Where did the summer go....

Well, once again I have neglected this blog for too long. July and August now gone, and trying to think back of what did happen to them! The girls did not come out this year for summer, so that is one thing. Mike and I got out less because they weren't around to do fun stuff with. Kelsey was in Summer School and Sara has decided she does not want to come up anymore, and with her Dad and the law on her side, guess I can't do anything about that. I did have a nice visit with them in Albuquerque in June. School started again for them both this week, so I guess life goes on.

We spent the whole summer waiting on bees and still haven't gotten them. More on that at http://aardwolfbees.blogspot.com/.

We have had a fair number of visitors this summer which has gotten us out to a few sights in the area, Bishops Castle, Fishing, the royal gorge, the local Brewpub, fishing.. etc. It was great to see these friends.. for Stuart and I it had been 25 years! We love visitors, come on by and try out our soon to be official B&B!

Shannon & Rich Koch from Idaho Falls

The Fleig Family from Albuquerque

The Zev Family from LA

Stuart & Robbie Self from Dallas

We also had a visit from Eric Bowman from Santa Fe and Mike boys, Dan and Josh, and Carla.

We have been working on marketing and increasing the numbers of visitors to the ranch. As such we have gotten our felting workshops officially off the ground. See our page http://www.aardwolfalpacas.com/workshops.html for more information on those, but they have been very well received and are growing. I have a few commissions for some products, so although I don't want to be a clothing manufacturer, it's all good.

In the same light we have joined a number of local organizations to increase our visibility, including the Canon Food Coop, Business Owners meet & Greet (local networking group), the woman's new neighbors group, and the Chamber of Commerce. The Coop has been manning a booth at the farmers market all summer and we have volunteered at least half of the days, selling alpaca product and educating the public about alpacas. The Meet & Greet group has us on the advisory board, and Mike is now on the committee to run a Business Expo in October here in town. The new Neighbors group doesn't meet during the summer, but has offshoot groups that we are involved in, Couples Card Night, and I belong to a "gad-about" group that goes places once a month together. So every week we are busy with activities for these groups and friends we have met through these groups.

Over the 4th of July we participated in Open Ranch Days at a ranch in Salida (an hour away and a market we have wanted to target.) It was very successful and we have a few nights booked at the ranch and felting workshops booked from the event.


Last week we got a bit of a vacation. We had the people we are boarding animals for come watch the animals and we headed out to Salt Lake for a week. Actually we started in Idaho visiting our alpaca friends from our Wyoming days. They had a potluck in our honor, and aside from Cheryl being off for quadruple bypass surgery, it was just like old times. Got to see Rich and Shannons new ranch, and Londa and Jody's new Inn in Lava Hot Springs (cool place! http://lavaalpacainn.com/default.aspx I'm ready for another family reunion there!). Then the next day we headed on down to Ogden for Mike's Dad's surprise 80th birthday party.. And surprise it was, as his birthday is not until September 17! We were singing happy birthday, and he was looking around for who we were singing to! Mike got to visit with his kids, who all made it except Josh (who was off shooting an Oryx at White Sands, NM... we forgive you, Josh). And Mike's sister Nancy, husband, and sister made it in from LA, so we had quite a crowd.

Betty & Rudy Moser

We stayed the rest of the week and went fishing with Jed (mike twice), visited with his family, and even got to take the grandkids out on an outing to the aquarium! That was a first and very special! AND we had a baby while we were gone... Rocky! (Named by a contest through the Meet & Greet group).

Jed

Strawberry River

Mike caught the biggest fish he ever caught on a dry fly 2- 25 inchers he estimates. I also caught my biggest fish. an 18 incher for me ;-)

Work has still been a little slim, I've gotten some contract work here and there, Mike has gotten some construction work, and we have been marketing alpacas like crazy. We also joined a service called Send Out Cards and are very excited about the prospects. If you haven't heard of it go watch the video at http://www.got13minutes.com/ then click on the link on the side of this blog page and send a free card on us. We are talking real physical greeting cards, through the mail, fabulous quality, in your own handwriting, with your own photos.. (or not) all for under a dollar a card! Unbelieveable...... Ok, this is how I get when I talk about this (too excited). I guess I've rambled on enough... Time to stop and add a few photos!