Zzzzzzzzzzz

Last night was a sleepless one--or at least sleep only in short bursts. Since we moved the camper to be closer to the bath-house, there are more sounds from the nearby pastures and hills. Between the coyotes howling, the dogs barking at the coyotes, and then the dogs howling with the coyotes, last night's sleep was fitful at best. I woke three times that I recall to a canine symphony starting with yipping and howling coyotes in the not too far away distance, joined by barking dogs in three pitches: Tucker, Cash, and Gus, building to a cacophony of barking and howling dogs and coyotes. We looked out the camper window to see Cash with his nose pointed high in the air singing, "aaaawwwwwooooooooooo!"

And somewhere in between was this sleepy conversation:

--unidentified animal noise--

--barking dogs--

Jon: "What was that?"
Me: "It was a cow."
Jon: "That was NOT a cow."
Me: "No? I thought it sounded like a cow."
Jon: "It sounded like a mountain lion."
Me: "I didn't think we had mountain lions down here."
Jon: "Me neither. Maybe it was a bobcat."
Me: "Okay, now I am totally freaked out and I have to go to the bathroom."

All of this makes me nervous because tomorrow our neighbor is putting 20 ewes and their lambs in our orchard and corral areas to eat down the grass. It is a mutually beneficial agreement: our grass needs to be eaten and the sheep are hungry.

But, I am worried about the coyotes preying on the sheep. Our neighbor says as long as our dogs are around the sheep should be fine. I am worried about the dogs chasing the sheep, or worse, because our dogs aren't accustomed to livestock. Our neighbor says his sheep are used to dogs, but still, I worry.

Really, I couldn't sleep last night worrying about it. Then again, maybe it was the coyotes...

If Pioneers Had Chainsaws

A pile of logs sat on the ranch property just to the right of the little house. Jon always referred to them as old telephone poles but closer inspection revealed that they were logs from the original log cabin. The cabin still stands on the property although it is several logs shorter and was re-purposed as a pig sty.

The logs needed to be moved so that we could get the utility trailer as close to the little house as possible. Brutus and Troy helped us build a fence around the camper in hopes of keeping Cassius the blind dog from wandering.




For the most part, the fence doesn't work. Cassius is smart. He quickly learned where the fence was shortest and followed Tucker's lead in jumping over. Some mornings he's halfway down the lane before we finish our first cup of coffee.

Jon called me one night out of breath; he had taken the dogs into one of the fields and had Cassius running and playing at top speed. Normally, Cash trots along warily; you would, too, if you couldn't see a damn thing. Across the wire, I could only imagine the exuberance of a blind dog running at full tilt without a care, but it gave me immense joy. That is, until Jon told me that Cash ran out of earshot and right into the irrigation ditch before Jon could stop him. But I laughed out loud when he said that unfazed, Cash leapt out, shook off, and resumed his play.

We get such pleasure out of watching this boy navigate the sighted world with his other senses.

So Sweet!

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Blind Dog, Still Hunts

Object of desire #1.

Object of desire #2.

Be very quiet, he's hunting squirrels.

Despite being blind, our dog Cassius still hunts squirrels for the better part of most days. And when I say better, I mean both quantitatively and qualitatively, for he certainly considers this to be the penultimate fun activity. The only thing better is eating anything, including cat poop.

He may not be able to see the squirrels but he can sure hear them. He spends hours racing around the yard guided by their chattering. Sometimes we even catch Cash quietly and slowly stalking the squirrels like a cat, apparently not realizing that although he can't see them, they can very much see him.


Occasionally the chases end with some collateral damage, but when you get right down to it, he doesn't need those eyes anyway!

Disclaimer #1: This injury was only to the skin outside of his eye and is now healed. His vision, however, remains the same. He has none.

Disclaimer #2: For those of you grossed out that he eats cat poop, I was just kidding. He only eats Tucker's poop.

Disclaimer #3: For those of you grossed out by any discussion of poop and in particular eating poop, it was all just a big joke. No, really.

Duck, Duck, Mallard

This little pair of mallard ducks has been visiting our front yard for several weeks now. They discovered the bird seed buffet that falls to the ground from the feeder in the tree above. We really enjoy having them, but I worry about them hanging out in such an urban setting with all the dangers of dogs, cats, and cars.

I could, however, do without the Saturday morning 6:26 am wake up call I got today. Only the female was in the yard and she was quacking incessantly; our bedroom window is about 15 feet from the tree and feeder. I assume she was calling for her mate as he wasn't around. Should I be concerned?

Finches Can't Read

In the last century, bluebirds have suffered an alarming decline in their numbers. Loss of habitat and nesting cavities due to logging, competition from swallows and other species, and the use of pesticides are some of the factors contributing to the decline. Bluebirds were once as numerous as robins!


North Carolinians love their bluebirds and we were no exception. The entire state, it seems, is part of an effort to rebuild the bluebird population. In fact, just about every state has a bluebird society and there is also a national organization as well. Very serious stuff!

The most common way to encourage bluebird population is to provide nesting boxes. When I moved to North Carolina from Florida, I had never seen a bluebird and had no idea what all those wooden boxes were that dotted the rural landscape on fence posts and tree trunks. Once you see a bluebird, you want to see more. Once you see them in courtship, nesting, and fledging their young, it is easy to fall in love forever. They are beautiful, busy animals.

In the piedmont area of North Carolina, a man by the name of Jack Finch started building bluebird boxes in the 1970s. I picked one up during a trip to the Finch family's pottery and blueberry nursery. When I got home, Jon and I excitedly installed it in the yard, staking a surrogate claim for the first bluebird family to find it.

While the house is clearly stamped with "Homes for Bluebirds", finches in North Carolina can't read. Apparently finches also think that bluebird boxes make for great nesting sites and the only way to keep them out is to destroy their nests as they try to build them. Let me repeat that: destroy their nests as they build them.

Now I know that early bird watchers, Audubon included, shot and killed the very birds they studied and illustrated. To a modern bird enthusiast like myself this is abhorrent; although, I guess lacking cameras the only way to get the dern thing still enough to get a good look is to kill it. To me, the thought of destroying a bird nest is enough to send me into a tizzy of personal debate about ethics, the valuation of one animal species versus another, and whether we should intervene with a hand of destruction. The topic of destroying squatting birds' nests has also led to some interesting marital discussions because Jon can read and he is quite certain the box does not say "Homes for insert name of species here". Any intruders must go; he empties out their nests without hesitation or guilt.

So over the years we have had some finches, some swallows, but mostly bluebirds. I have given over our bluebird home property management arm to chance or my husband, whichever intervenes first. After all, Jon has to live with his choices and frankly, he seems to sleep just fine at night. I sleep alright too, and try not to worry too much about whether bluebird karma is worth more than finch karma. Jon gets to follow his moral compass and I follow mine. Fortunately, most of the time they still point North.

I can't help but wonder, though: Where do the presidential candidates stand on a literacy campaign for birds?

Update, April 25th, 2008: Got a voicemail last night from our old neighbors that our bluebird family has relocated to their yard.

Snowshoeing: Banner Ridge

Everybody, git yer shoes on!

On Sunday, we went snowshoeing again, this time with our new friends Mike W., Roxanne, Erin, and Mike H. Some of the snow we enjoyed last weekend at Whoop-Em-Up had melted, so we drove further up the mountain to the Banner Ridge Park-n-Ski area.

The view is not too shabby.

One of the Mikes brought a GPS, so we knew exactly how far we went: 3.4 miles. I have decided that 3.4 miles on snowshoes is a pretty good hike. I woke up in the middle of the night and my legs were screaming.

Right from the outset, we saw lots of animal tracks.

I am enjoying learning how to identify animal tracks: rabbit, fox, and coyote were the most common. About halfway through the hike, we took an off-trail detour and Jon spotted wolf tracks. They were enormous and stunning. You could see the outline of each pad-- the paws were about as big around as my hand.

Living out west has forced me to think more often about the tension between ranchers, hunters, livestock, and wolves. It used to be that wolves were just the bane of livestock farmers, but now hunters are citing anecdotal evidence that wolves are the cause of a decline in elk and moose populations, as well. I won't go into this in detail, but I found numerous sources that negate this, including from the Idaho Department of Fish and Game. (If you want more information, just Google "idaho wolves elk population".)

The wolves in Idaho, Montana, and Wyoming are considered a "non-essential experimental population" but they are still protected under the Federal Endangered Species Act. Early this year, however, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service announced a proposal to remove grey wolves' endangered status. In preparation for the status change, the Idaho Department of Fish and Game is trying to determine how the populations will be managed and to what extent. Idaho Governor Butch Otter wants the wolf population culled by hunters from current numbers around 800 (source) to 100 animals, or 10 packs. Ten packs is the minimum number of wolves before the animals would be considered endangered...again. Anyone else see the lunacy in this idea?

According to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game Commission, delisting could occur as early as February 2008. At a hunter's rally last week, Otter spoke about the issue:

"That management includes you," Otter told the approximately 300 hunters, many wearing camouflage clothing and blaze-orange caps. "I'm prepared to bid for that first ticket to shoot a wolf myself."

Anyway...

Another interesting thing we saw on our snowshoe trip was the remnants of a burn. At first we thought the rising smoke was steam from a natural hot spring, but closer investigation revealed that it was actually tree wood still smoldering.

Winter burn.

Why are the maps are so high? So they aren't at your knees when the snowpack is three feet!

Once again, I tripped myself by stepping on my own shoe and ended up face-planting in the snow. I wasn't hurt, but as I pulled myself up, my entire group stood on the hill above me laughing with their cameras poised on their noses. Evil. (I admit that later in the hike, when Erin tripped, I was actually hoping she would fall and she totally busted me by the excited look on my face. Nobody wants to be the only clutz.)

On our way back to Boise, we stopped at the Idaho City Ranger station to alert the staff to the burn and they called out a fire crew to investigate.

It was yet another beautiful, if tiresome, weekend in this winter paradise. I doubt we will get on our snowboards until after we return from Christmas holidays in Florida but I certainly look forward it!

A Few Tidbits For You

We came, we saw, we bought. Thursday morning we closed on our new house. It's a great little house, about half the size of the King Charles home. As ya'll know we found another 1950s ranch (with an underground home heating oil tank that has been removed). Thursday morning we did the final walk through and accepted the property. This lot is less than half the size of our last house, with more landscaping! Check out the pictures, it's very overgrown and in dire need of some pruning.

The front and back yards are full of projects that will need the attention of Kate's green thumb. It also seems as though we've encroached upon a squirrel that doesn't take kindly to four-legged guests. The squirrel just hangs out in the trees chirping, barking, and hissing at the dogs. It's driving them mad!

We've Arrived!

After roughly 55 hours of driving we finally made it to Boise. Everything went according to plan, with a few hiccups along the way. Improper trailer loading caused Brut and I to dance across 3 lanes of traffic on I-40 east at 80 mph--that was a thrill. A quick weight shift fixed that problem. Our breakfast detour in Nashville was a hoot, chocolate and pancakes...who knew? The Montana visit was a well needed break and we got to ride our bikes up the Beartooth Pass!

We arrived in Boise on Tuesday, and to our dismay the rental market proved to be really dry. Everything near work and school was either falling down, sinking in, dark and dirty, or completely disgusting in some other way. By Friday it was down to buying a house or living in our hotel for the duration of our stay here in Boise.

Saturday morning we found our next home--one street south of Cresent Rim, just up the hill from Ann Morrison Park and Katheryn Albertson Park, the Boise River, and downtown Boise or Bodo.

We've got many ends to tie very quickly, but as you can see below we've had time to relax with the boys.


It's been rough staying 200 yards from the river this past week. I'm glad we'll be within walking distance from the new house too!

What's Growing on? (June 14, 2007)

I've been rather lazy about taking pictures over the past couple of weeks and I'm not sure how that happened. Today seemed like a good day to take a few pictures and blog about what is growing at the homestead here in Raleigh. Feast your eyes on these.

Tucker is the "Alpha Dog" in this yard.
He looks pretty serious about protecting his domain doesn't he?

"I can haz Octopus?"
See the cheezburgers!

Fall Gold Raspberry Bush

Golden Sweetness

Heritage Red Raspberry Bush

Heritage Reds

Opalka Tomato

Sungold Tomato (my fav)

Super Shepherd Pepper

Blueberries

Fig Bush

Bumble Bee sleeping on Echinacea

Echinacea

Yellow Canna Lily

Fire Canna (my fav)

Pink Canna Lily

Day Lily

Butterfly Bush

Daisy

Bee Balm

Lantana

Cardoon

So, this is where we are today. Watching our beautiful gardens flourish, waiting for an offer on the house. Leaving our friends, and all the things we've worked so diligently to create. Our home and gardens will make some lucky family very happy.

Lunch Buffet

Have you ever seen such a thing? How many birds and squirrels can coexist? A few flew away as I walked outside but there was still 3 squirrels, 5 doves, 6 finches and a blackbird.

Swimming Lessons

Tucker is providing swimming lessons now. Don't be afraid to go underwater.

Parasites!

Cash was supposed to lose his jewels at the vet tomorrow, but we had a little change to the master plan. Cash brought pretty much every parasite you can think of with him when he came to our house. Ticks, fleas, and worms! Have I mentioned the fact that I hate parasites!

Unfortunately, he brought the wrong kind of worms. Our new-found friend is still going to the vet early tomorrow morning but instead of the "snip-snip", he's going to have a bunch of toxins shot into his lower lumbar region in an effort to kill the heartworms he's been carrying for an undetermined amount of time.

Send him your get well message by clicking here!

The Man in Black

In the early evening on Friday, we were enjoying the late summer on our next door neighbors’ deck. A dappled view of our lawn is visible through some airy brush between the yards and it is from that perch that Selina noticed a black dog. Jon and I jumped up and instinctively (if cautiously) took high and low approaching positions. We drew nearer and the dog didn’t run. It stood underneath the bird feeder munching on fallen seed casings. As we got closer, we saw a big black labrador-type male dog with a red collar on his neck. Closer still and we realized that the collar was inches too tight and that a plastic coated frayed cable hung from the collar. Seeing the dirty coat, abrasions, stark ribs poking through thin skin, panting tongue, dilated eyes, and the bloody fly-chewed ears silently convinced us that wherever he came from, he had no need to return.

We went into emergency mode—food, water, get the collar off—this pup looked very ill. We contemplated taking him to the emergency vet, but after getting some food and water into him realized that his situation was suddenly less dire. Jon went off to the Raleigh Criterium and I stayed home with our catch. He stunk. I heated a large pot of water and he stood quietly while I gave him a warm bath with lavender dish soap. That’s better. I toweled him off and when I was done, he nudged me for more.

Late that night, his eyes were still dilated. He definitely had some vision, because we hadn’t noticed any sight impairment right away. We put him to bed on an old comforter in the mudroom and hoped that some rest and relaxation might improve his eyesight. We named him “Cash”, short for Cassius Clay and also a nod to Johnny Cash, the mysterious man in black.

Early Saturday morning, Jon took Cash to the vet for a health check. He weighed 69 pounds, is about a year old, had fleas and ticks, and was severely malnourished. The vet said his retinas looked great and agreed that he had some sight, but she couldn’t explain why his eyes were still dilated. She suggested perhaps he ate some fertilizer or other chemical or that it may be due to malnutrition. She couldn’t say if it would resolve. Given the abrasions on his legs and the stiffness in his hind end, the vet did feel that he had been hit by a car, but no permanent damage was suffered. He was sent home with flea and tick shampoo and medicated wound cleaner.

That afternoon he stood still for another bath and then some flea and tick medicine. I certainly hope he doesn’t expect the spa treatment every day!

Cash’s origins are still mysterious but we do know some things about him. His tail wags furiously when he is eating. He is terribly sweet and rather confident for a partially-sighted street dog. He is a joy on a leash because he calmly walks alongside you. He has had three accident-free nights in the house. He enjoys air conditioning, snuggling, and likes to give kisses.

We do have some concerns about Cash. He and Tucker have had a few altercations, but I think in all cases it was when food is around. The fact that Tucker is very protective of food and that Cash was starved certainly complicates that dynamic. We had Cash tied up in the covered patio and our friend’s puppy ran full force into him. Have you heard the saying, “the best defense is offense”? We saw it in action. Given that his eyesight is poor, his aim is not very good and no harm was done. I think that the combination of having been tied up, coupled with not seeing very well yield an animal bent on self-preservation. Fair enough, but hopefully he will mellow out once he is neutered and grows more comfortable.

On the right, the collar Cash arrived with. On the left, his new, properly sized collar.

More photos below. If anyone is willing to make a donation for Cash's neuter and vaccinations, we would be grateful. If anyone out there would like to adopt Cash or knows or a possible home for him, please contact us. For more information on the joyful and successful lives that can be led by special needs animals, visit Rolling Dog Ranch.

Another Famous Dog

Click here to see him again!

Famous Dogs and New Findings

Check this out, look who's on April 25th, 2007... Tucker is FAMOUS!

We didn't lose all the Goumi berries to the Easter freeze. We found a few berries that survived.

We also found these in an Azalea bush in our front yard.