Up to their usual shenanigans

The geese are more trouble than they're worth. Paul Theroux's essay in the Smithsonian about geese makes me think he's a raving lunatic.

On Friday, the geese got wanderlust again. We'd been keeping tabs on them all afternoon, and they seemed to be just hanging out. Then, while G and I were outside looking at the chicken tractor (she wants to build her own), the neighbors' caretaker drove up to our house. He asked if those white things were ours, told me that they were all the way down the road (about a quarter mile) at their barn, and that he'd be happy to help me herd them back here. I walked part way to the barn to help out, but on the way back, the darn geese ducked into the driveway of the neighbor next door. I squeezed between the fence and the evergreen tree to head them off, only to discover, too late, that the snow under the tree is a completely icy. I promptly fell and cut my left hand on the jagged ice.

The caretaker continued to help me herd the geese after I fell, but the neighbor's dog followed me home. It's a sweet-dispositioned Great Pyrenees pup (at the same age as our dog - 7 months old - it's actually twice the size of our little English Shepherd), but our dog being the possessive ES that she is, became really angry at this intruder and tried to start a fight. Luckily, between G and me, we managed to prevent any serious fighting and I had to lock Gali up...poor thing...it's "her" property after all, and she was only doing her job.

I finally had to call the neighbor to come get her dog because, as it turns out, it loves kids and refused to leave because my kids and G's kids were playing outside. It may be bigger than my dog, but it sure is dumber.

To top off Gali's day, when dh took her out for her evening walk, she took off after a possum. It was probably as big as she and has much sharper teeth. Dh kept calling for her to come back, but I guess she wasn't going to back down from this fight after her humiliating exit from the earlier fight. Dh thinks she may have been nipped because she had a small red dot on her muzzle when she finally came back.

What a day. And, as ds#1 pointed out, it all started with the stupid geese.

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Firsts of the season

DH saw our first brown thrashers of the year yesterday, and then today, we saw a red-headed woodpecker. The red-headed is around all year, but rarely hit our suet feeder.

The dog had a relapse today...puppy brain got a hold of her. She chased the geese round and round for amusement. Geez, it's not like we don't exercise her several hours a day.

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Two flew over the chickens' nest

There's no comprehending the psychotic geese. So, the dog and I went down to their enclosure to let them out and water/feed them as usual this morning, and, for some strange reason known only to the geese, they let out an alarm cry and flew, low and hard, over to our hillside boundary.

I put water and food into their pen, hoping the idiots would find their way back, but there they were, off in the distance, honking loudly (something like "sh*t, where the heck are we?"). So, I trudged over there to herd them back. I had the dog on the leash because she's not been good about responding lately.

When I got the hillside, I called her attention to the geese, released her, and told her to get them. She bounded up and managed to get Largo down and onto the path headed back toward the shed. But stupid Jemima waddled in the opposite direction. I called Gali back from running after Largo, but before I could leash her again, she ran off after Jemima.

I called several times, but couldn't get her to come back. So I hiked up the hill. There they were...Jemima hunkered down, looking defeated, and Gali prancing around her like some hairy, four-legged jack-in-the-box. She kept licking Jemima on the back, and touching noses with her. Then when I tried to call her off again, she stood over Jemima with a paw on her back. This is classic English Shepherd behavior from what I could glean from the ES e-list - corner your stock and keep them down but not hurt them.

As DH said, after I got back and told him the story, "finally, she does something useful!"

(note regarding the photo: that was when we also had Doodle...an extra male)

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)

Woodstoves are niiice

When the weather is as frigid as it has been, we really appreciate our woodstove. Not only does it make the whole house cozy, but it heats us up for a fraction of the cost of propane.

Ours is a Harman, which dh says is ok, but somewhat fussy. I think Vermont Castings may be a better brand. Still, it has a catalytic converter and doesn't spew out as much noxious fumes as old-time fireplaces.

(Note 2/13/07: not that it matters to anyone, but dh says that it doesn't have a cat converter...he's going to explain the whole thing to me (again), but I guess I won't bore anyone with it; it doesn't spew out nasty stuff - that's all I care about)

"To be conscious that you are ignorant is a great step to knowledge." ~ Benjamin Disraeli (1804 - 1881)