Posts Tagged ‘Delilah’
Where’s Mozyr?
With the horses and our dog, Delilah, getting the majority of attention since they all arrived, we have admittedly neglected the cats to varying degrees. Of course, one of the reasons they haven’t been getting the same amount of attention is that they so rarely demand it.
Can I just mention here what a nuisance Delilah can be with her penchant for scouring the firewood pile next to the fireplace to claw out reasonable sized scraps of bark which she then carries to any and all floor spaces accessible to her, to crunch into shreds, leaving wood shrapnel strewn everywhere? Yes, I can, and I just did.
You’d think she wasn’t getting enough fiber in her diet, but after all the horse manure, frozen dead moles, paper trash, and stuffed toys she mouths and often times shreds, I am pretty sure her chewing addictions aren’t vitamin or mineral deficiency related.
As we have slowly advanced the steps toward normalizing relations between the dog and cats in our house, Delilah has gained space to roam freely. We prohibit access to our bedroom and the basement for now, allowing the cats a few zones of protection from canine harassment. For the most part, the cats remain free to move about as they please. Their usual choice is to stay holed up in our bedroom, which has always been their perceived safe zone.
From the start, little Pequenita has been the bravest about testing boundaries with Delilah. Poor Mozyr has always behaved like a literal little scaredy-cat. He will often disappear from sight, hiding as far under our bed as he can get.
Saturday night we spotted that the rarely used (and only recently rediscovered) cat beds that Cyndie had placed on the floor in our bedroom when company arrived, had been peed on. In no mood to deal with it, I tossed them outside to freeze. Then I spotted Mozyr on the top level of their cat tree, perched in a position that looked like he was trying to pee. Poor guy was having a problem.
It being the weekend of historic cold temperatures, a visit to the vet was the last thing we wanted, but if he was having urinary trouble, and if we had been missing signals up to this point, it seemed important to have him seen. In the morning, Cyndie searched for an emergency vet that would be open and Mozyr VERY reluctantly made it into a carrier for the trip.
The veterinarian said cats will tend to stop using the litter box if they associate it with pain or difficulty they have with peeing. I had another thought… when we are home alone, we usually use our bathroom without closing the door, and Mozyr almost always makes a trip in to seek attention and get a drink from a water bowl on the floor in there. For the two weeks we had guests, the bathroom door was always shut when in use, and the timid little scaredy-cat was probably lost as to what to do.
It could be that he was not drinking as much water, or was just too scared or uncomfortable to go down and use the litter box. The vet re-hydrated him with IV fluids and we are enticing him to drink more with some tuna water. He seems a bit more like his old self already.
Yesterday, Pequenita moved us ever closer to ultimate dog/cat normalization with a relentless series of forays into unprotected territory, walking right underneath Delilah a couple of times, while ‘Lilah fought the urge to over-react. Our beautiful canine did everything she could to be good, but lost it a few times, chasing ‘Nita back to the gate. We think they both did a heroic job of getting better used to being in proximity with each other.
Mozyr did his best to not run under the bed every time he heard ‘Lilah’s tags jingle, but he hardly set foot out of the bedroom.
Slow progress, but progress in the right direction. Our hopes for an ultimately happy ending are renewed. I think Pequenita will deserve the majority of credit. If Mozyr overcomes his fears, that will deserve a worthy celebration.
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From Elysa
(While we were at the lake, our daughter, Elysa, was home running the ranch. That was blessing enough, but she has gone beyond the call of duty and has also written a guest post for us, too! The photos are both taken by her, as well. Thanks a million, E!)
I was in charge of the ranch over the weekend, and I’m happy to report that it went well despite my parents’ absence!
Saturday morning was as beautiful at Wintervale as it was reported up in Hayward with the long crystals of frost covering every surface. As I walked down the driveway toward the barn, the sunrise lit up over the snow and glistened on the frost. It was breathtaking! However, I tend to find myself lost in the moment without any camera most of the time. I went back to the house after feeding the horses to grab my phone for some quick photos while getting in a walk for Delilah. My dad posts wonderful scenes at Wintervale here on the blog, but they just cannot compare to the experience of viewing it all in person. Luckily, I had the opportunity to watch both sunrise and sunset when I went to feed the horses each day.
While the horses ate at dawn, the dog was up even earlier than that. Working on farm-time was a bit of an adjustment for me. I was getting up almost four hours earlier than usual. Delilah was a delightful challenge (most of the time). She got me up early, kept me busy all day, and gave me a whole set of reasons to be skeptical of her doggie kisses, seeing what she puts in her mouth. She also got caught chewing one of her toys to shreds on multiple occasions (covering herself and her surroundings with bits of batting and leftover squeakers) and trying to sneak small branches into the house. 
To give her some credit, she did let me “sleep in” until 7am on Monday and later spent some time quietly cuddling her favorite toys. I definitely have a new respect for all the work my parents are doing each and every day!
I’d have to say caring for the rest of the animals was easier than the demands of the dog. The horses probably noticed that I wasn’t that good at putting out their hay without showering myself in it. I found myself picking out bits and pieces of hay from my hair and clothes for a while after each feeding. The cats were pleasant roommates. Mozyr snuggled up next to me through one of the cold nights. Pequenita was an instigator of over-excitement as she taunted the dog time and again. Though it was challenging at times, the farm life has been a welcome experience to balance my everyday life in the Twin Cities.
Many thanks to my parents for sharing it all with me as they build their Wintervale wonderland! I’m so glad they could take a break and enjoy their stay at the cabin. (So are we. Thanks, Elysa!)
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Lovely Lips
It looks like Legacy has tried to apply some red lipstick, but it is just the result of what we have come to call our “horse-sicles.” Cyndie found a recipe that involves cutting up fruit, carrots, and celery and putting it in sugar-water that has some food coloring added, and then freezing it.
The first time we set some out, they gobbled them up overnight, and we didn’t have much chance to witness them enjoying the treats, so we have been saving the last two for a time when we could hang around and watch. Legacy was the only one inside the paddocks when we showed up, and the three chestnuts were happy where they were at in the big field, so he got first shot at the fruity-sweet popsicles all by himself.
We pulled up chairs and spent a little time lounging in the bright winter daylight of the cloudy afternoon, amid sprinkles of light falling snowflakes, and watched Legs savor the sweetness.
Earlier in the day, we had taken all 4 horses out at the same time for a walk through our woods. It is the first time since the horses arrived here that we have had enough experienced horse handlers available to do this. It was a challenge to walk in the snow, but the horses all behaved well and nobody got spooked, which is a testament to the handlers all remaining calm and projecting a confidence that communicated everything was safe and under control.
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I was the least experienced one of the bunch, and after leading Legacy out, Cyndie switched me off to get some pictures of everyone, and Jose took over the lead with Legs, Cyndie was with Hunter, Marco Sr. had Cayenne, and Dunia walked with Dezirea. After a switch, I ended up with Hunter and was able to experience the cooperative communication of being in charge of such a large animal who could easily toss me aside and do what he pleases.
After heading toward the labyrinth and then doing a loop through the woods, we strolled past Delilah’s kennel and she quietly and (mostly) calmly stood at her door watching the parade pass by. We then headed back down the hill and returned to the big field where we removed their harnesses after the gate was latched. Three of the four then proceeded to lay down and roll in the snow for a little bath.
We enjoyed a spectacular winter day with the horses, continuing to fulfill visions we had when news first arrived that the Morales family could come from Guatemala to visit us here over the holidays. We are feeling truly and richly blessed!
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Sloppy Surprise
There you go. Two days in a row, shoveling required. We received about 2 inches of powdery snow yesterday. Shoveling was easier to accomplish on Sunday, when I was home all day. I got very little of the snow cleared after work yesterday. First priority was cleaning off the front steps and walkway, then I was off to feed horses before they grew testy. Last to come was rescuing Delilah from the confines of her outdoor kennel.
I know she means well, but she caused me some real pain that I never saw coming. At this point, I don’t even recall what I was doing as I bent over in the fading daylight inside the kennel with her. I was either fussing with her leash, or picking up her water dish, which had frozen around the edges. Of course, she is always overly excited to see us after being alone all day, so she jumps on us and does circles around us as we put things in order before opening the gate to set her free.
When I walk toward her doghouse in the back end of the kennel, she runs away to the door, and runs back to me, as if she believes I must have gotten lost. Back and forth, round and round, up and down. I lost sight of her for a second yesterday, as I crouched down, and then it hit. BANG! She unleashed a sloppy wet tongue across my open eyeball. Yikes, that hurt!
That can’t be sanitary. I know people say that a dog’s mouth is cleaner than a person’s, but I have seen what she puts in her mouth. That adds sting to the sting.
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Stinky Story
It has been a while since I put hours in at the day-job, and as a result, I have a fair backlog of stories to share that they haven’t heard regarding things that have happened at Wintervale. Yesterday, I was waxing eloquent on Delilah’s apparent preoccupation with wildlife scat and horse manure. As I spun my tales, I came to a funny story that I realized was worth posting here, and since I don’t recall having already written about it, I’m hoping I haven’t.
During the period that I was on leave, I worked on several outdoor projects that allowed me to grant Delilah the opportunity to roam freely, off-leash. She demonstrates such elation with being able to run free that it is a thrill to watch her, but since I would be trying to get some work done, there were times when I lost sight of where she was.
That was actually part of the training we have been working on. When we notice she seems to have disappeared, we call or whistle and she needs to return. Every time she does, she is rewarded with a treat or lavish affection, or both. Sometimes it takes a long time for her to return, long enough that I have usually grown frustrated and consider it a failed attempt. That presents a challenge, because she eventually does return, after all, and seems to expect a treat, but I’m reluctant because she didn’t come the first time I called.
Often times, when she doesn’t return immediately, it is because she has wandered off our property and is overly excited about exploring the unfamiliar territory of our neighbors. The plowed field just to our north is a particular favorite of hers. They weren’t able to plant any crop there last spring because it remained too wet for too long into the growing season. Instead, it became the place that our neighbor chose to dump fertilizer. He was putting some pretty stinky stuff on there from the local area dairy farms. I am pretty sure that is why Delilah likes it so much.
One damp day, after she eventually returned from a prolonged disappearance, she came back with what looked like muddy water soaking the fur around her head. It struck me as odd, because her head was dry, but I got the impression she had stuck her face into a puddle. I wondered how she could look wet around her face so thoroughly, but not show anything on her face or the top of her head. When she got close enough to me, I quickly discovered it wasn’t muddy water. She stunk something awful. There must have been a puddle of sewage up in that field somewhere.
It smelled so bad, I didn’t want to be near her. I went back to my project and hoped she would wear it off just by running through the grass, goofing off while I worked. Hours later, when Cyndie arrived home at the end of her work day, I had honestly forgotten about the mess Delilah had gotten into earlier. We all walked into the house through the front door together and Delilah jumped all over Cyndie and her nice suit, behaving like the over-excited puppy that she is, deliriously thrilled to have momma home.
“What is that smell?!” Cyndie choked.
Oops. The afternoon of activity had not done anything to get rid of the odor. It just served to dry the foul mixture into her fur. Delilah was marched right down to the tub for a good scrubbing.
Even after the bath, it seemed as though that stink lingered in her fur for a surprising amount of time. I imagine she was probably pretty proud about that.
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Animals Update
I feel like the horses have been getting short shrift of air time here lately, probably due to the severe winter weather we’ve been enduring of late. Most days it is all business down at the barn, getting hay and feed distributed before my exposed flesh starts getting burned by the cold air. Pulling out the camera in the cold and dark just doesn’t seem to happen. Of course, the fact that the flash quit working on my favorite pocket camera might have a little to do with that.
I did recently snap this shot at dusk, prior to entering the barn to feed them. That is Cayenne in front of Legacy, and if you look close, you can see Hunter peeking out from the edge of the overhang of the barn. Legacy has played hard-to-get when we attempt to adjust his blanket and I’m beginning to think that he thinks it looks cool that way. He reminds me of a teenager who wears his ball cap sideways or lets his pants hang low.
They seem to be doing well despite the harsh conditions. It is such a treat to watch them when they are prancing and dancing around in the snow. We haven’t been picking up after them in the paddocks as diligently as we used to, and now the snow is covering a lot of their piles of manure, so I have resigned myself to it being a muddy, wet manure mess out there when spring finally rolls around.
Meanwhile, I have been having a lot more interaction with Delilah during the time I’ve been home during the week. Since it was so cold, I let her stay indoors with me, and since the cats just sleep on the bed all day, I put up a gate to the bedroom and then give Delilah freedom to move around the house.
We have developed a game of chase in the house where I run after her in laps around the spiral staircase. Last night, she even initiated the game and invited me to chase her around past the kitchen counter, in front of the fireplace, back to the kitchen, around and around again. I run as fast as I can, pushing her to work hard, but I run out of breath well before she tires of the game.
I tried to get her to wear boots that Cyndie bought for her feet, and she was very nice to let me get all 4 of them on her before we went out on the coldest day. After I got her ready, I still had to get my boots and coat on, and she stood totally still while I got ready. I think she was freaked out about trying to walk in them. When I was ready, it took some coaxing to get her to move, and then she clop, clop, clopped her way to the door.
Outside, she instantly appeared to be trying to run out of them, and it didn’t take her long to succeed. I thought it was nice of her to try, but I am guessing they won’t get much use beyond that first attempt.
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Rain Delivered
They promised snow, but we received freezing rain for most of the day yesterday. I really dislike rain in the winter. The day will not go down in our history as one of the better ones around here. On top of the weather being lousy, Cyndie is suffering greatly from a sinus infection that has walloped her a good one. When momma’s not happy, nobody’s happy.
The horses are being good sports about the lousy weather. We put them in the barn on Tuesday night, and decided to leave them inside, sheltered from the freezing rain, for the entire day yesterday. This is the longest we have yet to confine them in those stalls. It seems like a bit much to ask of them, but I think maybe they sense the benefit and are accepting the situation without complaint.
Delilah didn’t seem to mind the wetness one bit, and ran all over the place, playing in the slushy mess. I let her roam off-leash for a bit, and she stayed in contact with me for the entire distance down the driveway to get the mail, and back again. I hadn’t intended to stay out and get wet, but once you are wet, you don’t really get any wetter, so I scraped the freezing slush off the upper part of the driveway. While I was out, our tractor was delivered on a flatbed truck from the local dealer who performed a full set of routine maintenance steps. Yep, I got out of having to change the oil this time.
The driver dropped it off at the flat spot of the driveway near the barn. Since it doesn’t have chains on yet (the weather was nice when they picked it up last week), I worried I might not get it up the hill to the shop garage. Well, I made it up the hill, no problem, but then spun my wheels when I tried to back it up the tiniest of an incline into the garage. No worry, I have a loader on the front, and people tell me to use that to push myself whenever I get stuck. It worked like a charm. The tractor was a frozen mess of ice, but it is back in the garage with all new fluids, a repaired leaking front tire, and no more dripping from the hydraulic line quick-connect fitting.
Since I was out in the garage, already wet, I decided it was a good time to get the plow re-attached to the Grizzly ATV. Knowing we will have frigid Arctic air settling in for a few days, I figured I should try to clear as much of the slush off the driveway as possible before it gets locked in place for good. I can’t call my first try at plowing with the Griz a smashing success, but I was able to do a fair job and I completed it in a fraction of the time I spent last year trying to use the big diesel tractor. I feel optimistic about my chances of becoming proficient at maneuvering the ATV and moving snow to clear the pavement to a degree that meets my exacting standards. I think it will be a bit easier to plow snow in the future when it isn’t raining at the same time.
Just to top off this first significant, and lousy, snow event day, I needed to reattach the mailbox after the township plow went by. We are picking up right where we left off last year, in that regard.
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Wonderful Visit
I’ve said it before, and I will say it (write it) again, our place is made whole by the presence of guests. We are extremely thankful for the families who traveled to be with us this past weekend, celebrating the U.S. Thanksgiving.
For some reason, the presence of visitors causes me to forget I even have a camera, so I captured very few images. Before anyone arrived, Cyndie was working in the kitchen to prepare foods for the feast, and Delilah felt the need to get right in the middle of the action to help out. Once there, she fell fast asleep.
The second image is from the labyrinth. I was a bit surprised to see how popular the labyrinth turned out to be with the young ones. It doesn’t beep or ding, doesn’t involve eating anything, it is outdoors, and it requires active participation. They loved it! I believe some preferred it over visiting with the horses. Several kids asked to be able to walk it one more time before going in, and later, some asked if they could return to the labyrinth to walk it again.
Both of those images are off my phone, because I didn’t have my camera handy either time. I didn’t capture any record of the wonderful interactions between kids and horses, nor the delightful behaviors of Delilah amidst the chaos and clamor of 20 people, young and old, eating and conversing loudly all around her.
It was a wonderful visit and we feel truly blessed to have been able to share our place with family over the holiday weekend.
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Round Two
We get a second shot at a family Thanksgiving today, with “Hays” relations making the trip east to visit and meet our horses for the first time. It really is a colossal treat for us to have guests visit Wintervale, despite the urge to have everything looking perfectly-tended and thus our needing to vacuum endlessly. Delilah doesn’t seem to see the point of that, and quickly crushes a bone to dusty bits on the rug, or shreds the next available stuffed toy to distribute clouds of white fluff to and fro.
She can be very assertive about making her point, like right now how she is repeatedly moving my right hand off the keyboard with her head to demand I scratch her, so I have to type one letter at a time with my left hand. At least I have a good excuse why the post is my usual Sunday lateness in getting published for you all.
I do need to get to the vacuuming, and would like to clean the paddocks before guests arrive, so I will make this short today. I’ll leave you with this fun portrait that Elysa captured of me with Dezirea during Thursday’s Thanksgiving visit by Cyndie’s family. I was inside the paddock to encourage the horses to come down the fence line for treats offered by our visitors. Dezi was checking my hand, looking for a treat that wasn’t there.
Oh, that reminds me… Last night, Cyndie and I cut up apples, celery, parsley, oranges, added shredded carrots, floated them in sugar-water with a little food coloring, and froze them to make “treats” for the horses. It was a recipe Cyndie discovered somewhere. I am looking forward to seeing if they show interest in the strange bucket-sized popsicles.
Happy December to you all!
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Clean Up
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“What do you mean I have to put away all my toys because company is coming?”
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Twas the day before Thanksgiving, and all through the house… Yeah, we’re cleanin.’ And cooking!
Cyndie read somewhere that you should give your dog a new toy every few days, or at least, rotate them out of service for a while as new ones are introduced. I know how this works. We raised kids. Delilah would just as likely play with a stick or a leaf and be fascinated for an hour. She would just as happily devour the cardboard backing a new chew toy had been mounted to, instead of the toy itself. Ice cubes are a current fascination. But it seems everyday I discover a new colorful device in our house that pet scientists of the world have devised to keep our dog intellectually challenged.
I’d like to meet the marketing genius who wrote that article Cyndie read, …and congratulate him.
“Don’t forget to clean up after the horses in the paddocks!”
Yes, dear. I should just let Delilah eat it all. With a dog’s sense of smell a gazillion times better than humans, you’d think manure would smell something awful to them. So, why the need to taste it at every encounter? The horses, deer, raccoons… She doesn’t discriminate.
I sure hope it won’t be too sunny tomorrow. I don’t think we’ll get around to washing windows before guests arrive.
If you are traveling today, be careful out there! We hope everyone in the States reading along will have a chance this holiday-extended-weekend to gather with others, sit down to a meal together, and bask in the valuable energy of being thankful. If you notice your hosts missed a spot when they were cleaning for guests, be sure to cut them some slack. Especially if they have been trying to live with a great big puppy and two frustrated house cats for the last two months.
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Relative Something 