All In

Well, that was fun! We got home last night after a weekend away at the Green Mountain show in Essex Jct., just a short hour and forty minute drive north of us. Though we obviously take pride in our show results (2 Champions, 3 Reserves) what was even more gratifying than winning colored nylon was having our kids along for the ride and helping out. Though they’ve both spent a little bit of time over years helping us out in the ring with the odd group class (produce of dam, get of sire), this was the first time we were really throwing Sammy into the deep end alone. He passed with flying colors. Our teenager proved repeatedly that if he could handle a pissed off pregnant female on herd health days, then dealing with the likes of an ill-behaved Invictus in the show ring was a relative snap. In the battle of adolescent male vs. adolescent male the two-legged boy won the battle of wills even if the four-legged alpaca won the ribbons and the banner! Needless to say we are all psyched that the Lutz family now has another victim handler we can throw out into the show ring going forward! Though his little brother wants nothing to do with the show ring for the time being, Max was nonetheless eagerto help to do chores each day, interspersed with finishing up his state report he had to do for school and watching a couple of movies on the iPad. Turned out that the Champlain Valley Expo, where the show was held, was also a pretty good place for RC cars as well!

In addition to getting together with some old college friends (fellow survivors of our Worcester, MA years) on Saturday night for dinner in downtown Burlington, it was of course wonderful to just get back out there on the road and visit with all of the various alpaca folks that we only see 5 or 6 times a year at the shows. Our congratulations to David and Kathleen Van Gelder and all of the volunteers who helped run the show as well. As recovering show organizers ourselves (10 years with the NAAS), we have a real understanding of what it takes pull those events off and the fact that we weren’t aware of any of the small brushfires that were inevitably there in the background is a testament to a very well run event. As always Dr. Steve Purdy and his crew of students from the UMass Camelid Studies program were there in Essex to do everything from helping to unload (at arrival) and repack (at departure) trailers to working as gate keepers, ring stewards, and handlers throughout the weekend. I assure you that by this coming Friday afternoon as we are unloading our own trailers unassisted at the Empire show (oh, the horror) that we will be fully appreciating what those students bring to the table every time we’ve seen them. Thanks by the way to Jane and John Nielsen of Log Cabin Farm Alpacas for bidding and winning our donated breeding to our Herdsire, CCNF Solano, in support of the UMass program!