Adventures in dog-catching

See, this is what I love about keeping livestock: never a dull moment.

[/sarcasm]

Well, we went out at the arse-crack of dawn on Sunday to the lovely Mr M's house to get the second quail cage. First we had to unload the toolbox, then with me driving the van and Evil Genius Farmer Husband driving the truck we set off. We stopped for expensive fast food breakfast (it was a treat), then headed on to Blythewood.

Now Mr. M had told me that he would 'try to get his son-in-law to help us' since the damned cage was so huge. He was better than his word. We arrived (late - eeek!) to a crowd of hulking young men ... all dressed in orange.
Now let me backtrack a second.

Just the day before, the University of South Carolina, the second oldest university in the United States, and THE USC, had pounded the bejeezus out of our arch rival Clemson*. Clemson tigers. Big into orange. Very popular with the rural crowd (it's our state cow college and a fine one).

So I apologized for being late, the young men hefted the cage and tossed it effortlessly into the truck, and I thanked them. As we drove away I silently thanked goodness I'd removed all of my Gamecock parephenalia from my van.

Here's my quail cages:

The small one is in the back on the right - already in proper position. The long one, perched up on blocks and sticking out at an awkward angle is thus because that's as far as EGH and I could get it by ourselves! It will just have to stay there until I can figure out how to shift it. EGH says we can wait 10 years or so until the babies are big enough to help.

Real funny.

So EGH spent the better part of his last day off shifting quail cages. I'm sure he was almost eager to get back to work today.

So, of course, something had to go amiss.

Seems that our tiny dog, Turkish, decided that he'd liberate himself from the bachelor pad this morning. EGH was heading out when he spotted Turkish in the neighbours yard with his feet on a duck. Very bad.

While simultaneously attempting to ring my cell and pull off the road, he misjudged the unmarked driveway and drove into the ditch.

Ahhh, Mondays.

So then we had to 1) catch a very big dog who'd shed his collar and who did NOT want to be caught, 2) retrieve and care for a squashed duck (it was one of my Muscovies), and 3) figure out how to get our pick-up out of the ditch.

Now, we pull stuff with our truck. The other two cars are 'family vehicles' and automatics. I studied the HMS Behemoth for a second and decide that it would probably do just fine. Any drive train that moves that much metal down the road can probably shift the truck.

While I went and got the tow-chain, EGH tried to catch Turkish. As he was doing so, some jerk with his dog in his car drives up (we were blocking the road) turns around angrily in my driveway, and snorts off with Turkish chasing him (he was 'chasing' the dog in the car).

Now what would YOU do if you came upon some nicely dressed bloke whose car was in the ditch and who was obviously trying to catch his dog? Even if you didn't offer to help, would you drive off if the dog that the guy was trying to get his hands on was running beside your car?

Well this moron never even slowed down and he led Turkish all the way out to the paved (and very busy) road.

Meantime, we got the chain on and the Behemoth towed the Ford out of the ditch as easily as the Clemson boys chucked that quail cage into the truck. Easy peasy. Thank you Detroit engineering.

Happy ending: my other neighbour, Mr K, and his son brought Turkish back after he wandered into their yard to inspect his hunting dogs. Here's Turkish incarcerated:

Awww! This is my goat cage that I put on the back of the truck. Don't worry, he'll only have to be in it till the babies take their naps and I can get up to fix his fence. I promise!

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*OK, Ok, 'pounded' might be a teensy bit inaccurate. We won 31 to 28 and Clemson was within spitting distance of a touchdown when the clock ran down. They attempted a field goal and missed. But it's the first time in 10 years we've won the game so I get to exaggerate a wee bit. GO COCKS!

Chicken poor

One blog post per month?

That sucks!

As usual, I feel like a farm blog without pics is just not the same. It's kind of lame to describe stuff when a pic is perfect. Then I never get out, take the pic, upload it off the camera, resize it, edit it, upload it on my website, blog about it.

*sigh* Think I'm OCD much?

Anyway, it's raining here - mixed with sleet - and I have a barnyard full of chickens. I mean FULL. So of course it would have to piss down freezing rain. *rolls eyes*

Izzy the pony is in the sick bay since the pony stall has been pressed into service as a feed room (of sorts) and the various pens, boxes, and cages scattered about the barnyard (that are housing the chicken excess) are covered with every available bit of plastic or plywood. It's chicken shanty-town.

Well, at least everyone is warm and dry.

I also was the grateful recipient of a pygmy goat wether who has since found a good home. Did a bit of trading on that one which I MUCH prefer. I'd much rather trade or barter than exchange money any day.

I AM glad I got shed of the pygmy, though. I confess to not being a 'mini' person. I don't like small dogs, or small goats, or miniature anythings. I'm into big stuff. Witness my love of draft horses.

Speaking of big, my last big acquisition is only partly retrieved but it's SO cool! I had a lovely gentleman in Blythwood SC give me not one, but TWO very nice homemade cages! He raised quail in them and they're 4 feet deep by 8feet long and 12 feet long respectively. Both are covered. I can't tell you how much I can use these cages!

I said 'partly retrieved' because we got the 8 footer, but haven't gotten the big one. I had to figure out how to get the toolbox off of the truck because the 12 foot cage just won't fit with the box on. The stupid thing leaks anyway (the toolbox, not the cage) so we've never used it. To my relief, the box had been attached with woodscrews (yes, you read that correctly - about 8 on each side) and so was easy to get off.

NOW I have to wait for the rain to stop so I can get my cage.

And, of course, take pictures. *sigh*