Military Romance Author
The holiday season is crazy, even if you’re just trying to keep out of everybody else’s way. Then you go to make a blog post and they changed the format again. Tech. The digital nightmare that keeps on giving.
But then we get to see the new goat in town at the Oregon Zoo, Bruce Wayne. Officially the smallest goat on campus at the Zoo’s family farm, he doesn’t seem to know it. Let’s all take a break from crazy and watch the baby goat. I’m in!
Have a great, safe, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
What better way to celebrate Black Friday than staying home and watching videos of African Painted dog pups born to Ella at the Oregon Zoo! It’s her first litter and they estimate ten to sixteen pups. She needs privacy and quiet, so here we get to peek into her maternity ward. So either try to count the pups or go shopping today.
I can shop online like a ninja, so no worries here about sales. I actually did my shop and buy last weekend to beat the crowds. Okay, the crowds were there, but I’ve been trained for combat; it comes in very handy when retail shopping.
As I dived into an overflowing steel basket trying to find a certain polar bear snuggle blanket at Kohl’s my elusive prey was not to be found, but I captured it online. Don’t try this at home, I’m a trained professional buyer. The government used to pay me to do that. Alas, my budget is much smaller now. But I love me some bargains.
I did actually achieve getting two hoodies for free with points and coupons and sales and garlic. My personal best so far. But I digress.
Have a great, hopefully long, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
Obviously I’m not the only one starting early to celebrate Fall. Fufu, the hedgehog from the Oregon Zoo, had herself a wonderful time chowing down on grubs in Fall gourds. How cute is she?
So stock up on supplies of your choice, grubs or pumpkin, and get ready for winter. Don’t let Fufu get all the gourds!
Have a great, safe, weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
Bugged out last week and took off on a research vacation. Stayed at Alpaca Country Estates Ranch and B&B in Terrebonne, Oregon. More than a thousand alpacas. And new babies. I know. So exciting!
Needless to say, I used two cameras, the video camera and the video on one of my cameras. I have so many pictures and digital video I don’t know where to start. Learned so much about alpacas from our airbnb hosts Nancy and Art.
This one-hundred-thirty-four acre working alpaca ranch is one of the largest in the United States. We got to see the alpacas up close and personal. We even got kisses from one of the alpha males, Classy. Yes, I have pictures taken by Gate Girl.
Our room was on the second floor almost directly over the barn and right across from the nursery. I actually bounced out of bed at dawn to take alpaca pictures and watch them rotate the alpacas from pasture to pasture. Breakfast was at a civilized 8:30 a.m. Pumpkin pancakes!
Many of the alpaca facts I learned are going into one of the fiction books I’m working on right now. While I write fiction, I want to make sure my facts are correct. Never a good idea to upset the alpacas. Or readers.
Spent two nights on the ranch, then headed into Sisters to stay, shop and eat. What I do best. Also hiked along the Metolius River, a favorite walk, due to the eating thing I mentioned earlier. (Peach pie, bread pudding)
Of course, any trip has its hiccups, which included the check engine light coming on as I started the drive over the Santiam Pass. At 4,600 feet elevation and no cell service, we pulled over and I reset the gas cap, a common Subaru cause. Decided to go for it and keep driving until we got cell bars, then called the Bend Subaru dealer.
They said we should be okay to keep driving to Bend since the check engine light wasn’t flashing. Good to know. Would have been nice to have that in the manual instead of having an ongoing pre-stroke waiting for the engine to blow up on me.
So we tacked on an extra twenty-two mile drive at the beginning of the trip to the dealer and it turned out to be the gas cap as I suspected. It was fine then, but I didn’t trust it. So the first thing I bought on vacation was a new gas cap, just in case. Every girl’s dream is to buy a gas cap on vacation.
So we arrived at the ranch later than expected but all was well when we saw the baby alpacas. Gate Girl and I were trying to figure out how many we could stuff in the back of the Subaru, but we would need to take their mom’s too, so that became a logistics packing problem. We took pictures instead.
Later when we couldn’t visit Suttle Lake due to an algae bloom and the hotel hot tub broke, we were still good. Cranky, but good. We’d been up close and personal with baby alpacas. That beats gas caps, algae bloom and broken hot tubs any day.
Make the most of the last days of summer here in Oregon!
Check out the ranch:
https://www.alpacacountryestates.com/
If you’re one of the four people who have not seen this video this week, you’re in for a treat. How cute is this little lamb? Proves the adage good and fierce things come in small packages.
Where do we buy the designer lamb sweaters? Get patterns? Anybody know?
Have a great weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
We made it to the end of August! Kids are back in school early and Halloween decorations are in the stores. But before you run screaming into the garage in anticipation of the holiday season, take time to relax and watch the butterfly.
Young harbor seal Kaya at the Oregon Zoo was going about her business when she noticed a visitor. The encounter happened to be captured by the Zoo’s dive safety officer. What better way to remind us all to stop and watch the butterfly this long weekend.
Have a great, safe, long holiday weekend and Happy Quirky Friday!
You must be logged in to post a comment.