one liners

(Today’s font is Skia.)

About 1:30 Sunday afternoon, my body refused to function.

Sometime in the last two days, the pecan trees started giving up their leaves.

I missed the most spectacular sunset Saturday night.

I think the farmer who farms the fields at the end of our road is off his meds.

Leo is on a chain and the dog pack is down to two young adults and one puppy.

High speed at the country house is awesome.

I finally planted some wildflower seeds I’ve had for 5 years.

It wasn’t much better on Monday.

The glass for job #1 is being delivered on Friday.

Why do I always get the new guy?

Shelling pecans continues.

I think we have attained arrangement of the furniture.

The SOFA/Chicago show was this weekend and I’m still glad we didn’t go.

I think I have been making a chrysalis this last year.

Home has changed addresses.

not on my watch

I hadn’t planned on writing about Jimmy’s dogs again, at least not for a while anyway.  

When I got up this morning, a little after 7 AM, and opened the back door to let the cat out and greet the day, I could hear those dogs barking over across the 13 acre field back behind the far row of trees and scrub that mark the property lines around here.  Interspersed with the barking were loud cries of fear and agony, human or animal, I couldn’t tell.  I listened to that for a minute or two, came in and told Husband about it and then jumped into the truck and turned down the county road at the end of our street in the direction of the noise.  I passed Jimmy’s house and all 6 of the puppies were standing at the edge of the property looking down the road, a little agitated.  I passed the three or four houses on the county road til I got to the empty lot that backs up on the Tee Pee Motel on the other side of the 13 acre field from us and I could see those dogs had an animal surrounded in the high grass but I couldn’t tell for sure what it was, a young cow I thought, wondering how a cow had got out in that small field.  

I turned the truck around and headed back, flying through the house to put on some long pants and proper shoes.

“Those dogs have an animal cornered out there.” I told Husband.

When I came back through, dressed, he asked me, “What are you gonna do?”

“I don’t know.  Something.” I replied as I headed out the door to the garage.  I was not going to let those dogs kill that poor animal.

I stuffed my pocket full of firecrackers, grabbed a lighter and took off through the 13 acre field (which is full of poison ivy) to the where the ruckus was but couldn’t see or get through the scrub line.  I finally found a spot where I could get a clearer view through the trees and dead fall (also full of poison ivy) to see the dogs on the other side.  I tossed off one firecracker and then two more in quick succession which sent the dogs running.

I cut back across the field and then through Montreal’s side yard to the county road again, on foot, and down to where I had spotted the animal and dogs in the first place.  When I got closer, I could see that it was a big goat tethered to a tree.  The poor thing had wrapped itself around that tree so tight in it’s fear and attempt to get away from the dogs that it could not move more than a step or two.  It looked like the end of it’s tail had been bitten off and both of it’s back legs were bloodied, one worse than the other, but it didn’t seem to be actively bleeding anywhere.  It was trembling so hard it could barely stand.  I tried to soothe it a bit and unhooked it’s tether from it’s collar so I could unwind it from the tree.  The goat took a few steps and then laid down.  I hooked the tether back onto it’s collar, found it’s empty water dish and stood there debating whether or not I should knock on the door of the house there that I was sure the goat belonged to.  I decided against it as the goat was injured but not in any imminent danger of bleeding to death and it was still very early.  Instead, I walked back to my house, got a jug of water and carried it back to the goat and set it’s water dish where it could easily reach it.  I would come back later and make sure they knew the goat was injured.

Walking back to my house as I neared Jimmy’s place, three of the young adult dogs were now in his yard and when they saw me coming they got up and started barking at me.  Two more fire crackers sent them hauling ass out across the corn field.  As I crossed Montreal’s side yard to get to my place I noticed a small brown bundle lying still in the yard.  I was thinking they must have caught a rabbit but when I got closer, it turned out to be one of the puppies.  It was cold but it didn’t look like it had been dead long.  I wondered if those dogs took out their blood lust on the puppy since I had deprived them of the goat.  No way to tell.  It could have already been there and I just didn’t notice it the other times I had cut across his yard to the road.  But then, there would have had to have been 7 puppies and I only ever saw 6.

By the time I finally got back to the house, it was about 7:40 AM.  Why does this shit always happen before I’ve had any friggin’ coffee?

Husband, sitting there having his, says to me, “Next time you do something like that, take your phone with you so if you are laying there on the ground bleeding, you can call someone for help.”  Thanks dear, I love you too.

“You could’ve come with me.” I said to him.

laid up

I hurt my back this weekend, or rather an old problem sort of flared up.  It’s taking a long time to get to the point when I can do strengthening exercises (the lack of which lately is probably the main reason it reminded me of itself) to keep it at bay because I’ve been busy in the shop this week and can’t just lay around being useless.  Or else I have a pinched nerve.  It feels like that some too.  Really, though, I was being so careful lugging those 4” x 4”s and pavers and slabs of stone around.

Out at the country house, my neighbor to the east is gone much of the time for long periods.  He’s an exotic welder and he’s been working in Africa this year.  He has had two dogs that stayed in the fenced part of his yard while he is gone but sometime during this year, one of them died and the other disappeared.  We don’t know if he knows about the disappeared dog.  The dog got out and we saw it run by and that was the last we saw of it.  This would usually be of no consequence to me except when Montreal’s dog was in the yard, it kept Jimmy’s dogs out of it.

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that Mama Dog is alive and has a new litter.  They’ve been under Jimmy’s house across the road until the last couple of weeks when she has brought the pups out.  The dog pack now consists of Leo (the alpha male), Mama Dog, another adult yellow dog which I guess is Big Puppy.  Little Puppy hasn’t been seen for months.  There are three more, I think, left over from the litter at the beginning of this year.  And now 6 new puppies.  That’s two litters this year.

Now that Mama Dog has moved the puppies out, she seems to have moved them into Montreal’s fenced yard.  When he was gone last spring, the pack moved into his front yard since the dead dog was decaying under the trailer, their usual hangout in Montreal’s big side yard.  Weekend before last I saw them all back there behind Montreal’s house and shooed them out.  This past weekend it looked like they had moved in to stay.  I was not liking that one bit.  I’m pretty sure Montreal wouldn’t want Jimmy’s dogs taking up in his back yard but besides that, I didn’t want them taking up in his backyard.  Because the next step over is MY yard.  And I definitely don’t want them in my yard.  They run like the devil back to Jimmy’s when you throw fire crackers.  And two short pieces of 2” x 4” slammed together works well too.

Well, last Friday, I decided that I was going to shore up the fence and gates so that those dogs couldn’t get back in.  First I ran the dogs out except the puppies went under the house.  I snuck up on them later when they were all cuddled up in a puppy pile in a place they couldn’t easily get away from me (except for one that was under the house) and I dropped the puppies over the fence.  But before I did that, I plugged all the holes and squeeze-through places.

The puppies were not happy.  They kept trying to find a way to squeeze back in.  I guess the last one managed to squeeze out somewhere because I kept my eye on the yard, I didn’t want to trap one of the poor things, and I never saw it.  Mama Dog didn’t seem too concerned either.  Well, I guess I’ll find out Thursday or Friday how well my fence shoring held, if they managed to get back in Montreal’s backyard or not.

Jimmy's dogs

There is a dead dog under the trailer in my neighbor's yard. I can't tell if it's Mama Dog or one of the other yellow dogs in the pack. When we first bought the country place, there was Leo who is owned by the sheriff 's deputy that lives across the road, Mama Dog and another adult yellow dog. The next spring, Mama Dog had a litter of about 12 pups, only two of which survived to adulthood. We call those Big Puppy and Little Puppy. Little Puppy got hit by a car and so only uses one of it's front legs. This spring, Mama Dog had another litter, only 10 this time. Jimmy claims he cannot catch Mama Dog to get her fixed but I suspect he just doesn't care. Mostly, the dogs hang out at Jimmy's or in the yard next door where the trailer is. They have several dog trots through the back half of our 1/2 acre. I've started banging two pieces of 2" x 4" together when they get near. It soulds a lot like a gun shot and they run like the devil back to Jimmy's. Otherwise, when you yell at them they just back off til you go inside.

When we first moved out here, our neighbor very nonchalantly told us that if Jimmy's dogs bother us, just shoot them. 'Shoot the puppies!?', I asked in horror. I'm beginning to understand that position though I would never shoot a dog down. Yesterday, I witnessed Leo, leading his pack (the adult yellow dog, Big Puppy, Little Puppy, and the 3 or 4 surving pups from this year) into the open gate of the fenced yard across the street and going after the german shephard that lives there. The shephard got away and the dog pack left but the whole episode left me very uncomfortable. So I am considering calling the county animal control office. I'm just not sure how attached Jimmy and his family are to those dogs, besides Leo, and being a newcomer to the area, I hesitate to deal harshly since so far, they have just been a small nuisance.

There has been no sign of Mama Dog though. I hope that is her under the trailer. I know that makes me sound hard, but the last thing we need is another litter adding to the dog pack. The last thing that poor Mama Dog needed was another litter. Chances are good though that some of the surviving pups are female. I guess we'll find out next spring.