Porcupine for Griffin

 After helping Paul help Richard overseed his food plot in the forest Griffin ran home after stopping to 
converse" with a porky.  He managed only 2 quills which Paul pulled out quickly.  He's on pain meds and antibiotics for his teeth so he should be good. No telling about the porcupine.  

After mixing the seeds with sand and raking the area, I threw out some shade meadow seeds on the new garden west of the house.  Azaleas that I planted last fall look ok.  They did flower this year.  

Another vet visit

Two dogs tore out of the house this morning as usual to protect Mom from (anything/everything) and got more than they bargained for.  Buddy and Gambol saved her from a porcupine but got stuck for their troubles.

Buddy is stoic and let Paul pull 10-12 quills out with pliers.  Gambol is a Drama Queen.  Paul was able to get a few but quickly saw that the job was too big for a home remedy.  We could see some in the roof of his mouth as well as his lips and tongue. Dr. O'Connell to the rescue. She pulled 15-20 under anesthesia.  Now he has some pain meds and antibiotics.

When we got home Gambol went directly to bed.  Kilo took him the red squeaky dumb-bell, his favorite toy, but Gambol doesn't want to put anything in his mouth just yet.  He's still a bit groggy from the sedation.

UPDATE:  softened (with warm beef broth) kibble and scrambled egg was a welcome dinner for a tender mouth. 

UPDATE2:  All walks have started on leashes until we get passed the bird feeder.

The Weekend with our Pack

Saturday:  Paul went to a forestry seminar; I was on a Magnolia Brittany transport of 3 dogs from Newport to Milesburg.  Kilo wasn't happy even though everyone had peanut butter bones.  He squeaked and scratched at the door.  Paul left before me; same thing when I left. Mild separation anxiety?
They all managed for the 6 hrs we were gone, but I was in deep kimchi when I came home with 3 different dog smells on me.

Sunday: Kilo is working on his off leash manners.  We let him go out to pee off leash, and we take his leash off as we approach the house. On each walk we let him drag the long leash to run 50 yds. or so to us .  Paul hides behind a tree or tall grass and calls him.  Sometimes Kilo finds him on his own; sometimes he takes a cue from one of the other dogs.  He does mind Paul's "here" much better than mine.
Paul was in the Carriage House, all 3 dogs were with me.  When Kilo realized his dad was missing, he started squeaking and pacing.  Kilo usually ends the evening lying on Paul's toes as we read.  I believe they've bonded.  We may have a failed foster here.
The porcupine destroyed the  sassafras tree by topping 3/4 of it.  Paul cut the trunk off.  It will probably stump sprout, but maybe the porky will find a more discrete tree to gnaw on.  Kilo helped, off leash.)  The trunk has very wide rings: 5 years old, but probably not large enough for a box, except perhaps for needle storage. 
I planted 15 Mertensia that SFast gave me.  That trail (?Jennifer's elbow, Jonathan's, Ginseng Path?) is showing promise of a lovely spring walk.
Later: We decided to check out the dog park just before dinner.  There were just enough dogs there to be fun and keep us busy.  We took the double leash to see how Buddy and Gambol reacted to hauling Kilo around.  We gave both dogs a chance at leadership.  It worked, so we used it at home for just one short run each.  No sense having too much fun.

Porky in the back yard

We USED to have a tall, nicely shaped, volunteer sassafras off the bathroom.  Last night Paul saw a porcupine gnawing its way through the top third.  Now we have a tall bush. 

Porky

We begin our sunrise hikes at 6:25 but since the sun didn't rise until 7:01 today I put Gambol's nightlight collar on him. For the last week I've been keeping him on leash on the upper trail to practice for his confinement with Leslie and Anne and also to let the night critters get to bed.  One porcupine wasn't quite fast enough; Gambol got him and came home with a 13-quill beard. 
Paul used his pliers as forceps but I'm not sure that the cure wasn't worse than the beard.  It took both of us holding and 30 minutes to extract the quills. We all got an extra dose of blood pumping exercise.
Poor boy!

Sore mouth

Gambol and I took a late evening walk, much later than normal, and found a porcupine from which he valiantly protected me and took 9 1-1.25" quills in the mouth. We stressed him trying to pull them out with small forceps. Distracting him with cheese didn't do much. After we got them out we gave him some ice to help any swelling.
We also saw a woodcock in the driveway by the top electric box: beady red eyes and practically no legs gave it away.

Still winter

We have 6" snow in places and in other places the ground has been scoured clean. Gambol and I took a walk/run/drag but didn't see the rabbit, who has been hiding at the campsite, or the elk at Paradise. We did see fresh 4x4 tracks along the fence but no fresh hay. We watched the redtail pair play and scream above Walnut Grove. We flushed a whitetail on the hill high behind the house. I saw the deer flush, but had to look to Gambol to find it. He never took his eyes off the running deer. One of the lessons in his puppy class was "look", where he is supposed to looks at our eyes. We've turned that lesson around many times to see birds and deer fleeing. We also saw lots of downed limbs and leaners from all the big winds we've had recently. We have 1 chestnut oak just down the hill from the house that is still standing but is twisted splinters held by bark. There will be no lack of chain saw practice this spring.
Gambol would make a great sled dog; he pulls us up hill without looking back.
The pullets are 8 months old tomorrow and have given us 168 eggs. Once they got going, 4 of them became regular 1-a-day layers. We let them out to free range and explore when we have 4 eggs, usually around 2:00 o'clock now. There's not much to graze on yet; I suppose they find some dried seeds.
Last night as we came up the hill after dark I saw a porcupine scramble out of the headlights near the snow depth gauge. We've noticed the jack pine by the birdfeeder has several large bare bark spots. Perhaps this guy is the culprit.
Yesterday we picked up a treat from the post office: fresh limes and grapefruits from the Empress's garden. What an extraordinary breakfast we had today: really fresh fruit and really fresh eggs. If only I'd made bread... So, we sent her a return box.

More Bear visits

This bear doesn't seem to have an entourage and looks kind of ratty but it was a rainy night so maybe s/he is just wet. We might have heard the disturbance but didn't see the bear. We have also had visits by porcupines who squeak and chirp or yip. They are at the trail head, for sure, but maybe that's all we can see.
So, tonight we rigged a bear trap. We put a few small stones in a bunch of dead coke cans, stacked some in 3s around the tractor and strung a couple together, hoping that if the bear disturbs the cans and they fall or s/he gets tangled in the string, the noise will either wake us so we can make enough noise to invite him/her away from the chicks, or the rattling itself will scare it away. I am reminded of Admiral von UberBaron's Hawaiian trap on Lahi-lahi place.

The hummingbirds' activity was noticeably lower today. I think the migration has begun. One or 2 visited during dinner, but not with the vigor of recent days.

Chicken farmers should not wear red nail polish

Their bills are very strong. Their main food is still the 18% protein chick feed but they tear up the grass bugging pretty well too. They especially love blueberries (fresh picked and wild, please). I have resorted to letting them have their treats from a cup rather than by hand because I received a small blood blister in gratitude. They also like dried cranberries. I tried to call them in from the rain last night by rattling fruit in their cup. Half believed in their bedtime snack. The other half had to be persuaded with a hand toss. The next improvement of the tractor must be to move the cross perch to the far end so that when I have to climb in to persuade, I don't have to climb over the perch.
Saturday was their first night out. I put the rubbermaid tub on its side with wood chips in it. I don't know if that's where they snuggle at night. I hope so because it's been getting into the low 50s. We lay out the tarp full length when it rains so only 2' of tractor is open to the sky and the sides are fully covered. They seem to stay dry. On sunny days, we fold the tarp over so they get plenty of sun.

The girls are really growing. They have very little baby down left, only a little around their necks and butts. I can see and feel their crops as they bulge with grasshoppers and crickets. We haven't been able to persuade the grasshoppers to fly into the tractor so we use a net or stomp on them around the house. What a sight that must be: Oma and Opa stomping on grasshoppers! Several chicks greet us on the perch looking for a special grasshopper treat. We gave them left-over (cooked) corn on the cob: gone in 5 minutes. Even raw and unshucked doesn't last long. Tonight I shared my over-ripe peach. I'm sure the US could cut the garbage to almost nothing if everyone had a few chickens. Maybe their psychiatrist bills, too. They are very calming and fun to watch.

A couple of nights ago we woke to loud chirping. It was 2 porcupines finishing off the popcorn put out for the bluejays and squirrels. Tonight one didn't wait till dark. I was able to get to about 10 feet before it waddled off.

Night Visitors

The game camera is up and running. We set it where the snow showed lots of tracks.