A is for Alpaca

Howdy everyone! Long time no 'see' I know, but things have been a bit crazy with the car shopping, working, thinking up new ideas for teaching classes, keeping up with Jordan and Jack and taking photos and such. There's been a lot of personal stuff going on and I'm frankly a bit drained. I'm hoping to recoup on my next day off and actually get this house a bit cleaned up, I'm hoping that a clean house will revive my will for bigger and better things. I've been trying to come down off of caffeine for a month now and have successfully figured myself into a half caff world. Basically, I'm equalling about a cup of real coffee a day. Its affecting my mood in a good way and I'm liking it! The downside is that I'm not as jazzed to get moving so I'm waiting for my natural energy to flow better. I'm hoping by the next month I'll be decaff all the way. We'll see...so far I'm more relaxed and happy.

Last week, I rode my bike to work, and it was a LOT of fun to get movin. It's about five miles in and so ten round trip. I don't have to deal with too much traffic on the roads since I'm not traveling during the commute times, also I take the back roads so I can eliminate as much of that stuff as possible. The worst part was that my rear really hurt for two days! I was testing the route for commuting to work but I think I'll need to warm up into it. A few days later, I walked to work. I got about three miles down the road and I was really enjoying myself...although I had realized I hadn't given myself enough time to really do it....so I was stressing and rushing and hurrying and sweating. I was thinking a lot about a coworker of mine, Angie. I was just thinking about some work that she had to do the day before and about something she said to me at another time, and well..just thinking about her. She's a really nice and funny lady that I work with and so it was easy to think up stuff. But lo' and behold, her truck pulls right up next to me. So, she gave me a ride into town and to work so I didn't have to walk the remaining two miles! She wasn't even working that day! Isn't that cool that I was thinking of her and she appeared?? WEIRD! And, my legs hurt for two days, shin splints from hurrying and not walking correctly. I can be prone to them pretty easily and so I should have known. I'm glad I didn't get a couple more miles in. Jordan picked me up from work and that would be my plan if I walk, or if I bike and it gets too late and dark, even though I have headlights, and tailights, rearview mirror, helmet, bullet-proof vest, and reflectors up the wazzoo! We're safe folks and don't want to scare ourselves or anyone else. I was just kidding about the vest, and the wazzoo.

Why is A for Alpaca? My friend Michelle, whom I've posted pictures of before of a picnic we had, was going to sheer her parent's Alpacas with the help of her folks, and a groomer. She said that I was welcome to come along, take some pics, and help if I wanted to. I headed over and everyone was so nice, but I just couldn't stand around taking pictures, so they let me help! I got to help! I was so excited. I just love this first picture, it's my fav.
































It was an experience I was not expecting, and I was completely out of my comfort zone doing any sort of animal husbandry especially with alpacas! I was so out of my own realm that I paid a lot of attention to what I was doing. And you know what? All that personal crap that I've been worrying about lately? Well...it all got sort of shoved aside for a day. It was hard work, and it was smelly work ( think intensified wet dog) and I hurt and I didn't envy Michelle because though I helped sheer about five or six alpacas she helped with all 18 I think there were. But it was actually more relaxing than any other thing I could have been doing that day. I think it also really helped to help someone else and get away from "myself" for a bit. Too bad I had to leave, but I was meeting a friend in Seattle. But then, Michelle had to miss a day of work from being in pain, so maybe not so bad that I had to leave. ( as a side note...in the pic above with Michelle and her Dad, Carl, and the groomer, Bruce, the fleece is being shorn off and it's done so in a way that when it's collected and bagged, you can pull it out of the bag and unroll it and it appears just as it's shown in the picture, as if it were already a blanket. This is a beautiful white alpaca, and it's Michelle's.)

Jordan and I wanted to get out for a drive, but the weather has been so bad....well, we tried to take advantage of the situation. Here are some photos of what we've been up to lately. I hope you enjoy them.

Michelle's parent's kittie








































Okay, before you go....guess which one got the haircut!