Monday, October 27, 2008

A Donkeys Tale.....









EEEEAWWWWWW! Jasmine here. I thought I would try doing a post on the Wrensong blog. Let me tell you it's no easy feat typing with a pencil in your mouth. And we won't even begin to discuss the difficulties of operating a camera!!


I personally feel that Tammy just has not given me enough blog time, so I thought I would give you a little tour of my day.

My main job besides giving Tammy the pleasure of brushing me, picking out my feet and skritching the inside of my ears, is to keep an eye on a flock of silly sheep.

They are usually way too energetic in the morning for me, and they race on down to the lower pasture. I myself, would rather get in a leisurely roll, take my time stretching and soak up a little sun. Living here in the Pacific Northwest we have to soak up as much as we can!

Those noisy, obnoxious, guineas like to gather right by where I sleep at night, and they are usually what wakes me up in the morning. This morning after their noisy greeting they settled down into a guinea pile and were quiet for a little while while they also soaked up some sun.


I usually stand on the hill, as it gives me a good view and I can watch the sheepie goings on down below.



I've been noticing that the trees are changing colors and the air is getting colder at night so I have been growing my nice winter coat in.


FINALLY, Tammy comes down from the upper barn that she calls a house (she really needs to get her priorities straight), and puts out some hay for me. Unfortunately I also have to share with the sheep.

Tammy thought it would be a good idea to get these metal troughs to put the hay in. For some reason she thought it would keep the hay cleaner and there would be less waste. She forgot, however, to explain to the sheep that they were not supposed to stand IN the troughs while they eat.


I find it really irritating that I have these fuzzy bodies in the way of getting a good mouthful of hay.




After we've had our fill we usually rest up top before heading down to the pastures again. To tell you how silly the sheep are they even let chickens sit on their backs while they chew their cuds.



These sheepies that are all lined up with a rooster on one of their backs. It reminds me of the story of the Musicians of Bremen. 'Course they are missing the star of the story, a donkey.




"Will someone PLEASE get this rooster off my back!!???"




Chickens will perch on almost anything that stands still for very long...like wheelbarrows.




Fortunately I'm such a active donk that I don't have to worry about perching chickens....hey! what in the heck do you think you're doing chicken!!???






After we have rested and digested a bit we'll head back down and graze on a different pasture.



Later, Tammy will return for another feeding and I feel it's my responsibility to make sure no sheep is left behind.



On our way up the hill we go by these strange really BIG birds that are in a big pen all of their own. Their names are Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers because Tammy thought it looked like they were dancing when they would run around.




Every now and then I will stop and chat with them. Sometimes I tell them a good joke. Ginger has a really good sense of humor and laughs but Fred is kind of a stick in the mud. I personally think he should have been name Fred Mertz after Fred and Ethel on the I Love Lucy Show (no I'm not that old but they DO have re-runs!)



After we eat,it's time to settle down for the night. It doesn't take long for me to drift off into donkey dream. It seems like I have just fallen asleep and then it is time for another day in the life of a donkey.




YAWN!!! That was kind of fun, I'll have to post again another day!!

Sunday, October 26, 2008

More Fall Color





Some more pics of Fall color around the Wrensong farm.....(click to "bigify")





Friday, October 24, 2008

Another foggy morning and a surprise.....


I'm not complaining....I love foggy mornings, especially when they are preceding a day without rain like today.



While I was standing barefoot out behind the house I decided to take a pic towards the pond and one of the Japanese maples that's really coming into it's own.


Then, as I was closing the door and coming back in the house I noticed one of my orchids was blooming!


I'm sure glad they don't have just a certain time of year they bloom. They are such perfect flowers and last quite awhile.

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Do Ya Think I'm Sexy!!??? (with a nod to Rod Stewart)


Obviously, I'm not talking about myself, but my young male peacock.

He is SURE that he is the most gorgeous thing on two legs!!





He finally has one big feather with an eye on the end but the rest of what he has to offer is pretty bland. It doesn't slow him down one bit and if he doesn't get a response from one girl he tries another.... From what I can see, no one finds him the least bit interesting....yet.....except the person with the camera! :)

"Listen Bub! You're just NOT my type!!"





"WHAT?? You MUST be kidding!!!"






Sigh.....well maybe next year?? :)

Monday, October 20, 2008

The Oldest and the Youngest.....


I thought I would share some professional photos I had done of my oldest and my youngest dogs. (As always you can click on the pic to make them larger....)

The sitting fee was donated to dog rescue and the offer came up in a timely fashion in that I had been thinking about the mortality of my dogs.

Finn, my Border Collie, will be 12 this Dec. and while it's possible that he may surpass the oldest any of my dogs has ever lived, 13, he does have a heart murmur, failing eyesight and hearing. He is still one of the sweetest dogs I have ever known.

Kylie, my Belgian Tervuren, turned a year this last March. Just after turning 1 years old I almost lost her to Pyometra.

I had taken her into emergency one evening because she was just not acting right. I had taken her temperature which was high. They did blood work and x-rays, said they weren't sure what it was and sent her home with antibiotics. The antibiotics seem to work and she was more herself. But the day after we finished the antibiotics she didn't seem well again. I stayed home from work and took her into Pilchuck Vet (the emergency Vet that I had previously taken her in to) seeing as they had seen her previously and had all the blood work, etc. I left her with them and continued on to work.

I received a call saying that they needed to do an emergency spay as she had full blown pyo and even the horns of her uterus was filled with pus. (sorry if that grossed you out.....). They started to tell me how much it was going to cost (like that would make a difference??) and I said please get right to it.

It was expensive, by the time all was said and done it was close to $2,000. But to me she is definitely worth it. I love all my dogs, but Finn and Kylie are both those once in a lifetime dogs and I happened to have them both at the same time.

Anyway, it made me realize once again how precious life can be, so I paid for a sitting for both of them.

Please excuse Kylies skinny look, she had fully healed from her surgery but it took awhile for the hair to grow in along her chest and belly. Finn wasn't too thrilled about getting his picture taken but he was a good sport for a couple of shots.






I call this one her "old lady face" :)








The quote that appears at the end of every e-mail I send is dedicated to these two...

"He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion." – Unknown