Packing, small repairs, second time

I spent a portion of the evening helping Mama pack items in Victoria’s car as they prepare to go to visit Brittany later today. Mama has a doctor’s appointment this morning so they will not be leaving until after that but they have everything else accumulated in one area in the kitchen so they can finish packing quickly once Mama is back. The original plan was for them to leave tomorrow and come back Saturday but Victoria has to work Saturday so they moved everything up by a day. Mama is anxious for her animals. Since I will still be leaving very early in the morning each morning she is gone, she knows that I will not take the time to do everything she normally does because I will not only be short on time I will be short on interest. I intend to make up for the hurried mornings by taking my time in the evenings, but that way of working does not equate with Mama’s methods. I am confident not a single animal will die because of my lack of ministrations to them.

I took time to dig up a waterline leak at the yard hydrant in the garden. I hoped it was nothing more than a loose clamp but there is always the possibility that some other damage could have been done by a burrowing, gnawing creature. It did turn out to be a loose fitting so I tightened all the fittings in the exposed area of the leak. It is at a tee where the line tee’s off to the hydrant so I am not overly surprised that it needed some extra attention. I am curious as to why it started leaking now but I can live with an easy repair. In the future, I think I will fence it off so the cows cannot trample it as they round that corner.

Mama and Victoria advertised the boy goats yesterday evening so I hope we will start getting calls on them soon. Kobe is far too interested in the little ones and will challenge them every time she is in the yard. I think it is a call to play but even that is dangerous for the little goats because they can be killed by too much running in even a friendly game of tag.  It worries Mama. The little piglets are also a focus for Kobe. Since they are able to get out of the enclosure (with their small size it is very difficult to keep them in an enclosure) Kobe sees them running around the larger enclosure of the animal buildings and desperately want to check them out. I do not feel that that would be a good encounter. They too, are susceptible to heat stroke – and Kira already tried to kill their mama. It is hard to tamper instincts that may be driving the interest Kobe and Kira have in our farm animals and past experience shows that we need to interfere with those instincts rather than trust the dogs to ignore them.

Mama called me right after I got to the office this morning to tell me that I had another raccoon in the trap. I am a little surprised. I had set the trap the day before yesterday and had caught nothing that night. I did not even check to see that the bait was still viable in the trap last night but I guess it was. I will need to take the time to make an extra trip to the house to dispatch the coon as soon as I am able. I do not want to take the chance that it can somehow escape from the trap. If it does, I will not get a second change to trap it.  I am not surprised that there is more than one raccoon in the area, but I admit to hoping that that was the case. It remains to be seen just how many more there are.

Where there are two there will be many more so this will be an ongoing challenge.