March 13, 2005

I certainly am late writing the journal entry for this month! Today is our family St. Patrick’s Day dinner, and I have been cooking as fast as possible. In addition to corned beef with potatoes, onions, and cabbage, we will have pistachio pudding, potato rolls, asparagus, peas, green olives, and cookies with green frosting. Do you see a trend? My Uncle Bill swore that my mother’s Scottish and Irish family produced several leprechauns and he and I were the current ones. I’m sure that’s true!

February continued to be hectic. We did celebrate our son’s birthday at his farm. The llamas, alpacas, chickens, dog, and cats make it a real rural environment. The four grandchildren, ages 18 mo. to 3.5 years, made it more like a rodeo. Although I took a “Whack a Mole” game, the real game was played by the adults with almost the same rules!

While we traveled to a few farms to give shots and place microchips, the fun began at home when we started training three weanling boys for the ring. Mikey, Lenny, and Triton were a handful, so we just took Mikey and Triton around the pasture. I am always amazed and thankful for their reaction when we leave the pasture and walk along the driveway past the house and then along the pasture outside the fence. They decide we are the best thing available and follow us well. You can see them thinking and observing all the new sights and smells. The big red monster (Clark’s tractor) usually stops them in their tracks, but they soon get used to it.

The same friend who has made so many pairs of socks bought a spinning wheel, and after a short session, she is on her way to spinning. I am always hesitant about showing anyone spinning, because I am such a novice, but they seem to figure it out on their own.

Speaking of which, the Guild was fortunate enough to have Carol Rhoades for a three day spinning and fiber workshop the first weekend of March. Judy Jackson arranged everything and many members hosted different aspects of the visit. I took the Victorian spinning workshop on March 6. We made a small felt square in the morning and then spun many different kinds of wool in the afternoon. The last thing we spun was silk, two kinds, for embroidering on the felt. A wonderful time was had by all and we left with our heads spinning with new ideas. (No pun intended).

We are moving a little slowly, today, as we put in a retaining wall across the back of the garage for a new pathway yesterday and spread new seed in the pasture today. As I go to peel potatoes, I leave with this last piece of news. Tracy (our son) won a blue ribbon on his young suri alpaca in Phoenix yesterday. We are so happy for him and wish them well today.

Sit, Spin, and Watch the 'Pacas,
Janet

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Janet and Clark Otterness
Alta Mist Alpacas
13892 South 7300 West
Herriman, Utah 84096
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phone: 801-572-9831
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