It's a Dog!

Well, much to our surprise we've ended up adopting a dog. She's a yellow lab. Five years old. Name's Maizy. Her previous owners kept her chained out in a cement yard without shade and water and she was not allowed in the house. So, our neighbor rescued her and now she lives with us. We took her to the vet and she had an ear infection that was the worst the doctor had ever seen. So, we've got her on the antibiotics and things seem to be improving a little. She also has some arthritis in her hips, which may be from lack of exercise. The vet gave us some glucosamine tablets for her and it should improve in about 6 weeks. She got all her shots, since she was long overdue. Other than that, they said she was healthy.

She's very sweet, but it sure is taking some getting used to. I think Eric and I are up to our ears overwhelmed right now with Maizy, the chickens, the kittens, the garden, painting the house, visitors, birthday parties, going away parties, etc. Our dear dear friends are moving to New Hampshire in two weeks, which has been a real downer as well... but good for them! Plus our house smells like dog now. :-( Okay... so sorry. Enough of the sorrowful rant.

Anyway, she doesn't listen very well. At one point she did know all the commands and things and I'm sure was a well-trained dog. However, I think with several years of neglect she is pretty rusty. So, we've been working on her with that. She also has a tendency to lunge at the cats, which is upsetting all around (for us and the cats). She seems to be getting a little better with them though. We've been very strict with her whenever she isn't nice to them. The chickens don't seem to interest her too much, though it will be a LONG time before we feel comfortable with her off the leash around them.

Eggs!!!

It's been quite a while since my last blog post. There's been death and sickness and busy busy days and just not that much time or inspiration for blog posts. HOWEVER, what happened yesterday could not go undocumented....... I opened the roof of the chickens' coop and lo and behold...dundundun... There were eggs. TWO! The chickens' first eggs. I felt the pride of a grandmother. That overwhelming joy that my offspring had reproduced, had carried on the family line and that no matter what else they did, this was a wonderful success. Yes, I know. They're chickens. They're not my children, but they sure feel like it. I called my dad and was so flustered by the surprise of the eggs that, when he answered the phone, I blurted out "You're a great-grand-chicken!!!" He said "I'm a Great Grand Chicken?"

Anyway, it was very exciting. They are small eggs and we assumed that they each layed one, but who knows!!! We were thinking that it might be about laying time because a couple of days ago, the chickens started acting really odd--running up and down their ramp and scuffling around in the top of their house during the day (which was very out of character). Not to mention, they'd been very agitated. Bawking extra-loud in the mornings. I would imagine it would be quite uncomfortable to have a big egg stuck up their asses (or wherever they're stuck) and they've never laid before so they don't know how to get it out.... poor poor chickens. They got lots of treats last night, though, to make up for their hardwork. Sunflower seed, kale, raspberries, and yogurt. Eric said "Wow, they really look like chickens now!" and I asked if that was the same reason a teenager suddenly looks more adult once they've had sex. He said that yes, it was. I suppose that means our chickens have been deflowered in some roundabout way.