Little Walter came for a visit

I over-slept this morning so only managed to eat a bowl of cereal before we had to leave for a doctor's appointment.  As usual I always look out the window towards Walter's corral and saw his little head was swinging from side to side.  That means he does not have water and/or has not been fed.

 

Walter... I am already late so you will have to wait till we get back...I'm sorry! However, when we passed his house I presume his owner who is back from wherever he goes or the kid had filled up his water barrel as his head was not submerged in his usually empty blue container.

When we were coming back home I looked in the direction of his corral but did not see him. Sometimes he lays down to take a nap and you have to go slow in order to see him from the road.  It so happened that I had a car riding my rear who was not paying attention to the fact that I was going to turn into our house even though I had my signal light on, so I did not get a good look inside his corral.

We were eating when I heard a loud noise outside the kitchen followed by a thump on the roof.  Had no idea what the loud noise was but figured the roof noise was caused by Ralph or another cat chasing birds.  A while later I looked out the window and I saw Walter galloping towards his corral but inside our yard.

I had not closed the gate so I ran outside to do that.  Thought how odd that his owner had not seen it open.  This lady in a white SUV stopped when she saw me to let me know that a horse was loose and looked like he was angry and to be careful.  Thanked her but told her the horse knew me and I was sure I could calm him down...she did not look convinced and waited until I approached him.

When he saw me he let me pet him, he had calmed down so she drove away.  Set up his water containers at the two water takes mother has and noticed he had this short red lead so I grabbed it and took him to the nearest one.  Funny why does he have this lead on?

The last time he was here was in August 2013 so I was very glad to see him for as you know, if you read my other blog...the native grass and the weeds are out of control.  I need my John "Walter" Deere to help me out.

My mother wanted him to graze out of the front yard.  Told her he had a mind of his own, he was like a kid at a candy store...going from one lot to the other eating at his leisure.

We are under Stage 1 water restrictions and our address can only water on Monday...either early morning or late evening.  Went out there this evening and was surprised his owners had not come to retrieve him.

I saw this big flash of light on the north part of the property and went to check it out but saw no one (could it have been Border Patrol thinking Walter was an illegal alien?).  After a while I saw a black SUV like the type the owner's wife has out by the church turning on and off its high beams in the direction of the walking trail.

Then Walter who was in the back lot came running to the fence to look at the car...evidently recognizing it and like saying...here I am.  Could it be that Walter ran away from home?

The car then turned around and came down our street.  They saw him and parked by the down fence and both the father and kid got off and came into our yard.  It is dark in our back yard and they could not see me. I was still watering the trees and got closer. They were checking him over real good.  That is when it became apparent why his lead was short...he must of broke it when he got away and came to our house.

I decided to make my presence known and told the father "Thank you for bringing Walter, we have plenty of grass for him to eat, please feel free to bring him again." Maybe I startled him because at first he did not say anything, I guess he did not want to admit Walter escaped, all he said was "Thank you, I will bring him tomorrow".

The kid lowered the barb wire fence they put up a while back and took him to his corral while the father got in the SUV and drove off with his wife.  I just wanted to bust out laughing but kept my composure.  I always tell Walter..."Run away from home and come over" and I will be darned if that is not what he did today!

Ralph was glad he left and finally came out of hiding :)