Well.. I have some fun news to share. But first, hop on the gator and let’s take a ride around the North 40 so I can show you some stuff.
This box turtle lives in the woods behind one of our fields… Turtles are a sign, you know. Good vs. Evil. Turtles represent the good. So when you see one of these babies walking across the road, do you dare stop? I do. I’m careful, of course, not to get run over, but I do stop and move them along into the woods out of harms way.
In the next field over we’ve got an oddity. Last week we began haying fields, but the rain came and that had to stop. Haying is a long process and a very tedious one. Certain things have to happen in order for the hay to cut well and be DRY so that it doesn’t mold up – rendered unfeedable. A farmer must have at least three dry days in a row and preferably more to cut the hay, fluff it up (there’s a better word for it but I’ll be darned, I don’t know it) then baled and put in a dry barn for storage. So last week — beginning the cutting… a turkey nest was discovered, with momma sitting on about 8 eggs. Unfortunately the fellow who cuts our fields almost ran right over it before he saw it – so most of the hay around and over it is gone. Momma was still sitting on the eggs, brave soul. So.. we (meaning me and the husband, the old softee) took old hay bales and built a wall of sorts around her, that she could come and go from. Now, we’ve got plenty of coyotes and fox and hawks that are her natural enemies.. I don’t know if this will do. But, it’s better than what she was left with, bless her heart. So far, so good.
Can you see her tucked in there?….
Now let’s head over to the other field, where the edges are lined with pines. We sprayed them recently due to all the gypsy moth caterpillars (SO GROSS – they’re EVERYWHERE)… and were checking to see if they were dead. The caterpillars – not the trees. Well I saw a old nest in one of those trees, and I figured it had been dowsed with chemical and wanted to pull it out of the tree before a bird used it again. I mean it really did look old. Damn it. It was in fact, in use.
The baby looked quite healthy and was virgoursly asking for food. I hadn’t touched it and the nest was still solidly constructed – so I tucked it back in the branches where it had been, and mom returned immediately. *sigh. Live and learn.
So.. the fun news!! The REALLY BIG NEWS!! Because I have access to lots of dog rescue pages on Facebook, I see a heck of a lot of posts. Every now and then a certain dog catches my eye, whether it’s at one of the adoption events or online. Many times I thought I found the one, but the husband wasn’t on board and without his blessing I’m not poking that bear, you know what I mean? For some reason, this time, he said OK. No big argument, no big discussions… it was just OK. Ok then!
Sometimes really big news comes in really little packages, like this little girl here. She was pulled from a very overcrowded shelter in Georgia along with her mother. They had been dumped by someone unceremoniously. If you don’t live down south, you may not be familiar with the fact that there are SO many strays, so many homeless pets, so many Kill shelters as a result. 1000’s die regularly. Thousands. Spay and neuter is not a popular thing down south either, something about the manly mentality – not wanting to cut off their nuts. Pardon the crude but true statement.
So, they call her Sally. I don’t know if we will, when we actually meet her we’ll know. She arrives Saturday afternoon via transport after a long ride down the 95 corridor. She is approximately 4 months old and 5 pounds. Very friendly, a low rider. Probably a doxie mixed with -sumthin.
I wasn’t really looking for a fourth dog. My three get along just fine. Frasier for sure will be jealous… but he’ll get over it and I will pay extra attention to him to help ease him through the new baby sister thing. Sometimes, you just go with the flow. Sometimes something just calls to you and you reach out, knowing It’s all good.
Hooray for the Underdog – welcome little Sally.