Alpaca Farm Trip: Fun. Fluffy. Fabulous.

As it has already been said on this blog, I'm an animal lover. And what can I say? Barnyard animals are the best. I was born and raised in the suburbs, so spending time with animals other than cats and dogs is a novelty to me. I never miss an opportunity to pet a furry friend. After visiting the Great Midwest Alpaca Festival in April (blog coverage here), I fell in love with alpacas. There really isn't a more profound way for me to describe them: THEY'RE SO FLUFFY!

When my friend Andrea proposed a group trip to Galpaca Farms, I immediately said yes. Today, a group of 11 knitters from Stitch 'N Bitch Madison went on a trip to Mt. Horeb and visited Mindy Huitt and Linda Kosovac's gorgeous farm home. They have 25 alpacas at their farm, and each is named to honor a deceased relative (names include Harriet, Aileen, and Aunt Helen). They spin yarn from their alpacas and each skein has the name and photo of the source alpaca.

As an extroverted animal lover, it didn't take me long to make a few friends, and Andrea took a quick video of me bonding with my new gal pal:

Alpacas are incredibly photogenic, so I took quite a few photos. It was tough to narrow it down, but here are my favorites (as always, I recommend clicking the photos for larger views, as these animals are ridiculously cute):

Posing with my 3 new friends.

Mother and son. He's 1 day old!

Alpacas love sunbathing!

An alpaca says hi to a crowd of knitters.

Meet Betty, the Great Pyrenees. She's a skilled herder!

Anne pets a 1-day-old alpaca.

Snack time! Kristen feeds an alpaca a carrot.

Snacks!

More snacks!

Multi-tasking.

Group shot of the knitters at Galpaca Farms.
Top row: Caitlin, Larissa, Kat, Elysha, Polly, Cherie, Anne
Bottom row: Andrea, Yours Truly, Bronwen, Kristen

We certainly experienced a large dose of cuteness today. Thank you so much to Mindy and Linda for letting us visit the farm!

For more information about Galpaca Farms, please visit: www.galpacafarm.com or email Mindy and Linda at galpacafarm@tds.net

Wisconsin cities: hard to pronounce.

While I was lucky enough to end up in a city simply named Madison, the majority of Wisconsin city names are quite difficult to pronounce. For example, Potawatomi = paw-ta-wah-ta-me.

As a girl who was born in Boston, MA and raised in Charlotte, NC, I can certainly relate to this video of Texans trying to pronounce Wisconsin city names.

Beware the ides of March: Shakespeare on a field!

First, let's start this post with a deja vu: apologies for the major delay. Moving is exhausting, but I'm finally settled. And now, Shakespeare:

At the end of July, I attended the Madison Shakespeare Company's performance of Julius Caesar at Breese Stevens Field. Yup, that's right, a bring-your-own-chair Shakespeare production on a baseball field on a Thursday night. Only in Madison.

In addition to chairs, Amie, Erika, Jason, and I brought a smorgasbord of snacks to the event. What better way to enjoy Shakespeare than noshing outdoors?

I wasn't familiar with the play, so it took me a while to follow the story. Not only did I become acquainted with a classic, but I also learned a very important lesson: when Joni Mitchell said she was "as constant as a northern star," she was referencing Shakespeare. Go figure.

I forgot to bring my camera, so I did the best I could photography-wise using my iPhone and sitting behind an inconvenient gate. Note my favorite character below, whom I came to know as "man with hunchback and eyepatch." 

Kneeling before Caesar.

Killing Caesar.

"Man with hunchback and eyepatch."

The ghost of Caesar.

Sword fight!

Sword fight! 

Taking a bow.

Perfect weather, snacks, and Shakespeare: a lovely Thursday evening.

My second chicken coop tour. Who would'a thought?

First of all, please excuse the major delay of this post. I bought a condo in Schenk-Atwood and I've been busy busy busy. I currently have two homes, which I suppose is much better than no home. In a few weeks, I'll be totally settled in the new place.

Now, for the chickens:

On June 23rd, my friend Elysha and I went to the Tenney-Lapham Neighborhood Association's Tour Des Coops. After loving this event last year, I was excited to return for another go. Last year, I was impressed by an array of beautiful feathers. But this year, it was a deluxe coop that caught my eye:

Amy Alstad and Eric Udelhofen's "chicken mansion" is luxury bird living at its finest.

I made sure to take notice of the coops this year, and there were some great ones (including lovely signage).

This tongue-in-cheek chicken coop is a true coop d'etat.

Short and sweet.

After holding a chicken and a turkey during last year's tour, I was hoping to once again snuggle with a feathered friend. Thankfully, Peter and Andrea Robinson (owners of RP's Pasta) had a friendly chicken who was up for a photo op.

Meet Blue! She was quite chatty when I held her and clucked for everyone on the tour.
She got sassy for this photo and wasn't afraid to do a little legbombing.

But wait! There weren't just chickens this year. Elysha found a bunny:

No feathers, but still pretty cute.

Here are a few of my favorite chicken photos from the tour:

"We're too fabulous for a coop, so we chill in the backyard. Don't you dare touch our beach ball."

Elysha and I had a great time with the chickens, and some day she hopes to have a coop of her own.

Click here for my report from last year's Tour Des Coops.

My evening with Bernie and the sausages: Stitch 'N Pitch 2012!

I will begin this post with an amazing video of my friend Helena dancing her ass off. I'll explain this later.

Stitch & Pitch Dance from Andrea on Vimeo.

I have lived in Wisconsin for a tad over a year, and in that time I've learned many things, including that most Wisconsinites love sausage. Therefore, it's completely rational that they'd dress adults up as sausages and have them race around a baseball field.

I had seen photos and heard stories of the famous racing sausages at Milwaukee Brewers baseball games, but there just hadn't been a good time to see them in person. But then, it happened: Stitch 'N Pitch 2012!

Sponsored by The National Needle Arts Association, the nationwide Stitch 'N Pitch brings together baseball and needle arts. Yarn vendors come to the baseball stadiums while knitters, crocheters, and quilters enjoy the game and partake in their favorite crafts.

Stitch 'N Bitch Madison sent 19 knitters to this lovely event, and it was definitely a moo-worthy evening. After my first ever tailgating experience (never thought I'd intentionally eat dinner in a parking lot), we proceeded to Miller Park.

The view from our seats. Don't ask me who the players are or what the score was.

I was there for camaraderie, knitting, and of course, sausages.

Let's start with some action shots:

Kelsey. 

Anne.

Yours truly.

The REAL action: Andrea catches a fly ball... of yarn.

And then the sausages came out!

The sausages rode Harleys!
Left to right: Mexican, Polish, German, American, Italian

Anne REALLY wanted us to get on the jumbotron, so she made us these fabulous signs:

We really do knit in a bar!

Despite our best efforts (including Helena's rockin' dance moves in the video at the top of this post), we didn't make the jumbotron. It's okay, though, because...

I met Bernie Brewer! Apparently this is a rare occurrence.

Now that Bernie and I were pals, it was time for me to watch the sausages race!

And it's the Chorizo for the win!

Never one to resist a good photo op, Andrea and I proceeded downstairs to get our picture taken with some sausage statues, including the winning fella.

Andrea is a runner, so she helped me establish the proper form.

It was quite a game! I did the wave, had a frozen lemonade, and made friends with a famous, albeit moderately creepy, mascot. It was time to head home, and unfortunately, it wasn't the Brewers' night. The Toronto Blue Jays won the game, much to the delight of my 3 Canadian friends. 

In addition to the photos, I'll always have a lovely memento commemorating this occasion:

My souvenir bobble head!
(The Polish sausage hard at work on a cross-stitch!)
This dude now lives on my desk at work.

One, two, three strikes: I'm out!

Cat meets cow: a Wisconsin love story.

My cat, Jupiter, is a playful boy who loves to make new friends. I thought that Wisconsin hadn't changed him a bit, but then I caught him getting cozy with a species of a different kind:

What can I say? It's true Wisconsin love.

Unusual things I've seen in Madison: part 2 of many to come.

As promised, I am continuing my serious of photos that document unusual things seen in Madison.

Click here for my first "unusual things" post.

Sighting #3: Melvin, the world's only wacky wheeler. Spotted in Oregon, WI.

 

What can I say? Melvin is proud of his wheels, and he'd like you to call him about it.

Sighting #4: Cops on horses. Spotted at E. Washington Ave. & Milwaukee St.

My friend Elysha could not stop cracking up when the cops on horses crossed a busy, car-filled street.

Sighting #5: World Naked Bike Ride. Spotted on S. Park St.

On my way to meet friends for lunch yesterday, traffic became quite congested when the naked bikers came through. Click here for more information about the ride.

A fascinating place to live, indeed.