How to break a streak:

You may have noticed a dearth of posts lately. Part of this is because it's summer, and we're busy as -- well, you can fill in the colorful analogy of your choosing, but suffice it so say, summer is busy. Part of this is because I typically mainly share exciting baby posts on the 'blog ... And lambing season is over ... And we just finished up a run of about five or six or seven fawn or white alpaca cria. It's always lovely to see healthy cria, but if they aren't going to make anyone's radar as far as the "wow" factor, they don't typically make the 'blog.

Well, that fawn/white streak was broken last week with a bang. This little gal came out of a very unimpressive dam, a huge, kinda homely, older female who is a minimal appaloosa (she looks white from a distance, but she has a few spots and is proven to produce harlequin appaloosas). She came in a package group along with some more impressive relatives, and I almost sold her right away, but something told me to hold onto her. Maybe it was because I knew her daughter and granddaughters and knew that they were quite impressive animals. Maybe it was because I had that feeling.

I bred her to Riddler, our blue-eyed fawn boy who has been hitting it out of the ballpark, and debated listing her for sale, but never quite got around to making the listing. Maybe it was because I was busy, or she wasn't photogenic enough to get a good picture of. Maybe it was because I had that feeling.

When this little one landed, I knew ... Yeah. It was because I had that feeling.

This is Riddler's first appaloosa cria, a most-definite keeper. (She may even be that ultra-rare alpaca who carries both harlequin appaloosa -- from her mom -- and pinto -- from Riddler, with his blue eyes -- time will tell.) Please welcome Howling Hill Sudden Epiphany.

See my little face spots?

I'm a few hours old and I am hot stuff!