Farm Animals

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When you live in the country, you start to acquire lots of things because you have room to keep them around. It's been like that with animals on our little farm.

Gypsy showed up about 2 weeks before we left on our tropical vacation. At that time our big, brown dog, Bear, was very enamoured of her. She would come and go between ours and several of the neighbors' acreages. Eventually she settled on us. It probably had something to do with our very friendly and attentive male dogs, and being let into the house and back yard (yeah, by me) and fed. By the time we got back from Guam she was part of the pack. No one else seems to want her or has tried to find her. She's very sweet and very submissive, but has been peeing on the carpet in our bedroom near Shadow's pillow (passive-aggressive?).

(We should have figured after our experience with the cats that feeding an animal pretty much guarantees you'll be . I thought I would just feed a couple of them so they would keep the mice population under control. Pretty soon we were buying 16 pound bags of cat food every week and putting out bigger and bigger litter boxes --which got used as well as every open space on the garage floor.The garage started to smell really bad. Over the next 2 years different batches of kittens showed up, all of them looked suspiciously like the nasty old Tom cat who hissed at us when we got in the car to go to work. We've since boarded up the cat door to get them out of the garage--they promptly took up residence in the half finished shed, but they keep trying to sneak back in. )
Bear is big and furry--part Golden Retriever and part New Foundland. What he doesn't have in the smarts department he makes up for in charm. He really loves treat time. In the morning if you ask him, "Bear, what time is it?" He'll bow down give a howlie kind of bark. He and Odin are great friends and chase each other all over the yard. If Bear escapes he heads straight for the the pond at the end of the property for a swim (or if he's really lucky, to chase a skunk). Bear always comes into the bathroom when I'm taking a shower and spreads out on my bath mat. It's really tricky to get out of the shower and not step on him.

Odin can best be described as congenial. He is a little dopey, but so beautiful. He's half Great Pyrenees and half black Lab (but not a spot of black on him). We got him when he was about 3 months old after a I saw his picture on the Credit Union bullitin board. As soon as I saw his picture I knew he was my dog. He regularly jumps over the back fence, but never goes very far. He and Bear will wrestle together. Odins favorite tactic is the roll on his back, sometimes rolling over and over down the hill. When he and Bear come in any door it's always at the same time, pushing until they burst thru together with Gypsy squeezing in underneath them.

Shadow is our little dog. She's 11 years old now and has cataracts in both eyes (pretty much blind) and very grey. She really doesn't seem to like all the other dogs much. She's very jealous and pouts if Don gives the other dogs attention. She learned to tolerate Odin, pouted some and snapped at Bear, but completely went into seclusion when Gypsy and Chris's dogs (2 very hyper mixed breeds that stayed at the house while we were on vacation and Chris was dog sitting) showed up. She's only recently come out from under the bed. She does love to go downstairs to the TV room and beg for bites off Don's plate. She's always been a bit of a recluse, though.

In additional to all the dogs and various farm cats (Choco, Shocko and Spoto-the original 3 cats) we also have a very pretty and large cat called Gracie that lives in the basement. She has been on a diet since we got her in November (Erin's cat from New York). I usually sit and pet her every night while I read (lately Sophicles). She has slimed down and even plays with me--batting at my hand and a crumpled up piece of newspaper.

As soon as we build the chicken coop, we will get some laying chickens (maybe a few ducks, too). I can't wait. Every respectable farm should have animals.