Meanwhile Back at the Ranch

Wednesday morning, I packed the cooler, then Brett packed the car and we started on the long drive to my dad’s house on the California Central Coast.  The weather was wet — snow at home and rain down the mountain, but we arrived in time for me to put the apple pies in the oven to bake while we ate dinner with my dad.  The rest of the family arrived in trickles over the evening and Thanksgiving morning.  By Thanksgiving, at noon, we were all gathered.  So, while we were drinking champagne, our house and animal sitter was slogging through snow at the ranch.

The horses were in the barn so she didn’t have to deal with dragging hay to the pastures.

All the animals were happy, healthy and well-fed when we got back home this afternoon.  I’m sure Sage had a good time jumping in snow banks, one of her favorite things.  Kersey stays on the porch where its dry.  She’s no dummy.

A new storm started its path through our area shortly after we got home.  This one is not so cold, so we will get lots and lots of rain but no snow.  It’s a dreary grey color outside — not exactly like the brilliance of the Central Coast.  The kids took this photo while they were hiking at Montana de Oro, with waves crashing over the rocky shore and spraying them on the bluffs.

Girls Just Wanna Have Fu-uhn

Part of the reason we got Sage earlier this year was that Kersey has really slowed down.  She acts like an old dog now, sleeping a lot and watching us from the front porch during chores instead of coming along.

She had some ACL injuries when she was younger and now her joints are fused and arthritic.  She’ll be ten next summer.

So, Sage arrived and immediately started tormenting poor Kersey.  Then, Kersey taught Sage what to do with squirrels.  Sage is fast — she catches ground squirrels a lot.  She didn’t know what to do with the squirrel at first; Kersey demonstrated.  I won’t go into details but our squirrel population has decreased, which is a good thing.

We put Kersey on a new arthritis medication a month ago and she is a new dog.  She’s dropped almost 15 pounds in the past six months and she looks good.  She was way overweight before.    The two of them have a lot of fun together chasing squirrels, swimming in the stream and digging in the compost pile.