CAMELBACK AMERICA part one ... the BIG IDEA

Gil is full of big ideas. And I love him for that. If it wasn't for Gil and his big ideas, we wouldn't be a camel dairy, we wouldn't have this ranch and our lives would not be as interesting and rich as they are.

But this idea is VERY BIG. He mentions it every once in a while, kind of like... wouldn't it be neat? But then reality crashes in and we are busy doing so many things... until it drifts in again... wouldn't it be neat.

Years before we ever squeezed out our first drop of camel milk from our first milking camel, Latifa, Gil was intrigued by the idea of Bedouins crossing the Sahara Desert, surviving months at a time with nothing to eat but milk from the caravan's camels. Now that we are milking camels regularly, I think Gil's big idea spends a lot more time in the front of his mind.

As we add more and more milking camels to our herd, Gil revisits the idea from time to time. "We could do this" He'll say. "We can make a desert trek right here in the U.S. for two months and bring Goldie and Tula with their babies for milk, and ride the geldings like Boo-boo, Camelot, Jamal... there are a lot of great candidates. He talks about having a camel outfitted w/ solar power and web-up links to bring the world along on the adventure. He talks about visiting schools and historical sites along the way. He usually loses me more than a bit when he mentions things like Bedouins washing there hair in camel urine and burning the dung for campfires.

The last time Gil uttered the words, "wouldn't that be neat" was this past October, while we were driving to Ridgecrest California with the Wild West Turkey Stampede to perform at the Desert Empire Fair.

Winding our way through gorgeous, endless desert, Gil gazed out the window for a long time before turning to me and saying once again, "we could do this... we could really do this"
And as I looked out the window across the quiet desert, I have to say for the first time, I also thought; wouldn't that be neat. We could do this, we have the camels now and it would be an amazing adventure.

Time to start planning....

Oasis Camel Dairy working on our web store

Still in love with our new website but not thrilled with some of the features.

The web store is problematic.

It is fancy and flashy but the shipping rates just don't fit our needs.

The store wants to add a shipping price per item; the first item being the bulk of the charge and then a small price for each additional item.

The problem is, each soap is a different item! So if you want one each of all seven varieties, you pay the initial fee SEVEN TIMES!

So here is our temporary fix:

We don't allow the store computer to calculate ANY shipping. Instead, simply go through the store, select your soaps and other items and then YOU can select the appropriate shipping fee after that.

Stop by http://www.cameldairy.com and check it out. Let me know what you think!

Thanks

Nancy

OASIS CAMEL DAIRY

OASIS CAMEL DAIRY has a new home on the web at www.cameldairy.com. The website is beautiful and easy to edit so we should be able to update content easily.
The new site is a web based flash site. I love it. The only problem is, google doesn't find it!
What to do, what to do???? Google is very blogspot friendly so hopefully by adding this info to our blog, this will come up easily on google and people can continue to find us easily.
Let's call this a bit of an experiment and see how it all comes out in the search!
If you are looking for our blog... this is the place! We have wonderful stories about our unique dairy and its resident so grab a nice cup of your favorite beverage and stick around for a while!

GOING TO THE SHOW: part II

TODAY WAS THE FIRST DAY OF SHOWS.
What a crazy ride! Zipping back and fourth between the camel dairy show and the turkey races was hilarious and exhausting! Gil would be rope-spinnin' Cowboy Gil over at the Turkey Races, steering Big Red screaming around hairpin turns with twelve revved up turkeys in hot pursuit with me shrieking out "Yeeee ha" and other appropriate Turkey Stampede phraseology.... then, quickly gulp down a cold grapefruit juice, change into our Oasis Camel Dairy shirts and head over to the camel exhibit, transforming into camel milk aficionados while milking, brush and cavorting with our benevolent camels.

Clyde, our very lovable, charismatic, twenty-year old gelding... (if you know the Camel Dairy, you know Clyde) was very excited during the first show. He talked and foamed a lot! More than once Gil and I found ourselves dodging globs of foamy drool and several times we did not succeed. The audience loved it! I wish I had worn a hat! Goldie gave lots of milk during the shows and Clyde demonstrated unique camel behavior and adaptation. Everyone loves the new soap fragrances and labels!

We can see the camel exhibit from where we stand to perform the Turkey Stampede. When you come to see the show... don't forget to look over your shoulder back to the camels. At only about 2oo yards away, Goldie and Clyde stand transfixed... watching and waiting for us to come back and be with them. Clyde calls to Gil with a sweet, long, low moan that sounds like a giant, gentle lion. ... he is the coolest guy!

Clyde shot a cool little "bump" segment with Sam the Cooking Guy from channel... (gosh ... I don't know!) The segment was GREAT! Clyde interacted like a co-host. If you get to see it... let me know!

So back and fourth we run for three shows of each... each day. Today was just day one. It should have been exhausting and daunting but it was just the funnest (yes, I said funnest) day. Getting to share both the goofy, rowdy romp that is the Turkey Stampede and the simple, gracefulness that is the Camel Dairy Show is a wonderful treat for us.

Of course... this is just day one.... Let's see how it is by day twenty-two!

The fair runs through July 5th.

Time to sleep.......

GOING TO "THE SHOW" part I

MOVING IN TO THE DEL MAR FAIR GROUNDS....
With our tired but still tried and true F350 loaded to the ceiling with camel milk soap, camel signs, camel blankets, halters, and many other things camel; I looked across the front seat as my copilot, Conrad the Macaw, still recovering from his $5,000 foot surgery (don't ask) sporting a giant awkward plastic cone around his neck looked coaxingly for a french fry. Towing neatly behind, over one ton of camels consisting of Clyde, our 18 year old gelding, Goldie, one of the best milking camels ever and her gorgeous son, Raja (aka: Flathead) settle into to deeply bedded hay for the one hour drive to the coast and the world famous San Diego County Fair. Joining our caravan is Gil and Scarlet, maybe the worlds only camel-midwife dog, towing the Wild West Turkey Stampede show complete with twelve fledgling turkeys, our 0l' number 6 team and Turkules, the sixty pound turkey.

As we wind our way to the coast, our exhaustion over preparing for this 22 day event is overridden by our excitement about what lies in store.

Gil and I lead the most unusual life. What may seem to be an eclectic tangled mess to the outside world; what with the turkey racing show, the performing exotic bird show, the camel dairy, Gil's crystal lapidary business and our array of pets; is harmonious, symbiotic bliss to us. This is the first time people will get such a glimpse into our lives in such large numbers. It's all here... the turkey races and the camel dairy: each performing three times daily. Between Gil and I doing both... that's six shows a day. I can't believe I am thinking that I can "hardly wait"

Last Friday night's Fair Media Party gave us a great indication that we are going to have an incredible time. While talking on the phone with our Fair Contact, Katie Phillips about tents and electrical and other fair checklist items, I suggested that we bring a camel to the media party. She enthusiastically welcomed us as a last minute addition. We chose Clyde, our big old sweet gelding to be our ambassador. What an excellent ambassador he was. You would have thought he was running for mayor by the way he kept kissing everyone! The talk of the party, Clyde's huge face was plastered all over facebook, youtube and everyone was all a twitter on twitter as our big, friendly guy schmoozed the crowd.

I am always so pleased and amazed at how gentle and curious our camels are about new people.

The last two days have been set up, set up, set up! With two shows to build, Gil and I have been pretty much going non-stop. But both show areas are almost done and the new camel dairy exhibit looks lovely. I can't wait to meet the crowds there. I am going to try to write short pieces over the next weeks, just to give some sort of an idea as to what our day to day happenings are like. For now, it is back to the Camel Dairy exhibit for final touch up and grooming.

Oh! And our twelve new turkeys are waiting to be "colored" for their races. (they are all white so to identify the three different teams, we mist them with a combo of edible frosting coloring mixed with water... four red and four blue. We don't do their heads... just their tales, bodies and wings. They are very sweet about it.. I guess it beats basting!) They are racing crazy cute!

Ok... back to work.

Happy April Fools Day!

Ok! The jig is up!

This prank is the brain child of Channel 8 San Diego's Larry Himmel, who also gained international celebrity when his report on youtube shot to their number one video. The video was of Larry reporting while his own house burned to the ground during the Witch Creek Fire of October, 2007.

Larry contacted us via email and proposed the hoax. He even had a really funny script for us!

The day of the taping, He and Bruce (KFMB photographer/producer) Drove in w/ all the trimmins' complete w/ a fantastically cheesy buffalo mascot type costume.

We had so much fun with Larry and Bruce. When it came time to shoot the footage of the creature out in the pasture, we weren't exactly sure how the camels would handle it.

The donkeys and Holy cow headed for the hills but the camels couldn't wait to say hello to their new friend. So who is that handsome Sasquatch? Larry Himmel himself of course!

I don't know what was more fun, filming the gag or listening to to Gil do a "table read" of our parts off of Larry's email two weeks ago.

No camels or bigfoots were injured in the making of this practical joke.

However, Boo-boo was a bit beguiled by Larry's seemingly sexy Sasquatch. Remember, Boo-boo hasn't been a gelding all that long...

Thanks Larry for letting us in on the joke.

You are the greatest!

Note: not a San Diegan? Click on the post title and it will take you to the video clip!

Come visit the Camel Dairy! Next tour is Sunday at 1:00. Go to www.cameldairy.com and click on TOUR page

What IS That???!!!

This is freaking me out....

Ok, let me explain this picture. Look behind the big camel facing left in the middle of the picture. Can you see that black thing (or is it brown?)

I blew it up and tried to lighten it (see insert to pic) but that makes it worse.

I have been out of town with my bird show performing at the Pinal County Fair in Arizona.

I talk to Gil every day. He tells me what's going on at home and how my kitties are and of course how all the camels are doing.

I didn't think anything about it at the time but he mentioned that the milking camels seemed a little "light" like they weren't giving as much milk in the morning.

I mean, that can happen right? The weather in Arizona was a bit dry and windy so maybe it was windy here at the Camel Dairy in Ramona too and that might have bothored the girls and effected their milk production. Can that happen?

Ok, so we go out this morning to milk together and Gil is right. In fact, even a couple of the camels were so light, it was as if the babies had gotten their first and had an early breakfast.

But that isn't as weird as what came next! Shadow (our coyote fearin' dog) was barking at the pasture... I mean REALLY barking! So we go over there and see this BIG animal! I don't know what it was. It was right by the camels. I ran to get the camera and got a shot... not a great one.

What is that? Have you ever seen a bear or big.... what ... I don't know, in Ramona?

Gil got some video too and as soon as I figure out how to load it, I'll post it.

Now we are freaked out and thinking back on the past couple of weeks. The dogs have been barking a lot in the early, early morning. Even the racing turkeys have been gobbling non-stop (which we assumed was just because of breeding season) And come to think of it our donkeys (which are soooo smart and sooo good at alerting about predators) have been braying more too. The thing is, everyone is fine, I can't see where anything has tried to get into a pen or break through a fence.

I'll keep you posted!

Nancy

ps... to our neighbors: have you seen a big brown bear or big brown????