Jest Another Day in Pear-A-Dice - Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm in Alberta

[drumstick diva]

Sometimes with babies, animals, etc. a good poo is really cause for celebration - not gross - just means things are getting back to normal. That alone can make a great day.

So glad Fixins had a good dump

Whew, now I can go back to answering new members introductions.

 

[CanuckBock]

Well I'm glad you spared us the poo pic we know you took

Funny thing is I took a pic of a poop today...

Long story
Not worth telling

<<Jest one pic you figure eh?>>

Well our vet won't be so lucky...he won't be spared those CLICKS...heh heh heh...

Yeh, I can imagine that both our poo stories are probably rather...uh....bleak at the best of times?

Sometimes with babies, animals, etc. a good poo is really cause for celebration - not gross - just means things are getting back to normal. That alone can make a great day.

So glad Fixins had a good dump

Whew, now I can go back to answering new members introductions.

It was concerning...she is a hearty eater right now and well...I started worrying the other way...good she eats but where is it all going to and how's that gonna be on her system?

Hmm...everyone's fav (yuck!)...baked liver...nummy...

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Yes, we all need to keep on doing what we are so good at and carry along... newbies need to be welcomed and I never seem too good at that, eh.

But no matter, I can make myself USEFUL...think I found my calling, an excellent use for all of myself...

So I may provide warmth in winter...and well, SHADE in this situation.

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And not too bad an official ear caregiver too!

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Tis spring break here...so we all need to be...

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Pool/Pond side, eh!

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We're not too fancy of an establishment though...

No umbrella in her drinks

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Napping...​

She's a bit glazed at times but she's resting ​

What's interesting with Foamy...she wants pretty much nothing to do with Fixins.

She's interested and hovering, but won't come near her.​

Foamy probably figures Fix is contagious...yeh...old age is contagious...if we live long enough, we are ALL going to feel its effects, eh!

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She is enjoying herself...that is paramount to her quality of living...eating, soaking up some sunshine...

Enjoying the shade thanks to moi

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Enjoying her walk-abouts, burning off a bit of energy in a good way



It is good she has things to do....inspections to make! Things jest wouldn't be right if they were not dog approved, eh.

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Every 3 or 4 hours, she has to be going on a jaunt

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Then back to the house and reclines on a buncha cushy cushes

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Stuff a little bitta goodies in her...fed by hand and she's a pretty happy camper considering.

Reminds me...it's time to feed the beasty some breaky...

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[CanuckBock]

Just found this thread and I think I have a bit of catching up to do but it's gonna be FUN! Thanks, Tara, for this wonderful and very fun thread.

Yeh, it is usually a little more upbeat here...but I suppose we need to have a few lows so we can measure the highs, eh!

Glad you are finding the thread fun...it is all about having the FUN!

Tara, I am so so sorry that Fixin's is not doing well

I lost my 13 year old Border Collie X Cavalier on Christmas Day 4 years ago and I am still not over it! For 11 of her 13 years she lived with epilepsy. She was attacked by a dog when she was just 6 weeks old with a tooth penetrating her skull; we nearly lost her. Anyways, the build up of scarring over time increased her episodes of seizures and towards the end, no matter how much we tweaked her meds, she kept having breakthrough seizures increasing in severity to the point that she would be blind for hours afterwards.

Anyways, as awful as those seizures were for me, I was guaranteed by numerous Vets on numerous occasions that she didn't know or feel what was happening during them and as long as she did not bite her tongue or bash her head on anything etc; they were not as bad as they looked. I held her paw and talked her through many seizures over many years.



I miss her! Still a dog free household to this day; I am not ready

http://www.tickld.com/x/why-dogs-never-actually-die-this-guy-nails-it

Fixins is having good days and not so good moments at this point.

She kinda looks like her old self, just as determined to do things her way, eh​

No, we are not happy but it is as good as it can be expected. She is old...we all get to do that we hope, get old, eh.

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I'm old too and forgetful...this morn there was a pair of ravens hanging around the front gate and I shushed them. Lookit the reaction of the Fix...Mom said intruders and she's all spit and vinegar!

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Cripers...she is GAME ON...and I am thinking..."NO>>>>you don't need to waste energies like that...!!!" Dang I gotta behave... remember she wants to be in play and I have to know to keep her toned back. Bad bad me...put the run on bad birdies and not expect her to want to partake...very important dog duty...run off the riff raff.

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Thankfully I kept myself in check and we spent the morning going around like she likes doing...she gets a good sleep and then in the morn, wants to do what she has always done, go on patrol and check out her world. Have a pee (mark this spot as HERS) and do an inspection of the place...everything has to be in order...or she will put it in order.

Tries to do what she has always done... scares the dickens outta me...

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This rips my heart open...she is trying to take a drink outta one of the fish spitters Rick has around the pond...her own personal drinking devices is what she always figured, eh. "Dad installed dog fonts...slurp!"

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She is stubborn and she will do what she has always done...come heck or high water, eh. BRAT!

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When she starts to look like this, I haul her back inside.

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Thank you for sharing your story about your pretty and sweet puppers...

Well that is not such a nice day to have as a reminder...sigh...we thought maybe Fixins would go on Rick's b-day...thankfully, that date came and went...a relief as I never do like when something passes on a day like in your case, Christmas...sigh!

Went and read that link you posted...yes, dogs never do die and they sleep in our hearts is a good way to think of it. I guess I am a tad different in some ways.

Every year, a photo of the Dolgo flowering and them dog dogs - 2009 ​

For us, ACDs never sleep...OK, they do rest their eyes a tad...but when I think of all the dogs we have lost to old age (happily, none to any accidents...I guess I never sleep on that one, gotta keep them safe from harm, eh!)...I guess I just don't see them sleeping.

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I see them running and romping, kicking up their own heels, them Heelers!

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Makins (Fixins' Mah) comes to mind because the day she left us, it was February here in Alberta...and the skies opened up and sprinkled rain on us (rain is rare in February, it should have been snows, but it was rains)...it was like the heavens were crying down on us and then the sun broke thru and the clouds hung low and above was all this joyous brightness.

A photo of my WILD ROSES​

So when I think of Makins, I think of her running along that cloud bank, all grey and dismal at her feet but with the sunshine shining gloriously behind her and her running and romping and looking so happily down upon us...telling us to enjoy ourselves but know she is waiting for us to join her too.

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I think of Makins because she was the first dog that Rick, Alexander and I acquired to enjoy our new family together as.

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We got a dog to complete the family unit.

Dad, Mom, Kid and a dog...our world is perfect then.

June 14, 2014​

Not to be unfair to the dogs that came after Makins, but Rick says that she was the hardest one of all...she was the first one to go that made us realize, "Hey now...we are all getting on in our years!" It kinda made him feel that with her death; perfection, happiness and forever were not attainable here on Earth. It shook us up and made us aware...breath it in deep, enjoy every second, ever sun rise and set...every DAY is a paradise to be relished fully.

Makins - laughed as my Aussie Breeder friend use to say she looked like a Wombat...her legs were too short but like we cared...​

Always threatened to put Makins on the rack and stretch those stubby legs of hers to match that cobby bod...such a sweety dog that one! What she lacked in perfect form (she had 8 out of her 10 points to her CKC Conformation Championship but I never cared to finish her title--never seemed to get to it completely finishing so I shrug and figure, what we did do, we had fun doing). If her form was not perfect, her function was...she made up in decent attitude...did a bit of obedience trialing, second time ever on sheeps, she completed 1/4 of her CKC Herding Started trials, she got her Herding Instinct Certificate (all our dogs did that one easy!) and she was always my dog for moving a few stubborn ducks...she never gripped birds...she even picked up hurt songbirds in the yard to deliver to our hands to get fixed back up. Gentle she was, picked up yard eggs and delivered them uncracked--had to scramble them for her dinner...that was the deal, eh! Makins' testing was good; OFA good in hips and clear in elbows, always eye CERFed annually, BAER tested bilateral hearing...genetically speaking she was healthy. So we just chose a male with a more 9 to 10 ratio body, made Fixins UN wombatish!

Makins was such a good dog...aren't they all tho!

Alexander, a friend's ACD Jazz and Mickey D (Makins the Dog) ​

Before Makins went, we never had a dog pass as a family unit--it was all about life and living and enjoying what was here. New, young & youthful; new beings to add to the family, new life and living. Now we know with it shoved in our faces, that life is meant for us all to get old and to pass. It is a deep sadness to see the things of our youth change, not like you can stop it any, but it did make all of us here feel mortal when Makins was the first one here in Pear-A-Dice to pass on over that rainbow bridge.

That the "once upon a time" fairy tale did become something more than just the perfect ending of "and they all LIVED happily, ever after!"

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Not my first grand mal seizure. The first one was at a dog show when I was still dogging it with the ACD's. I had shown Makins and another ACDer's dog, Oracle, had taken Breed. Makins and I were waiting there in the inside entrance area of the rings, getting ready to cheer on the Herding Group, "Go Oracle!" I knew Oracle's hired handler and was standing with her ring side chatting. Suddenly Oracle went down and had a seizure...right ring side...maybe the chemicals used to clean up, we may never quite know what set her off (her name perhaps??). I handed my lead for Makins to a person standing there dumbfounded and took off my suit jacket to quickly put that under Oracle so she did not hurt herself. I looked up and the handler looked baffled...so I said to her, "Go see if you can find a vet," as there is suppose to be a vet in attendance at the shows and I was not sure how Oracle was going to come out of this--better a vet make the judgment call on what to do when this passed. Handler came back and Oracle was just about done her fit...could not find a vet but found another person that had dogs that had had seizures. I kinda laugh as they were upset I had taken one of my show jackets and now had dog slobber and hair all over it. Like I cared, dry cleaning would fix that. Funniest part...just as the seizure had passed, the Ring Steward started calling in the Breed winners for Group competition...as we were tending to Oracle, the handler said the ACD was not going to be competing in Group. I guess the Steward never quite got it, "ACD to ring...Where's the ACD?" Finally had to call the Stewart over and point at Oracle laying there recovering..."She's had a seizure and won't be competing!" DUH...

Course it was the talk of the dog show because lots gather round to see the Groups judged. To this day, people think it was my dog that had the seizure...like just because I was helping out. There is a real stigmatism to seizures but they happen in ALL dog breeds and for all reasons; some known and unknown...from accidents to just born that way I guess. I think the whole issue is to try and make whatever meds or procedures you have in place lessen the strength of the seizure if the dog experiences them. I guess the damage is done when they do have the grand mal episodes. Not too worried about Fixins...with the big lump and the adverse signs to Metacam she has shown us...I am thinking both of those contributed to her having a seizure and so it goes. Never get use to them and I don't think one is suppose to. It can be quite unnerving. Glad to know the dog is out and does not have to have a bad time during the episodes.

I lost my last dog at nearly 14.5 in January of 1989, I haven't had a dog since. But I do love on everyone else's dog. I go into the pet shops that allow dogs on leash, so I can pet them-( I can feel my blood pressure dropping). I used to raise dogs and the last 4 went fairly close together, 2 were 14 and 2 almost 14.5. Just too much heartache and too little income to handle vet bills and every other canine necessity where prices have gone through the roof. I miss them badly but, can see them any time I want when my memory goes into re-runs.

I completely understand your logic DD. It is something Rick and I are talking about too. Rick said to me, "Now think what all the work that a new puppy would be like! Can we handle that?," when he sees me tending to Fixins...love to make her all happy & comfy but it is true, it involves some extra work too.

Love your concept of "re-runs" ... I get re-runs when I look at the photos I take!

Watched a show called Furever last week...we humans are not so in control as we might like to think. Having a pet incites the release of oxytocin which is what helps us bond with our kids and our lovers. So when we say we think of our pets as our children, we have hormones that incite that response.

Critters get the same responses too...

Pet dogs release same ‘love hormone’ as humans
By Natalie O'Neill - April 26, 2014

http://nypost.com/2014/04/26/pet-dogs-release-same-love-hormone-as-humans/:

Not staged...I found Makins cuddling Fixins, day Fruitcup was born...July 14, 2001
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Hard to remember when they would fit in the palm of your hand, eh!

Junk yard dogs​

They grow up SO quickly...physically...the OBM (Optional Brain Module) usually lags behind in them ACDs...takes, what, 2 to 3 years for the OBM to arrive. Best age of an ACD...anywhere from five years onwards...sensible as they are ever gonna be. Feels like when you are training them...nothing sinks in.

Fixins' sister Java herding her own Chooks
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Yeh, no worries for now...Fixins is here to be enjoyed...so all this pondering can sit on a shelf as completely irrelevant to what is going on here, day by precious day by wonderful day, eh.

Quote:
Originally Posted by perchie.girl

My Rosie was Seventeen... two years ago. I still cant fully talk about it.

deb

I understand that too...Rick can't talk about the dogs we have had... You can't love them as much as we do and just shrug off that unconditional love they give so freely. I adore old dogs and wish we could capture that and keep it going on and on. But I know better and need to keep myself realistic.

What I find the most important...that I take in as much as Fixins is willing to give me here and now. She is sleeping by my feet, resting so comfy. Drink that in so cherished and remember it dearly.

Tara, sorry to hear about Fixin's health issues. It's hard watching a dog in pain. But take comfort in the knowledge that Fixin's has gotten to live life to the fullest, and for quite a while too. I hope you can make her feel as comfortable as possible, and that the daily outings bring her a lot of joy.

Thank you. She is not in pain in the sense I see her shaking or not able to sleep, eat but she is energetic but then tires. I can see that part. She does go glazed out too...and that is probably pain of some kind. We will not kid ourselves she is on the downhill slide. She may last today, she may last a week, or a month. But the reality is as Rick says, "She is not going to suddenly go in reverse now and go backwards to being young." This is serious and the main goal is about her and what she needs.

It is a balancing act to know if you as a human are making an animal suffer for your own selfishness in that YOU can't let them go when their quality of life is dismal at best. She eats, she wants to go out every 3 to 4 hours...rain, snow, sleet and shine, day time and middle of the night...she wants out and we are happy to do that for her. When we see she is in pain and it is not something that say is just her glazing out...then the decision has to be made to be in her best interests. Are we selfishly keeping her alive to be in pain because we are too weak to decide the tough love proper thing is to end the suffering. WE get that part totally.

My vet is on stand by with other kinds of meds now for pain management...he wanted her stomach to settle after the Metacam ordeal, but all I have to do is contact him and he'd prescribe me pain meds at the local clinic here, ten minutes away.

I do hope she has lived a good and full life and for a decent amount of time. I know we all wish they would live longer...we do fall so much in love over these dog dogs. I think that I would wish that they would live longer but then we have to weigh that part out too. Do you want only ONE dog in your life or many to enjoy...seven now I have had in my life and every one of them has been a treasure to enjoy. And if the dog lived as long as we humans are suppose to...then the question arises, is it fair that the dog then OUT lives the human(s) they are with? It is a question we have to weigh out because while we don't want to be dogless...but we also don't relish the thought of a dog that has lived with our family that knows no other life other than with Rick & I.

2012 - Shelter photo of Glorph for adoption​

I know our kid would take any dog or dogs we have if we both passed. He is a real peach that one and we are EVER so proud of him. He adopted Glorph who was 17 years old at the shelter. The Shelter staff told him, "Just enjoy him, he'll probably just last the one winter!" HA! Glorph is enjoying his THIRD winter with our son--that's what pure love is capable of...love, good food, attention and meds. Alexander loves him dearly but keeps a distance on the fact...how long is his old rescued dog gonna last...and does it matter...he enjoys him alot and we love visiting them and the two cats he also has. I know there is an after our lives home for any dogs Rick and I acquire but you still have to be responsible and think of as many what if's and plan for the worst case scenarios too. I don't like to shirk off a duty just because I know our son will be there to care for any creatures we leave behind should we kick the bucket.

March 2013
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Enjoying the good life!

July 13, 2014​

There will be more dogs here...can't see how to properly run the place without a Chore Dog at the helm...we never got a pup for when Fixins is here...she would never have stood for that! She's the BABY and it would break her heart to pieces if we brought in some bad mannered whippersnapper other puppy dog. I was amazed that her and Foamers got along so well. Good girlfriends BUT also have to watch them...both strong minded B-dogs those two gals. So Rick and I have respected Fixins wishes on that concept about having a few younger dogs in the mix. It would have been easier having a newer younger protégé but that is not what Fix would stand for. I'm OK with it. She is a special dog that Fixins and she demands compliance er else.

Fixins the Rotten Dog...Lipping off!​

I am not sure if it will be another rescue, an older dog, or a brand new pup we order up from the many breeders we know. Might get two dogs and seal our fates on going to the dogness all over again. Fellow breeders were always trying to give us dogs...puppies for free and Rick and I just politely declined. We had five and how many dogs does it take where you end up with one that gets ignored...we had two dogs and then the two became the four...I had two leads with brace chains to manage when we took them out and about. The fifth one in Foamer...that was just one more lead I could not wrestle with since I liked flying solo at the show grounds...tangled web indeed! I even had a crate on wheels to manage holding the dogs when I ran the others stupid around the ring. I quit showing dogs and focussed on enjoying the muttley herd here instead. I know the dogs never missed the shows...more like they put up with me and going to all that woofy silliness.

Makins, HyBlade, and Stogs - 2000 after an ACD Specialty Show ​

I don't figure we need to worry much about this...not yet. Fixins is with us and we have that to focus our energies on for now. She needs us as much as we need her...to stay and be here for as long as she wills it.

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No, we shall not rush out and get another dog WHEN Fixins passes...and think that the newer dog will be expected to replace any of the dogs we have so enjoyed and loved here over the years. It will be a new dog and a new individual with different quirks and qualities we will need to get use to. But first, we will need to grieve and mourn our loss when Fixins does decide it is her time...a good day to die. Right now, sucking all she has to give in and being there for her...and for us. Making the memories.

Trailer Trash​

But there will be more dogs in our lives to love and enjoy. I, myself, am not quite dead yet.

There goes TROUBLE...​

Besides...I need a dog in attendance to keep an eye on me. We have rescued dog Styra Foamers but she is not a Chore Dog...the birds frighten her (first time a tom gobbled at her, she looked like someone had shot her!) and heaven forbid, the ruminants terrify her even moreso. That's OK...she don't need to be a working herding dog--we brought her home because the shelter manager I had known for nine years did not want to retire and know Foamy would have to be put down (as manager, she had been extending that deadline for weeks)...so called me and asked me to take her in. Foamers is a great dog, but not a herder dog. Them dang sheeps...they know when I don't bring along a dog. Them sheeps KNOW they can act up and misbehave; run circles around me and refuse to be put away in their barn and corrals, safe from the predators for the night. Bring a dog, a worker one, and they salute the dog and listen like good little sheeps...too smart for their own good, eh. Unmanageable without a Chore Dog to inspect the goings on.

This is Fixins looking all concerned about ME...

June last year...me and the fire wood episodes...​

Fixins is looking at me saying..."Are you OK? Maybe you better have a sit down and rest...you look peaked."

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

Edited; can't spell proper like today, eh

 

[CanuckBock]

Heel low:

Now for a more regular post you have come to expect visiting here in Pear-A-Dice.

First the food...

April 1st; Pork Parmesan, baby potatoes and broccoli
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April 2nd; leftovers...sliced up roast beef with onions and gravy on mashers, brocos, half a pork parmesan cutlet I never ate...and corn on the cob​

Spring has sprung up nicely...seen gophers down the road from us, thankfully none here...seen male bluebirds a flying, and seen lots of geese flying about honking...nice.

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On March 30, 2015, Rick transferred the pond fish from their winter home in the garage in a large stock tank...out to the summer place...the fish pond and waterfall. He has a baker's dozen fish...

Pond is 450 gallons...lots of round and round space to swim in


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Many a pleasant sit and watch time is spent seeing them fishies...

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Wish I could post the splish splash sounds...to give you all the full feeling of being a peeping Tom at the pond and waterfall, eh

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The F4's in the Higgins White Dove bantam Chantecler chicken project presented us with an egg yesterday...first egg...always a reason to celebrate.

Don't she look silly and yet proud...me first EGGY!! Bock a bock bock!

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43.7 grams is a good and solid SMALL sized egg...not bad at all for a BANTAM chook pullet's first egg...small sized eggs are 42 to 48 grams ​

This pullet is looking solid like a brick with rounded edges and corners...num num...so not only got eggs, there is a good looking MEAT bird in a bantam size too. General purpose fowl, here we go!

Her plumage has the desired white as snow coloured feathers...yee haw!
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Just knew I could (knew I could, knew I could) get those RAINBOWS of colours into a decent self-White bird & get rid of the leaky red pigments. Fourth generation is looking fine...now to behave and ponder...the fifth generation...needs to be...MAKE MORE OF THE SAME...LMBO...MORE the MERRIER!

I believe she has a very nice Chanty type shape...as a pullet, she looks pretty blocky, eh. She'll let age & gravity make her even more boxy...a nice pullet to watch grow into a hen.

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Can't help but be doing the silly happy chicken dance, eh. It's the little successes that keep you keen over the years when you do these projects, eh...the little happies.

Dr. R. E. Rochon of Clarence Creek, Ontario, January 1919:


Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada

 

[bamadude]

Sorry bout your puppy Tara.

 

[CanuckBock]

Sorry bout your puppy Tara.

Thanks Bam.

No worries Mun...me oldster too. I just hope someone makes me baked liver too...blended into a shake...so I can't taste it...maybe in an IV formula...

 

[bamadude]

That pork parm looks good. How did you make it?

 

[CanuckBock]

That pork parm looks good. How did you make it?

Thanks...

I got a nice set of photos from March that I will post on here...service provider is over loaded at the moment...so not good time to try to post the pics to go with it.

 

[drumstick diva]

Tara, I love your little celebrations - first egg in that darling holder - as much as your big ones.. That is what makes you who you are. You always find something in life to celebrate. I am hoping that sterling trait of yours rubs off on me.

 

[CanuckBock]

That pork parm looks good. How did you make it?

Bwa ha ha ha...knew I could cheat on this one...if I went a lookin'...December last year post...

Thank heavens there were four pork cutlets eh...showing every cutlet at ever dip dip/dob dob stage of progression... ​

Hmmm! RAW pork coated in various things including RAW egg...good case for botch!​

Pan Fried and then thoroughly cooked in the oven
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Plated! Grab fork and knife and get gobbling!

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Quote:
Originally Posted by drumstick diva

Tara, I love your little celebrations - first egg in that darling holder - as much as your big ones.. That is what makes you who you are. You always find something in life to celebrate. I am hoping that sterling trait of yours rubs off on me.

Well I know I tried to tone down how excited I was to see the first egg from this F4 self-White pullet.

When I hold the two eggs (one a day now!) she has given, to me in my small little world, that sums up five years of breeding the White Wys to find out what colours were under the self-whites AND then add on to that the years it has taken to get the four generations of bantam project Chanteclers going. The TWO eggs represent that many years of work simply because those TWO EGGS mean I am going to eventually see more White bantam Chanteclers than maybe I will know what to do with--I can make me MORE of the SAME!

Now I celebrate because what would it mean if I got NO eggs from the perfectly white feathered little F4 mongers...end of project, ends there...no eggs = no more birds and no more progress. So yeh, DD you can laugh because it IS meant to be funny...but then serious, but mostly to me and my hopes and dreams coming true. Silly hopes and dreams, not life threatening or earth shattering but FUN and that is what we all should be striving for...the fun of it all. If'n it ain't fun, I don't figure its much worth pursuing. In the scope of the REAL world, really, who cares if your chickens are white, blue, purple zig zags with pink poka dots...tis a CHICKEN!

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/243277/chantecler-thread/1570#post_15046783

I posted my Higgins White Dove progress on the Chant thread (from chicks the colour of rainbows in F1's, F2's, and F3's with just a tad of miscolours...then the F4's; white as the new fallen snows!)...for any as daft as I am to want to try to do some project like make a big bird a small bird. Whee hee hee...silly but all about the FUN with the Feathered birds, eh!

April 3 - Eggs on plate and egg on scale (medium sized egg from project hen) -
These are coming from the project hens for the PARTRIDGE variety
Two eggs in scale top...1st and 2nd egg from F4 Pullet that represents the WHITE variety; small sized egg a day, good girl!

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Yeh, I told Rick about the pullet egg from the F4 and he did the best interested look he could muster. I know he was TEASING me terribly well and I know I like to be tormented by him...bloomin' bugger that he is. He did crack a smile because he could not hold out the dazed & interested look for as long as I could rattle on what them silly eggers all me, to me...and me pretty much thrilled...

I felt just like Edith talking to Archie...the scenes where Archie mimes the making of a noose and hanging himself, the slitting of his throat, loading of the gun and shooting himself...on and on...ah married life...you get to tolerate each others "small celebrations!"

I don't do videos but think this may contain some of them...Archie's suicides...look at Edith, you'll note she goes on and on, never notices...love those...

Hate now that it is me playing Edith tho!

Seriously, Rick knows how much them eggs mean to me...he just can't help himself to tease...

Fixins is sleeping peacefully at my feets...I can post a few pics from today and one below from last night...

The lump looks to be competing in size now with an ear...sigh

Rick is home...so we bundled her up and brought Foam along too...out and about we all were!

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Tucky the puppy​

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She did go for a walk about too...

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Took her over to see the sheep, corralled up because well Rick was doing this...with all the old bedding that has been dumped in the pasture over winter time.

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Tilling in nicely

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I made sure where Fixins got located...

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She had a great view of the proceedings, gets to feel like she is part of the program--important to working dogs, eh

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Foamy still keeps her distance, eh​

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Tilled up rather good​

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Started to snow, suppose to they say...

Having it tilled a bit is good, more snow will only help it all settle more...will be making rather fine pasture...green to come indeed.

Doggone & Chicken UP!

Tara Lee Higgins
Higgins Rat Ranch Conservation Farm, Alberta, Canada