TONGA

She was found as a baby, Tiiu had to bathe her in the tub and give her milk from the bottle. Tonga grew up closer to humans than to her own kind, and is different – when I first saw her, the way she acted reminded me of a dog. When Tonga sees me approach her pasture, she runs joyfully, often jumping. She is also very curious. When we went to cut firewood by her barn, she wanted to be close and see what was up, took a look into the car, even tasted the wood. I am a little bit afraid of her because of her size and that playful unpredictable behaviour. So unless I have to feed her, I pet her from behind the fence.

Tonga

While Tiiu is on the road I get to be a caretaker of a young cow. It is not too much work, as she gives no milk (to which I am quite glad, to tell the truth), she has her grass to eat, once a week I bring her a bucket of corn and from time to time I check if there is enough water in the trough.

Yesterday I saw such a picture:

Tonga was almost out of water...

I opened the mill, turned the tap, but there was no water coming – the wind was too weak to produce enough energy, I thought, so had to think of another solution.I tried connecting all the garden hoses to make the water from the house reach her. The distance is maybe around seventy metres – after an hour of work I saw that I was missing ten.

Connecting the garden hose

Then I started carrying water with buckets – it would have taken me perhaps twenty trips to fill the thing – I had to think of an easier way.

How many buckets would it take?

I took a wheelbarrow, but the distance was too much and the ground bumpy – the water splashed out from the barrow.

Carrying water in the wheelbarrow

Out of ideas I checked again with the mill and then saw that I had turned the tap off instead of turning it on. I was tired and hungry – it was five o’clock. I turned the tap on and decided to wait until the morning to see if the wind would pick up.

If you are short of time, check the tap first...

To my and Tonga's great joy the trough was full when I went to check this morning. Wind and patience was all it took. My yesterday's efforts had been like a child's play - not at all productive, tiresome but at the same time exciting and adventurous.