Country Living
Jul 29, 2025
Living in the country isn’t all cute animals and beautiful sunsets.
From our house
There’s cutting the grass (yeah, yeah, anyone who has grass usually cuts it, but we have about 10 acres of grass, and it’s been a wet spring and summer, by Colorado standards - we’re on our third cutting of the grass, when usually we’re done with that by June.)
There’s tending to a rather large garden (we both pretty much suck at this. Thank goodness the plants are forgiving); keeping 10 acres of fencing in order so no one (equines..) escape - talk about a job that keeps on giving! Getting the ruts out of the driveway down to the barn is another fun task, but it does involve driving the tractor, so there are some pluses.
It’s not that bad, really, just unrelenting. Maybe all home ownership is like that. I’ve mostly lived on acreage, so don’t really have much to compare it with.
There are lots of interesting things, too. In order to get to a grocery store I actually like, I drive about 40 minutes into Parker. Today I went on the back roads. Just to the west of us is a huge pasture, and in that pasture were cows, their adorable calves, and….5 donkeys. THAT was a surprise. They looked totally comfortable being part of the cattle herd, although they did stick together. Donkeys have been known to be very good at protecting other animals from predators, and we do have coyotes in residence. The (very) occasional mountain lion passes through on its way to better hunting. It just occurred to me that’s why those equines might be in the pasture. Some people get protective dogs (like Komondors, a Hungarian livestock protective breed). These people have donkeys. Clever, and now that I’ve thought about it, not so surprising.
It looks like Cousin It from The Adam’s Family, but this is a Komondor
On the other side of the road I saw four turkey vultures, and they were all looking at something in the gulley. I didn’t see what and didn’t stop to look. If there are vultures around, it’s a good bet that whatever is the object of their interest is probably deceased. Maybe one of the coyotes. A hawk was passing back and forth near that area as well.
“I may not be pretty, but my job is important” - turkey vulture
I love being so close to so much nature. It’s elemental, and it satisfies something inside us that needs to be nurtured. It is part of us.
If you get a chance, get out into nature. Sit quietly and observe. It’s amazing what you’ll see. And it’s vital to our wellbeing.
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