Four-legged Friends

We made good progress in puppy training this past week. I can proudly say I do not have one single Band-Aid anywhere on my body. Elaine has one.

If the neighbors have been watching they can attest that we have not totally won the battle of jumping and chewing. The puppies have just changed their targets.

As most of you know, I wear short pants, jean shorts, gym shorts, and Carhart shorts. I have a pair of long pants, but it is seldom cold enough to wear them.

Elaine and I were walking the puppies down the driveway. Elaine was walking Goose the all-black puppy and I was walking Gordon, the bigger puppy with a couple of white spots on his head.

Gordon concerns me a little. This guy jumps and he is quite good at it. My concern is that our fence may not hold Gordon in as he gets older and bigger. My present-day concerns are what my neighbors think of Gordon's jumping and my wearing shorts. Gordon and I were walking home back down the driveway when he decided to get a little unruly. He jumped up, grabbed the hem of my shorts, and pulled. With my shorts around my ankles, I had an immediate decision to make. Do I grab the shorts and pull them up or do I try to get Gordon to let go of my shorts as he is trying to drag me down the driveway?

I can't say if the neighbors have an opinion of the choice I made, but this is one of those times I was glad I no longer live in a cul-de-sac in suburbia. I didn't get a call from any neighbor telling me what they saw and to never let that happen again. I guess that was the bright spot of the walk.

I can't blame everything on Gordon. I lost a few pounds from my recent battle with sepsis and my shorts were on the loose side.

You might remember in January, I wrote that Elaine and I were considering purchasing another llama or yak and starting to rebuild our herd. It was a decision that required a lot of research and discussion. We decided it might not be the right time for more animals after a trip to the National Western Stock Show that produced no animals for sale. I have always believed that all things happen for a reason. After reluctantly deciding not to enlarge our herd this year, I end up in the hospital with sepsis. I can't imagine the hardship more livestock would have put on Elaine.

Boy Twin became involved in the dream of rebuilding the herd. "Don't worry Grandma, I can help you when you need help. I'm going to look for more yaks."

If a person wants yaks they can be found on the internet. They will be pricy but they can be found. We found yaks galore when we started looking with Boy Twin.

I decided if we (Boy Twin, Elaine, and I) stumbled on to something interesting we would pursue rebuilding the herd this year, after all, I'm sepsis-free.

As luck, or fate, would have it (all things happen for a reason) a friend and customer of Your Daily Fiber contacted us by email. (Before I write about the email, I would like to tell a quick story about this customer/friend. She is a retired educator. When I learned she read Mumblings, I had to start caring about sentence structure, punctuation, and spelling. I started proofreading. I can't say I am correct always with these words of crap, but now I at least pretend to care. Thanks, Janelle.)

The purpose of Janelle's email was to inform us of an upcoming livestock auction showcasing llamas and yaks as well as hogs, sheep, and goats. I could have and should have researched the auction. Instead, I just decided to attend.

The action started at 9:00 AM. The attendees including myself were informed that hogs were first on the list to be sold. HUNDREDS of hogs. Some of them sold one at a time. Some sold four or five at a time. Next, they sold sheep. HUNDREDS of sheep. Some sold one at a time. Some some as many as ten or twenty at a time. I decided during the sheep would be a good time to go to lunch. If llamas were at the auction they were sold when I was at lunch.

I had plenty of time to research the auction while sitting through the hogs and sheep. I found out the auction was being run on the internet. Thinking I could watch (and participate) in the auction from home I asked for instructions to do just that. Finding out I needed to be prequalified including a pre-approved credit app I resigned myself that watching from home was not happening.

After the hogs and sheep, the auction was paused to change auctioneers and take a lunch break. I had already taken a lunch break so I wasn't happy about another one. We were more than an hour past noon and now we were breaking for more. I was happy about the change of auctioneers. The first guy was talking so (construction language) fast I had no idea what the bids were. I could understand the second auctioneer.

Next, the goats were sold. HUNDREDS of goats. Some of them one at a time. Some goats ten at a time. One goat sold had a backpack. After all the goats, it was time to sell the beef cattle. Beef cattle calves, only six of them. It is now 3:30 PM. I have sat except for restroom trips and a short lunch break, all (construction language) day.

The cattle are done, which I had a slight interest in. I thought, if I'm not getting a yak or llama, maybe I'll get a calf. They announced yaks were next, after a short break. (Oh brother, another break. Doesn't anyone else want to go home?)

The first yak was a bull calf, near to all-black. I bid on him to no avail. I noticed something about him. The handlers were afraid of it. All the hogs, sheep, goats and beef cattle and these handlers wouldn't now get in the pen with the yak. The next bull yak calf came into the sales arena. Again without handlers. This one was black with white back feet and a white spot on his forehead. It was smaller than the first yak. I bid on him. I'll be darned, I got him. There were two more bigger black and white ones, that I could have bought and maybe should have, but they seemed mean. The handlers wouldn't get in the arena with them. They didn't get in the arena with mine either, but he was small enough that I knew I could take him.

When I got him home (the next day) I realized he is the exact mini-me replica of Mac, with white feet, a white spot on his forehead.

Now, he needs a name. Boy Twin suggested Dinner. Elaine, Ivy and Girl Twin want to name it Beans. I don't care, I just want him to stay in the pasture.