Our poor sheltered alpaca males think that every time we halter another animal they're going to breed. They puff up their chests, stand on macho mountain and act like obnoxious hormone driven teenagers. "WE'RE JUST PUTTING THEM IN THE TRAILER... GEEZ!" When we halter the girls they think they're getting bred and get a little sluggish like they want to be caught but they don't want to seem "easy".

We got all the 'pacas and grandsons loaded up for the show (grandsons have nearly as much equipment as the animals). It was a two hour drive to Shawnee Oklahoma for the Alpaca Blast-off. We set up stalls, displayed our ranch information and penned the animals in record time. I made new pamphlets and business cards for this show. I sent the grandsons to collect business cards and pamphlets from other farms to get ideas on improving ours (is that cheating or resourceful?). I would like to make our pamphlet fun(!?),exciting(!?),educational(!?).

Hubster and I show our animals. I walk the animal into a ring with a judge and all the other animals in our class. Animals are divided into classes by age, sex, color, breed,and length of fleece. An hour before I have to show, my heart pounds and the lead I'm holding gets sweaty. THEN when I get out in the judging ring I always have to pee! I picture sitting on the pot with an alpaca staring at me with the look saying "how come you didn't go before we left home?" and I am able to presevere until the judging is over.

Ebony took a 5th place (green ribbon). I showed her (cardiac arrhythmia, diaphoresis and all)!

Isis took 4th place (pink ribbon). Hubster showed her. Hubster is cool in the ring. He even showed someone else's animal!

So...we are home from the show. Christmas is over. Winter drags on. I hope I can blog more. ...farm living is the life for me! Sanetha