Bruce's Journal

[babsbag]

My GP tried to get into the coop through the pop door. He got his shoulders in and that was it. He finally backed out but it was funny watching him.

 

[Baymule]

What a handsome boy! I am happy for all involved, and you got a fantastic dog!

 

[Latestarter]

Wow, what an exceptional turn of events! Congrats on getting a proven LGD from a proven BYH member! A win win win for all involved! Sounds like he's going to be a great addition to your farm! I give you a month and you'll wonder how you ever lived without him... 6 months and you'll be considering getting another This definitely explains why the over achievement on fencing Should have realized there had to be SOME danged good reason for you busting hump in all weather to get that done. Feeding him is going to cost $1/day LESS than the cats? Those cats need a job catching their own food out in the barn! Time for them to earn their keep!

Anyway, really glad for you and your family & for Merlin! Happy and sad for @purplequeenvt I can't imagine how difficult a decision it must have been for her to let Merlin go. At least he's close by to where he grew up. And I'm sure she wouldn't have let him go if it wasn't necessary.

 

[Mike CHS]

I'm another that is happy for you and for Merlin. All that hard work appears to be a goal after all.

 

[TAH]

 

[Bruce]

Two of the cats take care of any mice that make it into the house. Then they barf it up somewhere. We aren't ALL that interested in them mousing in the barn (if they ever got out of the house other than to go to the vet).

My wife voiced some concern about not being able to sleep when he was barking last evening. I heard him 3 times last night, she didn't know he had barked even once after she went to bed.

I looked out the kitchen window while making breakfast, Merlin was trying to get the alpacas to play with him. They declined. Maybe if I tied a bag of alpaca pellets around his neck??

I don't know how much Merlin ate today. He decided to get his own breakfast before I went out. He found his 20 gallon food can, knocked it over and ate what he wanted. It doesn't have a bail to hold the lid down. I filled his dish from the pile though there were still at least 3 cups on the floor. Fortunately most of it stayed in the can. I moved the can to a room that has a half glass door, minus the glass. I suppose he could jump in through the window opening but I doubt he will bother.

I had taken the rotting and broken top boards off the old fence a few years ago. They were pulling down the chicken wire they were supposed to be holding up. This is what the NW end looked like facing south

And no, those are NOT floating braces, they are the top boards NOT holding up the chicken wire!! Q&D fix because my wife and I had to drive to Wisconsin to get DD2 from college. I ran and tensioned wire through the top of the chicken wire that was still in fairly good shape to hold it up and pieced in places that had really bad wire. I dropped the old boards along the inside of the fence line (screws and all, Q&D remember?) figuring any digging predator would be slowed a little. When the alpacas came I tossed them in piles on the outside of the fence so they wouldn't accidentally step on anything that could hurt them. Thus no longer a problem. Only now I have this new fence outside the old fence and those boards are again a threat to the boys (all three! ) They have never been painted so I carried them to the new fence closest to the "burn ring" behind the house and carefully tossed them over the new hotwire. Don't know when I'll have the bonfire. I should probably burn what is already in there, don't really need a huge fire! We can burn here any time there is snow on the ground. I think I'll call the fire dept so they don't get concerned about the plume of smoke I'm sure all the stuff in there and the boards will generate.

I took some insulators off the old fence and put them on the braces and posts on the north line. It has 6 wires, many of which were touching the posts. Granted they are wood so not very good conductors but still, best to have the wires clear.

Then I removed the broken and rusty chicken wire from the east end of the old fence to around the NW corner (lower right in this picture). Also removed from the lower right of the picture all the way to the top: 3 (thought there was only 1!!) strands of hotwire tangled in the dry weeds

You can see that a couple of the old posts are really close to the new fence. Now that it is hot I didn't want any animals to come to that really narrow area (especially from the top so there is still wire fence from the old corner post to the gate hinge side post)and not be able to turn around and retreat without getting zapped. I'm sure it won't be until next spring but I will remove that fence line. But there is too much rusty chicken wire stapled (long staple gun type) stapled to the posts and the ground level boards that go post to post to deal with at the moment.

Before @purplequeenvt PMed to say she was willing to sell Merlin to me I had been working on raising and stabilizing the old deck from the house so the alpacas would have a (cheesy) "weather shelter". Fencing took over that priority. I worked some more on the barn side and was able to take out the "stuff" the excavator screwed in underneath so he could carry it from the house and deposit it where you see it. Still needs some tarp or whatever to make it a weather shelter. I don't even know if the alpacas will go in. Merlin didn't show any interest when I sat in it and called him.

Note to @purplequeenvt: At this point "come" isn't even a suggestion to him.

Not sure I needed to buy the heated water dish. He seems happy enough to drink from the alpacas' bucket, no bending over I closed the south door to the barn (the chickens' end) and opened their smaller door halfway, held from opening farther, so in case Merlin came over the alpacas' gate, he wouldn't get into the coop. It took most of the day before any of them came out but I opened the people door around 3 and tossed their scratch. Most of them came out for that.

 

[Southern by choice]

My wife voiced some concern about not being able to sleep when he was barking last evening. I heard him 3 times last night, she didn't know he had barked even once after she went to bed.

She'll get use to it.
They bark, that is what they are suppose to do.
Eventually she will come around to being thankful for it and once she learns the different kinds of barks she will have a gratitude for it.

It is funny how you learn to sleep through it but once a certain pitch is made you will fly outta bed grabbing the shotgun!

I hope she falls in love with him.

I have seen a few farms over the years where the one spouse just doesn't care for dogs and ends up jealous of the relationship the other has with the livestock/dog... always ends badly.

 

[Baymule]

Yes they bark. I can sleep blissfully through all the Boof-Boofs, but there is THAT bark that always gets you up to investigate. Just now Trip was booming his loud BOOF! BOOF! and DH went out to investigate. He came in laughing, it is real windy and Trip was barking at a wind chime!

 

[Latestarter]

Oh gosh... just recently Mel has decided that my cell phone ring is dangerous... Any time it rings or I get on it to make a call he goes bonkers. So now I'm trying to get to get past that. There are definitely different barks and different intensities. When you hear the real thing, you'll no doubt recognize it pretty quick.

 

[Bruce]

She likes him, gave him lots of scratches this weekend. Though when he was barking earlier she said "YOUR dog is barking again". I told her that is what they do if they perceive a threat. I assume he is still figuring out what is important and what isn't.

I'm not sure if he has made any different barks yet. All sound the same to me. He's been going off a lot this evening (8:45 now). I went out about 15 minutes ago, he was down near the south fence but came when he saw me approaching the gate in the east line. He didn't want to get close to that gate maybe because he followed me out yesterday. I thought my wife coming behind me, I guess he got between us. He was checking out the area next to the little barn on his way uphill and I grabbed his collar (when I found it, lots of hair on that neck!) and took him to the gate between the barns. That is the one we use most. So I headed there and he took off to meet me. He is faster. I went in and gave him lots of scratches. Eventually he went back in the area behind the barns and hung around the alpacas' path. It wasn't until then that I noticed the alpacas were out under one of the solar arrays, no snow under them. While I was watching him the neighbor's dog barked, he didn't respond. And a couple of dogs down the road (possibly including the GP from the house where the alpacas used to live based on the deep voice) but he didn't respond to that either so I have no idea what he was barking about but it wasn't "here I am at the gate, come pet me".

Now it is 9:30 , she is getting ready for bed and annoyed he is constantly barking. But every time I go to the door to listen, he isn't.