IT’S A HORSE!!!

The days here at the farm have been lovely. I especially enjoy the mornings. Outside in the quietude, I commune with the raised bed gardens and the wheat fields, and in the distance, I hear cattle lowing. And while it’s so quiet here now, I imagine the hustle and bustle of this place when it was a family farm. The ghosts rise up to do my bidding. Grandpa Jack is at the barn readying his machinery for harvest. Grandma Ina has bread baking in the oven and is cooking her first batch of Himalayan jelly with Aunt Shirley’s assistance. Of course, I can build the story any way I like. The ghosts evaporate all too soon anyway.

I was sitting at my “desk” Thursday afternoon where I look out at the barn, the pond, and the southwestern end of June’s field. There’s a draw in that field, as in most of our fields, and I happened to spy something dark and blockish-looking just visible over the rise. Then the block moved. I knew it wasn’t a deer. Probably that cow, I said to Mike.

Ripening grain

Several hours later, as I put supper on the table, I glanced out the window to see a horse at the corner of the barn. He was unconcerned, just munching the grass. And where was Bess? Dozing on the front porch, having had her exercise and her supper. When Mike went out, she noticed our guest and set up a ruckus, despite Mike’s efforts to quiet her. The horse was not put off at first and made a friendly overture, moving farther into the yard. We guessed that he was lonely and glad to see some folks, but realizing that Bess did not share his desire to make friends, he quickly moved on and out of sight.

He seemed to be a nice horse with a friendly spirit, not like the skittish ones we’ve had in the past. The man in the canyon said the horse isn’t his, and we believe him. We may, or may not, see that horse again. KW