Meanwhile, back at the ranch

The family dynamics of the small horse herd that lives here are endlessly dramatic. Jojo and Esau, the two that are boarding here but owned by another couple, are bullies; Angel and Duke used to be pretty sweet before their dorm mates moved in, but have now grown aggressive and skittish, respectively. Coco has been recently added to the mix. She is wonderful with humans, but has been mercilessly picked on, kicked at, and bitten by the others, and has grown aggressive in defense. Today the horses were screaming out in the back pasture, and I discovered from Missy that they've been wanting to add the horse in the neighboring field to their little family. This morning four of them crossed the fence where a tree had fallen to go visit their neighbor, and left Duke behind--he's well-behaved, apparently? Missy just said, "Duke doesn't do that kind of thing." But he was so upset that he went running frantically at the gate when she tried to leave for work.

When they aren't kicking or biting one another (and sometimes when they are), the herd spends a surprising amount of time hanging around the house. They have twenty acres to roam, but they're usually outside the back door, or standing in the shelter under the porch where we clean fish. Weirdos.


In addition to the horse drama, whenever they're shut up in their pen (which is very nice and of a respectable size, by the way,) the lambs are constantly yelling "fuck you!" through the fence. Seriously. They woke me up this morning. I guess I can't blame them all though, because half the time it's just Pepper. Marie and Salt will be grazing peacefully in the background, and Princess (the goat) is just lying around minding her own business, but Pepper is right up on the gate, screaming fuck you*! All the time.



This evening I was discussing with Missy and with Sara (separately, as Sara is in Scotland) the possibility of telling my parents that I was going to devote myself to my art, and then moving up here to paint and take pictures and make stuff. Sounds good to me, right? I mean, any road trip instantly becomes a business expense! FTW.


























*Missy disagrees, and says that they're merely yelling "Mom!"