Four-Footed Ranch Hands

These are some of the four-footed hands that help us out on the ranch from time to time.  Well, okay, some of them seem to be more prone to causing mischief than actually "helping"--I'm not mentioning any names.  Let's just say that it is a good thing they are so cute....

This is Spikey and we pretty much spend most of our time making sure an owl or a hawk doesn't carry him away for lunch.

And this pretty puss answers to the name of Muddy Waters--or Mud for short.  I LOVE this cat.  She has the best personality and likes to sleep right on your chest at night.  She hangs out with the dogs--although this might be for personal protection rather than actual preference.  The ranch used to have several cats but one by one they have disappeared.  We thought it was coyotes but now we think it is probably a bobcat that we have seen once or twice.  When you are on the ranch you are pretty much out in the wilds.

This is Harley Davidson.  He is a big ol' brute, isn't he.  He is so funny.  If you clip a leash onto his collar he hits the deck and will not get up until you take the leash off.  Once when we were doing some tractor work and needed to make sure he stayed out of the way, my mother's boyfriend, Jim, stuck a hose through his collar--just the tip of the hose under his collar.  We all looked at him like he was crazy--like ya, that is really going to hold him--but ol' Harley hit the deck and stayed that way until we were done and took the hose away.  It was hilarious. 

Poor guy, though, he suffers from epilepsy pretty bad so these days he has to be kept pretty drugged up.  The seizures he has are pretty awful to see.

This fine hunka canine flesh is the indomitable Rose.  What she lacks in overall leg length she more than makes up for in heart and stamina.  She goes everywhere with us when we are tooling around in the Mule and has no problem whatsoever keeping up with the other dogs.  As a matter of fact, she is usually the one out in front.

And, last but not least, the glorious Sparkle.  She may be feeling her age these days (I am not for certain sure of her age but I used to ride her in drill team when I was around 16 or 17 and I am 39 years young now--if that gives you an idea).  She lolls her days away now just grazing where she feels like it and taking dust baths whenever she feels like it.  She's a Diva, this one, and believe me, she knows it.

That's all for now.