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).