. I sure wish I could understand why people who had the talent to actually make up these virus etc. bother to focus on things so detrimental to others. Why they couldn't focus on good is beyond me.

The Affiliate Congress has been made official by the AOBA BOD. It was great to be a part of that meeting in Nashville last August when it was set up. Things seem to be going well with it and I think it will be a big boost to communications within our association.

We've had a couple more new members joing SAFA, the Small Alpaca Farms of America association that I am treasurer of. I do wish that more could be accomplished but am glad that we have at least set things right with our attempts at getting the organization in a state that the next board won't have to hunt things down. It was a challenging few months when this board took over.

VAOBA Alpaca Expo is less than a month away! I can hardly believe that. We have worked for close to a year on this. It's my first time as show superintendent and I am working hard to make a good show.

Well, that's it for this time. I suspect that the next few weeks will have me very busy and may very well not get back to this until November....