dogs

Katrina in the alfalfa field in autumn.

Katrina is my most agile dog; able to run for miles, balance on bleachers and leap on top of bales. But for all her skill, the farm still holds some dangers. Occasionally, she has run through the barb wire fence a little too fast and poked a nice hole in her skin.

Usually these minor abrasions heal quickly, but her most recent cut just never seemed to get well. It would close up and look like it was improving, only to swell and ooze a few days later. A trip to the vet put her on antibiotics that are now doing the job.

Katrina sitting in a play of light and shadow.

Since she was inclined to lick her wound, the vet suggested she wear a cone. Hmmm, cone-head Katrina didn’t sound so good to me. We have a pack of dogs which is quite a different dynamic than even two or three dogs. I just couldn’t see Katrina, the lead female, peacefully maintaining her status with a big plastic cone on her head.

Katrina dutifully wearing her bandage.

Fortunately, she is a very obedient dog. So much so, that I can put a bandage on her leg, tell her to leave it alone and she will. Only when it becomes too soaked with ooze, will she remove it, which is what I would have to do anyway. So she is recovering well with a new dressing daily. The swelling is going down and she has not had to suffer the indignity of being a cone-head.

Sheep in the lee of the feeder with the wind blowing drifts around them.

This winter has been very dry. The snow we got before Christmas stayed, but little was added until lately. Now we’ve gotten several dumps of it.

Sheep in the blizzard; some are in the Lamb Hut.

By now the sheep all have thick warm fleeces, so they don’t mind the weather. Some still go into the Lamb Hut or barn for shelter, but most just tough it out in the lee of the feeders.

Baloo (front) and Cleo (back) chilling out in the snow.

Our big furry dogs weather the cold well, too.

The wind made a huge drift across the road near the end of the driveway. We would drive through it in the jeep and by the time we got back from town it would be all filled in again. There’s no way a car would have made it through. Eventually the snowplough came and pushed all the snow way up into a heap. One giant chunk of snow ended up sitting upright and Tim decided to get creative with it.

A different kind of snowman.