Boys do battle...and then they rest

Cyrus is fitting into our routine just nicely. He is still a well behaved boy, but is showing more of his true personality. No more of the non-confrontational Cyrus that was in the shelter getting along with everyone so sweetly.

Woody is usually the one who initiates the battles, but even though he is a few pounds heavier than Cyrus, Cyrus usually gains the upper hand by biting Woody's big honkin' ears, or when that doesn't tame the WoodMan, by ripping out his throat. Well, at least that is what it looks like. Only once did Woody complain with a very pathetic bark, that he couldn't breathe.

But they have also been seen resting calmly on the sofa together. That is, up until MonkeyCat comes in to wake them up to play again.

For the first 2 weeks I took Cyrus into work with me because I was afraid to leave him home. He was a perfect gentleman in the office, but somewhere along the way figured out that laying around and being good all day was kind of boring.

So I finally got up the courage to leave him home for longer periods of time, including going to work without him. He did very well. But then I left him in the house for just a few minutes while we were out milking goats... One entire tamale pie (and a spicy one at that) was devoured from off the back of the counter.

A couple of nights later, I thought I had properly hidden the pork chops I was defrosting. Went outside again, only for a few minutes, and come back to catch Cyrus in the act of raiding the countertop. He knocked over a bucket with 3 eggs in it while trying to pretend that he was not the culprit.

This time his snack included 2 partially frozen pork chops with bones, 6 English muffins, 4 slices of bread, a half stick of butter, and half of a huge chocolate chip cookie. Woody may have helped out with whatever bits made it to the floor, and he probably had some of the tamale pie the time before, but Woody was at the door to greet me when I came in, so I don't think he was responsible for the counter-surfing part.

Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me. My fault... Won't be leaving food on the counter again any time soon...

So this is what it is like to have all boys in the house!

Love you, Cyrus! We're getting there.

Happy Birthday, Little Sista! and the ducks done ditched us!

Little Sista still counts the days to her birthday with great enthusiasm. So a big birthday shout-out to ya, Sista!

DUCK STORY

We had 8 ducks to start, 5 males, 3 females. We bought 2 additional females to even out the numbers...boys beating up on the girls too much. Then one of the original females went off and had 8 babies. Then we sold all of the remaining originals because the boys were beating up on momma and babies. So we are down to 1 momma, 8 babies, 2 newbies.

Babies are now all grown up. Then we forget to close them up 1 night and all go missing but 2! Ouch! But at least the 2 remaining are a male and female. We have hopes of seeing more babies, and we have them even more securely locked up than before. This goes well for a few months.

The problem now is that Lady Duck is hiding eggs by burying them in the hay inside the dog crate they call home. Not a very good Momma, she thinks she is hatching some babies, but only sits on her eggs at night and it is still plenty cold outside. Man Duck is a very good protector, and does not want us to come anywhere near the crate when she is in there.

We manage to lock them up every night for awhile, and then The Husband (mine not hers) removes the 13 eggs, knowing they are not going to hatch because she is not sitting on them. Next night, ducks don't come home to the crate. We search everywhere, thinking we can hear them close by, but no ducks. Next morning they are back out there playing with the chickens.

After several days of this, I go out before it gets dark and see them running away from me going over toward the house and barn out front (to the left in the second photo). I searched as best I could, considering it is nighttime and not our property, can't find them anywhere. Next morning, back with chicken friends...

And that is how this story ends. The ducks have ditched us and moved on. They still come back to eat our food and hang out with their chicken friends, but they don't need us anymore. I don't expect they will live too long like this, given all the critters we have around here, but we have no choice but to let them move on. I don't expect Lady Duck will figure out anytime soon how to hatch her babies either, so there will be a ____load of eggs deposited somewhere on the neighbor's property.

It's a darn shame they don't like duck eggs!

A very well behaved man, that Cyrus!

Yes, that's one blue eye and one brown.

There are moments when Cyrus lets some of his true dog personality show through—like when he magically released himself from the leash to chase a deer here by the house. Nothing wrong with collar or leash, he just let himself free...just like that. But the well behaved part was that he returned after about 3 minutes, ran right up onto the porch and waited for me to let him in.

I have been taking him into work at The Freeman's Journal. He did so well on Monday, that I was encouraged to bring him back on Tuesday, which is crazy-busy press day. He made it through about 8 hours, on a rainy day when I couldn't walk him too much, and I am sure he could have lasted longer.

Unlike ANY of our other dogs, Cyrus knows how to just lay down and be good. MonkeyCat has been testing him out, sneaking up and batting him on the nose while he's sleeping, but so far no major reaction. He is sometimes inspired by Woody to chase the Monkey, and even take a chew or 2, but MonkeyCat always comes back for more.

They said at the shelter that Cyrus is non-confrontational, but his new buddy the WoodMan brings out the crazy in everyone he meets. Soon I will post the movies of Woody and Cyrus playing. They seem well matched in their craziness and vying for dominance. You might think they are killing each other, for all the snarling and wrestling, but both are quite happy with themselves, and more important—tired—when all is said and done.

They "fight" over Woody's prime spot in the sofa with Mom, and Monkey gets in on it too. (That's Monkey wrapped around my chin in the top right photo.) But at the end of the day, Cyrus is just as happy on the heated floors, and last night just hung out on the back porch by himself for awhile.

Woody is just a little bit concerned that he won't get as much love as before Cyrus (BC) but I assured him that we have enough love for all the boys in the house.

All boys in the house, but me

I really planned to get a new girlfriend for Woody after Sophie left us, but then this big boy Cyrus found me and insisted on coming home with us.

Again I am the responsible party for finding a new dog so shortly after we lost our sweet girl, but when it feels right, and The Husband feels it too, and even the WoodMan gives his approval, well, what else to say?

I had been poking around on petfinder.com, and bcaaofnj.org (where we got Sophie and Woody). I found lots of beautiful dogs, but none perfect. Then, on Thursday while I was in town, some strange force pulled me into the Susquehanna Animal Shelter. I told them I was just casually looking, not really ready yet. I met Cyrus and Chunk, both black boys who looked interesting. Chunk was fine, but still needed to be tested with cats. Cyrus was said to be a big lovebug great with dogs, cats and children, but already had an application in on him.

So I texted the Hub and told him to swing by on his way home from work sometime, not really expecting him to do it anytime soon.

But he did. And felt the love too.

And then the other application fell through.

I really really didn't expect to be able to bring him home today, but here he is. Woody even sat in the back on the way home in the car, giving Cyrus the only available seat.

So far all is good at Lester's Flat. All good but Monkey is not so sure yet about big black boy, and Cyrus thinks the chickens look mighty tasty... We can work on those things.

Cat and Hound, part 2

MonkeyCat and the WoodMan are still going at it. Poor Willie doesn't understand why Monkey is spending most of the day downstairs with the monster dog who eats cats. He meows at the top of the stairs begging his little orange and white buddy to come back.

Monkey even sleeps down with Woody most of the time, although I suspect they are in separate rooms and that the WoodMan, for the most part, is unaware.

In the middle pic, Woody is chewing on the poor cat, who doesn't seem to mind. But I can't watch this for too long before I start to think he is actually chewing on him. So I separate them, Monkey runs off, and Woody promptly takes his spot on the sofa. As it should be, or so he thinks!

Spring is still trying to take over for winter. We have had warm temperatures for the past 2 days, and even some rain, but not enough of either to melt all of the snow that is still here.

I will have to get some more photos of the adorable goat kids. We managed to sell the 3 boys, and Fred is coming to pick them up probably next weekend.

So there is still time for cuteness!