spits summer - the Hawkesbury Blue Mountains Alpaca Region

Perhaps the only “downsides” of being an
editor and webmaster are that a) you don’t
get to enjoy reading without knowing what’s
coming next and b) you really don’t know if
anyone out there bothers to look at the thing.
Or so I thought. Just when I was going
through the “what’s the point” part of the
editorial cycle, out of the blue, kerbam! We
got a threatening letter concerning the
content!
Oh joy, oh bliss - someone out there really
does look at the stuff. It
appears that our humble
offerings have offended
the publishers of a
commercially published
sales listing which, by
chance, shares the same
name as that which
traditionally graces the
centre pages of this rag.
(Notice how I’ve
carefully managed to
avoid referring to it by
name and thus getting
myself cited.)
My initial reaction was,
to quote George W, “Bring it on!” Then,
when I realized that our Futile Litigation
Budget had already taken a sever hammering,
I figured to let them have their name.
In future our alpaca sales section, as appears
in both this humble tome and the website, will
be called “Teepee.” I only hope this doesn’t
offend any Comanche or Sioux.
*********************
Spits & Pieces
From The Editor
Regular visitors to the website will notice a
few changes in relation to the reprinting of
Spits & Pieces. Where before we were limited
to pulling out specific articles we can now
offer the entire thing in as a pdf file.
My thanks to Mark Newman for his
assistance in guiding your humble scribe
through the process.
*********************
Some fairly heavy duty content in this issue,
particularly from El Prez,
reporting on the recent AAA
Council meetings. We also have
an article exploring the
Vertebrate Chip, a tool which in
future may help alpaca breeders
select for desired traits in cria.
On a lighter note we have some
photos from the H-BM
Christmas party. Incriminating
negatives are available for a
small contribution to my chosen
charity!
*********************
Finally, as the sun sets on yet another year, all
that remains is to thank my sub-editor Sue
four chequing for typos and to wish all the
best to you and yours, from me and mine.
Have a Happy Christmas
&
Healthy New Cria
5