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| Photo copyright Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. |
Looks innocuous, doesn't it? The scene in the photo, I mean. Other, of course, than the obvious drought.
Those rocks we put there ourselves about 11:15 last night, in the dark.
There was nothing innocuous about it.
About 10:20, I let Stormy out one last time while I got Cricket's frisbees heated for the night; Sunny didn't want to go. She stopped on the deck, then ran toward the southwest, toward the red willows by the pond. I didn't think anything more of it.
Until she didn't return. Ten minutes later, Wings was out in the east field with the big flashlight, calling her; I was calling from the deck. Finally, she came back . . . followed by the most blood-curdling sound you can imagine, and the saddest, too.
And I suddenly realized that Wings would not be able to hear it, so dressed in my nightshirt and coat and still in my thong sandals, I went out and grabbed him and we went to investigate.
We get lots of wild creatures here, and they make lots of odd sounds, depending on circumstance. There are also stories among our peoples all over this land mass of less-than-ordinary creatures, too. And yes, some of them are real. But my first thought here was Cricket, who had not showed himself (we found him, just fine but looking guilty, a few moments later). Then, it was for the neighbor's dogs. If not them, well, it's the end of coyote mating season, but maybe one was injured (or just noisy).
Wings got to the fence long before I did, and yelled at me to get pliers; I wheeled and limped back to the studio and scooped up a variety of them, but he came back and met me to get the big snips.
It was a yearling elk, all by itself, completed separated from the herd (they have not been here in days). If I had to guess, it probably got separated from them last week, across the highway by the stream, maybe forcibly separated by a pack of the aforementioned coyotes that it managed to elude. Clearly, it was trying to find its way back home, to its herd and the backcountry. It tried to jump the wire fence . . . and miscalculated, catching its hind left hoof in the wire. The more it thrashed, the more the wire tightened, of course. And the shrieking and crying I heard was this poor baby begging to be freed.
I held the light; Wings slowly, carefully cut its hoof free. We were lucky insofar as it had landed on the other side of the fence; he didn't have to dodge hooves in the process, but the wire wouldn't protect him should it lash out inadvertently. But I spoke to it quietly in the old language, and it stopped thrashing immediately, as though it understood, just from the sound, that we were setting it free. It took several minutes to get the wires cut enough to free it; it sprang to its feet and bounded a few feet away before turning to look at us. It left behind a lot of hair, rubbed off its hide; it must have been there since before dark. There were, thankfully, only a few traces of blood. It was clear that it could put full weight on the hoof immediately. It stopped to look back a couple of times, but ultimately headed where we wanted, angled toward the backcountry, and while I heard it crying for its family on the way, eventually that stopped, and all was still, no glowing eyes anywhere in sight.
I think it made it; I hope it spent the night with its own.
Oh, the rocks? To keep the dogs from going under the fence.
And of course, I'm paying the price for it today, in terms of my body and hands, but adrenaline takes over at times like that. I'll live; with a little luck, the baby is living, too, and back safely with its herd.
And I'm behind , as always. So much to do, and so many obstacles, so many impediments, and nothing to touch the pain.
But we have new work! The bolo is done, and it's here, and it's fabulous. [It's also Sunday's featured work at The NDN Silver Blog.] There's another cuff (amethyst), plus a casual necklace and a bolo (both turquoise, in very different styles). I posted those a few nights ago, here and here. I also got Wings's newest ring posted a few weeks ago, and more importantly, I got that incredible new collar-style necklace up, here (and you need to see it, all of it, all of the photos of all five pendants and the beads). It's extraordinary, and it's looking for its home. I also got the last new cuff, pendant, and earrings posted two weeks ago, here; the pendant is sold, but the other two remain available for immediate purchase (and they're both ::wow::). All of our links are here; emphasis on sales and testimonials for now:
There's lots of fabulous work on the site, so please share all of the links.
All content, including photos and text, are copyright Wings and Aji, 2023; all rights reserved. Nothing herein may used or reproduced in any form without the express written permission of the owner.
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