Recipe: Camelizing Llamas!

This blog was "requested" by our friend and FB page fan, Jessica.  She asked for the story behind the "camels"!

As you can see, a couple of the llamas were asked to do their rendition of a camel.  This is the story behind the final performance!

About a month ago, or even maybe longer, a woman I had worked with several years ago called to ask if I would "loan" some llamas to their church.  Mmmmm....what for?  Well, there was going to be a Christmas parade and as most of the participants often highlight Santa, Frosty and Rudolf, the church thought it would be nice to add the story of Jesus.  You know...the ride on the donkey to Bethlehem, the stay in the manger...Oh yea, and the Three Wise Men and their...camelized llamas!

Once I stopped snickering, I agreed!  How fun!  Oh, my poor babies!  But, how fun!

First of all, there were some requests on my end.  I couldn't guarantee the llamas would show up if it was icy.  I didn't want the "Bambi on ice" rendition and have to hoist chubby Dez up by her chin!  Second, my trailer hasn’t been used in years, so I wasn’t sure I could haul them and certainly didn’t want to have to walk them into town to walk in the parade and walk home again. Third, whomever was going to walk them had to show up out here to do the whole “meet & greet” routine and spend some time building up trust.  If the llamas were leaving the trails, they really need to trust their leader!

So, the fun begins!  A few nights later I received a call from another person I had worked with a few years back.  (Small town and I’ve had a lot of jobs!)  Joyce was not only someone I had worked with, her family had volunteered one weekend to come and take care of the llamas so we could go out of town.  This was great…they KNOW my llamas!  Joyce and her family showed up that night to measure the llamas for their humps!  Does that sound as funny reading it as it does writing it?  Joyce is the one that coined the phrase…camelizng the llamas!  No butter or heat required!  Just a mother-in-law that must be half nuts, her trusty tape measure and some pins!  So, which llamas would make the best camels?  Curtain call!  I always thought I would make a great casting director!  Well…it briefly, very briefly, entered my mind to have a beautiful white camel…Pelican.  But, she is new and still spits! Um…not good for PR.  Okay…moving on!  Camels are brown…for the most part.  That left me with Twizter, Dez or Gadjit.  Gadj has the stature and definitely star quality…but with his long locks he looks more like Snuffleupagus! (The elephant from Sesame Street!) That left Dez and Twizter.  Short, chubby, slow.  What more could you want in a llama?  I mean camel?!

We agreed this would be our duo.  Mother and son.  Short and fat along with shorter and fatter! There were not three camels as my trailer can only haul two.  The theory was, one of the wise men was way too smart to try to get a llama into camel gear! ;)

At this point, it was time to measure the llamas.  Where do you place the hump?  It was cold out, it was night and getting late.  I have not EVER studied where the hump is on a camel.  Our best guess: right in the middle of their back!  But…one hump or two?  C’mon!  One…let’s make something simple!!  So, the boys helped get the llamas to stand still as Joyce’s mother-in-law attempted to measure the llamas.  Twizter was easy.  Pick a spot, drop the tape, reach under his belly and pull the tape to the top.  Ta-da!  Fat llama!  Now Dez.  Simple?  Pick a spot, drop the tape, reach under…reach under…dodge butt, dodge legs…try again.  Reach under…and watch Dezi dance!  I had forgotten how ticklish she is!  She wouldn’t let Twizter nurse as a newborn -  every time he nuzzled her she would kick him!  How he got so fat is a wonder!  She eventually let him nurse and perseverance paid off again…we got the tape around her!  Chubby!

Joyce and her family helped tuck the llamas in for the night and that was all I heard from anyone until three days prior to the parade!

Joyce called to ask if they could bring out the humps and try them on the llamas.  Sure!  I had never written down the exact date of the parade as I figured when the Wise Men showed up to walk the llamas I would get the date from them.  Joyce informed me that the parade was in four days!  WHAT?  I had plans to go out of town shopping for my daughter...she is in Afghanistan and will miss Christmas, so this was a major upset! I had set plans!  A phone call later, I found that the parade was on Friday night and not Saturday.  I could change plans and leave Saturday morning.  It will work.  But…there was a glitch.  I was told that some high school boys were going to be walking the llamas and NOT the family that had been out here.  This produced a bit of stress all the way around.  There was miscommunication about coming out and working with the llamas prior to the parade.  I explained that, first, the llamas don’t trek at night.  Just my going in and trying to halter them after dark was a whole new program.  Secondly, they hadn’t been in the trailer for a number of years and the trailer had a flat tire.  Manageable, but still stressful. Third, the llamas are going to be walking down a road, not their trail and will be dressed like camels and with people they have never seen before!  This is not the slow, easy lumber on the trails that they are accustomed to. This was major stress on my part!  It was decided that Joyce’s son and husband would be two of the Wise Men.  Her husband, Greg, would be without a llama and provide “bolt insurance”!  If the llamas bolted, he was going to be there to grab them!  It did get all worked out, but it kind of left me sorry I had volunteered the llamas.  This was going to be a lot of work for little ole me!

  So, quickly we had to fashion the llamas into camels and teach them how to “walk like an Egyptian!”  Joyce and two of the Wise Men came out and brought the camel costumes.Well, if you thought it was fun watching Dezi dance to the measuring tape…try strapping a hump down and around and over!  But, she did well.  Once it was covered with blankets and jewels, she actually walked just fine.  All this camelizing was done outside in front of their truck.  The barn lights had gone out and my hubby was trying to figure out how to get them on.  So, in the pitch of night we were doing our best to just getter done in the glow of headlights!

While we were out walking the llamas around the circle on the icy drive, Greg was in helping with the lights!  Ta-da!  They got them fixed.  And, in the true Christmas spirit…Greg said he would be over to help with the trailer, the tire and loading of the llamas!  Hallelujah!                                                The next night we did another pre-production walk.  The other Wise Man came.  It turned out he has a lot of experience with riding horses, being around lots of critters and even some bull riding.  I think he can handle a llama dressed like a camel!  I was a bit concerned that he might try to “bully” Dezi, but after one trek around the circle it was very apparent that he found her as sweet as the rest of us do.  I spent some time going over “what if” scenarios…what if she bolts.  What if Twizter bolts, what if they rear or get frightened…or…OMG!  I forgot…not only is Dezi ticklish, she lays down when she gets tired!  What if?

Performance night

The guys loaded the llamas while Joyce and I pinned the costumes together in the warmth of the house.  All we had to do was get the humps on and throw the rest over the top! We got to the parade starting point on time.  The parade, for some unknown reason, was late!  Along with llamas as camels, there were dogs as sheep.  The sheep decided to break character and chase the camels…which I will state..stayed in character and only glared at those insane looking sheep/dogs/sheep?  Such a look could only come from a camel/llama/camel! ;)

The parade finally got moving and so did the Wise Men with their camels.  About two blocks down, Dezi started…mmm…butt swaying…leg twitching…butt sway, leg twitch, halt.  Oh, oh.  I think she is going to lay down!  The Wise Man doesn’t look so wise…he sure doesn’t look like he knows how to stop a llama in a camel costume from laying down on main street in the middle of the Christmas parade!  We all look at each other and I really think we all quit breathing at the same time!  Dezi, sensing she might have to finish this on her own, started to walk again!  She had this whole stiff legged thing going on…I even commented that maybe she should get tested for Lymes Disease.  We finally figure out…she was losing her hump and the band was pulling around her belly…inciting a llama in a camel costume to try her interpretation of a belly dancer!  She had this little wiggle throughout the parade.  But, she finished.  No drama! Ta-da!