Tuesday, October 6, 2009

A weekend of friends and ...llamas!


Wow. What a weekend.

A girlfriend of mine, TK, flew up from California (to cheer on her brother who was running in the Portland Marathon) and was able to come out to the farm for a visit. I was so excited to see her, meet her boyfriend, Jeff, and see her brother, Brett, again. They were kind enough to bring some glorious Oregon fall sunshine with them as a gift. Sunshine, as you may know, always makes me very happy.

Since my son Aidan continues to become extremely tall, we always think it's great fun to measure our guests against my growing boy:

TK's pouty face is because the last time she hung out with Aidan, he only came up to her shoulder. Time flies...

Of course we had to visit with Pete and Reggie, the goats. And since I'm not one to pass up good help, I asked Brett to help me give the goat boys their de-worming medicine. Not knowing what he was getting into, of course he said yes:

Clearly, from the look on his face, he didn't hate it. Pete and Reggie actually made him laugh. A lot.

Here's TK, politely asking Pete to let her back into the goat house:

He said no.

Eventually, TK pulled out Pete and Reggie's leashes and then they knew it was time for their walk:

They get very excited when it's time to go for a walk:

Intrigued by the tales of Roopert the rooster chasing away all male "intruders" to his coop, Brett just had to test his luck by letting Roop out of the chicken run. Brave man:

But Roopert was on his best behavior on this day and decided attacking the guests wasn't the best plan. Still, you can bet, none of the guests took their eyes off him while he was strutting his pretty self around...

It was a fun afternoon - I've missed you, TK. ♥

"So what about the llamas?" You may be asking. Well. A llama breeder contacted me about some rescue llamas she has needing a winter home. On Sunday, Jim, Aidan and I drove out to this llama farm to acquaint ourselves a bit.

We were overwhelmed, to say the least. This person has over eighty (80!) llamas on her farm. These were among the first faces to greet us when we got there:

Not having been around llamas much, Aidan was uncertain how to respond to this greeting:

Llamas, by nature, can be more than a little stand-offish. Since Aidan wasn't pursuing or trying to touch them, this made them feel comfortable approaching him on their terms:

Here are the three, sweet rescue girls:

Aidan amazes me. He's pretty much a natural at everything he does:

How can this face not make you smile?:

I learned so many things about llamas on Sunday. One of them is that they are incredible *watchers*:

They also really enjoy posing on hills:

This is funny, isn't it? This little wool fluff is actually intentional, but I didn't get the whole story. Something about the judges requiring this in the ring or something:

This was a frequent occurrence. The face sniff, though very sweet, is initially quite unnerving:

Then it was time to go home. We ate gummi bears almost the whole way:

I think this was pretty close to the perfect weekend.

25 comments:

  1. Good post, I'm gonna steal that rooster name - Roopert. So are you concidering giving some of the llama's a winter home? Sounds exciting.

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  2. Don't know much about llamas, but the three you might be fostering over the winter sure are pretty. Especially the one on the right of the picture. Beautiful coloring. My goodness Aidan is tall!!! I did laugh out loud when I saw the picture of the close up of the llama face. Hilarious!

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  3. OH I love that picture of them watching Danni! Wow when are they coming??? Are you up for the adventure??? This will be fun. I'm glad you had a great time with your old friend...not old...but you know...friend from the old days...maybe I should stop while I'm ahead! Have fun!

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  4. OH I love your new header!! Is that you??? What a cutie!!

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  5. I was anxious to hear about the Llamas...since M was telling me all about it on the way to Mich..I'm excited to hear if your going to get a couple or not..The ones we saw at that farm on the way up north were so cute..they ran right up to us..I think you should get some.. do you think the goats would like them..I bet Roxy would..
    You have my vote..!!ha ha
    d

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  6. But wait . . .the llama story has no ending? You can't have us guessing! Do tell, will there be three more critters on the Critter Farm? Huh? Huh? Huh?

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  7. *LOVE* your new blog header...it captures the feeling of your blog very well!

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  8. Yes, nice new header photo. Who is that young girl? Great post. Llamas will be a new adventure. The gummis made me hungry.

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  9. Llamas are the coolest! I hope to meet one in real life one day. In the meantime, I stay fascinated by camels instead!

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  10. what n entertaing post. i am sitting in my kitchen early in the morning and laughing out loud. i love the llamas "watching". i bet your friends loved spending time at the farm. i just visited amish country and saw llamas that had just been sheared. they really looked funny. like deer with long necks! there is a pick on the blog if you want to see them.

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  11. Wow, guests, sunshine, gummi bears, and llamas all in one weekend! Does it get any better? Those llamas are way too cute! I'm looking forward to more pictures and stories. Do they have names?

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  12. Love Llamas, would like to get some myself, or maybe Alpacas. I used to work at an Animal Park and had the pleasure of looking after around 10 (numbers went up and down!) lovely ladies!! Your right, they are a bit stand offish but they are also so cute and friendly!

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  13. Pls hold while I take some extra time to enjoy your wonderful llama pictures.

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  14. YEAH LLAMAS!!!! They are the BEST!!! The fleece spot on their side is so the judges can tell the quality of the fleece. A lot can be hidden (or missed) with shorn fleece.
    The face sniff -- that's a llama kiss!!! Not all llamas give them, and not all people receive them.

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  15. I could look at pictures of llamas ALL day. I am so happy that you went out to meet your potential llama visitors.
    That pic of Aidan is the best. That llama was so curious to see what he was all about. And, of course, Aidan is a natural...he comes by that very ummm..naturally...Look at his mama after all.
    That close up pic DOES make me smile. Look at those eyes. You can tell he/she has a story to share.
    Being a "watcher" myself..this watching picture makes perfect sense to me. But wow...talk about all eyes on you. I could watch them watch for hours...
    I think next time S cuts his hair Im gonna ask him to leave that little tuft like that on his head...
    Llama kisses....sigh. Nothing else like it.
    So, wow! You had a great weekend. Friends, Llamas *and* gummi bears. I agree. Thats near perfect.

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  16. Oh...waittt...I dont think I mentioned in there how much I liked the hill poser. If we had hills here...Id do that too. Did you happen to see one dust bathing while you were there?

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  17. We came home very late last night, but I saw your llama slide show just before going to bed. I don't think I've laughed so hard and so loud in a long time. There were several close-ups that were simply hilarious! I'm, so fond of donkey's, however, that I'm not sure what to think about three llamas moving into that lovely donkey barn. I suppose one would have to meet, touch, and watch them to appreciate their loveliness.
    Pete and Reggie needed de-worming again? We just did that a few days ago. Glad you had your friends help.
    You had a lovely weekend! I'm happy for you.

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  18. Lovely post as always. BTW I love your header picture!

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  19. I love llamas too, they are great watchers. At the donkey rescue they always had a llama in with the goats to protect them from the coyotes, I guess. Are you going to take them in? They were beautiful, I'm sure you will enjoy them and your son seemed to get along great with them. I love your new picture at the top of the blog, it looks so lovely at your place.

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  20. My goodness! Llamas' have beautiful faces. Llamas are good protectors of sheep and goats. Be careful! You may get really attached and want to keep them..., but then you do have Roopert for protection.

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  21. Llamas! Are you going to do it? You are almost going to have to or frugalmom will be so disappointed.
    I'm just sayin'

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  22. Excellent post - wonderful pics! You had me laughing quite a bit! my husband & I have discussed getting llamas one day, maybe next year after we build fences. They look like wonderful creatures. please keep us posted with updates of your new visitors! I'd love to know all the details!!
    -Lynn

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  23. Llamas! I love llamas. They are big on personality. We have two with completely opposite personalities. One is in your face curious, the other is very standoffish. Keep us posted on whether or not you take the rescue ladies!

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