Thank You Disney Movie Rewards PTR (November 16-22, 2014) - Page 11 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
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There are other changes as well.
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It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
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So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
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So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
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I think your hair looks great! I've had the same person cut my hair for 20 years now and have a panic attack just thinking about having to change. I can count on her to have it always look exactly the same-- no changes at all, ever. I like to not think about my hair. I just wash and go, no need for a hair dryer or products. Looks like you're making progress with the trip preparations.
Now the important stuff..... The Alpacas!! I love them all. They're all beautiful and charming, but I'd have to agree that Sonora is gorgeous and elegant. I think Tutapaca is just adorable. Is it hard to do their nails? How often do you need to do them? I love the shot of the boys waiting for breakfast. What a great sight first thing in the morning.
My problem is I am a natural red head, but my hair was always more a strawberry-blonde, but I can't seem to get a match to how it was growing up. It is a bit red for me, but it will do. That's how I am with my stylist and hair too, I loved that she just mixes the color and it comes out how I like it. I also like doing wash and wear.
The trip prep is coming along, it will be nice if I could have one day that I don't have to drive all over creation.
The alpacas are so amazing and such fun. Sonora is just beautiful and elegant and Tutapaca is just a cutie. It is a neat sight to see every morning, with them out waiting for breakfast. I will discuss the nails at the end because several people want to know about that.
Quote:
Originally Posted by chezp
Love your hair - it looks great!
So cool to see the alpacas and I love the one of the alpaca parade!
The color is lightening up a little and it will be fine, better than being gray for the trip.
I love the alpaca parade every morning. There was one morning they snubbed me because it was the weekend and I didn't go out early like I normally do and they wouldn't come up and do the parade.
Quote:
Originally Posted by KimmyAnn1147
Alpaca Parade!!! So pretty. Alpacas are lovely animals, but I wonder why you chose to have them. It sounds like they are somewhat new to you.
Do you have them to show? As 4H animals? To use/sell their fleece?
WTG on your PT attitude. You are going to be on that first driving leg before you know it!
I'll discuss the alpacas at the end here, since several people had questions about them.
It's going to be a busy few days but we will make it out on time on Sunday!
Quote:
Originally Posted by xwewhisper
Love the alpaca pics, what cuties!!
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
I just love your alpacas.
I, too, am curious about their nails.
I think your hair looks great!
on the alpacas and the hair. I'm okay with it, it's a little red, but it is lightening up a little bit.
Alpacas
Since several people asked here is the story behind our alpacas. Back in 2012 & 2013 Shana went to a camp in Angel Fire, NM. On the drive there we passed a huge alpaca farm and just loved seeing them when we drove by. The farm lets you come feed them but we never stopped. Then this summer Shana went to the camp 3 times, so we drove by 6 times and I started joking that I wanted an alpaca. We decided to stop on the way home after a camp and we fed them and learned a lot about them.
At that point my joke was becoming a little more serious. They are very sweet, calm and loving animals. They are also fairly low maintenance and easy to care for. They don't require a barn, just a shelter from wind, rain, snow. They eat grass and some alfalfa (which we happen to have a 1 1/2 acre grass/alfalfa field) and we do supplement with some special alpaca food for the ones that need it. Their fleece is the 2nd most desired fleece in the world at the moment (the 1st is the Vicuna, which is in the same family as the alpaca but is more like a wild deer in Peru). They even poop in one central location making scooping the poop easy and their poop can be used as a high quality fertilizer and doesn't even have to be mixed with anything.
We decided that we would start looking into getting some probably next year some time and kind of left it at that. Then Pat's co-worker who has llamas (next size up of alpacas in the camelid family, used as pack animals) knew a lady that runs an alpaca rescue. There was a lady that was going through a bad divorce and needed to get rid of her alpacas. She had an offer to sell them to a large farm, but she wanted them to go to a family that would treat them as family. We went to see them and fell in love with them. She offered them to us for free and even gave us a horse trailer, leads, harnesses, bowls etc. It was such an amazing blessing.
It all happened very quickly, which is why at times we are a bit overwhelmed. Our plans with them are at least for this first year to just sell their fleece. We are planning to get a spinning wheel and learn to spin the fleece and then knit clothing items to sell. We are also thinking about starting breeding in about a year so we can have cute little cria (baby alpacas).
As for their toe nails, alpacas are part of the camelid family and like camels they have two toes on each foot. The toe nails grow and then start to curve downward. Cutting them actually seems a lot to me like cutting a dogs toenails only bigger. The hardest part is catching them and getting their harnesses on, well except Prospero on Monday did not like it and kept rearing up and causing problems. How often they have to be trimmed really depends on the alpaca. Usually about once every 1-3 months. However, we are planning to put a concrete pad around their water troughs which will actually help file them down making them need trimming less often.
The only other maintenance is shearing, and teeth trimming. Their teeth never stop growing and they need to be cut about once a year, we will do this at shearing time. The boys also have fighting teeth that have to be filed down to keep them from hurting each other. Shearing is also done once a year in the spring. We will be taking them to our friends farm for shearing at least for the first year or two, until we can learn how to do it ourselves.
There is the story of how this began. We are learning as we go and so far everything is going really well. We will probably be getting a couple llamas at some point because they are good guard animals for the alpacas.
Thanks for the alpaca backstory! It really was meant to be that you got this group of animals. A blessing for the woman who needed to part with them, for you, and for the animals. I have a friend who is a weaver and spins her own yarn. I've tried it and it's not hard at all, depending on how even you want the strings to be. If you don't want varied thicknesses it can be a bit harder to master!
How amazing is that, that your timing was so good and you were able to get them for free! What a blessing for you guys. They all seem so sweet and loving and I know they went to a very loving home!
Continued success in the learning process and with everything that goes with them.
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Thanks for the alpaca backstory! It really was meant to be that you got this group of animals. A blessing for the woman who needed to part with them, for you, and for the animals. I have a friend who is a weaver and spins her own yarn. I've tried it and it's not hard at all, depending on how even you want the strings to be. If you don't want varied thicknesses it can be a bit harder to master!
It really was meant to be. The lady that needed to part with them was actually a special education teacher focusing in the field of autism and has worked with many autistic kids. She really loved that Shana and Hunter were both on the spectrum and knew the animals would be so good for them. It has really been a wonderful blessing for all of us. Shana and I are both pretty crafty and I'm sure we will be able to spin the fleece. I had started to knit years ago, so we will need to learn that too, but I know we can do it. I love cross-stitch and fabric arts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by disneydreamer33
How amazing is that, that your timing was so good and you were able to get them for free! What a blessing for you guys. They all seem so sweet and loving and I know they went to a very loving home!
Continued success in the learning process and with everything that goes with them.
The timing was absolutely amazing and crazy at the same. We had to get fencing up and build shelters, but it has been worth it. It was so scary at first and I was so worried about them, but now we are getting more use to things. It was nice having the folks come out from the other farm and help with the toes and to show us how to tell if they are getting enough food. It's been such a fun experience and I am looking forward to shearing.
First, I love your hair. I think the color looks great! I know it's not the shade you were aiming for, but it really did turn out beautiful.
Secondly, the pic of Apollo cracked me up. I love his toothy grin. Speaking of teeth, mine hurt just imagining needing them to be filed down. How does that work?
First, I love your hair. I think the color looks great! I know it's not the shade you were aiming for, but it really did turn out beautiful.
Secondly, the pic of Apollo cracked me up. I love his toothy grin. Speaking of teeth, mine hurt just imagining needing them to be filed down. How does that work?
The hair does look good, but I just have spent years getting it to where it's not so red and now I feel like I'm starting over.
It's funny that pic of Apollo I took on a Friday and texted it to Pat and said "Apollo says 'Smile It's Friday'" It cracked him up too. They only file the teeth if they are a little long, otherwise they use this weird looking device that just cuts them. I guess their teeth are like out fingernails and it doesn't hurt, but I can't wait to see how they do this because I saw the device and it looks like some kind of horrid torture device.
We used to file our horse's teeth once a year or so. They're very different from the Alpaca's teeth, but I imagine the file is pretty much the same. That cutting device is scary looking, I agree!
We used to file our horse's teeth once a year or so. They're very different from the Alpaca's teeth, but I imagine the file is pretty much the same. That cutting device is scary looking, I agree!
I'm just glad that we have someone nearby that is very experienced and is helping us through all of this. It is exciting but also a little scary to have such unique animals. I am curious to go get teeth cut because I really cannot even figure out how they manage to get the cutting device near the alpacas.
I'm sitting here bored at the car dealership waiting for my poor van to be fixed. I came into Albuquerque to get my dad from the airport so he can watch our house and animals while we are gone. I was due for an oil change so I got here an hour before his flight was going to get in. That was at 10am. It is now 1:15pm and I'm still waiting because I found out I had a crack in my radiator.
Now if you read my previous PTR/TR you may remember that I went into Albuquerque a few days before we were suppose to leave and my van nearly died on the road. It was in the shop right up until the day we left for the trip. Literally we picked it up and parked it at the hotel. Thankfully we are taking Pat's VW because apparently my van needs a few other small things that can wait as long as we aren't driving it a ton. So, I sit and wait.
We always seem to have issues right before our trips. One year our dog had an allergic reaction to eating some grapefruit juice and his face swelled up like a balloon the morning we were leaving.
But if having these issues keeps us from being sick and/or injured on the trip I'm okay with it!
Here is where we stand for leaving.
I managed to get all the laundry done, although the pants load is still sitting in the dryer at home. If I ever get home today we are packing tonight. I have all our "Disney stuff" sorted into each persons tub and ready to go.
Pat picked up some cereal and bagels for breakfast in the room and they are sitting on the kitchen counter.
I bought 3 bags of dog food, 2 bags of chicken food, 2 bags of alpaca ration and 1 bag of whole oats to make sure all the animals are all set (that's about a months worth of food for everyone).
I still need to type up instructions for the alpacas for my dad.
I also need to print out the list of photos I need to get. I'm still learning how to build an app and want to get DL pics while we are there.
Tomorrow I plan to clean up the house and complete and other last minute things we need to do. I hope to be in bed by no later than 9pm tomorrow night for our early start!
Well, I typed all that and I'm still waiting. Guess I will read some more on my Nook!
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My problem is I am a natural red head, but my hair was always more a strawberry-blonde, but I can't seem to get a match to how it was growing up. It is a bit red for me, but it will do. That's how I am with my stylist and hair too, I loved that she just mixes the color and it comes out how I like it. I also like doing wash and wear. 
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