Sunday, February 7, 2010

Time Flies & so do geese


Per the title it seems time has gotten away from me (again). I am reminded of the phrase ' hours pass slowly and days fly'.

Ok, second half of title; adult geese per the references do not or can not fly. Well my geese apparently have never read the reference material. They had started taking morning flights across the pasture and circling back to the barn. I figured 'ok, weird, but they return immediately so no problem' I was wrong, one Monday morning they start on their normal flight path but then continue on down the road. No problem, they will be right back. Nope, not in their plans. I waited all day for them to return and by nightfall still no geese at home. I had a rough idea of their location as the neighbors were keeping me updated. Tuesday, still not home so off I go on the quad to round them up. That plan worked for about 5 minutes until they just moved farther off of the road where they promptly sat down completely comfortable. Off I go to herd them back, ooops forgotten the depth of snow. I struggle through knee deep snow and managed to finally move them about 50 yards in the correct direction. Yea, I think we are on the way home. The geese had a different idea; walk 20 feet sit, I move closer, they walk 20 feet and sit, this goes on for the 50 yards when suddenly they decide to fly, good I think 'fly back to barn' NOPE make a big aerial circle and fly across the road into the neighbors yard. A few choice words and I head back to the quad, remember the knee deep snow? Well in some spots it's up to mid thigh, I begin to feel like a member of the Donner party ( deciding that I would have been frozen and eaten in the first day) struggle through a few feet, this is like a stair stepper from H#@ll. Nearing the road and quite tired from this endeavor I decide to crawl, yes crawl the last 20 feet to the road. At this point I didn't care if the neighbors saw me, I just didn't want to take a step, a very high step, sink through snow and repeat any more!! Crawling allowed me to stay on top of the snow. Reaching the quad, the road and civilization, I decide to leave the wonderful fun (hahahaha) geese to find their way back home.

Wednesday morning finds one lone goose in the front pasture, Yea! they are coming home. School bus drives by, and poof the lone goose is gone......grrrrr. Later that morning, time for chores in the barn finds three geese there. Acting very spooky but at least home. Next morning four geese home, I'm wondering A) if I can count. B)what took them so long C) where is the 5th? Next day 3 geese, what the heck!!!!??? Later that afternoon 4 geese, am I going crazy or what ( don't answer that).

Following week geese count remains at 4. I figure a coyote or something got the fifth one. I hope they decide they had enough adventure, I still wonder why they decided to venture off, looking for more water? adventure? I don't know, what I do know is adult domesticated geese (American Buff) can and will fly. Don't believe everything you read!!

The male Dexter calves have all been sold and are at their new homes. Sheep were sold, amongst many jokes about hubby delivering them to a truck stop. " hehehe, did he dress them up when he delivered them?......No surprise the trip took so long, sheep and truckers together...... The truck stop was midway for the new owner, who lives in North Dakota, insert more sheep jokes here.....

Pride goeth before the fall, we made it through mid January thinking we finally had the watering figured out for livestock, yea all spigots functional, water for everyone. Then, within a week both spigots freeze up and we are hauling water to the tanks!!! I decide to work efficiently and fill a large plastic container to fill Tomas's water, I am within inches of dumping it into stock tank when the behemoth shifts his hind end and cracks the container dumping all 50# of water everywhere. Couldn't he have waited until I emptied the water first?

Bubby's wound is healing very nicely, Kasino the mare still is looking longingly at Tomas who is now housed by himself. Time will tell if she was successfully bred.

Weekends bring lots of food, friends +/- football games/bonfires. Kate, the youngest spent all day Friday and Saturday baking. I of course have a love/hate relationship with this. Yellow cake cooked with whole cranberries, topped with whole cranberry sauce ( homemade) mixed with cream cheese is a too delicious treat! I rationalize that at least the cranberries make it a health food choice. A pre super bowl bonfire with friends went well, we had doubts if the wood would burn, but Sunday morning brings the fire still smoldering. Check out the person the the fire picture to get an idea of the size of the fire.

1 comment:

suzyQ said...

Great to get an update on your busy life!
I commiserate on the joys of hauling water. I pull 2 5-gallon buclets at a time on a plastic toboggan an now the entire path is like bobsled run from episodes of sloshing.
I can't stop thinking about Bunny...do you have a photo of her?