Sherry Samuels and I recently visited the Carolina Alpaca Celebration to learn a bit about alpacas. Neither one of us really knew what to expect. We learned about their husbandry, their birthing needs, their food requirements, and just how many things you can make out of alpaca wool. I learned they are part of the camelid family (and yes, they can spit like camels and llamas, although I didn’t see one spit the whole day). But the best thing we learned is that THEY ARE DARN CUTE and THEY TALK TO YOU (well, sort of). In short, we like them. In fact, I even learned how to kiss an alpaca.

Isn't that an adorable face? We were surprised by the size of these camelids. They were smaller than we anticipated.

I told you I learned how to kiss an alpaca. This is "Overture" and he is one friendly alpaca.

This one looks like a hipster alpaca. There are two types of alpacas: Huacaya (wha-ky-a) and Suri. The Huacaya has the dense, fluffy fleece and the Suri has the dreadlocks look going on. Both types of fleece are extremely soft.

As soon as we walked into the building, we were greeted by the most surreal and sweet sound– an alpaca humming. They seem to talk to you, but in a quiet, hum.

Click here to view the embedded video.

A while ago, we were at Bald Head Island, NC and spent some time on the beach. I enjoy walking on the beach and looking for interesting shells, etc. Something unusual caught my attention this time. A moist, brown/grey lump, roughly oval, covered with sand.

I kept walking. Then I saw another, and another. Most people ignored them, or thought they were probably some kind of animal feces. I’m just too curious, and besides, I didn’t think it was fecal material (there were no flies). So, I picked one up. It had more weight to it than I thought by just looking at it. I broke it apart and saw uniform texture and what appeared to be clay inside the sandy coating. I started to gather these “clay” blobs… much to some other visitors’ stupefaction.

Later I was able to confirm with the Bald Head Island Conservancy that what I had found was indeed clay. Jeff Harms, the Environmental Educator, told me:

What you are finding are indeed balls of clay from the salt marsh. If you were to slog around in the present marsh you would be up to your knees in a thick layer of rich mud. Over time this mud turns into peat and clay. What’s interesting about the clay that you are finding on the beach is that it is not from the present salt marsh but rather from about 40,000 years ago when the salt marsh stood where the present beach is. Barrier islands are basically islands of sand that continuously move and shift over time. Now the island has moved enough that the old clay layer that is beneath the entire island is starting to erode by wave action offshore and wash up on our beaches. That is also why you find so many oyster shells on the beach. Oysters also grow on the marsh side (not on the ocean side) and now as the beach erodes the entire beach is covered with oyster shells from the old salt marsh. Anyway, I hope that answers your question. The shell debris and sand that you find on the outside of the clay attaches as the clay balls roll in, anything you find trapped inside would be much older.

Pretty cool. I don’t usually think about clay as the result of tremendous amounts of time and transformation. Even for the clay to be unearthed takes an enormous amount of upheaval and energy. It makes me think about the lumps of clay as a kind of history book. I still have those lumps of clay, I just have to figure out what I want to do with them. Got any ideas?

Mystery Rock. What are those markings?

Read the post and the comments to see how geologists think as they solve puzzles like this.

The New Media Corp

NASA decided that this time, from the get-to of the FY2013 budget briefing at NASA HQ (2/13/2012), everyone in the room was media and was important. From the podium, Bob Jacobs (@bnjacobs), NASA’s deputy associate administrator for Communications and the moderator for the event, explained:

This year we’re trying something a little different, as well as traditional media representatives, for the first time we have invited members of the social media community to be a part of today’s presentation and we’ll be taking questions via Twitter using the hashtag #askNASA.

Bob Jacobs (@bnjacobs), NASA's deputy associate administrator for Communications tweets a pic of the Media Corp at beginning of the Budget Briefing.

It was a very special time–not just for those of us in the room–but for the army of social media journalists who have waited for recognition and validation of their status as “real” media.

Lindsey Mastis recorded Bob Jacobs’ thoughts on the relationship between NASA and social media. You can read her report of the briefing here.

MSL Tweetup Launch Day from Braga on Vimeo.

I can’t wait to get out in some more snow and capture some more magic!