Gentle Giant Meadows Ranch
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Spring Has Sprung

3/31/2015

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When we were children.....a very long time ago, I remember a little rhyme that we shared in a playground far away on very distant shores..."Spring has sprung, the grass is gris..I wonder where the birdies is ??". Here on the Pacific North West, Spring has sprung...the grass is sprouting with the unseasonal warmth and we have no doubts where the "birdies" is. Mr. and Mrs. Canada goose have re-established their particular patch of island real estate. Challenging groups of transient geese have circled high above the ranch and, seduced by the still waters of the pond have landed in our grassy pastures unaware of the resident pair of birds....who are particularly disinclined to apportion any part of their territory to another goose and are willing and very enthusiastic to wage aerial, surface or any other mode of warfare to defend their little pond island. Mr. and Mrs. Blue heron have been reported "making out" in the cool shade of the cedar trees over hanging the rippling water, Mr. And Mrs. Mallard have apparently already "made it" in the leafy ferns on the banks of the pond and the kingfisher pair have been spotted fraternizing whilst tapping holes in the telephone pole. Eddie the eagle...(or an unnamed offspring) even paid an unscheduled and very spectacular visit to the pasture adjoining the sheep barn. We are confident (NOT) that his visit had no relation to the little brat pack of lambs and although we hope that we never have cause to regret his association to the ranch are in awe of his regal beauty.   

Down on the ranch, little Miss Bella, our Jersey heifer has just had her first birthday.....Sirloin the little red steer is becoming increasingly adept at avoiding the very vociferous and extremely demanding needs of our hormonal cow and we are watching the calendar and counting the noisy three weekly cycles until we can call Wayne the AI man and his redeeming tube.

Spring cleaning is happening from the  newly painted "green room" at the ranch house to the barn kitchen windows and the umpty ump little panes of glass in the British, post box red, telephone box. Annie and Malc, on a "working vacation" from their busy city lives in England have (as usual) dug "and filled in a hole or three....we've collectively painted, unpainted (sanded) cleaned and scrubbed, walls doors windows and stall mats. We've weeded, strimmed and planted. Annie and I have washed and ironed, we have revisited years and memories long since passed, we have brushed stalls and flung horse pooh, stacked and unstacked wood rounds and together made light of the most tedious chores. Annie and Malc have been "home"...and for us, it is a VERY happy place to be.  

Erin and James...in relative terms "new" members of our ranch family have also worked their way into "family", family....Sharing, giving and always happy and exuberant, Erin has with son James shared our family moments over the past 10 days. Ten o'clock break time has been re-introduced, Costco blueberry muffins, doughnuts and cookies have been consumed in the barn kitchen and in the big barns, laughter has echoed from wall to cedar wall.

Spring "has sprung"..we had a very trying Winter and we lost some much loved and never to be forgotten ranch members but as the bluebells bud between the waving daffodils and the trees begin to turn green, a new and wonderful beginning has begun.  

Take care, keep safe and value those who mean the most to you. M xx
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Annie and Malc Are Back!

3/27/2015

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Right....so, where do I start ? I guess, sorry is as good a place as any, sorry there haven't been any farm shenanigan updates, sorry that there has been no photos....really sorry....but, we have been busy sharing the past week with sister Annie and her husband Malc who have traded their busy city lives in the UK for two weeks of life on the ranch. Easy trade ? Casual wake up at sensible hour, relaxed morning with a cup of hot tea and the daily newspaper compared with silly o'clock alarm when the moon is still high in the sky and the sun is still hiding behind the Eastern horizon. Breakfast is no leisurely event in the ranch kitchen, a bowl of bubbling oatmeal is consumed whilst the multi-colored eggs are being counted and packed, a cup of tea is repeatedly lost and found as it's owner passes from bedroom to kitchen and back again. Bran and Luke are dispatched to do "their duty" and water a tree or three and the cuckoo clock chimes the half hour.....7.30 am and time to head down to the big cedar barn, another day has begun.

This week has been full of great sadness and joy. Annie and Malc's flight had been followed all day on flight tracker....take off in London's Heathrow Airport  initiated several hours of following a little red arrow on the computer screen as Flight BA49 traversed the Atlantic Ocean, Iceland and flew high above the Winter storms on the East coast. On a gray Thursday morning in the Pacific Northwest, I Watched the little red tracking arrow cross Montana and drop into the skies of Eastern Washington....I breathed a sigh of relief when I knew that the aircraft had landed, I felt a rush of happiness and relief when BA49 was at the gate. I jumped for joy when the Kitsap Airporter pulled into the Purdy Park and Ride...Annie and Malc were back at the ranch, two weeks on the ranch....two weeks to set the world right, two weeks with my twin sister and her long suffering husband..we could create chaos together in two weeks and we are working on it !!!

On Monday we had to say a very sad goodbye to an old friend. T Bone finally surrendered to age and infirmity. As I looked into his face and saw the age in his eyes, I saw the grey flecks  in his coat and I saw how he struggled to move his weak old bones. I knew he was tired and I knew that T Bone felt it was time to go. Sue and Dan were there with him at the end as they have been through his senior years. T Bone has gone, but that big old bay gelding with more than his fair share of attitude will never be forgotten. Rest easy old man....miss you.

Well, the cuckoo clock says it is bedtime...the dogs are ready, the kettle is boiling...so, from Greg and I, Annie and Malc, I guess it's time to say goodnight, take care and keep safe.  M xx
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It's A Deluge Over The Pacific Northwest!

3/15/2015

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All day long rain has fallen from a grey, depressed sky. Dense waterlogged clouds line the distant, tree lined horizon, Mr. and Mrs. Mallard stand guard over a waterlogged nest and Mr. and Mrs. Goose drift on the churning water of the farm pond. Rivulets of rain water run unchecked down the ranch road, swirling pools of muddy water have eroded the earth around the pasture gates and the gutters above the stalls are overflowing into an almost submerged barnyard. Bella our beautiful Jersey heifer steadfastly refused to leave the warm dry cow barn this morning, stubbornly resisted Bran the Border Collie's over enthusiastic "encouragement" and obstinately rejected the tasty honey and apple cow treat invitingly proffered once she was firmly (and very reluctantly) relocated behind the pasture gate. Sirloin the young red Dexter steer, stood forlornly at her side, rain drops dripping from the end of his bushy tail and little pointed hooves standing in rapidly forming puddles. Not a good day to be a cow.

 In the sheep pen, anxious ewes attempted to curtail the enthusiasm of the newly formed "brat pack" who, disregarding the torrential rain skipped and jumped with the sheer joy of being young and alive. Barney the ram, reluctantly living a celibate life, estranged from his harem stood alone in the day long rainstorm, his dense wool coat saturated by the constant drenching. Occasionally his body would shudder, his waterlogged body shaking free of a cloud of raindrops and his black mask a picture of abject, lonely misery.

The chickens, relocated to the old hen house are in virtual fowl heaven. Heavy, persistent rain encourages fat juicy worms to move towards the surface and our egg laying, feathered ladies, eagerly watch, waiting for the slightest movement in the sodden earth, scratching, clucking and squawking in anticipation.

We have an empty horse stall, a harsh reminder that Lady our big Shire Mare has sadly passed away but daily I think to take her grain, fill her water bucket, stuff her hay net or muck out her stable. Lady has moved on to greener pastures (we hope)...but her memory in the farmyard lives on. Quest, our big bay gelding and Lady's son has valiantly managed to remain calm and apparently resigned to a solitary life in the pasture he once shared with mom. Today he stood alone in the rain, who knows what thoughts lie behind his deep brown eyes, what memories he has of the ten years he spent with his big gentle matriarch and how will her sudden demise affect him.

As I write, the rain is still falling, the pond is overflowing and huge puddles are spreading through the pastures. The wind chimes on the deck are echoing through and across the valley and the moon is shrouded behind heavy clouds. The end of another day on the ranch, the dogs are out, watering a tree or three and the kettle is boiling for a cup of hot sweet tea. Take care, keep safe and dry, M
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If There Is A Place In Heaven For Horses...

3/11/2015

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If there is a place in Heaven for horses (and I sure hope there is !) dear sweet gentle Lady our beautiful big Shire Mare will be there. She will be a surefooted filly once again, leaping over rainbows and running through the wind, mane and tail flowing, head tossing through the clouds. If there is a Heaven for horses, Rupert, her friend, companion and mentor for many years will have been waiting for her as she breathed her last on Monday evening and together they will be galloping through sweet, chest high grass, feathers flying and hooves thundering, no longer tortured by pain no longer old and infirm. If there is a place in Heaven Lady will surely be there.

We found Lady 16 years ago in a dark old wooden shed. There was a little hole in the door where a shaft of light shone through, illuminating what was possibly the ugliest horse I had ever seen. Moss Edge Duchess had a regal name but standing in front of us was a leggy, hairy scruffy waif of a horse...just wanting to be loved. We didn't choose Lady, Lady chose us and over the past 16 years has made us so grateful that we took that young Shire filly into our lives. Lady has been an ambassador for her breed, she has been loved by the young and by the old, she has given people from all over the world their first experience of the joy of horsemanship and despite her failing health over the past year was gentle and kind until the moment she passed away.

Lady wasn't always the angel. I have a vivid memory of one of Greg's early ventures out onto the open road under a heavy English sky. A big red L (commonly used in the UK to indicate a learner driver) was attached to her saddle pad to advise the unwary that the big gangly mare was not familiar with passing vehicles. Clearly, speeding drivers gave Lady a wide berth as they sped past. Sadly, a passing cyclist did not heed the warning signs and, barely escaped being launched into orbit as her huge Shire hooves took aim....I guess he peddled a little faster after that..and remembered to give horses a little more consideration.

Lady's last hours were spent in the pasture under a warm early Spring sun, under the shade of giant cedar trees and in the company of Quest the big bay gelding, her handsome 10 year old son. We kept everything as it had been every day for the past 16 years, she came back to her clean dry stall, I didn't soak her hay and she had as many apples as she cared to eat. She ate the grain she hadn't been allowed to eat and promptly threw her bucket at me, a longstanding Lady game. I brushed her and looked into her beautiful big gentle brown eyes, I told her that I was sorry and I thanked her for her years of faithful service. I told her that I would miss her and she would be remembered by many. I told her there would be no more pain and we would be with her. As Lady was led from her stall, we cried, Lady tried hard to trot through the pasture on hooves that could no longer bear her weight. Lady's passing was peaceful and she is no longer in pain. We were both with her just as we have been since we saw her in that damp dark little shed so many years ago. If there is a horse Heaven, she is there.

Our thanks have to go to Doctor Mark Ness of Olympic Equine Veterinary Services. Mark's kindness and compassion to our big Shire mare will never be forgotten. Even when her spirit had left her body Mark treated her body with sensitivity and respect. Thank you Mark.

Time to go, life on the ranch has to go on. We have our memories. Take care, keep safe, M
10 Comments

New Births, New Life, New Lambs.

3/4/2015

6 Comments

 
The sky today was clear cobalt blue, there was no sign of threatening grey clouds on the horizon and as the sun rose over the Pacific North West it's golden rays spread warmth over the hills pastures and creeks that are Gentle Giant Meadows Ranch. Last night had been cold, very cold. This morning a crisp, sparkling white frost shrouded the big cedar barns, the ranch pond was still with a  sheen of wafer thin ice which extended from the island pond to the grassy banks. The pastures glistened and frosty crystals sparkled on the frozen tree limbs. Down in the sheep barn, Baby Doll, the big white Coupworth ewe tended to her twin mini-me's, Dotty diligently nursed her fuzzy little black legged lamb ( now affectionately known as Susie) and Momma Bear the big woolly Oxford ewe fussed over her tiny offspring unaware that her reluctance to lose sight of her lamb meant that her hungry baby was unable to latch onto her swelling milky bar. Baby Bear was getting weaker, clearly our first time mom was challenged by the responsibilities of her new status. Mother Nature ... Momma Bear and her newly born little lamb needed some human intervention and, in the barn kitchen, Greg prepared a bottle of creamy "milk replacer" fortunately purchased.....just in case.  A very feeble little Baby Bear soon latched onto the little red teat and before long, air bubbles rising in the plastic bottle indicated that Baby Bear had accepted her alternative "mom". Momma Bear continues to mother her lamb without allowing it to nurse from her  swollen udder and little Baby Bear has come to accept the impersonal synthetic teat and the human cuddles as her "normal".

This evening, as the sun was setting, Erin arrived at the barn to care for Ky and Fiona, her two equine charges. Of late, any visit to the barn has required a quick check of the residents of the sheep barn. Erin found Alice our Katahdin ewe with a tiny brown lamb at her feet and clearly in the process of delivering it's little twin. As we watched, Alice cared for each lamb and without fuss or drama quickly dropped little brown baby number three into the soft bedding of the sheep nursery. The miracle of birth will never grow old....each little arrival is welcomed, bottle babies are special but it is even more special to watch a new mom bonding and caring for her tiny, dependant offspring...be it one, two or even three.

Time to go and give little Baby Bear her evening bottle. A nearly full moon is in the sky illuminating  the barn and pastures with an eerie glow. Down in the sheep barn, little Baby Bear will be stirring...and waiting for her humans to arrive. Take care, keep safe, M
     

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    Its me, Maureen, (the Boss)

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