Ranch Report

While rain seems to dominate our weather reports at this time of year, we actually got three mornings of hard freezing over this last weekend.

Before bedtime on Friday I surprised F (she said I should call her that so you know who I'm talking about) by whimpering at her door. Not 15 minutes earlier I had clattered out the same door when my humans came down the road. Apparently she hadn't heard them leave again but did remark that the house was in darkness so I was granted admittance.

F says that concerns for my welfare are turning her into a curtain twitcher. She says she doesn't in the least want to be keeping tabs on my humans but as long as I promised to wake her up when they returned I could stay.

I got porridge for breakfast - with yoghurt. Yum. (Yup - I didn't wake anyone.)

And we went for a walk, and I found a baby weka but F waved a big stick at me when I showed way too much interest in it. 

Later in the day another human arrived, daughter of one of F's cousins. F says that probably makes her related but doesn't bother giving relationship descriptors to anyone further removed than kids of siblings of her parents. (Apparently that's 'cousins' but it is not in k9 vocabulary - we just have 'pack'.)

Cousin-ish arrived for the first frosty night. It was really cold. Next day they went off somewhere for an hour or two, F says they visited Pelorus Bridge but seems only to have photographed a Piwakawaka that chased around the humans for the insects that get kicked up by human feet.

Sunday night was also frosty but F had seen white smoke coming out the chimney at my house - "oh look they've elected a pope" she announced before knocking at the door and delivering me home.

 

Monday and Tuesday were both freezing mornings but strangely by the time it was daylight fog had rolled in so there was frost AND freezing fog. F wasn't there when I rolled up on Monday. Cousin-ish warmed me up for a while before leaving too, but F was back by lunch time towing a big trailer with lots of wood on it. What a busy afternoon - I had to supervise it's unloading simultaneously with keeping an eye on the neighbour with the machine digging a long narrow hole across F's front yard.  It looks like a trap for small dogs. I shall have to remember to take the long way round....

Deep hole, big rocks

F was away nearly all day Tuesday but did come back with treasure in the rattly old van: a blanket for me, all my own, gold with stars on it, and a bowl for me and some other human junk and most importantly (she said) doors for her cabin.

Today it's raining again.  I got wet walking in the rain, and then cold while F sorted through boards to go on the inside walls of the cabin, and then bored while she nailed some of them to walls.  However it was all worth it as I'm now dry and warm and practicing being a coiled spring

Yours

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