Grenny the Mule

Grenny the Mule

Wood Sled

Breaking Trail

The Wood-Sled Trail

Would Rather Ride Than Work

Waiting to Unload

It's one of those sapphire-blue-sky days that electrifies all the white snow. From my rocking chair at the fire, I watch snow scatter in a great white gusts lifted from the pastures and pond by a swirling wind. Snow dust eddies like a current in a stream, flowing out the driveway to wash across the road and train tracks. It's the coldest day I've experienced in Elmira, but still 10 degrees above zero.

Grenny the Mule helps keep the house warm.

Todd has our big male GSP, Grendel, hitched to the wood sled. We admittedly grew lazy this winter and have used our truck, the Blue Goose, to haul wood from the horse barn to our west-side porch. But the battery is dead so we have to haul it by hand. Todd built the sled and Grenny becomes our mule to power it.

Walking alongside Grenny, Todd lifts up on his harness. Mostly this is to keep the nose of the sled up, so it doesn't become a snowplow. The dog-mule pulls the majority of the weight, managing several loads from the horse barn to the porch.

Working on the Ranch

The sled is a plow of sorts, packing a wide trail that curves across the pasture. Packed snow doesn't swirl with the wind, but it it makes a fine track for the wind to follow as it chases snow dust toward the house. It reminds me of the sort of tracks pioneers would have made on their ranches before modern machinery and Model-Ts. I feel like Ma Ingalls standing on the porch watching Pa and his mule work.

Bobo is having none of this old-fashioned business. After trotting down the trail after Grenny, she realizes that he's mule-minded. He's not interested in playing; he has a job to do. Bobo stands by the car as if to say, look if you guys aren't going to play, let's go for a ride. She's not into this pioneer work.

Grenny waits patiently while Todd unloads and stacks wood, which is not typical behavior from the dog. But in this moment he's a working mule and he waits. I wonder how many other chores we can devise for Grenny as he and Todd head back for another load.

Back inside the wood-warmed house, I settle into my own work and listen to the winds howl, knowing we have enough fuel to get through this cold snap.