[gate chain jingles]
- C'mon. Let's go!
[chuckling]
* *
- Ask Audrey Hackbarth about her alpacas...
- That's Terracotta.
And she had Saturn-Lee,
and then Saturn-Lee had Jupiter
and then she also had Corn Dog.
- ...and you'll get quite an answer.
- This is her sister, Cinnamon Toast-Lee.
Chiquita's first daughter is Chi-Lee.
- If you didn't guess it already,
alpacas are Audrey's thing.
- They keep calling me the "Alpaca Whisperer."
And people know me as "Alpaca Audrey."
You feed one. I'll feed the other.
- Smaller than a llama,
alpacas are specifically bred for their fleece.
- There you go.
Good girl.
Check out this fiber.
[ripping of velcro]
That's why you jacket them.
That's a maroon.
Unbelievable!
- Audrey found her passion for these four-legged, furry friends
by an unfortunate turn of events in 2010
and an unusual gift from her husband.
- I was in a car accident,
so Mark went and bought me a baby alpaca
to stay with me in the house
while I was, you know, down and out.
And he bought me Chiquita as a tiny little baby.
I just fell in love with her.
She was so tiny, and so cute.
They have huge eyes; their eyes really talk to you.
Who knew this was going to happen?
I've never even heard of an alpaca.
- This is Chiquita today.
- Chiquita. T-t-t-t-t.
Come to Mom.
Come.
- Full grown and still one of Audrey's favorites.
- No, no, no. Let Chiquita have some.
You're momma's good girl, huh?
That's how I got my first one.
And I was hooked... 50 later.
[chuckles]
- Hooked would be an understatement.
- I shear 'em.
I wash it. I card it.
I spin it. I dye it.
I weave it. I felt it.
We make rugs.
We make the slippers.
You name it, we make it here.
[whirrr of clippers]
Isn't that awesome? Look at that.
And you can feel the heat coming right off of there.
Oh, you are so nice.
[whirrr of clippers]
See the famous ring around his neck?
[whirrr of clippers]
All right, he's ready to go out on the town.
[chuckles]
That's it.
That's it!
- And when Audrey says "go out on the town,"
that's exactly what she means.
[door clunks shut]
- There you go.
We're going bye-bye.
* *
- Audrey and her alpacas are a familiar sight
around Wisconsin Rapids.
- I will go down the road, and stop in front of any business.
I sit on the sidewalk and I'll stand there and shear 'em.
I'm mobbed with people,
and they just watch me give 'em a haircut.
- And the reaction from other drivers is like whoa!
- Oh my gosh, they get whiplash.
[laughs]
They get whiplash.
- The hobby that quite literally got started by accident
is now a full-time endeavor.
And Audrey is completely self-taught.
- I'm not really into the reading part of it,
and learning.
It looked like there were so many steps.
It can't be much different than an Easter egg.
So, that's how I ended up doing it like an Easter egg.
People always ask me,
"What day will you be doing things?"
I say, "Every single day.
"What time does it start?"
I said, "I start at 4:00 a.m. Are you coming?"
Gee, I don't know what we're going to get here.
So, I call this poofing.
[chuckles]
I made it up.
Isn't that wild?
[spritz, spritz]
This looks kind of cool to me.
Oh, I like that.
Hot, hot, hot.
You know how much energy it would take,
if I had to plan out what I was going to do?
That takes too much work.
I like easy peasy.
C'mon.
You want to go? C'mon.
Let's go in the house.
- These days Audrey makes it look easy with her new sidekick.
- It tickles.
Coconut-Lee, she's my little sweetheart.
Is that your bottle?
[quiet honk]
* *
There you go.
All done. Wipe your mouth.
There you go.
* *
- The shearing, dying, spinning...
- No, you cannot have that.
- ...and Coconut-Lee keep Audrey really busy.
- Stop eating fiber.
- Despite all the work, Alpaca Audrey says it's all worth it.
- They say, "Why do you do this?"
You can go out on your worst day,
and they can make you feel really good.
Yes, you're such a good boy.
* *
There.
You can't just have one potato chip, you have to have more.
That's kind of what happened here.
You don't want to get wet.
Come here. T-t-t-t.
Come on.
[quiet honk, honk, honk]