Afternoon Chores 2

Well said, Tonia, things did not go as planned tonight at all.

One of the LGD's is fairly new, and has a habit of taking off. He finds ways out. I was warned to keep the wooden gate chained since he has most recently been using that as an escape. So, amongst all the other chores, we feed and walked the dogs and brought them back in.

But gun shooting had started up on the hill across the road. I had also been warned that both the dogs suffer anxiety when there is shooting and that is when Luke is most liable to take off. No worries, I had the gate secured.

I was raking up the pasture just outside the paddock gate, trying to get that finished before the geese went in, and Willow called from the barn, "Luke is trying to get out the wooden gate,"

Intent on the job at hand, I said, "tell him no!"

I should have dropped the rake and gone immediately, for next thing I know, I hear Willow calling the dog so I ran to see her flying out the gate. I followed. It was like a bad comedy show, or maybe a good one, since I am biased being one of the participants.

There goes the blur of white giant dog down the road, Willow in hot pursuit, and me trailing the long behind. The dog gained on Willow, Willow gained on me (she recently placed second at school in the half mile run and it showed tonight!)

Lucky for her young strong legs, she saw which way the dog went at the intersection, and I hollered for her to come back so we could get the car since I knew there was no way to catch him on foot.

All the way back to the car, the geese honking in astonishment as I left them in the gathering gloom to persue the dog.

Down the road, around the corner and no sight of him down the road, so we drove along and we saw him in someone's front yard. I backed up and pulled in and was much relieved I was able to catch him without a merry dog chase.

Into the car he went and I held my tongue not to scold him since we had managed to catch him afterall.

I made sure I snugged that chain up TIGHT when we got back, and rushed on to the geese.

The two younger ganders are supposed to go in first and get locked in the back of the goose house, but the old one tonight was determined to go in first. Around the goose house they went three times with Willow and I trying to separate them with push brooms.

Finally one younger guy darted in, followed hot on the heels by the old guy, whom I blocked with the broom. No go, the thing was determined, so I pinned him with the broom and let the other one pass in. Then I had to go in to latch the door, and a couple of the geese followed me in and saw that broom and ran back out and around two more times before they went in...all but the youngest, who kept going around in a panic not knowing where the rest of the flock had gone...duh.

Phew, geese done, time to bring in the horses, Yeah, right, they were at the way top of the field and not budging, so we gathered halters and leadlines and hiked up the mountain to get them.

Haltering was a cinch, but the filly was full of it again and I couldn't manage both, so Willow took Maya, her first time leading a horse, down off that steep pasture in the near dark.

Then Maya drank all the water in the tub by the barn on her way by, so when we finally had them down back I had to refill the tub by the barn and lug another few gallons down to them to make sure they had enough...

It was dark by the time we finally finished.

One more night and I think that's it...plus of course first thing in the am again. That was another nightmare today with the weekend boys scaring the barn goats so half of them wouldn't come in....sigh.

Well, I have my regular helper coming in special tomorrow per my request, good thing since one of the other boys told me today he wanted tomorrow off...

And...we are due for rain, possibly mixed with snow tomorrow late. Oh boy.

Afternoon Chores

I agreed to do afternoon chores at the farm this weekend, a first for me.

There wasn't much involving goats-the most was hay and water to the bucklings on the hill, and Willow and I spent some time just saying, "hi" to our favorites.

First it was turning out the fat mare, and feeding the vocal Guinea hog, Laverne.

Then feeding and walking the Great Pyranees, and feeding the cats.

The last animals to deal with were the goose flock, which was causing me the most anxiety, but went fairly well. The sky was turning crimson and they were ready for their grain and Willow helped steer them in with the push broom.

Then the horses in for the night-the Filly, Estrella, was FULL of it. I opted to halter and lead Maya and let the filly follow, which she did, charging and retreating until the end. She made it all the way back down to the barn for a drink and charged back into the now-darkening field.

I took Maya's lead and made a makeshift halter around the filly and took her down back, prancing, ears laid back. That trick comes in handy when messing with a halter might be a challenge. Toss the lead behind the ears and loop around the nose. Hold both ends firmly under the chin for control and let go one end to release..

Hope the chores go that easy tomorrow....:)