A Weird and Wild Adventure

I'm SOOO glad to be home all in one piece from our final alpaca event of the season (the Belleau Wood Auction and Carolina Classic Show in Concord, NC). It was exciting from start to finish! First, we brought along an extra pussy (get your minds out of the gutter now), MB's cat Stevie-Y, who had his leg amputated the week before. MB couldn't leave him to travel, as he needed a lot of extra care and bandage changes. Seems he used up several of his nine lives when some low-life shot him. I know that God must have a plan for Stevie, as he survived at least 3 shots- the one that eventually took his leg, another that pierced his ear, and a third that went cleanly in and out of the surviving front leg.

Stevie was a model patient and traveler (except for the time that he hid himself in the cupboard and scared MB to death), and we were glad to have him along! It's very inspiring how quickly he is adapting to his loss, and he was nimbly jumping around on counters and upon the bed, where he gladly kept my feet warm!
Because we were leaving so early on Friday morning, MB and Stevie came the night before and were going to stay in the RV. We were already hooked up to the trailer and ready to pull out from the barn, and had the RV plugged in to an extension cord for heat. MB called to say the heat was malfunctioning, and then quickly called again to say that she smelled smoke! We told her where the fire extinguisher was and Paul and I flew up the hill to find that the electrical panel had partially melted due to an improper plug-in. Paul eliminated the problem by turning off several breakers and felt we were safe to still take the RV, and MB and Stevie stayed in the studio for the night.

The auction and show were successful for us, and you can read about the details here. We were extremely grateful to get good prices for our animals in this unpredictable economy, and it was reassuring that the foundation we laid for our farm/alpaca business 14 years ago is serving us well through raising top-quality alpacas.
On the way home, we began losing power going up big hills and the warning light was coming on in the coach. We immediately stopped for the night outside of Ashville, NC and were very fortunate the next morning to find an engine service provider that could fix the RV on our 3rd try. It was a long and uncertain wait, but we were able to get home in time for me to tuck the kids in and crash before my usual bedtime. Above, MB is showing off the cria that we had along, Eye Candy, to the mechanics at the first RV repair place. Below, at the semi-tractor repair place, the alpacas got lots of weird looks as we let them out of the trailer for fresh air and to stretch their legs!Thank you, Lord, for another event that ended up with a good outcome and that I can chalk up to experience, once again! Pin It Now!