Coyotes calling
Two packs are interacting
with stars overhead
Our early January warm spell of a couple of days back has given way to bitterly cold temperatures, though I realize those of you in truly northern realms laugh at what I, a Sun Belt baby, consider to be bitterly cold.
But when you have two very warm winter days back to back, with highs of 69 and 70 degrees F. respectively, the second of which had a low temperature of 54 degrees, and that makes way to back to back nights of 24 degrees, and (currently) 22 degrees F., I don't care who you are, that's freaking cold.
No one here has had a chance to acclimate.
The animals are doing well, as I've given everyone extra straw to bed down in, along with extra food to combat the cold. Thankfully the wind has been relatively still, so we don't have wind chills to contend with, and the past several days have been quite dry, in the middle of what has so far been a very wet rainy season, so that's a godsend.
And the kitties are obviously enjoying the heater being on high.
Our transient coyotes have been making themselves known for the past several nights, yipping and calling and carrying on for several nights in a row, which is common in winter, so the local dogs are getting used to having them around again.
Last night when I was out walking Lolo, they started a howling contest, which was both thrilling and a tad disturbing to hear. This is literally the first time I've heard our local coyotes howl in the way the coyotes I grew up in the western states always have, and I'm not sure why they rarely do so here, but immediately another pack across the river joined in.
It was truly beautiful to hear, but I immediately led Lolo inside, and he was fine with going. Although it was far less fear of coyotes (which are rarely a danger to humans) than it was that we were both freezing; my hands were nearly frozen, having misplaced my winter gloves, so I was already more anxious than usual to get inside into the warmth.
I do still have my REI heavy winter gloves, which I purchased in Seattle just before we moved here, but they are thick, heavy and cumbersome, and so I rarely bother with them. But my insulated leather gloves, which I've damned near worn out, are MIA. I definitely need to find them, and fast.
The other reason I wanted Lolo inside is that he is currently wearing an Elizabethan collar to prevent him from removing the bandages on his ear.
I've mostly been back to walking him on lead, as he has no peripheral vision, and I don't want him racing after something and creaming himself by ramming one of the trees in our woods. He's been offlead a few times since, but that that was the night I brought him home from the vet, so the collar was still new and strange to him.
Now it's just an annoyance.
It's been a tad surreal here of late, as I finally made the decision (which I've been putting off for some time) to rehome several of our animals, for a number of reasons.
The ongoing reasons have been that our barnyard fencing is still lacking, to put it mildly, meaning that Semafor always had to be tethered, which kept him from being able to run around and be the goofy goat he is inside.
I was also rocked in the past two months by losing four of our animals in quick succession, which is hard in the best of times, but helped to add to my Christmas funk. Bad timing.
In addition, this time of year there is far less forage inside the barnyard, meaning an increased expenditure for hay, and the roof of their stall leaks, so we have a lot of work to do to improve their quality of life in the winter months.
But the biggest reason is that goats are herd animals, and two goats doesn't constitute a herd, as much as they've made do. I've wanted to get more goats for a while now, but not until we've addressed the fencing and improvements to the barn, and I want them to be with other goats where they can be happier.
They're sweet boys, and they deserve the best I can provide, even if that means letting them go.
I put the word out that we were considering rehoming our boys, but with two stipulations: I wanted them kept together, as Hope is very bonded to Semafor and vice versa, and I did not under any circumstance want them sent to slaughter.
So, a few days ago Lolo went berserk when a car pulled up in front of the house, and a couple got out saying that they had heard from my neighbor that I wanted to rehome my goats.
As it turned out, I had met the husband a couple of times before with my neighbor, when they working together on some projects around his place. I had yet to meet his wife, but she and I hit it off immediately, as she is a fellow animal advocate, and rescued the four goats she already had.
She is also a fellow writer, and has two published books, so it felt like a really small world, and just meant to be. I felt really good about it as I led them to the barnyard, and helped them bring our boys to the front of the property to load into their truck for the trip to their new home.
I've since gotten regular text updates about how well they are settling into their new herd. Life is good, and getting better, better and better.
The other reason why I wanted to downsize our collective multispecies herd is so that I can travel more.
While Marek's former companies didn't allow family members to ride along with drivers, the new company encourages it, and even Lolo is welcome to ride in the truck. And frankly, I have friends and family all over the country that I haven't seen in years, and are long overdue for a visit.
And, since I can write from anywhere with my laptop, the only thing holding me back from occasional excursions is finding someone to take care of our animals, which has already prevented me from traveling a number of times.
We're hoping to eventually hire a farm manager, who can also take care of our animals when we travel, but that may be a while yet before it's in place.
We'll keep Lolo and the cats, of course, as well as our fish and turtle, and I want to keep my rabbits, particularly my Silver Foxes. We'd also like to keep a few chickens and ducks for eggs and insect control.
I'll ultimately rehome our Guinea pigs, again with the stipulation that they be kept together and allowed to live out their lives, and not just fed to someone's snake.
They are sweet and hilarious, though were never handled to the point of being comfortable being picked up, and whoever takes them must understand that they cannot be bred. They are too closely related, and the girls can't be bred at all, as they are too old and it would likely kill them.
The only thing I'm not 100% decided upon is the doves, which are easy to care for, but having lost our original dove, GIR, I think may be better off with someone who has more time for them. Then again, if they are here for another month, I may have their ultimate enclosure finally built for them. I do love when they sing to us.
So changes happen and life goes on.
Our barnyard seems pretty empty, but I surprised our neighbor's cat in our shed the other night, so she may have taken up residence while we were in New York. She's a sweetheart, and she's welcome, whether she decides to make it a permanent home or not.
Wherever she is, I hope she's warm, as we're now down to 20 degrees. Good thing she has warm fur.
And in the meantime, I have no shortage of things calling for my attention, as always. Too many projects and too little time, though with fewer animals, some of my time will indeed be freed up to do other things, such as preparing our planting beds for the coming Spring.
Such as getting back to posting on a daily basis. ;-)
I am dedicating this post to #naturalmedicine, and to further this project, half the liquid proceeds earned from my post will be transferred into its account.
The photos above were taken by me within the past few days with my Samsung Note 8 smartphone.
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