Mel the chicken-sitter

Mel, the world's best dog, is also a fantastic chicken-sitter. We have no worries leaving the chickens out in the yard when Mel is patrolling the fence line. He keeps the cats and crows away from the chickens and their food. His mere canine presence does the trick. He's got his summertime outdoor routine that he sticks to religiously. Ten to 20 minutes in the sun followed by 10 - 20 minutes in the shade, repeat as necessary.

It's a dogs life. Mel had his yearly checkup at the vet this weekend. In addition to several vaccines, he had his senior blood panel done. The blood panel shows that everything looks good, so this 12-year old dog will, hopefully, have many more years with us. :)

My very first blog post ever.

Well, here I go, dipping my pinkie toe into the ocean that is blogging. This isn't meant to be anything deep or really meaningful, but there is some measure of responsibility that comes with publishing your thoughts, words and deeds for the world...which is probably why I've never ventured out before. Mainly, I'm tired of emailing pictures to myself or others...so this is meant to eliminate some of the "update" emails. Because...I'm lazy. We have 3 chickens and an orange dog. Here's a look at our little menagerie.

Phoebe B. Bebe
(red sex-link...that's a Rhode Island Red and Plymouth Rock mix)
Lady Catherine de Bird
(some kind of mix between an Ameracauna and maybe a Brahma)
Mrs. Dashwood
(some kind of mix between an Ameracauna and maybe a Brahma)
Phoebe hitching a ride with Melvin (Mel to his friends, of which he has many)