Merriment in stormy weather

Christmas Eve morning was a wet and windy affair. All the snow has disappeared and we have a very green holiday season. The radio kept playing songs about white, frosty days while we dug small channels for all the excess water coming down from a grey sky. Sting has a song about global warming on his latest cd. I kept singing it while digging. It's not a happy song....

Our hens reacted to a green, grassy and wet Christmas as a present just for them and spent half the day outside. It's quite warm so they got to plod along and dig for worms although the daylight faded rapidly. Mid afternoon is already pitch dark where we live so I had to call them indoors before a fox got the whiff of them. The hens were not impressed but they soon forgave me when they saw their Christmas presents. It was two big sheaves of oat straw that they got to eat and play with, all at the same time. After a session outside our hens seemed much more content and grounded so the saying "It's an ill wind that brings nobody any good" seems apt. The three guest hens stayed indoors eating in peace and quiet and Monty kept going back and forth between the two groups of hens. Greed verses love, I guess...

The dear sheep went out for a while and then decided that stormy weather was not to their liking. The rest of the day was spent indoors, sampling all their festive treats. They are four very clever animals and we do love them so much...

Dear Ebba is finding the whole festive season to be a bit much. She has new people in the house and lots of new smells and sounds to deal with. She kept a very low profile all through dinner and then opened her presents when everyone had left the party. Two frisbees, one large bone, one smaller bone and one toy was unwrapped on our bed. It turned out that Ebba is a great fan of presents and played, chewed and smiled half the night. Living with Ebba is not a dull affair and she is a darling dog. The sound of a chomping dog sneaking into our dreams seems to be the norm for us now but it's a small price to pay for a happy friend.

The rain keeps pouring down so the hens can hold a Christmas Day swimming competition in the large ditch in the morning. Ebba's stocking is hanging next to ours by the bed, so more treats to be had soon. I will wrap this up and go to bed but first we would like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and lots of joy to the festive season that's upon us. To think that another year is coming to an end...

I just read that dogs hate to be hugged. They feel trapped and dominated and can bite to protect themselves. I did know that you should not pat a dog on it's head as dogs hate that. Ebba bounces like Tigger and uses her front paws like Roo.... Winnie the Pooh is never far from my mind on a wet, windy day. I wonder how he celebrates Christmas.... "We wish you a merry Christmas, we wish you a merry Christmas....." and love from all of us, large and tiny at Stoneback farm.

December chores

With thoughts of Dogs in our lives this is a Tibetan Mastiff which is Dasha's favourite dog.

The month of December is the time when I actually get a grip and start to work. Proper nine to five with a coffee break thrown in for good measure....

This means that our dear animals get a new timetable too.

Ebba, the dog, soon found out that getting up at five am is fun. Going out in the pitch dark with me stumbling along at the other end of the lead is no hardship for our kind dog. Then dear husband does the long, proper walk with Ebba and all this is done before most people even start to contemplate waking up. Ebba is a great fan of the month of December.

Mindy, Mandy, Molly and My really dislike getting up early. They are four sheep that believe in long, slow mornings with breakfast in bed. So having me turning on the stable lights before 6am has been a bit of a surprise to them. After the first week of me working, Molly politely asked if I was done soon....

Being such troopers, the sheep have really been good about morning chores and popping out for a while, into a slightly cold, dark world. Some animals would flatly refuse, but not our lovely ladies. They do get a clean house, hay and a breakfast consisting of mixed root vegetables at the end of it all. In the evening we do it all again, apart from the vegetables. I give them some nice bread, instead...

Dear husband looks after all the animals, during the day. It's fun for them to see more of him and Ebba tells me dear husband is her bestest friend.

The hens wake up very early, as our three cockerels starts their manic tooting in the early hours, every single morning. It seems a bit over the top and we think they are competing with each other over who's the loudest. I have completely gone off young cockerels and so have our tired hens. Only Monty is popular with the hens and he is still being really sweet to them. The three guest hens adore our beautiful Monty.

It's less than a week until Christmas and soon family members will start to arrive. We will have quite a house party and that is always fun.

This year we have a dog that will try to strip the Christmas three, remove the lights or just knock the whole thing off it's stand. Dear Ebba will also be frightened of every new person she meets and she will want to hide, constantly. Thankfully Ebba has found her healthy appetite and likes her doggy treats so maybe, just maybe she will start to communicate a bit, just for the treats. It's still to be seen and as I do find that a Christmas three is essential for the festive season we will have to endure some minor catastrophes, I think... All of the decorations will have to be out of reach from Ebba, so it will look like our festive season is levitating. How our new friend will react to all the food smells remains to be experienced....

Reading the news right now makes you wonder how to celebrate this holiday. The coming together bit is lovely, whereas the mad shopping makes no sense at all. I keep thinking of all the people without homes, without hope and I put off buying stuff. It does not make a blind bit of difference to those who are suffering, but it does make me less confused about it all. I will help Santa with small gifts that I really want friends to have and leave it all at that.

Our animals will of course get their presents and maybe dear husband finds a stocking by his bed on Christmas morning. Ebba believes there will be a stocking hanging next to that one, with her name on it and she might just be right about that. We got blessed with a new friend when Ebba moved in. (I won't tell you what our dear sheep thinks about her arrival, as Santa's elves might hear me....).

There will be no Mr. Chip joining us at the graveyard this Christmas, which will make us very sad. We miss our dear departed friend and we will send a loving thought to him and his best friend in heaven while watching all the squirrels hop around by the graves. He so wanted to eat those squirrels...

Be safe, be merry and enjoy the week of getting ready for a holiday that can be celebrated in so many ways. Or not, if one chooses that option. As long as there are chocolates...

Donkeys seem to have a much stronger sense of self-preservation, than exhibited by horses, hence the streak of stubbornness. They need more convincing than a horse, when asked to do something that's new to them. Just a thought, it being this time of the year and all...

(While writing this our dog has tried to lick, chew and sing me away from the computer. Apparently there are more important things to do. Never a dull moment and so be it).

Mice and sheep

It's early morning and while I'm writing this, my outdoor clothes are running past me, one by one. This is not the most normal way to start the day but then again nothing much is normal anymore, since Ebba the dog moved in.

From lazy, laid back mornings with our old friend Mr. Chip, we now have full on action at 6am. Ebba finds everything that's not nailed down and brings it to my bed or hides it in the sofa. It's quite funny to watch; her running style is beautiful and her determination is impressive. I do tell her to stop and for a while it works and then she is off again. She would probably end her collecting frenzy completely if we raised our voices about it but somehow it feels that we are not in that place yet. Maybe we will get there, we'll see.

Ebba is a young dog and she is still finding living with us to be a bit wonderful. The morning show is pure joy on her part and eventually she calms down and starts dancing with all her toys instead. By then all my woolly clothes are once again slightly damp and in need of a wash.... (I found some bread; all wrapped up and tidy, under my pillow the other evening. I burst out laughing, to Ebba's great surprise, but it is nice to know that she is looking out for us - if I had felt peck’ish in the night...).

It's so very dark in the mornings right now and as everything is covered with ice, we have to wait a little bit for the morning walk - hence the Ebba-show. She still gets out into the forest at 8am so she is not doing that badly, I think.

Mindy, Mandy, Molly and My are stepping out very gingerly in the mornings. Dark and slippery is not what sheep of a certain age crave for but needs must. They only stay outside long enough for me to clean the stable. Then they are back, knee deep in hay and bedding.

Monty, Ullrick and Matti - the cockerel trio, have started to irritate our hens immensely. Matti is chasing hens around the stable and pulling at their tail feathers. This makes them yell rude things and I have taken up my mitten throwing once again. Matti lets go of the hen when a mitten lands on his head but he then stands around complaining loudly, for ages. He has also figured out that it's me throwing the mitten so he now gives me the evil eye, when we meet. I tell him about being nice to the fellow man or packing and so the days go by....

Monty has offended his former flock by leaving them for our visiting hens, so he is also in the doghouse. This leaves us with little Ullrick, the sweet, tiny washing up brush of a cockerel. He is so confused as the hens actually speak to him now and he jumps high up in the air when one comes too close. He still sleeps next to his mother and has no interest in the ladies of the house. We have discussions about the hardship of life, Ullrick and me... (Now he is chasing hens as well so I should not have tempted faith...).

Winter days involve a lot about checking that everyone is warm and safe, that Ebba gets enough exercise and that the hay barn is well stocked up. With so many hens it also means constant cleaning and I do that now completely on autopilot. The outside birds are eating plenty and our squirrel population seems to be growing in numbers. We have one very brave squirrel that sits just out of reach, runs just a bit quicker then us and seems to do it on purpose.  Ebba told me that she could sort this one out and I believe that she could. We are trying to avoid that morning catastrophe but we do wonder why the little joker keeps taking such risks. It sits very close by when I stock up on birdseeds and I don't think it is feeling poorly. It has a glossy, thick coat and a happy disposition. And a slightly odd sense of humour, it seems.

There is a family of mice living in the little outside sheep shelter. The little house looks like a sturdy bus shelter and was built to keep our dear sheep out of the rain in the summertime. The sheep use anything but that to stay dry when it rains so now family Mouse have moved in. (Our greedy sheep still pop in to help out with their dinner...).

It looks really cozy and warm for them, in there. They have hay and some seeds to keep them happy and content and they stand up on their little hind legs when you pass the house with the torch lighting up their home. There is no longer any signs of mice in the hay barn so maybe they prefer to watch the stars at night to living in a dark barn.

The shelter looks a bit like a little stable at Christmas time so maybe they are setting up the nativity play. It can also be that the mice stay up late in order to meet up with the tiny Christmas elves that are hard at work, with less than three weeks to go. The mice are safe from the hens for the moment but as soon as the weather gets warmer, they better watch out.....

When a mouse stands on its hind legs the people in the know call it “tripoding.” Makes sense, I guess. They do use their tail for support. I also read that next year will be "The year of the rooster", according to the Chinese zodiac. I know of dear friends that will be so chuffed about this and I have a sneaky feeling that all our cockerels will take it personally. Oh joy!

Be well and eat a lot of Christmas goodies. We do....

Dog hair everywhere

My coffee cup seems to have a floating dog hair in it. This is my own fault for trying to drink this magical brew next to Ebba. Moving house is a stressful time and now Ebba is changing into her winter coat and we have dog hair almost everywhere. The funny thing is that this does not stress me out at all. It should, but it does not...

If I wanted a non-furry drink I could sit at a table like normal people and it would be fine. Our dear dog does not (knock wood) go there and so it should be, but the rest of the house is a bit fluffy, to say the least. We had a charming young visitor who offered to help us by vacuuming the house. I did not have the heart to tell him I did it only yesterday but I did decline the kind offer, as he was only five years old. I'm quite certain that he would have done a better job of it than I had, though.

The autumn cleaning of the stable is done. All dusted, washed and ready for Santa's elves to pop in. The trouble is that by Christmas it will all be as dusty as before. At least we know it's done and the last cleaning session of the year will be quicker. Or not, as the dreaded bird influensa has arrived in Scandinavia and our hens are bound to be indoor birds by then. The world does not get any more cheerful, I must say... At least the elk-hunting season is over where we live. That's one headache less to deal with. Elks are just so charming and there is not that many of them left.

My dear husband has done amazing progress in training our dear dog. I stopped taking Ebba for long walks soon after she arrived, as there was no pleasure in it for her or me. Instead we opted for hanging out in the paddock. There we have played with sticks, frisbees and now also with her most important tennis ball. (It's completely hopeless to get a tennis ball to fly far!!!! Ebba is not impressed with my pathetic attempts). This has kept us amused for weeks, but the other day I felt adventurous and off we went, into the forest. It was with slight trepidation, I have to admit but the paddock was slowly closing in on me. I think we both started with heavy hearts but we returned light as feathers, hearts skipping in time with our big feet. What a transformation in such a short time!

Ebba still pulls me a bit but she was brave, focused and you could tell how much she enjoyed showing me her favourite places. I saw her newly dug hole, the puddles and she pulled up half a trees stump just for me. On the road Ebba kept to the left hand side and did not jump into the ditch every five minutes and I held the lead loosely in just one hand. We went and celebrated our successful outing in the paddock where Ebba got to run like the wind and I got to throw a tennis ball like a damp squid. We were both as happy as Molly the sheep, knee deep in her food....

It just goes to show what a lot can be done by letting go. Dear husband got to put in the hours training and practicing with our bumblebee of a dog and I now get to enjoy the result of their progress. Had I been keeping to a regime of "the dog has to learn!" we would all be miserable by now. Ebba got to find her feet with one friend first and now she can trust me to manage, too. I still fall over when we meet scary things, like other people, but I'm getting used to that. I've decided not to think of what people must think when they meet up with us on the road. Thankfully it's not very busy where we live. The main thing is that everyone has found solid ground and now we build up from there. And it's all down to dear husband and our sweet dog....

The daylight is dwindling into a few hours a day and our hens are winding down. They have stopped laying eggs and are busy digging and sleeping. They do find time to eat like horses, in between their winter activities. Our three cockerels are tooting in the mornings but even that seems to be done at a lower volume. It's good to see the henhouse in holiday mode, as they need it as much as everyone else.

Our four sheep finds life in the autumn to be safe and rosy. Food, warmth and good company of more mellow hens, who can ask for more? Well Molly can. "More food, thank you!" And I'm sorry to admit but I cave every time....

Ebba just woke up, had a good stretch, looked out the window into the pitch-dark morning and fell asleep again. She is not silly, our dog and we are very happy that she found us. Life with her certainly has more twists and turns and so it should be. Straight lines can be so boring.

Take care and remember to sing some Christmas carols as it does a world of good to all and everything.

A Koala sleeps up to 18 hours per day. After that it eats. A koala also stores snacks of leaves in poaches in it's cheeks. Sounds like a sound animal to me. 

The first of advent

Helleborus niger, The Christmas Rose

We are about to enter the magical, heartwarming month of December. The first Sunday of advent is upon us and we are officially allowed to sing Christmas carols out loud and not just in our heads. We can also start to bake gingerbread in all sorts of funny shapes, ready for the big event.

Our dear animals do not care that we are getting into the swing of Christmas to come. They strongly believe in the "here and now" mentality so they are just enjoying our mild weather. The hens are digging for worms and our lovely, kind sheep are nibbling and tasting their way through the fields. They don't even mind the drizzling rain, as their coats are so short that I can dry them when they get back into the stable. They look like four extremely round dogs in a row when I dry them before they carry on eating, this time their hay. The hens never, ever mind rain if they have things to do and places to explore. If they don't want to be outside they complain loudly that it's cruel to make them wet and cold. It's just to let them out in the mornings and to see from which way the wind is blowing this time, so to speak....

Ebba finds all kinds of weather to be wonderful and as long as she has the company of dear husband she will go far, for long periods of time and fast. Ebba is turning into a real gem and she has the kindest of heart. She is still frightened of most people and many things but she tries to put on a brave face and soldiers on.

Ebba even got into a car and came to visit her friendly vet, one afternoon. We went to get her claws clipped, as she still feels unsure about that. It's better to let the professionals’ help, until Ebba finds more situations comfortable and safe. We also wanted to check her weight and to get some vitamin and mineral supplements for her. She still needs to put on more weight and we got some oil to add to her food, too. All went well and her relief when we got back home was so endearing to watch that it almost made me cry. She is really reluctant to enter new houses and to get into cars in case she has to move again. We keep telling her that she is stuck with us and maybe she will start to believe us, soon...

A funny thing happened when we got home from the vet. Ebba came in, ate some food and the next thing we knew she was running through the house like a dog possessed, playing with a new tennis ball. For ten years this house has been a tennis ball free zone. Mr. Chip was not allowed to play with them as he got so agitated by it that he became a slightly different dog than the kind soul we knew and loved. So Ebba turning up with one was a surprise. We wondered and pondered about this and the next night Ebba turned up with a brand new, red little Christmas elf's hat, white bobble and all. Now we are thinking that maybe Ebba has friends in high places. We do have hay in the barn, ready in case Rudolf turns up next and Ebba has the look of a dog that could mix in magical circles... and you never know, Advent time and all.

We have a Christmas rose, 'Helleborus niger', on our kitchen table. It was a gift and it just keeps making new buds amongst its white flowers. I find it's the most dignified of all Christmas blooms and the most difficult one to keep alive indoors, all through the winter. There's a legend about how it sprouted in the snow from tears of a young girl. The girl cried because she did not have a gift for little baby Jesus, born in Bethlehem. Beautiful legends aside, it's good to remember that the Hellebore family is a bunch of poisonous flowers. Maybe we should move ours away from the kitchen - or maybe not, as it's hopefully safe from Ebba there. Our kind magician still eats all our pot plants...

Molly seems to eat a lot too and she is soon the world's roundest sheep. Mandy has a haircut that makes her look a bit out there and Mindy just gets more beautiful with every passing day. My has the glossiest coat I have ever seen on any animal and wears it proudly. The sheep and I have started our winter club and meet up most evenings, in the stable. We aim to discuss world events and fashion but mostly end up talking about food and friendly hens. It's a very wonderful way to put the day to bed and we all feel better for it. The hens pop in and out but only Darya is part of the group. Darya the hen and I share the title of honorary sheep.

The Danes are selling the concept of their "Hygge" to the world as the best way to feel happy. We are doing "happy" in our own way and we do hope you have time to relax a bit in the evenings, too. Be well and Happy December to you all!

The Finnish forest reindeer 'Rangifer tarandus fennicus' is a rare and threatened subspecies of reindeer native to Finland and northwestern Russia. They are larger in size than the semi-domesticated Northern reindeer 'Rangifer tarandus tarandus' and prefer dense, boreal forest to the open tundra.

Don't we all??

P.S. We are very pleased to welcome or illustrator, Dasha, back after a few weeks of sickness. 

Three cockerels in the stable

As you can see, little Ulla did a U-turn and changed colours losing her roundness. Hello Ullrick!

This means that our poor hens and sheep have three odd sounding boys beeping and yodeling to them in the mornings. Monty takes this in his stride, as he is too much in love with our guest hens to really care about the other boys in the band. Little Matti (not so small anymore...) on the other hand is already having sparring sessions with the new guy. This is still a rather sweet affair, both trying to stare the other one down. As they have the eyes on the side of their faces, they end up leaning their heads and it looks like they just have a bad hearing problem. Both of them...

Then mini Ullrick fluffs up all his tiny feathers and they start to dance. Matti has grown up and is now a very handsome young cockerel. Mini Ullrick looks like a worn down bottle brush, so the whole thing is still a game to Matti. He refuses to be challenged by someone so young, which still brings his mother along for support, when out fighting. What the spring holds for us is a totally different kettle of fish...

As the stable is full of snuggled up animals my days seems to be constant cleaning and feeding marathons. The snow is melting away again but the grazing is over for this year. The slimy grass that will appear after the thaw is no good to anyone. I do wish that the hens would pop out occasionally when the weather gets warmer, as they need the exercise to stay nice and polite with each other. Mindy, Mandy, Molly and My have been out to play in the snow for a while almost every day during the cold spell. They run and battle with each other. A lot of head butting and jumping, but they soon start calling to be let in again. Half an hour’s worth of fresh air seems to be enough when it's cold outside. It has done them a world of good though, to stretch their legs and run off some of their roundness.

I'm writing this blog early in the morning, snug and warm in a big armchair in the living room. The days of sitting up in bed writing are over as dear husband needs to get some sleep in the mornings. This is not possible since Ebba the dog moved in. If she finds that dear husband is in bed after she's been out to check the world Ebba runs full pelt, leaps and lands on him, loudly wishing him a "Very Good morning". She then starts to chew on him for a bit, just to make sure he notices her and then a second leap from a short distance. Having 20 kilos worth of happy dog landing on you entitles you to be slightly cross. Dear husband just groans and I remove us from the room, briskly. Ebba is still waiting for the morning walk with her hero but now there is a closed door between them. The wait is not long, as dear husband only has time for an hours nap before the day begins.

Ebba is a fixer. She has removed all the support sticks from the indoor flowerpots. By standing on furniture she managed to pull them out without tipping over a single flowerpot. She then played her favourite game of "shredder" and turned the sticks into mulch. This game is apparently best played in our bed, very quietly so I did not hear a thing. Dear husband got home from work and wondered if I had started chopping wood indoors. Ebba was very proud.

Ebba likes the taste of furniture, mats, plants, pillows and us amongst other things. She also finds the drain in our shower to be fascinating and spends time guarding it. Why, we don't know, but it looks very sweet when a happy dog hurries past, on her way to check the drain situation. (It has been cleaned, so it should not be smelly....).

Ebba does not like walking on a lead with me. She behaves almost nicely with dear husband but takes walking with me as a joke. So until we get our act together dear husband is the main dog walker in our family and I spend a lot of time running around in a sheep paddock. (There are some funny, ironic jokes in that but we won't go into them right now....). I am learning to throw a Frisbee and that is a new skill, I guess. Teaching a dog some common sense, not so much my thing, it seems...

Monty, Ullrick and Matti will be a problem, early next spring. Where to place two sweet little cockerels and how to be able to do it.... We do have a lot of hens in the stable at the moment so maybe, just maybe the three boys could cohabit and behave. That's what I hoped about Monty and little Eric this spring and that did not happened. We'll see.... We just have to enjoy the winter and take what comes later. Ebba said she could help us out with the excess of cockerels but we politely declined the offer.

Sheep spend 15 percent of their time sleeping. Ebba, not so much...