Dear blog readers,
Please excuse my unannounced absence last week. Mom came out to visit while John was off at a bachelor party, and we had a very busy weekend. I feel like I may as well link to what I posted after Jennifer left in December. The situation was much the same – less cooking and knitting, more quilt shops, but either way, a whirlwind of busy-ness.
And again … we went to visit the awesome alpacas.
This time, Max was with us, so the alpacas were extremely attentive. Max made little whimpering noises at them, and they made strange squawking ones back at him.
But I don’t think they were afraid; they all walked closer to us, instead of freezing in fear or running away. I really think they were as curious about Max as he was about them.
It was slightly disconcerting that, since they all could hear Max, or see him, or sense him, they stared in our direction continuously.
And then there was this guy.
This was one of the first shots I took, before they noticed Maxwell. (And certainly before he had noticed them.) I can’t remember the exact sequence of things, but I do wonder if this guy was the first to become aware of him.
What do you think: gasp of surprise, or just an innocuous yawn?
Thank you for your patience; I will try to resume normal blogging, although the wedding I’ve mentioned before is coming up next week, and things might be quite busy for us between now and then!
Julianne
What great photos of the alpacas! I really enjoy seeing “noisemaker” up close.
I really love being able to zoom in on them. It was a lot more fun taking photos of them this weekend, than with my 16mm. :)
Really cute photos! The staring behavior is called vigilance – they are checking you out to see if you’re a threat or not – I guess that’s why their llama cousins make good guard animals for sheep, etc. :) Hope you, your mother, and Max had a fun time!
That makes sense, and “vigilance” is certainly a good word for it, but why were they coming closer to us if they weren’t sure if we were friend or foe? Most of them came as close as the fences would allow.
I’m not sure, but with cattle, if you stand still eventually they get curious and come closer – but if you move suddenly they will back away (while keeping an eye on you). But the boldness of llamas (so I assume alpacas too) is what makes them good guard animals – they will approach the threat. I saw llamas charging a curious puppy at a fenceline once – very entertaining!
Hmm, interesting. Thanks for the information! I think the alpacas must be like the llamas, as you say, since they seemed not to have a waiting period. They started trotting toward us immediately.
Awww, such cute alpacas! I love all their faces turned towards you (Maxwell) Sounds like a fun weekend away from the usual.
It was great fun. We spent a lot of time looking at quilting shops… have you been with your sister? I don’t know if she likes visiting places like that (although I remember she’s a quilter, right?) but there were some places with really awesome samples hanging up. I think Hollyhill was my favorite.
I haven’t been with my sister, but perhaps I should suggest it. She is a quilter and would like this kind of thing if ever we could sync our ridiculous schedules. :)
Ah. I certainly know what it’s like to have a hard time matching free time with someone .. but I do hope you have a chance to go sometime. It was awesome. :)