Don’t Fence Me In

For all you non-llama ranchers (or non-cattle ranchers or non-horsefolk out there), it’s fencing season. The snow isn’t easy on wire & posts, & this time of year the real ranchers are spending long hours repairing really long stretches of fence.

Fortunately for Eberle & I, we only have a bit less than 10 acres, & most of the fences are in decent shape. & we only have two critters, an alpaca & a llama (that’s kind of sad, since at one point we had 4 llamas—but this was sort of retirement home for them, if you see what I’m saying). However, for anyone who was reading this blog back last fall, you know that Mo the alpaca is kind of a slippery fellow who finds himself on the wrong side of the fence every now & again. Sunday afternoon I was just sitting around playing guitar while Eberle was at Mass, when a helpful person in a pick-up truck pulled up to tell me the “little black llama” was “about 3 feet from the highway.” I betook myself to the upper pasture with a bucket of oats. Of course, by the time I arrived, Mo had wandered back into the pasture, & we convinced him to stay there for the rest of the day. Monday found both Eberle (by far the better fencer, as she was taught by a real cowboy—a great guy who know lives over by Pendleton by the name of JD Smith—also the first ever commenter on Robert Frost’s Banjo) & I patrolling the fence line with stays & staples & a fencing tool (I prefer driving fencing staples with a framing hammer, but for the sake of not lugging too much around, we stuck to the fencing tool for that, too). It was a lovely, if brisk day. Our old black cat Weenie joined us, & eventually Mo the alpaca & Penelope the llama came to check us out, too.

Hope you enjoy these pictures of March in Indian Valley, ID.



















Weenie amongst the sagebrush in the upper pasture


















Eberle with stay - Mesa Hill in the background (about due west)






Alpaca Mo - Indian Mountain in the background (about due East)




Penelope Llama with Sage Hill (AKA "Weird Hill") in the background

Our house seen from the lower pasture (again looking east)

Yours truly driving a fencing staple with aforementioned fencing tool - maybe we will bring the framing hammer next time....