Country Livin’ Blog

On our road there is a farm that has cattle.  Normally they are grazing peacefully while the “traffic” flows by.  Well, out here a car every 30 minutes is a traffic jam!  Kids on four wheelers don’t count!  They are everywhere and they make me very nervous.  I know that lots of kids in the country spend lots of time on four wheelers, but I just can’t get used to it.  They drive like crazy and half the time they aren’t wearing helmets or any type of protective gear.  But that’s a different post.

One morning last summer I was driving to work and I noticed two heifers running along the road.  Suddenly I realized they were on the wrong side of the fence!  I didn’t know what to do.  I’m a city girl; I don’t know how to get a heifer back into a fence.  So I called my husband.  I told him there were two heifers running down the road.  There was a long pause and he said, “What do you want me to do about it?”  I said, “I need to call someone.  If a car comes around that bend and the heifers are in the road they could get killed and the person in the car could get hurt.”  My husband looked up the number for the sheriff’s department.  I called the sheriff’s department and this is how the conversation went.

Operator: “Sheriff’s Department.”
Me: “Hi, I live on *Blank* Road and there are two heifers running loose right at the bend.”
Operator:  “Again?  Ok, we’ll take care of it.”
Me: “Snicker”
Operator: “Giggle.  Thank you for calling, m’am.”

Now, I ask you, how many places can you call at 8:00 a.m. and get a laugh like that?

Y’all come back,
Fay

Jack Russells don’t like to be cold. It’s interesting how they both want to get in my lap when I’m covering up with a blanket. I’m a fan of the TV show House. I know that it is all re-runs right now because of the writers’ strike, but I don’t even mind watching the re-runs. My sister told me about the show a couple of seasons ago. I had never watched it before and I wasn’t sure I wanted to either. Another medical drama didn’t sound interesting to me when ER has been on the air for the last 12 years. I haven’t watched ER in several seasons, because it just got to be more of the same. House is different. It’s got the little dramas of the lives of the doctors, but that is secondary to the real plot of what is ailing the fictitious patient. Most of the time they are able to figure it out and the patient would walk out of the hospital good as new. Sometimes the patient dies before House and his team can solve the mystery disease.

Anyway, I got snuggled down on the sofa with a blanket. One Jack was in my lap before I could get completely settled and one of the Border Collies got comfy along side. Ed, who had been asking me to get the blanket down earlier, must have had to take a trip out the dog door, because he returned to find his place taken by the other Jack and the BC. This didn’t sit well with Ed. He walked back and forth in front of us, and then he tried to force his way under the blanket. He was under the blanket clinging to the edge of the sofa, growling at the other Jack. This didn’t work. The other Jack just ignored him. He then set his sights on the BC. She tired to ignore him too, but he managed to bully her into moving to the other end of the sofa. It’s good that it was the soft female BC and not one of the males who are under the impression that Jack Russells must surely taste like chicken. That situation would have caused me to get involved and I was more interested to see how Ed would solve his little problem of claimed space. In the end, Ed was able to take the spot where the BC vacated and is still snuggled on the sofa even though I have gotten up. Jack Russells. God love ‘em!

Y’all come back!

Fay

We have a fireplace in our house.  I don’t like fireplaces much.  They make me anxious.  I only agreed to have one because of the resale value.  The fireplace has candles in it because we never did buy gas logs for it.  Gas logs are expensive and I can think of better things to do with my money.

I like scented candles.  My favorite is vanilla.  Vanilla candles are wonderful at masking the smell of nine dogs in the house.  No matter how clean your dogs are, they still smell like dogs.  I wouldn’t mind it if there was only a couple of dogs, but nine tend to be a little overpowering.  Some would even say down right stinky.  I use the scented candles to make it pleasant to watch TV or read in the family room, since that is the room the dogs spend a lot of time in.  I tried to make the candles in the fireplace pretty.  I have them arranged in a semi-circle and I have small candles and big candles so they look nice.

The other evening I was on the phone chatting with my daughter when I heard an odd clinking noise.  It sounded like a glass being chewed on.  It was a glass being chewed on!  One of the Jacks got several of the votives out of the fireplace and was working on getting the candles out of the little cups.  One of the cups was missing.  I did what I normally do when something is missing.  I went out in the backyard. I found the cup and a rather well chewed votive.  Ok, I know they smell nice, but even a Jack Russell should be able to tell when something isn’t edible!

People who know me know that I like candles.  This isn’t a new thing for me.  I can remember several times being given candles for gifts.  My sister recently gave me candles for my anniversary.  They are really pretty and match my china.  I’ve had candles that were shaped like bells and animals. In my Christmas decorations there is a set of Santa candles playing different instruments.  I have a really cute angel one that I keep in a cabinet with other angels that are made of porcelain and china.  Candles are one of my favorite decorating items.  Over the holidays I acquired a candle that I really like the scent of from Thistle Farms.*  I haven’t looked at their blog yet, but I plan to.

All of this because a Jack Russell tired to eat a votive.  Dogs.  Gotta love em!

Y’all come back!

Fay

From their website:

*THISTLE FARMS is a non-profit business run by women who have survived lives of violence, prostitution, and abuse. Thistle Farms products are hand-made by the very women they benefit. Into every product goes the belief that freedom starts with healing, and love can change lives.

Since we are on the subject of dogs, there is a product I don’t think we could live without.  The Chuck-it! Ball Launcher is that product.  My dogs love the Chuck-it!  They line up for their turn to go outside to play.  If you have never seen one or heard of one and you have at least one dog that likes to fetch you really should consider getting one.  We have two.  A regular Chuck-it! and a Chuck-it! Jr.  I have to admit something to you here.  I throw like a girl.  If I were going to go out and throw a ball for the dogs they would only go a few steps and the ball would be right there.  So the Chuck-it! is essential.

This afternoon the dogs were asking to go out to play.  I knew it was very cold outside (at least it is cold for Alabama at 32 degrees.) So I bundled up and took Paige and Casey out in the yard with the Chuck-it!  The thing is, tennis balls don’t want to fly in 32 degrees.  I would raise the Chuck-it! over my head and bring it forward and the ball would still be in the launcher.  Hmmm.  I did it again, ball still there, the dogs have returned now and are looking at me with quizzical looks on their faces.  “What’s up?” they asked.  “Why won’t you throw the ball?”  So I raised the launcher again and brought it forward with more force, the dogs attuned this motion take off running again, this time the ball flies, but ouch!  The launcher has bruised the palm of my hand!  Wow!  That hurt!  It still hurts and it has been an hour since I did it.  It just goes to show you, cold weather makes you hurt yourself!

The Jack Russells are the most fun when playing Chuck-it!  We use two balls and throw one while the Jack is chasing the first ball we load the second.  When the Jack returns with the ball we launch the second ball.  The Jacks will run after the ball and if it bounces, so does the Jack!  They will fly four feet in the air after a tennis ball.  It’s the funniest thing you will ever see!  Flying Jack Russells are the best laugh ever!

Y’all come back!

Fay

As you already know if you read my first post, I have nine dogs. Now your question might be, why? The answer is simple; we didn’t mean to get so many. It just sorta happened. We have our really old dog, Chelsea, and she wasn’t so old when we got our Labrador, Paige. Paige was so full of Labrador energy that we started looking for outlets for all that energy. I took her to obedience school and then to Agility classes. Well, I didn’t do so well at Agility. Not only does the dog need to be agile, so does the human. I’m just not very agile. I would mean for my dog to go one way, but my shoulders weren’t twisted in that direction so my dog would go off course and then just look at me like, “What was that about?” So I gave up Agility.

One day I was walking through our family room when we were living in Montgomery and the TV was on Animal Planet. There was a show about a dog getting an award for playing a game called Flyball. The dog was a Labrador! I called my husband into the room and said, “Check this out! It’s a ball fetching game that looks like drag racing! It’s so cool! Check the internet and see if you can find a team for Paige!” The only team even close to the area was in Birmingham. I was actually glad I wouldn’t have to drive to Atlanta! I contacted the team owner and went to a team practice. I was at the point of thinking I wouldn’t be able to teach my lovely black dog how to play this game. I had been at it for about 6 weeks and she still needed me to run down and back to the box with her. I had made a lot of trips up and down one evening when I just couldn’t do it again. I squatted down next to her and spoke in her ear. “Paige, go get the ball for me. I know you know what I’m saying, just go get me the ball.” The light bulb over Paige’s head turned on. Her ears perked up and she ran over the hurdles triggered the box and brought me the ball! I was squealing with delight! She was jumping around wagging her tail! We never looked back. Paige was a Flyball dog.

My husband who had been accompanying Paige and me on our jaunts to Birmingham was watching when this monumental moment occurred. He was (a) impressed that the dog was now playing and (b) ready to get a Border collie. We contacted a breeder in Hope Hull, Alabama who breeds stock dogs. We purchased our first Border collie from Wayne Butler. (Thanks Mr. Butler!) His name is Casey and he is awesome. Casey knew how to play Flyball without ever being taught. He watched from the time he was a puppy. He knew how to play the game and would chew through his leash to get out there and play. Shortly before his first birthday he was out there playing the game!

And now a disclaimer: Border collies are high energy, highly intelligent animals. If you don’t have space, if you don’t have a job for the dog to do, you will have an animal you don’t know what to do with. They will find a way to amuse themselves if you don’t take the time to work with them. The way they amuse themselves might not be amusing to you. Casey ate our sofa when he was six months old. Waiting to be old enough to play the game was just too boring for such a high energy dog.

As time went on the team was becoming competitive. The need for a “height dog” was evident. I was talking to another dog owner and she said she knew someone who had rescue Jack Russell terriers. A gleam lit in my eye. While sitting in the deli waiting for a sandwich I called the person who had the rescue dogs. She said she had a dog that was one of her breedings that was turned back because his bite was off. He couldn’t be shown in the conformation ring because his teeth needed to be prefect. His name was Edge, but I just couldn’t shout that name in the Flyball lane so I shortened it to Ed. He is an excellent height dog.

As the team needed dogs we would get dogs. Our Paige is now retired and we have a few young dogs, a few middle aged dogs, and some older dogs. There are two dogs in our house that probably will never play the game. Our very old Chelsea and a dog that was in a shelter and was soon to be put down. My husband saw his picture on the internet and couldn’t bear to see such a handsome dog destroyed. His name is Chance (because he deserved one) and he is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. Sweet and very grateful to be alive, but not too bright.

There will be more to come on ‘life with dogs’ so stay tuned! If you would like to see pictures of our dogs you can look at our team website, Rogues Gallery.

Y’all come back!

Fay

Well, it’s Saturday morning and it is snowing outside. Not snow like you would see in Pennsylvania or climes north, but for this neck of the woods it’s pretty significant. I’ve tried to take a picture, but it just isn’t enough yet to show up on a picture. I’ll keep trying and if it sticks a little you’ll be able to see it.

I hate to admit it, but this is pretty exciting! I’m sitting at my computer in my pjs watching the snow drift past the window. It’s a wet heavy snow. Like I said, not like in colder climates where it is small and dry. This is big and wet. It’s pretty in the air, but this type of snow won’t last long on the ground, besides the ground is so warm it won’t last long anyway.

I can remember snows when I was a child living in Pennsylvania. I can remember it starting and lasting for a couple of days. While this snowfall will probably only last a few hours, snowstorms in PA could last for several days. Schools would close and kids would breakout their sleds and skates. I can remember carrying my skates down to the creek and skating for about 20 minutes before my toes went numb and I was ready to head home! I’ve never been one to enjoy cold weather. People would say it was wonderful and I would say it was ok to look at from the comfort of my parent’s warm home. My mother didn’t like cold weather either. She was from New Orleans, LA and transplanted to Pennsylvania after she married my father. She never liked it. I suppose I got the dislike of cold weather from her.

A friend of mine once said he spent three years in New York. He said the first winter it was fun to see the snow. The second winter he was miserable and tired of getting so cold. That summer all he could think of was how he dreaded winter coming again. He knew he had to move back to the south as quickly as possible. He was willing to take any job to get back to Alabama!

Hope everyone is having a wonderful Saturday morning! I’ll be back soon. I promised pictures!

Y’all come back!

Fay

It’s January and cold.  Even in Alabama it gets cold.  We are expecting 3-6 inches of snow tomorrow and I promise to take pictures!  This only happens about every 20 years or so.  That is just fine with me!  I like to look at it about once every 20 years or so.  To those of you who see it every winter, I apologize if I offend your weather, but it just isn’t my thing.  I don’t like to be cold and just looking at the snow makes me cold!

The last time I saw snow was when I visited my sister in Pennsylvania.  They had several inches of snow while we were there for a visit.  We had our dogs with us and one of the Jack Russells didn’t want to go out to “potty”.  My husband had to take a snow shovel and clear away some snow so the Jack would have a clear place to stand.  I watched as the dog turned and looked at my husband as if to say, “Are you kidding?  It’s too cold out here to be real!”

I will try to get some pictures and I will post them as soon as I can.  I’m really worried about the power going out.  We won’t have heat if the power goes out.  We have a heat pump in this house and it works very well, unless the power goes out!  If you aren’t familiar with heat pumps you can find out how it works here.

I’ll keep you posted on our weather situation.  Thanks for stopping by.

Y’all come back!

Fay

I think this is a first for me!  Two blog posts in the same evening!  What’s up with Fay?  Well, I found a blog of someone who is in the process of moving out of the city to the country.  I hope my sweet friends will go over to her blog and visit while she takes the plunge into moving.  She seems very organized, where I wasn’t.  I’ve moved so many times over my life time you would think I would have had everything ready well in advance and been so ready on moving day that it would have been a snap.  Nope!  Not me!  I was a wreck and it really showed when I ended up not sleeping for 36 hours.  I don’t recommend it.  So, if you are thinking about moving, to the country or anywhere else in the world, take a tip from this gal and enjoy her blog while you are there.  http://critterfarmgirl.blogspot.com/

Y’all come back,

Fay

Well, Julia mentioned it and I knew I would eventually write about it so why not now?  When we lived in Montgomery we had dust. Since we moved to the country we have DUST!  The dust is incredible.  The road on the north side of our property is a dirt road.  That is the main source of dust in my house.  The source is the kids on four wheelers.  Kids think it is really cool to get out on the dirt road and drive like they are in the Indy 500.  They kick up as much dirt as is humanly possible.  The dirt seems to always drift in the direction of our house.  I can dust my house on Saturday and on Monday I can write my name on my dining room table.  I think it is possible I could single handedly keep the Swiffer people in business.  I take that lovely little fluffy Swiffer and run it over my dining room furniture a couple of times a week.  But it comes down to the nitty gritty on the weekends.  I have to get out the dust cloth and the Pledge and give every flat surface the once over.  I know that all of you out there are thinking, “Who doesn’t?”  I promise you when we lived in town I only got out the dust cloth and furniture polish every other week and once during the week with the Swiffer duster was sufficient.  It just isn’t enough in the country.  I love this house and it makes me so crazy that I can’t keep it clean!

If anyone out there has tips on keeping the dust to a minimum (other than having the dirt road paved, because that isn’t going to happen!)  I’d be happy to hear about it.

Y’all come back,

Fay

After a few more weeks of construction our lovely home was completed and we were anxious to move in.  Our Montgomery house was rented and the people who had rented it were in a hurry to move and get settled.  We are the type of people who do things ourselves and moving is one of them.  We rented a truck and asked our son-in-law to help and also hired a guy to help with the heavy lifting.  It was a very hard day.  Half way through it I got a call from my boss that there was a really important document that had to be completed.  I was really feeling the stress at that point.  There were things that hadn’t been packed yet and things that had to be moved while we had the truck.  After moving for a whole day, I went to my office and worked on the document that was pending.  I went back to the Montgomery house and separated the things that were going to be sold at a “Moving Sale” my husband had advertised for the next morning in a local advertisement magazine.  I tagged and set out and worked all night long.  At about 5:30 in the morning I had to lie down.  I was trembling with fatigue and aching from head to toe.  An hour later people were ringing our doorbell wanting to see what we had for sale.  It was pouring down rain and freezing cold, but they came all day long.  They bought everything we had left in the house.  They even bought the TV trays I had kept at the house to use while the sale was going on.  The bad part about it was we were both so tired we were letting people talk us down on our prices.  I’m sure they felt like they were getting bargains, but after I had slept I realized I had practically given away most of the items and did give away some bathroom rugs and shower curtains that were hardly used.

When we drove to the new house that evening we were so exhausted we could hardly walk from the car to the house.  We had been up for about 36 hours without sleep and with very little food.  The new house was a disaster area!  There were boxes and stuff piled everywhere.  I was hoping to sleep for awhile and then get to work putting things in order in my new home.  My husband and I put our bed together, I searched through boxes and found some sheets and made up the bed.  It was very late, but my husband said, “let’s try out the bathtub.”  We filled it up and poured in some bubble bath.  When we turned on the jets we quickly realized we didn’t need so much bubble bath.  The bubbles were thick and dense and coming over the top of the tub.  We couldn’t even see each other!  We were so tired and the warmth of the bath made us giddy.  We couldn’t stop laughing!  When we calmed down and I had stretched out in the warm sudsy water I was falling asleep in the bathtub.  So we got out and we had just lain down in bed for about 30 minutes when the phone rang.  I’m not kidding.  It was my sister from Pennsylvania calling to check on us.  We were so awake after sleeping for just 30 minutes that we got up and made ourselves some scrambled eggs and toast.  After we finished eating we were ready to go back to sleep.  It was our first night in our new home.  It’s really still a blur.