Driving away from the ranch yesterday, the mountain hidden in the clouds of the storm.
Leaving the mountain, leaving my child behind… so far away it seems, when we only have to go to town. But town is a ways away, and the road may or may not be drivable. With four wheel drive, chains and one good driver behind the wheel (that would be Bob, not me), we made it through.
Alan was with us, unconcerned with the precarious conditions of driving through both fresh and packed snow along the unforgiving sections of road. Just happy to be with us and along for the ride. Time to bring him back to the vet – nothing too serious, just a bunch of good old dog troubles.
As always, our town trips are burdened by a long list of errands I am so good at putting off. When you go to town but once a month, that list has then a full month to accumulate and expand and grow to frightening proportions, and the bottom line is, by the time I do break down and leave the mountain, there’s a lot to do. Unfortunately, I have found, by just avoiding town, I do not eliminate the need for things in town. I’m working on it. Been working on it for about 20 years now. Still not there, but hopefully closer every year.
The highlight of the trip so far was not spending last night in the hotel room with my hubby and dog, eating Chinese food and flipping through the useless TV programs while sending caring text messages back home to Forrest…
Mama Katrina and new baby Shaggy
Baby Shaggy and happy Mama Katrina
No, the highlight of the trip so far has been visiting our cows, our three Highland girls and the new addition, mama Katrina’s new baby: a healthy and hearty, dark red fuzzy and furry bull calf! Our cow “herd” is in cow camp. That is, cow camp for a mountain cow: a rich pasture in the valley. They’re hanging out with a bunch of what I would call “regular” cows, real cows, the non-fuzzy, furry, friendly sorts. Except for that #248, who was as nice and loving (yes, cows can be loving!) as our Highland cows, and wouldn’t leave us alone until we’d rubbed her behind the ears. We later learned her name is “Girl Friend,” and the owner, like us, thinks nice cows are worth their weight in gold. You know, it sure saves time to go out on pasture and have the cows come up to you.
That’s what our cows do. When Katrina first saw the approaching humans, her reaction was to get up and move her baby away. But when we called her name, she did a quick 180, turned back to us, and quickened her pace. She knew we’d have a handful of treats for her. And we did not disappoint. But when we finished hand feeding her (and that #248) the bag full of goodies, then we heeded the calls of Katrina’s babies from previous years, Cyndee and Freddie, rapidly making their way through the “regular” cows towards us, quickly approaching us for the hand fed treats they aniticipated would be awaiting them.
Problem: we ran out! Knowing we had a resupply back at our pick-up, we began to walk away from the heard and toward the truck. Those two sweet little cows followed us all the way back, walking behind us away from the crowd, calmly and certainly, knowing they would be well rewarded when they finally reached us. (the Pied Piper strikes again!) Of course, they were…
Cyndee and Freddie see us and come looking for treats.
These are the experiences that make it all so worth while. All the challenges, all the inconveniences, all the time we sacrifice, all the troubles we put on others to help us through from time to time. Somehow, at the end of the day, it all works out, doesn’t it?
Onward (to a day full of appointments) and upward (back home to the mountain) later today…
