Yampa the gander came to Suzy’s household through friends who took a raft trip down the Yampa River in Utah. During the first days of the trip, a domesticated goose joined their party or, as it turned out, a gander. He’s a gander with gusto. He stood on the bow of their kayak through the rapids. He bedded down on the beach near them every night and made friends with everyone. By the time their 148 mile run was done, no one wanted to leave him at the take-out in the desert, so they put him in the car and drove him to Suzy’s.
Suzy didn’t want Yampa to be lonely, so she got two goslings, Berna and Lillo from Bernalillo, New Mexico. Berna died, but all summer Lillo and Yampa swam happily in the stream in front of Suzy’s house, and were carried upstairs to sleep on the deck every night, where it was safe.
Everyone knew that winter would be a problem, so Christy built them a goose house.
and that worked out fine until the stream froze.
There was a little patch of open water left, but that was not Yampa and Lillo’s idea of reasonable winter accommodations. So they ran away down the road to the hot springs half a mile away.
And that’s where they’re spending the winter.
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