November 12th

Daily hummingbird.

Today I drove into Sandy for a dentist appointment, and when I got home, Jake and the trailer were back at the pasture. What? I’d had no idea (again) that he was coming over. The trailer was just leaving, and I backed into our neighbors’ driveway to let it go by. I saw Bessie and Lani Moo in it and was only able to get this photo as it left. I wasn’t prepared for them leaving as well as their keiki, and was sad that I didn’t really get to say goodbye to them.

I drove up to where Jake was, and he told me that the calves were bawling so much for their mamas that the guy who’d bought Hōkū and Kiko wanted to buy their moms, too. And Jake said that he just didn’t have time or finances to keep coming over every day during the winter to feed the cows and to keep repairing the fences (fair enough). He said that he hadn’t realized how much it’d take to have them, that it had been a great learning experience for him and Sara, but now it was time to let them go.

My first thought? Oh no!! No more daily pīpī for AFK!! My second thought: I am really going to miss having them here. Even now, as I write this a month and a half later, I still look for them out in the pasture. But that last escapade of theirs was such a hassle and took so much time and energy from us and our neighbors kinda did us in, too. So now we have to figure out what we’re going to do to keep our farm deferral.

It was a good experience for all of us; we made new friends and it’s been a good adventure for the past year. I miss the cows and miss hearing them moo. I miss their sweet faces and their ears.

I wish it had worked out; Jake was fantastic in the help he gave us around here and I totally understand where he was coming from. And we’re grateful for the time we all spent together. I’ll still try and get pīpī photos for you, AFK. But sadly, they won’t be of ones in our pasture.