Guess what Santa brought!
Last year Braylon asked Santa for fainting goats, and he brought four.  Since then, our group of goats has grown, as they often do.  This year, Brickman asked Santa for an alpaca.  Santa held up on his end and brought two with a note attached that there was one for each of the boys!  We now have two male alpacas to add to The Menagerie tours.  Brickman chose the red one to be his and named it Andy since alpacas originally come from the Andes.  Braylon has not yet named his.  We're excited to bring them both to the join the rest of the animals on the farm.  They are currently in a barn on a different piece of our property since it's so cold.  You will love petting these super soft furry mammals!

Ever since the animals came to live on the farm, leaving town has been a bit of an inconvenience.  Luckily, some pretty great guys have come into our life to take care of our animals when we need a little help.  This weekend was the perfect example of that. 

Since he found out about it, Jerad has wanted to go to the Shawnee Poultry Show, but he's always had something going on to prevent him from going.  This year, he made a point to keep his calendar clear so the boys could enter a couple of birds and check out the show.  What a show it is!  Some of the prettiest, largest, most unique chickens, ducks, and geese you could find sat row after row in the expo center.  And then, of course, there is the sale room.  Brickman immediately had his eye on a set of runners, a breed of duck that, rather than waddling like most ducks, run.  He was ecstatic when he realized he had enough money in his wallet to buy the pair.  Braylon had hoped to find a pair or trio of silver phoenix.  The golden phoenix that he bought previously is his favorite, but he saw a silver phoenix in the show that was beautiful.  Instead, he settled for a pair of paint silkies, and then talked Jerad into buying a pair of black silkies.  And, of course, Jerad couldn't leave without finding a few that he loved.  He picked up another pair of white call ducks, and he couldn't resist the Sebastopol geese.  Instead of sleek feathers that hug their body like most waterfowl, these geese have curly feathers, making it difficult for them to fly.  They are beautiful!

We took two birds to the show and came home with ten!  I'm sure the boys will want to go back after that, regardless of their placings.  Of course, as mentioned at the beginning, we never would have been able to leave town if it weren't for some great guys who were willing to watch our animals while we were gone.  Thanks to Tyler and Derrick who paired up to do the chores, took turns bottle feeding, watched the house, and made us feel okay about leaving for the weekend!