Dog Nosed Kisses

I love my dog, I really do.  There's nothing better than having your own warm fuzzy four-legged friend to cuddle up to on a cold day, to snuggle close to you when you are sad, rejoice with canine excitement when you are happy, to wake you up in the morning (or in Kenai's case, the middle of the night to ask if he can come up on the bed), to ride in the car with you, chase the chickens, and alert you when someone pulls in the driveway.  I'm not sure how people get along without them.  Someone once commented to me that, "it would be a inconvenience to always have to take them out or find someone to watch them if you wanted to go somewhere."  Maybe since I've never been without a dog that I can remember, I don't even think of those things.  My husband and I went on a mini-vacation two springs ago and left Kenai with my parents.  He of course was well taken care of, but when we would go to bed at night in our big king-sized bed, we felt like something was missing.  Kenai is such a permanent fixture in our family that going somewhere without him is hard.  And yes, he sleeps right between us at night, all 75 pounds of him.  Not the whole night; usually right when we go to bed, then he'll get down until about 4am, then hop back up.  He's like clockwork.  And I wouldn't have it any other way.

A Good Dog

A Sleepy Sheepdog and His Hippo

I really love my dog! Truthfully, he is just one of the cutest things to walk on four legs. This is him sleeping on 'his' couch with his most favorite toy: Hippo. Kenai is not one of those destructive dogs that chews and shreds his stuffed toys (thankfully). Instead, he sort of mouths them with an occasional lick or two. One of his draws to Hippo is the beans that fill his feet. My guess is that it is analogous to a a child's thumb. They both get gratification from sucking on them (or in Kenai's case, chewing). He has two other toys that run a close second and third to Hippo, and they are Kiwi and Pelican, which are both Beanie Babies. Kenai also has many other cute and useful traits: he gives me my socks when I get up in the morning (no seriously! check out the picture below)...

As a matter of fact, he picks up anything I drop. This really comes in handy when I'm knitting, sewing, or working on any other project around the house (don't worry, no needles folks); this includes handing me hangers when I'm hanging up clothes. He rings a bell in order to tell us that he needs to potty (and of course when he just wants to go outside and play); he brings you his towel after he drinks to wipe his face; slide down the sliding board at the playground (he loves that); dives off the dock like a labrador (he loves to swim!), and of course all the other basic dog commands. He's also great with the chickens and bunnies, which I'm grateful for. Occasionally, when the chickens are all in a group, he gets the fire in him to run through and scatter them (some sheepdog, huh?), but he never hurts them. I feel lucky to have a dog like him.

Fanny the sour crop hen is doing okay. Her crop finally seems to be emptying, and we've started to give her some baby food vegetables and fruits, which she happily ate. Her color is pretty poor, though. I'm hoping that it will return with some real nourishment. She must not mind her confinement to the front porch though. As soon as we set her down on the ground after flushing her crop, she waddles right for the cage door and waits for us to open it so she can return to perching on her nestbox. What a good girl! By no means are we out of the water yet, but I'm sure hoping to see her back to normal soon.

Feels Like Fall

Wow! It's actually chilly out this morning. I like it! Low to mid 60s I would say. My kind of weather. It feels like fall; may favorite season of the year. They weren't calling for rain, but I can see the clouds across to the next hill emptying their contents on some unsuspecting fields. I suppose you'll have that. Here on my little hill the chickens are foraging and preening. Actually one was just up here sitting on the arm of my chair very interested in what I was doing on my laptop. Gotta love wireless. Kenai, our Old English Sheepdog is eating grass and chewing on one of his frisbees (not simultaneously of course). You should see the corn! Our landlord says it's the tallest in the county. It's taller than me, that's all I can say. It blows that whole "knee high by the forth of July" right out of the water. Even our tiny crop of organic corn is past knee high. The sunflowers are just as high. I'm really happy about them. They'll be good food for the chickens come winters.

I'd be happy to sit here all day like this. Just me and mother nature. Life likes to try to rob us of these peaceful moments. You've got to take advantage of them when you can.

Long Day

Well I didn't expect to wake up to what I did this morning...Snow! I'm not sure why it surprised me. It is after all winter. I guess the couple sunny days we had tricked my brain into thinking that spring was really on its way. Thoughts of where to put my garden, what to plant, and whether or not to use raised beds or just plow the ground have have been hard on the brain lately. It was barely morning when I headed out to feed the critters. Oh how I long for those longer days, when the sun comes up early and hangs out until after nine at night. Good thing about feeding early...the chickens aren't up yet! That may seem trivial, but they've been stampeding out of the coop most mornings as of lately (for as much as chickens stampede). That door opens and there's no stopping them; wings flapping and all. You'd do well to just get out of the way on mornings like those.

The pup could care less about being out in the snow as you can see. I think he's the only one that truly loves the snow, even with his short haircut. With that last thaw we had, it was getting too hard to keep this Old English Sheepdog clean! So out came the clippers and away went the hair. This may sound silly, but I keep his hair in hopes to spin it one day. I can just see it now:

Nice lady at the market: "My that's a lovely sweater you're wearing!"
Me: "Thank you ma'am."
Nice lady: "Did you make it?"
Me: "Yes ma'am. Spun and knitted it myself."
Nice lady: "Such talent! But some poor sheep must be cold right now."
Me: "No ma'am. I'm wearing my dog."

I might be considered......heaven forbid......"weird". I prefer...."unique". =)