I came home today to find a llama running around in my yard. My neighbors (and first owners of Max) live just at the top of the road where my road joins theirs. It seems they have taken up animal collecting, and this is the latest arrival. As I turned down my dirt road, it was apparent something was loose. The whole neighbor family, large and small (except the new baby of course) were scattered about on the road and in the woods. I eased down the hill toward my driveway. As I drew along side the new mama who was running down the road, I rolled down my window. “Looks like you’ve lost something,” I called. I was thinking perhaps the wandering sheep were out again. “A llama,” she replied, with a wide grin.
A llama? Then I saw it – a huge, magnificent animal. His back was nearly six feet high – his head towering over that, and his coat was a rich, curly, dark brown. He was being herded out of my driveway. I stopped and watched as this beautiful animal trotted past the windows of the car. It was mesmerizing.
When he was well clear, I eased the car into my driveway. There was Max cowering at the garage door clearly alarmed. The dogs were beside themselves at this point. Buddy is not a chaser, but I knew better than to let Bo out unrestrained. I carried him to the house. Buddy and Max followed. By the time I was back outside, the llama had been retrieved. Poor Llama – I’m sure he must have been frightened. And I suspect he’s all alone too – no other llama for company.
I first detected my neighbor’s growing menagerie a few months back as I was driving my grandchildren home. “Oh look,” I exclaimed, pointing to an unexpected creature munching grass at the top of my road. “They have a goat!” The goat was not a goat, as I learned when I stopped by the next day for a chat, but a sheep. He was old and skinny, and didn’t look much like a sheep at all. Apparently there had been three of them, but two had jumped the fence a few days earlier, and hadn’t been seen since. No doubt there were some very happy coyotes out there somewhere.
I learned my neighbors also had a cow in the barn which, I was informed with a hand gesture to the neck, was destined for the dinner table.
There is always something new when I pass by my neighbor’s place these days. As I turn into their road I can peer down into the valley to see the new arrivals. Recently there have been small black and white cows down in the valley grazing, and just yesterday I saw two big fat woolly sheep. It’s possible the cows were down there too as I can only see a bit of the field. But I am rather afraid those cows might already be in a freezer somewhere. The animals do seem to come and go rather quickly.
Daisy - a pygmy goat
A few weeks back speckled chickens arrived, and a rooster. And a few days later there were miniature chickens (not chicks, but diminutive chickens) running all over their driveway. I haven’t seen those little ones lately. There is also a beautiful pygmy goat called Daisy who is a pet, (or so I’m told), who is allowed to roam around in the house apparently. I’ve also spotted horses up on the hill behind their house.
I am however, beginning to realize that this is not a bucolic animal farm in the making. I’m not really sure what’s going on. But no where in my list of possibilities does a llama fit in.
We don’t eat llamas do we? Perhaps they are taking up knitting.
Although I understand that in the process of eating, even if one is a vegetarian, we are taking life, and I try to tell myself that it’s possible that local animals live a more humane existence, however short that is. But it does give me pause to be enjoying these lovely creatures one day, and then not see them the next. It’s as if there’s a vortex on the hill into which all these animals disappear. I haven’t even seen Daisy since I took her photo the other day. Has she too fallen into the vortex?
Max's favorite hangout - a squirrel watches from the garden post
I do get upset when my cats bring in a bird or mouse, from their penned area. Most of the time these animals are still alive, and I can rescue them, and have done so for quite a few. I ask Spirit to keep the animals out of the cat pens, and it helps a little. But recently with Max’s arrival, I’ve had to think hard about feeding the birds as I do. When Max isn’t in the house, he’s hanging out under the bird feeder. After the bear broke the squirrel hood, it has been easy for Max to catch a bird or two, and I’ve found their bones here and there in the grass. Recently I replaced the missing hood with a screen skirt which looks very odd, but does deter Max.
Crow scavenging in the garden
This morning there was a crow in the garden scavenging for breakfast. I love the crows. Occasionally they will settle briefly in the trees, but rarely do they come down to the ground here. This is perhaps only the second sighting. It caused me to reflect on Max’s hunting. Perhaps the odd bird who succumbs to Max’s claws, becomes a meal for the crows. I know it’s the rhythm of things.
I do prefer to think, though, that the llama is grazing somewhere with a few fellow llamas, and will live a long life providing wool for someone’s sweater.
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Heading Outside 