Category Archives: Country Life

Tales of Baxter Puppers

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals, ,

 Baxter puppy face

This is Baxter. He looks so innocent, doesn’t he? Don’t be fooled. He is the protector of his home. Last evening I opened the door for all of the dogs to go out in the fenced potty area. The fence is only about 3 1/2 feet high but our dogs have never tried to leave the area. I opened the  door  and out the dogs went. Baxter went out the door and sailed over the fence without even touching it. He ran just out of my site in the dark. The other dogs were barking within the fence as back up. Turns out there was a opossum in the yard. Baxter was on the job checking it out and patrolling his territory. Although the opossum was hissing and carrying on, the incident ended without apparent injury to either party. Baxter is a good boy and came back when he was called. He came in and resumed napping on the couch. Enough excitement for one night.

Baxter close up

Three Dogs

Country Life, Dogs & Other Animals,

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Three dogs enjoying the balmy weather before the next cold wave. We have a  brief respite with temperatures in the 30’s before we plunge back down to zero tonight. These guys insisted that they must go out and enjoy it. From left to right are Blitz the foster dog, Baxter, and Shelby. They were watching me while I  hauled more wood to the house. Note that the dog house is not there because the dogs spend lots of time  outside and need shelter. It was left here by a previous owner and our guys like to use it for extra shade sometimes in the summer.

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This is Blitz keeping an eye on me.

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And Shelby supervising me. She usually goes with me to get the wood so is not happy to be behind the fence. She doesn’t know what I might do if left to my own devices.

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And Baxter wants to know why I  don’t throw the Frisbee instead of trudging back and forth with pieces of wood.

The other three dogs stayed in the house.  I imagine Phoebe the greyhound thought she might get her sweater dirty, Nikki, the petite sheltie, does not like dogs ( we don’t tell her that she is a dog ), and Roxanne the 15 year old sheltie is waiting for spring.

So the three dogs pictured above were my audience as I did my outside chores. I wouldn’t want to do it without them. They are good company.

Too Much Winter

Country Life, ,

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Getting a little tired of seeing this. Actually seeing it isn’t the problem. The problem is all the shoveling that comes with it. That and hauling wood through the great white depths. I shoveled for about two hours today. That got the mail and paper boxes clear and enough of the driveway open that I  can park within a few feet of the door to the house. The rest of the driveway will have to wait for another day. Oh, snow blower how I miss thee. How cruel of you to give out when I still have need of you. We have a neighbor who lives down the road who was scheduled to plow for us in the event of larger snows such as this. His tractor is also on the  injured list. I guess this winter was just too much for  them.

Once I was done with the shoveling, it was time to haul wood. We’ve figured out a system using one of the recycling bins. I fill the bin with firewood and attach a heavy dog leash to it and pull it to the house. It works like a  sled and I think it is rather  ingenious. The  snow became too deep to get the tractor back to the wood crib quite a while ago.

I am hoping for a warm up, even a brief one, to lower the level of snow. Looking out the back door, it appears as if the fence around the dog yard is getting shorter. In reality the snow is getting deeper. Luckily the dogs don’t seem to have noticed this yet. Without a bit of a melt off I will have to make the snow less (read as more shoveling) or the fence taller. I  think I’ll pray for the melt off. The birds are in favor of the melt off as well.

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The good news is that, as a  reward for all the work I did today, I made pumpkin chocolate chip pancakes for dinner! Oh yeah, and also that spring will officially be here next month.

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Still Life

Country Life, Thoughts On Life

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This picture, taken on our side porch, speaks volumes about my life. In the foreground is dog paraphernalia. A leash with choker collar so those needle nosed rescue shelties can’t get away. An Elizabethan collar from two foster dogs ago. Baxter ‘ s frisbee is there. A tote bag for my library books. Plants that I brought in to winter over:  a fig tree, a seckel pear sapling, a cutting from our ancient azalea. And behind that, catnip and thyme that are dry and waiting  to be stripped from their branches and stored. Not to mention everything is on the table where we sometimes eat dinner in warmer weather. So much to be gleaned from an ordinary photo.  Simplicity can speak volumes.

Waiting for Spring

Country Life, Gardens, ,

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I took a brief walk outside yesterday so that I could see some of the beauty that nature has to share. I love this little pathway through the pine glade. It is so peaceful with its offer of shelter and stillness. And below you can see the beautiful rusty red leaves of the witch hazel. They provide us with color all winter. The leaves seem to hang on forever and then one day in the spring they just magically disappear. Witch hazel is an odd plant. It blooms in the winter. It is a reminder to me that we can bloom even in the toughest of conditions. And the bench is waiting for us to come and sit to admire the plants that will bloom again the spring.

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Why it takes me so long to get anywhere in the morning…

Country Life

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Why am I always running late in the morning you might ask.  Today was a typical morning at our house.  All I had to do was make it to an appointment by 8:30 am.  Sounds simple enough. Upon awakening I find my slippers and go downstairs to let the dogs out. Those that slept in crates are released to join the others and go outside in our fenced dog yard. I go to the kitchen to make coffee which is number 2 on the agenda.  Romeo, one of our 14 year old cats, follows me meowing urgently and getting underfoot while telling me off for not making getting his canned cat food number 1 on the agenda.   Romeo just had all his teeth removed last week and is getting canned food every morning. I lock Romeo in the bathroom with the food so the other cats don’t steal it. I must rush to close the door so the other cats don’t charge in. This does not make them happy. They prowl around outside the door while giving me dirty looks. I hurry to let the dogs back inside as it is very cold out.  I hold the door open, letting the warm air out and the cold in, while waving my arm furiously at Roxanne to motion her into the house.  She is mostly deaf and arthritic so this takes a good while. Then I help her up the four steps to the main level as she is too stiff to make it on her own.

Now it is time to get the fire in the wood burner going again as it has nearly died out during the night. I gather wood shavings, newspaper, and more wood from the stand beside the fireplace.  Assemble all and light it. It takes off quickly as there were still coals left over.  We do have fuel oil heat but burning wood helps to keep the heating costs down.  So with the single digit temperatures, burning wood is a much desired thing.

Back to animal patrol. I let Romeo out of the bathroom before he starts yowling and flinging the empty cat food can around to signal that he is done. I must rinse the sink out where I feed Romeo because he is a messy eater, and then take the empty can to rinse and put in the recycling.  Then it’s time to pass out morning meds for the animals.  The first one is easy. Roxanne gets a pill for urinary issues and it’s beef flavored and chewable so no problem. The next pill is for our foster dog Sassy, pictured above. She has liver issues and gets a daily pill for 30 days to help with healing her liver.  The pill is very large. The vet says most people have trouble giving it.  Sassy is a good girl so that goes without incident. Last is our cat Lacey who needs an antibiotic for a sinus infection. First I must find her which takes a couple of minutes. And I must load the medicine into the “pill shooter” which helps with pilling cats. Lacey is mostly a docile type of cat so that’s not too bad.

The worst is over with getting ready for the day.  Now I can take a few minutes to shower and get myself ready. I do this and lastly, grab my lunch bag which I packed the day before, pour some coffee in a travel mug, and grab a book to throw in my work bag and away I go!  BTW, life is good. I wouldn’t have it any other way.  It’s a small price to pay for the privilege of living with my animal friends!