Month: August 2012

A budding friendship, a sweet thing to see. In the eyes of dogs, there is only interest and expectation. Food? A Walk? A ball? Work? And acceptance. Whether they get what they want or not, it is all the same, and they love you no less. There is an honesty, an openness in those looks that we can learn from. My dogs, all working dogs, have grasped the importance of posing, the work I want to do, need to do and they help me do it, every day. They are waiting for me. To love them. Train them. Make them safe. Give them what they want and need when I can, give me what I want and need when they can. Dogs are so very different from people. They are not like us.

Scraping off two lawyers wallpaper that go back at last 70 years is an amazing task, much more painstaking and complex than I imagined it would be. Maria and I took turns scraping, scoring and spraying together. I was there all afternoon, and Maria arrived in the early evening. Spraying is important – lots of spraying with warm water, it takes two or three applications before things begin to really loosen.

There is bagging the wallpaper and hauling it off. We are about halfway done. I am surprised at how much I love this work. It takes much more patience and care than is usually available to me – important not to chew up the plaster underneath, which is generally in great shape. We are exhausted though, and will go back at it over the weekend.

The collapsed barn, where I first saw Rocky, is beginning to come down. Ben and Ajay went at a part of it with crowbars and hammers. We have an elaborate plan to sell the metal, pick apart the wood, burn much of it, save some of it. We’ll need a dumpster, a tractor and a dump truck to clear all of it out. I’d like it to be gone before the donkeys and sheep get there. There are several animals living in there, including an old barn cat. We will take care of her if she wants to stay, it seems she has been there for years, perhaps before her barn collapsed. Saw her twice, but she doesn’t get close.

For the first time, all three of our dogs – Frieda, Red, Lenore – were in our new home together. We aren’t moving in for at least a month, but it is time to start acclimating them. We will explore paths outside of the farm house – we have 17 acres heading out the back and into the woods, and we will usually walk them there. They will also have a good-sized run next to the farmhouse.

While Maria and I were going at the wallpaper,  the three dogs went to the front door and gazed out across the road. First photo of them there.

It looks as if Red has a hairline fracture on the bottom of his left leg. Still checking it out. He is much better today and we will take it easy for a couple of weeks. Not a big deal, common to working border collies, and it will heal with rest. He was barely limping at all this evening, and I can see his energy level rising. He is ready for work. Not yet, pal.

Every afternoon, we go to feed Rocky, who loves his new stall and is always in there in the strong sun. Red takes up position in front of the stall and when Rocky sees Red, he comes out to sniff him and the two of the gaze out at their world. It does look as if Red is guarding him, seeing him, but that is just a feeling and I have no real basis for it. Red seems to take this work seriously and Rocky seems more confident and adventurous when Red is around.