Saving Christmas

Animal rescue ranch site of upcoming comedy series Willi and the 4, 5, 6 Boys

By Joanne McDonald

For NewsNow

First, Dave Nottrodt saved the life of baby Christmas.

Then, he started finding four-leaf clovers - dozens and dozens of them.

Now, Dave is working towards the launch this fall of his YouTube comedy series ‘Willi and the 4, 5, 6 Boys’ and he’s hoping all that green will bring good luck.

Dave and his wife Shelley run an animal rescue operation at their TimberLane Ranch in St. Anns. They’re salt of the earth when you meet them and they work both on and off the farm to keep all the animals in oats and hay.

A year ago December, the sun was just coming up when Dave went out to the barn and found a newly born alpaca frozen to the ground and clinging to life. Warming her up with a hair dryer they called local doctors who didn’t hold much hope for the newborn’s survival, then took her to the University of Guelph.

“They were willing to take her in and they worked around the clock for five days, kept her alive and sent her home. We bottle fed her for a year.”

“It’s lucky we found her in time. Ten minutes more and she wouldn’t have made it.”

Since then, the little alpaca they named Christmas, a.k.a. ‘Clucky’ doesn’t want anything to do with her cousins in the barn and spends all her time with her human family. She starts clucking as soon as she sees Dave. “She thinks I’m her mother.”

Quantam Leap

Spending time in the fields with Clucky, Dave discovered he had a knack for spotting elusive four-leaf clovers. He’s since found about 100 fourleaf, 20 five-leaf and one six-leaf clover.

And this is where the story takes another interesting turn. “My brain does not stop.”

Dave, with Clucky never far from his side, has built a studio in one of the barns on the property and is now filming episodes of ‘Willi and the 4, 5, 6

Boys’ a comedy about a time traveller that will launch this fall on his Quantum Leap Entertainment YouTube channel.

A universal speak easy in space, the series’ episodes will follow the escapades of Willi AI (artificial intelligence) as he introduces talented people from outer space to the earth-bound stage. “It will be like the show ‘America’s Got Talent’ only in outer space.” And just in case you were wondering, Willi, as an acronym, stands for Worldly Intergalactic Liaison Linear Intelligence.

The laminated fourleaf clovers will be gifted to subscribers of the YouTube channel and the show will generate some funds to help care for the animals.

There is no end to the magic Dave has created in his recording studio. Infinity mirrors make for tentative stepping for visitors fearing they will be plunged into the deep abyss of what is only an illusion. More than 10,000 LED lights play tricks with the space, and light the set that will be home base for Willi’s adventures.

Dave and his Rube Goldberg-like sensibilities (Goldberg the Pulitzer Prize winning cartoonist, engineer and inventor) are in full play in the studio. Shelley says he can build anything.

The studio is also available to do in house commercial and integrative product placement shoots.

Dave and Shelley started the rescue operation with plans to provide a home for about 20 animals. Twelve years later, they’ve reached 80 and counting with alpacas, llamas and horses.

Tours and events can be booked at TimberLane Ranch, located at 3689 Fifteen Rd., St. Anns.

Some of the animals have become stars in their own right, including alpaca Bambi who is available for weddings and birthday parties and loves the camera.

The fleece, /suri and huacaya fibre from the alpacas is used to make clothing and accessories which are available at the Alpacalore shop, located at 320 Vansickle Rd., Suite 5, St. Catharines. See photos on Instagram @alpacalorestore

For more information call Dave at 905984-1257; Shelley at 905-984-1254; email: shelley@timberlaneranch.com or visit: timberlaneranch.com