Abbie

David found a dog whose owners were looking to rehome about a year and a half ago.  We actually got her for Handsome Dude as a gift on his 10th birthday.  He named her Abbie.

And although she was meant for HD, she has turned into David’s dog.  Abbie adores David.  And Abbie was meant to live on our property.  She absolutely loves it.  When David comes home, she literally will yelp for joy and jump up and down.  When he puts on his coat or his boots, she knows it is time to go get some farm and ranchin’ done, and she knocks people over just to get out the door.  She never leaves his side all day as he his working outside.  She herds pigs and cows, and lays by him if he is working on a machine.   Inside, she follows him all around the house, depressed that they are not outside.  If he is in the kitchen, she is laying in front of the dishwasher.  If he is in the shower, she is waiting by the bathroom door.  She sleeps on the floor by his side of the bed.

If David is gone, she will settle for me.  I enjoy taking the dogs on walks around our property.  The dogs have now been trained and know our property lines, so it is easy to take them around and not worry about them running off to bother a neighbor.  On Saturday, she saw me putting on my Carhartt coat and knew exciting things were about to happen.

And yes.  I have a Carhartt work coat.  I do, upon occasion, farm and ranch myself.  But not really.

Anyways, on Saturday, I put on the coat, and she jumped up and down for the joy of it all, and we went out on our walk.  The first snow had fallen the night before, so it was extra exciting.

There she is, ready to go.  We walked around.  We checked for eggs.  We fed the hens.  We visited the bovine.

It was all very exciting.

I love days like that-days where I don’t have to drive around and I can enjoy our home and property and get some rest in.  I wish life could slow down more.  Some day it will-and then I will miss the busy-ness of my kids’ activities and having all of my kids at home.  Such is life.

We took our walk on Saturday.  On Sunday, David went to go and get Bessie and her calf, unnamed steer (formerly known as unnamed bull calf).  You may recall that David took Bessie, Tiny Tim, and unnamed bull calf on a field trip so Bessie could be bred by a manly bull.  Remember Bessie was that sweet mama cow who allowed my sweet calf Tiny Tim to nurse off of her.  And as you know, Tiny Tim died soon after.  So, on Sunday, David went to go and get Bessie and the steer (who I should probably name).

When David got home, Abbie of course ran out to “help.”  Abbie likes to feel like she is David’s help meet.  Bessie was not getting out of the trailer and it took David quite awhile to get her out.  I knew something was up at that point.  On Monday morning, I was leaving for work at 6:30am and noticed Bessie was down.  She did not look good.  I texted David and let him know.

David got home later that afternoon while I was still in town.  He called a friend and they both tried to do what they could to help her.  I was asked to go to North 40 and try to find something to help her.  I grabbed some supplies and went out with David when I got home-around 9pm to try and help her.  I knew when I saw her that she would not survive.  We gave her some meds and put a blanket over her with some hay on top so she would be warm.  David and I headed in, but we left the light on in the barn so we could check on her through the window.

And there was Abbie.  Sitting right by Bessie, keeping watch.  It was the most precious thing.  She stayed out there for quite awhile, and then came in for bed.  I wonder if that is when Bessie had died.  I don’t really know when she died exactly, but David checked on her around 4am and she was gone.

Stupid Steve the Steer (who is her eldest) and unnamed steer were both standing by the gate mooing at her all morning.  Which was awful and sad and it is moments like this that I don’t like living out here at all.  It is just hard.  And I like the cows and I started naming the cows and now two have died and I didn’t know how to help them.

I guess that is just life:  a mixture of sorrow and joy and of happiness and pain.