Lace Crazy: I would like to indtroduce you to "Charlie"... The new addition to my zoo...

Anybody who knows me well knows that one of the things I've been in search of most of my adult life is a camel. There are 2 animals I've always wanted and those 2 animals would make my life complete.
1 = A Camel
2 = A Skunk (descented of course...)

These 2 animals have always been a dream of mine to own for some reason. Don't ask for a rational reason why, because rational and my daydreams don't co-exist well together. Why do I want a Camel & a Skunk? Because I do... That's the only explanation I can offer... <Big Grin>

About a month ago, someone local was advertising Alpaca's for sale. She wouldn't give me a price on the phone, but she invited me to come take a look, so I went and looked. When she told me $1,500 for the one I liked, I choked. One Thousand, Five Hundred? She nodded her head and I got in my truck and left... Seriously?

So, an old, navajo friend of mine told me, "He would keep an eye out for me 'a camel' in his travels." He deals in livestock 7 days a week from Calfornia, to Montana. By this point in my life - my whole 41 years, I've resorted to settling with an Alpaca and not a real egyptian camel. Sometimes, we just have to dream smaller as we age...

Well, today that friend called me about 1:00 pm. He said he had me a "Camel," an Alpaca anyway - nobody can seem to find me a 'double hump' real, egyptian camel... Of course, my only question was, "Is it cute?"... Of course he laughed. "Yep," he said... "It looks like you." Oh, now I was excited~!

You know, up until he delivered it to me, I didn't even know if it was male, or female, only that it was "Cute"... He got it at the auction for $50 and sold it to me for $50. It's a castrated male and it's white and I named him "Charlie"...

So... Meet Charlie, my new Camel~!

(Well, from the camelid family at least - closest I could get to the real deal)...

He was used as a pack animal by a couple that like to hike. He's halter trained, tame and very calm...

My ewe's were raised with Alpaca's, so they thought nothing of his introduction, but you should have seen the chaos from my lambs. They went through the sheep panels, ran over to an open face shed and hid out...

And, my Ram 'Bruce Almighty" tried to follow the lambs out of the corral, but his big belly wouldn't fit through the hole and he got himself stuck...

My horses backed up 20 feet and were looking at him through the sheep panels, but they refused to come anywhere near that side of the corral. In fact, two of my horses were hiding behind Indy (my big grey horse) and they were peeking around to see Charlie, but they were not interested in putting themselves in any kind of proximity to him...

It was CHAOS in the corrals when Charlie was unloaded and made his appearance.

Even my chickens climbed up as high as they could get, out of Charlie's way...

Charlie didn't mind. He had a drink, ate a little grain and made himself at home like he always lived here.

I penned "Charlie" in his own pen for the night, hoping all the animals will get a proper introduction through this evening and I can let him in with my sheep without the lambs vacating the premises to hide tomorrow...