Blind dogs can "hunt"

Since our living conditions are a bit rustic (we personally LOVE it) we have had two instances where a wild pigeon has come into our area.  See, we don't have walls that meet the ceiling. There is a gap of about twelve inches and there is a wooden gate that is approximately four and a half feet high.  Not many options for a pigeon to enter but two have come in.  The first one flew out again but the second one, well, it wasn't so lucky.

I ask you...does this look like a killer?

Sweet blind Hiker.  The laid-back, fun loving, cute one that total strangers want to take home because "she's so sweet" and "she's such a happy dog".

The pigeon never had a chance with Hiker in hot pursuit. It was just past 11:30 at night and we were all tucked into bed fast asleep.  Let me tell ya, a panicked pigeon flying around with three dogs chasing it is one heck of a way to wake up.  (Only Hiker, Bill and Azule are uncrated at night)

Within a minute, Hiker had, ah, well, let's just say she "dispatched" it.  

No, I'm not somebody who takes gory pictures.  I had plenty of time to take a picture since she refused to let go of it.  I was literally prying open her mouth to get it out.  Then Azule wanted to play tug.  NO!  Poor Bill wasn't sure what to do, being the somewhat nervous boy he is. Those that were crated were of course barking loudly and there were feathers everywhere.

This incident didn't surprise me at all.  Hiker has caught a baby raccoon (which died due to being harmed in the catching), she hunted down a young rabbit under the deck and before I could get it away from her, swallowed it whole (yuck, that still makes me shudder) and has caught birds.

Yup, sweet, lovable blind Hiker.  She's got a dark side. 

What the dog ate

As the east coast excavation continues, there is now a new source of yummy.

That's Azule and no she isn't eating grass.

Yes, she is eating dirt.

Why?  I don't know.  

I'm not too concerned about it.  My first Cattle Dog Cairo used to eat dirt too.  The vet said that it was nothing to be concerned about as long as it wasn't contaminated dirt from pesticide spraying in the area.  

I wonder if the east coast dirt just tastes better.

Wordless Wednesday

Tasty Tuesday

Here on the east coast we've been enjoying blueberry season.  The first time I went to pick, I really didn't give a whole lot of thought to the type of blueberries I would be picking.  Where we recently lived, I had gone picking blueberries every year.  The farm was close by, the berry plants were tall, you just had to stand there and reach out to grab handfuls of large, plump juicy blueberries. Yum! 

My picking experience here was a flashback to camping in northern Ontario. The blueberries at the pick your own farm were wild.  Tiny little plants, about six inches tall covered with teeny tiny little berries.  It took a long time to pick but they were oh so good and a great price too. Only $1.50 a pound. This is a quart basket that has had a handful removed and it only cost $1.50.

All the dogs have had some blueberries on their dinners..

                                                                                             

and everyone was excited….except Breeze.  She refused to eat them. Ate the kibble and repeatedly picked up the blueberries and spit them out.

Playing tourist, even though we live here!

It is so much fun to play tourist.

We have been exploring the backroads....

we wandered some dunes...

and visited another beach.

We've been playing at the creek here on our farm...

and of course, just relaxing...

A bear (?) in the woods!

One of our favourite activities is to wander the almost thirty acres of wooded area here on the farm.  We also wander the ten acres of fields too.  On a recent wander down to and over the creek we continued up the hill into the woods.  As I was taking pictures of Bill, Forest and Azule, this is what I saw:

My first thought, along with a second or two of panic was BEAR!  After those two seconds of panic, I laughed because there are no bears here on the island, it was only this old girl:

That's Keeper, she had followed us down from the house.  She belonged to the elderly couple who I bought the farm from and has lived here her whole life.  My wonderful tenants agreed to let her stay and they are taking excellent care of her.  Keeper doesn't get around very well sometimes but loves to wander the trail to the creek and gets very excited to join others on a hike.  I just need to remember that she is not a bear!

Excavation east coast

The east coast excavation has begun.

The central Canada excavation was halted abruptly a few weeks ago and operations were relocated to the east coast.  

Central Canada excavation site

Although it is in the early stages, we are pleased to report that the east coast excavation is being conducted with the same high level of enthusiasm!

Forest checking the progress

Azule supervising

It seems that this red dirt is denser and the excavation is taking longer.  As a result, more frequent breaks are required.

Wordless Wednesday

Callie's room

Before our recent move halfway across the country, you may recall that Callie had her own room.  It was a space that was off the kitchen with the doorway facing the kitchen through to the living room so she see everything going on.  This worked very well for her since she doesn't always play nicely with others and therefore does better with her own space.

Since we moved, Callie has been crated more and I knew that it was time to come up with an alternative solution to give her space and some leg room.  After a couple days of thought, I came up with the idea to make an area using some of the existing stall walls in the barn. (The previous owners had pigs in the area of the barn where we are now.  Don't worry, it was many years ago!)

The barn floors are concrete so Callie would need something to lay on.  I didn't want to just place a bed directly on the floor, I thought she needed something nicer than that.  While in town I picked a small skid at the hardware store.  It'd make a great elevated bed except for the fact that the top boards have space between them.  I was worried that Callie's foot/toes would go between the boards.  Solution?  Add some small strips of wood!

An afternoon of construction and this is the finished result.

I found some (lovely!) retro paneling in the barn and even though it has a bit of white paint on it, it works fine. With a new side panel on the left, a gate and the nice elevated bed Callie has a comfortable space of her very own.

After all my concern of her laying on the concrete floor, care to guess where she often lays? Yup, on the bare concrete.   sigh.....

Monday mischief

Two of our pack have a "thing" for shoes.  Hiker likes to gather footwear and put it in a pile or take it into her crate.  Breeze likes to play with footwear.  Neither of them are destructive about it so it isn't something that I worry too much about.  It can be annoying when one shoe ends up outside and is forgotten and then gets rained on but other than that, it isn't a big deal.

The other day, Breeze had a shoe outside and was throwing it around and having fun finding it again.  I gave a fleeting thought to the fact the doggie pool was close by but again, only a fleeting thought.

I should have thought more about it.

The shoe on the right ended up in the pool and then in the red dirt.  

After a few days of wearing mismatched shoes the dirt was gone and now they look the same again.  Until next time.

The easy chair

When we moved, we left almost everything behind.  The car was packed as full as possible and what didn't fit didn't come with us.  So, no furniture, no appliances, nothing other than some personal items.  As a result, we are starting over and gradually purchasing things to make life a bit more comfortable.  We brought a couple of lawn chairs and those are comfortable.

Sometimes though, you really want the comfort of an easy chair.

When I saw this one at a thrift store for $5.99, I couldn't resist.

The dogs like it too!

After a few days, I have decided that it might be a good idea to change the description of the chair.

Rather than an easy chair,

I think it should be called a Breezey chair!

Cat door?

In our new (temporary) home, we have created some partition walls to keep the pack from wandering too far and getting into things that could be harmful, especially since three can't see. Also, they need to be kept away from the cat kibble and the (ever so tempting) litter box. 

The cats have two little escape routes, little cat doors.  They had to be made small so that our smallest (and most determined) Brook wouldn't be able to get out.

Of course, since Breeze loves the cats, especially Elsie, she just had to check and "see" if she was around.

"Elsie, you out there?"

Once Brook realized that there was something that her head could fit in, she had to try and get her body through.

If her shoulders were any narrower, she would have made it through.