Early Autumn Right On Schedule

Not only did the kids go back to school, but autumn on the mountain seems to be keeping calendar time. The nights have been cool, low 40's high 30's and the days glorious. No smoke, clear as  bell and hovering in the mid 70's tops. Of course some rain would complete the perfection of the season, but it too will arrive at some point. The horses are all putting forth their winter coat efforts. Curls and swirls and the promise of fuzzy cut velvet like pelts are sprouting. Even the donkeys are beginning to lay in coats over the almost shiny slickness they had this late summer. The little spotted fawns of June are spotless and darkening. Their coats becoming the color of bark and tall dry grass and earth. The seasonal shift has happened and even though subtle, it has been duly noted and welcomed.

The weekend was a busy one. Gene was running amok up at the Greensprings Mountain Festival and the turn out for this first big community fund raising effort went surprisingly well. Of course there were problems and small emergencies, but the only big one involved a loose horse that wasn't recovered until Sunday morning. All proceeds from this event go to the Greensprings Fire & Rescue, The Pinehurst School and the local food bank run by our small little mountain church. I spent my time holding down the fort, starting to put summer clothes away and some pattern cutting. I prefer my mountain experience quiet and unpopulated.

Yesterday I decided to do a much needed bit of organizing and cob web cleaning in my messy little tack room. Buzz and Juno gave me an obvious heads up about an early morning visitor in there the other day. Neither would go through their little kitty opening in the wall. A sure sign something was afoot inside. I opened the door very slowly in the dark and spotted one of the biggest raccoons I've seen to date up here. The mountain version of a fish story goes like this. He must have been over 40 pounds! He went up onto the table and I closed the door and waited outside the barn. I should have left the door open for him. Just as I was going back to do that, two shiny eyes and a pointy nose popped up in the cat opening. I lit the escape route for him and off he went after squeezing back through the way he got in. Our morning routine continued as if nothing happened.

There are other changes coming besides the season, and the deck, but I'm saving that until it all falls into place. And please excuse my almost picture less post. I'll leave you at least with parting shots!

Raccoon Spotter.

Tonight There's Gonna Be a Breakout...

And, yes there was! Please, let me state right from the get-go, at the root of 99% of all farm "incidents" is a goat. They look sweet and are darn cute, but don't be lulled. They are Trouble with a capitol T. ;)

So, let me set the stage. It's hot, still holding at about 92 degrees F. and hazy and I always give fresh water to the boys on my way to feed. Yesterday was no different. Tip the big water tank, rinse, start refilling, spray a few milling equine bodies etc. Go out the gate and LATCH it. And as always, a couple of goats scoot under said gate only this time they broke the chain holding the latch as their scooting isn't a nice clean clearance under. They lift the gate with their backs.

The sound is the same though so I don't turn around until I'm ten steps closer to the barn and feeling something isn't right. It isn't, the gate has swung open as wide as possible and five horses are all milling around outside. NP, I calmly walk up and grab

Cooper and Dandy by their fly masks and lead them back into the paddock. Now I have 12 feet of gate to pull up and two hands full ( that third hand I always wish for would have come in well, very handy). I have to let go of someone to grab that gate and swing it back on it's big heavy arc. The other three horses are now trotting around and my two are getting anxious. I let go of Cooper, who realizes he has another opportunity at freedom if he can scoot by Dandy. I'm hauling on the gate as hard and fast as I can. Coop scoots out, gate swings closed. I now have four horses running

around the property and one going nuts inside the gate I'm tying together with baling twine. Gene has gone to do the silly jump off a mountain thing.

Now everyone is running up towards the back 40. Dandy, bless his sweet soul, is racing around the paddock watching his herd leave him and screaming his little red head off. I dump some hay up there, hoping he will settle a bit and eat and not break through the fence. Grab a little treat or two and a halter because if I can get Cooper they will all follow. I'm whistling too, because they all know a whistle means a treat.

After walking in the heat, with 5 goats following and tripping me up about a 1/4 mile into the back 40 I realize, these boys are long gone and even the dust has settled. I'm not walking up to the irrigation canal road. It's way to hot for old huffing and puffing me to do in this heat. I go back to the house, call who I need to call to get gate codes, check on Dandy who is pitifully whinnying between hay bites and head out to the car with every horse goodie available stuffed in pockets. I hear the phone ringing and run back to the house to answer in case some neighbor has four horses eating their front lawn. It's a marketing call. Back to the car where by now, I'm feeling like Dandy and just want to cry. I'm hot, sweaty and worried. I pull into the turnaround and there, right there in the lower driveway is my boy Cooper waiting for me. He doesn't believe in keep away and meets me at the car. He gets a treat and the halter gets put on and we begin the walk back to the barn. No sign of the three stooges, Boo, Nick & Imp, but as I'm passing the gully by the barn driveway entrance I see a shiny black back way down munching grass. I whistle and Nick comes running up the slope and heads right for the barn. The two stooges follow and I have all three horses milling around the barn. Cooper gets put away, Imp & Nick come up to the paddock gate wanting to go in and then, there is just Boo. Boo likes keep away. He wastes about another 3 minutes of my time staying just out of reach when a carrot finally catches his eye. The bust out lasted about 40 minutes. Boo has a scratch near one of his eyes, a ding on a back leg. He's my runner, everyone else is kind of lazy. It took longer for me too cool down even with two beers than they were loose.

This is not the first time the goats have sprung the horses, they have bumped that gate up enough to come off the hinges (Gene turned one around so it can't be lifted again) and broken the latch chain a few times before. One time the horses didn't even know the gate was open. Had someone stopped by ( no one did) and asked for the girls, I would have happily sent them on their way, although they are always a little contrite and willing to stomp through the woods with me on a search party. Lots of new browse to check out no doubt. I'm sure last night everyone was swapping stories of the great adventure complete with Dandy admonishing the group for leaving him.

Gene finally called wanting to know what was up with that message I left. "Nothing Honey, we got it all handled. How was the flight? Do we have any of that unbreakable airline cable stuff still?"