Alpaca blanket

Those alpacas must be the softest animals on earth.

The red quilted throw on the sofa is not long enough. And the pockets of down are not spread perfectly so it allows cold air through the thin fabric. I love it, but it's not working for me. The red is a nice contrast to the dullness of everything else.

I wanted a blanket with red stripe accents and I found them but there are all sorts of other weird things about them. Too heavy, too short, mixed textiles, too much white, stripes too broad, too goofy, too hospital-like, unwanted fringes, bad reviews, too thin, too expensive, it's always one thing or another. 

Thank you Peruvians. Thank you alpacas. Thank you Amazon. I love this blanket. It's the softest blanket I've ever owned. And its light weight belies its warmth. 

Available on Amazon for one million dollars. 

I meant to say a hundred dollars. 

I get mixed up with those zeros. 

If this had red stripes on the ends it would be perfect. 

A light color with red strips on the ends would be ultimate. 

The thing is, all the other color choices are weird in this style. Apparently Peruvians just have a weird sense of color. It was a matter of selecting the least of the worst. 

Maybe their natural dyes are limited over there in Peru. I don't know. 

See? Just weird. 

I bet when they shave those alpacas in the summer they run around going, "Yippie! They took that hot blanket off me."

Just like my Belgian sheepdog did when I gave her an annual haircut.

I didn't shear off her hair. I cut it with scissors like a barber.

Pull up a line of hair through my fingers and snip.

Pull-snip, pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip pull-snip a million times.

I can only do part in on one day. And the dog doesn't have patience for that kind of attention. So we play in between snipping sessions. Then drop it for the day.

Pick up where I left off the next day.

The whole thing takes a week.

I cut the dog's hair in patches. And cut the patches in sessions. I went over her whole body twice in different directions. Just like the barbers do my hair.

Except the dog has a long collarette like a Collie. A double-layer coat. Hair around her ears and her tail must be shaped. Belgians have tuffs of hair on the back of their legs. All this is gorgeous when the coat is long and filled out and when it's winter. But all that hair is too much for summer.

It breaks all the dog conformation rules of grooming but I didn't care. I wanted my dog to be comfortable. And she didn't know how gorgeous she was.

It looks like crap the first day. Very choppy and amateurish.

The next day, not so bad.

The third day a bit better.

The fourth day pretty good.

The fifth day her head and tail match the rest.

The sixth day she looks great. But completely wrong for her breed. Everything is wrong. Every little thing that a judge looks at is wrong. The breeders would be all, wtf did you do this animal?

She was such a great sport. They all were. And going over and over and over until the cuts evened out was worth all the trouble. The grooming sessions with play in between them brought us together more closely. And the dogs felt great for the summer.