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.
<For many years she has
done this with the llama
fiber,= said Ashley. <She
has the same plan for the
alpaca fiber, with all the pro-
ceeds going to the Bill and
Jan Reed Memorial
Scholarship.=
Ashley added that plans
are afoot for a party to wel-
come the Desert Song alpacas
to their new home.
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The inaugural Sisters
Festival of Books (SFoB) will
launch this fall.
Lane Jacobson, owner
of Paulina Springs Books in
Sisters, made the announce-
ment last week.
Featuring local, regional,
and national authors and
occurring across multiple
venues, SFoB is a three-day
celebration of the literary
culture of Central Oregon
and the Pacific Northwest.
SFoB will take place from
Friday, October 18 to Sunday,
October 20 in Sisters.
Friday evening, FivePine
Lodge and Conference Center
will host a local author recep-
tion with some of our favor-
ite Central Oregon authors.
Saturday will feature a full
lineup of author events, a
pop-up bookstore at the
festival venue, and author
dinners. Sunday is primarily
kid-focused events in-store
at Paulina Springs Books.
All proceeds from the festi-
val will be used to establish
a scholarship fund for Sisters
High School students through
the Sisters Graduate Resource
Organization (Sisters GRO).
SFoB is generously
supported and spon-
sored by Paulina Springs
Books, FivePine Lodge &
Conference Center, Cascade
Arts & Entertainment, The
Nugget Newspaper and The
Bulletin. All profits will be
used to create a scholarship
fund through Sisters GRO.
Early-bird ticket pricing is
available, as well as special
Friend of the Festival ticket
packages
More information and
contact info can be found at
SistersFoB.com.
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