Friday, July 4, 2014
Have you ever wondered what happened to the 56 men who signed the Declaration of Independence? What fates befell them for daring to put their names to that document?
Five signers were captured by the British as traitors and tortured before they died.
Twelve had their homes ransacked and burned.
Two lost their sons serving in the Revolutionary Army, another had two sons captured.
Nine of the 56 fought and died from wounds or hardships of the Revolutionary War.
They signed and read more...
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Sunday, June 29, 2014
It’s almost July and our birthing season starts coming about mid-month. We are always so anxious around this time of year, filled with wonder and excitement about the tentative arrival of our babies. This time draws closed, nearly a year of decisions, planning, logistics and pedigree to a full circle of our cria births.
For the 2014 season, we have nine arrivals due and they are all from high caliber herdsires!
They say, (whoever those people are) that good things come to those who wait…..so read more...
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Wednesday, June 11, 2014
One of our favorite times of the year is the fleece harvest from our herd! Alpaca shearing requires a lot of hard work and planning. Our shearing weekend is exhausting but it’s fun to watch the beautiful fiber taken off with each stroke of the shearer’s hand.
We wait a year to grow these fleeces so it’s a rewarding process to bag up each animal’s fiber and prepare it for the mill. We send our prime fiber and seconds to be processed into yarn and roving. The thirds are used in dog and cat bed read more...
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Monday, June 2, 2014
Yesterday, it was a tough day on the farm. Losing an animal that was in seemingly perfect health who was due to deliver a cria within 30 days by a high profile herdsire was agonizing.
The herd had run up to the barn and I really didn’t think anything about it. But I noticed that one of the girls was very tense and on high alert. She ran back to the back pasture and the rest of the herd followed. I thought, hmmm, kinda weird but perhaps a neighbor’s cat was on the fence line causing a stir.
read more...
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Tuesday, May 20, 2014
This year’s show season was a blast and we are seeing the fruits of our labor by seeing improvement on how we stack up against our competition in the alpaca show ring. Overall, we finished with six championship banners!
We enjoy being out there in the ring, whether it’s at our local shows (Alpacapalooza or CABA Classic), and we are always thrilled to travel to Denver for GWAS for a level 5 show. A Level 5 show brings the best and most fiercest competition for us. Seeing how our alpacas rank a read more...
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Sunday, May 4, 2014
Returning to Denver every year for GWAS (Great Western Alpaca Show) has got to be one of our favorite annual events to participate in with our alpacas. The Alpaca Breeders of the Rockies folks are warm and welcoming to us each year. For those of you who have never been, the arena is held in the historic National Western Complex & Stockyard which is legendary to livestock owners. Of course, we were lucky again this year with dry weather (at least to us folks in Seattle, it’s dry). This show boast read more...
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Saturday, April 19, 2014
For us, going to the futurity show can be compared to going to the Superbowl of all alpaca shows. And may we remind you that the Seahawks won the Super Bowl this year!
The All American Futurity brings together a collection of the best alpaca breeders in the country, and then class by class and color by color – they are judged on their optimum quality and excellence of fleece.
This year, we showed for the first time taking four animals, taking a second place, fourth place and fifth place r read more...
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Sunday, April 13, 2014
Alpacapalooza is our first big show of the season! It gives us NW alpaca ranchers an opportunity to measure up the competition and have a lot of fun in the process!
We had a great show and took home some nice ribbons. But the best part of the show is seeing our friends and getting back into the show ring.
Jeff was the Event Chair this year, working with Deanna Skirving as the Halter Superintendent. He worked his tail off, and I was tasked with showing all the alpacas. Thanks to all our fri read more...
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Friday, March 28, 2014
One week to go and Alpacapalooza will arrive! Seeing all our friends and meeting new folks is the best part of show season!
This year Jeff is the show superintendent so I get to show all the alpacas myself. Might be interesting if we have some males in the same color class. We'll see what the color check thinks, but I think they're pretty darn close in light fawn shades!
The Saturday night Herdsire Roundup should be a blast and yes (don't tell Jeff) I have my eye on several of the fine qua read more...
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Sunday, March 23, 2014
We are so thrilled for our partner's - King and Prince Alpacas down in Texas for taking a BIG win at the Houston Livestock & Rodeo this weekend!
StilHotSmokinGun in all his light rose grey beauty won a First place ribbon in a large class of 12 animals and then on to take the Reserve Championship! Way to go Tony & Shannon in Texas! Ya'll done good!
Gun, as we affectionately call him, is a .38 Special son with a smokin' hot grey fleece and fantastic confirmation! He has settled three female read more...
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