A Friend’s Voyage

 

Last night I had the pleasure of accompanying my neighbor friend, Val of Fantastyk Voyage Blog, along with her youngest son, on her first voyage out to visit with her animals. It was also the first time she had been able to get up close to the newest animals on her little ranch: "The Aliens"

Val bought them over a week ago, and while I can see them from my house, I had not been over to get up close and meet them in person until Thursday afternoon when I came over to refill Val’s horses’ water troughs. Oh my! They are so stinkin’ cute!

As most of you know, I have two camelids, too, but they are llamas. I love my llamas and think they are beautiful, elegant, funny, and sweet. But I must admit they are not as cute, even with their adorable banana ears, as alpacas!

Thelma reminds me of butterscotch pudding and is the more curious and friendly of the two girls. Louise is black with a reddish glow and it’s easy to see that she wants to get closer to us humans, but she is very shy and cautious. 

    

Before I walked over from my house, I tucked some baby carrots into my pocket, thinking I’d give them to Val to give to her horses, in case she had forgotten (Of course, she didn’t. She had even brought full size carrots for them. hehe). I never considered that the alpacas would like carrots, because my llamas don’t have any interest in carrots at all. But Thelma and Louise both liked the carrots.

Thelma would take them from our hands, while Louise felt more comfortable eating them off the ground, at least for now. I have a feeling it won’t take long for her to come around, though.

It was wonderful seeing Val interact with her alpacas. She’s looking forward to not only working with the alpaca fleece, but also working with and training both of them, too.

But soon, the sun dropped below the western horizon and the temps dropped down into the 30’s and it was time to hurry over to the barn so Val could visit with her horse family, too. She had recently been up close with Nadia,("Visit with Nadia") when her daughter led her down to the house for a visit, where Val was sitting in her wheelchair. But it was the first time she had been able to visit with Annie, Yalla! and Scout up close, since her accident and surgery 4 weeks ago. And she really missed them.

And it was easy to see (and hear) that her herd missed her, too. They were nickering and neighing for her as we left the alpaca pen and were nuzzling Val all over as she stood beside their stalls.

Please visit Val’s blog to read more about her visit and enjoy some of her wonderful photos(Maybe leave her an encouraging comment filled with some healing vibes, too):

Fantastyk Voyage "The Big Fall"