Our Summer Adventures

Written by Leona Nielsen
Published on February 2013

OUR SUMMER ADVENTURES
We thought that it would be nice to share with you some of the things that happened to us over the summer. Let’s get started with…….

MURPHY
The owners were sitting around the open fire enjoying the summer evening. There wasn’t much wood left to keep the fire going. On nights like this the wood burns fast and they knew some more wood had to be gathered. No one wanted to go indoors after feeling the gentle, warm breeze that just passed by. As they passed the pear tree, there sat Murphy looking awful. The owners didn’t really know what had happened to him but it had the looks of not being good. Within minutes, one of the owners, now knowing what else to do, swept Murphy off his feet and headed for the house. The look on her face said it all about being worried. She grabbed a wet cloth and started cleaning his face up in order to determine what was the matter. Slowly, Murphy was placed on the floor. Then it hit – that odour both man and animal try avoid! She ran to the door shedding her sweater as she went, yelling…….MURPHY GOT SKUNKED!!!!!!
It was like a mini twister had just touched down. In the middle of the kitchen floor stood Murphy, abandoned in his time of need while the owner ran to the bedroom peeling off her clothes as she went. Just then, the other owner came through the door to see what was going on and was met with the smell. By now, the house was completely engrossed.
A few minutes later, both owners came to have another look at Murphy who looked at them with those big eyes that were so watery from the smell. A discussion took place a few feet away and before Murphy knew it there he was floating in the laundry sink. As they washed him off, and for once they didn’t have to hear what he was saying because the look on his face told of his embarrassment and the anxiety he was suffering.
In the days that followed, Murphy was bathed and bathed with soda and vinegar. Murphy regained his dignity while the house came back to normal.
Footnote: There are times when it would not hurt to take a few minutes before reacting. Also, when mixing soda and vinegar, be prepared for the fuzz.

THE FENCE
Summertime is such a great time for things out of the ordinary to happen. The pear trees in the yard were producing such delicious fruit. The crows stopped by at least twice a day to feed. This was very new to Havier. He hadn’t seen pears before, so TC had to teach him that when the owners are in the yard, stand by the fence and they will get a treat of some pears. It didn’t take Havier long to catch on. Almost every day you could find Havier and TC waiting whenever they saw the owners out. Then there came the day when the owner came to the fence with two lovely looking apples instead of pears. This was a bonus for TC and Havier. He held out both hands with an apple in each. As TC and Havier approached, both at the same time, their eyes were totally fixed on the apples and didn’t notice that the owner had accidently touched his belly on the electric fence sending shock waves through his arms and out his fingers to the apples that they were taking a bite from. Their eyes almost popped out of their sockets as they felt the sensation pass through their bodies. Within seconds both TC and Havier started running faster than lightening away from the fence. It was an accident and the owner felt really bad that they both felt the shock from the fence. In the days that followed, TC and Havier continued enjoying the pears as they were tossed over the fence but, as for the apples, they kept their distance until the owner realized that they too now had to be tossed over the fence.
Moral of the story: check before accepting anything over or under an electric fence. It is there for a reason.

ANNIE AND THE WHEELBARROW
Anyone that has read some of our other stories knows that Annie doesn’t take too kindly to not being able to come and go as she pleases.
This one morning, in particular, Annie woke early as she always does and found that the wheelbarrow was across the barn door leading to the field. Now, in Annie’s world, that wasn’t acceptable. She stood back for a minute sizing up the situation, walked back to the wall, planted her back legs and like a deer started running towards the wheelbarrow…..free for the day, or so she thought. She jumped high enough to clear the wheelbarrow but what was waiting on the other side was not what Annie expected.
It had rained heavily during the night washing some of the dirt away from the barn door. She landed directly in the pool of water and mud sending it flying in all directions. Annie was in total shock at what had just happened. If there is anything Annie didn’t like, it was to be wet and dirty. After all, she is a girl and girls don’t get dirty like this.
The rest of the day Annie made sure that she was not seen by anyone. She spent the day rolling around in the grass and cleaning herself until she felt like a girl again.
The moral of this adventure: whenever something is blocked off, it is for a reason, as Annie found out.

ANNIE AND THE MACHINE
The summer always brings with it a major clean-up in the barn which brings different machines that are not seen throughout the year. The barn has to be prepared to receive the winter supply of hay. Annie always has to know the facts about almost everything that she comes in contact with. There was this one machine that stood out from the rest and caught Annie’s attention right away when she returned from the pasture.
It sounded like it was singing some sort of song. Annie felt that she needed to get closer for a better look. As she carefully stepped towards the machine in such a way as not to disturb it, she still couldn’t make out what the song was so she stuck her nose on this hose coming from the machine to see if that was better…….suddenly there was a bond between Annie and this machine. The hose had attached itself to Annie’s nose and wouldn’t let go! If you haven’t guessed it, the machine was a vacuum cleaner. By this time, Annie just wanted to be free of the machine and the only thing she could think of was to try and run as far away as she could possibly get. Within seconds, Annie was running towards the pasture, when suddenly, just as fast as it stuck to her nose, it let go and the bond had been broken. As it turned out, Annie ran so far that the cord came out of the socket in the wall, shutting the machine off.
Did Annie learn a less? We will have to wait and see when haying time rolls around next year.

NOT ENOUGH ROOM

During the summer there are so many friends to see and BBQs that the owners are sometimes later than normal arriving home. This means, of course, that supper is later. Even though the outside lights are left on and the grass is so rich to eat, that little taste of grain and oats is still needed.
On this evening, for some reason, no one heard the car arrive at the barn. The next sound was the call for supper, which was music to their ears. TC and Havier were at the other end of the pasture and it took a second for them to get the message. When they did, it was as if something was chasing them to the barn and neither one was watching where the other was going when suddenly they both came to a sudden halt. As it turned out, TC and Havier both tried coming through the barn door at the same time, and now……well, let’s just say they are wedged in the door, unable to go frontwards or backwards. The owner was in the front of the barn and had no idea what had just happened until he took a walk towards the door and saw a horse and a mule unable to move. After having a good laugh, the owner tried pushing on TC to see if he could free them, but with no luck.
“Well, there is just one thing to do in times like this.†And walked away, leaving TC and Havier wondering what was coming next. The owner returned carrying a bottle and a halter. The next thing they heard was the owner saying, “stand still while I pour some oil between the two of you.â€
Next, the halter was placed on TC and the rope tied to stall post. The owner turned around and started forcing Havier to go backward. Minutes later they were free, none the worst for wear, except a little embarassment.
The lesson in all of this……..maybe we should pay attention to what a cat does because a cat will only pass through something where their whiskers won’t touch.

We hope you enjoyed reading about some of our summer adventures. We do have something else to add before closing.
A few weeks ago we had some visitors who dropped by especially to see us. There were four children and their grandparents. What a wonderful time we had!

To Alexus, Hailey, Steven and Brooklynn…..this is for you/
**TC and Havier….â€The pears you fed us really filled our bellies and we hope to see you again.â€
**Joseph……â€I could tell from listening to you while we were going for a drive that you had fun. Come back again and we will do it all over again.â€
**Baby…..â€I didn’t get a chance to take you for a ride but I really liked what you said about my blue eyes.?
**Annie……â€It was fun having you come for a visit and the carrots were good.â€
**To the grandparents – always continue to let the child in you play.
Until next time, stay safe and remember, treat others as you would like to be treated. You can never go wrong.
Next month our story will be about things we can learn about animals.

Steven and Brooklynn

Alexus and Hailey