Skycastle Farms Sunday Afternoon Outing

After I left the Amanas yesterday when we were done showing, I drove back home to Wilton to pick up Andy, Lenka, and Prins. We then went north 70 minutes to our Dubuque County farm, Skycastle Farms. It is 65 acres of pristine wilderness, with 22 acres in hay production. We kept livestock there when we lived in Monticello, from late 2010 until July 2015, when we moved to our smaller acreage near Wilton. We own Skycastle with Andy's dad, and just use the property for recreation. I have not been there since August 2020, though Andy usually goes up there at least once a month.

The weather was so lovely yesterday that I volunteered to drive. Andy ordered some lunch for us from a Mexican restaurant in Monticello, and we picked it up on the way to the farm. After our delicious meal, we walked through the hay field with the dogs. I leashed the dogs at the far southern end so Andy could descend the hill to grab his game camera from a cave on the property. We don't hunt but we enjoy looking at wildlife pictures. We have a bobcat family that moved in after we moved to Wilton, and all other kinds of critters. I already knew that vultures have a sense of humor. Andy had a few pictures on the game camera that showed a pair of vultures playing with a pick ax he left in the cave.

We walked back to the cabin after retrieving the game camera and gave the dogs fresh water. Andy took Lenka into the cabin with him and I walked down the lane towards the gate with the three Vallhunds. We walked the old logging road to the area of our property that crosses the adjoining North Fork Maquoketa River. Prins went straight into the water, which is just a few inches deep in most places. There are a few pools that are up to a few feet deep but just one in that area. Celine was on a leash since she reached her maximum capacity for recalls before we started down the lane. I was wearing sport sandals and walked into the river, which has a nice rocky bottom. The cool clean water felt so refreshing in contrast to the 80 degree air temperature. Celine followed without a fuss, even swimming in a few spots where her short legs didn't reach the bottom. Prins is a total water baby, freely swimming and splashing and having a blast. Dove is the exact opposite. She pouted and whined from a few feet away on shore. She got her toes wet a few times, then bolted back onto shore and rolled in the tall grasses as if her feet were on fire. Here I thought that Celine was the only drama queen in our family! Andy joined us after a half hour, driving my 4Runner down the hill with Lenka, who is still recovering from her CCL surgery in late April. It's hard for me to accept that Lenka was a small puppy when we acquired Skycastle, and now she is ten years old. The years pass too quickly. The little rascal who always stole my gardening gloves when I wasn't watching now has a gray muzzle.

The Vallhunds and I made our way up the logging road to the parked car. I loaded Prins and Dove into single crates and let Celine have the middle of the vehicle, where I removed the back seats. Andy joined us a few minutes later with Lenka. I purposely didn't double up any of the Vallhunds in a travel kennel since they were wet and I assumed they wouldn't want another wet dog pressed against them. Lenka climbed into the car and snuggled into an already sleeping Celine. There went the theory that no one wants to cuddle with a wet dog!

We took the scenic route home, which added a few minutes but was worth it.