Starry Sky Ranch

The Bodyguard

When I was little I used to pour over the D encyclopedia.  I memorized the names of all the dog breeds and could sort them into classes - toy, working, hound etc.  I was an animal geek for sure. 

I remember watching Benji (and reading the book and hanging the poster...) and sighing with longing for the little white Maltese sidekick of his.  My mother and I were barely scraping by however and exotic dogs were totally out of the question.  The closest I ever got was pressing my nose up to the pet store window in the mall. Oh for a dog with long flowing coat to pull up into bows and brush long into the night. 

Fast forward about 30 some years.  Toy dogs are slightly less exotic than they were in the Upper Midwest of the '70's.  Ours arrived here after bouncing around to a few other homes.  They arrived with all those flowing coat genes.  And matted to the skin.  

I admit I silently tsk'd their negligent owner and for a moment was transported back to those days sprawled out with the Brittanica.  Visions of grooming perfection wafted through my head. Never mind we owned a large shaggy dog for many years in CO who was frequently trimmed down to a very short coat.  That was the country however.  This would be different.  How quickly we forget. 

Well truth is, we aren't all that good at dog grooming.  There are a fair number of little people under this roof who need grooming help too.  The dogs got to be a mess while I was sick last fall.  So, we told the groomer to start over and here we go again.

Gizmo's ears promptly sprang up like Dumbo's as soon as they were shorn.  Since it was December he also got cold.  Aidan found a coat to fit him until his own grew back.  Check it out....

stau

Traffic was blocked behind the house yesterday while the farmer moved his cows from the pasture across the road.  Somehow it's more fun watching other people move their cattle than to actually be the mover ; )  Although I am an avowed livestock watcher either way.  

 

Gives new meaning to 'street photography'.  

 

odd couple

Don't ask me what this was all about.  I looked out the kitchen window and saw this:

There was no barking, no chasing.  Just a comfortable little tete-a-tete apparently. 

 I asked Daisy what they were up to but she just did this....

....like I was supposed to understand.  Silly me.  

moo

hey diddle diddle....

...the cow jumped over the -      fence.  And under it.  And through it.  Sigh.  WHY oh why is the grass on the other side so much greener to her color blind eyes??  Are not 73 acres enough for one fat cow???  We have neighbor cows who have grazed on the other side of these fences and never entertained the idea of running through them.  Oh, she is a naughty cow. 

This cow is not as easy to manage as she was last summer when one could lift her up and move her if need be. No, several hundred pounds later there is no lifting.  I thought I was pretty smart the other night when she wouldn't come to me.  (in the front yard, bear in mind : p )  I roped her with the idea of leading her back inside the pasture. I did actually rope her neck too.  Are you cheering yet?  Here I was, just home from errands. one older child available to watch Tess inside, me in my skirt and silver jewelry and up-do ROPING A COW.  Sheesh. 

So I rope this cow, turn to lead her, and she....... stands there looking at me like I had lost my mind. And I was close actually.  Guess it didn't occur to me that she would not follow. Horses do.  Goats do.  Dogs do. Most of the time the children do.  Cows don't. Cows stand there saying essentially, Nuh uh.

Eventually the rest of the family rolled into the drive from piano and between us we coaxed and cajoled her into the barn so we could get through the night with no more excitement.  If you have a cow, drop me a line. Tell me this can work. It all looked so easy when the Marlboro Man was doing this in the 70s...

Mom, we're thirsty....

Note to self: turn around before grabbing a glass......

Old Barns

I love old barns. It may be cliche but they really don't make them like they used to. At least not very often. Here are a couple favorites from the road trip:

The Cat in the Hat

the cowboy hat that is. Found one of our barn cats snoozing under the dining room table in a cast off hat that belongs to the little boys. This is one of the orphan kittens we bottle fed last year btw. All three are still around. We have two and a friend has another. They are enormous.

Long in the Tooth

The vet came last week to do Taylor's 'float'.  His teeth had become overgrown and he wasn't processing his feed well.  We got some pics and I am including Alannah's narration of the big event. And let me just say if you have never seen a doped up horse it was quite a sight. Like one of those cartoons where the horse accidentally drinks the moonshine or something. Poor guy was weaving and swaying.  In all he really wasn't uncomfortable though. Not unduly uncomfortable anyway - more just annoyed.

                                     

             Equine Dentistry

   

          On Friday morning the vet came to float Taylor's teeth. A float is when the vet straightens a horse's teeth. Taylor needed this because his teeth were curvy and caused him to lose a lot of his food.

The first thing the vet did was give Taylor a sedative shot. The shot made him very sleepy and wobbly.  Then he made me get a crutch and hold it under Taylor's head to keep it up.  After that he got a halter with a flat metal that covered his teeth.  Then he cranked his mouth open. He got his tools and began to file Taylor's teeth down.It looked like it hurt him a lot.  Then he showed us what he did. Taylor's teeth looked much better.

The float was important because we didn't want Taylor to starve to death. Now that he is done we can expect him to fatten up.  I didn't realize it was so dangerous, but now I know more about it.