Falling Trees And Other Happenings

Good Morning, Farm Friend!! 

 So good to be back.  The short story of our absence is the fact that a tree fell and knocked down the wires that carry our internet.  Then, we left the farm, Thursday, for an adventure.  More on both subjects later.  We are home and internet is restored.  First... the post that you would have received last Wednesday.  Tomorrow I will fill you in on the rest of the time since then.

There’s nothing like a puppy to remind one of one’s place on life’s timeline. 

Chester and Annie and I are finding this to be the hard truth.  The three of us are getting older and slowing down a little.  This was made evident last week as I sauntered down the woodsy paths with the dogs.

 

Chessie and and Annie stayed behind me most of the way… in no hurry, walking along, sniffing the edges of the trails.

Forrest, on the other hand, took on the woods like his predecessors in bygone days… running ahead, 

following his nose.  On the trail, off the trail, ahead, to the right, to the left… he covered 5 times more mileage than the rest of us.  Luckily, he always keeps his eyes on our location and never lets us out of his sight.  He has the good sense to know that safety lies with us.

At one point he paused and watched as a group of deer went bounding off through the woods, away from us, their white tails held high like plumes.   A sharp “Leave it!”, from me, and he held his ground.  Had that been Annie at his age, she would have given chase and been gone for many minutes, only to finally return panting and exhausted.

We hiked deep into the woods while a strong, chilly wind blew through the trees, rustling the canopy, and portending autumn.  The chittering chatter of August cicadas drowned out much of the typical forest birdsong… that of vireo, woodpecker, scarlet tanager, and yellowthroat.

As the dogs followed the scents of the forest fauna, I kept my eyes peeled for the forest flora,

and especially for members of the mushroom kingdom. 

Everywhere one looks, mushrooms have erupted through the forest floor.  It’s been a rainier than normal summer which makes for happy fungi!  

Many of the mushrooms of early summer are decaying or gone.  No more Indian pipes (ghost pipes) are visible, having lived out their short life cycle.

Many that I find are white mushrooms of every shape, and size. 

All of them are different varieties and hard for this amateur “fungiphyle” to identify.  Still, they fascinate me and I take the approach of “look, don’t touch”.  

Identifying all of these white varieties is tricky.  There’s more to know than just what they look like.  So, instead, I just appreciate them - content to not know.

It does fascinate me how some are nibbled by the forest critters, while others stand, untouched.  

I suppose that is one thing that the animals have on us - an innate sense of what might be dangerous.  That sense of “knowing” is absent for us - we must rely upon the help of experts.

After all, a nibble on the wrong mushroom could leave us lost somewhere in Wonderland, or worse - headed to the hospital.

Dog tired, we finished our hike and headed back to the barn to bring in the horses.  

They were all grazing near to the gate into the dry lot - and indication that they had had enough of the flies and were ready to come back to the barn.

These two shared a tender moment as I tended to the horses and donkeys.  What a long way we have come in the past few weeks!

After the event last week with Forrest dragging off a runner duck, we have decided to use the “good boy” collar.  We had to use the beep first, then a very mild shock (not even enough to make him yip) one time when he ignored the “leave it” command.  Since then, a single beep (tone, no shock) is all it takes to remind him to be respectful of the birds and cats.  It’s Forrest's “pager” - "paging Dr. Forrest!  STAT!”  He’s smart.  He gets it.

We had him wear the collar for a few days before beginning the use of it for training.  Before that, we took off his normal collar at night and then in the morning put both collars on.  Now, each evening, both collars are removed for sleep.  Hopefully this will keep him from associating the beep with the training collar.  We are hoping that this will keep him from ignoring us when that collar is off.  

He has an innate respect for the horses - most likely based on their size!

Most all of Forrest’s training is done with positive reinforcement.  Living on a farm where we must protect not only our dogs, but also our animals, adds yet another layer of training on top of the normal training that most dog-adopters must accomplish.  We use the beep very, very sparingly.  Forrest is extremely smart.  He understands the warning of the beep.   It has made him a much better listener, overall.

By the way… Ginger is still up to her usual morning tricks.  She loves to join us in the barn while we work.  You might think it’s because she loves our company - but mostly, it’s about finding more food!

You also might notice that she is getting quite chubby.  Well, at her age, we are not going to fret about a few extra pounds.

This has been the summer for tree-related incidences.  Last Tuesday, the wind that I was enjoying while hiking through the woods brought a tree down across our road. 

 Unfortunately, our telephone and internet wires came down with it… ripped right off of the poles.  It was quite frustrating trying to make customer service at Bright Speed , our phone/internet provider understand that not only was the cessation of service a problem, but that there was also a large cable hanging across the road - half on the road and half suspended across the road and very difficult to see in dappled sunlight. 

 Also, we have a neighbor with an acute medical issue, who needs to have phone access to medical services care in an emergency.  Of course, there also existed the potential for a traffic accident involving unseen the unseen wires, as the township refused to close the road.  Customer service said they would have a tech out in a week… not acceptable!  Thank you to Hubbs for pushing the issue.  The truck arrived later in the day to raise the wires off of the road.  

Internet service took a little longer.  As with most of rural America, our internet is less than optimal - much slower than that of urban areas - and service is poor at best.  Also, our cell phone service is fair, but the signal isn't strong enough for internet.   At the present time, it's one of the trade-offs for living in such a quiet, beautiful area.

I'll be honest with you.  I missed having internet.  It is my link to most of the rest of the world, and without it I feel isolated.  So... it's good to be back!