#i got to herd chickens and goats today :}

[yrlocalghost]

it has been a while since a woolly beast update! the baby chickens are also getting quite big, they still sound like babies but you can see them all lined up in a row and how big they are getting :’)

[garbinge]

But Not Today

Chibs Telford x F!Teller!Reader

Summary: Part 2 from Maybe One Day // Chibs comes to visit you on the farm.

Word Count: 3k

Warnings: Angsty. Mentions of death, murder, emotional distress, emotionally heavy.

SOA Taglist: @drabbles-mc @justreblogginfics

A/N: I've been thinking about these two a lot </3 Part 1

Your chest was rising and falling as you caught your breath and stared at the ceiling. It was the moment where all your wits and sanity came back over you and the thoughts of what just happened came flooding in. The smell of his Scottish cologne and cigarettes filled the empty space on the bed next to you, it was still warm to the touch. You heard the water from the faucet turn off and any thought that was sneaking in your brain was now being rushed out as Chibs reappeared in your room. His hands were tangling through his shirt as he put it back on. Your eyes darted from him to his kutte, waiting to see if he was going to put it on. That’s when your heart began to race even more. The thought of him leaving made you uneasy, he had come all the way up here to the farm to see you and explained nothing. It was partially your fault too, you made pleasantries, some quick small talk but before any explanation was given you were kissing him and dragging him into your room. 

“What’s with the face, love?” Chibs spoke as he grabbed his kutte, your heart sinking with it. 

“Leaving already?” Your eyes moved back to his. 

A smile grew on his face as he shrugged the leather over his shoulders. “You promised me uh tour, didn’ya? If I ‘member correctly you said sum ‘bout chickens?” 

The way the relief washed over you made you sad for a minute. You knew this was a feeling you’d feel again, that it’d be heavy when it happened, but you took a deep breath and tried to stay in the moment. 

“Earl, Tootsie, Olive, and Jameson.” You named them off as you stood up and re-dressed. 

Chibs was now grinning as he waited for you to get ready. “Jameson, huh?” He asked pulling out a cigarette to hang in his mouth, eager to get outside and smoke it. 

“Abel and Thomas named them when they were young kids, but I made sure I suggested one.” 

Chibs was holding out your sweatshirt for you. You approached and grabbed it from him but instead of letting go he pulled you closer. “Not tha only thing you have ‘round here as a reminder of me.” His face was dangerously close to yours as he looked down at the sweatshirt. It was the one item of his you could still wear around. There were no SAMCRO tags, just a black zip-up that barely had his scent left on it. 

“I’ve got pictures too.” You said stealing the zip-up back from him and placing a kiss on the left side of his mouth where the cigarette wasn’t dangling from his lips. Moving past him you made your way to the backdoor, the barn dog you got quickly getting up from her bed and moving to the sliding door just waiting to run around to herd the few goats you had. 

“Where’re the boys?” Chibs asked as he walked behind you. 

“Thomas is with Nero. Tuesdays he picks him up from school and takes him to basketball practice.” You spoke as the door slid open and the door ran past your legs. “Abel is 16— I’m lucky if I know what he’s wearing for the day. I thought Gemma was being exaggerated when she’d talk about the “Teller Terrible Teens” but Abel has made her words an understatement.” 

Chibs looked to you with a frown as you stepped onto the back deck and made your way down to the farmland. 

“It’s not horrible. He’s not a dick to me, he helps out when I ask. He just– he questions everything, he’s asking about Jax, he’s getting into trouble at school.” You shook your head thinking about these last few weeks and how Abel had been acting out.

“The worst part is, he reminds me of him so much. The way he looks, the way he talks.” You laughed as you unlatched the barn fence and moved around it to look at Chibs and invite him in with the sway of your arm.  “Yesterday, we were at the grocery store and he looked at the girl bagging our shit and said, “thanks, darlin’” I swore I was looking at Jax, I froze for a minute and just stared at him.” You laughed again. 

Chibs laughed with you knowing it sounded just like the boy’s father. 

“He’s probably out with his friends on his dirt bikes in the back trails.” You spoke as you walked through the goat pasture. “They probably do real stupid shit but I’d rather them do it on the property than at some random’s house or parking lot downtown. I’ve turned them into real country boys.” You turned back to see Chibs admiring everything around him. He was still listening to you but he was taking in the sight around him. 

“This is the goat pasture, Billie girl, our dog, loves herding them, honestly I got ‘em because I don’t have to mow the lawn as much. We’ve got 1 horse, Delilah, real beauty, she’s back in that red barn over there. Then there’s the chickens. We had more but they aged out, now we’re down to the four. Waiting to get 12 more, can’t go to the Farmer’s market with only 2 dozen eggs, you know?” The words were falling out fast as you spoke, nervous habit, but it didn’t stop you from beaming as you showed Chibs around. 

“You seem happy.” Chibs couldn’t help but smile as he took in every word you said. The both of you approached the back deck and plopped down on the rocking chairs Nero insisted you kept back here for company. It was an argument between you two when you first moved onto the farm. You looked at him like he was crazy when he mentioned company. It was hard to believe a normal life with having people over could exist when you were running from what you were running from. 

You looked over at Chibs as he looked right back at you after making his last comment, the smile on your face wasn’t at his words but at the memory of Nero’s. 

“I don’t know about happy.” You began to shake your head. “But, I don’t know I’m content, I’m…” Your mind wandered to find the right word. 

“At peace.” Chibs nodded as he finished your sentence, not even bothering to look at your eyes to see if his words were correct, he knew they were. 

You would have agreed with a nod but Chibs was looking out at the farm, his fave had fallen into an expression that was hard to read. He seemed…bittersweet. Happy but yet sad. 

As he stared out at the barn he nodded his head and said something under his breath. 

“The Universe will never give you peace in something you were never meant to settle in.” 

���What?” You leaned forward, frown filling your face as the familiar sentiment fell from his lips. It was hard to really pinpoint anything since he spoke it at a mumble. 

“I, uh.” Chibs reached into his back pocket and pulled out a small pocket notebook. “found this. In the garage. S’why I came out here, figured you should have it.” He handed over one of Jax’s notebooks. You knew what it was immediately, it matched the style of the other one you had. 

“I read it.” Chibs said those three words with multiple emotions behind it. Regret and apologies, for intruding on whatever privacy there was there, but also firmness and understanding like something in there just made sense. 

“And?” You rested your elbows on your knees. 

“‘nd, it’s’y I came here and didn’t mail it out.” He looked troubled now. “I wanted to make sure you were settled.” 

Now that statement held more weight knowing what he had just mumbled under his breath. 

“I guess I am.” You hated that the words felt like they were breaking his heart. 

“You are, love.” Chibs spoke with certainty. 

You looked out onto the farm, taking in the life you had. It was different than the life you had been born into, forced into. The life that took pretty much everything away from you. 

“It’s impossible to be at peace in that town.” You said the words outloud. It felt relieving to say it. All this time you had never said it outloud, they were just thoughts that danced around you head. 

“Don’t I know it.” Chibs agreed with you. 

That made your head turn to him, a little shocked. All your conversations when you were together, or involved was probably the better word, back in Charming never were really about the big problem. Sure, you two talked about club stuff, the things members told their ol’ ladies, about your brother, about Jimmy O, about a lot, but never the real source. 

“What are you saying?” You questioned him, more bold than you ever would have before. 

“Things are different. Things are messy.” He wanted to share but you could tell he was hesitant, that he was trying to ease back into your dynamic and add another layer to it. But the loyalty to the club ran deep, that was a multi-decade long habit that he was trying to break for the first time. 

“Doesn’t sound different.” That was the new you coming up to speak. The you that lost your brother, your brother’s best friend, your mother, your father to the club. 

Chibs nodded at that. “We’re getting into it with the Mayans. Other charters, they’re falling apart, it’s bleeding into SAMCRO.” 

“Yea, doesn’t sound different at all.” You crossed your arms and fell back into the rocking chair. 

“Your brother–Jax–Jackie boy,” Chibs went through all the names he’d call Jackson Teller, smiling at the last one before letting his lips fall, “this wasn’t what he wanted, he worked hard to leave everything in a good place and it’s like shit unraveled.” 

You could tell he was venting to you, you could tell he hadn’t been able to do this with anyone else in his life, no one from the club, no one in his love life, it could’ve made you feel special, a characteristic Chibs never failed at with you, but this wasn’t so much of a fail but just not something you could ever feel special about again. 

“As someone who's seen it before, from the outside but up close and personal. This doesn’t seem different at all.” 

It was the same statement you kept repeating, but this time, the way you said this, it made him look at you. His eyes were low, tired, and you could see the gloss and redness in them as he held back tears. Two strands of his long salt and pepper hair escaped from his sunglasses and fell in front of his eyes, oily and dirty you could tell he was going through it. 

He didn’t need to say anything, you knew he was looking at you to elaborate. 

It was mean to laugh, but you felt that you had the right to after everything you’ve been through and talking about it now was bringing that bitterness up. 

“You’re so deep in it, you don’t even see what’s plain in front of your eyes.” You closed your eyes and took a deep breath letting the irritation leave your tone for the next sentence out of your mouth. “Your next. Everyone who's held that gavel ends up in the same place, making the same mistakes as the one previous, no matter how hard they try not to.” 

Chibs took in what you said. 

“Jax tried so hard to be JT, then tried so hard not to be him. Both of those things dug that grave for him. He loved the club more than anything and the club couldn’t love him back.” You were saying things that you had locked away in your mind for years, things you thought about as you buried your brother, as you packed your life up and left. “The club will never love you back.” You looked at Chibs. “Those guys might love you, but the club never will.” 

“Do you?” 

You weren’t sure if he was trying to change the subject, at first your head snapped to him with a smirk and a snappy remark to shoot back at him but you saw his face that was looking out at the farm. 

“Never stopped.” 

The words made him look at you and you smiled at him. Your head tilted and lowered to meet him at eye level since he was leaning his elbows on his knees. “Best part is, the farm,” you tilted your head a little more before leveling it out, “it loves you back.” You nodded. “Every animal, every acre of land, the boys even when they fucking hate you for embarrasing them in front of a girl,” you laughed at that one and smiled hoping the last one was going to be enough to convince him, “me.” 

The tear dropped at that one. His eyes shut tight as a couple more fell. 

“Move here. You can open up a garage, we have the buildings for it, Nero would even let you put something up closer to the road, you can come with me to the Farmer’s market, you can drive me to the vet at 2 in the morning when I’m worried that Billie got into something or that one of the chicken’s has a fever,” you chuckled, “you can ride dirt bikes with the boys and tell them about Jax, not SAMCRO president, but your best friend, how you fell in love with your best friend’s sister, you can wake up and feel settled, feel at peace.” 

Chibs wanted to say yes. He wanted to build a fire and burn the kutte right here right now, but he knew it wasn’t that easy. In this moment it was but as the thought settled, as the days would pass, he’d think about it, he’d dwell in it, wonder if he made the right decision, miss the kutte, miss the guys. 

“It’s not that easy, love.” Chibs tired to level with you. 

“Doesn’t seem like the life you’re living now is either.” You would beg him, it wasn’t below you to beg. “It’s going to kill you.” You were firm in your words, it wasn’t begging but you thought it might have an impact on him. “The club is going to kill you.” 

“A normal life would too.” He answered too quickly and immediately you knew it was a losing argument. 

The sound of an engine and the gravel dirt being stirred up and you knew it was Thomas and Nero coming back home. Chibs looked over and saw them pulling into the driveway when he stood up.

“Was really good seeing you, love.” He put his hand on your cheek and looked down at you. “Really good.” His thumb caressed your cheek and he smiled. 

You nodded in agreement and thanked him for the journal. His hand was still on your cheek when you shut your eyes tight. “Don’t come back here unless the ink is blacked out and the kutte is off.” 

The words broke you to say, but it was more than just you that you had to look out for. You had two boys to think of and the man who was generous enough to give you half of his acreage to live on. 

“Ay.” He agreed with no disdain in his voice, if anything it was littered with understanding and what you hoped was well, hope. 

Your eyelids remained shut as his hand dropped and he walked off the back porch. You heard the car doors close but no words exchanged. If you weren’t dealing with everything that just happened in your head right now you’d be imagining the way Nero was probably lifting his sunglasses while Chibs was lowering his, the nods both would give to eachother, the curious questioning look on Thomas’ face as he tried to place the visitor. 

“You alright?” Nero’s voice was filling your ears and you wished it offered up the level of comfort it normally did. 

The tears were wiped from your face immediately and you stood and smiled. “Yea, I’m good.” 

Nero knew you weren’t but he also knew you weren’t going to share with Thomas two steps from joining you on the porch. 

“Who was that?” Thomas was asking as he looked down at the snack he was fidgeting with to open. 

Your gaze looked at Nero and said so much while not speaking at all. Before you either had a chance to answer, another voice was coming from the other direction as the back door swung open. “Was that guy on the bike here at the farm?” Abel’s voice was like a knife to your heart. 

“Yea, it was someone looking to sell me something.” You lied straight through your teeth to both boys. 

“Oh.” Thomas said as he passed by both you and Nero without second guessing your statement and walked right past his older brother into the house. 

Abel looked like he might need more convincing but you could tell he decided to drop it. “I’m goin’ out later but I picked up the feed order and left it in the ATV wagon.” 

“12AM curfew.” You pointed at him and he waved you off but you knew he’d be back before 1. 

“What was he sellin’?” Nero asked you, the only one besides you who knew exactly who it was that was here. 

You looked at Nero and shook your head at him.

“A dream.”

[traineecryptid]

NPSS Weibo Q&A (20240831) Part 8

This is a Q&A session held on Weibo. People will tag their questions with the hashtag #南派三叔藏海花在线答疑# (#NPSS Zang Hai Hua Online Q&A#) and NPSS will look through the tag to pick some to answer. The event started at 1500 hours on 2024 August 31st.

Folder with screenshots and big compilation google doc is here. Part 1 is here. Part 2 is here. Part 3 is here. Part 4 is here. Part 5 is here. Part 6 is here. Part 7 is here.

20240902

1233

Why do people say that Tianshou is angsty? #Web Drama Zang Hai Hua# #NPSS explains Tianshou# [Video] 

1508

Q: I want to know if there are two forces of Tianshou, both good and bad sides respectively: Gate guarding Tianshou (good) and Lu God's Tianshou (bad). 

A: You're a little smart.

1509

Q: Shu, if little Zhang Qiling was in a tomb one second and transmigrated into his Yucun self the next second with his feet in the same foot bath as Wu Xie’s, what would his first sentence be?

A: A demon!

1510

Q: I will watch Zang Hai Hua for you… Don’t stop answering, okay…

A: I’m still persevering.

1511

Q: A-Bing, did you know that Zang Hai Hua will stop updating for 3 days? Do you still want your Heat Index or not! (T/N: Heat Index is the ranking/ trending-ness of a drama.)

A: I’m not the boss. It’s not my decision to make!

1537

Q: Hello, Xu-laoshi. Since you said that you won’t be writing “Yucun Biji” anymore (If there’s going to be 9 more Yucun Biji published, then you don’t have to read this post because Yucun Biji is my favorite out of the entire series), can I beg you for an Altay Biji? I wish to see the Iron Triangle’s nomadic life: Menyouping riding a motorcycle to Ürümqi to buy stuff (could also go from a summer ranch to some village). Wu Xie would be in charge of raising cats and dogs and chickens and goats and cows. Pangzi would be in charge of steaming lamb and barbecuing lamb chop. When they don’t want to herd the animals anymore, they can plant sunflowers. Wu Xie can use his architectural talents and build underground houses and learn a few Kazakh words…  

A: I’ve been to Altay. The life there is like the original series and not Yucun.

1540

Q: Laoshi, Sir, Genius Writer, do you know how amazing the Flowery Night you wrote is? How did you do it? Are you Team Experience or Team Imagination? Has a beautiful god descended in the middle of the night and kissed the keyboard you wrote Flowery Night on?

A: Those who understand Flowery Night are experts.

1553 Q: I just took a nap and Shu got online. With the drama updates on hold for three days, will you chat with us for three days?

A: On and off, I guess. I’m deathly busy. I want to cry.

1554

Q: Sanshu, Sanshu, what is the one thing that Xie Yuchen and Hei Xiazi did that angered the other the most? Please tell me.

A: That would be enough for ten books.

1858

Q: Would there be one day where the Iron Triangle gets poisoned after eating some unknown mushrooms?

A: It would if Xiaoge isn’t around.

1858

Q: Shu, would there be updates for Queen’s Banquet? Approximately when would the updates start? Wu Xie is about to go moldy being stuck in that hole.

A: Soon. I need to pick a good desk.

1900

Q: Sanshu, Sanshu, does Wu Xie have any children appropriate de-stressing methods? The kind that can be broadcasted.

A: Standing in the rain?

20240903

0509

Q: The cat didn’t survive but if the cat did survive, would Xiaohua keep it? Or would he give it to Xiazi to raise?

A: Xiaohua wouldn’t interfere with the cat’s karma.

0510

Q: Shu, I really went to Louwailou to eat their West Lake Vinegar Fish during 817. The taste was unforgettable… The restaurant was full of Daomis. Do you have anything you would like to say to the Daomis who have been violently beaten up by the Vinegar Fish?

A: I’ve heard that every fish that was made into a Vinegar Fish has died in vain?

1259

Q: No updates for three days, you could say that this is a version of Three Days in Silence.

A: You sure know how to meme…

and here's part two if today's double update! we've caught up to 3rd September now! hooray! and this is 120 posts (less than 120 questions)... theres... an amount to go... but! whittling! making progress! yay!

[pressedinthepages]

Shenanigans

Fandom: The Witcher

Pairing: Eskel/Reader (gender neutral)

Word Count: 1392

Rating: T

Masterlist

a/n: Reader Request [ just found r esk/read stuff and WOW delicious... umm could you do an esk/read fluff? just some goofy stuff at kaer morhen? i love ur writing hav a nice day!/ maybe some pranks? inappropriate usage of signs and playin stuff like 'who can steal more of vesemirs stuff w/o noticing' ] omg cuteeee this was so sweet to write and im living

(There is a link on my page where you can be added to my taglist :D)

Warnings: a little bit of language, pranks, but not the shitty kind, inappropriate usage of signs

Eskel is the victim of a prank, and enlists help with revenge.

    Your nose slowly regains feeling, having been in a regular state of freezing before being toted into the library and plopped in front of the roaring fire. Kaer Morhen was typically quite chilly in the winter, but none of the Wolves particularly enjoyed the cold, especially not Lambert. They kept numerous fires and piles of furs around the great castle, just waiting for someone to warm.

    You lay on your side atop one of these furs, something soft and dense that smells just like Eskel. Said Witcher is laying behind you, his arm wrapped around your waist and his legs intertwined with yours. His breath tickles the back of your neck as you both lounge before the fire. 

    “Lambert scared the shit out of me today,” Eskel mumbles, brushing his nose lightly against the nape of your neck. 

    You hum, settling further back into him. “How in the world did he manage that?”

    “Dumb bastard was hiding up in the rafters above the armory, apparently he had been up there all morning just waiting. Then, when I walked in, he dropped down behind me and tackled me to the ground, and then ran away before I could grab him. Ever since he’s started hanging around that Cat, he’s gotten much more agile.”

    You grin, a haze settling over your vision, “I think he’s good for Lambert, makes him feel more human.”

    Eskel only grunts in response, sleep clearly approaching quickly for both of you. “Would you help me enact revenge?” 

    You turn in Eskel’s arms, kissing him deeply and nuzzling into his neck, basking in the warmth of his body. “Anything to protect your honor, my dear.”

    And thus began the great Kaer Morhen Prank War.

***

        It starts innocently enough, only needing to borrow a few of the animals from around the keep. You and Eskel rise before the sun, tending to the animals before carting a few through the cavernous halls of the castle. Eskel only needed to Axii Lil’ Bleater to be quiet for a moment, since she was the only one making any noise. 

    You carefully tip open the door to Lambert’s room, noting how he snuffled into his pillow. You nod at Eskel, letting him step in to cast the same sign over his brother. Only enough to keep him asleep while you herd the animals into the room, Lambert snored loudly as three goats, a pig, two chickens, and Scorpion file into the room. You hadn’t even planned on Scorpion, but once he noticed your little parade he just decided to follow. 

    Eskel slowly lifted the signs, the two of you sliding out of the door and hiding in a small alcove at the rear end of the hall. It only took a moment before you heard a shout, followed by a bang as Lambert presumably hit the floor. Your eyes widen as you see Lambert scramble out of his door, stopping to peer back inside of his room. 

    “Oh-oh fuck. How? Shit. Okay, no problem. Just got a fuckin’ barnyard in my room, it’s fine.” Lambert turns and sprints the other way down the hall, leaving you and Eskel to finally succumb to the laughter that had been threatening to burst at the seams. Once you catch your breath, you move quickly, gathering all of the animals and urging them out of the hall. Eskel leads, keeping an eye out for Lambert. 

    You make it back down to the courtyard without running into anyone else, depositing your herd before casually making your way back inside. You and Eskel walk back up the stairs, turning into the hallway that houses Lambert’s room. You can hear voices coming from inside, mainly Lambert’s.

    “What the hell? I swear Vesemir, they were just here.”

    Lambert is gesticulating wildly, turning on his heels when he hears the two of you enter. 

    “What’s going on Lambert?” Eskel queries, quirking an eyebrow with a smirk.

    The younger Witcher narrows his eyes, immediately pegging the two of you as the culprits. “Not damn thing, mind your business.” But you can tell by the twitching of his jaw that the game has only begun. 

    Vesemir sighs, leaving the room. You can hear him grumbling about how things never seem to change, no matter how many years go by.

    ***

    Lambert then corners you after supper, yanking you unceremoniously into an abandoned bedroom. His hands find a place on his hips, looking all the world like a parent scolding their unruly child. 

    “Really??? I thought you better than this, I can’t believe you helped him get back at me!”  Lambert hisses. You only shrug, not wanting to incriminate yourself further. Lambert squints, and you can clearly see the gears turning in his head. 

    “Would you help me?” He asks. You blink, a smirk crossing your lips at the prospect. 

    You nod, holding up a single finger. “Within reason, I won’t condone anything cruel.”

    Lambert scoffs and rolls his eyes. “What do you take me for, an asshole?”

    “Well, yes.”

    “Eh, that’s fair. No worries, this is all just fun and games, I promise.” Lambert holds out a hand and you shake it, a new pact formed in the secret halls of the abandoned castle. 

    ***

    The next morning, you convince Eskel to take you into the courtyard for some training. He is gentle with you, but firm enough for the both of you to actually benefit from the exercise. Your breath comes in visible puffs in the air and you try to keep your eyes trained on Eskel rather than where you know Lambert is hiding. 

    You are doing your best to corner Eskel into the spot that you and Lambert had agreed on, but you had failed to remember that Eskel is a fucking Witcher. Every move that you make towards your goal only sends you two steps backwards, until you finally come up with an idea. 

    You hold up a hand, feigning the need to catch your breath. When Eskel asks if you are alright you only nod, slowly creeping over to the designated spot. You put your hands on your knees and brace yourself, letting your chest heave with deep breaths. Eskel comes to your side and sets his hand on your shoulder, his golden eyes gleaming with worry. You glance over to your right, only a brief moment for confirmation of what will happen next.

    Eskel murmurs your name and you look up, catching his eyes and smirking before twisting away, leaving him still for a split second, which is all Lambert needs. He launches out from behind the shed and signs aard, sending Eskel soaring into the giant mound of snow that you and Lambert had put together the evening before. You see Eskel’s head pop back up from the middle of the hill, a powdery white dusting over his hair making him look even more like Geralt. 

    Lambert is doubled over with laughter and you step towards your Witcher with a smile on your face and your hand outstretched. Eskel takes it, fitting his fingers with your own and letting you help him out of the snow. As soon as he has his footing though he growls, tackling an unsuspecting Lambert to the ground. They roll over the cool cobblestones for a minute until Eskel has Lambert pinned beneath him. You approach cautiously, setting your hand on Eskel’s shoulder. 

    “Now, love. Don’t get cross with him for a little bit of payback. I mean, we did put half of the barn into his room.”

    Eskel sighs, hanging his head before climbing to stand. He helps up Lambert, clapping him on the shoulder. “Well played, brother.”

    Lambert chuckles, rolling the same shoulder as if Eskel may have lightly dislocated it. “Same to you...maybe we should slow the pace? We won’t last all winter if we keep going like this..”

    Eskel only hums and nods, turning back to you. You smile, pulling him in for a gentle kiss to the cheek. “Traitor,” he whispers, mirth evident in his voice.

    “Oh no, love. That was my penance for helping you in the first place.”

    Eskel smirks, a mischievous glint finding a home in his eyes. You barely have time to register that before he hauls you up over his shoulder, breaking off in a sprint to the keep, your laughter echoing in his wake. 

[bakugouscentedcaramel]

Southern Sweetheart

Here's 2.5k words of Southern S/O X Bakugou, enjoy the feast my darlins.

The smell of freshly tilled dirt just made you even more eager to see your family. The way the wheat fields moved like waves in the ocean eased your nerves and just proved you were finally back home. You finally convinced your boyfriend to tag along with you for the weekend, but he might've underestimated the extent of what was to come. This here land was your Homeland and he was in a strange alien world.

"Tch, I still don't know why we gotta come all the way out in the middle of nowhere to meet your fuckin family." Katsuki grumbled as he sank deeper into the passenger seat of your Wrangler.

"Cuz Hot Stuff, you've only met em once and it were only for bout 20 minutes. Besides they love ya as far as they can throw ya." You shifted gears to accommodate the transition from road to backroads, causing him to grip his seat a bit tighter.

"You good babe? I'm only goin' 50. Do you want me to slow down ya city slicker?"

OH BOY CAN YOU

"Fuck you, I'm just not used to these fuckin pothOLES" he reached for every handle your car had to offer and braced himself as he felt the wheels slam inside a crater.

You purposely hit a monster pothole head on to shut him up. Evoking a glare from your normally badass lover.

"Oh yer fine Katsu, if Ole Bessie here can handle a ragin' cow in heat she can handle a little pothole. Just try to relax and think of it like a rollercoaster." You slapped the side of your car door and gave him a wicked smirk.

"Only thing ya gotta worry bout is the rogue buck, so keep an eye out. It is deer o' clock after all."

"Tch I thought 'Ole Bessie' could handle a 'ragin' cow', you're telling me she can't handle a deer?"

"Not at 67 miles per hour, Katsu."

"WHY THE FUCK ARE YOU GOING SO DAMN FAST"

"It's an unspoken rule to fly down these roads." You shifted gears and smirked as he sunk deeper into the seat due to the force of Ole Bessie claiming the road.

"Goddammit Y/n stop trying to fuckin scare me."

"Ah so it's workin then? Admit it Katsu!" You shifted again causing the speedometer to jump to 86.

"GODDAMIT YES OK IM FUCKIN SCARED OF YOU GOING THIS DAMN FAST ON A DIRT FUCKIN ROAD OK??" His were hands uncontrollably creating small Sparks out of sheer panic at this point.

"Fine, I'll slow it down a smidge. Jussa smidge though. How's 76?"

"GODDAMMIT Y/N!!!"

----

You smirk knowing what was coming up ahead. You knew Katsuki has probably never smelled farmland or even seen a real actual cow in flesh n blood and you couldn't help but giggle.

"THE HELL IS THAT?" He covered his nose and fanned the air staring at you accusingly.

"Well, roll up the windahs darlin', you're bout to smell some good ole dairy cows."

"What the fuck do you mean."

You point to his window and he looks out it to see a whole herd of dairys just grazing and swatting flies. You couldn't help but love his expression. You were right, he's never personally seen cattle before.

"Why are there so fuckin many."

"How do you think we fill up entire tankers full o' milk Katsu. We gotta have a bunch of em. You're lookin at this year's yearlin's. They ain't even fully grown yet and they're already built like tanks."

He pretended not to be interested but you could see him sneaking looks out of the corner of your eye.

Oh if only he knew what you had in store for him.

----

The sunset peaked over the crest of a corn field, you both were in the car for about 4 hours now and you still had a small bit to go still. You glanced over at him and he was sound asleep. His right hand propped his face against the doors' armrest and he was manspreading. His face was relaxed and showing you a softer side of him only you knew about. His gentle breaths putting you at ease. You couldn't help but keep stealing glances at him wondering how you could snag this piece of man.

You turned down the radio for him and you reached out to his left hand and rubbed the back of it gently. You were so blessed to have him by your side, especially since his family loved him to death even if they knew him so little. You truly were-

"FUCKIN CHRIST-" you slammed on the brakes causing you both to nearly fly into the dashboard.

Katsuki instinctively went into fight or flight and almost blew your windshield up before-

"MOVE OUT THE FUCKIN ROAD YOU GOTDAMN FUTURE VENISON BURGER" You slammed on your horn and the deer bounded back into the woods.

"WHAT THE FUCK JUS-"

"It's just a goddamn deer, fucker came outta nowhere I swear to Christ. Sorry to wake you up darlin'."

"Get out, I'm driving."

"The fUCk you are?! We're almost there anyway Katsu. Fucker probably came from out gotdamn land anyways." You pressed on the gas and continued your journey.

He huffed as you kept going, pretty much just blowing off his offer. At least he could collect his heart from the floor and relax a bit before finally getting to your place.

"Katsu, fair warnin, my family is well, out there."

"Really? I couldn't tell based off of you 'Darlin'"

"Heh, you gonna learn today then."

You whipped into the driveway causing Katsuki to glare at you for throwing him around. He looked to see what was your house, a seemingly picture perfect two storied ranch house fitted with an extended porch and a white picket fence. He would've made a comment about it being cliche before you rolled down the windows and nearly put your whole torso out of the window before-

"SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOEY"

Katuski flinched at your loud outburst seemingly at random before realizing what that meant.

Out came your parents who replied with their own pig call and rushed down the steps. Your brother stood at the porch and just waved at you two.

"What in the fuck is going on."

----

After introductions and a night's rest Katsuki woke up to a rooster.

His eyes shot open and he flinched before he realized where he was. You were in the same bed and were snuggling into his bicep, he brushed some hair behind your ear and smirked before holding you closer to him. He was about to kiss your forehead before that damned rooster crowed again. You shifted in your half awake daze.

"Babe, there's an uncooked chicken nugget that's about to be deep fried, get up."

You mumbled incoherently.

He shook you awake gently, "babe I'm gonna roast that fuckin bird if you don't get up."

"mmm -Jerry alone…"

"What was that my lasso?"

"Leave Jerry alone.. he's a jackass but hnn…" you groaned reluctantly. "Wait… YOUR LASSO?? IS THAT A NEW NICKNAME KATSU??"

"Fuckin hell that's what got you up?"

----

After you two got dressed and made your way downstairs for a deliciously cooked southern breakfast of ham, bacon, eggs, and some buttermilk toast, you got your boots on.

"Where are we going now babe, I thought we were going to spend time with your family."

"We are. But if we're gonna stay here, we're gonna help round the farm. Besides I gotta force ya to meet some other family members."

He huffed and started putting on his sneakers before you stopped him.

"Uh uh, darlin' you need workin boots, not those. Good thing I already bought ya a pair." You shove him some cowboy boots and he nearly laughs.

"You're fuckin joking me right?"

You stare at him with a dead serious glare, "We both need em if we're gonna be doin the work that needs ta get done babe."

"What the fuck are we doing that needs these fuckin things?" He shakes the boots in the air

"Oh you'll see, sugar. Now c'mon, Curly's waitin."

-----

You lead your frustrated boyfriend out to the pasture and honestly you could barely keep your eyes off of him. The steel toe boots you got him, some blue jeans, and Lord have mercy on that plaid shirt he had on. He was the spittin image of a country boy, but-

"Where the fuck are we going. Who the hell is Curly?"

His question was soon answered when he was toppled over by a horned goat.

"THERES MAH BOY" you patted the goat and it bleated happily to finally see you.

"A FUCKING GOAT?"

Curly took this as a challenge and attempted to ram into Katsuki again only to have a palm stop his head.

"Yeah Katsu, Curly's a boer goat. He was supposed ta be a meat goat but we all kinda got attached. He's got a fiery attitude just like ya too." You shove Katsuki teasingly and Curly saw an opening, he rammed at the back of Katsuki's knees causing him to fall over.

"You really gonna let a lil goat push you round like that?" Your boyfriend growled in response.

You pull him back on his feet as you coddle him "Now c'mon, you're gonna learn how to ride a horse Katsu."

----

"I take it you've never ridden a horse before?" You leaned against the fence watching him scan the pasture

"Show me the nearest horse in the city and I'll be more than happy to ride the fucker." He glared at your stupid question before going back to panning the meadow.

"Don't be like that Katsu, our horses are two sweethearts, I think you'll like em."

"Well I don't see them so I guess we're not riding today babe"

You grab him by his hand as you lead him to the barn to pick up a square of alfalfa.

"Now when they come barrelin down to get this don't be scared of em. They can sense fear and your fear will make them scared. Horses are very emotion sensitive animals, so that means no yellin neither." You break the square in half and give him one before walking back over to the metal gates.

He climbs up on the first rung of the fence and just looks at you smugly, "I don't think they, want to see us today Y/n, can't we just-"

You bang your heel on the gate causing the lock chains to jingle loudly.

You've rang the dinner bell.

You smirk at Katsuki's face when he hears the thundering of hooves. Sure he thought he knew you had horses but not monsters.

Two horses came sprinting to the gate, one Belgian Draft and one Clydesdale.

Bakugou was so entranced by their sheer power of them just running that he didn't even realize they were coming in hot.

The Belgian nearly charged at Katsuki causing him to flinch and nearly fly off the fence.

"HO, Waffle that's 'nough now you damn dummy, you both best be kind to poor Katuski here. Ya damn near scared 'im to death with yer eagerness. Katuski, mere."

Katuski dusted himself off and picked up his dropped alfalfa, "damn fuckin overgrown donkey."

"Katsu I need you to stick your hand out and let ole Waffle smell ya first, don't face directly at em neither, they're a pretty animal so ya gotta not act like a predator." You patted the Clydesdale's neck as it ate the alfalfa out of your hand.

"Tch, you're practically attacking that one's neck and you're telling me not to act like a predator?" He huffed.

Waffle huffed and took a step towards him as an attempt to scare off your boyfriend.

"Waffle Ho, stop bein spunky. Katuski don't let him walk over you like that, side step to him and extend your arm out, but keep it at a downward angle."

He groans and does what you tell him. The horse smells him and he can't help but feel a rush of excitement when he feels the horses powerful exhale on his skin.

"Heh, you big bastard." Katsuki slowly holds out the alfalfa half and offers it to the horse.

Waffle takes the bit gently from his hand and trots off with it to eat it in the grass.

Katuski has a smile on his face and an idea crosses your mind.

"Wanna ride him Katsu?"

----

You saddle up both horses on your own despite Katsuki offering to carry the saddles for you. He could really appreciate their size when the seemingly tiny saddle complimented their sheer amount of muscle.

"So, you'll ride Waffle, and I'll ride Hades. Do you need help gettin on em?" You tug a bit on Hades' saddle girth.

"Are you sure you aren't the one who needs help?" He smirks and starts to make his way over before you fling your foot in one of the stirrups with seemingly unknown flexibility.

You fling yourself over on top of the saddle seat with ease and gently plop down, shifting a bit before flashing him a grin.

You watch him struggle for a bit before pointing out the mounting block and he cusses at you a bit before finally getting on.

"Now, these boys are work horses so they listen to direction pretty well. If you need any help just let me know darlin." You click your tongue and Hades starts walking, his hoof fall echoing in the barn before stepping outside.

You turn him around to face the barn to look at a very confused yet impressed Katsuki.

"M-move." He gently nudges Waffle with his stirrups to no avail.

"Katsuki these are workin horses, they got iron sides. Just click your tongue twice and he'll move."

He clicks his tongue and nearly falls out of the saddle when Waffle takes his first step. Then his second. And third.

You can see the excitement on your city slicker boyfriend's face as he realizes the meaning behind the best seat in the world is in a saddle.

He takes some getting used to the commands like Ho and Woa, but he's a surprisingly quick learner.

----

You start your car to head back home. Katsuki fully enjoyed himself and you couldn't have asked for a more supportive boyfriend.

Before your car lurches forward your brother runs to the passenger side and slaps a cowboy hat on Bakugou. He acts like he hates it but he doesn't take it off.

You two take off to head back home before you see him roll up his sleeves up to his elbows and fix his hat.

"You embracin the cowboy life now Katsu?"

"Never, but I can see the charm in it." He smiles genuinely at you for a split second before, "you do act a lot like Curly, are you sure you ain't related to him?"

"Oh ha ha Kat- DIDJA JUST SAY 'AINT'"

"No I fuckin didn't."

"KATSUKI 'YEE HAW PUT EM UP' BAKUGOU HAH"

This was going to be long trip back home for him.

[whatthefoucault]

A Chronological List of Works by me, whatthefoucault: the Cap Fam Edition

These are the stories largely about members of the Cap Fam - so, Steve, Bucky, Sam, and Nat.  Stories marked with a * are the bigger works so far, for maximum feels and development, and possibly a comforting alternative to canon.  Enjoy!

The Stargazer’s Field Guide To Constellations

By the time Bucky happened upon him, doubled over on the front steps of the library, Steve was already as green as a plate of creamed spinach.

And My Heart Beats So That I Can Hardly Speak

Steve doesn't dance, but this was a special occasion.

(A Few Inches Too Far) Underneath The Mistletoe

It was purely by chance that Steve happened upon a scruffy little sprig of discarded mistletoe on their way back from dinner with the Barnes family.

So Take It From Me, Captain America

"Ok, Captain America PSA number four, take one, and... action."

Sextown, U.S.A.*

The message was vague on details, but the urgency in Wade’s voice told Steve it was serious, and that he should come alone.

“Help me, Steve Rogers,” he pleaded. “You’re my only hope.”

Steve had to admit that that got to him.

(It would be three months before Steve would see Star Wars for the first time. Needless to say, he was not amused when he did.)

... In which two supersoldiers form a very special bond across several time zones, many states, and more all-you-can-eat breakfast than anyone should ever eat in their life.

Advanced Seminar In Postmodern Cultural Analysis, Lesson Five

In which Steve Rogers and his very good friend Wade Wilson hang out.

Continental Breakfast Not Included

Sam had definitely asked for separate beds, but they had been driving since before sunrise, and it was almost midnight.

The Season For Plums*

One day, a man went to the market to buy plums.

Notes From A Dirty Attic*

I don't know what I'm doing.

My name is Bucky. I come from Brooklyn. I died in the war.

Particle-Wave Duality*

While Bucky is napping, Steve reads to him.

Blackout Nights And Tight Spaces

It was cold, then sleep, but it was different this time. He was dreaming.

Caprine Management

In which Steve meets Bucky's new friends. 

Two Seat Sofa, Hensta Light Brown*

"So..." Steve hesitated to finish the question, "are we dating?"

(In which Steve and Bucky come home.)

No Less Than Three Kinds of Cheese

The sun was out and the park was beautiful, but it was still too cold for a picnic.

Sugaring

Every morning, Steve sets out from the little cabin to tend to their maple trees.

Butter, Sugar, Flour, Eggs

"What was my grandma's name?" asked Bucky, apropos of nothing.

American Globs

Objectively, he knew everything was fine. He knew they were fireworks, and that they were beautiful, and back in the day, he and Steve used to sit under the stars together and watch them light up the sky with wonder and delight.

But time had passed since then.

It’s Like Right Now

Nat and Sam visit a street food market.

Me And My Baby Gonna Touch That Leather

"I think we should fuck," said Bucky, as Steve began climbing back under the duvet.

Two Brooklynites and One Big Apple

“You did good out there today,” Captain America said, brushing a layer of detritus from his unfathomably broad shoulder. “I’ll see you around.”

“Not if I see you first,” replied Miles, fingergunning with one hand as he sent a web rope fwipping off into the distance with the other, catapulting himself away at tremendous speed.

... in which two superheroes battle with bad guys, embark on community art lessons, and a friendship forms along the way.

The Nemophilists

“Conspicuous,” said Steve, apropos of nothing. Bucky was putting away the last of the clean dishes.

“Conspicuous?” asked Bucky, nesting the heatproof glass bowl precariously in a short stack of significantly smaller cereal bowls.

“Yeah,” said Steve, scooping last of the leftovers into a container that, it turned out, was a tablespoon too small. “I’m.”

Nemophilist: (n.) One who is fond of the forest.

Long Hair Problems, And How To Outsmart Them

“So I guess we’re not getting up early to line up for brunch?”

The End Of A Century*

This is the story of a sister and her brother.

As the shadow of the war fades and gives way to new conflicts, Becca Barnes battles the constraints of the twentieth century: an education, a marriage, a career, with the ghosts of her youth never far from her memory. As the twenty-first century barrels on through its awkward teenage phase, Bucky Barnes builds a new life, with new friends, and a burgeoning relationship with his lifelong companion Steve, the erstwhile Captain America, as they struggle to find their place in the world. The last time Becca saw her brother was on the eve of war; neither of them expected, some seventy-something years, a hip replacement, and one new arm later, to be reunited.

This is a story about family.

And Our Dreams Are Making Us Nice Stories

Steve had been adamant that a party was unnecessary; however, his friends had insisted, bundling into his little Brooklyn apartment with pizzas and a selection of local microbrews and seven-layer taco dip and two dozen supermarket cupcakes emblazoned with the most neon buttercream he had ever seen piped into the stripes of little American flags.

A Ghost That The Others Can’t See

"What'd you tell her about me?"

"Only the good stuff."

The Littlest Balsam In Brooklyn

In which Bucky and Steve get a tree.

When Life Gives You Limoncello

In which Bucky has baked a pie. 

Blessings*

At last, the shape of life after everything had begun to come into focus. Bucky and Steve consider the next steps, and some friends come to visit.

Stargazing

"You know what? Let's get out of the city," Steve suggested after dinner.

(In which Steve has a very quiet birthday.)

The Fundamentals of Sciurine Linguistics

Sam Wilson was sure about three things: the words Captain America were enough to nab a table for two at the most popular noodle bar in the East Village on short notice, everyone loved a good noodle bar, and ramen was up there with corn on the cob and chicken wings as the worst possible food choice for a first date.

Eight Evenings In The Kitchen

The Barnes-Rogers Hanukkristmas season was always going to be one spent almost exclusively in the kitchen.

Light Showers And A Gentle Breeze

They had been under no illusions that there would be a guarantee of snow, but nothing could have quite prepared them for the abundant, relentless sprinkle of rain.

In which Bucky and Steve go somewhere quiet for Christmas.

Strollin’

"Hot dogs?" asked Steve.

"Hot dogs," agreed Bucky.

On A Quiet Morning In The Last Forest In Brooklyn*

“We said we wanted to keep the guest list short,” protested Steve. “Just close family, and close friends. Nothing expensive, nothing... tacky.”

“As if you’re one to complain about tacky,” countered Tony. “I got my invitation by group text. Who does that?”

...in which Bucky and Steve get married.

Sliding Into Second

“Stevie,” said Bucky, his voice tinged with a tired sort of fondness, “you’re a good man, and I know you’d never use the former Captain America's name for something as trivial as, oh I dunno, VIP seats right behind home plate, but…”

... in which the fellas go to a baseball game.

Untitled Goat Game*

A therapy goat, he thought. It was all Bucky could do to keep his eyebrows from furrowing into one megabrow. "Seriously?"

... in which, despite being entirely at home in the big city, Bucky finds himself experiencing a pang of nostalgia for the little herd of goats he looked after back in Wakanda.

The Witches Of Føroyar

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away, nestled in a little cottage just beyond the rocky shores of a tiny, windswept island, lived two very special people indeed. The green witch drew his power from the moon and the stars and the deep, dark night sky; while the gold witch shone with the power of the sun, dazzling and bright. They loved the island and the mountains and the stormy sea, but most of all, they loved each other very much.

[kazlifeadventures]

Trinidad & Tobago - Carribean dreams...

I am so ‘vex’ that I won't be ‘liming’ in this beautiful place any more. I have been one lucky person to have been able to come here and hang with a local for almost a week. Jasmine has shown me her Trinidad and for that I am truly grateful. I have eaten so many local foods and they have all been fantastic. I have impressed the locals no end with my love of pepper sauce. The food here is tasty, spicy, and pretty much specific to this island. ‘Nah boy’, I am so very much enamoured with this country! One of my friends asked me if I had posted photos of the food. Truth be told, I don’t have a lot of pics, its not the most photogenic, and I seriously just wanted to eat it! I have partaken in the local speciality of doubles, with ‘plenty’ I might add - for those unaware that is with extra hot sauce and/or the mango bone that is infused with more pepper. Doubles is made with 2 baras filled with a curry channa (chick peas), it originally started as a breakfast food, progressing to be an anytime of the day food. It’s nutritious, tasty, and sold at street side vendors everywhere. Apparently even pizza and KFC taste better over here. This I can now say I agree with. Not sure if the food tastes better, or if its adding the ketchup, mustard, and pepper sauce that assists with the taste upgrade.....

Jas took me to the home of street food a little town called St James, and made sure I got to have saheena, (seriously amazing spicy little deep fried spinachy deliciousness ) as well as alloo pie...amongst other things. The locals only really eat out at restaurants on special occasions so that meant Jas cooked for me a lot of the time, and wow, just wow. I loved the chicken curry (brown), smoked herring, baigan choka, salt fish, home made roti, the fabulous goat curry.... I could rave on, but google Trinidadian food and you’ll understand. Jas lives out in the ‘country’ to the South of Port of Spain, the capital. We spent one evening heading around to some of the local rum bars. Rum bars are everywhere here. Beer is cold and cheap (and made here - love the Stag and the Carib!). I got to meet a few of the locals. Over here they will buy you a drink even for something as simple as the fact that they had to order over you slightly. At the bar. They loved to meet the ‘white girl from Austalia’, as out here they dont see a lot like me... The good thing is none of it was them just trying it on with the foreigner. These are genuinely lovely, polite, caring people. I had a dance off with some girls from Venezuela, and ended up drinking way more drinks then I paid for, eating (they sell bar snacks and’cutters’ only at the rum shops) some tasty wontons at one place, and some really tasty fried chicken at another. We then got some free food from another lovely local who bought us a drink, and also then brought us across some Souse and Corn soup from his food stall (across the road from the rum shop). Anyway I can now say I have tried Souse, not sure I’d eat it again, it was flavourful, but pigs trotters in broth with onion and cucumber is not on my list of things to eat again! I think I have decided that I need to come back to Aus and start my own Trini food store, I think it’d be a huge hit. Love the local beers. Love the rum here. Jas made sure I tasted the Puncheon rum - 75 % and you never get a hangover or upset stomach... I wanted to bring some home, but alas no room in the suitcase! One of the biggest things, I was not aware that this is the home where Angostura bitters is bottled. It was first created in the town called Angostura in Venezuela by a German surgeon stationed in Venezuela, originally produced there between 1824 - 1830. In 1875, the plant was moved to Trinidad and that’s where it’s secret recipe is still produced today.

One of the main religions here is Hindu, they have a giant (85 feet - 26m) statue of Lord Hanuman Murti located in the grounds of Dattatreya Yoga. The statue is the second tallest in the world, and the tallest one in the western hemisphere. When we pulled up onsite there was one man looking after the bookstore who allowed us to enter the grounds and take photos. We weren't allowed to enter the temple/yoga centre as we weren't appropriately dressed. The gentleman then showed us the book explaining how the statue had been built and answered all my gazillion questions. It was like having our own private tour! Jas then took me down the road a little further to show me the temple in the sea. This temple was originally constructed by hand 1947 -52 by Sewdass Sadhu an immigrant from India. It has since been added to, and tidied up, but it's an amazing place, and a site of pilgrimage for Hindus. It's also one of the designated locations for Hindus to perform the funeral pyre. Hindu religion requires that the dead are burned near water and a holy place.

Brian Lara is still HUGE here. He is a home town Trini boy so I completely understand. Cricket is massive, and the new Brian Lara stadium is a huge landmark. They had a cricket game on when I was here (Trinidad vs Jamaica) but they had sold out the tickets otherwise we would have gone.

I spent a day at the beautiful Maracas beach, located on the northern part of Trini. On the way there we stopped at the lookout and had a quick look at the food stalls. I got to try some ‘Chow’, a garlicky spicy way of preserving such things as Pineapple, apple, mango, cucumber... its yummy and not too spicy and I really appreciated the stall holder giving me a taste ( and Jas’s friend Isabelle for buying some of the pineapple one). Maracas beach is a favourite with the locals and its a thing to do to have a ‘bake and shark’ when you go to the beach. Betcha cant guess what I had... Can I say amazing (again!!) You not only get your bake (which is a deep fried Roti) You get beautiful fresh deep fried shark fillet inside it, then you go to a buffet like area and add as many of the additions as you want . Yep, of course I added a bit of EVERYTHING . I had to taste it all. Seriously that thing was amazing. BTW I do taste everything first before adding pepper sauce... pepper sauce heightens the flavours. Jas’s friend Isabelle got her son in law to give us a shout out on the radio station he worked at ( they had it playing at the beach), so ‘Karen from Australia’ is now Trini Famous... love it!!

Jasmine took me out to the Pitch lake, in La Brea, and I’ll admit, I had no idea what it was ( I thought it was a lake!!) Anyway, some how we ended up with a colourful local as our personal guide, he was You tube famous and has apparently featured on David Attenboroughs visit to the lake. I have to sit and edit my ‘documentary’ when I’m back in Australia, it’ll be awesome.. I promise. Suffice to say the lake is the most amazing tar pit. Seriously amazing tar pit. The roads leading into the area are all like travelling over mini crazy hills due to the impact of the tar movements in the area. You have to use an authorised guide on the site, which is fair enough as a wrong step could see you disappear forever into the tar... literally... Trinidads pitch lake is the largest natural deposit of asphalt in the world (estimated to hold about 10 million tonnes) Its covers about 100 acres and is about 250 feet deep. There is a cool legend involving the origin of the lake the involves a hummingbird (I like the story), Historically Walter Raleigh re-discovered the lake on his expedition there in 1595. It has that charming rotten egg smell, and the mud and sulphur water apparently have healing properties. Locals were there immersing themselves in some of the pools while we were there. As we didnt have swim suits we had to settle with getting coated in the mud on our legs, and for me, also my face...lol!!! I didnt get a chance to put it on myself, out guide was very keen to smear it all over my face... (and shirt and hair.. etc...). Rinsing it, after it had set, was a whole other process involving splashing what looked Iike green water all over my face (and legs), all I wanted to do was rinse my face with some fresh water afterwards - and it took over an hour or so until I finally got somewhere to do it. Let’s not talk about how much scrubbing it required later that night to get the last bits of our skin! A great fun day though, made all the better for our colourful guide! I have had a crash course in some of the Trinidadian slang/words and between that and their accents I am sometimes lost in a conversation... (definitely accents particularly when you are trying to enter the country and the border control guy is talking to you and you have to continually say, sorry what??? ) I’m a lot better now!!

Jas couldn’t make it over to Tobago as she had work scheduled at her house that she needed to be around for. So I decided to head over for a night, hire a car, and see what I could see. Its literally a 20 min flight over (only costs about 50 US return) FYI 24 hrs isn’t really enough to see everything. I didnt get to the water fall or national park. I had headed down to Store bay beach when I first arrived with instructions to try the curry crab, conch and dumplings in Tobago (its their local specialty, amongst a few other things). Have to say I liked the conch, crab was over cooked and dry, and dumplings were kind of chewy. The ‘provisions’ that I got with it were really nice though - Plantain, Potato, green banana, avocado ..I would have liked to have tried another outlet to give a second opinion, but didnt have the time. I did get to the beautiful Pigeon Park, a natural reserve area, filled with some shops, water sports hire, beautiful beaches and glorious spot to watch the sunset. I also got out to the Fort of King George in Scarborough hiking up the giant hill to take in the glorious views. Hilariously there was a traffic hold up on my way there due to some goats being herded along the road. Island time boy. I would have to say, as much as its a part of the one country, Tobago island is completely different to Trinidad. Its a lot more touristy for a start, it has more servicible beaches. The roads are not as pot holed as Trinidad. The people are still lovely, but you get the tourist scouters who are looking to sell you on anything they can. Its a beautiful place and I’m so glad I got to go across and visit. As always, I can always go back!

My time in the Caribbean has come to a close. (9-16 Oct). What an adventure. I have had a fabulous time, and recommend to anyone to come here and see this place, taste the food and meet the people for themselves. The country has their own issues with government corruption which impacts the improvement of infrastructure like roads etc. And there are warnings around safety as there are elements involved in crime that impact locals and tourists alike. This just makes Trinidad Tobago, not unlike a lot of other countries that I have visited on my adventures. It just means the more prepared you are to be open to new things, different ways of doing things, different cultures. The more you are aware of your own safety, and that of your belongings , the more you can avoid crime. Crime can impact you anywhere in the world, countries like this dont have it any more or less than others, it just seems to be in the media more....

[westmillfarm]

Yes, still here!

It has been a healthy few months since an update has been posted. Mostly this is because pregnancy, despite what movies and other people tell you, is terrible. You are tired and sick through most of it and in the few shining moments you don’t feel like death you have to try and pull your life back together. 

Thankfully I am now into my second trimester, 20 weeks today. For most women including myself (thank heaven) the second trimester brings relief from all day nausea. Still dog tired but at least I feel a little more like myself.

Here are some updates to bring you all up to speed.

Raccoons

A few days after the original raccoon post I discovered one of the devils in my chicken coop, in a nest box, mouth full of eggs. My cousin made this graphic to illustrate the moment.

I grabbed a fishing net we keep in the chicken coop for rounding up the occasional stray bird and pressed it to the nest box, then pounded on the top til the raccoon leaped into the net. I burst out of the chicken coop where I guy we had hired to do some skid steer snow removal was shocked and impressed by my wrangling skills. He helped me put it an an old poultry cage the previous homeowners had left behind.  Shortly after, the raccoons buddy came snooping around. I caught him too and managed to get him in the cage. Our plow guy was nice enough to haul them away for me and set them loose several miles from our farm. Good riddance. 

The Sheep

A farmer once said to me, “miracles never cease” and she was right. Our poor ram, Rocky, died just a few days after putting him in with our ewes. We thought no babies for sure this year.  Then a little under two weeks ago I found Parsnip had brought these cuties into the world.

No names yet, though Ben has suggested “Button” for the girl as she is cute as one.  He also named our one ram lamb from last year “Ba Ba Black Sheep” because he is mostly black.  My husband names animals like a toddler.

A week from today a friend of mine is coming out to butcher both the ram lambs from last year. I’d love to keep the little black one, but reality is we just don’t have the space or pasture for them. We raise sheep to eat them, and he had the misfortune of being born male. At least they both have lived almost a solid year out in the sunshine with their mom and other sheep. 

The Goats

We still have all three goats, including the useless whether. I started the process last night of cleaning out our woods, which has been used by decades of past residents as a garbage heap. Plan is to clear out the trash and then fence it. There’s a solid acre of woods and swampy stuff out there that should last them the summer’s worth of browsing. Now I just need to get my damn fence working properly. Spent three hours on that the other day too, bypassing a funky looking part of the previous owners system for my own.  Still nothing more than 2,000 at best, zero in some places. Goal is 6,000.  Yesterday I tried moving the ground rods. Nothing. My last resort is to simply take down their entire line of patched together metal and just string my own. A project perhaps for a night this week but not today. Too tuckered out. Damn pregnancy.

The Cows

Beatrix is now 10 months old and has not as I hoped naturally weaned. I tried penning her up for a week to see if that would work. She went straight back to the teat. I bought one of these nose ring jobbers that they wear like a clip on bull ring, only instead of a ring it’s a sort of pad with spikes that will poke the mom if she tries to drink, hopefully resulting in her getting kicked away.

I couldn’t bring myself to put that awful pinching thing in her nose so instead I bought a halter, drilled some holes in it, and screwed the spiky pad onto that.  This morning it didn’t look like she had drank anything but I’ll have to keep a watch this evening to see if it is working or not.

Hay

Again a source of stress is hay. We have crap pasture as it is and with a lot of wet and cold weather this spring our pasture is taking its sweet time coming up. I’ve felt like a total pest calling our hay guy all the time. He is out of round bales so now we are feeding square bales and they go through two a day. These are more expensive bales of alfalfa. I should be feeding grass hay but I can’t get my hands on any. So we are spending $10 a day right now to feed the herd. Pretty pricey.

That’s all I’ve got for now. I truly do mean to keep this blog updated somewhat frequently. Sundays seem like a nice time for a little quiet reflection so that’ll be my new strategy. 

[docholligay]

This is original, and I MIGHT have posted to the patreon? Can’t remember, either way I’m done with it

In the hot of the afternoon, Hannah looked for grasshoppers. She was never sure why--at the age of eleven, she reasoned maturely, she should be beyond such things and straight into womanhood, but it was a stolen few hours of her life, and she took it.

But now it was the early morning, and she braided her hair loosely,  straight down the back, pulled on her boots, and headed out to the barn, like she did every morning. Like most children, Hannah would never admit to liking chores, and even less to liking that her chore pool had recently expanded, but there was a clarity that came to her as she quietly hayed and watered the goats and the horses, a peace in the solitude of work.

Out here, things lay quiet, mostly, with only the sound of the high wind over the prairie to whistle alongside you.

The clucking and murmuring of the chickens raised to an excited pitch and she entered the makeshift coop, an old and swaying wood building on the edge of the property. What it had been once was anyone’s guess, and Hannah had liked to imagine the most romantic versions of what it might have been when she was younger--a tiny hideaway for a couple, on the run from their families and starting a new life in the west; an outlaw, crouched in the corner, hoping only for the hoofbeats of the marshals to go by, unnoticing; A gold miner, hiding his finds underneath the creaking wood slats.

She realized now it was probably always just been used for feed.

They clustered around her feet, reds and browns, and patches of white and black blurring into an earthbound palette. She liked them, they way they moved, the way they roosted in the low branches of the lilac bushes in the evening,  the way their low clucks were almost like purring, she knew them all by personality, and they cut the chill of the morning air with the ruffle of their feathers.

She’d collect eggs later--she wanted to work on the ditches before it got too hot. Storms had a way of ruining the ditches, and there had been a fair few storms lately, overflowing the ditches and bringing the weeds down inside them. They might get another today, they said.

Farmer’s Almanac said it’d be a stormy summer.

She tapped on the window to her mother’s bedroom as she passed by the house, hoping she would stir. She was slow in the mornings, blinking her eyes against the sun and rolling over into the sheets. Hannah liked the mornings, before the light hit everything and you had to see everything for what it was. In the sunrise, the pinks and purples painted the sky and the earth, and it all seemed

The lowing of the cows called across the gold and green of the grass, and Hannah’s eyes followed out to a field lying fallow, where she would look for grasshoppers later. She’d never seen the ocean, except in pictures, but she thought she’d come close enough, with the way the grass dipped and rose in waves against the wind.

She walked along the edge of the ditch, tamping down the side of the ditch, molding the mud and the grass to the side so the water could flow clear and cold down the field.

She looked back toward the house. Still nothing, but that didn’t necessarily mean anything. She could be in the house, moving, and no one would know. You couldn’t see everything that was happening, all the time, and to imagine you could was just unrealistic. Mysteries were a part of living and dying.

Looking back wasn’t getting the work done any faster, so she looked forward, out to where the ditch stretch across the grass, growing narrower as it meandered toward the road and away from the ranch.

She couldn’t see the road, from where she was, but she knew that it was there, and sometimes knowing was all it took. She’d lived out here since she’d been born, and it seemed to her strangle said things out here never changed. To her, they seemed to change constantly and quickly, the flowers blooming and dying, the calves growing and going for slaughter, the grass growing up high and then laying down beneath the winter snow.

But it was the kind of changes people didn’t look for so much, she thought, and that’s why they didn’t see them till winter was already there, and then they wondered how the first snowflake fell.

Lunch was a ham sandwich and a glass of cool, bitter lemonade, sipped sitting on the front steps of the house, the way she’d done mostly every weekend of her life. She had school tomorrow, and the day would be broken by books and formulas and dates that she didn’t care about. There was a time she remembered, that seemed far away, when she had liked school well enough, from the long dusty bus trip there to back again, with the same 5 kids. She liked routine, mostly.

But it felt less routine, lately, and every word the kids said, or didn’t say, felt more chosen, more practiced, more structured than it had been, and she was never structured, she just wanted to take each rolling hill as it came, and let the stormwater spill into each orroyo if that was where it was going to go anyway. Why fight it? Life was life, she had already learned, and some things always sought the lowest point.

“I’m goin’ out the field, Mom!” she called to no one in particular, and received a moaning reply that, at the least, was a sign of life.

Sometimes knowing was all it took.

She liked the quiet of the afternoon, with only the low buzz of the grasshoppers carried on the high wind of the prairie, singing alongside her, flying up from each footfall like the splash of the sea she’d never seen.

She had liked grasshoppers when she was little, before she was grown, because she had thought they were fairies, and she chased the specter of a princess in the tower through the long tall grass of the fields, hoping to find her love. What was the prince, then, when she was a child? She had pictured a man, tall and blond and on a white horse, but there was nothing more specific than that.

They had told her she would dream of love, of real love, as she began to blossom into womanhood, but mostly she had dreamed of the freedom of the plain in front of her, with no hitch to be tied to, a dandelion seed bouncing on the wind, reined only by the fate of the storm, and real love was only in the wave of the faraway grass.

Her mother had told her that love was like the prairie, too, that it was high, and it was wide, and it was handsome.

Hannah had mostly observed, in her young life, that the prairie looked softer than it was, and the tall grass hid snakes.

But there was none of the now, just the grass that came up to her shoulder--she could have ridden Toby, she supposed, but there was something about her own feet on the earth that made her feel connected to it all. She’d known the land since before she could see over the grass, riding on her father’s saddle, him tucked in behind her and showing the wideness of the prairie.

There hadn’t been a cloud, back then, and Hannah had once asked her father, in her impudent childhood way, why they called it the Big Sky Country--the sky was the sky, as she found it, and it was just as big here as anywhere else.

He father had laughed. He was made of the prairie, like Hannah, and his eyes reflected the bright striking blue of the sky on a clear summer day, his hair the color of the late August grass, golden and flecked with tan, shining in the sun.

There’r a lot of skies, Hannah, in a lot of places, he’d said, not all of ‘em are so big, and lots are grey mostly. Skies all over this damn world for people to look at.

Hannah had thought, then and now, that she liked her sky best, the one the stretched out the edges of the earth and embraced the world, the one that could shine the brightest blue you’d ever seen, one you’d think was made up if you weren’t there, and you didn’t know.

But there was a mercurial nature to it, too, and it grew dark fast, and Hannah looked up and saw the pendulous grey clouds and heard that low thunder, and the whistle of the wind calling her home.

There was a flash of lighting. That storm had come up quiet. She should have seen it, Hannah thought, should have smelled the prickle in the air that morning, but the clouds had run across the sky like a wild herd, and by the time she noticed it was dark the drops were already falling from the sky.

And the prairie was like that, too, never showing its hand til the last minute, unless you watched closely.

It had been that way too, that morning she walked into the barn, the dark grey that had been at the edges, but she pulled on her boots, and braided her hair, and went out to the barn to help with the morning chores, same as she did every morning, just like that one.  

Hannah started back to the house at a clip, praying the rain didn’t fall as hard as it could, praying it didn’t become hail, hitting against the land and breaking the hay and bruising the cows, and then the greatest prayer she knew, the prayer that she would understand why she was praying at all, she hadn’t believed in prayer since she sat, feet still swinging with the smallness of youth, in the front of a church two months ago.

There was a the high and lonesome sound of a coyote crying, a thin whimpering howl like a ghost creeping from its grave.

She’d walked out that morning, and there had been breakfast and her mother in the kitchen, because that was a different season, and she still remembered the feel of the bacon grease sliding down her throat, with the rich, silken goodness of the eggs.

She’d been walking out the the barn when she heard a low boom like thunder, but it was too close and too loud

And when she saw him, everything got quiet, with only the sound of the high wind over the prairie to keen alongside her.

But that was then, and  now she had the storm to deal with herself, and there was no time to dwell on the damage other storms might have done.

The lightning burst in a spiderweb across the sky, breaking it into little pieces, but damned if it didn’t come right back.

[cynthiatremaine-blog]

I’ve got a bad feeling about this...

She should have known today was going to hell the minute she stepped out of her small house and into the chaos that was currently her pastures. The goats had somehow unlatched their gates and were currently chasing the chickens in circles as her bison watched from the safety of their stalls. Cindy wasn’t sure how she’d slept through the current racket but it needed to stop before the complaints started to pile in. 

Grabbing her crook, she rushed to the coop and began to shepherd the frantic birds inside, blocking any goat that tried to barrel their way through the small door. “You guys are ridiculous,” she huffed as the last chicken fled inside. “What did those poor birds do to you? And why are you out?” The nearest goat gave her a low bleat before taking off around the fence, their back legs bucking out at every corner. 

Shaking her head, Cynthia began to feed and water everyone, taking extra care to latch the gates once she was done. She had a few deliveries in the second ring and a couple in the outer ring that had to be taken care of and she doubted she would get home before the lights were dimmed. Loading her cart, Cindy gave her lead bison a quick kiss and a promise to be back soon, before heading out into the world and trying to ignore her animals odd behaviour. 

The day went by quickly, her deliveries in the second ring on time. Passing through the border, she quickly found her way to the usual delivery spot and waited, fingers tapping nervously against the handle of her cart. She came through the ring often enough that most knew her pockets were empty and that a kind word usually received a loaf of bread and a few eggs. A few minutes passed the meeting time however, and Cynthia was starting to get antsy when she recognised the person rushing around the corner. 

Her deliveries done for the day, Cynthia had just passed into the second ring when the warnings went off, the klaxons blaring loudly. She stood frozen for a moment, staring blankly as she watched the calm border patrol spring into action too late as the entire ship was rocked by some sort of impact. 

Stumbling to the ground, Cindy groaned and rubbed at her forehead - surprised when it came away red. You banged your head, a calm part of her brain noted. Head wounds bleed a lot - you need to put pressure on the wound. There was a cloth in the cart - usually she used it to cover the handle when the weather became more extreme but it would do in an emergency. 

Cynthia braced one hand against her cart and heaved, just as another series of impacts hit the ship and sent debris scattering into the streets. The ship lurched just as Cynthia stood up and the force sent the wooden cart sliding into her legs, bowling her over and falling right onto her lower half. A hoarse scream wrenched itself from her throat and joined the chaotic cacophony around her. 

Somehow she found the strength to shove the solid cart just enough that she could extract her leg from underneath, gasping as she saw the bloody mess that was her lower leg. Taking a few deep breaths, Cynthia dragged her gaze away from her leg and watched as a mother and child ran into the building across from her, their hair a mess and cheeks wet with tears. Absently she wished for her mother, wished for the comforting, warm embrace that she had gone without for too long. Just someone who would hold her and tell her everything would be okay. Surely that wasn’t too much to ask? 

Legs came into her line of vision and eyes shining, she looked up into the soot covered face of...someone. Her brain was too fuzzy to think of names and she watched their face contort as they began firing words off. Something about...hide? And - was that shelter? Oh god -

Her animals. 

Ignoring the stranger’s outstretched hand, Cindy staggered to her feet, the world swaying for a moment too long. “My animals. I have to...I need to save them. They have to be okay.” Mumbling under her breath, she completely ignored the stranger as she righted her cart and took off, not looking back once. My animals. 

Her feet led her down the familiar path and as she rounded the corner to her ranch, she dropped the cart and took off running the rest of the way, her heart in her mouth as she saw the smoke rising. The frantic squawking of chickens filled her ears as she reached home, throwing the gate open to let whatever birds were left escape. 

Heading straight for her bison, she could feel the tears stream down her face as she saw that their enclosure was half collapsed. Hands clutched at the door handle and Cynthia wrenched as hard as she could, absently noting and immediately dismissing the sharp pain in her shoulder. She had made a promise, she was supposed to be home. If they weren’t - a gasping sob escaped her chest as the door swung open. There in the back - her small herd of bison had kicked out half of the barn wall and were all huddled in a back corner. 

What a sight she was - clothes torn and blood matted hair but her herd knew her and they eagerly crowded towards her lithe frame, their low calls confused and hurt. Petting any part she could reach, Cynthia wrapped her arms around them and took a deep breath. They were safe and what chickens could escape would have; it was just the goats now. 

Ducking through the door, she raced towards the pen that held her rambunctious goats and stopped in shock. Her feed mill had taken too much damage and had fallen forward, the grain scattering on the ground. And her goats - her precious, stubborn, ridiculously insensitive goats and dodged out of the way of the falling rubble and were currently gorging themselves on as much grain as possible. One of them looked up as she began to laugh and trotted over, headbutting her thigh as she sank to the ground in a fit of uncontrollable hysteria. 

As the day went on, she grabbed an axe and widened the door frame so she could get her bison out of the creaking interior and some where safe. She had an unused pasture at the moment, one that was slowly growing back its grass and she ushered everyone in, with quick admonishments to behave themselves. Once she was sure they were safe, she went back out into the streets with her cart and began to help who she could, using the cart as a makeshift stretcher. 

She’s putting up what people she can at her place and since her ranch came out relatively unscathed, Cynthia has opened up her reserves and has started to hand out rations. 

[montanaranches450]

Bozeman Ranches For Sale

The Story Of Montana Has Just Gone Viral!

"The community took the top position in commute time and total of 312 criminal activities per 100,000 individuals. It takes simply eight mins for the typical West Yellowstone homeowner to get to work." (using visitmt. com )As well as there you have itthe leading 11 Montana communities to live, according to data gathered by Movoto Realty. What do you believe?( Cover photo: mountainphotographer. com). Western Montana is treasured searching ground for both big video game and also chicken. Treks into the wild for deer as well as elk are particularly prominent, with more unique wild game a lure for others. If your rate of interests are even more of the skyward variety, there are ample opportunities to hunt pheasants, ducks, geese, and grouse in the area. Outsiders will be happily surprised at the size of Montana's hunting seasons for various kinds of game. Take a look at the National Wildlife Federation's Searching Resource to learn more. Year-round, outfitter and also guide details is conveniently offered, but make certain to schedule your trip early since they fill out quickly. Rock Creek is home to a remarkable amount of wild animals. Found just a short range from Missoula, Montana, Rock Creek offers a wild searching experience. Right here you'll find whitetail deer, mule deer, bighorn lamb, a number of types of grouch, hill lions, and also elk. Moose live in the valley in addition to black bear. The terrain is a mix of tough hills, wet attracts, as well as lush, river bottomland produce an environment that supports solid numbers of game. We are the companies of Montana's finest fair-chase elk searching experience! We search on over 8,000 acres of exclusive cattle ranch land and the bordering public lands that both boundary Yellowstone National Park. Examine out the pages in this site to find out more! Follow us on social media sites and also contact us by e-mail. We provide Montana's finest prize elk searching, adjoining Yellowstone National Park. We likewise guide mule deer, white tail deer, black bear and antelope hunts throughout Montana.

We will certainly aid you with special authorization drawings for moose, goat, bighorn lamb, mountain lion and also Gardiner late period elk allows. As for the elk searching. I can honestly state that out of my 18 years of searching elk, and examining wild animals in Montana, Wyoming and also Idaho, the Royal Teton Ranch has, undoubtedly, the biggest concentration of big document course bull elk that I have ever before seen! I was stunned as well as surprised! You have a globe class operation!Kevin Sanderswildlife biologist/Yellowstone Park Conservationist www. yellowstone-bearman. com" Thanks to our supreme area and also seasoned overviews, we continually take the leading SCI honors for outfitter funded archery elk. We have an incredibly high rate of return seekers, some who have actually held their places for ten years or more. September 15-November 28, 2021 TBD with Outfitter at time of booking, Sept 14-20Sept 22-28Sept 30-Oct 6Oct 8-14 High elevations of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness camping tent camp, meals supplied 7 days: 1 day in, 5 days hunting, 1 day out $5,000 for September, $5,500 for October, $6,500 for November Hill Goat License, permitted locations 323-20 or 329-20.

Montana Tips - 2020

May 1st The Gallatin SMA, highlighted in blue, a 50-square-mile area within Searching District 310, highlighted in red, is taken into consideration "an uncommon searching chance for mature bull elk on public lands now closed to big game hunting," former biologist Craig Jourdonnais said. In 2018, 781 seekers gotten among five permits to search bull elk in the Gallatin Special Management Location abutting Yellowstone National forest to the east as well as splitby the Gallatin River and also Taylor Fork a success rate of just 0. 64 %. In 1911 the Montana Legislature created the Gallatin SMA out of problem from seekers of" unsportsmen-like "capturing of elk along Yellowstone's border, according to a background by Al.

The Reason Montana Is A lot better

Lovaas. In 2003, previous biologist Craig Jourdonnais recommended a limited elk search in the management area, current area biologist Julie Cunningham claimed. Directing to the very little organic influence of hunting four or five bulls from a wintering herd of 200, he called the possibility" an uncommon hunting opportunity for mature bull elk on public lands currently closed to large game searching. "The proposition got blended public responses and it was not until 2005 and also adhering to considerable work by a volunteer citizen-advisory council, Cunningham said that FWP advanced a four-permit quest in the monitoring area. It proceeds today for five hunters privileged sufficient to beat the odds. "In my point of view, creating this opportunity was a wonderful suggestion, "Cunningham stated.

[landforsale396]

Ranches Close To Bozeman

The Reasons Why We Love Montana

"The town took the top position in commute time and overall of 312 criminal activities per 100,000 people. It takes just 8 mins for the ordinary West Yellowstone homeowner to reach function." (using visitmt. com )And also there you have itthe top 11 Montana communities to live, according to data gathered by Movoto Property. What do you assume?( Cover picture: mountainphotographer. com). Western Montana is cherished hunting ground for both large game and also chicken. Hikes into the wilderness for deer as well as elk are especially prominent, with more unique wild video game an attraction for others. If your rate of interests are even more of the skyward selection, there are enough possibilities to search pheasants, ducks, geese, as well as grouse in the area. Outsiders will be pleasantly stunned at the size of Montana's hunting periods for different kinds of game. Check out the National Wild animals Federation's Hunting Source for additional information. Year-round, outfitter as well as guide info is easily available, yet make sure to schedule your journey early due to the fact that they load up quickly. Rock Creek is residence to an impressive quantity of wild animals. Situated just a brief distance from Missoula, Montana, Rock Creek offers a wild hunting experience. Right here you'll discover whitetail deer, mule deer, bighorn sheep, a number of types of grumble, mountain lions, as well as elk. Moose live in the valley as well as black bear. The surface is a mix of sturdy mountains, damp draws, and also lush, river bottomland produce an environment that sustains solid numbers of game. We are the service providers of Montana's finest fair-chase elk searching experience! We search on over 8,000 acres of exclusive cattle ranch land and the surrounding public lands that both border Yellowstone National Park. Take a look at the web pages in this site to learn even more! Follow us on social media sites as well as contact us by email. We provide Montana's finest trophy elk hunting, adjoining Yellowstone National forest. We also direct mule deer, white tail deer, black bear and also antelope pursues throughout Montana.

We will certainly assist you with unique permit illustrations for moose, goat, bighorn lamb, hill lion and also Gardiner late season elk permits. As for the elk searching. I can truthfully say that out of my 18 years of searching elk, and also researching wild animals in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, the Royal Teton Ranch has, undoubtedly, the biggest concentration of big document class bull elk that I have actually ever before seen! I was shocked and also impressed! You have a world course operation!Kevin Sanderswildlife biologist/Yellowstone Park Conservationist www. yellowstone-bearman. com" Thanks to our supreme location as well as seasoned overviews, we consistently take the leading SCI honors for outfitter funded archery elk. We have an incredibly high rate of return hunters, some who have actually held their areas for ten years or more. September 15-November 28, 2021 TBD with Outfitter sometimes of reservation, Sept 14-20Sept 22-28Sept 30-Oct 6Oct 8-14 High altitudes of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wild outdoor tents camp, meals supplied 7 days: 1 day in, 5 days searching, 1 day out $5,000 for September, $5,500 for October, $6,500 for November Mountain Goat Permit, permitted locations 323-20 or 329-20.

Montana - If Not Now, When?

Might 1st The Gallatin SMA, highlighted in blue, a 50-square-mile location within Searching Area 310, highlighted in red, is thought about "an uncommon searching possibility for mature bull elk on public lands now near large video game hunting," previous biologist Craig Jourdonnais said. In 2018, 781 seekers gotten among five licenses to quest bull elk in the Gallatin Special Monitoring Area abutting Yellowstone National forest to the east and also dividedby the Gallatin River as well as Taylor Fork a success price of just 0. 64 %. In 1911 the Montana Legislature developed the Gallatin SMA out of problem from hunters of" unsportsmen-like "shooting of elk along Yellowstone's border, according to a background by Al.

Can Montana Really Help

Lovaas. In 2003, previous biologist Craig Jourdonnais suggested a restricted elk hunt in the administration location, present area biologist Julie Cunningham claimed. Pointing to the very little organic influence of searching four or 5 bulls from a wintering herd of 200, he called the opportunity" an unusual searching chance for mature bull elk on public lands currently near to huge game searching. "The proposition got blended public responses and it was not till 2005 as well as following comprehensive work by a volunteer citizen-advisory council, Cunningham stated that FWP advanced a four-permit quest in the management area. It proceeds today for 5 seekers lucky enough to defeat the chances. "In my point of view, producing this opportunity was a terrific suggestion, "Cunningham said.

[montanapropertyforsale511]

Hunting Land Near Bozeman To

Information on Montana

"The town took the top ranking in commute time and total amount of 312 criminal activities per 100,000 people. It takes just eight minutes for the average West Yellowstone resident to get to work." (by means of visitmt. com )As well as there you have itthe leading 11 Montana towns to live, according to data collected by Movoto Property. What do you believe?( Cover photo: mountainphotographer. com). Western Montana is treasured hunting ground for both large video game as well as chicken. Treks into the wilderness for deer as well as elk are particularly popular, with more unique wild video game a lure for others. If your interests are even more of the skyward range, there are enough possibilities to quest pheasants, ducks, geese, and grouse in the location. Outsiders will be happily stunned at the size of Montana's searching periods for various kinds of video game. Examine out the National Wild animals Federation's Searching Resource for more details. Year-round, outfitter and also overview information is easily offered, but be sure to reserve your trip early since they fill quickly. Rock Creek is home to an incredible amount of wild animals. Found simply a brief range from Missoula, Montana, Rock Creek offers a wilderness searching experience. Below you'll locate whitetail deer, mule deer, bighorn lamb, a number of species of grumble, hill lions, and elk. Moose inhabit the valley in addition to black bear. The surface is a mix of rugged mountains, wet attracts, as well as lavish, river bottomland develop an environment that supports strong varieties of video game. We are the providers of Montana's finest fair-chase elk hunting experience! We search on over 8,000 acres of exclusive cattle ranch land and the surrounding public lands that both border Yellowstone National forest. Take a look at the pages in this site to find out more! Follow us on social networks as well as contact us by email. We provide Montana's finest trophy elk hunting, adjacent Yellowstone National Park. We also lead mule deer, white tail deer, black bear and also antelope hunts throughout Montana.

We will certainly aid you with special permit illustrations for moose, goat, bighorn sheep, mountain lion and Gardiner late season elk allows. When it comes to the elk hunting. I can honestly say that out of my 18 years of hunting elk, and also researching wildlife in Montana, Wyoming and Idaho, the Royal Teton Ranch has, certainly, the greatest concentration of big record class bull elk that I have actually ever seen! I was shocked as well as impressed! You have a top quality operation!Kevin Sanderswildlife biologist/Yellowstone Park Conservationist www. yellowstone-bearman. com" Many thanks to our supreme area as well as skilled guides, we regularly take the top SCI awards for outfitter sponsored archery elk. We have an extremely high price of return seekers, some that have actually held their spots for ten years or more. September 15-November 28, 2021 TBD with Outfitter at time of booking, Sept 14-20Sept 22-28Sept 30-Oct 6Oct 8-14 High altitudes of the Absaroka-Beartooth Wild camping tent camp, meals supplied 7 days: 1 day in, 5 days hunting, 1 day out $5,000 for September, $5,500 for October, $6,500 for November Mountain Goat License, allowed locations 323-20 or 329-20.

Tips When Searching For Montana

May 1st The Gallatin SMA, highlighted in blue, a 50-square-mile location within Hunting Area 310, highlighted in red, is taken into consideration "an unusual searching possibility for mature bull elk on public lands currently shut to huge video game hunting," former biologist Craig Jourdonnais said. In 2018, 781 seekers made an application for among five authorizations to hunt bull elk in the Gallatin Unique Monitoring Area abutting Yellowstone National Park to the eastern and also dividedby the Gallatin River and also Taylor Fork a success rate of only 0. 64 %. In 1911 the Montana Legislature created the Gallatin SMA out of problem from hunters of" unsportsmen-like "capturing of elk along Yellowstone's boundary, according to a history by Al.

Montana - Some Important Tips

Lovaas. In 2003, former biologist Craig Jourdonnais suggested a minimal elk quest in the monitoring area, present location biologist Julie Cunningham stated. Directing to the marginal biological influence of hunting 4 or five bulls from a wintering herd of 200, he called the opportunity" an unusual hunting chance for fully grown bull elk on public lands now near large video game searching. "The proposal got combined public feedback and also it was not up until 2005 and adhering to substantial work by a volunteer citizen-advisory council, Cunningham stated that FWP progressed a four-permit search in the monitoring area. It continues today for five hunters privileged enough to beat the chances. "In my point of view, producing this chance was a wonderful suggestion, "Cunningham claimed.

[peacefulheartfarm]

Flavored Cheese

Have you considered flavored cheese in your home cheesemaking operation? Likely most of you are not making your own cheese. You’ll want to seek out some flavored cheeses from your local markets for a real treat. There are so many possibilities here that I couldn’t possibly cover them all in this short podcast. Today, I’ll give you just a brief overview of what you might consider in tasting and in creating with your cheeses.

Welcome new listeners and welcome back to the veteran homestead-loving regulars who stop by the FarmCast for every episode. I appreciate you all so much. I’m going to start off with what’s going on at the homestead and then I’ll get right into talking about some tasty flavored cheese.  

Our Virginia Homestead Life Updates

I want to start off with talking about our herd share program. We are opening up our raw milk cheese herd shares to more people. One full share will provide you and your family with about two pounds of our hand-made, aged, raw milk cheese per month. A half share will provide about one pound of cheese per month. We have four varieties from which to choose.

Our Peaceful Heart Gold is a danish Havarti-style cheese. It is a washed curd cheese that is soft, buttery and the sweetest cheese we make. Moving from the mildest to the sharpest, the next in line is our Ararat Legend. This is also a washed rind cheese made in the Dutch gouda tradition. It is a firmer cheese than the Gold with nearly as much butter flavor. This cheese ages well and the flavor deepens with each passing month. The next two kind of tie for sharpest, depending on how long they have aged. We have a wonderful aged cheddar and an alpine-style cheese we call Pinnacle. The flavor complexities of these two cheeses are amazing as neither is even ready to taste until 9 months or more of aging. Well, we do offer the milder cheddar at three and six months, but you will definitely want to wait for the good stuff.

Details and costs can be found on our website at Peaceful Heart Farm dot com. Product pickup is available at the Wytheville Farmer’s market, the Independence Farmer’s market and from our homestead. Support us or some other local farm. Keep good food alive. Give us a call and we can get you set up.

Cows

We are on calf watch with Rosie. This event is happening far ahead of our expectations. Her udder is developing and filling with milk. It may be only a matter of days. You never really know, any more than you know for humans, when the exact date will be for the event. She is looking good and Scott and I are feeling pretty good about Rosie and her calf. We are still cautious and watching her very closely, but again, she looks really good right now. Buttercup is doing a good job of keeping Rosie company. She is our only cow that is not going to have a calf this year.

After Rosie, next up for giving birth is Cloud followed closely by Claire. Butter and Violet are much further down the line, due in May and June respectively. And as I said, Buttercup is not having a calf this year. If all goes well, we will end up with five calves this year. Praying for some heifers.

Goats and Sheep

The sheep are doing well. Their expected delivery date is the 27th of March, so about a month more for them. We are likely to have six to eight lambs this year.

The goats have been reduced to five. Yes, finally I got moving on reducing our goat population. We are moving more rapidly toward changing over to meat goats. If you are new, we currently have cashmere goats. I had this grandiose idea that I was going to have time to gather their cashmere, have it made into yarn, and knit up some wonderful cashmere items. It took a few years for me to realize that I was not going to have time to include yet another enterprise into our business model. By that time, we had well over twenty goats.

Now these wonderful animals are great at keeping the pastures cleared of brush, briars and small pine trees. So, we definitely want to keep a few of them around. However, it makes much more sense for our homestead to have meat goats. That way they can keep the pastures pristine and also provide more nourishment for our family. Later this fall we will process the final five goats. At that point we will be in the market for a small herd of meat goats. Right now, I am focused on Kiko goats but would probably consider Spanish goats.

Quail

A few days ago, Scott and I went over the costs of raising these great birds. It’s pretty expensive according to my year-end profit and loss statement. My first, knee-jerk reaction was to just stop raising quail. However, after waiting a couple of days, I decided to break down the actual cost and how much we are benefiting from the eggs and meat.

Back in 2006, Scott raised just short of 150 chickens in the Joel Salatin-type chicken tractors. He calculated that it cost a little over $1 per pound to raise those chickens. Our cost to raise quail is somewhere between $5.50 and $6.50 per pound of bird. However, there are also the eggs to consider. Scott and I sat down and tried to come up with a better comparison. If we had to buy eggs, what would be our cost? Subtract that from the total costs, based on four quail eggs per one chicken egg, and the rest of the cost divided by the approximate weight of the birds raised for meat. The bottom line is that we decided to give the quail one more season to prove their worth. I also decided to feed them a little bit less. They did seem to be putting on quite a bit of unnecessary fat so this seemed the first place to cut a little cost. We shall see what happens this year. I’m going to keep better records.

I’m still anticipating when we will be able to build our chicken facilities. It won’t be this year. The quail get a well-deserved reprieve.  

Garden

I just received a couple of rolls of woven fabric ground cloth. Yes, we are about to get started on the garden. The biggest change this year will be the strawberry bed. I’ve order 500 bare-root strawberry plants. Yes, you heard that right. I ordered 500 plants. We are pretty much starting from scratch with our strawberries. I’m excited about this new opportunity.

I’m also going to start some plants for sale at the farmer’s market. If you are in my neighborhood, I should have some herbs, tomatoes and perhaps some green pepper starts ready for your garden. I’m not going to grow very many tomatoes or peppers this year but I really love growing plants. Growing for you guys seemed to be the best way to fulfil that desire to grow stuff. And I chose to grow some culinary herbs, because they are sometimes harder to find. I’ll keep you posted on which herbs I was successful in sprouting.

Flavored Cheese

Today want to talk a little bit about flavored cheese. If you’re making your own cheese at home, this could be a great adventure for you. On the other hand, if you’re just a real cheese head and love to try new cheeses, you might take a look at some of the cheeses available that have had either spices and seeds added or maybe they have herbs added, and some have been created using ale wine and/or spirits. You may even be able to find a cheese wrapped in leaves. These are just a few of the methods used to add various flavors to cheese. In this short podcast, I’ll be briefly touching on those flavorings that I just mentioned. There are others, but I’ll stick with these for today.

Seeds and Spices

The first flavoring I want to mention is seeds and spices. Your first thought when considering what seeds and spices to add should be the quality. You don’t want to use three-year-old dried herbs from your cabinet. Next, think of what you like. Now temper that with the thought that sometimes there’s a good reason that you haven’t seen that kind of cheese made. However, don’t let that thought stop you from experimenting. Sometimes it could be as simple as it not being economical to produce such a cheese on a commercial basis. If you’re making it in your own kitchen, the costs are much less of a factor. If you’re concerned at all, simply start with a combination that you’ve seen or tasted.

There are two things that you want to consider when preparing your experiment. Getting the right distribution and the size of the seed. I’ve seen lots of cheeses use whole peppercorns. Those are pretty big seeds so you would use less. On the other hand, if you have a small seed such as Caraway, you don’t want to put so many in there that you ruin the texture of the cheese. For a cheese maybe 2 gallons of milk, you are likely going to choose one to 3 teaspoons of your chosen seed or spice.

When you’re preparing your seeds and spices for addition to the cheese curd, you might consider boiling them for 5 to 10 minutes. There are couple reasons you might want to try that. If you suspect any kind of contamination or you want to soften a seed so that the flavors are more readily incorporated into the cheese.

Adding your seeds or spices can happen in a couple of different ways. Almost universally, the whey needs to have been drained. You don’t want to lose your spice with the whey. One of the easiest methods is to simply stir your seeds and/or spices into the drained cards. Another fun way would be to layer it in the mold. Put little curd in, add your spices, put more curd, add spices again and so on. You want to be careful with that method. There is always a chance that you will bunch your spices up too closely together and over spice one area while another would be under served. You may even have trouble getting the cheese to get together properly. The trade-off is the visual effect of layers.

Here are some of the most popular seeds and spices used in this method flavoring your cheese. I’ve already mentioned caraway seed and peppercorns. Other seeds might be mustard, fennel, fenugreek, or cumin. Some useful spices include cloves and red pepper flakes. Generally, you want to stay away from using herbs for aged varieties of flavored cheese. They will be prone to breakdown and change the color of your cheese. That’s not a good look. Herbs are most often used either mixed into a soft cheese or spread.  Or lots of times you’ll see them used as a coating on the outside of a fresh, soft cheese.

Ale, Wine, and Spirits

This is a great way to create a flavored cheese. And ale or beer can be incorporated directly into the cheese curd in the same way that the seeds and spices were added. Wine and spirits on the other hand, work better on the outside. This is most commonly done in washed rind cheeses. I briefly mentioned wrapping a cheese in leaves. Using alcohol to macerate the leaves, that is to soak them for a period of time, prior to wrapping the cheese is a favored practice.

Adding beer or ale, similar to adding seeds, happens after the whey has been drained. When making cheddar, it can be added after the cheddaring process has been completed and the curds have been milled. Otherwise, simply stir into the curds after they have been drained. You don’t need much. I also think it would be hard to use too much. Whether you pour the whole bottle into the curds made from your 2 gallons of milk, or you use only a half cup for your cheese and save the rest for yourself, that’s up to you. I’ll use a whole bottle for 15 or 20 gallons of milk. But again, I don’t think you can use too much.

There are several things to consider when deciding to use wine or spirits on your washed rind cheese. Because you’re adding wetness to the outside of your cheese, you can be prepared for softening. Sometimes, for a softer cheese, you might let your cheese dry for 2 to 3 days. Then begin the wash. Or, for a harder, drier cheese such as an alpine style, you can begin the wash right away. Something else to consider would be experimenting with the frequency of washing and the humidity in your aging room. The hardness of the rind and the texture of the cheese will also influence what your final results are going to be with the washing. Obviously, the softer rind is going to absorb more of the flavors.

Wrapping Your Cheese with Leaves

Many flavored cheeses utilize some type of leaf wrapping. Sometimes the leaves are dry, but more often they have been macerated in a strong alcohol, such as brandy or bourbon. This is a wide-open field. Choose your favorite spirit, and parent with your favorite leaf. Some leaves to consider are chestnut, maple, or grape.

Not all leaf-wrapped cheeses use spirits. Nettle, sycamore, or walnut are good choices here. Like with the herbs, you don’t want them to break down and become mush.

I hope you enjoy your experiments whether in making the cheese or trying out a new cheese from your local market.

Final Thoughts

I hope you’ll give some thought to becoming part of our herd share program. We’d love to be of service to you. Come on out to the homestead and see where it all happens. Say hello to Claire and the rest of the girls. Pet the donkeys. Be sure to wear rugged shoes and/or boots. Animals are messy creatures and if it has rained, omg, the mud.

I hope I’ve titillated your senses a little and you’re on your way to trying some new flavored cheese. Whether you’re making it from scratch or buying from your local market, your enjoyment is sure to be mooua, superb.  

If you enjoyed this podcast, please hop over to Apple Podcasts or whatever podcasting service you use, SUBSCRIBE and give me a 5-star rating and review. If you like this content and want to help out the show, the absolute best way you can do that is to share it with any friends or family who might be interested in this type of content. Let them know about the Peaceful Heart Farmcast.

Thank you so much for stopping by the homestead and until next time, may God fill your life with grace and peace.

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Check out this episode!

[udnursingstudyabroad]

January 25, 2018

Today our group had an exciting day with the Maasai! We woke up around 6 am. We immediately split into 2 groups and both groups visited different “bomas.” Bomas are what the Maasai call their villages. All of the Maasai live in huts made out of mud, clay, straw etc. in their culture, one man has multiple wives. Usually you can see about how many wives he has by counting the number of huts in one boma. My group visited a nearby boma where the man had 4 wives. However, there were 5 huts because his older children have one for themselves because they still are able to live there until they get married. Something I found very interesting was that a man’s worth is based off of how many cows, goats and sheep he has. In other words, the more animals a man has, the richer he is. In Maasai culture, the men do not work at all usually. Their job is to herd the cattle and therefore, “care” for his family. We learned that a man is able to have a lot of wives as long as he can provide for them. When we arrived st the boma, we noticed there were multiple puppies right outside. The dogs are there to keep away other animals from the village. It is funny because to us, puppies are pets, but to them, chickens are pets. Next, we were able to walk inside the boma to listen to our guide and observe. They all have huge gages (aka holes) in their ears where they wear multiple, colorful beaded earrings. They also wear many necklaces and bracelets as well. Also, all of the women shave their heads. Inside each hut, there are basically only 2 rooms. Both beds have mattesssed made out of cow skin. However, one of the most shocking and disturbing parts of the trip to the boma was the amount of flies that are around. Literallty, this one little boy would just them them all crawl all over his face and he wouldn’t swat them away. Something I forgot to mention earlier was the greeting for hello in Maasai. It is “supai.” They all reply with “ipa.” The children will walk up to you and how their heads as a form of respect. In response, you are supposed to tap their head and say “supai.” At the end of our visit, we thanked the husband and wives by saying “shingalingalingalingpi.” Next, we went to the community center, which is where the Maasai children have kindergarten. Our guide also happened to be the teacher. The children were all adorable and they even sang a song about elephants for us that had the cutest dance moves!! This whole your took about 1.5 hours. Then, we went back to the tents for breakfast. This was scrambled eggs, toast, fruit, cereal and coffee. After breakfast, we had a break before we went off to help with different projects in the community. After break, we split into 3 groups of 10. The projects were building a cement portion for a bathroom, helping finish a bathroom by covering the outside with mud and going to the Maasai clinic. My group made the mud bathroom. This literally consisted of us collecting many buckets of cow poop to mix with dirt (from a termite hill) and water to create this thick mud that acts as clay. This kind of work is typically a girl’s job in the Maasai culture. Thank god we had a few girls from the boma to help us out because we were all gagging while we were collecting the poop. Also, the girls don’t even use gloves when they do this!! Eventually, we finished the outside of the bathroom the Maasai girls did most of the work lol. After we got home and showered we ate lunch. We had about a 2 hour break afterwards. Next, we went to a session with the Maasai women. It was basically a Q+A session between our two cultures. They asked us a lot about marriage, divorce, jobs, and children in America. We asked them about their daily lives, how many kids they normally have (6-9), cirumcision, and love. They stated that they could eventually grow to love their husbands. But, it did not seem like they were really grasping the concept of what it is to love a man. Something else I found I found interesting was they had no idea what we meant by birth control. Also, they informed us more about circumcision in their culture. They stated that boys are circumcised around 10 and women around 13 when they get their period. Circumcision is part of a ceremony they have to welcome the person into adulthood. We told them that women are never cicumcied in our country and they replied by saying you are not a woman in Tanzania until you are circumcised. They also said it is a lot more painful than childbirth. We also learned that when a man is marrying a woman, he is presented with 2 options. Both women are fully covered except for the eyes. This is because all women are equal in their culture so the men cannot pick based off looks. One of the women is the “right” option. Aka the woman his parents picked is the right option. After this discussion wa over, we all went back to the camps. Around 5:30, some of the Maasai boys and girls came to dance for us. All the boys had walking sticks and were chanting. Part of the dance was that they would each take turns jumping as high as they could while shaking their shoulders and yelping. The girls would walk up to a boy and slowly shake their necklaces. It was odd because we found out that girls can be promised off to a boy when they were around 10 years old. After the dancing, we went to have dinner and ended the night singing happy birthday to Jeremy!! It was definitely an amazing, eventful day!!! PS I hope everybody at home is enjoying America, especially Mom, Dad and Bec!! Love you guys, thank you so much for this amazing experience!! :)

[pokeasleepingsmaug]

Slow Hands: Part 2

Ubbe was supposed to pick you up for your first date any second, and so of course you were chasing four escaped mules down the road, praying they wouldn't get hit by cars. You cursed as you tripped over the lace of your untied boot. Leave it to the damn mules to walk right through a fence like it wasn't even there. Your boss, Sharon, was rounding up the three that had stayed on the farm. You heard the whine of an approaching car from around the bend in the road and desperately shook the bucket of grain in your hand. Not to be tricked, the mules kept on their merry way.

You heaved a sigh of relief as Ubbe's green truck rounded the corner and immediately slowed down.  He was jumping out of the truck in a flash, striding toward the mules with his hands outstretched. The small herd screeched to a halt, large ears flicking back and forth as they decided what to do. Ubbe kept coming at them, motioning towards you, raising his voice to gently scold them in Swedish. “Lead them back, I will herd them,” Ubbe switched abruptly to heavily-accented English.

He raised his voice in a shrill, melancholy call that had you shivering. It was halfway between a song and a call, the ancient sound of a herder summoning his animals to safety as night fell. The sound was warmth and safety, food and fire. It was sad and sweet, the bittersweet mourning of summer drawing to an end, of winter coming quickly with its icy breath.

You grabbed hold of Dolly's forelock to steady yourself and used it to lead her to the farm, followed by the sounds of clopping hooves and Ubbe's haunting, beautiful voice. . Luckily they hadn't made it too far, maybe a half-mile down the road before Sharon looked out her window and saw the broken fence.

By the time you made it back, the other three mules had been rounded up and turned out with the donkeys. “We'll put them out with their mamas for the night,” Sharon told you. You followed her to the pasture behind the barn where the draft horses stayed. Most of the mules and draft horses had come from Amish farms. Usually, the draft mares were nursing mule foals when they arrived. Sharon opened the gate and you led Dolly in, quick to let go of her forelock and back out of her way.

She kicked up her large hooves playfully, squealing in excitement as she chased one of the large Belgian mares toward the fence. You felt the other three rush past you and closed the gate quickly before brushing your sweaty hair off your neck. Sharon shook her head as she watched the newly-caught mules play. “Thank you for your help, Ubbe. I didn't know you were coming by today,” Sharon greeted him with a knowing glance at you—untied boots, sweaty half-done hair, sundress hanging slightly askance.

You could feel the blush painting itself up your cheeks as Ubbe smiled warmly at you. “I'm not here on business.” He let the implications hang heavy in the air for a moment before Sharon laughed, waving the two of you away with a laugh.

“Alright, get going. I'll handle any more escapades.” You took the easy out and fled, tripping over the untied laces in your hurry. Ubbe's hand at your elbow was quick to steady you, and he linked his arm with yours as you walked toward your apartment above the barn.

“It looks like you had a busy day,” he began lightly, tugging you close against his side.

“It was quiet until I was getting ready to leave,” you answered, turning to look at him and tilting your head in curiosity. “What was that noise you made? With the mules?”

“Oh.” He smiled sheepishly, and he ducked his head self-consciously. “It's called kulning, it's an old Swedish herding call. Usually it's done to call cattle or goats, and usually it's done by women, but,” he shrugged, “I use it to call my own horses. It works.”

You perked up. “I didn't know you had horses.”

He nodded, grinning down at you. “I live on a small farm. Just a few chickens, one grumpy goat, a garden, and four horses. You're welcome to come over, if you want to.”

You nodded eagerly, insanely curious to see where he lived. “I would love to. Tonight, after dinner, can we go?”

“Of course. I wanted to take you there tonight, but thought you might be more comfortable at your own place.” He followed you up the stairs and into your apartment. He settled on the couch, motioning to his lap. “Come here. I want to braid your hair.” You perched on Ubbe's knees. With a warm chuckle he pulled you closer to his chest, leaning back against the couch. His gentle hands gathered your hair; clever fingers working through the few snarls he found. He scratched your scalp lightly and you sighed, melting into his touch. He grabbed a section of hair from the crown of your head and separated it into three sections. He wove the strands together slowly, pulling more hair into the braid as he continued. He tied off the braid with a leather thong he took from around his wrist, sitting back to inspect his handiwork. He nodded in approval.

You reached back to touch your hair, the braid neat but not too tight. You grinned back at him over your shoulder. “Now we match,” you stated, motioning to his long braid. He laughed, bending forward to press a soft, suckling kiss into your tender neck. You gasped as he pulled back, gentle hands on your hips pushing you to your feet.

“Ready to go?” You nodded as you slipped on your shoes, eyes raking over him in appreciation. You'd been so distracted by the mules and then him playing with your hair, you'd barely noticed what he wore. He cleaned up nicely in black slacks and a simple blue button-down that was just a few shades brighter than his eyes. It hugged his broad shoulders and tapered down to his lean, sculpted waist, where it tucked into his pants, held up by a black leather belt. His long light brown hair was pulled back into a neat braid, short beard freshly trimmed.

Your mouth felt suddenly dry. How could he be so handsome all the time? It didn't matter if he was sweaty and shoeing horses or dressed to take you to dinner, no man should look that flawless all the time. It simply wasn't fair. Ubbe opened the door for you and followed you onto the landing at the top of the stairs. You started down, Ubbe following you. “So where are we going?”

“Do you like sushi?” You nodded, and he smiled. “For sushi.”

“What if I didn't?” You challenged, returning his smile.

“I had four options picked out,” he admitted, not at all sheepish. “I wanted to be sure you would enjoy it.” He opened the door of his truck for you, holding a hand out to help you up, and closed the door behind you. He climbed in himself and backed down the driveway. The nearest town of any notable size was only about ten minutes away, but you had no idea where he was taking you. The radio was playing quietly in the background, but with a little cry of joy you turned it up.

Slow Hands blared through the speakers and Ubbe laughed, looking over as you shimmied in your seat, singing along and pretending to trace a voluptuous body with your hands. “Will you be disappointed if my body isn't that curvy?” He teased, brows raised. You laughed, too, shaking your head as you sang along.

Suddenly you turned the radio down. “How is sweat dripping down dirty laundry sexy? I mean, just saying, that's what you get when you let guys try to talk sexy.”

“You don't think I can talk sexy?” Ubbe asked, tilting his head as he parked the truck. “I think I can have you squirming by the end of dinner.” He opened the door to the restaurant for you and followed you in. The hostess was quick to seat you in a corner booth. The waitress bustled off to get you a couple waters as you perused the menus.

“How was your day? Any horses as interesting as Bucky?” You looked at him over the top of your menu.

“It got a lot better once I saw this beautiful girl chasing some mules down the road. All I could think was how soft her skin would be under my hands.”

“That was weak,” you informed him, nonchalant. He furrowed his brows a little, then shrugged.

“I have all of dinner to get you squirming. Believe me, when I'm done you'll leave a puddle on your seat.”

“Is that seriously the best you can do?”

His grin was slow and hungry as his clear blue eyes raked over the top half of your body. He shook his head. “Of course not, Y/n, but I have to start off slow, make sure you can handle me.”

You opened your mouth to reply but Ubbe's gaze shifted over your shoulder, his smile went from smoldering to businesslike. You placed your orders and the waitress left. “So you think I can't handle you?” You challenged him, meeting his shimmering blue eyes.

“I think you'll find I'm full of surprises.”

“So surprise me.”

“If you insist. Tonight, I'm going to make love to you. But first, I'm going to play with that beautiful body of yours, explore every single inch of it. How do you feel about being tied up?” His voice was like honey, sweet and smooth, but the question was almost abrupt. He tilted his head, waiting. Your heart pounded, but you tried to play it off like he hadn't just hit on something that intrigued you.

You shrugged. “It's fine.”

“The way I do it will be more than fine, I promise. I'm going to tie your hands above your head, have you standing in the middle of my room in only your high heels and a blindfold. You are going to be at my mercy as I learn your body. I'm going to touch every inch of you, to taste you everywhere.” He flicked his tongue at you in a deliciously obscene gesture. “There's a reason they call it a Swedish kiss.” The wink Ubbe sent your way zapped like lightning to your sex. You tried to keep your face neutral but you were biting back a moan, and a knowing smile was curving up the corners of Ubbe's full, soft lips.

“Maybe I'll make love to you for the first time just like that, tied standing and blindfolded, or maybe I'll take you to my bed. I know it'll probably be uncomfortable for you to be tied with your hands over your head for too long, so we'll see how you're feeling and take it from there.” His smile is tender now as he continues. “And of course at any point if you want me to stop, just say stop.”

You're practically panting by now, and the waitress raises her eyebrows at you as she sets several plates of sushi on the table. Ubbe looks smug as he pops a California roll into his mouth. He smirks as he finishes chewing. “I win our bet.”

“You won't be smirking like that by the time I'm finished with you tonight, Ubbe.” He doesn't even bother trying to stop the low, throaty moan as you take a sip of water, smirking. Dinner is much less interesting than dessert promises to be.