The swallow babies are growing. It's so cute to see how they open their beaks when their parents come flying in to feed them. I noticed that when the parents are not in the nest and I am on the deck, the babies open their beaks whenever I move. Hilarious. :)
And few days ago I was preparing my supper and when I looked out of the window, I saw two young bucks passing through the yard. A twin. They grazed a bit and looked around. Then they jumped over the fence and walked into the woods of the winter pasture. Beautiful!
Sammy never saw them. She was deep asleep, still tired from a long walk in the fields.
Sammy is back with Paul. After she started chasing the horses I couldn't keep her anymore. It got too dangerous. Cats are one thing and I had solved that problem by keeping the cats in during the day so they could sleep and rest. But chasing horses is a totally different issue. My horses panicked and 3 bolting horses is not safe. They can get hurt by running through the fence or trip and break a leg. Or they can turn on Sammy and kill her.
I don't want to lock her up in a small kennel 24/7 with just some walks on a leash. She's better off in town with lots of space in the backyard. Paul is going to fence it off and she has shelter in the shed. When he's home she can stay with him and gets all the attention she misses out here when locked up.
So Paul came over Friday and had supper here. I had made cous cous and a salad with all ingredients from the garden. So good!
It was already dark when Paul and Sammy left. Sammy was so happy to see Paul. I think she missed him. :)
So yesterday the cats noticed that Sammy was gone. They started to walk around more relaxed in the yard and when I went for my evening walk with Scruffy, the cats all came running to join us. Ah , how happy they were , being able to go for our evening stroll. The horses came running when they saw us and together we had a very peaceful time, enjoying the beautiful sunset and listening to the Hermit Trush calling.
The cats really missed our evening routine to walk close together and being petted along the way or roll in the sand.
So for now it's all back to normal.
I will still watch Sammy when Paul goes out of town for work. But that is manageable. It doesn't happen too often.
Last Thursday I was invited for a birthday supper. Three birthdays to celebrate! Carols, Sharon's and Graham's birthday. Because they were so close in date, they decided to go out for supper with everyone. It was lots of fun and the food was delicious.
When David picked me up he brought a starters gun so I could keep bears away.
Wow, that thing is really loud! Hahaha.
David showed me how it works. I'm sure bears will run off by that noise. Amazingly, Taz didn't care less and just sat on the deck railing. I tried it after, but I couldn't pull the trigger for some reason. Not strong enough.
Later Carol tried it on the parking lot in front of the restaurant but she couldn't neither. So David said he had another one at home so we will try that next time.
I didn't see any bears anymore and for now I just use my cow bells. They are loud too. :)
I made a water obstacle for the horses and Flicka and Freya had no problem walking through it.
I clicked and treated them and they were right away engaged in the new game.
When I let Yentl in the arena, she didn't like the obstacle one bit. Snorting and shying away from it. So I started clicker training her so she would learn it's nothing to be worried about. She followed me to the obstacle, smelled the edge and I clicked and treated her. That was it. She got very brave and walked through it within minutes.
Just have to love clicker training. :)
And few days ago I was preparing my supper and when I looked out of the window, I saw two young bucks passing through the yard. A twin. They grazed a bit and looked around. Then they jumped over the fence and walked into the woods of the winter pasture. Beautiful!
Sammy never saw them. She was deep asleep, still tired from a long walk in the fields.
Sammy is back with Paul. After she started chasing the horses I couldn't keep her anymore. It got too dangerous. Cats are one thing and I had solved that problem by keeping the cats in during the day so they could sleep and rest. But chasing horses is a totally different issue. My horses panicked and 3 bolting horses is not safe. They can get hurt by running through the fence or trip and break a leg. Or they can turn on Sammy and kill her.
I don't want to lock her up in a small kennel 24/7 with just some walks on a leash. She's better off in town with lots of space in the backyard. Paul is going to fence it off and she has shelter in the shed. When he's home she can stay with him and gets all the attention she misses out here when locked up.
So Paul came over Friday and had supper here. I had made cous cous and a salad with all ingredients from the garden. So good!
It was already dark when Paul and Sammy left. Sammy was so happy to see Paul. I think she missed him. :)
So yesterday the cats noticed that Sammy was gone. They started to walk around more relaxed in the yard and when I went for my evening walk with Scruffy, the cats all came running to join us. Ah , how happy they were , being able to go for our evening stroll. The horses came running when they saw us and together we had a very peaceful time, enjoying the beautiful sunset and listening to the Hermit Trush calling.
The cats really missed our evening routine to walk close together and being petted along the way or roll in the sand.
So for now it's all back to normal.
I will still watch Sammy when Paul goes out of town for work. But that is manageable. It doesn't happen too often.
Last Thursday I was invited for a birthday supper. Three birthdays to celebrate! Carols, Sharon's and Graham's birthday. Because they were so close in date, they decided to go out for supper with everyone. It was lots of fun and the food was delicious.
When David picked me up he brought a starters gun so I could keep bears away.
Wow, that thing is really loud! Hahaha.
David showed me how it works. I'm sure bears will run off by that noise. Amazingly, Taz didn't care less and just sat on the deck railing. I tried it after, but I couldn't pull the trigger for some reason. Not strong enough.
Later Carol tried it on the parking lot in front of the restaurant but she couldn't neither. So David said he had another one at home so we will try that next time.
I didn't see any bears anymore and for now I just use my cow bells. They are loud too. :)
I made a water obstacle for the horses and Flicka and Freya had no problem walking through it.
I clicked and treated them and they were right away engaged in the new game.
When I let Yentl in the arena, she didn't like the obstacle one bit. Snorting and shying away from it. So I started clicker training her so she would learn it's nothing to be worried about. She followed me to the obstacle, smelled the edge and I clicked and treated her. That was it. She got very brave and walked through it within minutes.
Just have to love clicker training. :)