Thursday, October 26, 2006

Furry critters

Today was field trip day! The spinning class went to the Country Pumpkin, a vegetable stand about 10 km outside of Fredericton. I thought that the babe might enjoy seeing some animals and so we tagged along. It was a cold and breezy day, but those furry little guys didn't seem to mind a bit.

The gals were so happy to see these fellows. There was a lama, two alpaca, a few pygmy goats, some sheep that totally ignored us all, two donkeys, several chickens and some horses.


These two were scratching each other on their shoulders and, of course, when I got the camera out they turned away. How could I resist a shot like this?

The alpaca were much smaller than I had expected. And much greasier. I suppose that that makes them much more water proof.

This fellow was the lone lama. He was larger than I expected. He was also so funny when you offered him something to eat. Every offering was inspected with a sniff before he delicately took it out of my hand. He also had really crooked teeth. Every time I walked by him, I handed him another bit of cabbage. I take my spitting lamas seriously.


And here he is with a couple of the goats. It's been a while since I had seen a goat and I forgot how creepy their eyes are.



And I had an anonymous commenter who said that there has been no spinning on my blog. This was said because I am part of Yarn Aboard and signed up for the spinning swap. There is a good reason for the lack of spinning content, and that is my lack of time right now, and my low level of spinning ability. Our studio head just came back from a weekend spinning retreat, and it was all that I could do not to hide in her suitcase. She had a great time and said that next year it is happening on PEI. I am definitely signing up for that one! I will hopefully be more organized next year at this time. Stop laughing! It's possible. Highly unlikely, but possible. In any case, it is one that I will aim for. And I didn't even mention the goodies that she brought back. Oh, my.
As for the low ability of my spinning, I have made arrangements with the spinning teacher for a few private lessons, but that is not until life has settled into a dull roar for both of us. Read: After Christmas. Two months until Boxing Day people! 9 more markets for me, and 7 weeks of classes. The kids are in school until Dec. 22 and don't go back until January 8 so we will have a couple of relaxing weeks after the big day.
So my anonymous swap buddy, you will see spinning, it might just be a little bit on my drop spindle to satisfy the urge that I know I will have when a BOX ARRIVES ON MY DOOR IN A FEW DAYS!!!!!!
I'm so excited! It's like Christmas two months early! I can hardly wait!

4 comments:

Valerie said...

I've processed alpaca from several different sources and have never found any grease in any of them. Lots of dust, since they take dust "baths", but no grease.
Do you think maybe the farmer had put some kind of conditioner in their coats?

f. pea said...

I want to pet, hug and feed cabbage bits to all the furry critters in this post. Lucky duck! Also, that girl in the green jacket... I want her outfit. Just saying.

Dudleyspinner said...

I learned at Estes Park Wool market that alpaca have small ears, llama banana ears that is the only way I know the difference. I have never had alpaca with grease in it either, lots of dust.
Maybe the alpaca was Fonzie and greased his hair with bryllcreme. LOL
Deb

Anonymous said...

Okay, as a LM Montgomery reader, I want to go to PEI! And as a wannabe spinner, I want to go to PEI! Big geographical envy happening right now.....