Tag Archives: Country Life

Team Work

Dogs & Other Animals, Thoughts On Life, ,

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This is the sight I came downstairs to this morning. They are hunting. Something is obviously behind the baseboard heater cover. Most likely it is a mouse. I have been seeing evidence. Mortimer and Harley didn’t even leave their post when three of the dogs came in to see what was going on. On my way out I shut the door so all the drama and carnage would be contained.

Mortimer, aka Morty, is on the left. He is about 4 years old. On the right, in the shadows, is Harley. He is about 13 or 14 years old. These two cats are not related, both are male, and they vary greatly in age but Harley taught Morty to hunt. They both live in the house but as our house was built in 1830 there is often prey to be had. Harley has always been an excellent mouser although he is not limited to mice. He will also catch moles and baby squirrels. He taught Morty how to hunt when Morty was still young. Around a year old. They often work in tandem. Now after they make a catch Harley will usually let Morty have the prey after he has chewed on it a few times. I ponder over their relationship because none of our other cats would willingly hunt together. Hunting amongst the other cats usually involved much growling and hissing as they tried to defend their prize and would run away with it to keep it safe.

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We explain this by saying that Harley is Morty’s honorary uncle. In reality I have no idea why they work so well together. I can’t help but feel that if I could figure it out, I would have some insight as to how we could all get along better in the world.

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Stockpiling

Country Life, Thoughts On Life, , ,

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Having a stockpile of things that you need is a good feeling. You can never have too much dog food, dog treats , or cat litter. In fact I am never able to keep a stash of cat litter. We seem to go through it like water. There is a certain comfort to knowing you have enough supplies. I imagine the pioneers and how good they must have felt looking at their larders and fuel supplies as they were heading into winter. Of course it is vastly different for us. If we run out of something, we can just by more.

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We spent a portion of Monday splitting wood and now have a full wood box. This means we will have heat until this long winter is over. We have fuel oil heat too but the tank is running low and we don’t want to have more delivered this late in the season. Burning wood will stretch out how long it will last.

Having these reserves is very comforting. Kind of like a squirrel hoarding his stash of nuts.

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