Della, our Black Lab that guards us

This is all about Della, who is our 2 1/2 year old black lab that is smarter than both of us and most other humans.

Here on the farm, everybody has a job and Della's job, which she does quite effectively, is to protect Susan and me from strange things and strange people. She does this with a menacing bark that is directed at anybody or anything that shows up unexpectedly (Fed-ex, UPS, etc.). Once we show we are friendly with the visitors, Della is their friend too. She is all bark and will let it fly from the porch but, so far, has not tried to bite or attack anyone. Also Della has so many faces to fit her moods and I think we know them all by now. That's the good side of Della.

The bad side is Della likes to chase deer and the deer lead her on long runs in the surrounding area. Once onto the trail of a deer she is relentless but never seems to catch a live deer.

Now the worst side of Della is that while on these deer chasing jaunts, she comes up on dead deer (carcasses) left by hunters after they have cleaned off all the useable meat (at least useable by us human types). Then Della has to bring her find home so we can share in her joy, so to speak. i think she competes with the black and turkey buzzards for these finds.

Well, last night about 3 am, Della, who sleeps in our bedroom on her rug at night) stirred and Susan let her out, presumably to take care of her bladder business. Then she returned about 4 and Susan let her back in. Off to sleep until daybreak. Then when we went out to feed the chickens and goats about 7 am, Susan cried out "Come here!" And there, under the walkway that connects the garage to the house was a full grown deer carcass that Della had drug up in the night. It was huge but obviously a hunter had cleaned it so what Della got was mostly ribs and a few bones, but the skeleton was still fresh and intact. Well, we promptly loaded it in a big black trash bag and put iut in the truck to go to the dump later. Only then did we realize how strong Della can be. It weighed about 15 pounds and the nearest hunting is probably 1000 feet away. She has been recuperating all day with more sleeping than normal. We're not 100% sure it was Della that drug this carcass up to the house, but if it was not, then we've got a bigger problem I suppose (Coyote, Mountain Lion, etc.) but this is not likely or Della would have had a fit last night (remember her guard role?).

Oh, the life of a dog! We love Della as do all of our 8 grand-children but sometimes she can be very frustrating. But most of you would kill for a dog as great as Della.

And to think we got her from the local Animal Protection Society! That's the place to go for good dogs. And that's Della's story for today. I'm sure that all her chapters have not been written.

Thanksgiving

I almost forgot - yes, Thanksgiving was great. We had the 26 expected and it went well. Two tables outside (it was nearly 70 degrees) and one inside. Very inter-generational and inter-family. Lots of fun. We really are blessed.

Winter Is Coming

Thanksgiving is behind us and the wonderful Christmas season has begun. We have two plans for the winter: Plan A is what we do when it is below 32 degrees and Plan B is what we do when it is above 32 degrees. Keeping the animal water flowing is a challenge. Plan B is haul it in buckets and plan B is use the hose system for the goats and Daisy. So these are big questions in the morning and in the evening: Is it going to freeze tonight? We really like Plan B best - easier, quicker and more pleasant.

Yesterday I saw a young bald eagle fly by as I was sitting in my office. Still hear the pileated woodpecker in the mornings.

Two days ago, one chicken got loose and two goats got loose, unrelated events. Took a while to get everything back under control. Third goat got tangled in the electric fence (juice was not flowing at the time). Today I repaired the fence so that it will be harder to get tangled. Also got the juice flowing.

Chickens not laying eggs yet and we hope it is still due to the molting --- otherwise we'll have a big problem --- not feeding chickens that don't do eggs for long. It's been 6 weeks now.

Bought Christmas tree last Friday, erected it in the stand last night and will finish decorating it this Friday. This is pretty good for us.  

Garden is growing winter crops but slow to get to harvest. Amazing how they hunker down in the mornings when it is so cold and then rebound as it warms up. God really knew what he was doing, didn't he? We get mint, cilantro, and some other herbs from the yard as we need them for dinner. Susan still is creative in using what we have for the meals. We eat fresh stuff most of the time.

The field is cut for the winter and on heavy frost mornings it looks like a nice dusting of snow.

Beautiful moon these past few nights with Venus and Jupiter hanging close by.

So a little slow these days on the farm, but that's the way it is ... and should be.

Come see us.

Dwight