Wwoofing It: Last Day In Montana

Hey Everyone,

So this is my last day here in Montana. I am definitely sad, but eager to get to warmer weather and more beautiful scenery. I can at least say that I have been busy up until the last minute, and will probably be very busy today as well.

I stayed overnight on the ranch on Saturday and Sunday, and then had to leave early Monday morning to go do a ton of errands for my trip. I got up early and wanted to leave between 8 and 9, and when I went to start my truck to warm it up, the battery was dead. So somehow I must have left a door slightly open by accident or something and it drained the battery. Luckily, Mike and Carrie were already on their way out so they had jumper cables with them. Mike and I jumped my truck, and I let it run for a bit, then left and did a ton of running around for hours. I got everything done, and I even got a new pair of cowboy boots, thanks to my Mommy for getting them for me! They are amazing, and definitely not ones I have ever seen in California. I am very excited to wear them and come back home and show them to everyone! After we all met back up at the house that afternoon, we took Carrie out to dinner for her birthday. We went to an 'authentic' Mexican restaurant, but perhaps they meant authentic for Montana, because it nothing close to the delicious Mexican food we have in California. It made me miss Cali even more!!!! Marv had a couple that are friends of his join us, and they were so funny! They are from Wyoming, and they own a cattle ranch so they know a lot about cows. They also own horses so they ride them a lot too, and use them to herd cattle. They also came out to the ranch with us after dinner, because we had to check to see if any sheep had lambs, and check on our new bum lambs!

Yesterday, we received 10 bum lambs from a sheep rancher. He sold them to us because he has over 1000 head of sheep, and taking care of bums is too much of a hassle for him. This is really common in sheep ranching communities, because bums take a lot of time to care for and ranchers with that many sheep cant take the time to do it. They sell the bums to other ranchers that want to take them on for very cheap, usually between $7 and $14 dollars each. This is a good deal because sheep are usually sold for around $200 or more when they are fully grown. So we got 10 bums that are between 1 and 10 days old, and they are so adorable!!! A few of them weight just about 1 pound, they are so tiny! The smallest one has an inverted eyelid, so that will have to be taken care of, and I am not really looking forward to that. But if it gets done when she is very young, it will only have to be done once and she will heal very fast. Carrie brought home 3 of the smallest lambs this morning because it is raining and it is too cold for them out in the barn still. They are sucking on bottles and doing really well, and all the other bum lambs out at the ranch are doing really well sucking on goats too. We also got a bum calf to put on our heifer because her calf died, and she accepted it and it is doing really well too. We got another bum calf, this time a diary calf, but the mother would not accept this one, so we have to bottle feed him as well. He is very cute and already jumping around and playing, and he was just born on Sunday!

My last day on the ranch was bittersweet. I said all my goodbyes to my pups and I know I will miss them so much, but it is time to move on and time for them to grow up into big dogs and forget all about me. Im glad they got their socialization in and we got to bond, but now they need to grow up into strong dogs and focus on guarding their sheep. I will definitely miss Penn, and all my puppies that I have watched grow. I will also miss the kids and lambs that I got to watch be born, and now they are growing up so fast. I will also miss Marv and Carrie. They have been wonderful hosts, and truly kind people. They have taught me so much, and been wonderful friends. I will never forget my time here in Montana; the good and bad times, of course. I will also remember everything I learned about animals, but also about myself. I really surprised myself out here. I learned that I am a lot stronger and tougher than I thought I could be, and I can handle my emotions really well when I have to. I have seen a lot of death out here, and plenty of heartbreak and tragedy, and I was able to handle it and grow from it and become a lot more mature from all the experiences. I learned that death is just a part of the life cycle, and it can happen at any moment, even when you let your guard down and think that it wont happen.

Overall this experience was wonderful, and one that I will never forget. Saying goodbye is very difficult, but I know that I am moving on to other things and there is so much more to learn. I cant wait to continue on to Kentucky and discover so much more about myself and the world out there.

Love you all,

Sam

P.S..... See you in Kentucky!!!