Jake the Golden Dog – Memorial
The rising sun highlights the heavy laden clouds moving slowly across the crystal blue Texas sky. I still mourn. On November 5th, Jake died. It’s been three weeks now. I know I have to talk to him. It’s been hard, Jake, to think about all these years we’ve been together. I often wondered what your life had been like before you showed up one morning on my porch when you were about eight months old. Your double coat was soft as silk, and I worried you belonged in the city, not on a ranch. Your big brown eyes begged to stay. Why did you refuse to get in a vehicle when we needed to take you to the vet for your shots? You and I took up the whole backseat with you wrapped in a blanket! Your skin was so soft, I could never use clippers to cut the...
My dog chicken-sits …
After old Jake died this month (I still can’t talk about it much), little Cotton has been lost and lonely. He clings to us for attention and doesn’t want to be alone. I knew, with his love of being outdoors, this poor-pity-me would not last very long. He started getting excited about going out in the mornings with me to feed the critters. He would sit on the cart watching me let the chickens out of their house, feeding them and cleaning their water pan. One morning I didn’t have to go anywhere, so I had time to stay out there for a while. I decided to leave the yard gate open. As the chickens filed outside, pecking the grass and moving away, Cotton became concerned. He jumped out of the cart, and keeping his distance, he tried to herd them back...
Chicken house door …
What do you do on a chilly day when all you feel is tired and depressed? Paint and install a door for the chicken house! (Okay, to be honest my husband did the hard work of installation.) As I was marking it off and gathering the paint cans, my husband kept looking at it wondering what it would look like. Being the artistic type, it has to be unique to suit me. What my other land partners think doesn’t have any influence at all. When Mr Bull saw it, he mooed and walked away. The dogs stared at it, and said, “Oh well, that’s normal – for her.” The chickens pecked it to make sure it was real. Finally, my husband said, “Okay, eh, does it have a name?” “Don’t you recognize a Chicken Angel when you see one?” Sh
Lonely Mr Bull
His herd is gone now, and I think he’s coping as best he can. Every day, he walks well over two miles, but not before breakfast! After his morning feed, he comes out here to visit with his new best friends. Watch him, the hens are clucking like they all have something to tell him. See him nod his head? He does, just like he understands what they say. If I walk nearer to him, he’ll start to get up. I found if I back up a step or two, he’ll stay where he is. I just leave him alone to visit. He’ll get up when he’s ready for his walk. I just stopped by him for a picture...
Cock and Bull!
Stay subscribed for more country diversions! Critters go through life just as we do. First hand, I can see many circumstances and challenges sometimes mirror ours. Some of those lives are aided and abetted by my opportunity to do so. I don’t mean I have total control – I simply have influence through my protective efforts. The rooster is now between two worlds. He lost his chicken yard privileges because he attacked a defenseless hen. There, he was #1, where he chose his mates, had food and water readily available, was protected from invasion of wild critters, and appeared happy and content for a long time. Now, chickens don’t spend much time thinking, so he saw no consequences of his assault. He was evicted, and cannot understand why. However,...
A very bad rooster!
Maybe it’s the wayward tail feather that gave him away, or gave him a complex that made him do it! You’ve heard jokes about Texas “Chicken Ranches,” well here’s a real story about a hen house on a Texas ranch! We adopted a small flock from a friend moving to the city. Six hens and three roosters – living and thriving together friends. Right? Until today, that is. I was on my way to the chicken yard at regular feeding time when I heard such a commotion. I immediately thought a critter must have gotten in with them. I ran in time to see this one had a hen pinned to the ground and plucking her feathers out. She was screaming, and the other hens were running around trying to get away from the scene. I threw open the gate reaching to...
