Welcome to Choteau, Montana, in 2018. What was once only a small city focused on fossils, has now started to turn into an equestrian mecca. Everyone still knows everyone, so the question remains, what will you become?
06/04 - Site opened 18/04 - Update log #01 including new features! 27/04 - A New skin has been released!
Ivarr was almost used to the idea of being chased by their Border Collie, Embra, as he had driven the ATV to where he'd last seen Merlin. The idea -had- been for Embra to go herd and drag Merlin back but apparently instead Embra had took it on herself to try and herd the now stationary vehicle. Which meant he was given the task of tracking down the rebellious dog. After a text to Kristian to get some back up. Because knowing Merlin - while they'd thankfully secured the edges of the property he could be anywhere.
At least Desmond was content to stay put on the back of the ATV, having merely moved from being just behind Ivarr to curled up as a ball of fluff in the seat, constantly keeping watch however.
Just as Ivarr was about to raise the dog whistle to his lips he heard the crashing of the enthusiastic if somewhat distractable retriever chasing after something, and a low groan escaped. Great. If he was chasing something that meant that he'd be even more of a pickle to get back. Something told him he'd be grateful of Kristian's back up. A quick text message was added to the one he'd already sent 'if we have any chicken and aniseed treats bring them'.
Post by Kristian Magnussen on Apr 20, 2018 17:01:07 GMT
Living on a farm meant that there was always something to do. Early mornings, late evenings, and having to be willing to drop everything at a moment's notice to attend to whatever crisis. For someone who grew up in the city, moving out to rural Montana had been quite the shift. But Kristian liked to think that he had done a good job at adapting.
Though, Ivarr was mostly in charge of running the farm while Kristian tried to hold down a normal job with somewhat normal working hours. Lately though, even long hours at work hadn't been enough to stave off some degree of boredom. The computer was his refuge, and that was where he could be found when Ivarr texted.
While Merlin would eventually come back home when he got hungry, Embra had the focus of a Border Collie. She had great natural instinct, but properly capturing it and harnessing it for the right purposes was still a work in progress. Kristian made a mental note to tell Ivarr to make more dog treats since they were getting down to the bottom of the jar. And quite frankly, the dogs all ate like royalty. Homemade treats and specially prepared raw diet.
He took a golf cart out to meet Ivarr along with a couple extra leashes, the chicken and aniseed treats, and some liver treats just to be safe. He carried his own whistle around his neck, though there was a spare in the cart just in case. He didn't so much hear Merlin as see the brush moving in an odd way. "Merlin you great oaf! Get back here!" Not that shouting would do much of anything, but it felt good. Kristian could have sworn that the dog was part Beagle with such selective hearing and prey drive. He drove after the retriever in hopes to catch up enough to coax the dog back.
"Hey Ivarr, I've found Merlin heading east towards the road. See if you can't cut him off before some tractor runs him over." Calling and driving wasn't the safest, but speed dial and speaker at least kept his hands relatively free.
Post by Ivarr Haurkson on Apr 21, 2018 8:17:10 GMT
Ivarr gave an affirmative noise, at least there was one small mercy with Embra's focus. She'd only chase the ATV, and he was pretty sure he could go fast enough she'd not get in front of him. Carefully however he started to move the quadbike moving off in the direction indicated.
That was though after moving Desmond off his seat, and back into the basket just behind the seat, the corgi content to make a fluffy loaf as he enjoyed the feeling of the wind and the world passing by, Embra racing along behind the vehicle easily.
Merlin appeared briefly near Kristian, smelling food, and then he was off again bounding back into the forest, tail wagging happily. To him this was the best of fun, regardless of what was wanted.
Post by Kristian Magnussen on May 5, 2018 13:16:56 GMT
Damn that dog. The two shelties were thankfully quite content to work on some frozen kongs in their crates and were out of the way. Embra could always be found chasing something, and she was at least responsive to the dog whistle. Even Desmond in his lazy ways wasn't that much of a headache. If there was food or a sunny spot to sleep, he was probably there. Merlin, and the one non-herding dog in the pack, was closer to Kristian's nightmare. No more labs, that much was final.
He waved some particularly stinky liver truffle treats to try and grab Merlin's attention. They were terrible for training and especially now had a tendency to get warm and mushy and sticky. But, they stank to high heaven even for people. "Merlin! Come here!" He let loose a string of curses in Norwegian and English and hoping desperately that this dumb lab wouldn't do something stupid like run in front of a moving truck. If anyone was having fun, it was only the dog.
By the time he reached the road, he had seen Merlin dart past a few times, but never close enough to catch. "Fucking dog, will you stop playing games?! Merlin! Where they hell are you, you son of a bitch?!" He hoped that Ivarr had found and caught the rascal, but his hopes weren't that high. Of course Merlin was nowhere in sight now. And if his luck was anything to go by, the chocolate lab had run home and was now waiting by the back door to be let in and pretending to be a perfect angel.
Alas that Merlin had eventually made one mistake as he came out closer to Ivarr before bounding off again. He'd got Embra's focus, and true to her collie nature she was off like a streak chasing after the labrador. Which may seem a bad thing, until Ivarr joined Kristian with an almost sheepish shrug of his shoulders. Slowly he raised the whistle to his lips, whistling the recall.
Naturally Merlin didn't want to come, however apparently he wasn't having any say in the matter as the chocolate brown labrador found himself being herded by the border collie, his every attempt to move away and go back to his fun gallumphing through the forest met by the far more agile collie, and maybe the occasional nip.
Naturally though once he was brought over he flopped down panting, tail wagging easily looking up at them with a goofy expression eyes half closed still looking remarkably smug. And a very marked contrast to the collie who was sat ears pricked attentively looking up at Ivarr for the next command, the sit less upright and more semi crouched forward, gaze darting to the mischief filled labrador as if she was just waiting for him to try and race off again.
"Thanks, love," he signed with a slight smile. "I was long line working on his recall when he caught a smell and slipped his collar," which brought another slight scowl at the labrador who was still looking overly proud of himself. Though despite his attempt to stay serious faced and disapproving even he couldn't help the fact his lips were fighting to quirk into a smile, or that he had to turn away to try and hide the fact he was laughing at the expression.
Even if he was dreading cleaning the mud off the labrador, who'd apparently also found a mud puddle to go wallowing in. Once he had at least schooled his expression somewhat he turned to Kristian to sign "I think we have a labrador - pig cross," which was a reference to the fact the chocolate brown labrador was more a drying mud brown versus his proper colour.
Post by Kristian Magnussen on May 21, 2018 20:28:05 GMT
With Merlin finally distracted and still enough, Kristian slipped the collar and lead over his neck and hauled him back to the golf cart. A quick whistled called Embra off her job with a duly noted look of disappointment. "Don't worry, silly girl. There's plenty of goats to herd back home. Get in!" He pointed at the cart, and the border collie happily took her place riding shotgun.
"Merlin is going no further than the mud room until he gets a bath. And you'll need to make more treats. We're running low again. I swear these dogs have grown opposable thumbs and can open the treat jars at the rate we go through them." It felt like yesterday that the house was filled with the smells of baking dog treats and all the strange scents that came with it. Meat, liver, peanut butter, bits of fruit.
"Anyways, meet you back at the house. Order out tonight? I don't mind doing pick up." He gave Embra a few good pats and turned the cart back towards home. Desmond looked more than content to stay with Ivarr. No reason to make him move for now.
Welcome to Choteau, Montana, in 2018. What was once only a small city focused on fossils, has now started to turn into an equestrian mecca. Everyone still knows everyone, so the question remains, what will you become? 
