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.