Raiders of the Dawn

March 12, 2023

Howdy folks,

Well, a funny thing happened in the middle of the night a few nights ago.  At around 2am(it always seems to be around 2am!) Erin noticed that there was a horse standing right out in front of our house.  She had gone down the steps from the loft to use the bathroom and saw this upon glancing outside through our big front windows.  She immediately yelped, 'The horses are out!'  I sprang up and ran down the stairs, too, and right outside in just my underwear to follow her off down the driveway.  She had grabbed a flashlight, but I had not, so I caught up to her as she was looking all around to see where they were at.  Upon finally seeing one just at the range of the light that we had on it, I ran back in to get dressed and she ran up to the main pasture gate to make sure that it was closed.  This usually isn't in question, but a friend had stopped by earlier and had brought a couple of bottles of wine before the three of us all went out to feed the horses at dark.  In any event, Erin ran back down the hill to let me know that the gate was shut and locked.  So, they weren't our horses.  At this point, we headed down to the pond: me with jeans and a sweatshirt on; Erin still only in her pajamas.  As we went around the pond counterclockwise, we finally were able to shine the light all the way across to see three big mules standing there.  You could tell that they were mules right away by their gargantuan size and their nearly as gargantuan ears.  In discovering this, the light that we shone across the pond, coupled with the noise we were making walking, caused a few dozen waterfowl to take off, making an enormous racket.  This moved the mules back in the opposite direction that they were going and back towards the houses and barns.  Interestingly, one time when all of our mustangs got out, they were all trotting around the pond in a clockwise direction, just like the mules, and we walked counterclockwise to head them off.  This time was the same and we were able to get them heading back up the driveway at a very steady pace.  These mules had been here once before, last year, and we assumed that we were dealing with the same animals, so we went back inside, now at about 3am, to get a little sleep and to regroup.  Our barn is three-sided and always open and they found it the last time.  Plus, at the top of the driveway, there is a grand convergence of fences and there's really nowhere for an animal of that size to go, so it works as a quasi-corral.  So, we went back in and promptly fell asleep until about 6am, when I got up and went through my normal morning routine, going out to feed the horses at 7am and assuming that we'd have three very large and hairy guests milling about up in the barn area and, sure enough, it turns out that I was right!

So, Erin followed me up and there they were, just standing at the gate out to the horse pasture.  Most of our gang of horses were spread out along the fence right there, staring at the visitors.  At first, I couldn't tell what their mood and/or feelings were about the situation, but soon saw that at least three of the horses were charging the fence, skidding to a halt at the last minute, then going up on two legs to kick and snort. The mules were only ever so slightly perturbed by this and it just kept them moving around a little.  I quickly filled up a spare water trough and saw that they had pulled one of our alfalfa bales out and had been happily munching on something new to them(quite exciting in a hay-eater's life!).  I went out and fed our guys quickly, while Erin worked the phone and first had the ranch manager on(we're one of some twenty parcels on a much, much bigger piece of land) and then the lady whose mules they were, who lives just up the ranch road another two or three miles.  Erin runs into her regularly at the post office and we pass time to time on the ranch road.  In any event, back to the mules, we decided to get them into the new dog yard that is behind the new house that we're building for the boss and were able to very easily seduce them in that direction with some horse treats, first two and then the final one.  I set the water trough back up in there and picked up the scattered remains of the bale of hay that they were eating(after cutting out the baler twine, which luckily had been undisturbed) and they seemed quite content to be hanging at work with me and Valentin.  Then, just like that, by 9am our friend, Linda, had stopped by with a truck and trailer and off they were again, further on up the road.  Apparently, some workers had left a gate open the day before and they took it upon themselves to take a brief vacation!

Now, it is time for the weekly picture show.   First and foremost, there are fifteen shots from the mule madness that we went through(the 7-9am edition, not the 2-3am edition...we weren't awake enough to have our phones with us then!).  Here goes: first, the scene that we arrived to see at the main gate; then, a side glance from one of the culprits; next, the shape the barn was in; then, a closeup of the one with the saddest, oldest-looking face; next, his accomplice, blowing hot breath into cold air; then, the temporary water setup; next, above the gate where all the fences converge and form an impromptu pen; then, straight on, I could have sworn that this guy was a moose; next, our guys gathering to see why we were paying so much attention to someone else; then, Annie looking less than impressed at the entire situation; next, a set of two shots showing the differences in size between the biggest mule and our lead male; then, after some pacing, a quick trip back to the salad bar; next, finally behind the new house in the dog yard; and, then, just like that, Linda showed up and whisked them away again.  To close with, I had one other half-decent shot this week taken with the dogs and a dead stalk of sunflower while they were out running the fields.

Take care.