One of my favourite times of the day is the morning. I am up early with or without the Beau-dog alarm, get dressed, eat breakfast and head out for chores. I put the coffee pot on before I go out to the barn. It warms me up when I come in and I do enjoy coffee, a cookie and writing my blog.
It was a very busy weekend. Sunday alone was non-stop. I slept very late, for me, as the Beau-dog alarm slept in and I leapt out of bed at 8:15, knowing that would was to be delivered after 8:30. The wood delivery was fashionably farm late for a Sunday morning and arrived about 9:30. This allowed me to get my chores done and get some coffee into me.
As we were stacking the wood, folks arrived to see Sheba. Suzanne was very knowledgeable of llamas. She recently lost her dearly beloved llama and was delighted with Sheba. They took her home with them. I felt sad to see her go however Suzanne confirmed my thoughts on our situation, that a predator controlling llama needs to be without like company. I was impressed when Suzanne walked in an slipped a halter on Sheba and then led her out to the driveway. I had never tried to do this with Sheba, mostly because she was so evasive and we could not touch her. The only time I got that close was when she was shorn and she was very good to handle.
When they arrived and I looked at the box they had on a trailer, I said she would not fit in that. But they know llamas and assured me she would lie down in it and fit just fine. And so it was. They hooked up her halter to a long line that went through the front of the box. Suzanne and I pushed on the hind end and Sheba - mostly willingly - got into the box. The back end of the box was bolted on - literally, with a screw gun - and the trailer gate closed up. And away they went.
So - maybe my gifted math children will read this and check on my calculations - the wood was $200 and I sold Sheba for $225. I made $25; sort of. I sold Sheba for what I paid for her. There were some costs in between. The wood will reduce our propane consumption with which we fuel our furnace. We have piles of wood here but it needs to be split and dried. It will cost us under $200 to rent a splitter for a weekend but we decided we don't have an entire weekend to dedicate to this activity right now. And time is marching on. Although it has now melted with the recent rain, that snowfall last week and the cold were a sudden reminder that winter is coming, if not here.
Millie has had a few busy nights, barking away at coyote traffic around us. I hear her bark at various points and realise she is actually following them as they go around the house - at a distance but moving all the same. There are dens in the mountainous rocks across the road. This is not only the perfect spot for a cell tower - we get excellent reception - but for coyote denning. They move along the creek across the road and then cross the road at the southern edge of our property, and move inward and to the Middle Field. And Millie's barking follows that pathway. And then there are the various criss-crossings across the property...
We have met with a fellow who is willing to hunt the coyotes. It is a sport around here. While fixing tea I overheard him showing hubby photos of mother and daughter and thought they were family photos. When I joined them at the table he showed me the photos of the mother-daughter pair he had shot the week before.
On sale was a catch and release coyote cage which we purchased. We do not intend to release. This is just one more way to remove some of the predator problem. We need to develop this plan further and likely in conjunction with the hunter. And somehow we need to keep our dogs out of it
Since the temperature rose and the sun came out we decided to ride the motorbikes to the gas station, to fill up for winter storage preparations. Neither bike would start and time was required to charge each battery. By late afternoon when the bikes started, the sun had been covered with cloud but we were going. We had a nice ride to the nearest gas station, about twelve kilometres up the road and then back. It was a bit chilly but nice to ride. While I pulled together a dinner of leftovers and tucked up the critters for the night, hubby finished winterizing the bikes and moving them into the small stall in the Small Barn for their hibernation.
Ruby - or Ruby-Dooby - as I have been humming to her, is full of antics. She and Millie do not really like the cat. Poor Humphrey cat lives in the roof trusses. Ruby-Dooby has climbed up the hay to the rafters several times in pursuit. Humphrey walks across the trusses to the middle area where boards have been set down to allow the storage of junk. In addition Humphrey is able to climb over the wall and through to the overhang where there is more hay stored. Humphrey would like to cuddle; the dogs are not yet ready for that!
Electrocution may be what gets Ruby in the end. She likes to chew wires, only this time it was the live wire of the rope light I had set up for the hens. Fortunately she did not damage the timer, just the rope light. That seasonal feeling from the rope light has now ended. I have hooked up another light in a different location. I'm sure the hens are confused.
What a long day filled with lots and lots of activity!
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