Road Kill Cafe

When I got up this morning the thermometer was reading a balmy 6 degrees. This is the coldest weather we have had so far this winter. Jack Frost has been busy overnight, everything outside is covered in delicate frost hued decor. Even the branches of the tress have not escaped this coating of icy filigree.

Inside all is warm and cozy. Hunter is enjoying a plate of pancakes with his requested mug of hot tea. I am content with my coffee. The dogs are all happy to be inside and are lounging lazily on the kitchen floor. We are surrounded by the aroma of warm cinnamon sugar and freshly brewed coffee.

The sunshine is just starting to peek in the kitchen windows and is sparkling on the frost covered world outside. All is still and quiet as if frozen in time by the coating of delicate ice. The hay field is brilliantly lit by the myriad of prisms reflecting the first rays of the sun.

Today is one of those days that just begs for the heady scent of a slowly cooking beef roast mingling with the aroma of freshly baked bread………so I guess I will go and get started making those smells a reality.

It is a lazy sort of Sunday here at the gulch. I am sitting with my morning coffee, listening to Hunter play with his cars and trains and watching it snow. There are tiny flakes and bigger flakes, sometimes there is very light snow and at others it is heavier. Every once in a while the breeze kicks up and swirls the falling snow around in a mad dance.

Yesterday it was 47 degrees with intervals of sunshine, today it is 27 with snow showers. Although it is only January I am itching to get the garden started. The seed catalogs have been arriving since late December and the local stores are stocked with gardenalia. Some of which I was drooling over yesterday when I was grocery shopping.

At least I can plan for my garden set-up. Decide what to plant and where, taking into account where things were last year and making sure not to plant the same things in the same places. It will be fun to show Hunter the plants as they spring up and teach him the difference between the vegetables and the weeds.

My litttle grandson, Hunter, enunciates most things fairly well, for a 3 year old. But the word waffle isn’t one of them, to him they are wa-cos.

He announced to me after his morning cup of hot chocolate that he wanted wa-cos for breakfast, as he was trying to pull open the freezer door. I told him that I would get out the waffle iron and make him some. This facinated him to no end. He watched intently as the waffle iron heated up and I mixed up the batter.

The cooking of the first waffle in the iron was like magic for him. He was truely impressed when I opened the waffle iron and took out the cooked waffle. He ran excitedly into the other room and announced to “papa” that he was going to have wa-cos for breakfast.

It really is the little things like this that bring joy to a grandmas heart. Just the sight of that little face all lit up and excited about a waffle. When I gave him his plate with a waffle on it dressed in a little butter and cinnamon sugar, he looked at me and said “I love you, grandma”. There just is no better reward than that.

I have been missing in action here for a bit. Unexpected circumstances make for strange events, kind if like an out of control domino set-up, you just never know which way they are going to fall.

However I am finally back home and more than quite happy to be here. I am looking forward to things settling down.

We have a new member here at the gulch. One of our grandsons has come to stay with us. He helps to fill our gulch with laughter, joy, love, noise and toy trains. So we welcome the addition of Hunter to our lives and our gulch. He is sure to be the subject of future additions to the blog with his adventures.

The weather has been interesting as of late. We have had rain. Thunderstorms. Snow. Sleet. Sometimes a combination. Precipitation is good, it all helps to keep the cistern full. A thing that I am really happy about. But like most things where there is an up side, there is also a down side.

Muddy dog feet, four sets of them. Because it has been rather cool to accompany the wet, we have been letting the dogs inside, especially at night. They are confined to the kitchen, the room with the floor that is easiest to clean. Lately it has been mopped to within an inch of its’ life. But the dogs are warm and dry, well at least after they dry off….couple this with the on going housebreaking of the newest members. My mopping skills are getting a real work out.

On the bright side, warmer weather will soon be here. All of the dogs really prefer to be outside, running, roaming and barking at passing cars. They have a large fenced yard to play in, plenty of room to burn off excess energy, and spots to lie in the sun.

Our two new family members seem to be settling in quite well. They have even survived their first bath, with very little trauma suffered by either them or me.

They appear to be a cross between a golden retriever and a schnauzer? They also kind of look like they might have some cocker spaniel. It is their ears that remind me of the spaniel. They have very light blonde colored coats, where they have fur covering bare skin. They have big brown eyes with harlequin style diamonds around them.

We have named the female Molly. She is a shy, relatively quiet little thing, still on the skittish side. She surprised me yesterday by actually coming up to me on her own accord. I think she has discovered that she likes to be petted, as long you don’t make any sudden movements. This morning she came to me for some lovin’ and stayed by me for quite a while.

The male we have named Scout. There is a two fold reason for this choice. First, because he is always “scouting” around for food or anything interesting. Second, Jeff2s’ cousin was always calling one of our other dogs Scout, so we figured that if we actually had one with that name she would be right 25% of the time . He is by far the more out going of the two, he just pushes his way into the middle of things. It is as if he doesn’t want to miss anything. He was the first to take a treat out of one of our hands when it was offered.

Housebreaking is coming along fairly well. But I do have to get up in the middle of the night to let them out. On a good note they will make noise when they have to go, but this means I need to get up fairly quickly or there will be a puddle. I don’t remember getting up with any of our kids when they were babies, I was blessed. For the most part they slept through the night from the time they were born.

At first to get them to go out we had to pick them up and carry them outside. Already they trot out the door, I am sure that this is due to the influence of our other two dogs. Now we need to get them to routinely go out into the grass to do their business, for the most part they have been using the back porch. But in time I am sure that this will change.

It is so nice to see them start to play. They seem to enjoy rough housing with each other and finding things to chew on! I think we need to get them some chew toys, before they make chew toys out of things that they shouldn’t. Their appetite is good and I am looking forward to seeing them fill out and cover their bones so they no longer look like they are starving. Also to see their coats fill in to cover their large spots of bare skin. Time, regular meals, treats, love and care will go a long way in solving both of those issues.

Very early yesterday morning, Jeff2 was was awoken by barking and whining. This is rather unusual in our little neck of the woods to say the least. Our own two dogs were snoring away in the kitchen, completely oblivious to any of the ruckus occurring outside. They were just happy to be inside on a rather damp and chilly night.

The noise first woke him at about 2am and then again about 6am. When it became light enough outside to see he went to investigate the source of the noise. He came back inside and told me that there were two small dogs or puppies hiding underneath the box truck, parked outside of our fenced yard.

We went out several times trying coax them to come out, but they just went from one end to the other under the truck. We tried milk bones and other treats, but they would not come out, and the truck sits too low for either of us to crawl underneath. Finally, the bravest of the two ventured out, but stayed out of reach. Not wanting to frighten the dogs further we tried not to get too aggressive in our attempts to catch them. Eventually we did manage to get ahold of one of them, and the other was then easier to get.

They were cold, skinny, filthy and very wary of being touched. However when we picked them up they did not resist, fight or even make any noise. I don’t think they had the strength left to put up much of a fight, and I got the feeling they didn’t really want to, they just didn’t want to be hurt. Our dogs were watching all of this with great intrest, but they were not making much noise. It was as if they understood that we were trying to help the smaller dogs.

After we caught them, we brought them into the kitchen, to get a better idea of just what the situation was with these two. It was then that we determined that they were indeed just puppies, about six months old. They were cold, tired, damp and starving. They appeared like they had never had any type of care their whole lives. They hung together, not wanting to get very far from each other, probably because they only had each other to depend on.

We talked to them softly and gave them some warm food. They devoured this eagerly and looked for more. We did not want to give them too much at first having no idea when they had last eaten. After a bit of a rest we let our dogs in to say hi to them. There was no barking or even a hint of a fight as our dogs sniffed them over and then looked at us with an expression of OK, whatever, I guess they are going to stay.

We left them alone and let the newcomers explore and snif out the house. After another small meal they curled up together and went to sleep. When they woke up it was easy to see that that the warmth of being inside along with some food and water had made them much happier.

I have no idea whether they were dumped or had just wandered into our gulch. It was very clear that they had not had care or comfort for a long time, if they had ever had any at all. We have now determined that one is a male, one is a female and they are obviously litter mates. We have also determined that even though we were not looking for any more dogs, we have them. They will be loved and fed and warm and dry.

It make take a little while but I am sure that they will stop being so skittish with us, they just have to learn that we will not harm them. After just one night they are already letting me get a bit closer before they move away. I hope that they still feel that way after I give them a much needed bath.

Now we have to come up with names. I want to let them get comfortable so that we can better see what their personalities are like, that will help in coming up with names for them.

So we begin the new year with two new family members, a few more tasks, like housebreaking. It will be wonderful to watch them grow, fill out and see their fur coming back to life. With lots of love, care and good nutrition I hope we can show them that their lives will be much better now.

So we welcome to our family here at the gulch two new members. We wish them a long happy, healthy and loved life. What ever has happened to them before now, however they came to be here, I hope we can help them understand that they have come home.