(Photo by Maria Wulf)
Some of the Mansion residents came to Bedlam Farm for a lunch outing today, it sounds like everybody had a great time. They brought their own sandwiches, we offered chairs, dogs, donkeys and some fresh fruit.
I was sorry to have missed it, I had to go to Albany for an hour-long taped interview with the BBC from London. They are doing a documentary on personal space in the digital age.
I love this subject as you know, Maria graciously stepped into play host. We had an unnerving time this morning when two bear hunting dogs appeared in our back yard, and almost went after the chickens and donkeys.
We had a wild time corralling them and getting them into the fenced in yard, shocked at the way in which they were howling and leaping to get at our animals. I thought I might have to harm one or both of them if they got into the pasture.
In the country, there is really nobody to call when this happens, lots of farm animals get badly hurt by stray dogs, and these two track and kill bears. The sheriff referred us to an animal control officer, whose answering machine said they would try to call back within 24 hours.
We didn’t have 24 hours. I called the vet and Lisa, the very able receptionist, tracked the owners of the dog down through their rabies tag and the county health department.
She couldn’t reveal their names to us – those are confidential – but someone called them and told them where the dogs were.
Turns out they live just down the road. It was unsettling for me, they were both friendly to Maria and I, but it was clear what would happen if they got out, and I take protecting the farm seriously. I’m glad it didn’t come to that.
Some family members showed up, apologized and got them home, just before I had to leave for my interview. Maria can handle things, but I was very reluctant to leave her alone with a mess like that.
It ended well, we are grateful for that. And although I wasn’t there, all three dogs were, and Julie Harlin said the residents had a great time. we invited them to come often.