Summer is always trying. This summer seems to be trying extra hard.
The latest trouble, skipping over several things, was a stray dog coming on the farm Saturday. He made a run at the horses in the morning. I chased him away. He appeared back in the evening and came in on the sheep. We tried to catch him that time, but he got spooked by some fireworks and bolted away.
Without a good guardian like Hank, we are going to have to take extra measures to try to keep our sheep safe until a time when we can find a new dog. And finding a new dog may be nearly impossible because of a situation with the new house built right on our front field fence line. I set up a camp.
The first thing we did was lock the sheep up in the secure paddocks near the barn. A dog or coyote could still get in if they really worked at it, but hopefully it would be too much trouble or at least slow them down enough to give me a chance to intervene. We put the tent on a clean(ish) patch of level gravel.
Big Moose was immediately involved so we moved the tent back to straddle the short fence and took two jug panels and built a wall around the front half.
He is so silly. I just love this sheep :-).
From there it deteriorated, because you can either laugh or cry, and Biscuit is ready to welcome everyone to the Equinox Farm vacation B&B. The sunsets over the barn roof are stunning!
You can have an up close and probably personal encounter with Maisie. What a face, eh? (Click to biggify)
You can watch the full moon rise and travel over the farm. Definitely a highlight!
A slightly better picture, but not much. The moon was so big and so bright. A cell phone just can't capture it. I never needed a flashlight and as it reached it's peak height over my tent, maybe 2:00, it was so bright that every time I woke up and looked across the barn lot, I could see everyone and everything. So much better than fireworks.
I thought of Hank off and on throughout the night. He and I would often sit together on the hill and watch the farm on bright nights. It was one of my very favorite things, even in the winter. The last picture I took of him was him resting next to me under a bright full moon. I wish I'd thought to camp out with him all night even just once.
The next morning I woke to the sound of Petunia's bell and turned over to see the sheep grazing in the arena. They'd quietly tiptoed past me and let me sleep in.
Good morning!
I watched for the dog on Sunday and did not see him again. That evening a neighbor found a promising post in the missing pets group on FB. I contacted the owner to make sure it was indeed the same dog, now safely at home and back in his electric fenced yard. It had been scared by fireworks. Fingers crossed we never see him again.
Other than the gorgeous full moon and the fun of sleeping in the sheep yard (which was actually fun even with the bugs and hot weather), the best story from all of this was what Rocky and Jared did to try to protect their flock. I told it on an IG video post last night. You should be able to follow along.
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