Gone, but not forgotten..

We lost Willow, our Anatolian shepherd, one year ago today. It was unexpected and tragic, and I still miss her all the time. I wish I had more pictures of her, I wish we had taken more walks, I wish that I had worked more on her fear of being in the car.

I try to remember the good stuff, though. That dog could laugh, she invented games to play with you, she could run like the wind. She was a budding archaeologist, she would dig stuff up in her lot and put it on display. I have an old mule shoe that she found, and a old glass seal for a mason jar. She was a junkie for belly rubs. She once 'rescued' me from a black snake that I was trying to rescue from her, poor thing. She was a ferocious napper.



When we went to breeder to pick her up, we got to meet many of her family members, which was so wonderful. Her grandfather, mother and father, her brother and sister.

This was her brother, as a puppy.



Her sister Calypso's puppies were born Jan 07



I hope that wherever she is, there is a lot of fun to be had, and warm sunshine to snooze in.



Willow, 'Briar Patch Farms Montana' 12/11/04- 12/27/07

Update on Maybelle..

She's still cute. But, she ate my glasses up, and that is extremely naughty. Especially because she must have carefully removed them from my sleeping face first.

Beautiful Mushrooms

Hey, at least the ridiculous volume of rain that we have had is good for something. We have been happily consuming mass quantities of wild oyster mushrooms, and then there are these:

Phyllotopsis nidulans, such a beauty.

Just for fun..

Manifesto:The Mad Farmer Liberation Front
by Wendell Berry
Love the quick profit, the annual raise,vacation with pay. Want more of everything ready-made. Be afraid to know your neighbors and to die.
And you will have a window in your head. Not even your future will be a mystery any more. Your mind will be punched in a card and shut away in a little drawer.
When they want you to buy something they will call you. When they want you to die for profit they will let you know. So, friends, every day do something that won't compute. Love the Lord. Love the world. Work for nothing. Take all that you have and be poor. Love someone who does not deserve it.
Denounce the government and embrace the flag. Hope to live in that free republic for which it stands. Give your approval to all you cannotunderstand. Praise ignorance, for what man has not encountered he has not destroyed.
Ask the questions that have no answers. Invest in the millenium. Plant sequoias. Say that your main crop is the forest that you did not plant, that you will not live to harvest.
Say that the leaves are harvested when they have rotted into the mold.Call that profit. Prophesy such returns. Put your faith in the two inches of humus that will build under the trees every thousand years.
Listen to carrion -- put your ear close, and hear the faint chattering of the songs that are to come. Expect the end of the world. Laugh. Laughter is immeasurable. Be joyful though you have considered all the facts. So long as women do not go cheap for power, please women more than men.
Ask yourself: Will this satisfy a woman satisfied to bear a child? Will this disturb the sleep of a woman near to giving birth?
Go with your love to the fields. Lie down in the shade. Rest your head in her lap. Swear allegiance to what is nighest your thoughts.
As soon as the generals and the politicos can predict the motions of your mind, lose it. Leave it as a sign to mark the false trail, the way you didn't go.
Be like the fox who makes more tracks than necessary, some in the wrong direction. Practice resurrection.
"Manifesto: The Mad Farmer Liberation Front" from The Country of Marriage, copyright ® 1973 by Wendell Berry, reprinted by permission of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

Miss Maybelle

The holidays are always a stressful time of year. There is so much to be done, and the days are so short, and people get so crazy. Wal-mart stampede? So, so wrong.

So, what do you do when you're broke, and tired, and short on time? Well, if you are wacko, you go to your local animal shelter, and get you a Puppy!!!

I really can't say why, exactly, but when I 'accidentally' looked at the Person County Animal Control website, this wrinkly little face just kinda got me. Miss Maybelle is around five months old, a Shar pei crossed with something tiny and speckled-beagle, maybe? In fact, she is so little, she hardly counts as another dog, even, so there.

In all seriousness, it was time to either get a puppy, or forget about it, as the other dogs are now twelve and fourteen years old. They are still spry enough to deal with the kid, but poor Otis has already thrown his back out whipping around to snap at her. He will be just fine with some rest and good biscuits, but I wish he would quit looking at me with that "What have I ever done to deserve this?" face. Really, it will all be all right though, as she is perfectly sweet, and a darn good pup.