Layout change

Time for a change here. As much as I like the option of letting people leave messages when they visit our blog here, I detest the pop-ups that the tag board people subject my visitors to. So I'm taking the tag board down.

I'd like to change the look of the blog too. Get a new layout and background. I checked out the freebies offered by blogger and none of them worked right: the two columns wouldn't line up properly. I don't have time right now to fiddle with the code, so I'll save that change for another day.

In the meantime, enjoy reading without any of the annoying pop-ups!!!

One by one...

I'm convinced that if everyone who likes fiber - that would be knitters, crochetters, weavers, etc... - tried alpaca fiber, that they would never go back to anything else. To that end, I do my best to expose as many people to the fiber as I can.

I carry a drop spindle with me where ever I go. I always let people "pet" the fiber and the yarn when they ask what I'm doing. Someone always asks. :-) They are always amazed that it's so soft. My current carry-around is some of Boot's suri fiber.

Sometimes I substitute teach at my children's elementary school. I always bring a bunch of wooden toy wheel spindles and fiber so that if we have some free time I can teach them. It doesn't matter what age the kids are, they LOVE learning. I've even done presentations in the kindergarten classes to coincide with the cowboy section they study in January.

I sent my cousin a small skein of dyed alpaca yarn at Christmas time. I had just found out she's a knitter. She spent time this weekend at a Superbowl party knitting some wrist warmers. Aren't they great!!



Of course, my children being California babies asked why someone would want to make something to keep their wrists warm. LOL!! I reminded them about our trip to the snow in Tahoe last year. *Then* they understood!

Puss 'N Boots

And Boots makes THREE!



Technically he's not part of Humming Hearts Ranch. Boots belongs to our daughter. She fell in love with him from the day she first met him. He's an incredibly friendly (but not too friendly - the tail stays down) and curious alpaca. He's first to the fence when visitors arrive and loves attention. In fact, he was recently photographed for an article in the local newspaper. The Hollister Freelance came to Foothill Llama and Alpaca Ranch (where we agist) to do a story on the business of alpacas. Boots was so friendly that he was featured on the front page of the Community section where the article was published.

The ranch who owned Boots gave us his last fleece. DD (dear daughter) has been cleaning it and spinning it. So have I. It's really incredible. So soft and shiny!!! Suri fiber really "shines" best when it's combed and spun worsted. I only have a drum carder and haven't learned worsted spinning really so I doubt I'm doing this lovely fiber justice. Nonetheless, it's making some really nice fine gauge yarn. I've kept most of the chocolate fibers separate so far but I'm not worrying about the bits that do make it through. It just makes for a more interesting yarn.

Meet Melody

She's the new member of our herd. We bought her a few months ago. She's a 2 year old pregnant female who should deliver in mid June. On the other hand, as a maiden she might not deliver until July or maybe even August. As you can see, she's a tuxedo. We bred her to a true black male. Should make for a dreamy cria! Then again, is there any other kind? :-)

AlpacaFest West 2004

Halloween Weekend at Firestone Winery is when and where SoCalpaca holds their annual alpaca show. This year's events included halter classes, agility/obstacle classes, and the most fun of all, costume classes! Check out the purple octopus on the right.


My personal fav is the Girl Scout with her S'More. " Cause everyone knows when you've had one alpaca, you'll want s'more!"

"I tried to tell you!",

said the pregnant female alpaca.

Today was more breeding and testing for pregnancy. The very first female on the list was Halle, a rose grey female who throws very nice babies when paired with Regal, another rose grey. Both alpacas are mature, experienced animals. Halle has had several crias and is a phenomenal mom. Regal is a stud the Auslands have used for quite a few years. Actually, he was retired until I came along. Because Halle is not for sale, I requested this mating because their crias are so nice. They were bred earlier and now it was time to behavior test her.

So we caught Halle, haltered her up and Wayne walked her out to take her to the breeding pen. Halle's first step outside her paddock triggered a spitting right at the back of Wayne's head. "What did you do that for?" Wayne rhetorically asked Halle. Being more cautious now, he made sure she walked next to him so he'd not be in the line of fire should anything else bother her. Well, something was bothering her because she spit again. And again. And again. She spit the entire walk back to the breeding pen. Why? She *knew* where she was going and was trying to tell us "I'm pregnant." She didn't feel the need to wait until in a pen with a male and spit him off. Did the dumb humans catch on? I didn't. But I'll be smarter next time, you can bet!

No 'paca time this week...

It's too hot. Today I was going to work with our boy, Autie, on obstacle training. If there was time, I was also going to try out the youngsters, Arnold and Anthony. In late October, we're going to AlpacaFest West, a show in Central California that has performance competition. Alas, we'll have to work another day. Summer has finally decided to show up here in the Bay Area. The last few weeks, we've been having highs mostly in the 90s with a few days over 100. With temperatures like that, it's best not to work with the alpacas. I'm kinda bummed - it's been a week since I've been out to the ranch and was looking forward to some 'paca time. Sometimes ya gotta let Mother Nature make the decisions.