Well, here's the farm report for this morning.
We got Morgaine loaded in the trailer yesterday after chores and breakfast, and headed over to the neighbor's place. The clouds were just starting to burn off, and the wind had dropped about half, from 45-50mph to about 20. It was still REALLY cold with the wind chill (actual temp was 17), but not as bad as earlier. Morgaine got right in the trailer when I asked her to, but man, she was doing the cha-cha-cha back there the whole trip over. Or maybe jumping jacks, I couldn't really tell, but the trailer was bouncing so much, it was rocking the truck! Siwwy cow!
We talked to the neighbor about picking her up next week, and that if it was zero-ish or below, we'd rather be able to leave her there a few more days if that was OK because our old (really old) trailer tires tend to freeze solid in deep cold and have a habit of going thump-thump-thump when they go around. I worry that one day we'll split one doing that, so I don't like taking the trailer anywhere in subzero temps. Anyway, he said that was fine, but if she really isn't pregnant right now, and does breed on Saturday (which if she's not pregnant, should be her next heat), he can bring her over on Tuesday when he's taking some yearlings to the sale barn. We're on the way, so if her breeding patch is rubbed off on Sunday or Monday, he said he'd just load her up with the yearlings and drop her off here on the way to town.
THAT RIGHT THERE is one of the things that make living in this godforsaken harsh climate worthwhile. Well, that, and the summers. The summers here are beautiful, a little too hot for me sometimes, but beautiful. The neighbors here are unbelievable. It's like we're all part of a big happy family, SO totally unlike living in The City was. So even if it's too cold for us to move our trailer, Morgaine has a ride home.
Once again, she cried and ran the fence when we were leaving. She reminds me of myself when I was five years old and went to spend the night with my little girlfriend the first time. She was my best friend, but being left alone in a strange house was horribly stressful, and no matter how much her parents tried to entertain me and make me feel comfortable, I was NOT happy. I couldn't wait to go home the next morning, and my friend thought I didn't like her. Anyway, that's what Morgaine looks like, and it breaks my heart. I know she can't wait to come back home, too. :x
And then last night, Rich and I went out to do chores (the wind finally had died down, YAY!), and on the way I gave Jasper his dinner, which he carted off to his "dining room," then we went on to feed the cows and chickens (and Horus), and tuck everyone in for the night. Oh, you guys will enjoy this, we have one year-old pullet (little girl chicken for the uninitiated) that sleeps in the horse barn and sometimes has trouble flying up to the top of the wooden fence we have sectioning off a corner of the barn for feed cans and such. From there, she flaps up to the rafters. Anyway, she tried to get up there a week or so ago and missed, and now her confidence is shot. She just walks back and forth, looking up, squatting down like she's getting ready to jump, but then doesn't, and continues walking back and forth, making a very distressed sound. So I finally grabbed an empty lick tub we keep out there for extra water in the summer (and in the winter it's upside down so we can sit on it if we want), and set it near the wood fence where she was trying to get up. She hopped RIGHT up on the tub and from there to the top of the fence, and then into the rafters. Rich had already gone to feed the cats that night so he didn't see it.
The next night, "Dumbchit" the pullet was again walking back and forth, so I got the tub and set it out for her, so she'd GO, and I wouldn't have to stand out there waiting, and Rich slapped his forehead and said, "SERIOUSLY? You're giving her a stepstool?" Well, yeah. Of course. She needs the help. (But now I have to put the tub out for her every night, see how well she's trained me?)
But I digress. When I was in the cow barn feeding Cricket and Oliver and bedding the stalls, I heard coyotes yipping off in the distance. Usually, if they're far away like that, Jasper will just listen, and make sure they don't get any closer, but evidently he'd had enough of their shenanigans and went after them. He has a little escape hole he dug under the perimeter fence up on the far hill, where he can see for miles, and evidently he left, because he didn't come when I called him to have his dessert cookies. He always follows me back to the house after chores with "that look" on his face that says he can only be happy if he has another cookie. I always keep a handful of those tiny milk-bone things in my pocket. But I called and called, and he didn't show, so I figured he was out taking care of business. He came back shortly after, although I was in the house so I didn't see him, but he always does. When it gets light out, he'll be sitting under his tree waiting for breakfast.
Oh, I was going to tell Kenny, on the way back from the neighbor's yesterday, there was something lying on the side of the (dirt) road, and I told Rich not to run over it, so he moved over a little and as we went by, I saw that it was an EAR OF CORN! WTH was an ear of corn doing on a dirt road in the middle of the grasslands? There's no corn anywhere around here! LOL! It was such an odd thing to see, and Ken's story about his corn yesterday reminded me. I didn't stop and pick it up. 0