And why it matters.
Category Archives: Animals
Loss
Harold was hit by a car very early Monday morning.
He was dead by the time I found him on my drive to work.
I was not able to bring him back to the farm to be buried.
Although Harold never truly became our cat, I wanted to commemorate him.
I only wish that this scared creature had been able to find a little more comfort and peace in his life.
Ticked
At Baxter’s annual check up, I had lots of questions for the vet about ticks. He wasn’t too concerned about them. Then he looked in Baxter’s ear and found “a passenger.” We went home with new anti-tick medication, tick removal tools and instructions to check him over carefully after each walk.
Then a few weeks later I felt a bump on my back. I thought, “Gee that pimple came up really fast. And it feels weird.” The mirror confirmed that there was a black dot–not a red one–in the middle of my back. I gathered a container, tweezers and Baxter’s tick tools and went to find Matt. Sure enough, he confirmed I had a passenger of my own.
Ewwww.
I didn’t feel the tick bite me, but he certainly had a good lock when Matt went to remove him. It hurt more than I expected. And Matt found that the vet’s tick removers didn’t get a tight enough grip. The tweezers worked best.
The tick (who was still alive–double eww) went into a jar and was immersed in rubbing alcohol.
My brother-in-law the MD provided assurances that I probably was going to be okay and gave me the symptoms to watch out for (which caused a Google search that I can never unsee–seriously, don’t look).
It’s been a few weeks now, and Baxter and I both seem to be fine. We’re waiting for Matt to have his turn with a “passenger.”
It seems to be a right of passage in country living.
Anyone else ever been bitten by a tick? How common are ticks in your area?
Raised dog food stand
Special occasions should be marked by presents. So for Baxter’s Gotcha Day, I made him a dinner table all his own.
I took inspiration from the DIY Pet Food Station that Kim and Scott made for their Jack over at Yellow Brick Home. As much as I coveted the hairpin legs that they used (love the industrial-rustic mix), I didn’t find any at a price I was willing to pay. So I went to the bench I made for the mudroom and adjusted it to be doggie size.
Like with the bench, I dug into my beat-up antique lumber stash in the barn. People, these planks are absolutely amazing. Sure they weigh 3 tonnes and are covered in poop and who knows what, but they’re phenomenal. The plank I chose was too big and heavy for me to move on my own, so I lopped off a 4 foot piece with my circular saw and got to building.
I think the details on the construction are pretty self-explanatory, especially if you reference my bench plans. I used my Kreg jig to attach the legs with three screws each. In terms of finished measurements, the stand is 10 inches high, 24 inches long, and 10 inches deep. The legs are at about a 15 degree angle and are 8 1/4 inches end to end. The bowls are 7 1/2 inches in diameter.
Cutting the circles for the bowls was the hardest part. I drew my circles using the bowls for a template. Then I drilled a hole so that I had a spot to insert my jigsaw blade, and I cut along the line. I think I figured out why this wood is so darn heavy. It is super duper dense. My jigsaw blade broke before it was even halfway around the first cutout. Initially the cutting was so slow that I thought my blade was dull. But when I installed the new blade after my first one snapped, it still took a significant amount of force to push the jigsaw along the line ever, ever so slowly. And I had to do it twice! Darn dog needing water as well as food.
To seal and protect my dense, hard, beat-up beautiful wood, I turned to Waterlox, the same solution we used on our DIY kitchen counter. It’s food safe for humans, so it’s an appropriate finish to use on a stand whose sole purpose is to hold (dog) food. Nothing’s too good for my puppy.
From my past experience with the bench when it turned black because it sucked up so much stain, I knew that the wood would be thirsty, and boy was I right. It took about three coats before the finish started to build up and look shiny on the wood. Even then, there were some sections (the ones with the most worm holes) that just sucked the Waterlox right in. All in all, I did a total of 6 coats of finish.
After that, it was simply about putting the bowls in the stand and filling them up! Tip: kibble on its own isn’t very appetizing. Sweet potatoes make it much more palatable. (That is, if you’re Julia. If you’re Matt you give in to the sad eyes and put ketchup on it. Yeah, my husband and the dog are totally related.)
Bon appetit, Baxter. Or as Matt says, “Mangey, mangey”–as in French “mange” with an “ee” ending. (He and the dog share their own language as well as the same taste buds.)
Do your pets get presents? How do you handle pet food at your house? What’s your pet’s favourite food?
Gotme Day
Hey there y’all,
Baxter here. Apparently it’s been a year since I came to live with Matt and Julia. Y’all must be counting in people years, ’cause I swear I’ve been here for longer than that.
I like the farm. I get to sniff and sleep and sunbathe and walk and zoomies. I get excellent scratches, which is helpful ‘specially now ’cause the mosquitoes really, really, really like me. Like as much as Julia and Matt like me.
Besides Matt and Julia, I have a bunch of other friends. There’s Frank down the road, Ella, Penn, Cocoa and Chloe at class, and Pinky, Bluey and Monkey at home. My stuffies are special. When I’m really, really happy, like when Matt comes home, I’ll go and find one of them and share her with Matt ’cause he’s special too.
The one friend I really, really want is Ralph. She still doesn’t like me too much, but she’s coming so much closer to me now. I still want to run up and sniff her, but sometimes when I’m out, we’ll just sit there and look at each other for awhile. I like it that she doesn’t run away or hiss or scratch as much. I’m trying so hard to be patient with her. Julia says it’s working, but I think it’s taking a dog’s age for her to get used to me.
Out of everybody, I like Julia and Matt best.
I’m Julia’s partner. We do lots of things together, and she says I’m a very good help. We hike, wade in the pond, play in the creek, check the fields, garden, cook, paint, build. She gives excellent scratches. She also gives me baths. It’s usually right after we’ve been playing in the pond. I don’t understand that. I mean, I already got wet. Why does she think I want to get wet again? After a big play, I just want to lay down! I do like the towel part, though. It’s like an extra lot of scratches.
Matt and I are good bros. He and I go for long walks to see my friends the turtles, visit Frank the German Shepherd or check the back field. When he calls for his footman, I go and help him find his socks and get ready for walking. I’m a very good footman. The best thing that Matt and I have in common is that we’re really good relaxers.
I think it’s pretty clear that Matt and Julia and me are all related. I mean, I still say y’all, but last week Julia declared me officially a Canadog.
Doggally, I think I was official after the winter. I went outside every day, no matter how deep the snow was or how cold it was. I think that’s pretty Canadian.
I know my accent or my nationality really don’t matter. Neither does the time before or the first year, you know. What really matters is now. Matt and Julia love me. I love them. I’m happy.
Baxter
Gotcha Day
Dear Baxter,
Today is a special day. Your Gotcha Day. One year ago you came to live with us.
I know you’re a low-key guy who doesn’t like a whole lot of fuss, but this is a special occasion.
When Matt and I started looking for a dog to join our family, you were the only one who stood out. You looked out at me through the computer screen with your floppy velvet ears and your dark worried eyes, and something clicked.
I wasn’t sure Matt would like you as much as I did, but he agreed that we could try to adopt you.
As soon as we brought you home, Matt and I both fell in love.
I realize now looking back at pictures of your first day that you were a little unsure.
I saw some small changes in you in the first few months as you adjusted to life at the farm, but it seemed like it took next to no time for you to fall in love with us too. At night when you sometimes have your squeaky twitchy dreams, I hope that you’re chasing rabbits and not remembering something not nice from before. I want only good things for you.
I love that you’re such an easy-going fellow who likes to be with us, whatever we’re doing. You’re content to lay on the grass (or dig a hole in the dirt) and hang out with me while I weed the gardens. You’re also happy to sunbathe in front of the dining room window while Matt works in his office. You’re good at keeping me company in the kitchen while I’m cooking dinner, and you know exactly where you have to lay down to get samples every so often.
When we’re not home, we know that you’ll keep a good eye on things around the house. I don’t even mind that every so often you and the pillows have a party on my bed. Matt and I sometimes make fun of you for sleeping 23 hours of the day, but we really do like how relaxed you are. You definitely make things easy for us.
We realized exactly how easy you are when we started going to doggy class a month ago. I know you don’t get to be the example dog very often, but that’s only because you won’t misbehave and help the trainer show us what to do.
Now that we’ve progressed to off-leash lessons, you’re going to have to work a lot harder, bud. You’re such an independent dude, confident to do your own thing. But last year’s three run-away incidents are quite enough. I hope that you’re able to learn how to focus and ignore your nose a little bit more.
It was pretty much a gong show trying to get four dogs to sit together on a park bench, but everyone worked so hard for this picture that I had to include it, even though you haven’t got your footing.
Classes have also helped me realize what a people person you are. Not every dog would make the effort to greet all of the people as well as each of the dogs the way you do. At the dog park, you meet everyone, whether they have two legs or four. Whenever new people want to say hi, that makes you very happy. The trainer thought you might have potential as a therapy dog.
One of the neatest things you’ve given me this past year, Baxter, is getting to know a different side of Matt. I knew he was a loving, caring person. But watching him with you is very special. He’ll do pretty much anything to make sure you’re safe and healthy and happy. And you love him just as much as he loves you. You give him your best helicopter tail when he comes home and work so hard to say your very best speak when he asks you to. Sure sometimes I feel left out when you do your manly dude things together, but seeing the bond between the two of you is pretty amazing.
As I was writing this letter, I thought back to this time last year when I was begging our rescue organization to let us adopt you. At the time, I thought my heartfelt pleas were because I’m not good at taking no for an answer. Now, I realize it’s because we were meant to be together.
Happy Gotcha Day, bud.
Love,
Julia
Later this week you’ll hear from the dude himself.
Robins update
Our baby robins didn’t make it.
They sadly didn’t grow much beyond the naked pink creatures I showed you in my first post.
I honestly didn’t know whether to write this post or not. I’d love to be able to show you pictures of cute fuzzy chicks, or awkward fledglings, or even the nest abandoned since the babies learned to fly. However, that’s not how the story goes this time around. This blog is about cataloging our life in the country–the good and the bad. In this case, there’s not a happy ending.
For the first few days after they hatched, Mama and Daddy stayed close, feeding them and sitting on them, keeping them warm. But then something changed. Mama didn’t come back to the nest one night. Maybe she got spooked or got attacked. Temperatures were still too cold for the babies, and they died.
When I first saw the babies, I thought they were the most helpless things I’ve ever seen.
Even though it was too late when I realized Mama wasn’t around, I started thinking about things like heat lamps and eye droppers. But the reality is that as much as I’m compassionate about animals, I’m also a “let nature take its course” kind of woman.
Growing up with chickens and ducks and geese–many of whom we raised from eggs and then ate, and many of whom had their own ailments and injuries over their lives–gave me a somewhat unique perspective on animals. Farm living has refined my attitude even more.
Nature is amazingly wondrous and exceedingly harsh. This is a fact of life… and death… that I’m reminded of every so often.
It’s tough being a puppy
Baxter has a bit of Friday fun for you today as you head into the weekend.
“My head… it’s so heavy. I can’t hold it up any longer… Sigh… I guess I’ll have to use this here rock as a pillow.”
If a branch falls in the forest, does it make a sound?
“Yes. Yes, it did. I heard that. My worry eyebrows and ears are on full alert.”
“Excuse me. My pillow is not properly positioned for optimal sunbathing.”
“I just want to lay here and sniff, and she keeps trying to take a picture… Oh alright. Here you go.”
Life sure is tough for a puppy dog.
I hope your weekend is easier than Baxter’s hard, hard life. For my American readers, happy Memorial Day.
Blue eggs and baby birds
You want a sure sign that spring is here?
How about this?
A robin built a nest right outside of the kitchen window on top of the clothesline post.
She’s an artistic robin and decorated her nest with long streamers of hosta and hay.
The only way I could get a picture of her was to shoot through the kitchen window, hence the grid of the screen.
Over the weekend, I thought that something might have changed. So on Sunday, when I didn’t see her on the nest, I snuck out for a peak. The eggs were gone. In their place, we had these.
Amazing.
It was a little chilly over the weekend, so Mama stayed close, keeping everybody warm. Mr. Robin brought her snacks every so often. On Monday, Mama and Daddy were both on duty bringing a near constant buffet of bugs and worms to the babies.
Obviously, we’re keeping a very close eye on our new little family.
Do you have any spring babies at your house? Is there any more perfect colour than robin’s egg blue? How long does it take for baby robins to grow feathers?
My best girl
Lest you think my transformation into a dog person has made me forget about the kitty-cats, this post is all about our furry feline family members. Of course, the star of this post is my best girl, Ralph.
For those that have been following along since the beginning, you’ll recall that Ralph came with the farm. She made our first spring more interesting by giving us four kittens to add to our little family. In time, Gypsy, June and Rex all moved on to their own families. Our pick of the litter, Easter, stayed with us for a year and a half before striking out on her own.
The kittens’ birthday is today. While we don’t know Ralph’s birthday or even how old she is, she’s definitely worthy of celebration and today seems like a fitting day.
Ralphie is a superstar barn cat. She made it through the winter before we came to the farm by herself, although she was pretty skinny that first spring. She catches birds, bunnies, as well as more regular feline fare of rodents. She also enjoys her nightly serving of kibble, in case you can’t tell from the photo comparison below of how she looked two years ago and how she looks now.
She has a few battle scars, the most noticeable being her left eye. When we took her to the vet our first spring, he thought she might have had a scratch at some point, and it flares up every so often. Some days are worse than others and recently it’s been particularly bad. Despite appearances, it doesn’t seem to cause her pain or impact her hunting ability, so we’ve made the choice to let her live with it and not subject her to medication or additional vet visits.
As tough as she is, she also has a soft side when it comes to Matt and me. As soon as we enter the barn, she comes looking for scratches. Belly rubs are favourites–she’s such a fierce barn cat.
You may recall that when we first came to the farm, Ralph had a sidekick, Bert. Bert made himself scarce when the kittens arrived. He was replaced by Tom, a very bold male cat, who came around every so often. Once we had Easter spayed, Tom lost interest.
Cow Cat started coming to visit more than a year ago when Easter was still here. Easter left last fall, but Cow Cat has stayed. He’s been around so long that Matt insisted that he had to have a proper name. He is now known as Harold. Harold is still super duper skittish, so we’re not even sure he’s a he. We’ve made some progress, though. Last spring, his reaction when he saw us was bolt or pancake.
He doesn’t let us get too close, and he still runs away if we come into the barn while he’s there. However, he will now stay in the barn and just watch us from the corner.
While he may not like us, he seems to like Ralph. I’m glad she has a buddy. She definitely is our best girl and deserves only good things. Happy Ralph day, girl.
Are you a cat or a dog person? Or are you both? Any tips to help us warm up Harold? How do you celebrate your pet’s birthdays?
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