We’re all nuts for walnuts!
Addy plays with exactly 4 things – water spray, dirt tossed in her direction, a tiny little stuffed sheep I find hidden around the house in various places when she is finished playing with it, and walnuts.
I don’t really understand the appeal. I mean, it’s not like they can *eat* the walnuts … the walnuts are in their shell, wrapped in this weirdly aromatic / fragrant green husk, and all the dogs do is throw them around and/or guard them from other dogs. But for some reason, they are the best toys going on the farm. Very popular with dogs under 15lbs. I need to find a way to market this.
But as much as these nuts love their walnuts, their attention span for them is extremely short, so I’ve taken to stalking them with my camera, hoping to catch them in the act, because it’s pretty hit or miss if I try to entice them with a walnut. Maybe I’m just picking the wrong walnuts because I don’t understand the system. But I was doing this exact thing (stalking Fae, who had a walnut) and because of that I missed ADDY GETTING INTO A FIST FIGHT WITH THE ROOSTER OVER A DEAD MOLE. I cannot tell you how upset I am that I missed photographing this, because no matter how funny you *think* it sounds, I guarantee you it was a million times more hilarious to actually see it. She was boxing him like she was a kangaroo, and he was flying at her sideways, feet first, like a feathery little ninja. But they were in the shade, and I was shooting in full sun, so by the time I turned around and adjusted my settings, the fight was over and Addy was running away with the mole. I’m so disappointed.
Wootie was not though, because he ended up stealing the mole. Wootie does not eat moles, but he does like to possess them and bury them somewhere so nobody else can have them (like, his version of a walnut I guess). So I waited until he’d buried the mole in a pile of mushroom manure, then I hid behind a tree and screamed “I’M GONNA GET THE WOOTIE MOLE!” and he lost his tiny little walnut sized brain and started freaking out, trying to figure out where the disembodied voice of mole-theft-threats was coming from, and that’s how I got this picture.
And this is him about 10 minutes later … now he’s at the other end of the orchard, so quite far from his hidden mole, but he’s still worried someone is going to find it.
I love the orchard and all it has to offer when taking photos, but I wish it was carpeted with something other than dead leaves and grass. Of course, with the summer we had, everything is dead grass, everywhere, all the time. This is what the entire goat pasture looks like.
But the front yard – oh my! Though from a landscaping perspective it would probably be considered an eyesore, it has very lovely Fall colours going on that are awesome when the sun shines through the leaves and plants (aka weeds).
But if there is dirt *anywhere* Alfie will find it, and he will drool in it, and then he will lay in the soothing droolmud he has created. I’m sure his mom thinks I’m just chucking mud at him for entertainment when she comes to visit him.
His little sister Betty came to stay with me for a week earlier this month. They are HILARIOUS when they play. Actually, Alfie is just hilarious when he plays no matter who he’s playing with. He thought he was playing with Peetie the other day, which was so charming because Peetie didn’t realize they were playing (she was waiting for me to throw the ball) and he was bouncing all around her and play bowing and he had no idea she wasn’t actually in the same game as him. But Betty knows what’s what and he grabs her by the … well basically the whole body, because she’s the size of his mouth, and he pins her down for a minute, then he lets her go and she takes off like a bullet while he lopes along eagerly after her. It’s pretty hilarious.
While my personal preference is for pointy dogs (I mean, I do have Addy, the pointiest of pointy dogs) there’s no denying Betty takes a pretty picture! Here she is modeling my new tiny, dog sized divan that a friend salvaged for me from a movie set.
My cat Cyrus also takes a nice picture. Here HE is, modeling the tiny dog sized chair I bought off Craigslist. New, tiny, animal sized furniture is my latest obsession. Cyrus looks shocked, but he actually really enjoys hanging out in front of the studio lights. Because he’s weird. But he’s a cat, and cats are weird, so that makes sense.
Here’s Dexter looking mildly perplexed, which is is pretty much his Life Motto summed up in one word (“Huh?”) since the deafness set in. But he’s still having fun … mostly because he doesn’t know how to do anything else.
And then there’s my awesome girlie, who is doing so SO much better than I thought possible! Those of you who follow us on Facebook know that about two weeks ago she was on one of our client hikes when she lost the ability to use her hind end shortly after we started our outing. I ended up carrying her in a fireman lift her for the remainder of the walk because it was too hot to leave her in the car, and I had playing clients that needed their exercise. It was pretty sad to watch her trying to get around without the use of her hind legs, and I was not looking forward to the news from the vet.
It turns out that she suffered an FCE (a fibrocartilaginous embolism, which is basically a blockage in a blood vessel in the spinal cord). This is basically diagnosed by ruling out other things, and there’s nothing you can really do for it other than physical therapy. Lots of dogs have partial to full recovery beginning in about 2-6 weeks after the event. Piper, because she is ornery, has decided she will have 100% recovery and it also that it would start within 3 days of developing the FCE. Within 48 hours she was getting around again and here we are two weeks later and she is walking – even running, sorta! – around like nothing happened at all. She only has difficulty at one end of the living room because it’s laminate and it slopes, so sometimes she falls down, but she has learned to avoid this by walking on dog beds and the area rug (which SOMEONE *coughADDYcough*) keeps peeing on that I put down in front of the sofa. She is one TOUGH cookie, this dog!! She is going to be 15 in about two months and she is determined she is going to be in shape to party when that day comes.
I just admire her tenacity so much. She has a ton of heart, this little dog. Looks like we’ll have to get Mia to make us another cake with bacon rosettes for Piper’s birthday!
There are no photos of the Wondertwins, because they are never anywhere to be found!! Turns out out little squirrel friend from the last blog entry has about … ummm … 77 squirrel friends. And all of them are partying with the walnuts in the orchards – the one beside me and the one by my landlord’s house – so Spring and Winter spend all their free time hunting squirrels. I’m not sure how they actually get any exercise, because as far as I can tell they just pick a spot in an orchard and stand motionless staring up into the trees for upwards of 45 minutes at a stretch. They seem to be waiting for the squirrels to forget they are there, and come down to the ground where they will be available for eating, but the squirrels, though stupid, are not THAT stupid. And yet the terriers are TIRED when they come inside after all that being motionless. Maybe their necks are sore from staring up.
I asked Spring if she would maybe stop squirrel hunting and pose for a photo and she gave me this face, which can only be interpreted as her “fuck you” face.
What a sweet thing she is.
And here’s a turkey face. Literally. This is one of my juveniles from this Spring and he’s going to rival his dad in the handsome department (not evident from this photo, I know). I now have 7 turkeys, so next year the ones I hatch will be sold for eatin’. Although if this feller keeps hopping the fence, running across the road and eating my neighbour’s berries, I might eat him and start fresh next year. I had no idea turkeys were such a pain in the ass! They get into more trouble than my goats and that’s saying something!
