10/16/2024
Nineteen days post Helene and aftershocks are still being felt even here at the edges of ground zero. To be clear, Landrum faced significant struggle - roads blocked by trees, some deaths from trees falling on people, long power outages, long periods of no cell service or WiFi and some scarcity-panicked gun play at gas stations. But we are returning to normal.
While a few people still have no internet, most major problems caused by Helene are managed here and people are focusing on helping WNC people and also getting back to their own lives.
But, just like after a major earthquake, there are aftershocks to this disaster. Tree falls on the FETA trails mean the system will not be fully open for a good bit. But landowners and FETA members are out there grinding it out and chainsawing away, resulting in a few loops opening up already. This is an unexpected miracle to me.
I used those loops yesterday to hack Howdy around for not only the sheer life-cleansing pleasure of walking around on a good horse in the woods, but also looking for the deer (reindeer? axis? Fallow?) that I saw yesterday morning on my way to dog walking at FENCE. He crossed the road right in front of my three dog dog-laden car (two are loaners), stopped and told me to take a picture, then turned and went back into the woods. I was so moved by his predicament of being absolutely wrapped up in fencing materials that I didn’t put together that he was definitely not native. And that he is also tame because he is from a petting zoo. I could have gotten out of the car and probably caught him in a few quiet minutes (I keep a lunge line in my car for just such moments, too. Arg.) But all I saw in that moment was “deer” and, while I’m pretty likable by most animals, I don’t hold the general belief that I can catch a deer in the wild. Too bad, that.
So when I posted the picture I took of him (nowHollywild Animal Preservecause it’s easier to name things than to say “that deer at FENCE”) on FB, I learned that he’s from Hollywild Animal Preserve, which is 12 miles away, maybe 8 as the crow flies. Fallen trees during Helene damaged their fences, and Comet and several of his compadres made a break for it. So he’s been wandering for 15 days, at least 5 in the FENCE area. The bad news is that one of his buddies was hit and killed yesterday about 5 miles from here. Totaled the car, no injuries to people. But still heartbreaking for everyone. The good news is there’s plenty of grass, water and shelter for Comet at FENCE as well as kind people, in the aAndrew Holbertly his story will have a happy ending. I’ll be looking for him on Howdy or Sammy.
Yesterday Howdy looked like a proper pack horse with a halter on over his bridle, a spare halter and lead rope attached to his breastplate and me with pockets full of sweet feed and a Dewalt folding knife in my pocket. No luck finding Comet but I ran into Andrew Holbert, a neighbor and new friend to me who is also looking for Comet and told me that the fencing material wrapped around Comet is a relatively new accouterment, which Comet acquired on Friday. Hang in there, Comet, we’re trying for you.
Meanwhile I went to a trail clearing for Green Creek Hounds. I took Charlotte, my jacked up golf cart, and she did pretty well, but she’s a little too precious for that job. The more manly 4 wheelers did a better job of it, but she managed, like a sporting but inexperienced city girl in heels at a hayride, to do the job. Meanwhile, my chainsaw blade was dull (oh how lame of me) so the next day I went to the awesome Lynne’s mower and chainsaw in Landrum to get my blade sharpened and buy a spare chain. While there, I had a chat and laugh with the owner over the MOUNTAIN of chainsaws in for maintenance or repair, an obvious homage to the chorus of chainsaws we’ve all been hearing or creating in these past 2 and a half weeks since Helene.
