After an unseasonably warm early fall, we woke up on Saturday morning to 4 inches of snow and white out conditions. Beautiful…the only problem? Saturday was the Cliff House Ranch open house.

The store, set up in our tack room.

Then the power went out. Dad, the eternal optimist of the family, prepared to light the gas stove by hand, and managed to keep the rest of us happy and moving. That is, until he casually reminded us that no power means limited water, as the well pump is electric. No showers was just…too much.

The handspinning demonstration table, with samples of all the alpacas' fiber and samples of each stage in the process.

Luckily, the power came back on an hour later. And despite the atrocious weather, over 70 of our friends and family came to support us and celebrate our dream come true, some driving over two hours to get to us.

The corkboard of adorable alpaca moments, many of which have appeared here on the blog already.

Thank you all for coming, and I firmly believe that all of my online friends were with us in spirit. Your support is invaluable. Thank you.

Keep an eye out for our online store! I’m trying to get it launched this month, preferably this week, but I HAVE to fill that order I messed up. I think I might almost have enough black spun, and the beads are strung, but I have another few evenings of work on that, at least.