Hot Air Balloon

When our oldest girls were young and a long way from being on full-time guardian duty, a Hot Air Balloon came close to their corral.

They instinctively knew to round up the alpacas and defend their herd.  Noodle took the front line and Wonton went back and forth between checking on the alpacas they put in the loafing shed and backing up Noodle.

I did not tell them that balloons were not a threat because I was so impressed with how well these puppies worked together.

Fast forward 4.5 years: I've managed to convince all of the younger dogs that Hot Air Balloons are nothing to be concerned about.  However both Noodle and Wonton are still convinced that they are out to hurt their alpacas, me and/or Hubba.

Hot Air Balloons don't listen to their warning, so the dogs get more upset the longer the balloon hangs around.

As you can see from a couple of these photos, we have close residential neighbors who don't care for barking dogs at 7am.  But residential property adjacent to farm land is an entirely different post. Suffice it to say that we try to be good neighbors.

There are two Hot Air Balloons that regularly fly in the area.  So every weekend during the spring and fall, as long as it's a cool morning with clear skies, we will see a Hot Air Balloon at least once.

Normally it's a quick pass in less than 15 minutes and they don't come too close to our property.  So it's not a big deal to keep Wonton and Noodle in for a little while longer.  But on Sunday, this balloon hung around our property for close to two hours.

Since Hot Air Balloons are dependent upon the winds at the time I know they weren't hanging close on purpose, but it really messed with my priorities for the day.