Happy (and bloody) birthday

[Bunnylady]

Eeks! The spikes on that palm frond looks a lot like a Yucca that grows around here, known by the common name of "Spanish Bayonet." I saw one catch a volleyball once, and it was "game over!"

Glad to hear the little guy is on the mend!

 

[sumi]

The spike went through his rubber boot, which was quite impressive. The upside of it being so strong was that it didn't break off in his foot. DH pulled it out before he took the boot off.
The visiting dog was looking for a chicken. She ate my favourite hen 2 years ago when she was outside sitting on eggs. Her owner has a habit of not feeding her

After the chicken incident things got better, but now he slipped up again. We went and got him a bag of dog food yesterday. If he slips up again I'm phoning the Animal Protection Society.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Oh dear. Very bad doggy! Terrible about losing your chicken. I feel sad for the dogs, though, because it's always the owners who are responsible for the problems they cause, but it's usually the dogs that pay the price. (And the chickens.

) Is the Animal Protection Society very responsive to loose dogs? In our county, animal control deals with loose dogs very quickly, but I've heard from other BYCers that it really depends on where you live.


These are my two beasts. Neither of them turned out to be trustworthy around chickens

, so we fenced off a large section that is dog-free. The big one I've had from a pup, and she has always been good with our other pets, but for some reason, the chickens are irresistible.

(In the pic, telling her to leave the chickens alone, so she's wearing her "bad dog" look!) The upside is that they help deter predators in the yard.

 

[sumi]

Your dogs are lovely! Love the look on the black one's face.
The neighbour's dog is actually very good, but since she didn't get fed for about 3 days, she did what she had to do to get a meal. At first I wanted to shoot her, but I figured out that her owner was the guilty party here, so instead I made sure she gets something to eat over the weekends when he's drunk. Some weekends we look after his kid as well.
I'm still sad about my hen though.
We have 3 animals protection services in this area who help look after the animals, spay bitches, euthanise sick/injured animals, hand out deworming tablets and try to educate people. There are too many domestic animals here that are not looked after properly, so they have their hands full! Loose dogs and homeless dogs usually gets rehomed and round up quickly.

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Good neighbors are a blessing, aren't they! We only have 1.2 acres, but the property is long and thin, and we have 7 different neighbors bordering us. We are lucky; all of them are very considerate and responsible. One family has a daughter competing in the Olympics! My son is yard-sitting their garden while they are in London. I imagine your neighbor must be quite frustrating. Hard to know whether I'd feel more anger or pity. It is good of you to watch over his child.

As for the dogs keeping away predators, well I might have to rethink that! Have the house all opened up this evening due to the heat, and a raccoon walked right into the garage, bold as can be!

We were sitting only 10 feet away through the open door! My hubby heard it and chased it out. Luckily, the dogs were inside so I am not having to deal with torn up beasties, as those raccoons can be quite vicious. The chilling part is that I am keeping two Ameraucana pullets in the garage at night until they are big enough to go out in the coop with the big girls. Not sure if our unwanted visitor was after the birds or the dog food I store nearby. Doors are shut now!

Hope you have had some relief from the rain. We are having a heat wave through the weekend. Ugh! I don't do well in the heat. Funny, but thinking of you in the midst of winter, I have to stop myself from inquiring how your Christmas holiday has been! Like for Australia and our family in Hawaii, Santa must wear shorts and ride a surf board! (Or is Christmas not a big deal there?)

 

[sumi]

Neighbour's kid just ate the last of our bread. And DH was about to have a sandwich for lunch. It's hard to say "No" when I know the kid's hungry, but I'm tempted sometimes to go to his Dad and say he should replace some of the food his child eats at our house while he pours his week's wage down his throat.
I thought about getting us a dog for security, but we're moving soon, so it's not practical. We had a lovely Bullterrier years ago and very few visitors! No predator problems either. Since then I've had chicks snatched at our backdoor.

We're having a lovely warm day finally, so I'm catching up on washing. It's ironic really. In summer we wish for rain and clouds, as it get terribly hot here, but in winter when we want to sun we get rain and clouds. Something's wrong here!
Christmas is not nearly as big a deal here as in some other countries. Relatives get together and everyone who can afford to go down to the South coast for the December holiday. My son would probably get the fright of his life if he sees a Santa and we generally don't bother with decorations and trees. Me and DH are terrible though. We even forget what day it is and forget to wish anyone a Happy Christmas

 

[Wishing4Wings]

Hah! I think Christmas is so popular here because is it shamelessly pushed by all the retail stores. It's when they make the majority of their money! We're not religious, but I love some of the traditions, especially having a tree with lights. It sure brightens things up during those very long winter nights. Can't imagine bothering, though, if it was the middle of summer! Mostly it's a great excuse to get together with family and friends and eat far more than we should.

Are you moving far? Staying in SA? You get to keep your chickens, yes? Hope you have better luck with neighbors. My mom used to talk about 3 white Bullterriers that a neighbor had when she was a girl. She thought they were the best dogs! Funny that we never had one ourselves. We had several Rhodesian Ridgebacks (not purebreds) and mixes of Bull Mastiff and lots of other large breed mixes that were usually someone else's cast offs. The little poodle mix chicken chaser that I have now got dumped in our rural neighborhood last year, and we took him in. He has the most high pitched, ear piercing bark. Makes your ears ring, but he's good company for the big dog. First (and last) experience with a small dog and with the long hair. Once is enough.

The part of California where we live actually has very mild weather, as we are close enough to the ocean (about 30 miles) to get the marine influence. Mostly warm dry summers and rainy winters (no snow) have turned me into a weather wimp. Too hot, I'm not happy, too cold, I'm not happy, and not even very extreme temps here at all!

They grow a lot of grapes around here. Grapes are finicky about temperatures too!

 

[sourland]

Sumi, the story of my life 4 days late and a dollar short. Happy Birthday

and hopefully your son is well on the way to healing.

 

[sumi]

Sumi, the story of my life 4 days late and a dollar short. Happy Birthday

and hopefully your son is well on the way to healing.

Rather late than never

My boy's much better and he just about forgot about the incident already! Oh, it's lovely, being so young. You just bounce back.

 

[sumi]

Hah! I think Christmas is so popular here because is it shamelessly pushed by all the retail stores. It's when they make the majority of their money! We're not religious, but I love some of the traditions, especially having a tree with lights. It sure brightens things up during those very long winter nights. Can't imagine bothering, though, if it was the middle of summer! Mostly it's a great excuse to get together with family and friends and eat far more than we should.

Are you moving far? Staying in SA? You get to keep your chickens, yes? Hope you have better luck with neighbors. My mom used to talk about 3 white Bullterriers that a neighbor had when she was a girl. She thought they were the best dogs! Funny that we never had one ourselves. We had several Rhodesian Ridgebacks (not purebreds) and mixes of Bull Mastiff and lots of other large breed mixes that were usually someone else's cast offs. The little poodle mix chicken chaser that I have now got dumped in our rural neighborhood last year, and we took him in. He has the most high pitched, ear piercing bark. Makes your ears ring, but he's good company for the big dog. First (and last) experience with a small dog and with the long hair. Once is enough.

The part of California where we live actually has very mild weather, as we are close enough to the ocean (about 30 miles) to get the marine influence. Mostly warm dry summers and rainy winters (no snow) have turned me into a weather wimp. Too hot, I'm not happy, too cold, I'm not happy, and not even very extreme temps here at all!

They grow a lot of grapes around here. Grapes are finicky about temperatures too!

Strangely many of the Christmas things, like the tree and Santa is non-religious customs we've adopted. I looked at the price of a shortish piece of tinsel in the supermarket last year and I can't help but wonder how people can afford the rest of the trimmings and the food and the presents after decorating the tree. It's crazy!
We're leaving SA, was going to the UK as DH is English, but they are making things so difficult now, we decided to go to Rep of Ireland instead. I'm looking forward to it. Have heard many good things about Ireland and enormously liked every Irishman I met so far. And after living in the semi-dessert here in SA, I'm going to enjoy Ireland's beauty and climate. Better learn to like the rain quick!
We are surrounded by wine makers here and they grow very good grapes and make even better wines, but they have to spray and spray and spray some more to keep the crops from going bad. Not much fun if you're breathing it in all day.
My parents had some pedigree Bullterriers when I grew up and we always had at least 2, sometimes 3 and we had puppies every year. I loved the puppies! They really are wonderful dogs, as long as they are well trained and looked after. I've seen Bullies go very wrong with bad owners. We never had problems with ours though and non of them ever attacked anyone.