ADOPT A LLAMA!

Help us keep our farm by adopting a llama for a month - or more! - at a time.  Our person is in a financial bind, and while she works on her business, we thought we would help out by soliciting a little extra assistance.  We calculated our average expenses, including feed, veterinary care, and pasture, and came up with $60 US per month.  So, we're introducing ourselves here, and we'll see what happens.

 Can you see seven llamas in this photo?

Hi, I’m Rara (Niobrara for long), daughter of Bridgett, who sacrificed herself to a mountain lion to save us all when I was young.  I’m the matriarch now, with the passing of Santana 3 years ago and Little Cloud 2 years ago.  And my sister Kachina last Spring.  That means I get food dominance - yeah!  Although I don’t always take advantage of that fact. 

I would like to have unlimited hay, please - love the new hay with all the herbs in it.  And more treats!

I like to go walking and don’t mind carrying a pack at times, if it’s not TOO heavy.  I’ll leave the macho to the boys.  I’m really good at bridge crossing, though, and I can show those boys a thing or two.

I love my human, Marti, and the sounds she makes for us.  I did get jealous last year when she was shearing and didn’t get around to me before Fall.  So I did some extra shedding along my spine, and I hope she gets to me in the Spring!  Marti isn’t always sure she understands us, but she does a pretty good job.  She seems to be opening up a little more now.  I think she’s been broken-hearted for a long time and has had a hard time staying open enough to heal.  She thinks she has to harden up just to survive, and actually it’s the other way around.

I’m Rina - Bai’larina, Dancing Girl, actually.  My birthday was Cinqo de Mayo, and Marti thought I should have a Mexican/Spanish name.  My mom was Satinka, Magic Dancer.  I’m very sensitive and intuitive and quiet.  But I volunteered to help Marti answer questions from pets and humans, so maybe I won’t be so quiet now. 

Marti (I call her Mom) calls me her classic beauty.  She still feels guilty that I was born right after the passing of Travis, and she was mourning, so she didn’t feel like I got the proper welcome.  I don’t mind, and she should get over it.  I understand--I still miss my sister Rae.

I wish Mom could spend more time just tuning in, whether it’s in the barn or out on a walk.  And I wish she’d just leave the door to the hay barn open all the time!  I love that Mom is a healer and can sometimes help us without our having to go to the vet.

I’m Lali!  I like to throw my weight around, as the biggest llama here.  I usually weigh around 400 pounds, and I’m proud of it.  I let Rara think she’s food-dominant, but I give her a run for her money, er, treats.  I like to think I can get away with anything, but that’s not always true.  I like being on this farm with my sister Rina and half-sister/aunt Rara.  Hmmmmm, hard to keep our family tree untangled. 

Speaking of untangled, I like getting out once in a while, but I’d rather run free than be on a lead with a pack on.  Who invented those things, anyway??  Must have been a diabolical human.

I’m Arianna, with my sister Montana, and I’ve gotten shy the past couple of years.  I used to hang out mostly with the boys, because all the girls are bigger than I, and it’s too hard to compete.  I was born with a couple of problems, but they’re pretty-well resolved now, as long as I get my feet trimmed a couple of times a year (which I hate).  I know, it’s no big deal, and it wouldn’t hurt if I didn’t take so much offense, but one does have one’s pride.

I want my human to live up to her ideals and spend more quality, calm time with me.  I can settle down when humans aren’t in such a stinkin’ hurry.  But lots of times, they make me jumpy.  I’ve gotten out of the habit of trusting.  And I don’t want to be that way.  I love my human, too.

Something I’d like to try sometime is being a sheep-guard.  If I can’t have a baby, I think sheep would come close.  Especially the babies--they seem kind of like llama babies.

I’m Montana (above left), daughter of Santana Chino, granddaughter of Little Cloud, and Arianna is my little sister.  I was born in Montana, and if you look at me right, you can see a map of Montana on my coat.

I never really related to anyone until Zoroaster, our guardian dog, came along.  Somehow he was able to melt my heart.  I think that my llama mom, Santana, was still so attached to my older sister Rae, who came back after being killed by a lion, that she didn’t relate to me as much as she should have.  And maybe a similar thing happened to Arianna.

Anyway, Zoroaster opened up my heart and taught me how to love.  Now I do like some people, but not everyone.  Last Summer, a woman came to visit.  Marti said that this woman would like two of us to come live with her and a man and some chickens.  Tamerlane and I volunteered (so did HuckLBerry, but Marti wouldn’t let him go there right away).  We all went for a walk together, and I liked this person.  I think she would have spent the kind of time I need to open up and love again.  But she never came back, and I feel a little let-down.   

I’m Tamerlane, sometimes Tam, named after an Irish warrior.  I’m a fighter, not a lover, much to my people’s chagrin.  This got me in big trouble, and now I’m a gelding instead of a stud.  In spite of that, I do like to make a little love in the Spring (when I’m not fighting with Huck).  Rara is the one who puts the sparkle in my eye most of the time.

I’m a darn good packer, too, even though I’m a little afraid of bridges.  I’m darn good at stream crossings, though.  But I’m starting to get weirded out when we get into training because of Huck.  Oh, yeah, I hate being shorn.  Rara can have that all to herself.  Although I have to say that I’m pretty handsome in my new haircut, once it grows in a bit.

This Fall, I got all out of whack and got sand colic.  I nearly passed on, lost a lot of weight, and almost didn’t care.  But then my human and the vet figured out what was going on, gave me some tasty medicine treats, nasty stinging shots, and yucky oil to drink.  She had to get help from Mathew, that other human who calls us camels.  Anyway, things turned around for me, and I guess I’ll stick it out for a while longer. I’m pretty skinny for Winter, though, and my human worries about it.  The upside is that she makes darn sure that I can get my share of hay and treats!

I’m not as disappointed as Montana about the other home; guess I’ll believe it when I see it (although Marti wants us to do that the other way ‘round:  we’ll see it when we believe it).

And one more thing:  My “brother” Huck is a big pain!  He has such an attachment to me that I can’t do anything without him butting in--sometimes literally.  I like the kid, but really--!  Even when I want to cooperate with my person, Huck gets into the mix and gets all upset, and then before I can help myself we’re in a spit war.  Wish he’d get over it, but he’s gotten such an ingrained attitude that I’m not sure he can.  Especially since he’s decided he’s not open to anything “that woman” can do.

I’m Huck L Berry, alias Huckleberry/Huck.  I’m a BOY, and I don’t want any FEMALES telling me what to do.  I finally started standing up to those girls, and guess what--I can compete for food with the best of them.  Took me a darn long time to figure that out.

See, my former human, Steve, told me that I was going “down the tubes” with Marti, and I’ve been worrying about it ever since.  I don’t know what “the tubes” are, but it sure sounds scary, and I never know when they are going to open up. 

Someone once told Marti that I was gay, but that’s not it--I just don’t trust female energy.  I think it has something to do with “the tubes”.  So I keep my distance, and I try to thwart Marti whenever I can, especially if she’s trying to do something with Tam.  I don’t trust her, and I’m afraid Tam will go away without me, and then I’ll just be stuck with a bunch of girls.  Yuck.

I won’t even let Marti send me Reiki energy for my abscessed tooth, even though I know I need it.  I’ve walled myself off from the pain (and the infection), and to heck with her medicine.

I want to live with BOYS (llamas) and MEN (humans).  OK, maybe I’d tolerate a couple.  But really, I want to do macho stuff with other guys and not worry about girls.

I’m Zoroaster, the guardian of this wily bunch.  See, everyone thinks I’m a llama guardian, but actually my first loyalty is to my human.  I know she’s not a dog, but I call her Mom anyway.  She’s been my mom plenty of times before.

This is my second time in this role; the first time my name was Ziggy, and Mom wrote the story and put it on her web site.  I don’t mind that people know this stuff, if it helps them.

I wanted to talk here, too, because I have a vested interest in this farm and lifestyle.  I can’t imagine having to be indoors or on leash all the time.  Well, I can imagine it, because it’s kind of that way when Mom has to go to work in the winter.  For some reason, she doesn’t want me crossing the fence on the snow to go fight with the neighbor dogs.  She doesn’t understand, I’m defending the territory!

One thing I love the most is going for long walks with Mom and a llama.  We can go to fields, woods, a canal, a creek, and a mountain right from our house!  And sometimes there are deer, elk, coyotes, or foxes.  I go waaay out ahead and circle back to protect them.  Once Mom was walking with Little Cloud, and I scared a moose out of the canal ahead of them.  And once Mom and her friend and 3 llamas went for a pack trip, and I barked and circled all night and protected them from a BEAR and ELK and EVERYTHING.

I love my mom and the farm and the llamas, and I want to help if I can.  I don’t know much about money, but Mom worries about it a lot.  I think it has something to do with dog food.  And I like my food and bones!

(The End)

© Marti Wegner 2009 All Rights Reserved

Webmaster: Rhonda Yost

Disclaimer

In my practice I use non-invasive methods of touch, light, energy, sound, and unconditional love to relieve stress and promote general feelings of good health.  Currently, no licensing is available in the state of Idaho for these practices.  While I encourage everyone to take more responsibility for their own health, I do not diagnose, treat, or cure any disease or intend that this work should replace medical care.  Statements made in this website are my opinion and should not to be confused as indisputable fact.