Monday, September 27, 2010

Gettysburg Family and a Herd of Alpacas.

OK, so it wasn't the whole Gettysburg Family. It was the girls and Emerson. But if you think I'm using the phrase Gettysburg Girls in a post title, you're nuts. I don't get a lot of that type of traffic around here and I'd like to keep it that way.

So, did you know Sunday was National Alpaca Farm Days? The girls and I eagerly look forward to this day each year. I love alpacas. If our home owners association would let me have livestock or even, say, a fence, I'd have a herd of these puppies next week. But, they won't. So, I don't. So, instead, each year, the girls and I head out to Alpacas of Gettysburg to participate in a little alpaca awareness.

The girls were so excited, they were shoving each other to be first.


First stop? Bait, er, food for the alpacas.

We had a little talk on the way in about using quiet voices and not chasing the animals. Let's just say that the talk was not directed at Atlee.

She tried to convince me this guy would fit in the car. Well, maybe I tried to convince her. Well, maybe I never said it out loud and I tried to convince myself. Who really remembers the pesky details on these things.

This is the shot where they both realized they walked through a pile of alpaca poo, right after I said, "Don't walk through that pile of alpaca poo."

Chubs was trapped in the back pack again. Don't feel sorry for him because he didn't get to feed an alpaca. He gets to feed the dog often enough. Too often. On last Friday, the vet said Wilson has apparently gained 16 pounds during the last two months.


I think the herd was actually a little full from all of the excited kids offering them food. It became a bit of a challenge to find a hungry alpaca.


So, when luring them with food stopped working, Greeley went for a head on approach. She really wanted to pet these babies. Fortunately, for the babies, they were faster than she was. I don't think she remembered our talk about not chasing the alpacas once the babies were there in front of her.

After we fed the herd of alpacas, the owners were kind enough to feed our herd of girls some chips and soda. (This is the part that Shea was sad he missed the visit to the alpaca farm. "What? There was soda? You didn't tell me there'd be soda!")

And cheesie poofs too.


Do you think the neighborhood would believe we have a herd of, er pack or, a mix between a Great Dane and an Old English Sheep Dog? Me either.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Lovely girls and Mr. Chubbers.

Why do you bother to feed Wilson? I thought he's the new vacuum; not another mouth.

themac

Anonymous said...

LOL! That full alpaca has the DO NOT WANT face and ears!

Yes. The dog has put on 16 lbs. I can't imagine how. Must be that pesky NOBODY who is in the house with the kids. "Who fed the dog the table food?" "Nobody, mom!"

~your alpaca sister from anotha mutha

Ryan the Girl said...

Cool, I think I would have had as much fun as your girls!

spokeit said...

oooh fun! I love feeding odd-looking animals! I always come home wanting one later...but like you I'm not sure how my apartment complex would feel about an alpaca in my living room. Benny would love it.

Uncle Michael in DC said...

I like that new dress Gree is wearing - very Nature Girl.

The part about Greeley chasing the alpacas cracked me up. Also the "Soda?!" part.

I was thinking if you had brought Wilson, maybe he would have gotten some exercise (and might have caught an alpaca for Greeley). :)

You need to jury-rig a "saddle" for Chubs to ride Wilson, freeing him up to see more and helping Wilson lose that weight!

Or maybe you could get one of those Little Tykes wagons and hook Wilson up to it and put Chubs inside. Just keep a sharp eye out for squirrels.

Today's secret word is: snescor

Gettysburg Mom said...

Yeah. About that dress Greeley is wearing. Sunday afternoon, Rich and Greeley went over to Petey's Gammy's house so Rich could do some work. Greeley just went to hang- even though Petey wasn't there. An hour or two into their absence, Greeley comes to the door wearing the green dress and carrying a plastic bag with her pink dress in it.
"Mom, my dress got wet. Here."

"What? Did Petey's Grammy spray you with the hose while she was watering her flowers?"

"No."
"Did you have a pee accident?"

"No, I didn't pee on it."

I get distracted by something else and think whatever. At the alpaca farm Greeley says, "My pink dress got wet in Grammy's toilet when I was going pee." Oh. Wish you had told me that earlier.