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It always does, and often followed by another and maybe even another. But after the first one, we have our winter spirit, our winter coats have hardened.
It's not a fight with nature, it's acceptance of the way things are and finding immense beauty in what the reality of winter actually is.

Why? Perhaps it is a cross between the willingness to live simply and the grit to endure what it takes to do so. My pleasures are inexpensive, simple yet
elegant in their function, and savored like a hard-earned cup of hot coffee from a well-fired woodstove. Other treats are less simple, I can snowshoe out
or ride my antique snowmobile out to the road where my car is parked on a hill 1/2 mile from the house. And this I do to collect my mail, or bring in
needed supplies and sometimes just to see if I still have the ability to use language.

Having hauled myself out to the car can you imagine how wonderful it is to find that someone has plowed me out negating the need to remove a ton or
more of snow to release the winters grip on my car? This truly is one of those elegant pleasures. Two winter's ago it was a mystery plower, I couldn't find
out who it was that was plowing me out. This year I found out the mystery plowers were the Nightingales, the nice folks that own the adjacent potato field.
Hence, I decided at the time, the next born yak was to be called Nightingale. And so it was.

I've also found Mr. Emerson up the road, a retired potato farmer himself and knowledgeable about quite a lot of interesting things, (especially the history
of this place), has had a hand in plowing me out from time to time. Could be a future baby yak bull named Emerson may be found roaming New
Limerick in a coming year or so. What do you think?

I love my animals, in these later years of life, it is what fills my days, fills my heart with new born thunder, and oddly enough, keeps this hermit in touch
with the community. I am so fortunate to have found a place to land that is so filled with good, down-to-earth folks with solid, practical information on how
to get through a northern Maine winter, how to fix a tractor that's even older than I, or where to look to find what I am looking for. Ahh, yes, I am still odd.
Still on the fringe. Every day is still the cusp of before and after. But it is a much smoother, albeit thrilling, ride under these circumstances. the Sisters of
No Mercy, the Yak, and I so look forward to continuing the saga day by wonderful day.

New Yak Calves
Five new calves, 3 girls and 2 boys born since 2006. More pictures and details on
page 2 of The Yaks page.

Whisper: Born in August 2006 to Serena and Peanut. Whisper is easy going but
knows what she wants in life... which is mostly hand fed cookies (vanilla creme
from Wal-Mart only, all others will be rejected). She's a big girl now and hangs
around mostly with YoYo and Mossy. She is what I call a blond (tri-color, chestnut
fading to blond/silver tips and white). She looks more like YoYo than either her
mother or father.

Dusty: Born in early June of 2007 to Serena and Peanut, she's extremely calm and
prefers to be in the house rather than outside. She's mostly to be found knocking at
the back door. Dusty also is a cookie eater. She's putting on weight fast and has
filled out well to handle the cold winter. She looks just like her big sister Mossy and
is black/white.

Rowdy (aka Rowdy O'Dowdy): The first male born at the Yak Outback. Rowdy
was a surprise baby from YoYo whom I didn't even know was pregnant. He was
born in mid July 2007. Another calm, well-behaved yak baby who likes the inside of
the house. He had a rough beginning, he had difficulty in finding mom's nipple and
later needed a vet to check out what looked to be a breathing problem. He still has
occasional coughing spells but the vet has assured me it is not pneumonia or
life-threatening. He is another tricolor and because of his more-often-than-not
grass stains on his white legs and chinny-chin-chin he is nicknamed "Rowdy
O'Dowdy". For the entire summer months he was my shadow's shadow and would
follow me everywhere.

More on the Way: Early fall caught Peanut in a mutual ensanguine with Mossy,
mid fall he was doing the love conga with Serena and a week or two later, a moon
howl with YoYo. Egads! Then I caught him telling Whisper he would like to
allemande her into the middle of next week! Peanut has had himself a good year.
But this may end and birth control measures are in the design stage. How this iwll
come about, I don't have a clue yet. Stay tuned.

Well here we are in the summer of '08: I guess Peanut, who insists on being called
"Ace" during the breeding season, apparently has that "love conga" thing down to a
science. This year so far Ace is the proud father of Nightingale, so far the sweetest
thing on four legs, and now he's the even prouder father of Panhandle, a lively
character who just adores his big cousin Nightingale.

Nightingale: Named after some nice neighbors who took the time to plow me
out all winter long, Nightingale wanders around the place, in and out of the house,
just looking for a human to follow around. She and her cousin Panhandle produce
more smiles than a sweet-toothed child in a candy store. She has actually climbed
in my lap to sleep on a couple of occasions. I do hope that doesn't get to be a habit.
She also has to be touching me when we walk together. Her mom is so glad to
have a built-in babysitter. But when she gets to running, she's like a tornado with the
cork pulled!

Panhandle: Panhandle, the PanMan, is one easy-going character. He loves his
cousin Nightingale even more than he loves his food. He was actually born with
horns (ouch!). Healthy, happy and always looking for Nightingale. His mom (YoYo)
is a worry-wart of a mom. Just the other day I caught her covering him with her body
to shield him from the flies. She is a great mom and never hesitates to call me, day
or night, when he is not in sight. He was a woods yak and would spend time
napping in the woods alone for the first two weeks. He's over that now.

The Drifter: Adequately named, The Drifter had a penchant for hiding in the tall
grass and woods and not answering his mom or my calls until one of us actually
would step on him. Hours and hours were spent each day hunting for him until he
quit that nonsense. Now, he's one of us, a fun guy and highly playful. He was the
first to have a "difficult birth". But he's fine and growing fast.

Rody: Named after my sister, Rody was born in early July 2008 to Mossy, my sister's
favorite of them all. Mossy is a highly aware mom and knows where the baby ios at
all times. Still she comes to me and barks her orders to go get baby Rody who is in
the woods or high grass. But unlike Whisper's Drifter, Mossy knows to the inch
where Rody is lying and she takes me there and "asks" me to carry Rody back to
the barn. Mossy normally doesn't ask, rather she either informs you of her wishes or
just plain out tells you what to do. She has changed a lot for the better with this baby.

Dogs . . . The Loveable Sisters of No Mercy

There was some misery here at the Yak Outback in 2007. An unfortunate accident
took the life of my precious Riley. A sad, sad day it was as I dug his grave in a
driving rain that unforgettable day in May. Among many other wonderful traits, Riley
showed me how it is to die gracefully. I admire him so.

The remaining 4 Sisters of No Mercy are . . . well, still mostly fireballs but they have
come a long, long way. Blue pulls a sled for me now for hauling hay and firewood.
All are trained, more or less, for herding the yak during breakouts. All I have to say is
. . . "Bring 'em home", and usually within 10 minutes a steady stream of yaks
running down off the potato filed and head for home, panting, cussing and madder
than all hell. Ahh, those Sisters of No Mercy . . . they have no mercy, no mercy at all!
But ya gotta love 'em.

Facility

The facility received some uplifting as well since 2006. Here's what's new:

New Wind Generator: I installed a third wind generator on the Southwest
corner of the lean-to addition. It is a Mallard 800 watt unit with 6 big blades. The
rotor diameter measures in at 5 feet. It has lots of torque but doesn't seem to make
the power that the Air-X units do except at very high wind velocity when the Air-X's
shut down. It seems, however to be more robust and much quieter.

More Solar Panels: Installed 90 watts of amorphous silicon solar panels for a
total of 410 watts of solar power on sunny days.

New Lean-to Addition: I'm still working on the north side addition which will be
a run-through for the yaks, dogs and whomever else feels the need to run through it.
I have the post foundation, floor, wall-framing and roof framing complete but ran out
of money to complete the task before winter set in this year. High on the list of
priorities, it will receive top priority this coming season.

Sliding Gable Door: Added a small sliding door on the gable front wall for
ventilation, view and mostly for the hell of it because I like the way it looks.

Other Stuff

An unfortunate spill off a neighbor's horse fractured my leg early in the 2006
summer hay season. With no insurance, it was the "summer of pain". It had to just
let it mend on its own. A lucky man I am, it healed fine, not too crooked and maybe a
little shorter than the other now but it still works, ant that's just fine for me.