introducing snumbleweeds.

Hi Friends! Happy Friday. Whoa. this week has been ridiculous. andiepants made it to work on Monday, but have been off since Tuesday. A vicious snow storm moved into town Tuesday morning and created havoc all over the state. We didn't get a significant amount of snow, but the snow we did get was tossed around by 50 mile an hour winds. a little snow tornado, snownado, if you will. At once point, I noticed a large tumbleweed flying across the road filled with snow. I dubbed it a snumbleweed. have you noticed how much fun i have combining words, dear friends? Since the snow, the great southwest has been plunged into a deep freeze, and friends, we are simply not prepared for this. The irony of the situation is that it wasn't the snow that screwed up the area, it was the cold. In the Mike and Andie household, our pipes froze and burst (bummer) so we were left without water for a few days. Oh and by the way... i was under the impression that i moved to the desert to escape the harsh winter weather. this is NOT how the desert is supposed to behave. 10 inches of snow? negative 5 degree temperatures with the windchill? there's palm trees here, for petes sake! i have been misled!

Go, snumbleweed, go!!

So I've been doing this super crappy commute back and forth to work. I've blogged about my vehicular journey before (consult post regarding transportation), and the plethora of ways that it sucks. But today, I'd like to discuss my favorite part of the commute, the farm that I pass about 35 minutes into my journey. Most farms have no personality, no joy, no life to them. Farms can be a very somber place. However, this particular farm has a sense of humor. How do i know that, you might ask? No, I did not give the farm a personality assessment, althought that would have been hilarious. I discovered this little gem of info during the fall. In the month of October, the owners of the farm painted a big hay bale orange with a happy little jackolantern face on it. ha! how creative! they also made sure to paint a similar face on the other side so both north bound and south bound travelers would get some seasonal pleasure. thanks, farm people!

now, i was under the impression that the hay bale pumpkin was going to be the only decoration, but no! come november, the humorous farm people made a turkey (a turkey!!) out of a hale bay. this was fantastic! they painted two hay bales brown, attached a turkey head with a fashionable black hat, and made some dangly orange legs. They also stuck brightly colored wooden slats into the top for the feathers. again, they made the turkey in both directions, so no one would be deprived of his gobbily goodness.

I wasn't sure that I would be able to handle much more seasonal cuteness, but in december, the farm people unveiled... the snowman. ah! i almost crashed the car! this was the best one yet! a snow man? out of hay? brilliant, just brilliant. it was comprised of three bales of hay, descending in size, and was complete with a top hat, little stick arms, and a full face with pipe included. Though we have already entered February, Hay Snow Man still remains at his post, waving a stickly hello to passengers on this lonely desert highway.

The most recent explosion of cuteness that happened at the farm was this past Monday. This story needs a bit of context, so bear with me. So. Even though I have passed this farm twice a day, five days a week for nearly five months, i have no idea what lives or grows on this farm. It is an immense piece of land with acres and acres of lush green space (they must have to water this poor starved grass like 5 times a day... stupid desert), but i have seen no horses or cows or goats or ANYTHING wandering about. There have been a few times where I observed one or two llama's milling around, chomping on grass, doing their llama-stare, but thats it! and i always wondered, what in the hell do they use this place for? Just as a space to make seasonal characters out of hay bales? a hay bale performance arena? that can't be it. And why does this one llama get this whole place to himself? Does he not play well with other llamas? Is he the llama version of a Beta Fish, if he sees another llama, he'll attack it? does he smell bad? So puzzled. Anyway, this past monday, as I was journeying past the farm getting ready to wave hello to Mr. Hay Snow Man, I observed literally hundreds, and I mean hundreds!, of llamas. holy crap! how exciting! and the llama's were clustered in little llama families with little llama babies. llama babies!!! could my morning get any better?

but then, my andiebrain waded through the thick waves of adorableness caused by baby llama, and about a million questions popped into my head. such as, where have all of these llamas been? are they visiting llamas? are they on vacation? is that the purpose of this farm, to house visiting llamas, a llama resort? will they be getting massage and hoof work? maybe practice some llama yoga or meditation?

whatever the reason for the llama explosing on the farm, i was very thankful for the cuteness that overloaded my senses.

enjoy your weekend, friends, and stay warm!

be thankful,
andie