Happy Gotcha Day, Ms. Sadie!!!

Lady Sadie arrived here one year ago today, via the SPCA and Okanagan Collie Rescue. Her story is here: http://mylifewiththecritters.blogspot.com/2008/03/sadie-says-hello.html

In many ways she fit in right away, and yet of all the dogs I’ve fostered or adopted over the years, she took the longest to decide that this was not just a temporary holding place until her family came back for her.

It was three months before she stopped racing to the door in eager anticipation any time the doorbell rang and then sadly slipped back to her post by the patio door when she saw the guest was not the person she pined for. It was six months before she left her post by the patio doors for more than a few minutes at a time, as she carefully watched every car that drove by. It was almost eight months before she finally clambered on the couch or the bed and claimed this home as hers. Once she made that decision, she took ownership, deciding she must fly out the door the moment it opened and run around the perimeter of the yard barking “go away, go away, no intruders allowed here, this is MY place!”

I have no doubt that if she saw her previous family again she would not only remember them but joyfully run to greet them. But I also have no doubt that she would return to me, and that she knows that this is where she belongs now.

Happy Gotcha Day, Ms. Sadie. You are one very sweet girl. I am so glad you came to join our family.

Bits and Pieces

The piggies are glad the snow has disappeared and are happily going nom-nom-nom in the mud in their yard. I have no idea what they manage to find in there, but they certainly enjoy it.

Nom nom nom - good stuff, Foster Mama!

The dogs are disgusted with the rain, but I am thankful it is wet and not white. I do hope the white stuff forecasted for this weekend does not amount to more than a flake or two.

I have been working on reliable recall for Charley and Sadie, and keeping the deaf dogs, Belle and Oliver, close to me in preparation for our move later this spring. One advantage of a pasture all to oneself is that I never have to worry about them disappearing from sight or unexpectedly encountering strange humans and dogs. Charley and Sadie HAD reliable recall, but have lately decided selective hearing is waaaay more fun. So, back to the training tools of frequent recalls, treats, and sometimes the longline.

The biggest challenge is for me to remember to take the treats along. For three mornings and evenings I remembered, and the dogs were exceptionally quick to catch on. The little ones kept one eye on me at all times, and by day three the big ones came the instant I whistled or whispered (in my hoarse, laryngitic voice) their names. Unfortunately, this morning I forgot the treat bag. Well! The looks of reproach!!!

Mama, where's the treat????

Belle and Oliver stayed right on my heels, eyes glued to the pocket where the treats SHOULD have been. Charley and Sadie came the first couple of times I called them, accepted praise and pats, tried every trick in the book for a treat (sit, lie down, shake a paw, look cute with head tilt, speak, and when all else fails try to trip Mama by weaving back and forth in front of her) and then gave up and decided to ignore me for the next several recalls. Of course, I had also forgotten the longline, so going to retrieve them and harness them was not in the works either. Training is not my forte.

Huh? What? I don't hear anyone calling my name!

I am still without much use of my voice, relegated to talking in a hoarse whisper and coughing violently if I try to exceed that. I fear I may have “blown” my vocal cords, though I hope it is just a lingering infection. Filling class time with videos cannot substitute indefinitely for the lecturing I should be doing in my three 3-hour classes, so it’s back to the doctor today.

Unlike the K-12 system, universities don’t simply call in a replacement from a “substitute professor” list. The past four weeks have been a combination of midterm break, midterm exams, class cancellations and videos, so it really is time to either resume lectures or get medical documentation for short term disability leave so a sessional replacement can be arranged. Since I am not good at being silent, I hope a change of medication will resolve my voiceless state!

Martin

Martin is such an undemanding companion that he seldom gets highlighted here. Feed him some grains and hay and the occasional sliced apple or handful for lettuce, make sure he has fresh water, scoop the poop once in a while (alpacas are very clean animals and choose just one or two spots to use as a bathroom), talk to him softly, and what do you get in return? A content, quiet, independent guy who makes the most interesting little noises, sounds the alarm when strange animals intrude, and provides your friends with an excellent supply of small, pellet-like fertilizer that can be dug straight into the garden.

Yesterday, I wandered outside mid-morning to enjoy a few minutes of sunshine, and saw Martin lying a few feet from the gate, stretched out on the winter grass to catch some rays.



He was very relaxed, and didn't move as I opened the gate and slowly stepped in, camera in hand. (Click on the image for a better look at that blissful expression, then use your back browser to return to the blog).





Then he opened his eyes and blinked, just to let me know that he knew I was there.



Martin is still looking for his forever home. Abandoned on this property by a previous tenant a number of years ago, he has had no consistent care until I arrived. Although I knew I would not be here forever, and would not have acreage forever, I was not prepared to walk away from him and leave him to be neglected once again. And so I had the landlord sign him over to me, first making sure I had backup plans in place.

But people are fickle and circumstances change and those backup plans have evaporated. So now the search is on for someone who will care for him for the rest of his life. He will be neutered, sheared, and have toes and teeth trimmed before he leaves here. If you know of anyone who is willing to add one shy but very nice alpaca to their family, please email me using the contact info on the side of this blog.

A couple of my favourite shots of him:

Weekend Shots

Boats in Osborne Bay Marina, Crofton

A quick trip to the island to pick up my new house keys (and take a load of "basic necessities" so I can stay at the house on future trips between now and moving day) was somewhat too busy for much picture taking. Marking papers on the ferry over, giving instructions for the fence to be built, locating stores and discussing options for an alternate heat source (the house has electric heat - I will be adding a pellet stove) and other services, marking exams on the return ferry....the weekend flew by.

My friend Ann came with me, and we did find time to go for a walk around the town and along the seawall, which netted a few pictures. I can see I am going to have to learn how to identify and photograph ducks and gulls and other ocean birds:

Seagull - this one I know!

Oystercatchers - they look like crows with long skinny orange beaks

Mallards going for a swim

A United Nations of birds on the beach

Seagull on a rock

Ann and I and my friend Else (who lives there) celebrated the receipt of the key with a glass (okay, a few glasses) of bubbly:

Cheers!

I met the neighbours on one side, and was relieved to discover they are a retired couple. They had just come back from picking up a dachshund from a rescue organization, to add to their family which consists of another dachschund and a cat and the many birds they attract to their back yard with dozens of birdhouses. They spent the last five summers as campground hosts for a remote campsite where they enjoyed just being outdoors and fishing on the lake. We certainly have interests in common!

Ellen took wonderful care of the critters here and even Allie didn't have too many complaints about the whippet boyz, Kinley and Cisco, who always accompany Ellen. Thanks Ellen and whippet boyz!

Although I will miss my good friends here, I am increasingly impatient to move and to start this new chapter of my life. The next couple of months, heavy with tasks at work and move-related, will no doubt fly by. The next time I take a weekend trip to the island, I hope to at least take a couple of the dogs with me so they can begin to become familiar with their new home.

Birds in flight

The Goddess smiled!

Well, actually I think She was laughing at me. As usual, when things really need to turn out a certain way, they do.......and we humans worry, worry, worry, when in reality the universe is going to unfold as it should.

And so, it has become a beautiful day and all the worries of yesterday were for naught.

I slept well for a change, and awoke at 5:30 refreshed. In short spurts, I shovelled out enough of the driveway to open the gates and get my 4x4 out to the road and down the icy hill to the lawyer's office. The papers are signed, the cheque is turned over, and the house shall be mine.

I returned to the house to find - SURPRISE! - Rob the Plowman had returned from Thailand yesterday and was busy shovelling out the rest of the drive and clearing the path to the pasture and barn. Now Ellen will be able to come piggysit and dogsit this weekend while I go to the island to claim my housekeys.

I went back into town for the cash to pay Rob, and discovered the warm, brilliant sunlight and the efficient city crews had turned the roads to wet, bare thoroughfares - and so I will head off to class and torture - er, test - my students with their midterm exam. And then go visit my Emma.

It is Christmas-card-perfect out there right now - brilliant blue sky on smooth sparkling snow. It is a beautiful world indeed. The Goddess has smiled.

(For best viewing of these photos, click to enlarge, then use back browser to return to blog)

Morning light

Martin

Silly Sadie

Charley in snow

Catkins in ice

Belle in snow

A wee little rant....

..... or This is why I'm retiring early!

Totally not critter related, but I just have to share this before my voiceless scream reverberates across the valley.

One of the reasons I want out of my job is because of the increasing sense of entitlement which so many youth seem to hold today. Somehow their lives are so much busier than ours and so much more stressful and WE, the instructors, are supposed to bend over backwards to accomodate them.

In severe weather conditions, students can find out if classes are cancelled from several sources, the most obvious one being the radio. At the beginning of term, students are told which radio stations will carry an announcement if my institution is closed due to weather. Today I received this email:

"...If the school is closed, not all of us listen to
the radio so I'm not sure how to find out unless you email us."

EXCUSE ME???????? I should email a class full of students because you are too friggin' lazy to turn a radio dial????????????

That takes the cake.

Okay, rant over. I will go back to staring at the phenomenally beautiful but really irritating sunshine-on-a-foot-of-snow.

NO NO NO NO NO!!!!

NO MORE WINTER!!!!

I left for work amid a few wet sloppy flakes; by 2:30 I had a lot of nervous students worrying about driving home. The road report wasn't good, and as I still don't have my voice they were just watching a video and discussing it among themselves, so I let them out early. Turned out to be the right choice - the campus announced it was shutting down and cancelling classes shortly thereafter. There was only a few inches of slippy slidey stuff over at the campus, but by the time I reached my driveway across the river and up the side of the valley, I was greeted with eight inches of snow and a miserably cold blizzard-like wind.







Even the dogs were not impressed (though perhaps that had something to do with the fact I forgot to put their warm, dry coats on them!). This is what they looked like after just two minutes outside:



They tried to follow me down the drive to check the mailbox, but their show of enthusiasm left something to be desired.






I think Oliver had the right idea - he just stood at the back door and barked. LET ME IN! I don't know if he didn't realize I was still outside, or if he really thought Allie the cat had developed opposable door-knob-turning thumbs.







I hope this latest snowfall goes as quickly as it came. Robb the Plowman is away, and this is far too heavy and wet for my arthritic spine to manage even when I am healthy, let alone with this dratted flu hanging on. I have to have a bank draft to the lawyers in the morning so the final papers on the house can be signed. And my first year students have a midterm tomorrow afternoon. And I have an appointment to see my Emma for my 30 minutes, once a month visit tomorrow evening (which I forfeit if I don't show at the appointed time). And I'm supposed to head for the island Friday to pick up the house keys and drink a celebratory glass of champagne with my friends.

So, snow, GO AWAY!!!! YOU ARE NOT WELCOME HERE!

HUMPH! Grumble, grumble, grumble, grumble......

A pot pourri of images

Today's entry is a bit of this and a bit of that - some miscellaneous, unrelated images taken over the past few days. I am still under the weather (will this cough EVER go away? Will I EVER get a normal night's sleep again?????), so any attempt at literary cohesiveness is beyond me. But, for what it is worth, welcome to my world:

Looking out the window very early this morning, I noticed a beautiful sunrise.



Unfortunately, the old saying of "red in the morning, sailors take warning" was true - it was raining a couple of hours later.

For the past several days, however, the weather has been beautiful. The pigs enjoyed rooting around in their yard, though they would have much prefered to be allowed into the pasture had I the energy to watch them and the voice to call them back. Still, they had a good time just mucking about:







The dogs got to explore the fields, hunting for field mice and following the scent of Brazen Coyote, who has once again started dropping by to say hello. I saw him lying next to my bench at the top of the hill the other day, and pouncing in the grass just a few feet away from where a totally unperturbed Martin was snoozing. He wandered by the pigs without batting an eye, took a drink from the creek, sat and watched the dogs and I in the yard, before meandering back across the pasture and under the fence. He is as beautiful as ever - his red tipped ears and legs, his frosty chest and muzzle, and his multi-coloured tan/beige/brown/autumn medley torso. Perhaps next time I shall get his picture. Sadie, however, has it imprinted in her mind as she watches him leave the property:




Oliver, on the other hand, lives in a world of his own. He is happy just to plod along today, though at other times he races in joyous abandonment back and forth on the trail. He is such a photogenic little guy!



I came across a fascinating glimpse of nature-in-action this morning. On the trail near the top of the hill, I noticed a dozen or more tiny little holes in the ground, each with the head of a beetle sticking out.



I tapped at one and it scurried out, leaving behind a little hole into which had been deposited a bright orangey yellow fluid which I assume must be eggs. Other beetles seemed to have died in their holes, or were concentrating so hard that they were able to tune out my footsteps nearby.

Here's a picture of the beetles, about which I know nothing.



Unfortunately I had no coin or watch or lens cap to put beside it for a size comparison, but it was about 3-4 cm (an inch and a half?), so no small critter in bug world. They are very similar to a large flying beetle I encountered when we lived in the Northwest Territories. My daughter referred to them as Hair Eaters as they would fly straight at us and get their long antennas tangled in our hair.

Indoors, the cat decides to torment the dogs, lashing out first at one and then at the other. Poor Oliver has come so close to getting his precious nose swiped so many times, and Allie actually left a claw in our friend Ellen's whippet, Kinley, the other day though no harm seemed to be done. Mostly, Allie likes to tease, as she does here by swishing her tail back and forth over patient Sadie's nose as Sadie tries to nap on the couch:



Or she decides to explore the cupboards, prying them open with her paws, hopping in, checking out the contents, and hopping back out:



I think Allie has spring fever - she is entranced by the birds and squirrels, and has more than once made a dash for the open door as the dogs parade through. Sorry Allie, it is not a safe world for a little kitty like you.



Janice from Hearts on Noses came over to clean the piggy stalls for me on the weekend - that is one task that is not possible with my current respiratory problems - and the piggies and I were most grateful. Of course, I think the piggies were even more grateful for the armloads of alfalfa and greens and fruits and veggies she brought! Here's Scotch and Whisper (to my surprise - it is usually Rickey who eats with Scotch) sharing a breakfast platter this morning:



And, in all the chaos that we call life, there is always time to reflect. Never a day goes by that I don't catch one or more of the dogs just standing and staring across the fields, reflecting on this wonderful world, no doubt.





Or sleeping soundly with a soft gentle smile spreading across the face:



And, on a more sombre note, I received a phone call from my daughter last night to tell me her paternal grandfather (her biological father's dad) had passed away, ending his struggle to keep a weak heart going and his battle with Alzheimer's. My favourite memory of him goes back about thirty years, when he would swing my daughter up in the air and twirl around his country kitchen singing Greek songs and dancing Greek dances, as the child in his arms giggled in delight. Ed was a good man, and I know he shall be missed. My condolences to my daughter and her father.

Life is never over, though the body may be gone. The spirits of those who loved us are no further than a song. Rest in Peace, Ed.