Well, it finally stopped raining! Pennsylvania, as has most of the northeast, has been totally inundated with rain for days! It even rained more last night, though the weatherpeople had predicted otherwise. Our headquarters office in Yardley was safe and dry, though we can't say as much for downtown Yardley. Those poor businesses are under water, as are many homes. But the town really pulls together at times like these, and they are working at getting things back to normal. The Delaware crested at 2pm yesterday and is supposed to begin receeding late today. The humidity is lower today, which always helps.

We got our fiber numbers back from Whittick and were very pleased with the results. Highest numbers from Diamond Monjeau's Lady Hermione - a gorgeous huacaya with a micron count of 16.1 and a comfort factor of 100%! Close behind were Zephyrus' Diamond Zeppelin with 17 and Diamond Cimarron at 17.5, both with 100% comfort factors.

Our rising suri multicolored herdsire sire, GLA Peruvian Alexander had a 17.9 and 99.6 comfort factor. Other high numbers were posted by our multi-ribboned Smoke Signal, Diamond Sir Gawain and Diamond Midnight Majesty.

Many breeders were super interested in Baron's Lumiere, the suri winner who has such tremendous density. His micron count was 20.5 and comfort factor of 99.6. He is starting now to breed at our VA Ranch, and what a package: density-PLUS and now this great micron count! Our stellar huacaya herdsire GLA Peruvian Sensation, a Royal Fawn grandson and champion in his own right, got a micron of 23 and comfort factor of 91.4. He, too, is accepting breedings in VA.

Will let you know more numbers later!

Many people don't even know what an alpaca is. They've never heard of them -- let alone seen a real alpaca. At Diamond Triple C Ranch we have more than 90 alpacas on our two ranch properties and are expecting 30 new ones within the next 10 months. We'll try to give you a few alpaca facts every day that will enhance your knowledge of these unique animals. For starters, alpacas come in more than 22 natural colors. This picture of our new cria and the moms who are interested in her gives you an idea of the variety in color. Jane (Annie's mom) is the one on the left. She is considered to be a light fawn color. Next to her is American Beauty (dark rose grey), Evening Primrose (light rose grey) and Stella (true black). These girls were all shorn (an annual ritual) just a month ago, which is why they look a little fiber-less. All the pregnant girls take serious interest in the new cria. Alpacas are very social, and you would never want to keep a lone alpaca. Even when we take them to shows or to the vet or wherever -- every alpaca has to have a buddy or they will be extremely distressed.

We had a beautiful full Accoyo cria at our Virginia Ranch location. We named her Diamond Accoyo Annie-Get-Your-Gun, as she was out of Calamity Jane and Jedi Accoyo of the USA. What a gorgeous little girl! So curly!

Here you can see Annie pronking (alpaca-speak for playing) with her friends, Diamond Black Magic and Diamond Magic Penny. Penny is a suri (pronounced "sir-ee"), while Magic and Annie are both huacaya (pronounced "wha-kai-a"). Huacayas have a much more dense, curly fiber, while suris have a fiber that is longer and appears to fall in long, pencilled locks. We have both types of alpacas on our ranch in Virginia, as well as our Oklahoma ranch.