A Busy Week…Part 1 By BG

This has been a very busy week for Grammy and a kind of boring one for us. Grammy and Papa’s oldest son had driven from Florida to CA for his 20 year Class Reunion and to be here for Kody Bear’s baby sister’s Dedication up in their town

He spent the rest of the week up there visiting, but Grammy had gotten so behind with all the other stuff she’s been doing, that she had to spend the week cleaning… and do THAT without water, cause our waterline broke again!

We DID get to go out on a few Squirrel Patrols, and those were a LOT of fun. Even Grandma OC got to come out and go with us one time.

We got a chance to see that new “Train Thing” that Grammy had been talking about. It is REALLY BIG!!! It would make a great Mango Cave!

A big truck had brought it in a few weeks ago, and put it in the back of our side pasture. 

That is where they had been putting all the stuff they’d brought from Papa’s Auntie’s house.

It is our opinion that it is NOT a good thing. It looks like it was specifically MADE to become a Squirrel and/or rabbit condo!!!

Mama Dott and little Pippin CAN get under one end of it, but Grammy and GrandPaw don’t like that because they are afraid of spiders and snakes under there, so, after these pictures, they decided they would put a piece of board there to keep them out. THAT will leave holes that are just right for rabbits and squirrels and leave US no way to get to them.

THIS IS HORRIBLE!!! Can you just imagine those nasty things sitting right there just out of reach and TEASING US?!?! 

It is bad enough that they try that under that old “Dart” car of Grammy’s other son. At least we can usually manage to spook them out from under THERE with enough circling and digging…

The inside of that thing is like a huge room and it is really stuffy.

There are all sorts of smells in there, too, but we can only go in when Papa or someone else is going in. Other than that, they close the door and it is dirt and water tight.

It was a lot more fun this weekend, because Little Kody Bear got to come on Friday and he stayed until today (Monday.) We’ll have to fill you in on how our weekend went the next time.

Sadie Was NOT Happy!

Mama OC said I had to get off my lazy little tushy and write this
blog tonight! SHE is just mad because she and BG were locked up in the bedroom with Dad while all the action was out here in the Frontroom, and I got to see it!




I also want to state, for the record, that I am NOT LAZY! I get up and am ready to go whenever anyone is going to go outside. Can I help it if I’ve been so sleepy lately? I’m also hungry a lot and when they weighed me yesterday, I had gained 4 POUNDS this past month! Now THAT’S DEPRESSING! I’ve always weighed 16 lbs. for the past couple of years! That’s almost a QUARTER more than what I normally weigh. No wonder I’m having trouble jumping up on things that I used to “fly” onto!



Anyway, this blog is about Sadie and not me. I just happened to be out here with Grammy and Robert because I WAS asleep when Mama and BG got put in the other room. Also, whenever Grammy wants to work on or with Sadie, Mama OC has to be locked up or she yells pretty constantly. She even yells if Grammy just speaks to Auntie Sadie. (Boy… and they say I’M moody!)




Apparently, Grammy was feeling bad for Auntie that she had her britches and underbelly full of horehound burrs, and didn’t think that she could be comfortable sitting or laying on them all the time. Usually, when Sadie lays down, it is on her back anyway, so I don’t see what the problem was.



Anyway, Grammy knows that the only thing that Sadie REALLY HATES is getting brushed, so she was afraid that she was going to have a fight on her hands. She put the chain collar on Sadie and the strong leash, and even had a muzzle ready, just in case…






She also made sure that Robert was there to help if there were too many problems. She decided that the best position for her to do the job in was sitting on the floor. She doesn’t move so well, so when she tried to get down there, she sort of rolled over on her side. Of course, I’d been watching all of this from my recliner, but at THAT point, I jumped down and went over and examined her closely, kissing her and encouraging her as she got back up into a sitting position, with Robert’s help. It probably would have been easier if she hadn’t been laughing so hard and pushing me out of her face… I was just making sure she was ok!



She had put the brush and a bunch of jerky on the chair beside her, and she pulled on Sadie’s leash and got her to come over to her with some of the jerky. Sadie saw the brush and didn’t want to get to close, so Grammy had to pull her leash to get her near enough to reach with the brush.

She wasn’t too bad while Grammy brushed her head, ears and chest, but then, when she started to brush her side, Sadie suggested politely that she really didn’t want her to do that. Grammy disagreed, and gently, but firmly requested that Sadie lay down, and then gave her a jerky treat.



Sadie really LOVES Grammy (and jerky), but she really HATES that brush. She would lay quietly for a few minutes, and then jump up. Grammy would have to convince her to come back and lay back down.

When she got to Sadie’s britches and tail, they started to get in a few arguments!. Sadie FIRMLY told Grammy that she didn’t want her pulling on those old burrs, and Grammy, just as firmly told her that it HAD to be done and she needed to let her do it.

Robert had to get down there for a while and insist that she stay down while Grammy worked on the really rough parts, but we were all totally amazed at how well Sadie did over all!

She did snap several times at the brush, but she never touched Grammy with her teeth at all! Grammy was so happy that she didn’t have to use the muzzle.

At one point, I thought she had gotten Grammy, and I went over and got between them.



I had a little talk with Sadie about how Grammy was just trying to help her, and that she really felt bad about pulling on some of those burrs with the brush. I really had to get in her face a few times there.

After they were done and we had a humongous new Tribble living in our garbage can, Mama OC and BG got to come out. BG was just happy to be FREE AT LAST, and he came over and hugged Grammy’s neck and kissed her.

Mama OC came out and told Grammy that she didn’t feel that it was fair to lock her up, etc., etc.

Grammy showed her the giant Tribble, and then brushed her a few minutes to give her enough attention to assuage her irritation with having been shut out of the Frontroom. She still was a bit grumbly, but finally everything settled down around here again.

P.S. For those that are interested at all, they are still working on those “fittings,” Papa even bought some new ones and they put one of those in this evening. The other one is still under water from the tests, and they are going to get another new one for that side, probably tomorrow. I’m going to go take another nap… YAWN! Good night

Busy Couple of Days…

Sunday, we went into town so our people could go to church, and we could visit with our half-sisters. After church, Little Bear, and his mom and dad surprised Mom at Mimi’s house for a small birthday party. I heard Robert joke that Mom was “older than dirt.” She laughed and smacked him. I didn’t know you COULD be older than DIRT! What was on the ground before dirt?

Mimi had made two really pretty cakes. One with fruit, that was “Lite”… I guess that means that it was white, which it was, but I don’t know why they didn’t just call it “White,” and another that was chocolate with chocolate frosting. Unfortunately, WE only got a little taste of each.

We had to leave pretty early for a Sunday, because Robert and Dad had to make the monster finish up burying the trench it had dug before. Robert had to get up early Monday morning to haul it back to it’s home in the big town, while Dad went back to work. They sure didn’t get a very good rest this weekend, and WE didn’t get to spend much time with them either! I hope that old monster doesn’t come back and hog more time from US any time soon!

They had to let the glue dry on some of the fittings and tighten a few others before they could try to turn on the water. Mom was almost afraid to hope because that waterline runs over a mile and a half across several people’s back pastures (for those that are fairly new to this blog) and one of those people has big equipment. They sometimes break our waterline when they aren’t careful and run over it. Since it’s been off for so long, we won’t know if they have caused a problem until we turn on the water and let it run for a while.

Robert is still making water barrel runs. With Dad at work and Robert running to the Big Town, doing water runs and then our people going to their Monday night Bible Study, they couldn’t test the line Monday. Robert tried to turn on the water Tuesday evening, but there were some big leaks around some “fittings.”

He had to go and get some kind of tool they needed to tighten them up. If they are “fittings,” why don’t they fit without extra tighteners. People call things such weird names. He DID bring me a present when he came home, though. Now, I have a squeaky squirrel, too!

The leak from the first test made the hole fill with water, so now they have to wait again for it to drain/dry out so they can dig out the mud enough to redo the “fittings.” That was good anyway because we’ve had to run into Mimi’s town the past couple of days for appointments and work Robert had to do at the church. Dad also got an extra fitting in case the other fitting had it’s own problems or was made wrong. It's been a PAIN for them!

We DID get a little water up to the house during that first test, and got Mom pretty excited, but then Robert called on his cell phone and said he had to turn it off again because of that leak, so she cried a little. We felt bad that she was upset, but she says that when the time is right, it will happen. Maybe the next time they turn it on, Mom will be able to do her “Happy Dance…”

There is another big fire on the other side of the small mountains from us and it is putting out a lot of smoke in the air. It made the sun look dark red Monday night and last night. Robert tried to take some pictures, but by the time he got the camera out, the angle had changed so it’s not as red in the pictures as it was when we were looking at it. It made Mom think about what the Bible says about the sun turning blood red during the end times. Interesting how smoke makes it do that…

We are just glad that the wind hasn’t blown a lot of it this way because Dott HATES smoke and always gets all nervous and shaky when she smells it. Last year when they had a big fire and the smoke blew our way the first night, she went in and woke Mom up and wouldn’t let her go back to bed until she checked out the whole house and went outside and found out that it was on the wind. Mom says Dott is a good smoke detector.

Big Clawed Monster

Friday, Dad came home very early from work, and he and Robert took off for the really big town about an hour away. They came back with a bunch of black pipe all curled up like a humongous snake. Mom said it is called “Poly pipe.” Then, they turned around and took off again to the big town.

They came back hauling a trailer with a huge clawed monster on it!

Robert got in its weird saddle, and made the monster back off of the trailer and then he rode it into the back of the side pasture. That was a really noisy, stinky monster! We had to stay in the yard and watch while Robert and the monster got used to each other. Unfortunately, Mom doesn’t know how to use Robert’s camera right, and didn’t realize it was on some strange setting she isn’t used to, so all her vids and some pics came out terribly fuzzy! She was so MAD!

The monster had a tag with it’s name on it… Kubota. Mom said she thinks maybe it is a Japanese name when we asked her. I wonder if maybe it isn’t some kind of weird Japanese dragon? Robert made it dig a big hole and then pick up and/or push a bunch of weeds into it. Sheesh, WE get in trouble for digging, and our holes aren’t NEARLY as HUGE as the ones that monster dug!

Robert told Dott, later, that it felt like it was bucking like a bull, and he was a little sore Friday night. (Little Bear’s dad, who came down with L.B. for Mom’s birthday, said that it was bucking because Robert didn’t know how to make it mind very well. He used to work with them, and knows how to make them behave, but he couldn’t come down on Saturday when they needed to use it) Dad says he thinks Robert did a good job since he’s never worked with one before!

When it started to get dark, Robert put it to sleep and then he let us out so we could get a good look.

Mom took pictures of me and Dott taking turns in the saddle.

When we got close, we could see that it was a different kind of machine. A dirt eating or moving machine!

Saturday morning, Dad got up very early and went into Mimi’s town and got some “fittings” and their other son, Manuel, that lives there. The three of them (with Robert) took the Kubota out and spent all day clearing and digging a trench, and then they took that big, black snaky coil of poly pipe and pulled it out and made it lay in the trench. They attached the ends with the fittings to our old broken water pipe.

About halfway through the day, Manuel came to the house to pick up a couple of things they needed and say hi to Mom. She was at the computer and heard him coming to the door, so she called to him to “Come on in…” I knew who it was as he came through the door, but apparently my dumb sister didn’t recognize him.

I guess, though, that I HAD lived with him for several months before I came to live back at home, but she hasn’t been around him very much and wondered what the stranger was doing just walking on in. Anyway, she snuck up behind him as he walked toward Mom, and NIPPED him just above his ankle! Mom was HORRIFIED! Dott has never done ANYTHING like that before, and boy did SHE get “what for!”

Mom caught her and held her still while Manuel came up to her and petted her. Dott was still a bit huffy because SHE claims she was only doing her job and protecting Mom from a stranger. She just pinched him a little bit on the calf above his ankle. The were so busy with working on THAT mess, that I didn’t get much attention AT ALL from Manuel, and we ALWAYS do a lot of hugging and happy talk whenever I see him. THAT just wasn’t fair!

Dott has gotten pretty moody the past several weeks, even with Mama OC, me and Auntie Sadie. She’s sort of tired all the time and sleeps in her recliner with her arms around her “squirrel.” She says it really ISN”T a SQUIRREL, and to “SHUT UP!” I TOLD you she was moody!

She is also getting a little belly and other girl's fixtures are growing too! She is REALLY touchy when I mention those things. Mom says she’s pretty sure that she is either pregnant or having a false pregnancy. I gather that means she might be having puppies. Mom has had other dogs that have had false pregnancies and they get fat, moody and even get milk, so she is still watching and waiting.

The guys were so tired, they were about to drop Saturday night when they finally brought the monster back to the house. They took Manuel home and went to Mimi’s to take showers (Remember, our water line has been broken for 6 months) They came home, ate and went to bed, with only a few minutes of loving on us. I don’t know what Mom was so excited about! It was a pretty boring day for US, and Saturday’s are supposed to be our big day with Dad! This is getting long again, so I’ll fill you in on our Sunday the next time, ok?