The DOOM Spaniels

words of wisdom if you ever think 'i would like to move to the country and buy some livestock' you need to be able to do fence. you have to have the time and ability, or at the very least money to hire someone, because you WILL be doing fence all the time for the rest of your life forever and ever amen

OMG FENCE.

so much fence. There are rocks in the ground. They hate you and don’t want you to put posts in.

It doesn’t matter how much fence you make. You will always need to make more. Sometimes because you get more animals…. Sometimes because the ones you already have have found creative ways to destroy your current fence.

If you think you want to ‘move to the country and own livestock’ ask a farmer who already does if you can practice on their fences first. In fact, come to my place. I’ve got some you can work on….

My fences are nearly 100% after several years of being unable to fix them or call anyone to hire to fix them (I was not enjoying Health). I cannot tell you the weight off my mind when I step outside and see intact fences, instead of a project requiring 6 months solid of every spare spoon I had, which I couldn't do, so tomorrow it would be six and a half months. Individual sections of bad fence will haunt my nightmares for the rest of my life. I was drowning, and I still couldn't even start, because I wasn't well enough.

I didn't need new fence, but in Florida humidity any wood will eventually fall apart. Ferrous metals, too. Sometimes fence just falls down because the wood gave out or the fasteners rusted through. If a great big itchy draft horse rubs gleefully on the fence, boards will crack, wire will stretch, posts will eventually split. If deer spend a lot of time in your fields, they'll hit your fences as they go over enough to do damage occasionally. This is all usually a minor fix, as long as you get to it within a few days. If you don't, attached pieces begin to degrade faster.

Fences are a neverending task, but getting behind is like paycheck loan interest rates: you will never stop the snowball on your own.

Goddammit the rabbits are hanging out under the porch again....hopefully these ones are smarter than last year's and don't go into the dog yard

Oh right, it's Dumb Baby Wildlife season. Time to watch out for Dumb Babies, learning about predators the hard way.

It was pretty, and I liked it.

Does anyone know this plant? I apologize for not getting a pic before the flower started to wilt. Can't find anything by any kind of searching, but you know I am not great with plants. Found along a grass pasture fenceline, shaded under grapevine. Very sandy, it's been unusually dry this year. 

This flower had four large white petals (one slightly smaller, I think), and four small petals cupped closed in the middle, the small petals totally withered overnight. The stem is thick and woody. The leaves are long and very narrow, not much wider than the grass around it. The flower is about 4"-5" across.

The folks at flawildflowers.org came through! They think it looks like a Slimleaf Pawpaw. The typical ones have two sets of three petals, and purple in the center, but I found some photos of all-white flowers, some with four petals, and even one with five!

The way they bloom in a row along the branch doesn't give me much hope that there will be any more flowers this year, but at least I got this one, and it was pretty.

Best. Sniff Patrol. Ever.

(Turtle has now been entubbed while awaiting a response from Fish&Wildlife.)

[Video Description: Tristan stands away from a Florida softshell turtle, barking angrily and piercingly. He leans forward as if to approach closer (or pounce), but does not take a step. He wags, but his tail is low; he's excited but cautious.]

[@qreywolf said: "entubbed... glorious"]

...

Why thank you ;) Turtle was UNpleased, and Spaniels agreed it was deeply unjust that turtle was inaccessible, but entubbed turtle was much safer for everyone. I attempted to provide water while contacting Fish&Wildlife, but it was *very* angry and I'm not sure it understood.

Fish and Wildlife said that even though it had been stuck away from water on my farm for several days, the best thing was probably to place it outside and let it find its own way home. Apparently they're a strongly dimorphic species, with females being much bigger, so I probably don't need to worry about a clutch of eggs somewhere in my pastures.

Goodbye, stinky angry aquatic tresspasser!

We saw our first dandelions on Sunday! Other climates have snowdrops and daffodils, but this is our spring.

Bonus: derp face outtakes, and an overhead view of the dandelions just sort of stuck into their earfloof. They had to sit very still to let the flowers balance on top of their heads. (and... sometimes didn't) Such good, good puppies.

Best. Sniff Patrol. Ever.

(Turtle has now been entubbed while awaiting a response from Fish&Wildlife.)

[Video Description: Tristan stands away from a Florida softshell turtle, barking angrily and piercingly. He leans forward as if to approach closer (or pounce), but does not take a step. He wags, but his tail is low; he's excited but cautious.]

[@qreywolf said: "entubbed... glorious"]

...

Why thank you ;) Turtle was UNpleased, and Spaniels agreed it was deeply unjust that turtle was inaccessible, but entubbed turtle was much safer for everyone. I attempted to provide water while contacting Fish&Wildlife, but it was *very* angry and I'm not sure it understood.

Fish and Wildlife said that even though it had been stuck away from water on my farm for several days, the best thing was probably to place it outside and let it find its own way home. Apparently they're a strongly dimorphic species, with females being much bigger, so I probably don't need to worry about a clutch of eggs somewhere in my pastures.

Goodbye, stinky angry aquatic tresspasser!