Well, Egrec is still out on the hill all by herself in the snow. She looks real good at least, since the guys are giving her a whole tractor bucket load of feed all to herself every couple of days. She is fat and her hair lies in thick, shining swathes on her back. She seems to be softening her stance on having company though.

When she was first out there, after having quit the bunch when we brought them in for the winter, we didn’t see her for days on end. There is some snow, so we could always tell by her tracks that she was coming in at night and eating, but no other sign of her did we see.
Then last week the guys were felling dead elm trees in the field behind the barn. That lot adjoins the heifer pasture. When they felt eyes on their backs and looked up, there was Egrec on the lower side of the fence watching them like a high school kid at the homecoming football game. Her eyes were big as saucers as she observed their chainsaw ballet. She stayed the whole afternoon as they felled, blocked up and split the dead, barkless trees. Then she was gone again.

Wednesday, Liz put her paint horse, Disguised Image, or DG, out in his yard for some much-needed exercise. His turn-out also adjoins the heifer lot and is overlooked by my kitchen window. He was delighted to buck and kick and race the sun and I enjoyed the view.
Then as I polished plates and shined the silver I saw that he had company. Egrec was standing right next to him on the other side of his fence. Spotted Medicine Hat in bay on silver and spangled Holstein all white embellished with black, they communed happily all afternoon. They made an unlikely pair out there with the wire between them.

For DG odd companions are nothing new. Last year a four-point buck came to the same spot every day and tussled with him over the fence. It was quite a sight to see the little white colt biting faces with the velvet-antlered deer as they played. Even though it was mighty tempting to turn buddy buck into venison last fall we let him be, and I think he is still hanging around the house. There is certainly some large deer hiding in the sumac by the driveway every so often. However, he got real careful about letting people see him after going through a couple of hunting seasons.

Anyhow, loneliness seems to be overcoming independence in Egrec’s tangled little bossy brain. Yesterday the boss said that she tried to squeeze through the pasture gate when he fed her. If it hadn’t been almost dark and he hadn’t been alone he would have brought her right on down to join the herd. I suspect that sometime this week we will be able to get her back where she belongs.