We leave for Alpacapalooza on the 6:45 am ferry Friday. (Yes, that does mean I need to load those darlings in the dark. They are not too hot on what they know of the trailer but we will work it out.) Let me clarify we means, Luke and I are taking the crew, Buddy, Summer, Ranger, Klackama, Holly and don't forget Pippi!

I am confident that farmer Jeff will hold down the fort- he may need an anchor-yes it is STILL raining.

Last week at this time I went out to air out the trailer and make sure it was going to be all comfy. I opened the ramp in the back and the ramp/door hinge busted. The weld broke. I immediately called our neighborhood fix it person- Captain Barb- queen of all fix it knowledge- and she confirmed what I already knew- It was really broken- my new- used oh so few times- alpaca wagon was busted.

Captain Barb pointed me in the direction of a local welder and I got on the phone with the trailer folks- who were very apologetic and very helpful. Avery, the king of customer service at Carry-On Trailers in Atlanta second day aired me new hinges and Jorgen local welding champion, slapped them on (carefully) I am now sleeping more soundly- you notice I didn't say soundly just more soundly. Huge thanks to one and all.

We, I am big with we- which usually means me- handled vet check this week too. My regular island vet is out of town for a well deserved vacation but left the island in the able hands of Doctor Michelle Loftus from San Juan Island. This is usually not even an event, just a milestone of excitement...for me.

Michelle has a llama so it was easy breezy to get the check done and she brought along regular vet tech Rachel. The only hitch came when we went to confirm the micro-chips on the babies from this year. They didn't read.

It isn't unheard of and almost common that a chip may 'drift' and a new one would need to be inserted. Ackkkkk. But all four? We decided it must be the reader not the chip. Which once I stopped and thought, (imagine that stopping and thinking) it made sense. I checked all of the chips once they were inserted but used my own reader. (My reader is out on loan/trade to another farm in exchange for a 'pregnatone' ultrasound thingy) Rachel made a quick trip back the next day and we are now ready to go!

Wish us luck!

FYI- the animals pictured above are not mine-