Looking back and moving forward...

Reading over my last post "Hiatus", I realized it probably came across as rather negative. I admit, I've done a lot of complaining since March, when our new pup came home, but truth be told, our new little family addition is a gem. New pup was a choice. We bought her from a breeder who really cares about her dogs. The problem, and it is my problem, I'm just out of practice with puppy tending. 

Actually, I've never had experience with a puppy living inside the house with us where it's every need is met by me or my husband. This is all new to me. I still stand by my thoughts that puppies are harder than human babies, although thinking about that, I'm probably exaggerating a tad. However, raising a puppy does take dedication and attention. You can't just feed them, play with them (Hubby is the playmate, I'm the teacher), let them wander around unattended. You have to make sure they are potty trained. They have to learn boundaries AND manners. I'm a stickler for manners. I really hate it when I go to someone's house and the dog has not been trained to not jump on guests. There's really no excuse for not teaching your dog manners. In retrospect, our little Nina has done quite well. She'll be five months old this week. I can now see all the training, tears (mine) and frustration (mine again) are paying off. I don't expect perfection, although I was wearing myself out thinking she must do this she must do that. I do expect focus and attention, which she's growing into. I started paying less attention to all the "voices" on the online forums and in puppy raising articles. There is great help in those, but sometimes overwhelming. I started working with common sense. Works better all around. Of course, if one lacks common sense where training is concerned, I think you're out of luck and begging for more frustration.


Over our thirty years of marriage, we just celebrated our anniversary, we've had numerous dogs and cats show up on our rural property. A gray cat and her five kittens one summer. We couldn't figure out why she chose us. At that time we lived up on a hill away from the road. I think she lived at the house down the road and for whatever reason decided to move her brood to our house. Ms. Kitty was a sweet cat. I hadn't been able to have a cat during the first years of our marriage because of my father-in-law's German Shepherds. He lived down the hill from us and those dogs had never been desensitized to cats. They ran the property and then some. Since Ms. Kitty decided to stay I did my best to accommodate her with her family of five kittens.


We had several dogs show up over the years. One dog my husband found under a discarded mattress at the side of the road. We'd been taking a leisurely bike ride on our rural road that afternoon. He carried her back to our house on his bicycle, a two mile ride. We named her Sandy. She was probably a hound/lab mix. Blonde in color, about medium size. She lived with us a a short time until she mysteriously died. We were never sure but it seemed like a possible poisoning. Our Humane Society adoptee, Brandi, a hound/shepherd mix, died as well, which lead to our theory of poison. Brandi was probably about seven at the time. We were never sure how old Sandy was but she was young, maybe a year when we found her.


Buddy was a tough one. He showed up one day out in our field. Looked like some kind of terrier mix. He kept watch but wouldn't come close to the house. I started walking slowly toward him getting closer each day putting food down. After about a week I won him over and he came to me. He stayed with us for a short time then just disappeared. Same thing happened to a dog I named Max. He was a smart one but didn't care for my husband, just me. Must have been part shepherd, medium size. There were rumors flying up and down our road that someone was picking up dogs and selling them to labs. A reminder that you should keep your dogs close to home and have a fenced yard. Back in those years dogs ran free out here in the country. That's just the way it was. All of these animals came to us between 1985-1992 or there about. 

Then our German Shepherd, Xena showed up by way of a gift from a grandmother to her grandsons.Xena had also been discarded. Her backyard breeder wasn't happy she didn't come out all white. That was OK by us, we loved her silver/black coloring. Over the years, people often asked if she was a wolf hybrid because of her coloring and her size. Honestly, I wasn't happy with her arrival at first, basically because I don't like those kinds of surprises. I like to prepare. But it all worked out and Xena was our longest lived dog. She died in 2008 at the age of twelve.

Our recent two "rescues", Maggie and Lucy, have been with us since '05 & '07. My oldest son found Maggie at the state park where he worked,. She'd been abandoned. The park manager was going to call the dog warden to pick her up so our son brought her home instead. He never asked, just showed up with her. Maggie appears to have a lot of Blue Heeler in her. She has one blue eye and one brown eye. People either think she's ugly or pretty. I think she's pretty. No, I wasn't happy with the surprise, at first. At that time we had Xena, who was nine by then. I was worried about conflict but the two of them worked it out without much fuss. Lucy was dumped on our road Thanksgiving of '05. After watching her watch the comings and goings of our house, I encouraged her to come into our pack. She is a beagle/hound mix, reddish in color and apparently much older than we first thought. She started graying around her face last year.


So now we have a pure bred German Shepherd pup we chose, and paid for. For some reason it feels kind of strange. I look at her differently. I wonder if that's normal? She wasn't saved from a bad situation. She wasn't abandoned. She's never been mistreated. She is trusting to a fault. Xena was raised to be an outside dog, and she never knew any of those things either since she came to us at six weeks...but with Nina, it's just different. I'm sure it's in my own perception. At first I wanted to do everything right, now, I just want to have a good dog and I think we're getting there.

                                             Maggie

                                               Lucy

                                             Nina @ 4 months.

Rufus

Back around Mother's Day a visitor showed up at our place. A young, lively, sweet, black lab. Adorable. His tag said Clifford but I started calling him Rufus, for what reason I don't know. It just seemed to fit. 

We tried to get Rufus to go home over the course of many days, actually, as it turned out, the entire month of May.The address on his tag located his home at 1/2 mile up the road, last house on our cul-de-sac, well, out here in the country it's just a plain old dead end road. Rufus seemed to have decided that he preferred spending time with us and our two dogs, Maggie and Lucy, both of whom are "fixed". He simply appeared to enjoy their company.

My main concern in the beginning was he had no idea about horses. He barked at them. He went out into the field with them. They charged him. My guys do not care for dogs in their field. I was concerned the horses would run him down. I sure didn't want an injured, or worse, dead, neighbor dog on my hands. His people didn't show up all day. I figured such a nice dog, with a collar and tag, someone would be missing him. My husband, son, daughter-in-law and I even drove the UV up into the valley to shoot pistols that first afternoon. Now, our dogs scatter when they see us with our pistols and realize we'll be shooting targets. They disappeared. Rufus?  Nope, the silly boy followed us up the valley and sat with us the whole time we were shooting! We were all amazed. The gunfire didn't faze him one bit. 

Eventually that day I decided I should call the phone number on the tag. Got a machine. I left a message. No one ever called me back. The next day when Hubby and I were out grooming the horses, the kids from Rufus's family came riding their bikes down the road, calling to him, and he loped like the big footed pup he is out to meet them. He followed them up the road. I figured that was probably the end of it. Not so fast.

A couple days later, Rufus showed up again. Happy and bouncing all over the place appearing very thrilled to see me, or maybe just a person in general, not sure. As I went into the corral area to groom the horses before letting them out into the field for the afternoon, Rufus decided to follow me. Maggie and Lucy stood back with concerned faces. If they were verbal, I'm sure they were saying things like "Dude, you'd better get yourself out of there...Man, Lucy, you see what he's doing?" "Oh yeah. He ain't coming back out alive if he goes any closer."  Well, that's what I think they'd be saying.

About the time I turned to brush Bo, Spirit reared up, which he never does when I'm right there with him. He never had in the past. Looking behind him, I see Rufus. Spirit pivoted and with both front feet flailing nearly clocked Rufus on the head but the dog scrambled out under the fence quickly. I can imagine Maggie telling him, "You know kid. if you'd listened to us in the first place...." It was at that moment I decided if Rufus was going to hang around, he was going to have to learn my rules. No barking at the horses. Dogs stay outside of the fence. And, I was going to call the owners one more time. Funny, his tag was now missing but fortunately I had written the number down near the phone in the house. Again the machine. Again, no one called me back to claim their dog. Later that evening his family stopped in front of our house in their vehicle and yelled for "Clifford". The woman yelled out to me, "Sorry!" and they were off down the road.

This pattern continued through May although sometimes Rufus's family didn't come fetch him, or at least I never saw them. In the mean time I taught Rufus to stay outside the fence when I went in with the horses. I learned, he's actually a smart pup. He sits and waits for me to come back out whenever I'm feeding or letting the horses out into the field. I'm impressed. I pat him on the head and tell him "good boy". He seems happy to have that little bit of attention and proudly follows me back to the house. For the most part, Maggie and Lucy seem annoyed by the intruder and spend much of their time moving away from him when he tried to lay down near them. It was comical.Whenever I'm outside, Rufus was my shadow.

OK, it was looking on the surface like maybe the family didn't really want their dog or I had dialed the wrong number.The next to the last weekend in May, Rufus was at our house continuously from Friday until Monday evening. Hubby and I were discussing the possibility of another dog in our family but Hubby was honest, and said he didn't really want a third dog. So, I decided to drive the UV up to Rufus's family's house and see if I could talk to anyone personally, since they weren't returning my calls. 

When I get there I'm finally able to talk to an owner. She told me they'd been looking for "Clifford" all weekend. Calling to him down the road, in front of our house, but he never came to them. Our house does sit a good distance from the road and we have fencing along our property line. But, I honestly don't know how they missed him. I told her he'd been camped out on our back patio and porch, but I have an idea she thought we might have been keeping the dog in our house. She told me that last winter Clifford ran away with their other dog, ended up a few roads over. The woman who found Clifford kept him in the house and wouldn't give him back. Somehow in the story, the pup ended up in Springfield, Ohio, which is about three hours away. I assured her we were not keeping Clifford in the house and that I wanted him to be with his rightful family especially since there are kids who seem to love him. She apologized and said they'd try to keep him home. I explained about the horses and told her Rufus, um, Clifford, had really been no problem but again, I wanted him to be with his own family I stressed we really didn't want another dog. I was relieved to see his family did want him, they were just having a hard time keeping him home and were going to work something else out. 

I also discovered why poor Rufus was scared at night and barked...A LOT! He stayed inside with the kids at night at his house. At our house, he was outside. It was apparent he was scared of lots of things. When he wasn't barking he was laying near our dogs or at our sliding glass back door looking in at us.

Rufus is just a pup, maybe not quite a year old. He jumps and chases butterflies! How could you be mad at that? I didn't mind so much having him around but he did add some chaos to our little pack. He chased Buddy, the cat, which is not acceptable. Buddy soon learned to make himself scarce or stay indoors. You could feel the disturbance in the calmness of our own little pack when Rufus was around. They knew Rufus didn't really belong here. When he was gone, calmness returned.

Rufus was back yesterday for the day. I just accepted him like a neighbor kid who decided he wanted to spend the day at the neighbor house because there was someone to play with and someone to pay attention to him.There's only one other house between our place and his place. He seems to end up down here after his people leave for work in the mornings. When I went outside, Maggie looked at me as if to say "Not again."  But all three went running up in the woods in the morning. Then spent the afternoon under the deck where it was cool. Some time in the late afternoon Rufus's family must have stopped by to pick him up because he was gone. Haven't seen him today. As long as the little guy minds his p's & q's around here, and has manners, which, for the most part he does, I don't mind him visiting. I just hope his family realizes what a sweetheart of a dog Rufus, aka Clifford, is because he deserves a good family. 

Yes, I've become attached to the adorable pup. What can I say?

Paw Prints of a Noisy Kind

The little brown hound dog, who chose us last year after being dumped near our house on our quiet country road, has probably given me the most aggravation of any of the dogs we've had in quite some time. She is exasperating at times, but from what I can tell, she means well in her hound way.

Lucy is a hound through and through. She's medium size (50 lbs+/-). The vet estimated her age to be around 1-2 years, which is what I thought too. Her coat is all brown, I'd call it fawn brown. She has floppy hound ears with a beagle-type face, white hairs around her mouth that make her appear older than she is, and perky copper brown eyes. Her nose follows whatever "game" peaks her interest be it squirrels or deer. She also barks. She barks and barks.

Lucy barks at squirrels. She barks at the ATV's screaming up the road with their loud engines. She barks at other dogs barking from far away. Lucy also barks at the horses, who simply stare at her these days unless they're feeling ornery, then they'll run around in their field, jumping, bucking and kicking out with Lucy at their heels. I really never know who instigates the play time (no one looks like they're scared), but the noise of Lucy's barking is not something I can ignore.


So, the routine begins, I call for Lucy to come to me. She glances at me, then keeps barking. The horses look over at me, then take off running with Lucy in hot pursuit. Maggie, the Blue Heeler, believe it or not, sits quietly behind the fence. She looks at me as if telling me "I wasn't in on it, HONEST, I wasn't!". Somehow, I tend to believe her. Finally, the horses decide they've had enough, they come sloshing (mud is really bad right now) into the corral area none the worse for wear and probably benefiting from the exercise. I finally get Lucy to come to me. I hook her up to her leash and walk her to her area for a little time-out. Yeah, I know, she has no idea it's time-out, but I like to think that way. The latent teacher coming out I guess. I really think the horses enjoy getting Lucy into trouble. They're not as innocent as they like me to believe!

Yesterday both dogs were barking up on the hill across the road from our house. It was continuous barking. Hubby was irritated they had gone off our property. We could hear Lucy and her annoying bark. It's not so much the bark itself as the way she just keeps barking. She'll stop to take a breath or two, but then she'll continue on hardly missing a beat. So Hubby tells me he's going to hike up the hill to get them. My response was I wouldn't waste my energy climbing up the hill but if he wanted to, have at it.

About five minutes later he came back having found both dogs. Hubby informed me they'd had a deer occupied. He said not really cornered, it could leave at any time, it was just standing still, staring at them while Lucy barked at it. Maggie was sitting off to the side. I was surprised the deer hadn't run and asked Hubby if he thought something was wrong with it. He said as far as he could see, it looked like it was ok. The dogs walked to him, he put them on leashes, and as he started walking back down the hill, the deer continued on its way.

I have a sneaky suspicion Maggie and Lucy have met this deer before. Last week Lucy was carrying on back over on the other hill, on our property. I went out to check a few times, but she was so far up there I didn't want to make the effort. Since my surgery, I'm still taking it easy in the exertion department. The horses had their ears pricked in that direction. I never did see what Lucy was barking at that day but I wouldn't be surprised if it was the deer from yesterday. It's probably so used to the two of them and figures stare downs are better options than wasting precious winter energies trying to run from them. The deer probably learned, eventually, they go away, or does make a calculated getaway and outruns them.

These two girls, try as they might, they're not really aggressive for which I'm thankful. They are however, chasers.

The other sort of interesting thing about Lucy is that she finds carcass leftovers. We live in an area where there are abundant deer and and it's a prime area for hunters. Last month finished with both bow season and gun season. Sometimes, the hunters don't pick up the deer they've taken out, or they simply don't care, I'm not sure. Sometimes, the hunters don't follow up on what they've shot, or I'll give benefit of doubt, don't realize they hit the deer. So, the deer die somewhere up in the woods. At any rate, the deer carcass are sometimes left to rot and our dogs find the carcasses. They bring home parts. Not a pleasant sight but I have to chuckle at Lucy. Just the other day she found a leg and was prancing around the yard with it. I can't be mad at her, she is just doing what comes naturally for her. Maggie doesn't really care about this kind of thing except for the fact Lucy has something and she wants it, the way dogs do. Well, the job for parts disposal I leave up to Hubby and #2 Son, if the parts can be located. Lucy likes to hide her parts then bring them back out for all to see. We've yet to find her hiding places.


Life with a hound. I'd forgotten what it was like. We had a hound once before, many years ago. We'd adopted Brandie from the Humane Society. Hubby and I had both forgotten how hounds act. Lucy is reminding us all the time!

I'm working on the barking. One rule around here is NO harassing the horses, though I know, at least pretty sure, the horses like to get things started with Lucy sometimes. Lucy can be a trial of patience but I'm not one to give up easily. I believe in working with behaviors in our animals, and that's what I've been doing with her. The barking, I realize is a combination her own fear of things, her way of coping with something she's not sure of and the hound part who likes to tell everyone she's got 'em cornered. She's learning (after a year) her boundaries and what we expect of her. She's getting better when we call her, but sometimes still uses her ignore button, depending on the situation.


Lucy was abused or at least roughly handled by a male, it was easy to see when she first came to us. She ran away from Hubby and my sons the first few months. She would only make up to me, follow me and listen to me. After a year, she wags her tail and is just as happy to have Hubby pay attention to her as Maggie is. That's progress. Some of her fears have eased.

The abandoned little brown hound dog I named Lucy, has left paw prints of a noisy kind on our hearts.

Maggie Mae the Cattle Dog

Maggie Mae, Maggie for short, came to us as an abandoned dog, like most of the dogs and cats we've had in our family. #1 Son was working at a state park a few years ago. One evening at dinner, I think he mentioned, but I'm not sure about this, that there was a dog wandering around the park cabins. The dog had been there for days with no apparent owners, but did have a red collar. The park ranger was going to call the dog warden the next day. I remember vaguely listening to his tale. He said the dog looked like one of those Australian Cattle dogs, like in the movie Last of the Dogmen. It was one of those times when I was half listening. I should have picked up on the intent in his voice, but that's what happens when you don't pay closer attention!

The next evening, #1 son came home from work and in the passenger seat of his Jeep is a dog. Out of the blue he'd brought a dog home. I was not happy. These things are suppose to go by me first! He claimed he told me about the dog yesterday, I don't recall he said anything about bringing it home.

My first impression of the dog, who #1 son named Maggie Mae right from the start, was that she was kind of, well, not pretty. She had one eye that was a very light watery blue and one dark brown eye. I kept focusing on the blue eye. She had nice pointed ears. She was of medium size, maybe about 45 pounds. Her coat was exactly like I'd seen on cattle dogs, they call in blue merle. She did look like one of those Australian Cattle dogs, but not quite as stocky and her tail wasn't docked. I figured she was a mix, but the cattle dog was more present. #1 Son seemed very pleased with himself as he explained to Hubby and me that if he hadn't brought "her" home, the ranger was calling the dog warden. He was proud of himself for saving her.

I was more concerned how Xena, our German Shepherd would respond to the new dog. Xena has never been nasty toward people but she did have a tendency to be aggressive toward other dogs. We missed the boat in socializing her with other dogs but she rarely left our country property. Well, there were a few growls and the usual laying down of the submitter, Maggie, but then Xena just seemed to accept Maggie. We were all astonished and relieved.

Maggie turned out to be a very loving dog. You could see she wanted to be accepted and would work hard to get that acceptance. I guessed her age to be around 9mos to 1 yo and was guessing she hadn't been spayed yet. Didn't see any surgery scars. Of course I did the usual "she's your responsibility, son" talk which I really knew was just that. I'd end up being the one to take care of her. I think Maggie must have figured that out too because she tried really hard to bond with me. She seemed to figure out quickly she had the rest of the family wrapped around her paws! It wasn't that I didn't like her or want to give her a home, I just have this thing about upsetting the balance sometimes. I usually get over it, but my worry is always I don't want to have problems. I have learned over the years that animals will accept each other if the heads of the herd (or pack) are receptive. I saw this work with Maggie and Xena.

Things were tense for a few months. Maggie came to us in the fall. She obviously had the herding instinct going on. For awhile, I had to keep an eye on her with the horses. She wanted to chase. They wanted to chase her back unless Spirit got a little agitated, then he'd just start running all over the field, with Maggie barking after him. Sometimes, I believe the horses egged Maggie on. Other times I would look out in the field and see one horse lying down, one horse standing and Maggie lying close to them.

Maggie's other annoying habit was barking. She barked alot at night those first months. I started using loud sound therapy. I had a bunch of pennies in a small coffee can that made really loud clanging noise when shook. At first bark, I opened the door and shook the can, telling her to "Quit!". Didn't take her long to figure out, no barking. She's not so much a barker now, unless something is really going on. I've learned to trust her that way.

I was cursing Maggie for a while. She also had a tendency to crawl under our fence and go to the neighbors to torment their 4 fenced in dobermans. I didn't like that at all! Maggie soon had to be kept on a short leash, so to speak, and training to our property was a must. Took some time, and some energy, but by Spring, Maggie had evolved into a better mannered farm dog. We had her spayed shortly after we knew she was here to stay. The vet guessed her age at about the same age I had estimated.

I didn't know much about Australian Cattle Dogs, Queensland Heelers, Blue Heelers, as they are known by these various names. I read up on them. I'd seen the dog, "Zip", in the movie Last of the Dogmen and thought that the breed must be an interesting dog to have around. At least as depicted in the movie. "Zip", seemed like a cool partner.

Well, I've learned that these medium sized dogs are some of the most intelligent in the dog world. Maggie is a great example. She is sensitive and learns quick. All I have to say is "Maggie Out!" and wave my arm toward the fence, when I'm working with the horses and she retreats to the other side of the fence to wait. She has even taught our newest abandonee to do this. There really wasn't much formal training with this command, she just learned what I meant over a period of time. With these dogs, its as if they read your mind, so in that respect, they can be alot like communicating with horses.

Maggie isn't a chow hound, but that could just be her personality. Our other two dogs would eat anything and everything placed in front of them. Maggie wasn't much of a leftovers type. If we had some leftovers from dinner that we decided to add to their evening meal, gravies or something in the bottom of the stew pot, Maggie looks at whoever is feeding her with a "What's this?" expression. On the other hand, Xena would gobble the special treat down and Lucy didn't stop until every morsel is gone. Slowly, Maggie will lap at the mixture, and eventually, she will finish it. Maggie seems to prefer attention and a little job performance to worrying with food. Even if I give treats to Lucy and Maggie, sometimes Maggie will drop it and walk away.

Australian Cattle Dogs have an interesting history. Originally, the breed started out, in Australia, as part Dingo-blue merle collie mixes, back in the early 1840's. They have the "wild" side in them which sometimes comes through in the way they herd livestock. The first dogs produced had great herding instincts. They became popular for the cattle ranchers in Queesnland and around Australia. In trying to improve the breed, they used Dalmations which turned the colors to a spotted blue and red speckle. The orginal breeders chose the Dalmations to intstill a love of horses and faithfulnees to their masters, the hopes of having these dogs watch their horses and gear as well as work the cattle. In the early 1900's the breed standard was based around the Dingo type.

For certain, these dogs are loyal. I have watched Maggie evolve into a very loving obedient pal. Now, she's not perfect. Sometimes she will still run up into the woods after that darn pesky squirrel and not stop when I call, but other times, when she runs after an ATV riding up the road, she'll stop on a dime and come back to me. She does like to chase but she and the horses seem to have come to an agreement of sorts. She is often seen lying just on the other side of the fence, watching over her herd of two. These dogs are also lively so if you consider actually getting one, be prepared to keep them entertained or give them a job, if you don't have property for them to run on. They will entertain themselves, probably by trying to herd cats, dogs, goats, chickens whatever. They can't help it, it's in their genes!

The circle of life is mysterious. Many times I thought about Australian Cattle Dogs after seeing "Zip" in the movie, but I probably never would have actually gotten one. Well, as fate would have it, one ended up with us anyway. After our first months of trials and tribulations, she has rewarded us with being a great family member. Always smiling, always alert, and always looking for our love.

After Xena died, a couple of weeks ago, Maggie grieved for about a week. Now, she is slowly accepting her place as the Queen dog around here. We have all girl dogs. I like it that way! I think girl dogs are more loyal and stay around the house better, but that's just my opinion. Anyway, I never would have believed I'd have an Australian Cattle dog in my life, but here you go. You never know what's in store!

Hummingbirds

I am astounded how one dog can leave an emptiness in the entire clan around here. Yes, we loved Xena dearly. She will always be "The Best Dog Ever". I didn't fathom the grief of Maggie, the cattle dog, and Buddy, the cat.

I have never experienced grief of animals for the loss of another. But then, Xena is the only dog we've ever had with us for over a decade. It's become obvious that Xena was indeed the matriarch of the other dogs and cat around here. They depended on her and they do miss her. I have no idea how long their grief will last or when they'll stop looking for her. I'll probably always "see" her in her favorite places too.

Today, as I watched the hummingbirds at their feeder I began thinking of the amazing lives they live. Partially, to keep my mind off the empty rug in the corner of the porch, partially because I realized the hummingbirds will soon leave for their Mexican destination. Of course, they don't think about it that way, but I am amazed by hummingbirds.

Here in Southern Ohio we have the Ruby-throated variety. I've been putting out feeders for humminbirds for many years now. I've read up on them and find it fascinating they return to the same feeder year after year, or at least their offspring do, if they don't make it back. I think I have around 8 flitting around at various times this year. Supposedly, if you count the number of hummingbirds at your feeder, at any one time, you can double that number to get the total head count.

Some evenings I'll sit out on the deck and watch as they zoom in and out. They're always alert, always eyeing me. At first they fly away without stopping to drink but the longer I quietly sit there, the more relaxed they become.

The males, with their bright ruby red throats, always have an air of superiority about them. I can spot a young male, even before he's grown into his ruby-red throat. They are cocky and pushy. The females, are more cautious about landing on the feeder at first. They appear more gentle as they're drinking. I often imagine where their tiny nests might be hidden. One year, #1 son did find a hummingbird nest clinging to a tree branch that had fallen to the ground. Just as tiny and delicate as the birds themselves.

I look forward every April for the arrival of the first hummingbird. I have studied migration maps and our hummingbirds are due to arrive around the end of April and they leave usually by mid-September. There's a hurricane brewing in the Gulf this year so I'm keeping watch. Will "my" hummers start migrating soon or wait? Some of them may have already left because I've noticed reduced activity at my feeder.

When I consider how far these little birds travel each April and September I am always amazed. The fact that they, and their "kids" have returned to my feeders is simply awesome. Look around, be sensitive, God is everywhere, that's what I try to remember in these days of often hectic chaos. Hummingbirds remind me of how fragile, yet strong and beauitul, life can be.

The Last Jeep Ride

Monday was a sad day for our family. Hubby and I decided it was time to let our beautiful, twelve year old German Shepherd, Xena, go. She had not improved over the weekend. Her back legs had finally given out. She could not stand or walk. If anyone has had to make this decision for a beloved animal member of the family, I'm sure you can understand emotions are still raw.

My husband and I reluctantly loaded Xena up into the Jeep on Monday morning. The vet's office had told me to have her there by 9:15am, it would be a 30 minute trip. Over the phone I felt a dash of hope after explaining to the woman taking the call, what had happened to Xena over the weekend, but this young lady didn't really know the situation. Still, that little glimmer of hope will sustain at times of uncertainty.

I won't go into details, not necessary. I've gone over and over the entire event too many times, and of course, still cry when I think about everything. All I want to remember is that even up until the end, as Hubby and I were holding her, Xena left this world quietly, without protest or stress. She seemed comforted by the fact that her "mom and dad" were there with her.

Hubby was affected quite profoundly by this loss though we had been expecting this decision in the end. I believe he kept hoping for a better outcome. The vet told us of possible options to keep pain down, but at her advanced age, Xena's quality of life would probably not be the same. Organ issues would probably surface within a short time. For Xena, that would have been torture so we decided to release her. We said our goodbyes. We held her and stroked her as the injection took hold. We took her home to bury her, by the creek, under a tree. Hubby said he wanted her home where she belonged among the trees, hills and woods she loved.

Xena always loved to ride in the old Jeep. We had a 1980 Jeep for many years and until she could no longer jump up into it, Xena enjoyed even short rides around the property. We had bought a new Jeep last year. Hubby told me yesterday, as we were burying our friend, she had taken her last Jeep ride. Remembering the moment we placed her in the back of the Jeep, I do recall a glint of something. A brightning of her eyes. She didn't struggle. She was relaxed. Even as we drove down the country roads, Hubby sitting beside her, me driving, she seemed content, raising her head often to look out the window.

We will always remember our "wolf dog" as we came to call her. She had always been a beautiful silver/black and we were often asked if she was part wolf. She had grown larger that most German Shepherds and because of her size, was often referred to as a he. She was a furry little black ball when she was given to us 12 years ago. Our sons grew up with her. I told Hubby, it's almost a symbolic event that she had to go at this point in time when both our sons are venturing away from home into the world of grown-up life. Xena had always been wonderful to kids, especially our sons, though she could be rough with wandering neighbor dogs. She was never agreesive toward people who were accepted on our property. There are so many little stories about our dear friend I'm sure we will talk about in the coming days. Right now, the emotions are still raw and it's hard to bring up her name without shedding tears.

After we had buried Xena, I remembered the horses needed to be turned out into the front field. The guys had pretty much been ignored over the weekend with all of us attending to Xena in one way or another. Oh, they got groomed, and they got led out to their evening graze areas, but basically got put on the back burner.

As I walked with my guys to the front field gate they each walked on either side of me. Bo was very quiet, a little unlike him when he knows he's going to the other field. He will jostle Spirit, or give him "the look" to make Spirit get behind before being released through the gate. I took notice of their quietness. I had been crying a little. As I stood in front of the gate, getting ready to unlatch it, I felt the gentlest of nuzzles, from Bo, on my hair and back of my neck. He seemed to be giving me his own reassuring kiss. I stood there for a few moments hugging him, then hugging Spirit. Neither one moving just allowing me to use them for comfort. I unlatched the gate, both walked out slowly and quietly.

The little dogs, Maggie and Lucy have been staying by the house. They have not been running up into the woods since Xena collapsed on Saturday. Maggie has practically been at Xena's side the entire time. Maggie is an Australian Cattle Dog-mix full of endless energy, but she chose to remain close to her "sis" during the day. Even Buddy, our cat, who has always curled up with Xena on cold nights, lay close by the garage during the two days, sometimes walking in to rub up agains Xena. Animals know things, they are intelligent, and regardless of what is said by some experts in denial of animal emotions, in my experience, they are just as affected by events as we are, just in a way that is different, a different language.

I'm feeling kind of random right now, words not quiet evolving as I'd like. But I wanted to remember Xena this morning for the wonderful friend she'd been to our family. We will always miss her. She definitely captured a piece of my heart in the 12 years she shared our home.

Though we will no longer see her pawprints around our home, the pawprints she left on our hearts will remain forever.

Life moves on, back to routines

The wedding on Saturday was beautiful! Could not have asked for a better day. This wedding was not one orchestrated by a wedding planner. It was not fancy. Keep it simple was the bride's motto. The families put this wedding together and it was always "we're just going with the flow." As it turned out, everything did flow.

We had people tell us it was the best wedding they had ever attended because it was so full of love, which could be felt by everyone. That's a wonderful feeling! The following reception was laid back, lots of music and everyone enjoyed themselves. #2 son gave a fantastic toast to his brother. I was so proud of him! His brother has always been his best friend, and visa versa. I do agree with the minister when he told me and my husband that we were blessed to have such a loving family. Blessed indeed!

So this morning, Monday morning, I'm still sort of reeling from emotions, but I'm planning to get myself in gear. #1 son and his bride stopped by the house yesterday to pack up more of his stuff. They won't be taking their honeymoon for a few weeks. When #1 son left yesterday evening, I did start crying, mostly for my own loss. I sure will miss talking to #1 son, we have a special bond. I have a special bond with both sons, but for differnt reasons. Fortunate or unfortunate (for #1) we are alike in our personalities. When #1 son drove out of the driveway, I did break down for a few minutes. Hubby was there to comfort me, and told me even though he hadn't show much emotion this weekend (just like a man!) he will miss #1 son too. Ok, I need to quit dwelling on this because I'm starting to cry again............move on............

All our animals knew something was up on Friday and Saturday. We were completely off our usual schedules for two days. The horses were being more rambunctious than usual. Bo had been running Spirit around. They hadn't been out to their evening graze areas. They don't seem to be eating that pathetic hay I bought. The dogs didn't know what to make of the coming and goings. Yesterday evening when #1 son and his bride were packing his stuff in the car, Maggie laid as close to the cars as possible. Usually, she's running all over, up in the woods not really paying attention to what's going on at the house. Yesterday, she seemed sad. #1 son had rescued her a few years ago. She'd been left at the park he worked at. She and he have a bond. She knew something was going on with him. His bride petted her before they left. The only one who didn't seem particularly affected was Buddy the cat. He didn't appear until after #1 son had left, so he probably has no clue, unless of course he was watching, in hiding, somewhere up in the woods.

We got back to routine yesterday and everyone seems calmer. I've read some articles that say keep your horses on a different schedule. Don't get a routine going that they can count on then they'll be better off when the routine is broken. Well, that doesn't work for me because I tend to be a routine type person. I can sure tell when we've gotten them all off routine. It just seems to create confusion in the animals and a sense of unsureness. I prefer to keep to the routine. However, I'm not against doing things a little different once in awhile, just to shake things up. Guess I accomplished that this weekend, for a while anyway.