Dear Ernie 5

Hello Ernie

It has been raining cats and dogs here over the past two weeks! I have been cold in the house and worried about the kennel dogs. When the weather changes as quickly as it has, it is not a good thing. I have had to take all of the kennel blankets down to the laundramat in town and wash them all. Boy, what a mess I made of the machines! I cleaned them out as best I could, but they still needed to be rinsed out again.

The kennel, as you know, has a gas ceiling heater, that pumps out a lot of heat. It is an industrial heater and it heats our 60 foot kennel with ease. But the doors are open to let the dogs in and out at their whim so it does get chilly. And on rainy days, a couple of the dogs like to go in and out a lot and whip their feet on their blankets. Garrett is pretty good about taking their blankets up off the floor on wet days so that they have nice warm, dry blankets at bedtime. 

Not only do I have to clean up after all the dogs, but on rainy days, I also have to clean up after the chickens!! With them going in and out of their hen house, they track mud into their nest boxes and all over their eggs! So, I have more muddy eggs on days like today that need to be scrubbed!  It just never stops around the farm!

This is Cara

I think we are going to have to fence up the chickens. They are wandering far and wide and driving the dogs crazy! They seem to know the edge of our property but they are coming down to the house and walking by the kennel. Our house dogs have a fenced in half acre yard, and groups of chickens come up to their fence and stand there! The dogs then lose their minds! When I go to the back door to see what all the commotion is all about, there is a group of chickens…..playing chicken with the dogs!! They don’t understand that one of the dogs, Cara, can scale the fence with ease. She is a small Cocker Spaniel and the fence is only a suggestion to her! But she has never bothered the chickens…thank goodness. I think it is due to the fact that I take her up to the hen house with me when I am locking them up for the night or when I am gathering eggs. She is very gentle with them, just stands and looks at them.

On a personal note Ernie, I hope that you are coping alright. I can imagine that it must be very lonely there at times for you. I know you have your son there and your grandsons as well, but there are a lot of hours in the day that can be boring or lonely. You have given up your car, and there went your independence. You are a proud man Ernie and I can imagine that it bothers you to no end to have to ask to be driven somewhere or have something picked up for you. So, you go without or find another way.

I hope in some small way, that my letters to you and my enclosed pictures, bring you a bit of laughter. If nothing else, I enjoy writing to you and re-living my funny or cute moments with you! When I tell my family about the daily life at the ranch, they sometimes get it! I guess you have to be here, in order to see the humor in situations!!

Garrett and I moved to the country for the peace and quiet. It is far from that!!

We had a pack of Coyotes go through our west field last night about 11pm. They were yipping and howling and having a great time. There might have only been 5 or 6 of them (I am guessing, because it was pitch dark here) but it sounded like there was 20 or 30 of them! At one point, when they got close to the barn, there was a fight over something. There was a lot of growling and snarling going on. I guess they caught a mouse or rat and didn’t want to share!

So, to be able to write to you about all this stuff is kind of fun. I hope you enjoy the letters and I hope that you are well.

Take care, my friend.

Dear Ernie 4

Dear Ernie

I had a little laugh today, as most days, watching the pups running outside first thing in the morning! I have 5 Cocker Spaniel pups that are 10 weeks old and we keep them in a 4 X 10 foot pen in the kitchen. They are confined in there during the night and allowed to wander the kitchen and hallway during the day. They are pretty well house trained now, so it is nice to be able to let them all out with the big dogs!

When I lifted the edge of the pen, five little fur balls came racing out. I have to catch one of the males before he makes it to the back door with everyone else. He usually stops right at the door and pees in front of it! And than everyone runs or slides through it on their way to the outside! So, I have to grab him on his way out and let the four others run in front of us down the hallway. But, as they are running shoulder to shoulder, one is holding onto the pup’s ear beside him, another is biting the guy’s tail that is a few inches ahead of him and they are a blur of blond and chocolate swirls.

As I am trying to open the door, ten paws are hitting me, the door, the door frame and each other in their hurry to have the door opened sooner! It always makes me laugh. It doesn’t matter how hectic, or insane the previous few minutes have been, when I get to the puppies in their pen, they just make me laugh. If I can’t catch the one guy that pees at the door, even he, makes me laugh, until I have to get the mop from the laundry room!

The first hour of my morning is insane here, Ernie. I have crates all over the kitchen, the back hallway and the laundry room. You have been here, and you probably remember that this is a ranch styled house (all one floor) and the dogs are crated at night. I have to open all their crates and let them out into the one acre fenced back yard. They are running around like crazies, looking for that perfect spot to pee! The yard is covered with toys of all sorts of shapes and descriptions. As they destroy them, we chuck them, and replace them with more. I have friends that give us toys that they pick up at garage sales and Amity stores.

Then the food is cooked and dished out and everyone is let back in to eat. That sounds easy, right? Wellllllllllllllll……….. it is anything but easy.

The pups get puppy food and if they are still little, they get a soft mix on top of it or mixed in with it. That is sitting in a bowl or two in the fridge. It is a perpetual bowl that is always full of puppy food during those first few weeks of puppydom.

Since we have chickens and they lay eggs, the dogs get a few eggs mixed in with their food everyday. I mix up soft food (after soaking their hard kibble for 10 minutes in the microwave) and they get a mixture of items that have been cooked in the crockpot for them. It could be chicken, beef or sometimes a small amount of pork to be mixed in with their food. They love it!

(Two pups are airborne!)

I have one Cocker Spaniel girl that jumps up and down beside the counter for 15 minutes (if I let her) just letting me know that she is there! She looks like a Mexican jumping bean, going up and down, her ears flying in the wind!! I have another dog that is not able to eat with anyone else, so she has to go into the laundry room with the door closed. She usually is waiting for me at the end of the hallway, while I am still in the kitchen. My Bulldogs eat in different areas, but they are usually finished before anyone else and I have to put them outside as soon as they are done.

Then I wash the kitchen floor from front to back, change papers in the pen(s) if I have two litters of pups, like I do right now, and wash all their bowls. In the mean time, I have put a pot of coffee on for Garrett  (did I mention that I HATE the smell of coffee??) and opened the entire house up to let the sunshine in. This all happens usually before 8 am and I have the rest of the day ahead of me.

I try to get the puppies started on their house training, so they are let outside every hour  to begin with. As they get the hang of it, I than can go and let them out every hour and a half.  I set the timer on the stove to remind me, and when the timer goes off, all the dogs now run to the back door!! It is so funny!

When a new family comes to pick out their new family member, it is nice to know that their puppy is well on it’s way to being house trained. If they are able to keep up with it, they can let the pup run around their house within a few weeks. I usually get a couple of phone calls telling me that they are so happy that their new pup is doing so well in that department.

My sister helped me out with a pup a couple of weeks ago. She lives up north and a nice lady wanted to purchase one of my Chocolate Cocker Spaniels. The lady, Susan, lived 6 hours away from my sister’s place, but would have been 9 hours one way to my place! So, after numerous emails and phone calls, it was worked out that my sister would be down visiting and she would take the male pup back with her.

The only problem with this idea, was that my sis would be housing the puppy for 3 days before Sue could make it down to pick him up. Doesn’t sound too bad so far, right?

Wrong!

My sister gets very attached to anything living!! If she has to mother it, feed it or bath it,,,,,, she is hooked on it…big time!! Well, let’s just say that the morning she met with Sue and handed the little guy over to her, it was not a dry transaction!

I received a phone call from said sister, saying that she was not doing this anymore! It was too tough on her and that she couldn’t keep them for that long.

I am sure she will volunteer to do it again, but not right at the moment. We are animal lovers, but I am used to the coming and going. I feel it is an honor to help bring these little beings into the world and find them great homes! I love the time that I spend with them, even the work and the clean up is ok. I love it when they finally get something, like not messing in their crate, and they come out of it in the morning so proud of themselves!!

Take care my friend !