Routine (Entry Six)

November 28th
I am currently alone in the main section of the farm. So I have to perform duties like chopping firewood and starting the donkey (the huge kettle for the warm bath water). I set a new personal record for slaughtering today: 8 calves. They were on the trailer with two big cows so I decided to throw them on the ground, so that I do not have to climb on the trailer to fetch every single calf. So I threw the calves down and I was feeling a bit sad of how I treat the animals that were alive a few hours ago. The calves come here in old food bags. One head was outside of the bag and I looked into its eyes… damn sometimes they look so alive. So I took this one because it looked fresh, and a fresh calf is easier to slaughter than a calf that has been dead for a while. I take the bag and drag it over to the slaughter area and Robin says to me: “It’s still alive.” I look down and it is moving and was obviously in real pain. Robin told me to fetch a hammer and she killed it by hammering it on the head a few times. As she turned away its legs were shaking and moving so Robin went ahead and slit its throat. After that experience I needed Snus.

Me... slaughtering...

December 2nd
I got so drunk last night that I could not walk up straight. Cider. Wine. And half a bottle of Tequila did the trick Anyway. Happy Birthday Rici. Robin and Samantha’s brother came to the farm and he is going to stay for a few month. What else: Puppies are progressing well, so far no more casualties. We went to a near by sawmill to get some sawdust for the pathways around the farm. It actually looks quite nice now. It was a lot of work loading the trailer full of sawdust with only shovels… but hey, it was worth the trouble. I saw my first snake today. Poisonous little bastard.

Wolves in veterinary cages to spray them with anti-tick stuff

December 3rd
We fixed the water pump today. The pipe got disconnected and turned so that the water could not run through. I tripped and almost fell of a cliff… A little adrenalin is always nice.

Here we pump water

And the word you are looking for is "Wow"

Challenges (Week Five)

November 14th
Still raining. Some of the electric fences weren’t working so we had to go around and into the enclosures to check all the connections and wires. You cannot go in the enclosures on your own, because the packs will kill you, if you do. So three of us armed with cleavers against a whole wolf-pack. It was a very nice experience. But in one enclosure the Omega came so very close that you could almost touch her. She was looking for protection from the other three wolves in the enclosure. A little odd when you think about it. So we repaired the wires and chopped of the trees that were lying on the fences. So basically gardening in really bad weather. I tore my new plastic anti-rain trousers on one of the trees.

November 15th
5 days of rain are finally over. Everything is wet. Thank god I bought the gum boots. It was a very busy day today. Cleaned the veterinary cages, reached a new highscore in slaughtering: 7 calves. I also managed to bath the cubs and let them out to play on the grass. I made my first big mistake today: My pack is made up of two kinds of wolves. Two very wild and shy ones. The rest is quite tame. So in my attempt to bath them I needed to grab them and put ‘em into a bucket of water… take the shampoo and soap them. Anyway, I did the tame ones first. No problem. The first wild one is a very big male. He wasn’t to fond of it… but hey. Well other wild one is a bit of a problem. She is very shy. A few weeks ago it was ok… but this time I had to touch her. I made the mistake that I thought of her as a puppy. A dog. Well they are wolves. She bit me pretty hard in the hand… I cannot bend some of my fingers. I try to imagine what the grown-ups are capable of doing with their fangs and claws.

November 17th
I am very tired. Mostly because I was awake most of the night trying to care for a sick puppy. Loki. He didn’t make it through the night. It was horrible. In the end he had seizures and cramps all the time. He was with me in my bed. Crapping himself because he was to weak to get up. Spit was running out of his mouth and I could do nothing. I wanted to release him from the agony but I was to weak to put him down. I buried him with his brother Lyk and his sister Spirit. I placed coins on his eyes in the old Germanic burial procedure. Well his name was Loki after all.

Barney posing

November 21st
We went to the beach today. My first day off in a month. We went to Jeffrey’s Bay… or J-Bay… one of the finest surfing spots in SA. On my way there I saw some monkeys on the side of the road. You don’t see that every day. Anyway, while I was surfing I had a really nice moment: a couple of dolphins were swimming right next to me. I looked at them and thought that they looked like dolphins… yet I wasn’t completely sure, so I left the water. Better to run from a dolphin then to swim with a shark.

J-Bay Promenade

Landscape between Tsitsikamma and J-Bay

November 22nd
F*ck I burnt myself yesterday pretty badly. Should have used a wet suit. I cannot my back is completely pink and I have blisters on my shoulders. Second degree sunburn.

November 23rd
Gave my first tour to a German couple. Told them everything I learnt about wolves and what we are doing here. Hey… I spoke German today… In the meantime I try to pick up some Afrikaans. I now know a few swearwords and a couple of sentences. Don’t know the spelling, though. Some of them have ringworms. It’s a worm that crawls under the skin and grows there. Completely treatable. I have to put ointment on it every day now. Also I gave them a deworm-treatment today. It was banana flavored, so they kinda liked it .

Thor sleepy