No spring in sight

We've had a miserable spring so far, really only an extended winter, with snow (SNOW!!) in May.

I've been more than grumpy.


I did set up a Facebook page for Decibel, since I can post photos there, and it is easy to find if you just search for her name (Decibel) and remember that she lives on the prairie.  See you there.
Send her a friend request.

Right now the page is rather blah, because everything here is.  If we ever get sunshine things may improve.

Yes, we're still here

Okay, some people have expressed worry about the lack of posting in the blog of late.  Never fear, the Mayan's didn't get us, and we are still connected to the internet.

So why the silence?

Well,
I use this blog mostly as a photo depository, so those who like, can see what is going on and what Decibel has been up to.  That way I don't spam endless email inboxes.  And if you don't want to know don't have to look.  But I can't post any more pictures, or so it said.  After a few hours of finding out very little, I gave up on the whole blog picture posting thing.  And it just isn't as much fun without the pictures.

So what have you missed?

Not much, in truth.  A few cute Decibel things, sure.  I'll be lazy and just repost some emails I sent to Decibel's breeders.  They claim to like the emails, and thus encourage me.  It is their fault that I keep writing about the least little thing.

Then we got a bit of a health scare, seems that Decibel has crystals in her urine and needs to acidify her pee to dissolve them before they become stones.  Not that Decibel is scared or even all that affected by it.  She just peed a little more often than normal.  We have that fixed, but now she is on special food that I don't like because it is basically corn and lard.  That's for cows or maybe birds, but not for dogs, except Decibel likes it.  Sure she does.  It is really expensive too.  I wouldn't mind that, if it were at least as good as the dog food we usually feed.  But it isn't.
Well, hopefully it is just for a little while.

 Oh, and the pigs have gone on their final journey.  We will soon live high on the hog!

 Okay, for the cute stuff:
email one:

Decibel has elevated mooching to an art form, and it is a darn good thing she loves to run and play, and burns off whatever extra goodies have come her way, because she is nearly irresistible.  

When the cream has risen, I will skim it off, an activity that is - at least in my opinion - rather quiet and indistinct from the many other things I do in the kitchen, which do not rouse Decibel's interest.  However, whenever I take out the milk canister, and open the drawer for the skimming ladle, well, there is the burning sensation of Decibel's big brown eyes, drilling little holes into me.  I really don't have to turn around to know she is there.  I do know that she wasn't there just a moment ago, when I thought that I might just quietly skim the cream. I thought she was sleeping  soundly and all on her pillow.  

Well, I was ever so wrong.  

There she sits, even her floppy ear as upright as she can get it, BIG brown eyes, a little pathetic flutter around her lip, ("Please, mom, may I have some, just a little, oh, please?") and then, slowly, ever so delicately, her paw rises, and points longingly to the cream.  

Well, I am only a dumb human, so of course I let her lick the cream off the ladle before I wash up.  And wouldn't you know it, Decibel, who at any other time has the table manners of a hog, will ever so delicately lick the cream off, and make no noise at all.  If I were to give her a tiny crumb of bread crust, she would crunch and chew it so loudly, EVERYONE else in the house would surely know that she got a goodie, and come running for theirs, but no, the cream, that's all hers.  I don't know if she is really so smart and knows that if she is quiet she gets to lick off all the cream, but if the others show up, she will have to share, yet when it is a crumb, well, mom will get the other dogs some, and then all Decibel has to do is look real pitiful, and likely she will get another crumb, just so it is fair… 

She is a daily joy, that one.  

email two:

I have to share this morning's discussion between Harold and me with you:

Setting:

I am sitting in the hall struggling to get my heavy duty shoes on, ready to head out into the bleak pre-dawn cold to milk the cow.  This is BC (before coffee), so simple tasks become laborious.  

Harold is trying to get his coat and shoes on, but Decibel wants a hug, and what the girl wants, she knows how to get.  She jumps up, envelops the guy in a Briard hug, and gives kissy-kisses until Harold yields and gives her her pets and pats and hugs and praises she needs.  

"My, you have a lot of crunchy crinkly leaves in your coat, Decibel," Harold notes.  

It's true, she does.  She needs what I call a beauty treatment, but every time I think of the brush, she disappears.  It's some kind of magic, that trick of hers.

"How do you get all this stuff in your coat?"

Then, in Decibel's voice, the answer is provided:

"I'm monster dog!  I roll on the ground like this, rah-raw-raw and crush all the little crinkly crunchy villagers and their houses, row-row-row."  

All the while Decibel really seems to commune with her dad.

The funny thing is, that's exactly what she does.  Sometimes I look out the window, and there she is, rolling around with such delight, on her back, legs flaying up and out, I can almost hear the tiny villagers scream as they flee in horror.  Of course the leaves and sticks and such that get embedded in Deci-monster's coat are signs of her triumph.  Wouldn't want to shake those off, oh no!

After that I had a crappy udder to clean and wind chill to fight, but it was all a bit better because Decibel the village crushing monster dog was there.  

You have no idea how much it means to me to be able to share this with a "receptive audience".  PWBs (people without Briards) just don't understand.

email three:

it was time for paw-dicures all around.  Decibel has been getting better about having her nails done, but I still need Harold to 'anchor' the girl.  So I do all the other dogs first, they already know that resistance is futile, and let me get it over with quickly.  Then we went looking for Decibel.  

Where is that girl?

She was not in her usual spots, she was not outside, she was...

and here you are missing super cute pictures

... hiding in Ralph's crate, while Ralph was in it!  When we looked right at her, she closed her eyes, as if that made her invisible.  What a cute thing.