The Big Wide World

Just a quick picture of little Sadie sitting on a round bale with Allez! Fortunately, Allez has decided that she likes Sadie. Allez's sister, Gwen, is still a little snarly around the new pup but is warming up.

A New Baby

A few weeks ago we went with our son, Glen, and his wife, Kelli, to look at sheep. Glen and Kelli would like to put a flock on Kelli's family berry farm (Hardy Berry)so they put a deposit on a starter flock of Romneys. They are currently working on the fencing but also knew they wanted a livestock guardian dog to accompany the flock. We began the search for an Anatolian Shepherd for them.

I managed to find a fellow with a litter of Anatolians whose parents had been working dogs. We went with them on Wednesday as the fellow had a male and a female who had not yet been spoken for. Both dogs were strong, healthy and inquisitive. The parents were there and were gorgeous dogs who had a protective but controlled temperament. Glen and Kelli bought the little fellow.

Al had not gone with us to see the dogs but he was impressed with the little guy that the children bought. I told him about the female and that I was having regrets about not asking to buy her. I sent an e-mail off to the owner the next day. He informed me that she had already been spoken for so I didn't give it much more thought. The following day the owner let me know that he felt the woman who wanted the little female was backing out on him. By Friday evening we were told the dog was ours if we wanted her. I knew it made no sense to get a new puppy on a Friday night and still try to get up early Saturday and do Market so we arranged to pick her up Saturday evening.

So we now have an adorable little gal who will be my indoor/outdoor/all around dog. She will sort of fill in for Lila, our old Anatolian who died last year. Lila was fine with the livestock but was also in and out of the house with us. I really, really miss that. We've named this puppy Sadie and has introduced her to the other dogs, some of the cats and some of the livestock.

Just this morning, she accompanied on my morning rounds. We fed the geese, checked water troughs, set Bart, the crippled sheep, up for the day, went into the stable to feed the young chickens that are growing out and also gathered the morning's duck eggs. Sadie trotted along beside me for most of the trip. A few time she stopped to investigate something but rapidly realized she was being left behind and ran to catch me. She also tried very hard to get out of the chicken yard when she startled a dozen chickens who flew and squawked. She returned to the house with me and took a good long nap. And shortly we'll go out for eggs again. It is nice to have a tiny friend at my heels.

Market Goodies

All the animals love it when I come home from Saturday Market with goodies. This last week I had a few bunches of sunflowers as well as some nice cull tomatoes from Jeff & Kim at the tent next to us. Bart immediately tore into the tomatoes, pushing at me as I unloaded them and then burying his face in the bucketful. His enthusiasm quickly drew the bottle lambs who had slipped into the front yard.
Zeke and Esther, the donkeys, had to wait for me to walk over to their pasture and hand them the sunflowers. I cannot imagine how pushy they would be if they could actually meet me in the driveway.

Baloo, our digger

I came around the back of the old barn instead of cutting through it to the chicken yard. I saw part of Baloo poked out of the hole he's dug himself so that he can enter the back stall. He loves to hunker down in the dirt as I'm sure it is a little cooler and also helps him hide from flies.

I opened the door to find that Baloo was not alone. Gwen was actually in the hold that Baloo had dug for himself in the stall. He apparently hadn't yet gotten up the nerve to try to muscle her out.

Gwen and Baloo are working out so nicely together. He was a very shy fellow when he first came but has just become so happy. He romps with Gwen through their pasture in the mornings when it is cool. The first few times I noticed them out the window, I ran out fearful that they were chasing sheep. When I called them they would come to a screeching stop and come up to the edge of the fence to see what I needed. About the third time I noticed the sheep scattering I hesitated and watched a bit longer. It seems the two dogs were so intent on rolling each other around the pasture that they really were not even aware of the sheep. The panicked running was simply the sheep's response to the dogs' foolishness. Now I just let them play.