Dog news, a pig story, Mama’s birthday

Mama spent the entire day out of the house yesterday. She has been bemoaning the condition of Sam’s coat for a couple months now and yesterday she had the chance to do something about it. Sam and Sasha have adopted a large area to guard – some of which is pretty rough pasture – and because Sam’s coat is pretty knotty and course he picks up briars and thorns that get bound in his coat and wind up causing irritations against his skin. Several of those places have become inflamed and needed to have the hair cut away so they could heal. The poor woman that took on that task deserved a better tip than Mama was able to give her. But whoever she is, she did an amazing job.

This is the second time we have had this done. Each time the groomer has left the face and head pretty well untouched. Last time she left a small tuft at the tip of the tail but this time she took off all the hair up to the ears – even shaving the throat and jaw. He looks skinny and pink right now and is struggling to stay warm in these cooler nights but Mama and Victoria are able to get to the places on his skin that need attention. Hopefully by the time it is really cold he will have regrown all his hair, but he could end up being quite chilly for the next couple weeks.

Right after she got that chore done she packed up Kira and took her to Kim Cantrell’s house so she and Leo could have some time together to hopefully make some puppies. Leo is a full blooded German shepherd. Kira is half German shepherd, half Akita. From that dalliance Victoria is planning to have some little puppies to sell in the very near future.

Mama tells me it was the first time either dog had been in this delicate situation but after some very awkward attempts to figure things out they ended up succeeding. I think she and Kim Cantrell got a pretty big kick out of watching the two of them as they worked their way to understanding what goes where. Mama will be returning to get Kira by the weekend – assuming they have had enough time together. I know Leo will be disappointed to see her go.

It reminded me of a story I heard about a farmer that hauled his sow to a neighbor’s farm so that the neighbor’s boar could breed his sow. He did not have a truck so he used a wheelbarrow for transporting his sow. He returned several days later to retrieve his sow and was assured that the boar had done his duty. The farmer then asked how he would know if the sow was bred or not. “If she rolls in the mud once you get her back in her pen then you will know that she is bred. If not, bring her back and we’ll let them try again.”

The sow did not roll in the mud so the farmer took her back a second and then a third time. After returning the third time with his sow the discouraged farmer asked his wife if she would keep an eye on the sow to see if she would finally roll in the mud. The wife kept a vigil for several hours and finally came to her husband and reported that the sow was not rolling in the mud. “Well, what’s she doing?” he asked. The wife smiled, winked and said, “She’s sitting in the wheelbarrow.”

Mama’s birthday is today but it might not be a very happy one. Both she and Victoria are still not feeling well.

Today is also Chase's birthday.