Kate, the snake hunter,.....NOT!

Ok, so you know that I don't like snakes.  I've posted numerous times about how I don't like snakes, hate snakes and generally freak out when I see one.  I'm actually better than I used to be!  I now try to chop off their heads instead of running away screaming.  I guess I'm just getting old and mean!

Most people have dogs that will stand between them and a snake.  Not me.  Oh no!  I have a very large, very fierce looking, very scary bark sounding, black german shephard who is more scared of snakes than me!  Of course, if you are a Merlin-type looking man (grey beard wearing a wand), she's going to tear you to pieces.  Think the bug man, the cable man...any man that is carrying something that looks like a stick!  Someone in her, before us, life must have been mean to her and that someone must have been an older man with a beard.  Anyway, she'll protect me from any human, squirrel, mole or deer(if I tell her too, if not, she'll stand on the porch and watch them) but she draws the line at snakes. 

The other day, I found a teeny tiny black snake taking a nap in my garden.  I have gotten better because as long as the black snake is not fifty-eleven feet long, I'll take it on an airplane trip into the woods using my rake.  I just wrap it around the rake and 'fling' straight into the woods where it can live happily ever after eating all sorts of other mean snakes.  Well, I found this little thing and called Kate, who was guarding the entrance to the garden so an armadillo couldn't sneak up on me, to see the snake.  She came running over, tail up and wagging.  When I pointed out the snake and said 'get it', she dropped her tail, whined and took off running out of the garden and onto the back porch.  I couldn't get her to come off that porch! 

I think my dog is more afraid of snakes than me.....oh yeah!

Kate

Kate, my big black german shephard, is shedding.  I read somewhere that german shephards shed only one one time of the year, 365 days! I can believe it.  I've been brushing her every other day or so and each time, I get a hairball the size of a soccer ball off her.  I can't believe that so much hair can come from this dog.

She doesn't look as menacing as she did a month ago, she is beginning to look downright skinny.  Now I know why she looked so fat before.  She was carrying around fifty pounds of extra hair!  I could keep all the hair and stuff a comforter for winter with all the hair I've taken off.  But, alas, I haven't been keeping it.  First, the idea of stuffing something with it is just plain old gross! I can't believe I even thought about using it for something like that.  I guess that's just the way my mind wanders.  Secondly, I have to quickly take it away from her or she tries to eat it.  I think she thinks it's cotton candy or something.  I don't think she actually swallows it, no, she just chews it around in her mouth and I have to eventually pull it all out.  Gross again! 

If you actually knew me, and some of you do, you'd know just how absurd this last statement about me pulling out gross wet dog hair out of her mouth is!  I just don't do that! But, there I am, picking out dog hair from this dog's teeth......what has she turned me into!

Springing the Dog!

Well, we got up the other day and no Kate, the big black dog! She was gone, officially AWOL. I had a sneaky suspicion as to with who and where she had gone. We have a dog in the neighborhood who comes to visit and play and then leads her off into trouble. At night, we put her on a sixty foot lead cord so she'll stay out of trouble. She managed to remove her collar and run for sweet freedom!

My son was distraught. Try homeschooling when your dog is gone! So, like a good mom, I loaded him up and we scoured the neighborhoods. Nothing. I knew she wasn't in the neighborhoods because the other dogs weren't barking until we got out and began yelling at the top of our lungs. That night, we all went to bed with heavy hearts. People around here shoot big black dogs running loose.

I got up the next morning and called the city pound, hoping, just hoping that she'd gotten herself picked up by 'the man'. The nice lady on the phone said, 'why yes we have a big black german shephard, she's so sweet!' Sweet! Did she call my dog, who got herself put in the pokie, SWEET! We jumped into the car to spring her!

Well, she was embarrassed, I think. She peed all over the place when she saw us jumping for joy. It was a long ride home with a very happy boy and a deliriously happy dog. I think she knew she had misbehaved badly.

She's home now. Hopefully, her wild oats have been sown and now she'll just be happy to hang around guarding her own little territory.

Garden! Oh boy!

I am so ready to be outside in the garden. So far in Oklahoma, we've had several days that are warm enough to be outside in the garden. I am a bit of a fair weather gardener. I don't want to be outside bundled up from head to toe just to dig in the dirt. I will drag brush and rake in the cold but to actually do some dirt gardening, I like it to be at least warm enough for a light jacket.

This year, gardening is taking on a new meaning with Kate, the german shephard. Have I told you that she love, love, loves me? Me. The one who could really live without her. I deal with amazing guilt because I'm really the only one in the family that could see her go tomorrow and not miss her much. The rest of the family is so in love with her. Not me. I just tolerate her and she really love, love, loves me the best. She wants to sit in my lap! She outweighs me and she wants me to hold her. When I finally give in and let her crawl half her body onto my lap, she tries to sneak a lick! Yuck....nothing like a tongue as large as your entire hand slobbering your face.

She follows me around the yard and tries to help me. When I dig, she digs. When I kneel down to pick up something, she thinks it's time for a kiss. When I drag a stick to the burn pile, she retrieves it for me. She tries really hard to help!

This week, I'm planning to transplant my tomato plants into the garden. I will put them under glass for a few weeks to get them ready for outside. I already have lettuce, spinach, peas, carrots, onions and parsley growing. Soon, I'll be planting all the rest of the veggie garden. Luckily, my hubby built a fence to keep giraffes out the first year we lived here. It is actually to keep out the herds of deer that grow wild around here but it looks like a giraffe cage.

Maybe it will keep out Kate also........

Kate the Big Black Dog

Have you ever seen Clifford the Big Red Dog on PBS? My kids watched it every afternoon when they were younger. I always thought it was kind of dumb but it wasn't written for my age, it was written for 3-5 year olds. The basic premise is that a mom and dad get a cute, small red puppy for their daughter and Clifford, that cute, small puppy grows into a dog as large as a house. They move from the big city to a small island where Clifford can have a lot of room to roam.

I'm not real sure but tomorrow morning, when I get up in my second story bedroom, my dog Kate may be looking in the window at me! She may be the second dog in history to grow as big as a house. I ordered some expensive fertilizer for my garden this spring. It was to be delivered today and all day I have watched for the mailperson to deliver it. Well, while I went to pick up my daughter from school, they delivered it all right. Apparently, right in front of my large german shephard who likes to see in boxes! My son was supposed to be watching, oh help us, if someone breaks in when he's on watch. They could carry out everything but the sofa and the television and he'd swear he never heard or saw a thing!

When I returned home, Kate had not only opened the box but taste-tested the bags of fertilizer. Veggies Alive! and Tomatoes Alive! apparently was better than the premium dog food she normally gets. I called the company and she will live, she may get a little sick they said. Serves her right for ingesting all my expensive fertilizer!

Since it's fertilizer, I'm thinking Jack-in-the-beanstalk here. How big will the fertilizer make her grow? Since she's already bigger than me, will I be able to ride her into town like a horse? Will we need a bigger doghouse? Can I train her to stand and shade me when I work in the garden this summer?

As of this moment, my kids are out in the yard playing with her and staying out of my way. I'm still pretty mad that this dog of theirs ate through two bags of precious fertilizer! They are out consoling the dog who isn't the least bit sorry and doesn't even seem sick!

Just another crazy day in my world! Maybe I'll make my son scoop the poop for a few days so I can collect my fertilizer! That would serve him right too!