12 Wednesday, June 26, 2019 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon ALPACAS: Party will welcome the transplants home Sisters will celebrate the reading life Continued from page 3 from the original six to 11. Those 11 are going to a new home, with Ashley and Aaron Okura. Marlene wanted them shorn and vac- cinated before the transfer so they could settle into their new home with no distrac- tions. Shearing day was last week, and long-time Sisters shearer Allan Godsiff got the job done with minimal fuss. Marlene9s barn and shearing area is spotless and the ani- mals are calm and soft-eyed 4 which most alpacas are naturally 4 but Marlene9s seem particularly so. The care lavished on them is evident. ...plans are afoot for a party to welcome the Desert Song alpacas to their new home. Only one of the animals objected, and Marlene wiped off the spit clinging to her hair and shirt with a smile, adding that it9s all part of the deal with owning camelids, the species genre that alpacas and llamas are in. Godsiff noted that shearing day is usually an alpaca9s least favorite day of the year and that they rarely spit the other 364 days. Over the years, Marlene experimented with various ways of using the soft, fine alpaca fiber. Some of it went to Pendleton Woolen Mills, returning as warm and cuddly blankets. Rugs from a skilled weaver in Texas adorn floors, and some of the fiber was spun into yarn or used for felted craft projects. Alpaca fiber is prized by fiber art- ists and fine garment makers because of its unique insulat- ing properties and softness. The time has come for the Baldocks to be freed from the ties of diligent animal PHOTO BY JERRY BALDOCK Sisters alpacas have a brand new home at Ponderosa Lodge. care. For the Okuras, it9s a time to add to the herd of 16 alpacas they already have. The Desert Song animals will eventually become part of the viewscape that guests at the Best Western Ponderosa Lodge enjoy. Previously, an aging herd of llamas resided there. Those animals, now in their 20s, have been relo- cated to Ashley9s family place, the Reed Ranch. The front pasture at the Ponderosa Lodge is undergoing a reno- vation, and the change- over will happen when it is finished. Lori Ketchum works in the human resources department of the Best Western Ponderosa Lodge and has been a long-time employee of the Reed family. She is also a skilled fiber art- ist who cleans, spins and dyes the raw fiber, selling the yarn in the lobby of the hotel.