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!
Home sweet home was a phrase she had heard often enough, but didn't really understood until now. Of course, this was home now - it wasn't necessarily sweet yet. The barn was in amazing state, and part of her was still salivating at the sight of Zensure standing proud but relaxed in his new stall. She and Celeste had mostly moved into the barn apartment above the hay storage, part of her a little wary of the fire hazard, but well, she supposed it wasn't that great a risk as long as they were careful. Besides, she still held out hopes that she would be allowed to have a little cabin built or a tiny house moved onto the property - as much as she didn't mind crashing on the pull-out couch upstairs, it was Celeste's home and she didn't want to impose too long. As well as they got along for now, she was a little iffy about the long run if they had to live in each other's pocket as it were.
Today wasn't for those concerns, though - instead, today was about setting up some (temporary) pastures for the horses to frolick in, do a check-up and figuring out where all their stuff went. For someone who had moved to the States not too long ago, she had already collected quite a bit of it, never mind her personal truck, her trailer and her farrier's truck in addition to personal belongings and equine equipment.
Celeste had promised to show up once her shift was done, but Rae wasn't in a hurry. It was rather enjoyable to just stand and watch and amaze oneself after all, in between setting down poles. The pastures would be a bit small, but it was better than being stalled the whole time; Bo probably could handle it, and Ike was getting better, but there was a reason she hadn't brought her mule home yet. If she put Sassy on permanent stall lockdown until they had good fences, she wasn't sure if the barn or the mule would end up mauled. Remembering that Celeste might appreciate a reminder, she dug up her phone and, happy it still had sufficient charge, shot her a quick text - it'd be a shame if they got to set up the pastures but didn't have the battery that came with the portable fencing. Life saver at shows or road trips, and now when moving too, it seemed. Then she started whistling a catchy tune she'd heard on the radio, keeping half an eye on Nella as she continued working, only taking a break to strip off her sweater when the sun broke through the clouds and temperatures rose.
Celeste drove towards Foxtail Meadow Farm. It was her home now, and that of Rae. When they had became pen pals, neither of them would ever imagine this was where they'd ever be. Nothing like this was how they imagined it, yet Celeste loved every second of it. Ever since Celeste had made the decision to start her veterinary clinic here in Choteau things had went insanely fast. Together with Rae, who had been a penpal for years, the business had started taking shape and even had grown further, the surrounding lands would be wonderful for forage. And now they were business owners. The build of the clinic itself was mostly done, it was mainly having to make sure all tools were in logical and easy to access places, and the apartment, while big enough for the two of them now they were mostly working anyway, needed some improvements too. One day there would be two houses on the grounds, she imagined, and definitely a few more horses and other animals.
Celeste had just visited a small stable to check and vaccinate their horses and now she was at the end of her shift... Well, Cel rarely called it like that, she planned all visits for herself and with potential emergencies her shift never truly ended. She had never turned down an animal, and would only ever do so for the sake of her own animals. Her phone bleeped and she stopped her vehicle at a parking lot to read the text, in case it was the location to an emergency visit. She smiled as she noticed it was a text from Rae. 'got it. See you in a bit.' she replied the text, looking up to again and only now noticing where she was and instantly craving a milkshake. 'Quick! Favorite milkshake taste?' she send her a second text, waiting in anticipation for a reply. Celeste got out of her verhicle, locked it and slowly wandered to the building, only quickening her pace as she got a reply. It was quickly her turn, buying two milkshakes to go with her, one strawberry flavored and one in the requested flavour of Rae.
Not much later she turned her van up the driveway where she parked it near the stables. Rae was most likely in the area where they wanted to set up the pasture. Celeste quickly gathered her phone, the milkshakes and the heavy battery as she switched to the vehicle that would do much better on the fields than her van, the big green tractor that had stayed on the property when they had brought it. She had to check again if she had locked her van, which she had, before she climbed in the heavy vehicle and drove in the general area where she had expected Rae. The other woman came quickly into view and Cel waved, careful to stop the vehicle away from Nella and not in the way of the pasture to be.
Rae was quickly reminded of one of the joys of partnering up with a vet. Occasionally calls or texts were ignored for an hour or so - whenever Celeste was elbow deep in some mare's uterus, for example - but usually, her responses were prompt. Rae tried to do the same, but her calls and texts weren't quite so 'life in the balance' like important. Rae didn't have quite as many emergencies to deal with as Celeste, at least not when at home. On a showground, that could be different; she had done her fair share of superspeedy shoeing when a horse had kicked one of them off in the warm-up. Her text back was juvenile, perhaps, but she only had one hand free while juggling one of the corner poles, and it would get the message across: the banana emoji probably said more than words could, anyway. It'd be nice to take a bit of a break, take a look and drink something cold and creamy.
It wasn't too long after that text that she heard a familiar grumbling sound. "Nella, stay," she sternly told the dog, holding up an open hand to reinforce that order. She didn't want her beloved Kelpie accidentally flattened by a tractor, after all. The dog stayed put, nearly quivering with excitement, but only once thee tractor was parked and put in idle did Rae drop her hand to free the dog from the order. "You're a sight for sore eyes," she complimented Celeste, a little unclear about whether she meant her friend, the drinks she held, or the accu loaded onto the tractor.
Accepting the tall paper cup, she took an appreciative sip. Usually milkshakes weren't her thing, but god, it was good right now. She really could use one. "So, what d'you think?" she invited Celeste to share her thoughts, gesturing about. Her smile was fairly small, but definitely heartfelt and proud. "Still feels a bit unreal, doesn't it?" Such a vast measure of land, belonging to them now. Granted, there wasn't much in the way of housing yet, but they had a roof over their head, and it would hopefully only be a measure of time before she got her own little place here. It didn't make the experience any less, though.
The redheaded vet had laughed when she had received the text from Rae. Sometimes those emojis were so effective, and only now she realized her text could've been much shorter, too. There was one emoji that looked an awful lot like a milkshake, although it probably had ended in confusion if she had send that out of the blue. The response in emoji couldn't have been clearer though. In her van the two milkshakes had fitted perfectly in the cup holder between the two seats, in the tractor it had been a different story. Placing them on the floor, firmly pressed between the battery and the outer hull would have to do the trick. Of course she had been thankful for the plastic lids on top of the cups, but she was pleased it seemed to have worked as she had parked the giant monster and turned its engine off.
"Hello hard worker!" she greeted the other woman who had clearly noticed her already, glad she had kept her dog in place with her silent command. She could cure a lot of injuries, but a meeting with tractor tires usually had a high mortality rate. She never quite understood why dogs, and some cats too, always seemed to have the urge to greet those giant vehicles. The tractor was hard to miss and it would be impossible to sneak up to someone with it, and yet she heard too many stories of pets seemingly being surprised by one of those. Celeste picked up the two cups and got out, quickly checking which of the milkshake was hers and which one was meant for Rae.
It didn't take long for the dog to reach her now Nella was no longer requested to stay. "Hello sweetie, yeah, I think I have some water for you, too, just a moment okay?" she told the dog as she cursed herself from not having taken some fresh water, although she usually did keep a filled water bottle in the tractor, you never knew when it came in handy, wether it was hot and you needed to take a sip of water or if you needed to clean your hands from mud or dirt, or sometimes even a cut due to some reckless behavior. Now she thought about it, she was fairly certain she gad refilled the bottle last night before they had decided on the future whereabouts of the pasture. On foot she moved closer to Rae, nodding content as she noticed how far the other woman already had been with the planned work and handed her the banana flavored milkshake.
"It looks good." Cel replied as she looked around, following the poles of the future pasture. "Looks like you're halfway already? Or did you want to go further that way?" she inquired, impressed by the work Rae had done already. She nodded at the next question as she took a sip from her own cold drink. "it does" she confirmed, sitting down in the grass and taking another sip of her drink. "Yeah, this is the good life" she continued with a smile. Okay, perhaps their drink should've been a glass of champagne or wine, but it did honestly feel good. Besides, they were adults. If she wanted a milkshake, she'd get a milkshake, that was easy. That did not change a thing about how she felt about their massive plot of land. Sure, it was a lot of work, but she was a proud co-owner and happily spend time here already. "So, what do you want me to do once we finished these?" she asked Rae as she nudged towards the milkshakes. Rae had started this, so she'd give her the supervision over this little project of theirs.
Post by Rae Carrigan on Jul 2, 2018 18:52:51 GMT
via mobile
Rae held her tongue for a moment, giving Celeste a chance to properly greet Nella; for a seasoned farm dog, Nella was still strangely friendly to people, whether she knew them or not. It was a bit of a relief, as Nella had been with her since what felt like forever, and while she didn't often use the dog to herd animals anymore, other than her own horses from time to time, usually Nella did join her when she went out. Her being so friendly to everyone made that a lot easier.
Eyeing the work she had already done, she didn't need to contemplate an answer for Celeste all that long. "Think we'll finish this here, see how it holds up to Shiloh and Ike, and based on that we can make another one for Bo. Maybe one for yours, too, if the search yields any success. I don't quite trust this set up for Sassy yet, " she mused out loud. She took a long refreshing gulp from the milkshake, sighing with pleasure at the coldness. She was used to hot summers, certainly, but that didn't necessarily make them easier to bear. Really, all she wanted right now was a refreshing dip in the river, but she didn't quite have one nearby suitable for swimming with or without horses. It was one of the things she was missing from home, if she was honest. "Been thinking to visit the rescue tomorrow, see if they don't have a nice horse for you, maybe a resale project, and a cheap barn cat. Unless you think Funghi is up to the job?"
Taking another long gulp, she briefly considered her options. "The wire needs to be strung, the last poles need to be put up and the battery attached, but we'll save that for last, it's got a pretty strong kick," and yes, that was the voice of experience speaking. Loudly. "When d'you reckon we can open the Clinic?" Some last minute work was still being done to make it suitable for their mixed vet and farrier (and massage therapy and whatever else) work. She was looking forward to it, really. It was quite a milestone, after all, even if she technically didn't have a home yet. Price offers for the building of a cottage were slow to come, even if she didn't need that much. Maybe she'd check out the new trend of tiny houses.
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? 
