Going to the Dogs

We have 3 kinds of dogs at our house.

1) We have two dog dogs, Toby and Neffie. Toby's an American Farm Collie and Neffie is a Maremma, a type of Livestock Guardian Dog (LGD).

Neffie on the left, Toby to the right. They're walking
towards me from the back pasture in the early morning sunlight.

2) We have a cat dog named Spot. He's a big white cat that follows us around everywhere we go outside, and comes when you whistle for him.

This is Spot Fencewalker, our cat dog.
3) Then there's my Bird Dog. She's an African Grey Parrot, and loves to imitate the dogs outside when they start barking. Remember, she's imitating it just as she hears it, so it sounds a little strange.

The picture is rather dark as I didn't have any extra lighting,
but it's the sound effects that are important anyway.

We have a strange household, and a farm full of strange critters. We're definitely going to the dogs here.

Welcome to the Funny Farm!

Corn Crazy

In the mornings when I go out to do chores, the chickens always come running because they love me so much. Okay, maybe it has more to do with the fact I always throw some cracked corn out first thing.

The guineas aren't far behind, and rush in to get their share. It seems every critter on the place loves to munch on cracked corn. Even wonder dog Toby will lick some up now and then.

However, the top of the food chain here is the goats, and when I let them out, they chase everyone else away.

And just what do you think you're doing, trying to eat MY corn????

For that reason, the goats are always the last critters I let out of the night pens, but I always make sure there's some left for them to have a morning treat also!

It seems the only critter outside that never wants their share is the cat, Spot. I guess he figures that corn isn't all it's cracked up to be.

The Wounded Warrior Comes Home

Spot got to come home this morning, but boy! Is he a sorry looking sight! There’s a big patch of fur shaved off, and we were wrong… there were actually TWO punctures and abscesses, not one. I guess the second was a little smaller and covered under fur, so we didn’t notice it.

I tried to get a close up shot, but he wouldn't hold still. Here’s a link to the best shot I could get a for a closeup of the wounds, not for the faint of heart, or easily grossed out. I’ve seen worse, but this is nasty enough!

Since these sites were infected, we have to leave those wounds gaping open and uncovered to allow them to continue to drain. Spot’s on an antibiotic, which is thankfully a liquid, and not too difficult to get down him.

I don’t know what he was fighting with, but it definitely left him a wounded warrior.

Spot's Adventures

We have a cat named Spot. The Farmer named him Spot because… well, he has big spots. I think the name gave the cat some sort of identity crisis. He thinks he’s a dog. Why do I say that?
* He comes when I whistle for him.
* He’s been known to play fetch.
* He follows me around everywhere like a dog.

Further, he is positively fearless. Once we had a huge snake eating guinea eggs. We're talking 5' long or more, with room enough to hold at least 5 guinea eggs in its' belly.

Just look at him checking out a snake in this video…

And after he looked at this BIG snake a while he decided to whack it one. The following is a VERY short video of him doing just that… you can actually hear him swat the snake.


I’m afraid sometime recently this bravado got him in trouble. He tangled with something that fought back and ended up with a huge abscess above his left front leg, which has an obvious puncture wound in the middle of it.

Since we weren’t sure what he tangled with, we took him to the vet. He cried pitifully all the way there. VERY vocal, which is highly unusual. He usually has a very short, quiet “mew”. These were loud and oh so mournful. The kind that makes you feel like a heel, even though you know taking the cat to the vet is doing what’s best for him.

He’s scheduled for some minor surgery to lance the wound and drain it. If all goes well, we should be able to pick him up tomorrow.

If he keeps this up, one of these days this look…
... is going to be permanent.

But I hope not. Spot the cat is one of the best dogs we’ve ever had.

A Change in Weather

When I looked at the weather forecast today, it said the high would be 95° F. (35° C.). I thought, “Wow! It’s going to be a lot cooler today!”

You know it’s been too hot for too long, when 95°F. sounds cool!

It’s probably cooler because last night it rained. Not just a little-bitty, very brief hardly-wetted-down-anything shower, which is all we’ve got for weeks and weeks, but an honest to goodness thunder storm that lasted for hours. Wooooowwwww…. there was actually 2 ½ inches of water in the rain gauge this morning!

The garden was actually wet without me having to water it!
The dirt in the flower gardens was actually damp!

The pond had more water in it, which was all stirred up from the rain!

There were actually still WET spots on the driveway and road at mid-morning!

There was even a puddle of water on a little table on the front porch!

Did you notice all the fallen, brown leaves in these pictures? That's because of the drought, cause it certainly isn't fall, and the weather certainly hasn't been cool, let alone frosty!

Yes indeed, we sure could use some more of this change in weather.

More rain, and cooler temps please!

Southern Heat

I don’t know about global warming, but I know it’s plenty warm here in the south. I’m not too thrilled when you pass a bank thermometer and it has THREE digits!

Even though it’s in the shade, our thermometer has been reading 98 degrees F. for the last three days. (For those of you using the Celsius scale, that would be almost 37C.) That’s just TOO hot.

Everything here on the farm is trying to cope with the hot weather, from “A” to “Z”. (Okay, so the closest I have to the front of the alphabet is cat, with sheep at the tail end.) All the critters look for shade, but have different habitats and various ways of beating the heat.

Spot, the Cat, likes to lounge around in the shade under our truck, and keep his thirst quenched with Birdie Broth, otherwise known as water out of the bird bath – just a “faint flavor of birdie essence”. I'm not sure if I put fresh water in there for the birds or the cat.


A dust bath is the method of choice for a quick cool down for the Chickens... … while the Dogs like to hang out under the back porch or in the shade of the big walnut trees in the back yard.

Neffie takes a rest (above), while Toby enjoys chewing on a hunk of wood while lazing in the shade (below).

Even our Garden needs help with the heat, especially considering we are also under drought conditions. I’ve had to water the peppers and tomato plants almost every day. (Thank goodness for well water!)

Of course the Goats like to hang out under the shade trees in the back yard with Neffie.

Keira the Llama often joins them, but she also cools down by “burying” herself in a sea of green plants in the bog area of the bottom pasture, though it’s not much of a bog right now!

In the aviary, the Peafowl go for a combination of bathing in the dust or pool.


Last, but not least, the Sheep also opt for spots under the shade trees. Our flock matron has a special spot under a pile of lumber and gets double shade from that and the overhanging tree branches.
One way or another, everyone is looking for shade and the coolest spot possible. I’m thrilled to be able to enjoy the air conditioning inside the house. Yep, I admit it, when it comes to extreme heat, I’m a Wuss.

Beating the heat from "C" to "W" -
Just keep that air conditioning on for the "W" please!