As we’ve said before, “What a Year” 2006 was. Although I hate to complain, as our families traveled that highway and still have our health, 2006 seemed to have more downs than ups for us personally. In October, we lost a good friend of almost 30 years to a tragic motorcycle accident caused by—you guessed it—a drunk driver. Though the loss of human life cannot be compared to the loss of a pet, animal lovers understand the private grief we also felt when we lost our cat Gus, who shared our lives and the building of our farm ever since we moved to our country home over 12 years ago. Before Christmas, we also sadly had to put down Lucy after a long battle with emphysema. Our own son suffered a brain hemmorage last spring, which he seems to have recovered from fully, but which left us all feeling our own mortality as he is only 31 years old. The year itself seemed to be filled with overwork from our “paying” jobs and more than its share of frustration. We were unable to attend many shows due to conflicting schedules, and we missed sharing our llamas with our many friends. I even had to cancel attending the Hoosier Hills Fiber Festival when I became uncharacteristally sick just before that event. The weather in 2006 was strange as well; a long wet and cold spring, followed by a fairly cool summer. Fall came fast with its cold but this winter has been warmer than usual. Through it all we’ve had rain, rain, and more rain…we’ve finally had to build a plywood runway across the mud in the pasture, because the ground is too saturated to take any more water!

On the good side, we made new friends and placed several of our beloved llamas in excellent homes. We enjoy getting updates on our babies, and we are looking forward to having Geisha and Eby back here this spring for a visit when they are bred for their first time. We finally got to have Adonis visit us, and we are looking forward to his crop of babies next fall. Our one cria this year is growing and looking like she might make a splash in the suri show ring this coming year. I also found some time to do some weaving and get some of my fiber processing caught up before the winter weather set in.

We are looking forward to 2007, although I find that the spring shows seem to be closer than I thought…I am not sure we can be ready by March! Hope to see everyone soon!