Slow and Steady

Things are very slowly settling in for these yaks. And by slowly I mean almost in discernible progress. But upon careful analysis, it is progress none the less. I am not not afraid to go into the field and call them to bring them into the coral. No funny business has been attempted and they understand the routine. With the baby, it's nearly impossible for me to be a part of the daily brushing ritual which is sad for me but I'm glad that dad is able to do it. He reports that he is able to hook them up on their leads easily and brush them without much trouble. He can walk directly up to dusty and brush her without being hooked on a lead at all. This is real measurable progress. Amazing. 

We had quite the setback with Rocky. His halter is getting tight again so I bought a new one for an adult cow. But in order to try it on, how does one do this? We lassoed him around the horns and tried to put the new one on. But he struggled so much it was terrifying and the lasso tightened so tight around his horns that we couldn't get it off and had to use pliers to untie the knot. He was really un comfortable, poor guy. And ever since he's been traumatized. He hardly lets me pet him and always has the whites of his eyes showing when I try. I hope I haven't done irreparable damage. When I have cookies he comes up chomping his teeth together which is so funny to me. Dusty doesn't do that. But I have hope because they still come to me in the evenings and even look happy. Jumping and leaping with anticipation of the fresh hay. But what to do about those halters...

The giant load of hay from the last post is nearly finished and I am looking for someone local I can buy hay from. One person said they will most likely have hay for me but to check back in three weeks. I certainly will. I need at least 30 bales of hay for the winter, and then it will be a challenge to figure out how to cover it and protect it from the snow. 

I've been picking weeds out of the gravel driveway. I know, exciting business. But the driveway is looking better. There are several kinds of weeds, let me explain them in the following fascinating litany. One is what we call noodles because they are soft vines with little flowers that are quite easy to pull from the ground but you do have to find the spot where they come out of the ground. Sometimes they are so thick on the ground that I can just pick it up like a carpet and roll it, disconnecting it from all the little ground points as I go along. I made a huge log I had to drag behind myself hat must have weighed at least 15 pounds. I threw it over the fence and the Yaks came running. They love them. I can call them across the field to get some yummy noodles. And they enjoy it with great deliciousness. The long strands of the vines hanging down from their mouthes as they chomp on them. Hence, noodles.

Next, the other kind is also a viney thing, but it's much harder to pull from the ground. I can barely do it. I actually just have to shovel them out. It's no fun. But the satisfaction of seeing the clean driveway is nice. 

Then there's the goat heads, of course. They are super easy to pick when they are very very small, but that requires staring at the dirt all the time. 

Every once in a while you find a baby cactus coming up through the ground, and those have to be dealt with. 

Every once in a while I feel like I'm not doing enough "important" stuff in my life. I feel like I'm meant to do something important, but not sure what that might be. But then I remember Moses was a Shepard until he was like 80. He must have spread a lot of hay and scooped a lot of poop over the years before liberating his people from tyranny. There's hope for me still.

Moreover, there are the thistles, an invasive weed that look pretty nasty. Big thorns and spiky leaves. We heard that you can even be fined by the city if you have too much thistle unattended. Once our attention had been brought to these, we walked the property looking for them, and we found some huge ones taller than me that filled our whole garbage can.