The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday —2011 Onward

Posted on December 30, 2011 by Dayphoto

It’s been cold here! Very cold! We got down to -7* one night. It’s been so cold that when you go outside, well, heck…your nostrils sticks together. Now that’s a hard thing to do when you have a DOG Nose!!! 🙂

Freddy Fox has been seen out in the corn field hunting mice, Mom says he sure is beautiful, but he had better stay out there and not come inside the yard. Then she looks Fuzzy and I straight in the eye and says: “You boys had better guard the chickens well!”

We wag our tails really hard and look sincerely back into her eyes and try with everything in us to tell her ‘WE WILL!”

The snow is still pretty deep, but we walk with Mom every day checking out things, yesterday I went by myself over the hill and the dale clear to the coyote area, sniffed around a lot. Sure were lots to learn….two of the coyotes are going to have pups, coyotes are pretty interesting. When Mom found out I was out there she called me to come home. I sort of got in trouble for bothering my neighbors. She said now the coyotes have MY sent and she hopes they don’t come looking for ME!

Who would have thought such a thing?

Then last night Dad came inside saying the coyotes sure where whopping and hollering over in the coyote dell. Mom gave me a very stern look.

Shish!

Some people just don’t understand that I won’t get hurt. I’m just interested in learning things.

Shish! Huff! Stomp, Stomp! Huff!

Every evening the fog rolls in, and then in the morning we have hoar frost everywhere. Pretty but COLD!

Then yesterday we had a change, it warmed up to 34* and we got MELT! Melt! Whoo hoo!!!

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Since it’s the end of the year Fuzzy and I thought we would give you our Goals for 2012

If the going gets rough…hang with your people—they will need you
If you see your people upset, roll over and let them pet your tummy. They will forget whatever it is that is making them frown
Always be ready for a walk. Be sure to take your people, they forget to go outside and smell the smells and see the footprints on the earth
Every time you see your loved ones put on a happy face, wag your tail, wag your whole body…everyone loves to be loved
Don’t worry about the little stuff….heck; don’t even worry about the big stuff. Be happy right where you are.
Sleep as close to your people as you can get, it always produces sweet dreams
If you are tired, take a nap. Works wonders every time

Happy New Year Everyone….2012 is sure to be a great year!

Boomer and Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday —Hunting Mice

Posted on December 9, 2011 by Dayphoto

Nothing new here…still cold; and I do mean C.O.L.D.

Mom has put a heat lamp in the chicken house (red, because if you don’t put red in the chickens will peck on each other…Chickens are NOT very smart! Mom says that isn’t true, she says she thinks chickens are like people and treat each other just like groups of people treat each other.) She also hooked up the electric water heater for the chicken water tank. Dad has the cow water from freezing. The only thing that freezes now is our water dish, but Mom keeps a really close eye on it.

It’s so cold now that we sleep in the house….YIPEEE!!! Hoo Ray!!

I like sleeping in the house, so does Boomer.

Mom has to keep a really close eye on us there, because we get lazy and don’t want to go outside and ‘do our duty’. We’ve both been ‘trained’ but who likes to have bodily fluids freeze as it leaves your body?

Boomer said I exaggerated but when you’re advanced in age, that’s what it feels like. Frozen….well you know what I mean.

It’s really nice having Mom home. This is the first time in my whole life that I’ve lived here that Mom has been home all day long. (She goes to town sometimes, but that isn’t very long. Before she would leave before day break and get back after dark…she was gone a long, long time.)

The day warms up pretty slow. Last night the cold air was around 8* and just before the sun came up it was 6*, but the day will warm up. It got up to 40* yesterday afternoon.

Something we all do now that Mom is home ALL THE TIME is go for a walk. We walk all over the farm, she says it’s good for me…keeps my bones working. We go slow, Mom and I, Boomer runs all over the place clear up there and clear over there, back to where Mom and are. Sometimes Mom walks a little too fast for me, but she is always waits for me to catch-up.

There are lots of things to see and smell so it takes me awhile.

The coyotes are back! Mom got a little weird out because we were walking through the equipment storage area when two coyotes ran right by us. She said she guess it is so cold they are hunting in the day time.

Boomer and I have met Freddy Fox…he is new to the farm. So we have lots of critters visiting us…raccoons, skunks, coyotes, and foxes…so Mom bought a solar critter light to protect the chicken house and pen.

But one of the very best part of winter, besides getting to be in the house all most all the time…sleeping in the mud room, hanging by the fireplace…

Is…

HUNTING MICE!

It’s ever so much fun!

Fuzzy

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday—Sissy Coyote

Posted on October 21, 2011 by Dayphoto

Mom said we had a first…well, first time for her anyway.

Sissy Coyote came calling!

This is how it happened:

The night was beautiful, a clear, full bright moon hung in the sky just above the cottonwood tree. The light from the full moon lit up everything, casting sliver and blue shadows everywhere. Fuzzy and I were having a great time sitting on the back step of the back porch. Every once in a while Fuzzy would see something run across the road out by the tractor sheds, and then he would take off running and barking! HEY YOU! WHAT ARE YOU DOING ON OUR PLACE! Then I would follow hollering as loud as I could.

It was great fun.

I really don’t think Fuzzy can see very well anymore, but what the heck, he sees enough that we get to chase ‘whomever or whatever’ off the place. If they really aren’t there, who is going to complain? NOT ME!!!

So we had a great time until Mom came out and turned all the yard lights on….

“What is happening out here, boys, are the Chickens safe?” She asked giving each of us a wonderful pet on the head and all over the body.

Hummmmmmmmmmmm

I sort of think she knows we are just having fun.

So we all three walk out to the chicken house, opened the door, and turned on the light in the chicken house.

“One, two, three, four” counted Mom. “Well, nothing bad going on here.”

The chickens were rather startled to have the light turned on, but they didn’t move. They continued to sit on their perch and sort of talked to each other about the lights and stuff like that.

Mom, Fuzzy and I all walked back to house. But she took the long way…we checked on the cows, all asleep, we walked by the grain bins, nothing happening there, except they were all sparkly in the moonlight. Really rather pretty, I thought.

Then we stopped at the tractor sheds, Mom said she wondered if there were some stray cats out here (in the tractor shed) that Fuzzy and I were barking at. We just looked very sincerely at her and I thumped my tail really vigorously, Fuzzy just shook his little stub of a tail, but he did shake it really hard. We wanted Mom to think she was right.

She must have as we all walked back to the house, got many pets and rubs and scratches and told good night. We were also warned to not do any more barking if it’s just for fun as Dad will be the next person out to see what the problems were.

So we were silent. BUT…we did chase a couple of cats, and a really neat squirrel, or at least I thought it was a squirrel…but the highlight was when the FOX came through the yard.

Fuzz and I were sitting out by the woodpile, next to the chicken house, just taking in the night…when right out of the corral a fox came, padded by the garbage cans and almost ran right into to us!

I sat up and barked HALLLLLLLLLLLLLLOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! MOM COME QUICK!!!!

Both Fuzzy and I were so excited that I’m sure it came through in our yips and barks. Mom came out of the house fast…it looked like she may have been asleep. We kept up the barrage of barking, I pointed down the road, Mom flipped on the yard lights, I ran back to her really fast and twirled and swirled around and headed back to Fuzzy who was looking down the road sort of prancing for us to get there.

We made it just in time for Mom to see the bushy tail sliding under the barbed wire fence; she flung the flashlights light into the field and saw the red fox heading as fast as its little legs could go to the drain ditch across the way.

Mom said it didn’t have anything in its mouth!

“You boys sure are doing a good job tonight,” she said. We licked her hands and she petted us all over.

After all that it was starting to get rather nippy outside so we decided to head to our snug and cozy dog houses. I went in first, because I feel the cold before Fuzz, but I heard him come in a few minutes later.

We were sleeping really good…sound as you might say. When in the yard, RIGHT BY THE CLOTHES LINE was SISSY the Coyote! And she was …WOW! Some kind of beautiful! She started making this pretty strange howl/bark thing that had Fuzzy and I out of our dog houses in a flash!

We both barked and howled back at her, but she was NOT afraid. It was getting close to morning…I could see the rim of almost light in the east along the Paonia Mountains…we were frenzied in our barking.

Both Mom and Dad came out of the house FAST!!!!

Dad had his gun!

This was a good thing, because while Fuzz and I were looking at Sissy the Witching Coyote, there were four other lurking coyotes over by the hen house!!!

They were trying to raid the HEN HOUSE!

BAM!!!

Dad shot the gun!!!

Scared off the coyotes, even pretty Sissy Coyote — Fuzzy and I watched her slink away, well actually melt away into the shadows.

The gun pretty much frightened me also. I yelped just as loud as the gun!

Fuzzy laughed at me. Heck, man! I wasn’t expecting anything like that L.O.U.D sound!

Mom said she didn’t understand why the coyotes were so aggressive this year; a friend of hers said that they are probably coyote-dogs. Which is probably true…lots of people have dropped dogs off out here.

The ditch rider says he has seen a pack of wild dogs down over the hill. So what is living around our place is a mix of coyote/dogs. Dad’s going to talk to the D.O.W. Trapper to see what can be done. Calving season is a few months off (February) we don’t need any coyotes, wild dogs, or coyote-dogs around.

Anyway….this full moon was sure full of fun and excitement! (By the way…Dad wondered why Mom didn’t grab her camera; she usually has it with her all the time. — NOW That would have been cool….a photo of Sissy Coyote! I would pin it up in my dog house. She was that kind of wonderful!)

Boomer

The Adventures of Fuzzy and Boomer on Friday—the Post Man

Posted on September 2, 2011 by Dayphoto

Fuzzy and I have been helping in the fields lots. We always go irrigate, three times a day, early morning, 2:00 in the afternoon and then as it is getting dark. I love to go irrigate…there is just so much to learn out there. News of the world, so to speak!

Last night Dad was clear across the BIGGEST corn field setting tubes in the dirt ditch, and Mom was at the cement ditch between the bean field and the second largest corn field. Fuzzy was in the cement ditch trying to catch bubbles and I was in the corn field looking for that huge bone I buried four days ago.

Like I said it was just starting to get dark, the sun had set and the shadows were growing darker and darker. When I smelled something ….

Coyotes!

I came running out of the corn field as fast as I could go…my nose in the air when we heard them….Loud, long yipps and a bark howl. Jeepers weirds me out!

Then it happened again! Only this time more of a chattering yips. Mom told Fuzzy and me to get on the four-wheeler…. “Let’s go!” she said. “Hurry, Fuzzy, get out the water, we need to see what is happening with Dad.”

“Boom do you want to ride or are you going to run?”

Ride! I’m not running through the corn rows with that wild smell out there and that big noise, no sireee.

I hopped up before Mom even had Fuzzy picked up and placed on the back. I could feel the back of my neck all prickly with my fur standing on end. Fuzzy didn’t really seem to know what was happening, just that Mom was in a big hurry.

As Mom was turning around I told him….Coyotes!

Fuzzy growled real deep and long. Mom told him “Shhhhhhh, Fuzz, we will get there and scare them off. They won’t do anything when they hear the four-wheeler.”

Dad was supposed to be at the dirt ditch waiting for the last of the water that Mom had let loose, then he would set the tubes there and come on home, we would meet him at the barn.

Wheeeew, Mom was flying! It was sure hard to stay on, but we made it. Dad was at the dirt ditch with four more tubes to set when we flew up…. He said four coyotes were hanging around warning him to not come any closer. He didn’t have a gun with him, so he was glad we showed up. Mom wouldn’t let us off the four-wheeler. She didn’t have to worry about me, but Fuzzy kept growling and pointing toward the equipment area. Mom had her four-wheeler turned around so the lights were hitting in the general direction while Dad finished up. Coyotes can and will defend their pups if they think someone is too close to them.

With lights on and darkness almost complete we all headed back to the barn and the safety of the house. I was so scared I jumped right off and headed to my dog house…its safe there!

After jumping inside the dog house that was closest to me, I turned around a few times and settled in. Mom and Dad had already gone into the house and Fuzzy was heading into the other dog house. I was really tired. Getting really scared sure can take the energy out of you!

“We scared them off, Boom! We did a really good job.”

“I agree, Fuzzy!”

“Well, Good Night! I don’t know about you, but I’m beat.”

“Me too, Fuzzy! I’m really tired. Good Night!”

We were dozing real good when I heard Mom come outside. It was dark, of course, for it was still night. I got out of my nice warm bed to see Fuzzy standing next to Mom shivering and shaking all over.

BOOM!

BAM!

CRACK! There was fire in the sky!

Rain came down really hard in great big drops. Mom completed picking up our food dishes, placing them under the carport so they wouldn’t get wet from the rain. Fuzzy and I were so tired when we got home neither one of us finished our supper.

BAM!

CRACK!

We were all getting wet!

“Come on,” Mom invited. In we went to spend the night in the bedroom right next to the bed. Fuzzy got under the bed; I stayed close to Mom’s side. This is really nice, sleeping inside. You can’t see or hear anything going on outside, like you do when you stay in the dog house. Dad says dogs need to be outdoors, they are for guarding the house and the property, inside they don’t know anything that is happening.

“Shhhhh,” Mom put her fingers to her lips. “Now this is only until the rain stops.”

That works for me!

We got up early…Mom ALWAYS gets up early…and went outside to check things out. The world was new again. Made me so happy I had to twirl around and around and around! Then I ran just as fast as I could to the haystacks and back. Fuzzy stayed with Mom while she did the chickens and threw some hay out for the cows. Dad went to irrigate, but it was too muddy for us to go…so Mom said. Besides she was going to fix breakfast.

I LOVE breakfast! I love anything I can eat, I like dry dog food and canned dog food, I love people food, I give it a good sniff and whooose down the gullet it goes! Fuzzy is particular. If he waits too long I try to sneak over and see what he is not eating. I have to be careful because he will get really mad at me for taking his food, but I wait. I can wait a long time, and then when Fuzzy dozes off to sleep BAM I’ve got the food!

HEHE!

Around ‘that time’ Fuzzy and I decided to head on down the lane so we could be at the mailboxes when the mailman comes. Barking at the mailman is one of the most important functions any dog can have. I just love barking at the mailman. We have a really cool mailman, he always has a dog cookie just for us…we bark, he tosses out a cookie, we head home…..after we eat the cookie. Pretty Neat, huh?

MAIL MAN…Come on Fuzzy! We are about to be late! MAIL MAN…he’s coming up the lane, WOW! I love it when he drives all the way down the lane to deliver the mail. We get to bark him home. To our home, that is.

BARK! WOOF! HOWL!!!

Mailman!!! YAHOO!

Our mailman is really neat, he has never killed a chicken, broke a sack of feed like the raccoons do, or stink up the farm like skunks do, he doesn’t seem to run in a pack like the coyotes, he just well, delivers the mail!

Off we ran…barking and howling and baying….HERE COMES THE MAILMAN! HERE COMES THE MAIL! HERE COME THE DOG COOKIES!

And there he was…handing a package to Dad, along with two dog cookies!

Now this is what I call a really nice day!

Boomer

Fuzzy Blogging on Friday ——-Coyotes!

Posted on June 17, 2011 by Dayphoto

Boomer and I were down on the equipment hill, the other night. We were scouting around looking for anything of interest. Dad goes out around mid-night to change water so we like to go with him.

It was a moon-lite night, with a big old huge round moon hanging in the sky almost over-head. We left Dad picking up and moving dams and trotted on over to equipment area. My eyesight isn’t as good as it used to be, I have dark areas where I can’t see anymore. The vet said there were cats a racks growing on my eyes. There had better NOT be cats on racks in my eyes…grrrrrrrrr, growl!

Anyway, because it’s a little hard to see I decided that I didn’t want to chase bubbles in the ditches, Boomer wanted to smell what he could and I knew there were rabbits and squirrels living over there so off we went.

Things were going on pretty well…we found lots of cool odors out there, saw that the bunny family had made a home in Dad’s roller (they were too far in for us to get a good look at them), found that the squirrel family was hanging out in the leveler, and that about 40 million mice had scampered all over the place.

We didn’t bark or anything like that…barking with Dad always gets us yelled at “FUZZY!! Boomer!!! That is enough! You Dogs don’t need to be barking!” So we don’t!

We were having a really great time when suddenly over the hill 6 coyotes came running right at us! They were between us and Dad! We didn’t have any warning; they were just there lean, dark, shaggy and mean looking. Quickly I grabbed Boomer by the collar and drug him behind the stack wagon. I whispered to Boom that we needed to get to Dad fast and asked him if he could see Dad.

Boomer whispered back that he could see and hear Dad but Dad was busy picking up the tubes and setting them down so Dad didn’t know the coyotes were close by.

The coyotes started milling around sniffing the ground, I hoped not for us. Boom and I waited; it seemed like forever, Dad was still busy. The coyotes started catching the mice, we could hear the snap and the crunch as they ate their dinner, then they started yipping to each other. “I have some, come over here, this is the nest of about twenty…yip! Yip! Yip! Loud they were.

When they started that Boomer and I made a dash for Dad…we didn’t want to be the rest of their dinner!

Whew! We made it just as Dad started up the four-wheeler heading for home. I don’t run like I used to either, but Dad came by and picked me up. As he was picking me up I looked over where the coyotes were … they had vanished.

Good.

Dad said it was a good thing we dogs were close by or we could have been coyote food. I don’t think he realized how far away from him we really were.

Boomer told me later that he was really scared…those animals are big and snarly and wild.

Whew.

He is right.

Fuzzy

Delta’s Country Doctor

The Circle of Life

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Dayphoto

Our personal cows have started having their babies. We raise Angus cattle, which are always black. The cows are Angus and the Bull is Angus.

Our second baby of the spring arrived in fine condition. The Mom headed into the corral and gave birth in the open barn. We found the happy pair just as the mom started cleaning up the baby.

We were not so lucky with the first calf.

She lost her baby to the coyotes. I won’t go into the details, but just know it wasn’t pretty. But it did happen.

And, yes we can tell. And yes, it was Coyotes, and no we did not make that up. And no, feeding the Coyotes will not keep the Coyotes from attacking or killing livestock. In fact, it might make things worse. (If you feed them….they will come.)

Coyotes (Canis latrans —means ‘barking dog”) are true omnivores and eat almost anything available. Just born calves are very sweet and tender, as you might imagine.

Coyotes eat mice, rabbits, squirrels, berries, birds, frogs and carrion. Given a chance coyotes take lambs, calves, kids, and household pets like cats and dogs. (Go here to see the Coyote attack on this blog friends little dog.)

We are very diligent in monitoring our herd and the herd of the rancher who rents winter pasture from us. The rancher is very diligent also, because we know. We all know.

But sometimes…. bad things happen.

This cow will have a large bag for some time, until the milk stops flowing. Gradually she will dry-up. For now she is very miserable and extremely alert. She looks for her calf, but we buried the last of it (7′ deep) which took the site away and the smell.

Linda

Hidey Holes

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Dayphoto

This time of year we start to get ready for water. Water on our farm is transported through culverts, ditches, underground transport pipes, and gated pipe.

These same pieces of transportation for water are also really good homes for critters: fox, skunk, feral cats, and feral dogs from the rigors of winter. The problem of making these things their homes is instant death as soon as the water is turned in.

Therefore, we like to check all everywhere making sure there is nothing living there.

Getting them out of their burrow (the water transportation unit) can sometimes be a real problem, especially if we are talking about skunks.

home-in-a-pipe

But this year we are safe (so far).

somebodies-home

Skunks are mating right now, and will be looking for a nice warm nest, but water is just a few weeks off and if we cover the ends they will move on to dens in the ground.

The coyotes have dens on the hills on our place, but I’m not brave enough to go poking my head where they are. I have been thinking I might, MIGHT, go to where they live and see if I could get any baby pictures, but I haven’t worked up enough courage.