Aiden's Coyotes

Last night, all of us were hauling logs except Mom,Ben and Jess. It was already dark, so Brina and I decided to have a little fun. We were pulling a big empty wood cart back to our forest to be loaded again, and about half way there we stopped and began howling like coyotes, meanwhile Mom was coming home from a walk with our dog. Aiden,(our dog) heard the first coyote howl and pricking his ears, he curled in an alert signal.The second coyote howl sent him dashing off towards the backwoods.
''Stay on my side Aiden,'' Mom said. Aiden heard Mom, checked himself and slowed down. Then a whole pack of coyotes began to howl (still with those same two human mouths) and at the same time Aiden heard Becka scream "DAAADD!" and that did it.
A whole pack of coyotes on HIS side, and one of his kids in danger. He was off like a shot. When Aiden got to brina and I, we had already stoped howling . But Aiden circled us, very puzzled, then took off to check on the other kids.
I'm glad we've got our dog. He kills possums, coons, and visiting male cats, chases large birds of prey away, told us when our outdoor water heater was boiling over,and when we are near a copperhead (very poisonous snake), protects us from mean bulls and herds marading cows off our yard, will put the chickens back in their pen if we ask and used to go with us to bring our "visiting" cow back and knew how to separate her out. He guards the home from the encroaching UPS truck, tells us when the mail truck comes(a more acceptable visitor), and we feel safe going out in the dark with him by us.
He's not feeling real well lately, though. He's had his share of scrapes and cut-ups. I don't want to be without someone like him, so lately I have been looking at litters of working English Shepherd farmcollies. Here's the place I hope to get a girl puppy from: http://www.cedarcreekenglishshepherds.com/links.html
Check back for further posts on the extending our heritage hill dog-line project !

Autumn deer season

A friend of ours knows a deer hunter who gives shot deer away so that he can keep shooting. The Friend told us about him, so my dad wrote down his phone number, and ever since, we've got deer from that guy at least once a year. Venison is very good, and tastes like beef, but some deer taste better than others, these last two year's deer were excellent. I guess it depends on what they ate. So far I've skinned two deer---well, okay, one of them got ruined, but the other was a total success. It lasted for two and a half years, till recently a stray Boston terrier tore it down and took it out on the grass, chewed on it, and left it on the dew covered grass . I found it when I came back from seminary; wet and moldy. The dog hasn't come back since. It ate two of our expensive muscovey ducks, and might be responsible for a chicken murder. Dad skinned this deer with it's tail still attached. That's special so I'd better get it out of the freezer.



This is dad cutting up last week's deer. I usually help dad, but this time Mom said Jo had to learn some life skills. He's ok with picking dead chickens up, but when it comes to cutting up stuff, well, he's a little squeamish.