Posie's Blog. Tales of island life on a hebridean hill farm

Posie's Blog. Tales of island life on a hebridean hill farm

Tuesday 22 March 2011

'Gnasher the crocodile'

'Gnasher the crocodile', I mean Ruby the pup, is settling down well into life on the farm, judging by the way she licked and slurped all over Spog, one of the farm cats, as he made his way reluctantly past her and into the kitchen this morning. She is keen to befriend every thing that moves, and carries everything that doesn’t move around with her, that is if she can fit it between her tiny jaws. This morning saw her wobbling and tumbling her way down the stairs with an ever so large slipper clamped between those jaws, each time the slipper hit a step Ruby was blinded by fluff, thus making her journey precarious and challenging and ever so funny if you happened to be waiting at the bottom of the stairs to retrieve the slipper.

My days seem to be filled with endless feeding rounds just now. 'Gnasher', I mean Ruby has five small meals a day, and then there are the cats to feed, the other dogs, the hens and the children. The biggest task I face is convincing Ruby that all of the food on the farm is not for her stomach. She cannot understand why the cats are on hunger strike, the happy farmer has even replaced the sack of economy cat food with a sack he brought from the vet the other day; however those spoilt moggies are now turning their noses up at the non economical food too, whereas Ruby thinks the cat bowl belongs to her. I even caught her trying to get  up on the kitchen table yesterday, and am in no doubt she was intent on a plate clearing mission having spied the children’s leftovers . Ground rules need to be established quickly with the ‘walking stomach’ here. The farmhouse is suddenly going to become super tidy and efficient and all in the name of keeping Ruby’s ‘gnashers’ firmly away from anything but her bowl!

The walking stomach doesn't just stop at Ruby either, yesterday I discovered that Mist, the sheepdog, had taken it upon herself to empty Charlie the hen’s nest of a dozen or so eggs and eat them all up. I had left a puckle of eggs on the nest to see if Charlie would become broody, Mist must also have spied them and then stolen them, payment probably for the fact that Charlie and the chicks have been strutting into her kennel bold as brass and helping themselves to her  kitchen scraps. Poor Mist is ever so slightly wary of those hens, so she watches, drooling, as the hens tuck into her goodies. Today Mist helped her ever so greedy self to a whole nest of eggs.

The challenges of yesterday began early in the morning, when as I made my way out of the door armed with bin bags on the ‘joyful’ domestic duty of bin emptying, I was confronted by a large frolicking, bouncy Highland cow, bounding across the lawn towards me. I am not sure who got more of a fright, but I made a very hasty retreat into the farmhouse. Marmite, not content with the bale of silage the farmer had left out for her in the field, had taken it upon herself to mow the front garden again, guzzling away greedily. Safely indoors, I sent out an immediate mayday call to the happy farmer, one football was lobbed across the grass and one Highland cow took off at speed across the farmyard. Once the coast was clear I made my way out across the farm yard to the bins only to find one bemused and harassed happy farmer. Marmite had fled at speed but only as far as the tractor where she could be caught peeping out waiting for the coast to clear so the lawn munching could begin again in earnest. 

Until next time… 

63 comments:

Thedarkerside73 said...

Lol you do have a busy time of it with the walking stomachs and frolicking cows!

I just love your stories about your life. And your pup is truly gorgeous, walking stomach or not! lol.


MBB x

Frances said...

Posie, you paint the pictures of what's happening round your place so well. Your photos are also great!

Do you think that before long Ruby will try to befriend Marmite?

xo

Sarah Jane said...

What a dear little pup Ruby is. She will keep you on your toes, I think. Maybe she will be a match for the cattle, too.

Pondside said...

Your animals - canine or bovine - share a certain look. It says 'I'm so cute/shaggy/hungry that you just have to feed me'

mrsnesbitt said...

Love it! Will add you to my blogroll - I love coming here. Dxx

Anonymous said...

You need to lock all those cows up - they look bloody lethal!

I want your puppy. If you get fed up with her scoffing her way through your home & garden, please feel free to send her my way...

Molly said...

I love your blog, Posie. Looks as if it's all happening! I can imagine Ruby with the slipper in her mouth and Mist with egg all around hers and Marmite popping around to say 'Hello'
Have a great week with lots of sunshine!

bayou said...

:-)))
Good to see that little dogs can also educate grown up farmer's wife. And who feeds the Happy Farmer?

Fennie said...

I do remember those days of young puppyhood with all its blesings and disasters and you bring it all back so well, Posie. Yes, they do eat a lot, but them they've got a lot of growing to do and I guess there's no milk to be had. Pity dogs won't eat grass like the cow. Sad about the eggs - he advantage of nesting boxes on shelves. When we had the pig farm we rigged wire netting under the roof of the pigsties and filled the space with hay as a species of insulation. A hen nevertheless managed to get into it unseen and raised a brood of chicks up there in the roof. At least the nest was safe from the dogs!

Norma Murray said...

Now it's a frolicking, bouncy Highland cow, last time a jogging bull, whatever next Rosie? Please don't show pictures of pretty black puppies, it makes me want one everso much.

Posie said...

MMB - oh thank you for that lovely encouraging comment.
Francis - I am sure Ruby will try, but I will need to try and keep them apart as cows and dogs do not mix well!
Thank you Jan, she is keeping me on my toes, she is a complete little monkey!
Pondside - don't they just?!
Mrs N- Thank you, am looking forward to ur visits and shall be visiting back!!
Lottie - that is my sentiment exactly, just the farmers don't seem to share my opinion and Marmite just pirouettes over the cattle grid. One puppy coming your way first class Royal Mail lol
Molly - Thank you for that lovely comment
Bayou - Do you know he quite often feeds the lot of us!!
Fennie - What a lovely story about the hen's nest...
Norma - I know the photos just make you want one, that is sort of what happened here, someone got in touch to say the dog they had from my last bitch's litter had died, and they sent me a photo of their new pup...and it made me want to have another flatcoat....

Funkymonkey said...

I think you should a book about your life with farm and animals. It would surely be a bestseller. I know I'd buy it!

Tracey

Molly said...

Posie - just an extra little ps. thank you for your lovely comment on my blog. I was a bit too enthusiastic with the watering can and pulled a ligament in my arm but it's well on the mend now. Feeding myself with lots of self pity I put a blog up and then thought oh heck, nobody's going to want to read that and pulled it down again. You are sweet for asking - thank you x

Tattieweasle said...

Oh Posie think I woudl be with ou safe in doors! A frolicsome cow is a bit much!
Love "Gnasher" to bits so cute! Sounds liek she teh EBJ must be related walking stomachs!

potterjotter said...

No, sorry, don't believe a word of it! Ruby looks as if butter wouldn't melt. You must have got it wrong?

Bluestocking Mum said...

Ruby is adorable!

I'm with Funky - you should think of doing a book. Count me to buy it too.

xx

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