"Hey Mickey, You're So Fine, You're So Fine, You Blow My Mind!!"
Meet Mickey the Llama!! He is cute, intelligent and loves people and treats. I remember meeting Mickey this past Spring at the Louisiana Purchase Gardens and Zoo in the Childrens Zoo Petting area
. They have these old candy machines set up where you put in a quarter and some animal food comes out.
The Two P's and I were pretty excited to get to feed this hairy guy.
The zoo keeper working the Petting Zoo area informed me of his name. How could anyone ever forget a Llama named Mickey??
Check out this cute pic of the Dupont kids in their Shirley the Elephant tees...Mickey is photo bombing their pic!!! hahah
(We love seeing your pics of your kiddos (and you!) in our tees!)
I took a photo of Mickey back then and posted it on our Instagram bc he was just so darn cute. I never dreamed that I knew his former owner!! I got a PM from my ole high school buddy Kenda Ducote who filled me in on the history of Mickey. Here she is below with her daughter Addison.
Kenda and I had played soccer together many many moons ago. She is now a CPA in town and married to fellow La Tech grad Darren and they have a beautiful little girl named Addison. Mickey actually belonged to her Mother Johnnie and her husband Greg Phillips. Here is Mrs Johnnie below.
The Phillips are the proud owners of Llama Creek Farm located off Hwy 34 past the Paper Mill.
They have 50 fenced in acres for all kinds of animals to live at. Everything from cows, to donkeys, to goats and even a miniature horse. WOW! My kind of place!!!
Back in Jan of 2013, they had 4 young Llamas come from Kentucky. Two boys and Two girls, all from different families and all of the right age to begin breeding.
Mickey was one of the boys. They have had 4 babies from this group and two more on the way!! This place is Llama heaven- These fun animals live free range on the land. They roll around in the creek, they bed down in the woods and live off the grass. They are supplemented hay in the winter and they get sweet feed for treats. What a Life!!
Local Fav Vet, Clark Cooper, had warned them that one day, one of the males would be ousted from the group. Well, Mickey was it! I think he started getting the feeling that he was the secondary male on the totem pole. So, He started leaving the group and escaping from his 50 acreas. Not sure if he was climbing under the fence or going over the fence, but the Phillips were unable to keep him on their land. This was tough on Mrs Johnnie, bc Mickey was her Favorite! He was the friendliest of all the Llamas. Luckily, our local zoo was willing to take him in back in March. He became completely halter trained at the zoo and is now a favorite amongst visitors. Kenda said Mickey is probably around 4 years old.
I had actually sat down to work on a Flamingo design, but it just wasn't working out. Artists Block! HA For some reason, I kept thinking about that silly Llama and starting sketching him from the photo I had.
We had some pretty purple 100% Organic knit tees sitting in the t-shirt room, just dying to have a fun design put on them. We ended up making our image of Mickey a little lighter in color so he would show up on this special purple tee. Wanted everyone to be able to see his very expressive eyes!!
What do you think?!?! So excited about this fun design.
Close up of his face on the shirt
A couple of years ago, My mother in law got the P's the funniest book called "Is your Mama a Llama". Have you read it? Two thumbs up!! The Children's Shoppe in Ruston, LA had a bunch of different llama books when I went in there the other day.
The adult ones are on order too! We are printing Mickey on a gorgeous Heather Imperial Purple 50/50 blended tee. Made in America (as it should be!) and printed in North Louisiana.
I think sometimes the best ideas are ones that just happen, and aren't forced. Im so glad we have helped immortalize this very special Llama on his own tee. You can order one online at
www.mrpstees.com or come get one in person this coming Saturday, Aug 1st at Zoobilation.
We will have two booths set up from 10am-5pm.
Love
Lissy
Mickey was being cared for at the zoo by a sweet lady named Natasha. Appreciated her help in trying to get some closer photos of him!!
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