One overcast day in April...

 Do you find that as an alpaca lover, pretty soon everything you own either is made out of alpaca, or has a picture of an alpaca?   Not that that's a problem-- I enjoy it--almost as much as I enjoy my coffee with heavy cream.  (did I mention I've been on a KETO diet for a few weeks and actually lost some weight eating decadent things?)

The thing I like most about owning alpacas and living on the ranch is the ability to go outside and "commune" with them anytime I want.  They are really good listeners, and they are very observant.

Sometimes I have been down, and they just hang out with me.  No judgement, no helpful suggestions-- they just notice that you are sad and hang around you.

They are just a quick to recognize when  you are high energy or irritated or in a hurry, and they stay away.  Sometimes they even try to hide like Fromage did, pretending he was a stand of stinging nettle.  I sure wouldn't have chosen that patch of weeds to hide in-- in makes me itch just to look at him!

Usually when I walk from my house to the barn, I see bright, happy faces waiting to greet me.  I'm sure it's because they think I have food, but it's nice to see them anyway.  In this picture Scottie and Caroline wanted to know why they are still having to walk around the tilled dirt.  Why hasn't the grass arrived??

The other day Tracy and I decided to shoot some fleece pictures of some of the huacaya yearling boys.  I'm really appreciating the "portrait" setting on my iPhone.  It let's me get really close and does a great job of recording details.  This is Cooper Ganache, a true rose gray.  He has every color under the sun in that fleece with enough brown to make it look rosy.

In keeping with the close-up theme that day I also couldn't resist a "portrait" of some icelandic poppies by my back door.  They are such papery-looking flowers with their brilliant colors and long stems.  They nod and sway in the breeze and catch the light so beautifully.  I would love to have fields of them, but I'm lucky if I can keep them going in a pot.

Coco the llama has gotten so big since she got here!  She was rescued as a youngster from a slaughter situation, and her owner Carla brought her here with her alpacas.  We love her. It gives us an opportunity to provide people with a real description of the question "What's the difference between a llama and an alpaca?"   We just lead them out to her pasture and ask them to tell us which one is the llama.  No answers necessary. 😁

As you can see, nothing much is different out here since the Coronavirus started.  Thankfully we are healthy and so are the alpacas.  We look forward to being able to re-open the ranch to our boarders.  Hopefully that won't be very long now.   Hopefully all of you are feeling fine and we'll all meet again soon.  Stay tuned!