Friday, May 30, 2008

Mysteries on the Farm

Today is perfect. It's sunny, no wind. And all the farm is peaceful and quiet.





Yesterday was chaos around here. Then, when I went out to move Raymond, (my blind sheep) from his day pen to his secure night pen, I found the cord that holds the sheep gate closed had been cut cleanly through. Luckily the sheep didn't know they could've pushed the gate open. I shudder to think what would have happened to Raymond if he got loose in unfamiliar territory. Here's a picture of them last winter. Raymond is in the middle, Pedro on the left and Wingtip on the right.







Our dogs were barking non-stop yesterday. I feel bad that they bark so much at deer, our own horses, the wind, that they are like the dogs who cried "Wolf!" So, I don't take them very seriously. But, I think they may actually have been barking at someone on our farm yesterday. The sheep pen was a mystery.



Then . . . I went to feed our llamas dinner. We have water tanks out in our pasture pens for the horses and llamas which are far away. Since they are far away, we leave the hose in the tank that needs to be filled up the following morning. Well, not IN the tank since if we filled it and then turned the water off, our hydrant would pull out all the water due to the whole vacuum thing. So, we weave the hose through the pen panel and then let it hang just above the tank. It's weaved through 4 rails. But, when I went out to move the hose to the new tank last night, it was not weaved through the rails. Instead, it was loose on the ground and pulled straight out up a hill. Some person had to unweave it and lay it out like that yesterday. It wasn't my husband and it wasn't me. I'm confidant that my horses and llamas who lack thumbs would be able to pull this off as they haven't even attempted in all these years. In this picture the hose is pulled back to a different tank that's out of the picture.


Sure enough, today, the dogs aren't barking. It's so peaceful and quiet.

I know this sounds a bit paranoid. But, we lived next door to a man who called himself "Crazy Larry" for seven years. He was convicted of animal abuse before he moved here and he continued once he moved here. He shot guns at our property, our animals, our house, at our mailbox and once right through our bundle of mail, off his porch, in the middle of night. He was very threatening. Last year, a fire was started in the middle of one of my good neighbor's pastures. It could have been very devastating. It was a miracle that it was found early on and put out. His activity was very mysterious after that. Fences have been cut here, which is a big deal when people have their horses, cattle, llamas, sheep, etc in the pastures and if one got out on the roads, not only could it die, but if hit by an unsuspecting car, a large animal like that can kill people in cars. It's very dark out here at night. That can be devastating.

He's moved only a couple miles away now. He's very angry with this neighborhood for calling the authorities when he slowly starved his dogs and pasture animals to death.


So, the fact that the dogs AREN'T barking at all, not one peep, today has me a little worried about these strange occurances.

I'm just going to start blogging about them so there is a record if anything should ever happen.

But onto the ART! I've been drawing some ideas for someone interested in me creating a logo for them. I have a good picture in my mind, so this is a lot of fun.

I'm also working on a custom greyhound pet portrait wooliture that was won in an auction that benefits the Greyhound Rescue of Ohio. All greyhounds are so beautiful to me and this girl is no exception. She's a beautiful brindle who holds her ears in the most elegant way. And I'm working on two German Wirehaired Pointers' portrait wool sculptures that I completely adore. There is a gorgeous whippet wooliture on the horizon, too.












Then, I will be working on sheep and herding dog paintings, drawings and woolitures to take to the June 13th Sheep Herding Trials at the Colorado Horse Park. Here's a smooth border collie watercolor pencil portrait of "Harley" that I made a while ago and a weird/funny sheep illustration.












Does anyone else like eating lemons with salt? I had a friend in fourth grade who loved to climb up in our lemon trees and eat the fresh lemons with me this way. I'm eating some today. Here's to you, Julie!

1 comment:

Gretel said...

Crumbs Gina, that sounds worrying! Funny to see your pack all walking together though!