I'm alive

Wow, it's been a bit since I posted. We're still alive...just in the thick of it with everything life is throwing at us. Things that we've realized this year - shearers are hard to come by. We had the perfect one - one that shears all types of animals and is priced just right and...he got into a disagreement with his brother/shearing partner and won't travel out this way any more. I contacted everyone listed on the shearing list and couldn't find anyone to help us out. So we put an ad in craigslist to see if we could get someone out here. After a few days, we got a call from a gentleman that said his wife/girlfriend could shear, although was inexperienced with larger animals (aka: alpacas) - we explained how nice and sweet our girls are (and how sassy Josie can be) and they came out. Except they came out with dog clippers...UM...that's not going to work. They tried anyway - got through 1/2 of Frankie before quitting for the night. They said they were going to invest in a pair of shearers and come back...which they did...but without the right blades and combs...but they tried anyway. We got through Frankie, Itty and Jester - but still have Steve, Josie and Blossom to go. They left for the night and never came back. SO...back to the drawing board. I think we need to learn to shear. That's right folks, we are going to add to our seemingly never ending list of "what else can we do" and learn the process of shearing animals, correctly. It's a bit of an investment - a shearer is around $300, plus each animal type requires their own set of cutters and combs. Oy! and time, did I mention how much time it'll take for each animal? We'll figure it out.
I have so much more to tell...but we'll need to wait for more time to sit and gather thoughts. Just thought I'd let everyone know I'm still alive.