Dog problems, horse news, home updates

Praise the Lord! Grandpa got all the seed in the ground last night. We are ready for the rains that are predicted to hit us over the next several days. What a relief!


Remember how I have been fussing about the dogs chewing up my plants? Yesterday evening as Grandpa was rolling the little meadow near the house he stopped and walked around the tractor to pick something up. It was a little yard sign Grandma had put out. The dogs had chewed it up pretty good and carried it into the fresh dirt. She was furious! She wanted us to beat the dogs, shoot them, and pen them up – anything to make them suffer. Mama refused because after the fact, with three suspects to pick from, there is little beneficial effect that any punishment would have.

Everything they have chewed up so far can be replaced; it is just irritating to have to redo purchases and plantings so that they can express their boredom. I do not want to arrange all landscaping and yard ornaments to escape their attention. I would rather train them to leave such purposely placed items alone, but without us being there all the time we will have to settle for trying to keep things out of their reach.

As I was feeding the pigs yesterday Dodger, Victoria’s little mutt, went into the building with me. Grandpa has built a little work area at the entry where we can store their feed. It is separated from the area they occupy by a three foot wall. The pigs have always reared up onto this wall to see what we are doing. They know the routine. Obviously, so does Dodger. As they reared up yesterday he was jumping up biting at their feet. There is little chance he can do any harm but I booted him out – literally.

All three of these dogs are reacting to the heat. It has not been too bad so far with the highest temperatures in the low nineties. I am a little worried as we progress toward summer how they are going to cope. Last summer the temperatures were over 110 degrees at times and were routinely over 100 degrees. I think the longest stretch over 100 was twenty five days in a row. Fortunately we have lots of water in tanks and ponds they can get in to cool off – providing the water is not too hot for them to enjoy.

Mama and Victoria are making progress with the filly. She will not quickly come to anyone yet, but she will stand still long enough for us to pet her head and face. We are not able yet to comb her or get her to stand as we reach for her rump or low on her sides, but she is learning to accept our attention. She is starting to fill out and either we are just used to seeing her long legs or she is growing into them; whichever, she is looking more proportional.

The company that is doing our septic is coming today to set the tanks. I told Mama I hope that means that they are also going to hook up the lines to the mobile home. We have the water line in place and the parts for the electric line are purchased. The ditch is dug for the electrical run and the meter base is supposed to be set on Friday so we can make the final hookups for that. We are planning on tackling that today. Mama and Grandma will be thrilled to have power to the home.

I have all the parts to do the water but I have held off since there was no place for the drained water to go. If the tanks are set and the house connected to them, we should be good to go by Friday evening. Mama is planning on staying the night in the home that night. I have no idea were she plans on us sleeping but it will be interesting to hear the night sounds of the farm.

Hopefully those sounds will become familiar and comfortable over many years.