Lovely Spring days

We have been blessed with some gorgeous weather this week and Fiddle knows how to enjoy it

 Ducks and Geese have been outside for a couple of weeks now and are enjoying roaming over the property, they graze on the grass (haven't had to mow anything in the farmyard area this year) grub around for bugs, mess up all the water bowls, generally annoy the hell out of the chickens and make me laugh every day.  I call them...'the collective' this is truly a flock, they move as one unit, if a duck or goose is accidentally separated they all work themselves into a tizzy until they are all together again.  Very different from the chickens who are much more independent of each other, choosing one or two friends that they hang out with and only getting together when I feed them and at night to go to roost.  This bird thing is all very interesting.

Cardinal daddy on watch

My old fellow :-)

One of my goals this Spring/Summer was to get Cutter through the awful Winter so that he could enjoy the Summer snoozing in the sunshine like an old dog deserves.  It sure made me happy to see him doing that this evening, hopefully there will be many more days of this over the coming months.

The beauty of a zoom lens is being able to capture moments like this, my two old guys having a cuddle on the porch, lovely.

Goosey goosey gander

Hello Toulouse Goose

 I have been wanting to add geese and duck to our little 'farm' for the longest time.  A week and a half ago they arrived.  Three noisy funny little Toulouse goslings, two handsome Embden goslings, three Khaki Campbell ducklings and three Cayuga ducklings.  They are incredibly cute, the goslings especially are way more outgoing and interactive than the chickens ever were.
They are also incredibly MESSY, oh my goodness, they want to play in their drinking water and with that comes endless scooping up of wet shavings.  They have doubled themselves in size in 9 days and we have moved them to this big pen, about 12 feet by 4 feet which is a little easier to keep dry.  I am looking forward to the weather warming up and being able to get them out on the grass, even if only during a few hours each day.
Look out for lots of photos over the coming weeks, I think I may have to fill up the tub in my grooming room and let them have a 'real' swim soon.  I will be sure to share video of that!

Khaki Campbell Ducklings

A group shot, the black duckings are the Cayugas'

One of our Embden goslings

Mersey

Dinsdale Mersey Beat April 13th 2003-May 2nd 2014

Seems that lately my blog has become one endless cyberspace of doom and gloom.  Yesterday I said goodbye to Mersey.  I knew she wasn't 100% for the last couple of months, most owners have a sense when their dogs are not....quite right and I knew that with Mersey.  Not that she was unhappy, she was eating, playful, energetic, but, she was ageing so much faster than what I expect from my dogs.  We tried a couple of different things and she seemed to be doing much better through the early Spring, than a couple weeks ago she began having some issues.  The dots all started to connect and I made an appointment with the Vet to seek out their opinion.  An examination and an x-ray confirmed what I was afraid of and I had to make the terrible decision to put her down.  The alternative may have garnered a few weeks, but, those weeks would of been uncomfortable and I decided to let her go while she was still happy.... and happy she was, right until I walked up the steps to the clinic and she started to panic, God I hate this last journey.  

Most of us that share our lives with pets will one day be stood where I was, either at home, or, in a clinic with a Vet, petting the head of our dog as they take their last breath, they relax and their heads drop, it is awful, heartbreaking and a bit of a relief.  As Mersey drifted away she did a final little tail wag, I am sure it was involuntary, yet, it was so Mersey, that silly little waggle she would do when she was very happy and content.  I like to think that was what she felt as she left me.  Rest well big girl, you were a good dog

Oh the irony

Stuck inside for five months of Winter, Spring arrives I am excited to get outside and work and I throw my freaking back out.  This happened more than a week ago, first five days I could barely move, slowly it is loosening up, but, I am paranoid about damaging it further.  Excellent :-(