When I Grow Up, I Want to be an Alpaca Rancher

I bet that not many of you know that there is a two-day national celebration called National Alpaca Farm Days.  (Click here to find an alpaca farm near you!)  On Saturday Howard and I celebrated by visiting the High Meadows Alpaca Farm in Leiper's Fork, Tennessee.

I'm not much of an animal person...but, I could totally see myself running an alpaca farm.  Alpacas are clean, cuddly, and just plain cute.  Being the fiber freak that I am, I couldn't keep my hands off of them.  Their fleece is super thick and soft.

At this farm there are 320 individually named alpacas and the head (chew chompin' and spittin') rancher knows them all by name.  It's easy to see how he can remember them - just take a look at a few of their unique faces!  "Howard, I want an alpaca and I want it NOW!"

Random alpaca info:

• They don't have any top teeth (same as cows, who knew!?!) and their bottom teeth have to be filed down occasionally.
• They eat hay or grasses, but will try to chew on anything - they tried to chew on Howard's clothes and lick his camera as he took close-up pictures.  Anyone know how to remove alpaca spit from a camera lens!?!
• They are bred for their fiber. 
• Their fleece is softer and warmer than sheep's wool.  It doesn't contain lanolin which makes it less prickly than wool, but not water repellent like wool.
• The female's gestation period is eleven months.
• Some have been house trained because of their clean defecation habits, which means they have a communal poop pile and they don't graze there.
  

Why Tennessee?

People keep asking me "Why Tennessee?" - often with a very incredulous tone.  I'm going to document it here and now.  

It seems like we were destined to come here at some point in our lives.  About 15 years ago, Howard was accepted to medical school at Vanderbilt University in Nashville.  We decided to stay in San Diego so that he could attend UCSD Medical School while I kept my teaching job in National City.  

Three years ago he had the chance to come here again to do research at Vanderbilt.  At the same time, he also had the chance to work at Google in Mountain View, California.  We knew that if he didn't work at Google, he'd regret it.  So he worked there for three years.  During that time, he started to miss academia.  He sent out the word that he wanted to return to academia and, in a horrible economy, felt fortunate to have a couple of great job offers.  We decided it was finally time to come to Tennessee.

Here's the cool part of the story that can't be neglected.  During medical school, Howard was randomly assigned to an adviser named Dan Masys.  Dan told him about a field called medical informatics.  He suggested that Howard do a two-month rotation at NIH in Bethesda, Maryland to see if he liked the field.  He loved it!  While Howard was doing his PhD in Boston, Dan relocated to Nashville to take a position as Professor and Department Chair of Biomedical Informatics at Vanderbilt University.  The amazing thing about Dan is that, even though, he wanted Howard to come to Vanderbilt three years ago, he encouraged him to take the job at Google.  What an amazing guy!  He's had such an influence in Howard's career path and I still have yet to meet him!

The real credit for all of this really goes to the Lord though.  On paper, it all looks like a well-orchestrated career path - only we didn't orchestrate it.  All we did was follow the guidance that we got through our faith and prayers.  It was a long tough haul that included many cross-country moves, but I think we finally got to where we were supposed to be - in Tennessee!  Yee haw!

Craigslist in Nashville

I know a little boy in Utah who would 
LOVE these chairs!

This bench/storage box might be a 
bit uncomfortable.  Beware of the handle!

Doesn't this guy get tired of holding
up that glass all day long!?!

I've seen cowhide chairs before BUT..

I've never seen a cowhide desk!

Just curious - how would you market these products on craigslist?

Random Stuff

There are Chinese back rub kiosks in the mall here!  I was afraid there wouldn't be.  Woo hoo!

In the Publix grocery store some of the magazines/publications at the checkout lines are hidden behind plastic screens, magazines like:  Glamour, Cover Girl, and even The National Enquirer.

I got my hair cut and colored in some random place that I googled.  All 30+ stylists in this very trendy warehouse-type salon were dressed in black, gray or white (their dress code) and many of them were tattooed.  One guy had spiders tattooed from his right wrist up to his right ear.  (I'm assuming they went all the way up.  He was wearing a shirt.)  The spiders work well for October, but what about the other 11 months?  Anyway, the cool surprise about this place was discovering overhead TV monitors when I leaned back for the shampoo.  I've always wished that dentists would put TVs in their ceilings.  Studio Gavin beat them to it.  Oh, they also had complimentary cokes (the Tennessean word for sodas), water, wine and tea biscuits.  I think I paid for more than a cut and color!

I've always enjoyed the live piano music at Nordstrom, but I experienced something a bit different in a new-to-me department store called Belk.  I felt very suspicious and guilty hiding between racks of clothing to take this picture.

Here's a country singer in the women's
clothing section of Belk.  Everyone
has to get their start somewhere.

The Chicken

Oh, silly me!  I meant the kitchen.  A friend of mine from long ago, who didn't know much English, once said chicken instead of kitchen.  He turned three shades of rojo when I told him in Spanish that he had said gallina instead of cocina.

Anyway, the kitchen is pretty much done.  I've never lived in a house with such a large and spacious kitchen in my entire life.  For 16+ years of marriage my kitchen stuff has overflowed into purchased storage cabinets, hall closets, and even into the garage (when we were lucky enough to have a garage in our last place!).  Everything, including our food storage, fits in our new kitchen and there is still room to spare!  Howard has done most of the cooking in recent years, but I have to say that I'm almost tempted to start cooking again - almost.

There's a ton of storage in the pantry and the island.

One of my favorite kitchen features is the desk area.
The door to the right leads to the laundry room.

 No more boxes!

The Bearded Man

On Sunday I noticed a guy at church wearing an old-fashioned black suit.  He also had one of those Brigham Young type beards - the kind that outlines the jaw but provides no upper lip coverage.

Imagine my surprise when one of the women who was speaking in church then looked towards the bearded man and told the congregation how much she appreciated her home teacher, Abe Lincoln!  "What!?! No way!" I thought, "Nah, can't be, IMpossible...Hmmm, maybe he's a great great great great great grandson."

Of course, the first thing I did when church was over was to ask someone about the mysterious bearded man.  It turns out that during the week 'Abe Lincoln' does school presentations about the former president.  The person I talked to couldn't even remember his real name!

Inverted Box Pleat Window Top Treatment

...or 'Out-of-the-Box Thinking' or 'It's Curtains for You!'

Here's my temporary solution to blocking the suffocating heat and blinding light that our bare eastern windows allow to infiltrate the kitchen every morning.  I also don't like being in a fish bowl at night!  I thought I was pretty clever.  I'm sure the neighbors thought I was just weird, and the delivery guys too - they had to move them out of the way before bringing the washer and dryer in through the sliding glass door.

 Look to the right - you can see how much sunlight
(and imagine how much heat) the boxes were blocking!

There are advantages to this box window
treatment - it's easy to accessorize!

 

School Days

It's very weird to think that all my former colleagues (in many states) have started their school year already...without me.  I decided to take the year off.  I know it's a luxury and I'm grateful that Howard is supporting me - in more ways than one!  

There's a part of me that wants to run out and find a job NOW!  I'm a teacher.  I work.  That's what I do.  I've done it for 23 years!  I don't know anything else.  BUT, I know it sounds crazy in this economy, I'm going to force myself to NOT be employed.  This year off is dedicated to discovering my artistic self and to doing some community volunteer work.  

I better get started by unpacking all the boxes upstairs in my new craft room.  Another luxury, I know.  I'm grateful.