Llama-O-Rama

These are alpacas, actually. In the top photo are Benji (brown) and Miguel (right behind Benji, with silly tufted ears), and the lower picture is Austen. Miguel and Benji are huacaya alpacas, meaning they have fluffy curly wool, and Austen is a suri alpaca, and he has the most expensive and sought after kind of fiber, long and silky and straight. 

So what about them? Huh? Why am I showing you alpacas?

Three guesses, and the first two don't count. 

Yes, Craigslist. The owner of Lost River Alpacas in Nooksack is purging her herd of unneeded males we are getting three of them. These three. Personally, I could care less about alpacas. You don't eat them and you don't milk them, and I don't knit or spin. But Rowan is in seventh heaven. They don't take much care, just about the same as goats, and they will help eat my extra herbage. We will need to hire someone to shear them once a year, which costs about $35.00 per alpaca. And my guess is we will probably end up paying someone to bring the fleece to a spinnable condition as well. The process is fairly involved. 

And I have to admit, they are pretty cute.