So up here in the Northeast, we’re used to snow. Even early snow. Say a dusting in October, or even a couple of inches. But excuse me?! A foot and a half?! Whew! We went to bed last night thinking we’d be getting around 10″ or so. Even that is alot for this time of year but 1 1/2 feet? Wow! We were scrambling yesterday to make sure the barn was ready (snow takes up alot of room so we have to make sure that the gates will still open and that no too much snow will blow in etc,), that Marshall could even remember where he put the snow plow, to find my knee high boots that I wear up to the barn (minus my yaks-traks though, couldn’t find those. They’re for gripping), and to make sure everything that should be covered up is. Whew! We were ready. Then we woke up. We were still ready, but we were shocked at the amount. To top it all off, I have to go to work today which meant digging my car out. It was soooo pretty though. I made my way up to the barn, in one drift it was almost up to my thigh, This is Ava’s first encounter with snow and I’m not sure if Dreamy or Buddy have ever been in snow either. They were all fine and feeling kinda spunky! Ava did a taste test and jumped a bit but that was about it. So cute though with that snow mustache! So all is fine here and it is starting to melt. Now the other issue. Flooding. Not really flooding, but we have to make sure everything will drain properly up in the barn. That’s just one of the things my wonderful husband does. I’ll come home on Tuesday and I bet all or most will have melted. Bummer, it’s so pretty.

Well, we’ve battened down the hatches and hopefully waterproofed the barn. We’re ready for her. We’ve been hearing about Irene for days and days so I must admit I’m impatient for it to happen. We’re ready already! All the tables that sit on our long front porch are turned over, on purpose, the hanging candle lights have all been taken inside as has the open flag. Our last customer just postponed tomorrow’s brunch (kinda expected that after all), and now we’re sitting here waiting. I swear the alpacas know something’s up. The alpha male, Mikey, and our barn goddess (read alpha female) Andromeda were clicking at each other thru the pasture and sniffing up at the sky. Of course she may just be trying to entice him too. If thats true I have to make another trip to Barbie’s for a breeding. My one and only pregnant female alpaca, Queenie, is due any day now and I suspect we’ll be seeing the cria this weekend due to barometer changes. Can’t wait to see this one!  So now we’ll just sit here and await Irene’s arrival while hoping the barn stays in one piece and my alpacas stay inside. Goodnight Irene!

Aren’t they just adorable!? The breeders of our dobies, Spice Girl & Sarge, hold a picnic every August for all of the people who bought 1 of their puppies. This is the 7th time we’ve been and this is only the 2nd time we’ve had so many pups! Spice, at nearly 9, is the 2nd oldest and Sarge is right behind at nearly 8. The oldest is Vinnie, who belongs to 2 state troopers, and who turned 10 this year. Then we have the 18 month old pups and the 5 month olds. I can’t remember ours ever being this small! Haven’t they always been huge and high energy!? Every year our breeders, John and Carolyn Bancroft, have a waiting list for their dogs. New England is full of lab and retriever breeders but not so much Doberman. John & Carolyn also happen happen to be very thorough when buying a new breeding pair and/or accepting buyers. Everyone signs a contract and agrees that if they can’t take care of the dog anymore that it comes back to them. That’s how we acquired Sarge. He was turned back in at 7 months and he was emaciated and named Vinnie (not the same one as mentioned above). So anyway, back to the picnic. There is always lots of great food and a special cake and then games! You play musical chairs with your dog and both have to be seated to go on. Then theres the egg on the spoon carry and run. The egg is in one hand and the leash with your dog is in the other hand! Lots of fun! When everyone goes home they go home with a little gift and really tired dogs. Which is a plus when they’re young if you know what I mean! Our 2 slept all evening when we got home. So much fun!

So you all know the saying ‘If a tree falls in the forest and no one is around, does it really make a sound?’ Or something like that. Well, I can now answer that question. No! Sometime last night between 9pm and 5am our big maple big which sits on the left side of the house by the stone wall (when facing the house) fell over. Just leaned and kept on leaning right into the Seyval grapevines. Did we hear it? Nope not a bit. Marshall woke me up this morning (does he really have to do that when I’ll be up tonight until 3am?) with the words, “The maple is down and it’s on the vines!” I went back to sleep. Thats how I deal with stress——-more sleep! Or like an ostrich shoving its head down a hole and hoping things will either get better or go away! Anyway, when I finally saw it I was amazed! That is a huge tree! Whats more amazing is we could only find 1 root! How does that happen? The leaves on the tree had just started to curl up so I don’t think it died too long ago. It’s just strange. There was no rain, no wind, no nothing. So Marshall started sawing and cutting at around 7am and the whole thing is almost taken down, or apart. He did have help. Our girls that have been working here for the last couple of weeks, Katelynn and Britney, were here by 8am and Ellie brought over her 2 boys Michael and Nick to help out.  To me the left side of the house looks alittle naked. I suppose we might put in something else. Something smaller so as

not to deplete any of the water or nutrients the grapes need. On the brighter side, we have firewood for the next 3 years!

When you realize what my blog is about you may wonder how the title fits in. First, it’s the title of a Beatles song. Second, this is Ellie’s philosophy of life.  For those of you who don’t know, Ellie Murphy is our chef here at the winery. She’s an artist in many, many ways. She sings while she cooks, while one of her sons is in the other room playing the piano, and yet another son is singing along with her while playing the guitar. She loves 80′s music, the Beatles, food, singing, and her 4 children. She’s one of those people that will give you the shirt off her back! At first glance you may think that she’s just your average woman trying to make ends meet. When you get to know her you find out shes much more. This woman can write songs (lyrics and music), sing well, and cook anything you can think of! She’s had her hard knocks in life, like we all have, but she always has a smile on her face. The only time I see her frustrated and/or upset is when her meal just hasn’t turned out like she wanted it to. I’ve tasted these meals and even when she’s disappointed they still taste great. So I guess I’m done ‘singing’ the praises of Ellie Murphy. At least on paper. Marshall and I feel blessed to not only have her as our chef but also as a friend. Have a great day Ellie! Oh wait, you already know you will!!

My alpaca hats

I think you can click on the pic to see it bigger. If you want. These are 2 hats that I knit out of alpaca yarn from my own alpacas. The one on the left is from Mikey, my cranky yankee, who has a very handsome fleece, and the other is from Lady girl, my very first alpaca. They’re pretty simple and basic so I thought they needed something. On the left you can see 3 moscovi duck feathers with a button at the center. The feathers are even from my own ducks! No I didn’t pull them off the ducks, they had already fallen off. Really. The other hat has a felted flower. I knit it up, shaped it, then felted (shrunk) it. Cool huh?! I’m still trying to decide what to charge for them. I have to hit the right balance between ‘wow, that’s expensive’ and not wanting to under value the alpaca fleece that my animals didn’t so cheerfully give. They’re always stressed out. Anyway, they’re here at our store in the winery area. Come by and take a look. Or buy!

So here are some gorgeous, I mean beautiful, automobiles. I really can’t even call them cars. When I think of cars I think of recent aerodynamic styles. These beauties are definitely NOT that. These were built when gas wasn’t as expensive and people didn’t drive as much therefore they could be big, roomy, and stylish. When I say stylish I mean stylish! Don’t ask me to tell you the correct words but there was style! Think of the movie ‘Murphy’s Romance’ and the part where James Garner’s character tells the young boy why his ‘automobile’ is so special. Anyway, in case you’re wondering why these autos are in our driveway, I wanted to fill you in on today’s blog. Back on the 14th of May this group of men, and a lot of wives, reserved the lunch time hour for their group of Antique Car enthusiasts. When they all pulled up (at least 15 cars) it was impressive! There were cars from every era. My favorites were from the 1930′s. The big, roomy, and stylish ones.  As soon as all 30 of them were parked and introductions were made I took them up to our alpaca barn. Once I had their attention (can I tell you how long that took?) I stood in the middle pen and told them all the facts about alpacas I could think of. And they were interested!! They even asked questions. Once I was done they went back down to the house and into our dining area to listen to our speaker of the day, Jeannie Gallant. She always talks about the author Grace Metallious, her book Peyton Place, and Jeannie’s experiences with them. We had to cut Jeannie off at 30 minutes. That woman can talk! Next it was time to eat!! As usual Ellie, from Dough-Re-Me, did herself proud with Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches, and all of the accoutrements that I can’t remember now because its been a couple of weeks. I do know they were all waddling out of here as they were sooooo full! We had a great time with them. They were very friendly and I think I want our next adventure to be antique cars just so I can hang with them! See you next time.

These are 2 very  well-traveled alpacas! The black blob on the left, really its his rump, is an unnamed male who is still pretty young. Maybe 1 1/2 years. The alpaca facing you is Concullane’s Midnight Dream, or Dreama, as I’ve taken to calling her.  These 2 were part of an auction that took place this past March 26th out in Wa. state. Their owners were in a sad, distressing situation and needed to sell all of their animals, and let me tell you, there were hundreds! Horses, alpacas, and llamas. They were well taken care of which speaks volumes about the caring nature of their former owners. However, when the people who operated the auction took over there was major chaos. I’ve never bid on an auction before so really didn’t know if this chaos was normal. Thankfully no it’s not. The reason for the chaos was because the auction house wasn’t used to dealing with livestock. So for at least 2 weeks all of the animals were rounded up, not sure how, and grabbed so they could upload pics for the online catalog. Dealing with camelids is a lot different than dealing with horses and it didn’t appear these folks knew a lot. I don’t intend on being too hard on them as they were put in a difficult situation. Anyway, I liasoned  with a woman named Lisa from Indiana who wanted to rescue as many llamas and alpacas she could. We had never met except by an alpaca yahoo group. She flew out there for the auction and whoever wasn’t bid on she bid. She ended up taking about 100 llamas & alpacas. Actually a good friend of hers drove them back to Indiana. My 2 black beauties were in there too. At this point I felt a definite ownership of them. I knew Dreama was old and that being transported is very stressful. I jokingly asked Lisa if she was still alive! The 2 of them stayed there at Lisa’s for about a week, then a man named Bob, also who I’ve never met except online, transported them from there to his place in East Chatham, NY. Whew. They were at his farm for a couple of weeks. He also brought back quite a few llamas for himself and others.  So this past Saturday, April 30th, myself and my friend Ellie, made a 4 hour trip to pick them up. It was a beautiful day! Not too hot, not too cold. Perfect for the transportation of my pacas. They’ve been moved so much in the past month that I know they’re beyond stressed so I’ve been keeping an eye on them. Dreams appears to be pregnant. The vet is coming out tomorrow to check them both out to make sure they’re as healthy as they can be. I hope they like their new home. Right now they’re quarantined which just means that they’re not sharing a stall with any other animals but are right next to them. Alpacas are herd animals and like to be near a lot of other alpacas. I’ll be posting more as they adjust to their new home.In the mean time check our Camelot Alpaca Farm facebook page for all the pics. Thanks for reading and stopping by!

So now that its spring, there’s a good chance we’ll have 6″ of snow tomorrow night! Of course this is after Marshall had pruned about 1/2 our grapevines. The snow won’t hurt the pruned grapes (hmmmmm……..is that a new fruit combo?)  but we wanted to gather the clippings. So heres the pic. I think I can make a few grapevine wreaths out of these.  Of course by the time I’m actually able to get to them they’ll be brittle so I’ll have to soak em to make them pliable again. Anyway thats it for now. Going to upload some pics to our facebook page for Camelot Alpaca Farm. Toodles!