Friday, May 28, 2010

Llama Pajamas

Here's a poem I love by Mary Ann Hoberman from her book "The Llama Who Had No Pajama - 100 Favorite Poems"

The llama who had no pajama
Was troubled and terribly sad
When it became known that he had outgrown
Every pair of pajamas he had;
And he tearfully said to his mama
In a voice that was deep with despair:
O llamaly mama
I need a pajama
Or what in the world will I wear?
Or what in the world,
In the wumberly world,
In the wumberly world will I wear?

The llama who had no pajama
Looked up at the evening sky.
It will soon, he said, be time for bed
And all will be sleeping but I.
And all will be sleeping but I, but I,
And all will be sleeping but I.
For how can a llama go bare to bed,
The little pajamaless llama said,
When the rest of the world,
Of the wumberly world,
Are all wearing pretty pajamas?

The poor little llama's sad mama
Got out her needle and thread.
I'll try to enlarge your pajama,
The llama's sad mama said.
And she stitched and she sewed those pajamas
Till she ran out of plum-colored thread.
But they still were too small for the llama.
O what will we do? Mama said.

For you must have a pair of pajamas
As you cannot go naked to bed;
But where in the world,
In the wumberly world,
Will we find you a pair of pajamas?

They looked in each nook and each cranny;
They looked on each hillock and mound;
But though they saw bathrobes and bonnets,
Pajamas were not to be found.
The clock struck a quarter to seven.
The llama lay down on the ground.
I know I won't sleep, he sniffed sadly,
And his nose made a staying-up sound.

But he did sleep. He dozed off at seven.
And he slept for the rest of the night;
And when he woke up in the morning
To his mama he said with delight:
What a wonderful sleep I've been sleeping all night!
My head feels so clear and my eyes feel so bright.
When we looked for pajamas, how foolish we were.
Why, I sleep so much better in nothing but fur!
It fits me so nicely; it's light as the air;
It's the practical thing for a llama to wear.
And since goats don't wear coats
And doves don't wear gloves
And cocks don't wear socks
And bats don't wear hats,
Well, why in the world,
In the wumberly world,
Should llamas be wearing pajamas?


Encantadas Jack in his pajamas.

Sunday, May 23, 2010

Shearing

Well the shearing for this year was last weekend and EVERYTHING went very smoothly. 23 alpacas got sheared. Jared Livingston did the shearing this year and he did a GREAT job! Here's a picture of some of the girls the day before the shearing.



Here's Shabazz right before he got sheared. Doug is bringing him into the shearing area.





Doug and Jared are laying Shabazz down to get him into the restraints so Jared can shear him.



Jared works on Shabazz's legs while Tim holds Shabazz's head.

I got to bag up all the fleece as Jared was shearing.





Jared works on Teebo's blanket.



Teebo got a "mohawk."

Doug is releasing the block and tackle so Teebo can get up and go roll in the dirt in the field after his first shearing experience.



Now the alpacas can start growing more fleece for next year's shearing!



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Thursday, May 13, 2010

Featured Alpaca of the Week: Emily

Sweet Emily is a very shy alpaca. She doesn't like to eat pellets from your hand and she's not very sociable. But she is a GREAT mom. She had her first cria in October (Encantadas Jack) and she took to mothering right away. And her fleece is exquisite. Last shearing it measured in at 18 microns (that's Royal Baby) and that was her second shearing. She is a little smaller than Valentina and Sakura. Here's a picture of Emily when she was about a week old:



And here she is right before shearing last year:



We shear this weekend! Look for pictures of the shearing next week!

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