The pitter patter of little feet.

REALLY little feet!

The size of my dogs has been shrinking over the years. I started out with Newfies, which are just lovely big dogs. Then I got Aussies - and quickly discovered how much more work the Newfies were, grooming wise. As most of you know, a couple of years ago I "discovered" Border Collies, and there's been no looking back. As an added bonus, Kate and Hope are about 15 pounds lighter than Bruce and have way less hair. 

Generally I'm a big dog person so really Border Collies are around the "low end" of big for me.  

Until Suzie. 

At somewhere around 3 pounds 4 ounces (according to our not so scientific kitchen scale), dogs Suzie's size have definitely flown well below my "I want that dog" radar. 

At 13 pounds, no wonder Antonio is more disgusted than worried about having a strange dog in the house.

However, Suzie is my Gramma's little dog and Gramma managed to fall and break her hip a few weeks ago and Suzie needed a place to stay, as well as a little bit of training.  

 

The plan is for Suzie to stay here until Gramma is back in her house and for  Suzie to return here if at any point Gramma finds that living in her own home is a bit more than she wants to take on.

All that running with the big dogs can tire a little girl out!

Boys and their toys.

Remember this toy? 

 Despite the voice of reason, the games have continued.

Here are the boys playing tug and having a great time.

and now here's a picture shortly after Bruce let go and the toy nailed Travis in the nose...

 

Shearing time

Spring has sprung and shearing time is upon us.  I'm not talking about our sheep though. We've got hair sheep...

Katahdins -  the "pret-a-porter" breed.

Nope, this time of year, the only thing around here that has "ris" is the water and mud.

The beast that needs shearing and a foot trim is Bruce, the resident woolly mammoth.

 Before...

 

 After...

Travis agreeing with Bruce's opinion that yes, yes he DOES look a little light in the loafers.

One small rant and then back to the usual show.

I'm worried that I may have started a "neighbour" feud. 

I'm not asking much. Keep your dog (and your goats, and your horse - but hey, one thing at a time) off my property. Aside from being verbally abusive he's now made vague threats about my sheep.

I now understand why farmers just "shoot, shovel, and shut up".  Part of me wishes I had gone that route instead of trying to reason with them.  

 

They paved paradise, and put up a parking lot.

As you well know, the dogs and I walk our trails daily (and for those of you who've been paying attention for the last couple of months, YES I'm back walking the trails - no more pictures of sleeping cats for while!).   

Look - another picture of our dogs on the trail!

A good chunk of what we walk is part of the Trans Canada Trail.  The TCT is the world's largest network of trails and when it's completed it will be over 22,000 kilometers long. 

This portion of trail also happens to be the last remaining intact section of the Athabasca Landing Trail which in it's heyday was Canada's busiest northern route. 

 

And that's your local history lesson for the day! At any rate, it gives you an idea as to why those of us who live next to the trail are quite attached to it. 

A couple of days ago I walked the dogs down to the south end of the trail, where it opens out into a nice quiet dead end country lane.  

Things have changed. I guess it's called "progress".

 I guess the upside is, I can watch the dogs run away for a mile or so (they're in the shot).

 

There's new play ground equipment for the kids,

 and some people pay a lot of money for a mud pack spa treatment.

 

Another picture in case you couldn't tell how freaking wide this little country lane is now. 

I happened to talk to the county workers the other day when I discovered their work. Nice guys, just out doing their job. They mentioned the plan to "improve" the trail as well.  There's to be room at the trail head for parking, the trail is to be widened, and gravel put down.  That doesn't sound like "improvement" at all.  

Thankfully, no one who owns the land that the trail passes through is interested in improving it at all - it's just fine the way it is, so hopefully things will remain the way they are. 

 

This is a trail...

and THIS is a highway.

A great case for more fiber in your diet

I apologize in advance for this blog entry - it's a crappy one. 

We ran into this while walking the dogs a few days ago.  

Yep...it's poop.  Aren't you glad you came to visit today? 

The thing is, I didn't think that the photo did that poop any justice, so I made sure I took a few more...in the interest of science and good journalism of course.

So we stretched the poop out. Don't worry, we live in the woods (and while the bears are still hibernating, obviously SOMETHING is still "pooping" in them) so there were sticks - we used STICKS - to move the poop. 

It still didn't give a good impression of scale - you can't tell how impressive it is at all. So then I had Travis help me out with the next shot.

That shot tells the real story. That poop is about 2 1/2 feet long.  Picture the animal that produced that poop. Stuck out in the middle of a very busy trail...nothing to read... feeling  more than a little exposed, and probably a wee bit embarrassed as well. 

Yep, the entertainment out here sure beats anything you'll find in the city!