April in Largo Canyon
April 07, NM: Back in the Largo again.... Weather hot and sunny, cold at night. Learning new skills like spreading compost over a 2500 sq' area, levelling it by pulling a section of chain link fence over it, seeding it by handfuls tossed into the wind, then covering seeds by pulling afore-mentioned fence piece again. Front area looks great & just as we finished seeding (after 3 days of moving compost and spreading with a rake), it rained. Perfect, we should have little green grass shoots coming up in a few days, if we can keep the donkeys off the area.
There is a mule here called Chester & he is quite ornery but incredibly clever-he opens the stall gates with his lips/nose/teeth and escapes, often taking the rest of the herd with him. Luckily the perimeter of the property is fenced. Chester has managed to escape his pen every day I've been here. Today I was able to close his gate behind him, keeping the rest inside as I was in the stalls mucking them out. Not as bad as it sounds, the horses and donkeys find me quite fascinating and it's more of a problem trying to work around them than anything else.
Paisley is not quite ready for me to practice riding on, so I've been practicing mounting and emergency dis-mounting and rein controls on a really sweet little Hinny (donkey mother,/horse father) named Cracker Jo. He is more my size as Paisley is so huge, I'd have to climb to the top rung of the fence to mount her and I'm sure I'd break a leg trying to dis-mount she's so far off the ground.
Sunday was my first stint as a waitress but as it was Easter Sunday there was very little custom. And everyone who did come in said: "Oh, You're the Canadian!" Guess it's good to be remembered. Getting used to "Yes, Ma'am" again.
Today weather is brisk with a totally wicked wind from the north running down the canyon...it's difficult to work outside but the sky is a brilliant blue with sunshine. I saw a blue heron at the pond yesterday, hoping it is nesting. The red-winged blackbirds aren't here, yet. The cowboy, Clay, has moved on to Arizona...guess there is some reason why his email address is "lostcowboy".
There is a mule here called Chester & he is quite ornery but incredibly clever-he opens the stall gates with his lips/nose/teeth and escapes, often taking the rest of the herd with him. Luckily the perimeter of the property is fenced. Chester has managed to escape his pen every day I've been here. Today I was able to close his gate behind him, keeping the rest inside as I was in the stalls mucking them out. Not as bad as it sounds, the horses and donkeys find me quite fascinating and it's more of a problem trying to work around them than anything else.
Paisley is not quite ready for me to practice riding on, so I've been practicing mounting and emergency dis-mounting and rein controls on a really sweet little Hinny (donkey mother,/horse father) named Cracker Jo. He is more my size as Paisley is so huge, I'd have to climb to the top rung of the fence to mount her and I'm sure I'd break a leg trying to dis-mount she's so far off the ground.
Sunday was my first stint as a waitress but as it was Easter Sunday there was very little custom. And everyone who did come in said: "Oh, You're the Canadian!" Guess it's good to be remembered. Getting used to "Yes, Ma'am" again.
Today weather is brisk with a totally wicked wind from the north running down the canyon...it's difficult to work outside but the sky is a brilliant blue with sunshine. I saw a blue heron at the pond yesterday, hoping it is nesting. The red-winged blackbirds aren't here, yet. The cowboy, Clay, has moved on to Arizona...guess there is some reason why his email address is "lostcowboy".
Labels: donkeys, horses, mule and a hinny
1 Comments:
I love Rita-Mae & your stories, what kind of adventure are you on this month?
xo-your fan club!
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