Let me just start by saying - last week was so great! A job position opened up in lower canyon with the horses just last week, and if I were done with school...let's just say I gave it a very serious thought.
This past week was a little different from pigs in that I had different tasks each day. I started off Monday morning in the goat/sheep/mini/pony barn with feeding and other tasks focused on the care of the animals there. I even got to walk some of the goats with Rosalie! That afternoon I joined Ron and some volunteers to tour and muck up the canyon. I got to learn some of the horses names and quickly fell in love with a "little" guy up at the Disney barn named Chester. Here he is:
I know I said I wouldn't really post pictures on my blogs, but who am I kidding...I take WAY too many pictures not to share some of them. Tuesday morning looked very similar to Monday morning, as I began to take on the tasks in the goat barn morningly (that's not a word, but daily is, so I'm making it one). I also got to take Zeus, the ATV, around to muck the pastures in the lower canyon, and I got to watch the Parelli Demo that morning. Parelli is a form of natural horsemanship that focuses on the relationship between person and horse and allows the horse to think for him/herself. I also took plenty of pictures, but it's hard not to when this is your constant view:
Wednesday was feeding day. I got to work with Alice, the feeder for the day, and do tasks that involved both making the food and delivering it. I even got to go and watch Jen shoe Roy, one of the horses at Riley's. We had some seminars and meetings last week, so a lot of the afternoons with the horses, goats, sheep, donkeys, minis, and ponies were cut short unfortunately. Of course the Tiki Shack continued to be an integral part of our post-work endeavors. Also, with Wednesday afternoon came the rain - monsoon season they all say. I'm finding that to be true. It's rained every afternoon here. And when I say "rained," I actually mean that it has poured/hailed a little here. Flash floods ain't no joke here.
On to Thursday. Thursday morning involved the same feeding schedule at the goat barn, but I also got to help out a little with pigs: flashback to last week. I helped Ronnie out with the hay nets in the morning and then teamed up with Dan, one of the volunteers, in the afternoon to help him with waters and mucking up the canyon. After work, I went to the pool with some of the other interns. They have a water slide and a current circular jet pool thing - definitely will be going back there!
Friday was July 4th. I had my own little goat parade in the morning at feeding time; those guys are too cute. I was put in charge of waters, so I spent the rest of my morning atop Zeus, filling up the water troughs for the horses before I went to watch the Parelli Demo again at 10:30 - different trainer, different horse. Friday afternoon was great. I got to spend some time with some volunteers and with some of the goats (even clicker training!) and horses that I had bonded with over the past four days.
Four days. It may seem like a short time, but looking back that Friday afternoon I felt like I had learned so much. I took pride in knowing almost all of the horses, goats, sheep, etc. names, but it was more than knowing names. There was one goat in particular that I felt like I actually made progress with. His name is Monty. Monday morning when I walked in with Rosalie to feed, I was immediately impressed by his colouring and walked over to say hi. He wasn't exactly feeling as friendly as I was and promptly got up and fled the area. Rosalie then explained to me that he and his partner Phil were both extremely shy. Throughout the week I made it my mission to befriend this goat. I felt like we were making when he started to follow me around on Tuesday, but every time I reached back to pet him, he would flee the scene. Then, Wednesday afternoon, he let me pat his head. It wasn't much, but it was a step. By Thursday, I was rubbing his back and petting him all over. I was so proud of him!
In the past two weeks I spent there, I truly fell in love with lower canyon.
Friday afternoon, despite it being July 4th was no exception to the torrential rains. The city fireworks were cancelled, but we still braved the downpour and hail to grab some dinner and ice cream. A beautiful rainbow emerged as we were in the middle of our dessert-eating.
I hung around out at city park with an older couple to watch some of the locals shoot off their fireworks, since it had stopped raining by about 9:30.
Saturday called for adventuring in a slot canyon. We headed north in a hummer, and spent the afternoon off-roading and doing a little bit of hiking!
The fireworks had been postponed to Saturday night, so we meet up at the tavern and went up to the park to watch the display. Sunday involved a nice little hour-and-a-half drive to the city. Groceries in a small town can be expensive, so we road tripped in the afternoon to the good ole' Walmart in St. George. We came back through Zion, and it started to rain (surprise, surprise). It ended up being really beautiful - all these waterfalls appeared out of seemingly nowhere, and dry creek beds became raging streams. The rain brought a different kind of life to the park.
Now for this week: week 3. I'm in Dogtown!!! This was the area I was most looking forward to when I signed up, and it's smack-dab (do people say that anymore?) in the middle. I never could have imagined that my time here would go by SO fast. I can't believe I'm essentially already at the half-way mark. SLOW DOWN, TIME!
As with last time, I'll write more about dogs in my next post, so until then...I'm outta' here!
Megan
This past week was a little different from pigs in that I had different tasks each day. I started off Monday morning in the goat/sheep/mini/pony barn with feeding and other tasks focused on the care of the animals there. I even got to walk some of the goats with Rosalie! That afternoon I joined Ron and some volunteers to tour and muck up the canyon. I got to learn some of the horses names and quickly fell in love with a "little" guy up at the Disney barn named Chester. Here he is:
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| Chester |
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| Lover's Lane |
 |
| Slurpee & Three Yearlings |
On to Thursday. Thursday morning involved the same feeding schedule at the goat barn, but I also got to help out a little with pigs: flashback to last week. I helped Ronnie out with the hay nets in the morning and then teamed up with Dan, one of the volunteers, in the afternoon to help him with waters and mucking up the canyon. After work, I went to the pool with some of the other interns. They have a water slide and a current circular jet pool thing - definitely will be going back there!
Friday was July 4th. I had my own little goat parade in the morning at feeding time; those guys are too cute. I was put in charge of waters, so I spent the rest of my morning atop Zeus, filling up the water troughs for the horses before I went to watch the Parelli Demo again at 10:30 - different trainer, different horse. Friday afternoon was great. I got to spend some time with some volunteers and with some of the goats (even clicker training!) and horses that I had bonded with over the past four days.
Four days. It may seem like a short time, but looking back that Friday afternoon I felt like I had learned so much. I took pride in knowing almost all of the horses, goats, sheep, etc. names, but it was more than knowing names. There was one goat in particular that I felt like I actually made progress with. His name is Monty. Monday morning when I walked in with Rosalie to feed, I was immediately impressed by his colouring and walked over to say hi. He wasn't exactly feeling as friendly as I was and promptly got up and fled the area. Rosalie then explained to me that he and his partner Phil were both extremely shy. Throughout the week I made it my mission to befriend this goat. I felt like we were making when he started to follow me around on Tuesday, but every time I reached back to pet him, he would flee the scene. Then, Wednesday afternoon, he let me pat his head. It wasn't much, but it was a step. By Thursday, I was rubbing his back and petting him all over. I was so proud of him!
In the past two weeks I spent there, I truly fell in love with lower canyon.
Friday afternoon, despite it being July 4th was no exception to the torrential rains. The city fireworks were cancelled, but we still braved the downpour and hail to grab some dinner and ice cream. A beautiful rainbow emerged as we were in the middle of our dessert-eating.
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| Double Rainbow as Seen from Three Bears |
Saturday called for adventuring in a slot canyon. We headed north in a hummer, and spent the afternoon off-roading and doing a little bit of hiking!
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| [left to right: Sarah, Ainsley, Jazzy, Becca, and Megan] |
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| On/In the Hummer |
Now for this week: week 3. I'm in Dogtown!!! This was the area I was most looking forward to when I signed up, and it's smack-dab (do people say that anymore?) in the middle. I never could have imagined that my time here would go by SO fast. I can't believe I'm essentially already at the half-way mark. SLOW DOWN, TIME!
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| Angel Canyon |
Megan
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