So we spent last weekend at the VAOBA Expo near Richmond, VA where I was one of the featured speakers (Alpacas 101) and Tom, the crazy Cuban was selling our new DVD, "Alpaca Care for Beginners - We Walk You Through It."and showing previews from the movie on a laptop. He did a good job; Alot of people bought our DVD which made us VERY happy.
There was a little condensation on the roof of the pretty tent we were located in so it would be kind of drizzly in there in the morning. Tom, never one to worry about being thought of as a crazyman by others, insisted on repeatedly throwing a sneaker at the tent roof every morning to knock down the "rain" before setting up our stuff. Some of the more normal alpaca people found this daily show to be pretty amusing, while others just looked on aghast and directed pitying looks my way.
This was a super great show! I could not believe that, the first time this show was ever held, there were over 400 entries, the faciility was gorgeous and the whole thing went so well! There were free lectures all day, each day, a lot of good vendors including Quality Llama Products who had all the last minute stuff you forgot to bring to the show like grooming wands, those bolo ties that have clips at the end to hold your show number and lot's of halters, t-shirts, books, etc.
There was also a raffle, a silent auction with a lot of good stuff including hand knit alpaca sweaters for dogs (donated by yours truly) and a lot of free breedings to excellent herdsires:
They also had a hand crafter's spin off competition, one of my most favorite alpaca fleece show contests!
Right next to our vendor space was Dr. Karen Baum, a very popular and well-known VA alpaca veterinarian who also lectured at the show. Her practice is called, Little Docs Veterinary Care and she writes many good alpaca veterinary articles in addition to lecturing. Too bad she seems to have no website!?!
I was enjoying having Dr. Baum's very friendly and pretty llama next to me. This guy greeted everyong quite cheerfully but seemed especially attracted to this adorable little alpaca girl:
Mr. Llama also had a smitten admirer of his own, my daughter, Cassandra.
Our son Nick, helped out a great deal and, as usual, did it with a smile on his face.
I always try to find my friends at alpaca shows and annoy them by taking photos of them. This show was no exception. I caught my friend Jovi Fiber Genix Surisexiting the show ring with a blue ribbon.
Here is another friend, Chuck Ives ( Alpacas of Nottingham Hollow ), showing off his red ribbon:
Here is a showring shot of several people. On the far right is Cindy Aldridge Shepherd's Purse Alpacas to her right is Diane Six Morning Moon Alpacas, another serious fleece person - we need more of these! and second from left is Chuck Ives.
Also caught up with two of my favorite people, both of Wildwood Alpacas, Sue Hammer
and Judy Howe (Judy Helped run this show! - Great Job Judy!)
Speaking of people who ran the show, one person who did a gigantic amount of work to put on this very good show was Sue Ives ( Alpacas of Nottingham Hollow ):
I did not get photos of Dawn Dolpp Mada Vemi Alpacas or Jo Overbey (Rock Chimney Farm Alpacas ) but I was thrilled to see them there. I never did find Amanda Schwab of Little Wing Farm Alpacas and was bitterly disappointed about that. I was also a little disappointed to catch my friend Lois Pocock Shady Nook Alpacas involved in a parking lot drug deal with Dr. Baum. Shady indeed! (Yes, this IS, of course, a joke!!!!)
If there had been a prize for cutest hairdo, I am certain it would have gone to Barrie Padgett and her gorgeous hairstyle a la "Romeo and Juliet."
Most unusual pattern seen on an alpaca at the show??? I'd have to give that prize to this cutie whose owner I don't know.
Alpaca whose owner is most likly to go bonkers when they see how dirty he's gotten? This guy! This always happens BEFORE you show the alpaca!
Coolest logo? I LOVED this one:
Well, I had a great time and hope I get invited back next year to this show. A Big Thank You to all the people who worked hard to put this show on! But, enough of this manure,
Time to get back to work!
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I have not had much time to blog because I was frantically trying to finish the DVD project along with our partners Scott & Kate (aka: "other Kate") McKelvie. It seemed like I was driving to their farm Alpacas of Sunset Fields every other day to re-do voice over work, burn DVD masters, dump alpaca footage onto my external hard drive or whatever. THEN I realized that I was going to have to submit graphic art work for the cover and for the DVD label!!! Oh No!
The DVD "replicators" sent a 5 page art specs document and, of course, the whole thing is measured in millimeters. Do I own any graphic arts package that measures in millimeters? No, I do not. I was like a monkey with a ruler in one hand and a conversion calculator in the other hand, trying to fit photos and text into the proper spaces. Of course the text has to be converted into paths and all fonts used have to be embedded. Huh?Above is the proof sent back to me by the replicators for the DVD Box. This copy of it is too small for it to look good but it's very readable and cute in a larger size.
Here is my favorite paragraph from the art specs:
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"f. White flood “donuts” must be provided separately from the main artwork if they are to be used. “Donuts” must comply with dimensional specifications for both size and trapping as set forth later in this document."
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There's only one type of donut that I'm familiar with and it's not an art spec. It's more like junk food. Here is the disc itself, and it's too red but it didn't look red on my computer monitor. That's because I don't really understand CYMK color separation properly. Note that they print out the color blocks right there on your proof just to PROVE that they are correct about which color is which and YOU do not know diddly. I was already aware of that little fact however. It took me a whole hour just to get the center whole in the correct place for goodness sakes!
The upside to all this is that our DVD, Alpaca Care for Beginners - We walk you Through it. is going to be sold for the first time at the VAOBA Expo ! near Richmond, Virginia on Nov. 4 & 5! I'm pretty excited about that!
The other thing is that I really don't mind driving to the other Kate's farm. The other Kate owns the first two alpaca that I ever purchased and I can see them any time I want plus I know they are very well cared for. They are, Primrose & Latte (below)
Plus, the scenery on the way to the other Kates' place in Pennsylvania is really gorgeous. There is a buffalo farm right there on the way and, as I stopped to snap a photo, one of them stuck his tongue out at me! Pretty rude.
Here are some pretty goats that I usually stop and admire for a minute if there is no car behind me. I used to own goats myself and just adore them.
Other Kate also has a cool Llama named "Abbey." She is a guest star in our movie and here she is posing for publicity shots with a young fan:
There must be at least 20 beautiful old barns on the way from my place in Mount Airy, MD to Other Kate's in Glen Rock, PA. Here are only 2 of the ones I have photographed over the years:
I had planned to do this blog entry about the movie AFTER I had figured out how to embed a YouTube Movie clip here in my blog but I think that will have to wait until I have more free time.
See you at VAOBA Expo !
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( 3.1 / 769 )Well, I am too swamped with last minute preparations for the REPLICATION of our DVD movie, Alpaca Care for Beginners - We walk you through it!
to take pretty alpaca photos right now but I decided to post today because my dear friend Ingrid Wood ( Stormwind Alpacas) was talking to me on the phone yesterday about her upcoming Seminar given by Dr. Eric Hoffman, author of "The Alpaca Book." This reminded me that people like to call ME and/or e-mail ME for alpaca information and that's fine if I can help them but I can honestly say that there is no alpaca expert that I would rather pay to go listen to than Dr. Hoffman. I am a huge fan of "The Alpaca Book" and have recommended it to every one of my buyers and farm visitors. So I just want to put it out there for those who may be unaware of this opportunity that this is one that you should not miss if you are interested in knowing all about alpacas. For more information go to the
Alpaca Heritage Website
Coming soon - my life as an indie alpaca filmmaker!
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( 2.9 / 637 )OK, I am really behind on the blog now, since I am posting more than a week after the Fair ended but I DID have a bunch of work to do last week including delivering my sweetheart, Valentino to his new home in Northern PA (Endless Mountains Area) this past Saturday. At least he will have girlfriends there and the new owner is very nice so that takes some of the sting out of it. She (the new owner) is Judy Simpson of Endless Mountains Alpacas
But, I did promise to finish the fair update. sooooooo
Saturday at the fair and that means, performance day. The animals were judged the day before and now it is the handlers' who are going to be judged and, in some cases, found wanting. My goals for performance day are modest and include,
Try not to trip and/or fall down.
Try not to look fat.
Try not to be disqualified for doing the course wrong. This last one sounds easy but I HAVE experienced the shame of getting the course wrong more than once and it always happens when the obstacles themselves go perfectly so that people ask all day long why I didn't win, they thought I looked great, etc. etc. and I have to say over and over, "I did not follow the course correctly."
My daughter also has this problem. Here she is concentrating hard on answering the judge's question correctly, not realizing that she has already lost because she forgot to back up 3 steps as he instructed everyone to do before he let them come into the ring.
As soon as she watched the next kid in line do the routine, she clearly realized that she'd messed up and then just couldn't wait to get out of that show ring. This exactly how I feel about showing too.
Since I was, apparently, the very first person to enter the Frederick Fair alpaca show this year, my children and I have the lowest exhibitor numbers meaning that we will have the added stress and disadvantage of going first in every single class all day long. That way, we will not get to see anyone else do the course and figure out what they did right or wrong. Not an auspicious beginning to this scary day!
There are some people, though, who just live to be out there in that show ring and look as happy as can be out there. They get great behavior out of even stubborn, panicky animals because THEY (the handlers) are calm and relaxed. Here are two such exhibitors, my son and Ben's youngest daughter. My son has actually been known to ask in a disappointed tone, "Don't we have any more classes to show in?
These two little brats had no trouble with the Ring obstacle, where they had to get their alpacas to walk sideways around the ring with the front legs inside and the back legs outside.
We were supposed to get at least 180 degrees around on that one. I think I got to about 120 degrees around before things fell apart but I had already messed up the bridge, so no big.
I managed to pull out a second place out of 7 or so in showmanship only to be beaten for first place by a child. Here is a photo of said, EVIL child smiling prettily after beating a bunch of other kids. (Ok, I am kidding when I say "evil" and I hope you know that Erica! Thank you for posting a comment on my blog but please don't beat me any more. It's mean to beat old people in the showring just because you can!) Erica is on the right in this photo along with my daughter, Cassandra and another serial alpaca show winner, Ms. Krystal German.
Cassandra did manage to get a second place in P.R. class and my son got a 2nd in showmanship in a super big class and with a pretty freaked out, misbehaving alpaca. Look at the size of this class:
Ben's daughter got a second place in that huge junior class as well and it was her first time ever showing alpacas!
The senior class winner was one of the nicest, most hard working kids you'll ever meet and so pretty! Here is a photo of Miss. Tiffany German who won Senior class Versatility Champion. That award is for the person and alpaca who got the highest combined score for the day.
I did not keep track of every winner so I do not know who won the junior versatility champion but I know Heinz Wilms won the adult title and, in my opinion, he used the unfair tactics of:
1. Actually knowing the proper way to do all the obstacles.
2. Knowing the correct answer to the judge's questions. And,
3. I strongly suspect he has actually practiced although I can't prove it.
And, if that isn't enough of an unfair advantage, he wears a cowboy hat in the ring. I find this super unfair because on a man "of a certain age" (sorry Heinz!) a cowboy hat looks cool and dashing but if I, as a WOMAN of a certain age, tried to wear one, I would just end up looking like a guy.
So I had no cowboy hat, did a couple of things backwards and did not know the answer to one of the questions and completely tanked, and Heinz, did know the answers, did do things properly and DID have the cowboy hat and just happened to have won. Coincidence. I think not!
I did not think to take a photo of him but here is one of him in the audience. Note the hat!
Now, if you are a cute, young woman, you will look even cuter wearing that cowboy hat, even if you pair it with a ballet outfit. And, the cowboy hat looks pretty cute on the alpaca, Reinette, too!
At first I didn't get this costume but later I realized that, Yes!, this is what MOST women really want. Let's be cute but also have a six shooter and a horse.
For those of you still wondering about the dreaded questions, they were, Where is the stifle, the croup and the poll (on your alpaca), which I answered correctly, followed by, "If you had to have a conformational fault in your alpaca, would you rather have cow hocks or knock knees?" HUH WHAT? I can't remember what came out of my mouth but it wasn't an answer or anything resembling one.
But, back to costume class. The fair, wisely, realizes that any adult that would enter costume class needs professional help so they limit this one to kids and they all look adorable and it makes for super-cute photo ops for both the farms showing and the fair's publicity team. Ben's daughters were pretty ballerina's with their alpacas:
My kids are SO OVER! looking all cute and stuff!!!! so Cassandra went for the pirate themed outfits:
This outfit was actually quite hard to train the alpaca to wear and that is supposed to be the way this class is judged. The more stuff on the head, blowing around and on the alpaca's legs that they are scared of, the higher the score. My son decided to be a devil with an angel alpaca but it turned out to be the alpaca who was the more devilish of the two this day. Pendragon was cracking up the spectators with his super kung fu side kick or, as one exhibitor remarked, "He looks like he's trying to kick start his Harley." In any case, he was NO ANGEL but this kid's a very good handler and managed that devil just fine.
Of course no day at the fair would be complete without a quick trip to the Birthing Tent to visit my friends. Miss Piggy was looking much happier and actually seemed to be smiling as her litte piglets were nursing away:
They had a heat lamp in their pen and lay under that when they were not eating. Doesn't look that hard to snatch one of these things up and put it under your sweater does it? Hmmmmmm..
Around 7pm, my son ran up to our pens shouting, "Mom, they're taking YOUR calf away in a trailer!" Gotta love this kid! He really buys into all his mother's sentimental craziness. We went towards the parking lot together, hand in hand and said farewell to our calf and our pig, my boy and I. This little farewell was far easier than the one we left unsaid. It's been a priviledge and a thrill to show our alpacas at the Great Frederick Fair. We'll sincerely miss it and all the friends we made doing it.
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