dogs – Page 21 – The Hermits' Rest

Actually Back in the Saddle (Me)

Well, I’m back where I was a few months ago, but with a healthy horse to ride. Sara isn’t here for a few days, but I wanted Apache to keep getting the exercise he’d been getting lately, so he will have more muscle and less fat.

I have no pictures of me riding, so here is a picture of the big dogs swimming.

So, this evening I went out to release Apache from the dry pen and took his beautiful groomed self out in the round pen for a lot of trotting. That’s also good for his muscle building.

Yep. That fencing is moving right along.

Then, well, I got on, even though I hadn’t done so since the winter, when we had our last scary ride. Luckily, this ride went pretty well. He did his thing where he tried to turn around, but not too many times. After that, it was a nice ride.

We have the pretty yellow flowers of the water primrose again around the pond.

Apache and I even walked by the two younger cattle dogs and a bunny with no issues. It’s so good to have him feeling good and focusing on what we are doing. Maybe I do have a future learning more with him.

Also, for your information, Fiona is also being a superstar. I no longer have to go get her and halter her when we’re done riding or exercising. I call her, and she meanders my way. I stick my hand out with a treat in it, and she happily follows me. My stress levels are so low now with these guys.

And that’s really how I’m back in the saddle again. Just having fun with my animal buddies.

Goldie’s First Bark Box

Each month I get a box of dog toys and healthy dog treats from Bark Box. They are always cute as all heck, and they have a theme. Highly recommended.

They used to go to Vlassic in Austin, but since he stays at the ranch now, I bring them to the other dogs, who actually destroy them more slowly than V did. Don’t worry, V has dozens of toys in the RV.

His tail crinkles and the inner tube can be removed to be a separate toy.

This month’s theme was summer camp. The best toy is a beaver in a pool inner tube, but all are cute.

S’mores and campfire. All have interesting textures and sounds, so even if the dog is a terrier who insists on finding and removing the squeaker, they stay fun.

So, Goldie is new and hadn’t enjoyed the monthly toy infusion before. When I distributed the toys, Harvey and Carlton grabbed them and began squeaking them heartily. Goldie watched.

Later, as the others lay snoozing after playing for a while, Goldie walked over and gently picked up a toy with her teeth. She then jumped on the couch with it.

Did she squeak and shake it? Did she destroy it instantly? No. She delicately felt around it. She lightly tossed it into the air and delighted in watching it fall. Then she cuddled it. What a gentle soul.

As she was doing that, Lee pointed at his feet. There was Carlton, daintily “fleaing” Lee’s foot. He’s also very gentle for such an energetic dog.

It’s always a fine realization when I see how well life is with all these dogs. They entertain us, cheer us up, and comfort us. I never would have imagined having such a large pack, but it’s worth the effort and expense.

The Many Moods of Pickle

Spic and Span Ranch

Hey, here’s a quick update on the things going on here at the Hermits’ Rest. For one thing, a lot of mowing has been going on and a lot of shredding. The appeal of using the shredder on really high grass is that it can be done in the air-conditioned tractor. It’s good to report that all along the sides of the road and the area on the other side of the arroyo is now shredded.

Two benefits to that are 1) you can see if cars are coming from the left as you leave the driveway, and 2) the ragweed has been cut down, eliminating some distress for the resident humans.

Everything is very neat and smooth now that the wildflowers set seed and were mowed.

Well, there are still a few flowers to enjoy. Yay.

The front-end loader, who’d been grounded for a while due to a giant hole in her ancient battery, is back and huffing and puffing again, with shiny new batteries. That will make moving fencing supplies a lot easier. It was sort of rough with the little tractor.

This should keep the old guy chugging a little longer.

And, look! We have the beginnings of the horizontal rods in the pen fencing. That is really exciting! The end is near!

It’s cool to see how the tool to hold them evenly spaced works. How clever!

Gracie thinks the hanging spacer thing is cool, too.

I’ll be out killing more grass and supervising fencing later today after work. These long summer days are GREAT.

I’m happy it’s summer and I have a pond.

A much more exciting post should be out later today, I hope. Happy summer to all.

Compare and contrast! The smallest dog and the biggest dog.

Lazy Day, with Lego

Today I ended up not doing much after riding Apache in the morning. Partly that’s because I got a shingles vaccine yesterday, and I was tired (fell asleep for a while after lunch).

And then my evening activities with Kathleen and some Hearts Homes and Hands staff got canceled because one of the buildings on the ghost tour was on fire. Oops. So, I decided to break out the Lego kits I recently ordered.

I’d ordered to colorful one when someone at work shared it for Pride week. It is so cheerful! A lot of us got it and have been building them. I may put mine in my office, but I may like it too much to leave it in Austin.

The other thing I made is this cute perpetual calendar. It was on sale, but put my order high enough to get free shipping. So, it was free. I’m glad, because it was missing a red calendar face and had an extra gray one. So the color scheme is wonky, but it still works. Plus, the business dude in the middle makes me smile.

Goldie, who’s been here a week today, has not stopped swimming since she got here. Today she was in the deepest part of the little pond and completely submerged other than her head! It was great fun until a bullfrog jumped in and startled her!

One other lazy highlight of the day was feeding the chickens some leftover cucumber and apple. I sure love the smell of cucumber, even when it’s past its prime.

Since I’d tried apples with the new chickens when they first arrived, and they didn’t touch them, I hadn’t been giving them fruit and veg since. But, today I decided to give it a try again.

Hey, Babette, this cucumber is tasty! Yes, Betsy, the apple is also delicious.

I guess being in the pen with grass and bugs has taught them to try new foods. Next time I’ll give them more, and maybe some watermelon! I’m delighted at how well these new girls are adapting and thriving.

Now to relax some more. I’m out of Lego projects! I hope to be less puny tomorrow. If not, I’ll have more ibuprofen.

Oh What a Beautiful Evening

Wow. It’s been the most pleasant evening I can remember. Once the sun went behind clouds, a breeze came up, and the stifling heat dissipated.

I took lots of pictures today, and when I went back to look at them, I realized it’s been a beautiful day!

And yes, a lot of work got done on the horse pens. It’s really moving along! After work and my Friends of LLL meeting, I got to watch the process for making the tools to set the vertical bars that are next. These hooks were made from straight pieces of metal.

The hooks were shaped on this piece of pipe, which made cool smoke when the metal got hot.

This will ensure the hooks hang from the vertical pipe.

It’s fascinating to watch the tools being made. Such craftsmanship!

Meanwhile, I watered the chickens (Buttercup loves the hose spray), watched the dogs playing happily, and then saw what I thought was Vlassic chasing the cows. When I got up to yell at him, I realized it was a little too big of a fast, black animal to be him. It was our cute little calf, Baby Blue, who is just about the most playful calf I ever saw.

She ran around her mom and two others, then tore off like a racing cow, if there was such a thing, then ran all the way to the edge of the pasture. She then zoomed back up to her mama for a refreshing drink. I could NOT stop grinning.

Really, who needs television? It’s darned entertaining around here. And I couldn’t even drag myself back into the house, because clouds beckoned.

I hadn’t seen a nice sunset in a long time. It was too rainy for a long time, then it’s been so blazingly hot I didn’t go out to look, though Lee reported at least one good one. Tonight? Glorious.

You just don’t get many days this pleasant, that’s for sure. And even though I got a lot of work done, Goldie “made” me take a nap.

Treasure your good days. Let them fill your heart with joy.

Make hay while the sun shines! Tyler V. did!

Penney Succumbs to Goldie’s Charms

I must share this good news. All the other dogs are getting along with Goldie the Great Dane. But Penney has been snarly and snappy since Goldie arrived. Until tonight.

As the day went on, she was nicer and nicer when they passed each other. Alfred is the same. No mote gruff barks. This is great. But when both Carlton AND Penney joined in the puppy playtime, my heart just melted.

Goldie isn’t graceful, but she’s enthusiastic.

I guess we will get to keep her! Kathleen has been enjoying feeding the dogs and hanging out with them. I’m glad she has her dream dog. Life is good.

Fun that makes your heart swell with love.

Angles, Poles, and Alignment

Wow, the fence posts/poles are all up for the horse stalls, and I have to say I am amazed at how straight and aligned they are. There are 5 poles behind the one in this picture, but so perfectly lined up that you can’t see them.

And they are all absolutely straight in the ground, too. I’ve seen the level as proof! It is hard to believe that one person was able to dig the holes, put in the poles, and fill them in with such accuracy.

It looks like one of those zig zag courses for dogs to run through.

The project of putting up the horizontal poles is next. Then rods will drop down from those poles. Those of you as fascinated by this project as me may wonder why some of the poles are taller than others. Well, looking closer, you can see they each have a line on them. Those are all 6 feet high, I think. They’re taller than me, in any case.

I think these will hold a horse or a cow.

There would be a lot more done, but the backhoe has decided it doesn’t want to start. That makes for more doggie playtime, or did until Harvey zapped his poor nose on the electric fence.

I am able to sit in the shade pretty comfortably, which bodes well for giving horses some relief in the summer. The way we are going to arrange the other shipping container will help keep winter bearable, too.

Today I’m very grateful for my family, who are helping make the ranch so much more fun (and profitable, eventually). And I’m grateful for coworkers who help keep me going and positive, even in weird times.

Yeah, Maybe Goldie Is Happy

Perhaps I’m posting too many dog blogs, but who cares? It appears that the dogs have come to truces and are enjoying each other. There are still occasional growls and snaps (Penney and Harvey), but we all had such a fun and funny day that I had to share. Goldie had breakfast in my office, for privacy.

Then she and Harvey joined Lee for some couch chatting time while he ate his breakfast. It was, I guess, cozy. Good thing she is gentle with furniture.

Much of today she stayed with me, but she did figure out the dog door at last, so she could go out. Carlton and Penney and Harvey made it mighty snug in my office, but they were pretty quiet!

After work (and a fantastic conversation with my wonderful dear friend formerly known as Nancy Jo), we all went out to play. At least it wasn’t as hot as yesterday! After running around, they had to cool off.

Alfred and Goldie looked like luxury liners out in the big pond. After explaining to the two guardian dogs that they did NOT need to bark at one of the cows, we all ran back. Well, Alfred and I walked.

I sat on the porch for a while to enjoy the breeze. Since the dogs were cooler, they could play. Carlton and Goldie looked like they were dancing.

That tired them out, so they got on the ground to rest. Then they rolled.

And, as I knew it would happen, even Alfred rolled. He looks so happy.

I missed getting Harvey rolling, but there was quite a lot of it. The grass is so beautiful right now; who could blame them?

Were you worried that Penney didn’t get to play? Not to worry. She stayed upstairs with Lee, but Harvey went up and wrestled with her when we came back in.

Now we are all cooling off again. I think Goldie is settled in.

Geez. She is a big dog.

Gracie, the littlest Hermits’ Rest dog, spent the afternoon on the porch in her favorite chair. But she did get exercise. She moved to her favorite INDOOR chair. Cutie.

How Are the New Dog and Chickens Doing?

I have already been asked this today, so I may as well write a quick update for you. I’m happy to report it’s all good news!

Goldie is very happy and eating a lot, which she needs to do. She is also sleeping much better since her mommy Kathleen went out and got her a new and gigantic crate to sleep in. Ah, how I have missed having crate trained dogs. I’m told she slept like a log last night. She also got a fine and festive new collar!

This morning on my chicken-feeding break, I looked over to the horse fencing construction area and saw Goldie and Carlton, happily in the shade, supervising the drilling of more holes.

Goldie went out to inspect the auger when it stopped moving for a bit, but she got the heck out of there once it went back to scattering dirt everywhere.

It’s nice to see at least some of the dogs getting along together. Goldie is very persistent, and repeatedly asks Penney to play with her, but she gets nothing back but growls and snaps. That one may take a while. Harvey has gotten to where they have smelled butts, but he still growls at her (but less ferociously than before). Goldie and Alfred just stay out of each other’s way. Slowly but surely, everyone is adjusting.

As for the new pullets, they also seem to be acclimating well. They have their roosting spots and their resting spots, and are going through chick food like crazy. The two who had seemed to be having trouble are both looking a LOT better. Blanca was up and foraging around with the others this morning.

And little Billy Idyl has no more blood on her, and seems perky and chipper. I’m glad. She is so darned cute. She runs around like a roadrunner, too. In the photo, I was TRYING to get a picture with her whole head in it!

Of course, I DO have other chickens, and I haven’t forgotten them! We got a watermelon in the house yesterday, and it all got cut up for snacking (and a fine watermelon it is, too). Of course Bruce and his ladies got to enjoy the rind this morning.

It will be fun to see how long it takes them to reduce the melon halves to nothing but the very edge of the rind like they did last time.

Since all I’d given them yesterday was a green tomato that had fallen off the vine at the cabin, I feel better in the treat department. If they are lucky they may well get to peck at some ends of zucchini and cucumber that we were given yesterday!

Ain’t life grand, if you are a dog or a chicken? Especially at the Hermits’ Rest?