Every time I complain that there’s nothing to do in Saskatoon, a day or two pops up where there’s simply way too much going on.  This past weekend was no exception.  Okay, I’ll admit that I got a bit lazy and didn’t really bother checking out a lot of Culture Days events but I did wander out with my mom yesterday to two critter based events.

The first place we stopped was Wild Birds Unlimited on 8th St.  We often go there to pick up good quality, no filler bird seed but I’ve also gone a few times for talks that they sometimes host there.  I was pretty curious about this past weekend’s talk on bats.  Like everyone else, I too had heard a lot of myths about bats and even though I already knew that they weren’t diseased, flying rats, I still wanted to check it out.  Especially, since they said that there would be two live bats there!

The talk by Melanie Elliott started and of course, there were a lot of kids so things moved a long a little slowly.  But we got some cool general information about bats including the bone structure of their wings which look awfully similar to our own arms and hands, what they eat (600 mosquitoes per hour!!!), and which species we have here in Saskatchewan.  Unfortunately, there was something else we wanted to hit too.  Just as we were about to leave though, out came to the two bats!  I didn’t quite catch where they came from but it sounded like Batrick and Elizabat were rescues who are now used for educational purposes.  I was really surprised though how soft they were.  Yes, I got to pet a live bat!  And they were so sweet too!  Of course, a big part of that is probably due the fact that they were super groggy.  So would you be too if some stupid human woke you out of a deep sleep!  Anyway, we didn’t get a chance to hear more information about bat boxes which was really my main reason for going but now that I know how much they can really eat, I’m definitely going to make sure that we have a bat box or two up next spring!

Why, oh why do two events have to happen at the same time?!  From the bats, we jumped in the car and drove out to a farm south of Vanscoy called Night Sky Alpacas.  I’m sorry but I think alpacas are one of the goofiest animals out there!  And a couple of years ago when everyone was talking about the end of Mayan calendar, the jokes about the upcoming ‘alpacalypse’ and ‘llamagedon’ kept me in stitches for weeks!  I knew that farmers here were looking for other animals to try out and so the first few alpacas made their way to Saskatchewan to try to create a new niche market.  I remember seeing the odd alpaca farm from the highway but it’s been awhile so as soon as I saw this open house in the news paper, I had to check it out!

I’ve felt alpaca wool and rovings (the fur after it’s been cleaned and pulled but before it’s been spun into wool) before but it’s definitely a different experience to touch the animal it’s self.  Oh my, these alpacas are so soft!  They’re like walking pillows!  We talked with the owners a bit and learned that they’re shaved once a year in spring so the coats you see in the pictures are several months old.  Unfortunately, it doesn’t sound like there’s much of a market for alpaca wool here.  Not surprising, I suppose, since everyone would rather by the artificial crap for a couple of bucks instead of the good wool from an actual farmer (and neighbour!)  As a crocheter though, I definitely feel the difference in both my hand as I work with it and in the final product – you just can’t beat the real thing!  When I’m done a few of my current WIP’s (Work In Progress), I’ll definitely be buying some alpaca wool to make some warm slippers for winter!

Most of the alpacas were penned up – males in the front of the farm and females and babies in the back of the yard.  There was one though that was out for everyone to meet.  Six year old Abbie was apparently bottle fed as a…huh, we didn’t get the name for a baby alpaca!…and is now very friendly with people.  She was definitely a sweetie!  We were warned, however, that alpacas don’t like being touched on the head.   Of course, I just had to get a selfie with her so very quickly, I knelt down beside her and snapped this one to remember what a cool day I had learning about animals!

By the way, I didn’t find out whether or not alpacas spit.  They certainly didn’t spit on me so I’m afraid that I can’t answer your question on that!