A Cowdogs Advice

Grip up, America!

snow

The Voice of Winter

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After the few big storms we had have melted away, we have a brown winter.

I know most folks want a white Christmas, but that is just more winter. I’m told my people have endured plenty of white Christmases, and a scrubby brown landscape – at least for those who feed livestock, fight frozen water and have countless other outdoor chores – is merciful indeed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I make good dog snow angels, but rolling in the grass is always great too.

It is pretty warm for January, and there is sun in the deep, dark winter.

 

The chickens are even freed from their sunroom once in awhile, and they love it!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One thing I miss with this easy winter- when the snow is deep and the air is still, when the world is frosty and frozen – everything sounds different, and the canine voice is magnificent!

 

 

The sounds of the creek are muffled in a layer of ice, snow banked around it, and brush bent low over the water by more snow, down low where it is too shady and cold to melt, probably until April.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There aren’t too many singing birds, mooing bovines, or rumbling tractors. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am a vocal one, maybe irrepressible,

some might say lippy and opinionated.   

 

But my voice is really something when it echoes across the white hillsides!

 

Now, there is the more ordinary sassing, correcting the boss, getting the horses in line and general yip-yapping.

But give me a frosty morning, when the air is cold and all is blanketed white, and I’ll give you my best wild dingo roar. It will echo from the high hills, cause birds to explode up from the trees, horses to bolt, and I think even the coyotes stop to listen.

 

I think I have cracked ice when my tone was perfect!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have to wait for a good snow, so I will practice joyous singing until then!

 

 

I’m Out of Words

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We are almost to mid-May, and I’m bringing you news of another big blizzard this week!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Now I’m a dog that loves snow, and the fresh stuff is great for rolling, cooling and cleaning, but

Even I am a little tired of it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

It is the cruel and wild vacillations that wear me out.

Sunday it was nearly 80 degrees, Monday it never hit 40, and snowed all day! 

 

 

 

I’m out of words!

 

 

The boss says we’re planting trees today – that should be a real pleasure – slipping and sliding, freezing fingers and paws under a few inches of snow, even as it melts in today’s sunny 70 degrees!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And this at the end of Be Kind to Animals Week!

 

Maybe I can find a patch of sun and dry ground, where I can lay to oversee the work.

Or I’ll direct from the porch.

 

 

What can I say but this:

 

 

Carry on!

Biscuit Baking Time for Me

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Well, we had a good snowstorm last week; I thought it was loads of fun and have enjoyed running, rolling, making snow angels and shoving my nose into the drifts!

 

In the morning, cold and dark though, I make it fast I tell you!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

But it was warm inside and mom finally made me biscuits! I know every dog out there will love them, so here is the recipe and my personal preferences.

 

 

Mom uses what she has on hand, and what I like best!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am kind of finicky, so she makes several varieties. If I don’t like them, we give them to my cousin Chili – she’ll eat anything! 

 

Me dreaming of the treats I smell baking

 

 

 

 

Mom has a very old recipe, but she always uses what she has on hand and what I like best. If you are allergic to certain grains or other things,  you can use other flours, cereals, grains. I like beef broth and bits of dry beef and blueberries a lot! But today, she added a little chopped bacon and pumpkin, also very favorites with me.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are short on eggs because the hens aren’t laying now, but that is the neat thing – really any healthy combination is good , mom says just keep the dry/wet ratio close,  so they can be rolled. Then baking and oven drying makes them hard and crunchy, so they keep well.

 

Cookie cutters or the faster pizza cutter.

 

 

I believe it is my job to make sure they DO NOT last, however. Mom doesn’t have time to make dog biscuits all the time, but she makes sure I know that I am worth it and she would make them more often if she could. The thing is, they are special and a real treat, so I appreciate them when I get them. That is the thing about life – the best things aren’t common, good things are worth waiting for, instant gratification is not. And there is nothing better on a snowy day than the smell and anticipation of my special cookies in the oven! I don’t even have to share them with the cats, but sometimes I do.

Grand old Ladysmith cherished her biscuits

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We have warmer weather and some sun this week. Still, it is a good time to start baking and thinking about Christmas cookies soon. I plan on helping and sampling them all, but mom says I’m already getting a little chubby, since I’m out running around less, and I steal cat food regularly.

 

 

Strong words from someone who is not exactly trim herself!

 

Bake some biscuits and enjoy!

 

 

Everything Changed

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Just like that, everything changed.

 

 

Up until Tuesday, we enjoyed a long autumn, even maybe Indian summer. The trees were colored, the grass still tawny and waving in gentle breeze, the sun late and short but brilliant, even warm.

 

 

 

 

 

 

But Tuesday, winter came with a vengeance. We never want a winter storm warning around here, but the first one always seems too soon.

 

Roads were treacherous but we wisely didn’t go out. All the highway cameras showed just a blur of white. The wind blew hard during the night.

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could hear it from my warm couch, and was glad I am loved and a housedog.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today the sun rose, late as usual, but brought warmth and diamond sparkles to a new, still blanket of snow. It was very bright.

 

 

 

Everything smells so different! I was busy trying to discern all that was hidden in white. I saw deer and turkeys had tracked up the new snowfall.So did I!

 

 

I smelled something interesting under there.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I even found fresh green grass still there under the trailer.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We took the four wheeler to feed horses and chickens. I forgot how slippery things could get, and slid off when I jumped down, and needed a boost from the boss to get back on. It was that old hock injury acting up. 

 

 

 

 

 

But I ran, and rolled.

 

I stopped, watched and sniffed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I sunned while the boss fed, checked water, and fixed a breach in the new coop run cover. As a cowdog, that is not my area of expertise, but I think they’ll need to brace it up a bit more, as surely there will be more snow, more wind, more winter from here on out. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The world always looks better in the morning. It is a new day, a new world, and I expect giood things to come. My Heeler joie de vivre is soaring – I can’t help but sing! 

 

Oh there’ll be hard times I know. But this morning, this day is glorious!