Our "Livestock"

 I was washing some dishes this morning. I want to get a jump start on our Easter dinner menu. Anyhow, I had just filled the sink with dishes that needed to be rinsed when I heard Bob exclaim, "Look at all those elk!"
I thought he saw the bull that was hanging around when we first moved in. I looked out the window and was pleasantly surprised! Bob counted 15, but they were on the move, so there very well could have been more.

I know that bull had been in our yard a few months ago because I found evidence of him all over. 

I love having the elk around. I just don't want them in my garden. We'll have to take the good with the bad. The previous resident had a couple of dogs that had all but run the elk and deer off, or so we've been told. Our dogs don't do that because we supervise ours when they are outside. If they are outside, we're outside.
Here's our Grr-ells. We have Rose on the left and Sasha on the right. Hopefully, with their scent all over the yard, the elk won't find my garden so enchanting and won't mistake it for an all-you-can-eat salad bar.

I don't think our Grr-ells would hurt the elk. They would probably try to herd them. They are Australian kelpies. That's what kelpies do.

This is what we woke up to on Monday (just 5 short days ago). It all melted off rather quickly, but we were in about 8 inches of snow here. You can see that hill that the elk were on in the background. When this melts off, we get quite the pond down below. 

So the elk come down to drink. They like to browse on vegetation, too. They can nibble over there all they want. I'm happy to coexist with them as long as they stay out of my garden.

They were there for quite a while.

We've had deer right up here in the yard. This was a week ago.

There was 3 of them. They were not even scared. This was right before the snow came. 

 

 The livestock grazed for around 20 minutes until they sauntered off into the treeline. 

These are neighbors that I shall enjoy immensely...as long as they stay out of my garden.