3 days home alone

July 23rd

Coming back here was the best idea I could have. The people here who see that I am back ask me things like: 'Don't you like the rest of the world?', 'Traveling around must have gotten boring?' or 'Welcome back in Paradise.'....... And that's actually true. I went riding a lot again and 'hunting' cows, which is much more fun than riding behind tourists in a slow pace. The day before yesterday we gave the last 3 calves their brandings and ear tags and caught a cow to treat her before we drove her back to the ranch. Henry rode a horse for the first time (he put the saddle on in the morning for the first time and the horse did rodeo jumps and in the afternoon he drove the cows 7km with the horse). Well, in any case, I had to do more than usual and the cows were acting really stupid this time. They kept running off to the left or right of the path and I had to go through the forest and underbrush as fast as I could. Haha, I've never had so many branches in my way and sometimes the trees were too close together and Jay still galloped through there. That's what my arms and knees looked like too. When we weren't riding, I drove the tractor or quad or built fences. This time electric ones, not wooden. But the fence we built last time I was here is very good. Three big trees fell right on it and the fence is still intact. I don't think there's any other fence that would survive that.

Finally, it rained here on Friday, which was urgently needed. The fires are still burning and Williams Lake is still evacuated, but they couldn't spread as quickly anymore and they got smaller because of the helicopters flying day and night.... or at least that's what I think?

At the moment, I have the house to myself (from Saturday afternoon to Sunday evening). Aileen, Henry, and Ida are at a Bob Dylan concert in Prince George. They couldn't drive there by car because of the fires, but they found someone who has a plane that can fit 4 people and he is flying them there. I think Henry and Aileen were afraid that I would get bored all alone here....haha....I didn't even know what to do first. Giving hay to the horses, watering the greenhouse, filling up the water trailer (in the river with a water pump), cleaning the stable a little, making a birthday cake and chocolate ice cream for Aileen...... Henry also told me that I could take a ride on Jay and check on the cows. But Aileen told me I better not do that because there are so many bears here ; ). Well, I didn't even have time for that anyway. Yesterday evening, I was sitting on the terrace with the dogs and it suddenly dawned on me that I am really the only person within a radius of about 15 km (or more). I think that's cool ;)

At the moment, we only have 2 cows with calves here on the farm because they are sick. One of them has been very sick for a long time. The only reason we are keeping her alive is because she still has a little milk for her calf. And I kept thinking the whole time: Please don't die while I'm home alone. And what happens? When I got up this morning and wanted to fill up the water, she was lying flat on the ground, trembling and couldn't even lift her head. I wrote a message to Aileen, but she said there's nothing else we can do. I covered her up because it was only 5°C this morning and even colder overnight.

Okay, everything I wrote until now was 2 pm and now it's 9:30 pm. There was a change of plans. The plane couldn't fly back today because the weather was too bad. Now I'm alone here for 3 days. But we solved the problem with the cow. But that wasn't so easy either because I don't have cellphone reception and the phone doesn't work, and Henry and Aileen don't have internet. The only way I can communicate is by writing to Aileen's parents on Facebook and they try to reach Aileen. And well, after a little back and forth, I managed to find someone who can come over and put the cow out of her misery. I was really happy when I saw Jeff's car in the driveway. I still had to drive the cow away with the tractor, but that wasn't too difficult. The cow also had a calf and I don't really know what to do with it. (I couldn't reach Aileen again) I tried giving it some milk, but it keeps running away. But it's in a pasture with lots of delicious grass, so it's probably not really in need of milk?

But now I've already done all the tasks I was given ;) I don't even know what I want to do tomorrow, but I'll come up with something. Now I even finished the cake and the ice cream and no one is here to eat it :( Well, I could eat it all by myself, but then I would have to make something new again and I kind of don't feel like it.

Well, in any case, it's so cool to be back here and see everyone again. I was also really happy to see the calves again because I was there for some of their births and now they are already so big.