Donkeys and Chickens and Foxes - Oh My!

This past weekend, we had a new visitor to our yard. It appears our neighbors across the road and up the hill have decided to share their chickens with us and one of them moseyed over to our place to roam free. It was quite a treat to see a chicken in the yard. I've always wanted some of my own, but my hubby says no, we have enough to take care of as it is. . . He's no fun!

Anyhoo, Monday morning as I was leaving for work, I stepped out onto the porch and there on our porch swing sat the chicken! I startled her and she startled me back, and we both ran squawking our separate ways. Needless to say, if I wasn't already awake, I sure was now!

The first thing I do when I get home from work in the evenings, is take Tubby out back to "water" the bushes and stretch his stubby little legs. Last night, as he was going through his routine, I went out to the fence to see why the donkeys hadn't greeted me in their usual noisy way. Normally, all I have to do is step onto the back porch and they assault me with hee haws, begging for treats, but tonight they were silently absent. I looked out into the pasture and saw Clementine and Baby Chloe' huddled together looking out toward the back fence. I could see Cooter way in the back with his ears pinned back and looking down toward the ground, but I couldn't see what he was looking at. I climbed up on the fence just in time to see Cooter chasing a cute little red fox! He chased him across the pasture and the fox ran under the fence.

I called Cooter to me, and all three donkeys came running. I noticed the fox was still standing on the other side of the fence and I thought he sure was brave because surely he could see me and Tubby standing there watching him. As soon as Cooter was out of the way, the fox darted back under the fence and into our pasture. I watched him snatch up a dead chicken and run back under the fence and out behind the neighbor's barn. Oh no! Poor chicken! I couldn't believe that fox had already killed my new-found friend!

This morning however, as I was leaving for work, there was the chicken, safe and sound and clucking away in my yard again! Hooray! She's okay! So what did I see the fox carrying off? Maybe it was a small turkey, or some other kind of bird, but it sure looked like a chicken. I'm just glad she's okay, at least for now. . .

Earth Day 2010

I became one with the earth today when my dog Tubby knocked me down the hill and into the neighbor's ditch. It wasn't exactly how I planned to celebrate Earth Day, but hey, it was a start! You'd think I'd learn, as this was the second time he's knocked me into that particular ditch! I swear I could even see him smile when it happened and he thoroughly enjoys himself when his Mama is rolling around in the grass at his level!

While I don't necessarily suggest you celebrate Earth Day the same way my morning started out, here are a few other ways you might rejoice instead:

Take your yoga mat out onto the porch and let the birds be your song of inspiration; plant some tomatoes; take a walk through a field and pick wildflowers; go fishing with worms you dig up from your very own garden; climb a tree - you can do it!; toss bread to some ducks; feed pigeons at the park; make a daisy or dandelion chain and actually wear it in your hair - I dare ya!; wiggle your toes in the sand or splash in a mudpuddle; sit on a rock and listen to the ocean crash to shore; take off your shoes and let the grass tickle your feet;

However you choose to celebrate this wonderful Earth of ours, make it special! Thank God for the beauty of it!

Rescuing Daisy

Now don't laugh, but Daisy is my beloved stuffed hippopatamus that I sleep with nearly every night. She's my little piece of childhood that I'll never be too old to let go of. She's cashmere soft, gray with tiny ears and coal black button eyes. She's been there for me when I'm sick, and she's soaked up my tears when I've been sad. She nestles in the crook of my arm and is cushiony soft against my cheek throughout the night.

Some mornings she helps me wake Sid with a silly little song we sing together (Daisy and me, not Sid). She perches on his chest and with the help of my hand moving her arms up and down and her head bobbing back and forth, we sing a song to wake him up.

"Daisy, Daisy, give me your answer do. I'm half crazy all for the love of you! It won't be a stylish marriage, cuz I can't afford a carriage. But you'll look sweet, upon the seat of a bicycle built for two!"

Then it's giggles and smiles and Sid's magically awake! Works every time!

The other morning as I made the bed, I set Daisy on the rocking chair and hurried off to get ready for work. About a half hour later I realized it was awfully quiet in the house. Where was my slobbermonster scamp of a dog who's usually grunting around my feet all morning? Quiet cannot be a good thing!

I walked into the living room, but Tubby was nowhere to be found. I could hear him grunting though, so I followed the noise into the bedroom where I fully expected to find him chewing on one of my shoes. Sure enough, there he was laying next to the bed chewing furiously on. . . OH NO! Not my Daisy!!! My poor, precious little Daisy! I screamed, "Tubby! No!" and snatched her out of his slobbery jowls. She looked up at me with her tiny black button eyes as if she was saying, "Mama! How could you let that awful dog do that to me?"

My sweet Daisy was absolutely drenched in doggie drool. I chased Tubby out of the room and took Daisy to the laundry room to further traumatize her with a splash in the washing machine and a bounce in the dryer. I thought, if she survives this morning it will be a miracle!

Later that night, when I got home from work, there was my soft, cuddly Daisy waiting for me to come home. You'd never know the terror she had witnessed earlier that morning. I grabbed her up and took her into the bedroom, but this time I didn't recklessly toss her into the rocking chair where Tubby the Terrible could snatch her away again! From now on, I'll be much more careful with my steadfast and cherished friend!

Finches in the Ferns

Every Spring we buy two giant Boston ferns to hang on our front porch. You can't live in the south and have a rocking-chair porch without hanging ferns too!

With the annual fern hanging comes the annual house hunting trek for two adorable house finches that choose a fern for their nesting spot every Spring. This year, within a half hour of me hanging the ferns, the finches had already chosen which one they wanted to call home and got busy scouting the yard for their nest-building materials.

The next morning when I got the fern down to water it, there sat the most perfect little nest. Wow! That was fast! The mama finch is grayish brown and she sits on the nest singing her song all day while the daddy finch, who is brown with red on his head and breast, flies around the yard in search of food for the mama. Sometimes he rests on a nearby branch in the pear tree and they sing back and forth to each other. He flies up to the porch and hangs on the porch swing chain and peaks in the living room window at us.

This morning when I took the fern down to water, there in the nest lay one tiny, pale green egg. I know from past experience with these little finch that there will be at least two or three more eggs added to the nest over the next few days and before long when I take the fern down for watering there will be a nest full of hungry, bald babies with their beaks open wide waiting for someone to drop worms or bugs down into their greedy little mouths.

And before I know it, since time passes so quickly, the nest will be empty and my finches will be gone. At least until next Spring comes along. . .

Wish Upon a Firefly

Night before last I saw the first firefly of the season. Just one single, solitary lightning bug flying around the yard signaling for its mate. It's considered lucky to spot the first one. Kinda like wishing on the first star on a dark night. I got so excited I ran in the house to brag to my husband that I was the one to spot it first.

It's a little early for fireflies to be lighting up the yard. Usually we don't see them until late May, but the weather has been warmer than usual for this time of year, so I guess they're getting an early start. There's something so magical about seeing fireflies light up a lawn at twilight. I personally imagine them to be tiny fairies flitting around dancing on the dewy grass, flying up to meet each other in the branches of the trees.

Our bulldog Tubby however, sees nothing magical about these tiny, golden orbs floating in the sky around our yard. I took him out last night for his evening walk and no sooner had we stepped off the porch and he spotted his first fireflies. You'd have thought he'd seen King Kong hanging off the side of our barn from the way he was carrying on, barking ferociously and tugging on his leash to get back inside the house. How am I going to get through the summer without him freaking out every time we go outside for our nightly walks? He's got to be the biggest chicken there ever was! He's scared of loud trucks, vacuum cleaners, lawn mowers and now fireflies. So, my fascination with the fireflies won't be shared by the furry four-legged goofball of the family.

As I sit here writing this entry in my blog, Tubby sits next to me on the floor watching television. Believe it or not, a Dyson vacuum commercial came on tv and Tubby jumped up and started barking like a mad dog at the screen. You have GOT to be kidding me! He's even scared of vacuums on tv? Amazing and hilarious! This dog cracks me up!

Spring Has Sprung!

I know it's not officially Spring yet, but I've already seen the first sunny daffodils (or buttercups, as they call them here in the South) peaking their bright yellow faces up out of the ground and we've already been hit by two Spring storms, complete with thunder and lightning and buckets of rain. The tornadoes are surely right around the corner!

Despite the scary storms, I love this time of year in Tennessee! Everything is so green and lush and the redbud trees will soon be blooming all along the roadways. They have these beautiful deep purple and bright pink blossoms and mixed in with all the various shades of green, they just stand out so splendidly! I wish their blooms would last all Summer long, but they only bloom throughout March and if we're lucky, early April.

The birds are building their nests and the geese have already broken from their flocks into pairs, finding their nesting spots to prepare for their batches of ducklings. Soon I'll be watching fuzzy golden ducklings waddling across the road after their Mama's and Daddy's on my way to work in the mornings. I can't wait!

The pastures on my way into town are already filling up with adorable, furry babies. Cows, sheep, llamas, goats and horses. I wish they could stay babies forever! They are so cute as they romp around in the grass, testing out their wobbly legs. I could sit and watch them for hours.

It's almost time to start planting my flowerbeds and filling my pots and window boxes with bright colored blooms and ivies. The roadside flowerstands and garden centers will be bursting with pallets and pallets of flowers in every color of the rainbow, beckoning us all to stop and load up, and you can bet I'll be there the first weekend it's safe to start planting!

I love this time of year!

Welcome Tubby!

The last three weeks have been a crazy, silly blur! First, I got a nasty virus on my computer at work, which took nearly a whole week to fix. After that mess, I was forbidden to use my work computer for anything but work, so ever since, I haven't been able to blog or talk to all my Facebook friendlies or anything! It's been a nightmare. Then, two and a half weeks ago, we got a new dog. His name is Tubby and he's an English Bulldog.

The first few days of having him, I nearly went out of my mind! I thought we'd made the biggest mistake of our lives, bringing this wild and crazy bulldog into our home. But now, I've grown attached to the little bugger and he's officially a full fledged part of our little family. I can't say he didn't give me a few extra gray hairs and initially raise my blood pressure though! The first night we brought him home, we actually thought we could let him sleep in the same room with us. Ha! He fell asleep just fine, but as we laid there in bed, he started to snore. Softly at first, which we both thought was kinda cute and certainly bearable. Then after a few minutes, the snoring steadily grew louder and louder until finally he was full out sawing logs like an 80 year old sinus congested lumberjack! Sid and I both jumped up out of bed and each grabbed hold of a side of his pen and dragged him out of the room! No way was that dog going to sleep in our room, for sure!

The next few days it was a nightmare trying to adjust to this wrinkly, spastic fur ball in our tiny little house! He never sat still, grunted like a pig all throughout the house, slobbered everywhere and for some reason, thought I was his new favorite toy! I couldn't sit still for one single second without that dog attacking me in one way or another, and I was constantly wiping doggie drool off my legs, arms, chest and backside. And he loves to lick my feet! Ugh, Ew and Gross! It didn't matter how many times you said "No!" or "Down!" or "Stop it!" That dog just didn't understand English at all. Sid went out to the barn and got the riding crop that we use to swat the donkeys and that seemed to work for a little while. I'd whomp the crop on the arm of the couch and yell "Down!" and it seemed to get his attention long enough to make him think twice about attacking me. The first three days I swear I didn't get a minute of peace until it was time for bed and we were able to put him back in his pen.

Now that nearly three weeks have gone by, he's finally coming around and he's actually learned to calm down and relax. I think maybe he just had anxiety because he didn't know for sure if this was going to be home or not. My sister taught him how to sit, which he does pretty good on command. She also taught him how to jump on the bed however, so we've had to unteach him that little trick. Thanks Tiff! He plays with the new toys we bought him, instead of my leg or foot, and he doesn't pace all around the house like a mad monkey like he did before. He's the biggest chicken you ever saw when it comes to running the vacuum cleaner. He runs all around the house trying to find a place to hide when you turn it on. He's also scared of the ironing board when I set it up, and our tv trays. Go figure. We got a new treadmill set up in the big bedroom and now he won't even set foot in that room. He goes as far as the doorway and barks ferociously at it and then runs the other way. He thinks it's a big, bad monster.

The slobber thing is something I'm still trying to get used to. Bulldogs slobber and that's all there is to it. He loves the donkeys and surprisingly they seem to love him too. In the mornings when I take him out to do his business, he goes right to their fence and puts his head through to touch each one of their noses to say good morning. They seem to be just as curious about him as he is of them. Especially Baby Chloe'. She even lets him lick her nose, which is absolutely adorable! He's got a face only a mother could love, and I must admit, I do love him! At night when he's tuckered out from playing, he comes and puts his head on my knee and his jowls wrinkle all up and flatten across my leg and his eyes get all droopy. I rub his ears until he falls asleep and before you know it, he's snoring with his face in my hands.

So, welcome to our home Tubby. We love you and hope you'll be happy here with us.