Wordless Wednesday #98: Enigmatic Ears

Sue Helps Out

Sue loves to help feed Ollie and Jack.



As with every other living thing she encounters, Sue wants to be their friend.





Ollie and Jack get very excited at feeding time.













Sue loves licking noses.









She does leave the lambs when the kettle's boiling, however, as she knows milk is on the way and there might be some left over...





Ollie always drinks first. He's so messy! Milk just goes everywhere.



Sue would like to help with that.



Jack gets fed next, and Sue takes this opportunity to clean him up.









Back in their pen with fully tummies.





Sue plays with the milk bottle.



More kisses.









I'm very proud of Sue for obeying my "stay" command for these shots.





Her stay is coming on pretty well, actually. We've just got to keep working on it.



Those ear positions seem to be here to stay for a while...

Drops in Downpatrick

On Friday afternoon I had important business to do in Downpatrick (paying the license fee for each of my dogs) so I brought Jess along so she could try out her new snood. She's a great traveller, settling down for the journey. Since putting on weight after being skin and bones, she has gone up a collar size which I am very happy about. Now all of the dogs (apart from Sue, of course, although she's not far behind) are roughly the same size.



When I was getting the snoods for the lambs, I got one for Jess too, in a very nice shade of green.



The path up the hill towards Down Cathedral was lined with hundreds of snowdrops. It's always so great to see signs of spring after a long winter.



(That's the Cathedral in the background.)



Jess posing at the wall.



The secret to taking pictures of Jess, in any setting, is a toy of some kind. She just loves toys of all shapes and sizes. In between shots she can carry the toy around. She's an incredibly anxious dog and just carrying the toy seems to calm her down. On this day I was using a squeaky hamburger.



Any dog of mine worth their salt knows to jump up on things and pose without my prompting, so of course when Jess saw a wall, about three feet high, she jumped up on it and dropped her toy in anticipation of some posing. What she didn't know was that there was a twelve-ish foot drop on the other side. She jumped onto the wall and wobbled at the top, so I yanked on the lead to steady her so she didn't fall. At the same time she dropped the burger for me, which rolled over the edge and dropped the twelve-ish feet onto the driveway below.

I thought the hamburger was lost but we were able to walk down the driveway and retrieve it.



Jess was happy to have it back.





Hamburgers aren't just comfort food for humans.

Or Shine

Blue Belle is currently living on the edge of the farm, as far away as she can get without leaving altogether. The reason is that this small field has very little grass and so it's ideal for a round, greedy little pony like her. I do miss having her near the yard and although it sounds a bit silly, I miss her, so I took Sue down to visit her on Saturday.

Her winter field is very picturesque.



I left Sue on the quad while I went to say hello. And yes, I have a dog toy attached to the front of my quad. Dad was spraying with it in the summer and found the monkey dog toy in a field and thought it would be hilarious to give me it as a "hood ornament". He'd cable-tied it on and it's still there now.



Anyway, as I was saying, I went to see Blue Belle first.





Even on a field with very little grass she's, shall we say, doing well for herself.



Sue waited impatiently for me to let her down.



Blue Belle is so fluffy!





Blue Belle meeting Sue for the second time - the first was back before Christmas.







Her mane is so full - and it was all over the place, as usual!



Sue wasn't a bit afraid of Blue Belle (no surprises there) and started running around at full speed.



Blue Belle got a few treats from me and then I sat down to enjoy the sunshine.











Sue decided to say hello.



She sneaked closer.



And then she was off!



Wait for it...





























Sue just ran rings around poor Blue Belle. I'd have put a stop to it if Blue Belle was bothered, but she didn't seem to mind the puppy's antics.



She wasn't just running rings around Blue Belle - she was also running at me. Despite my best efforts she did manage to bump into the camera a few times, and my arm, and my head. No wonder Blue Belle was having to lift her head up sometimes.



The light was lovely.





Sue admiring the view.







My little puppy is growing way too fast.





Copying each other?





Look at that ear fluff.



There was a tractor coming along on the road at the bottom of the field and just in case Sue would try and do something silly, like chase it, I caught her by the collar. It gave me chance to take some close-ups.





Tractor passed, I let her go again. Blue Belle was in the mood for some trotting and Sue was more than happy to run alongside.







At the top of the hill now, time for snacks.



And more running in circles.









Oh, Susan...



It was wonderful to photograph Blue Belle again, and to enjoy such a warm day outside. I think Blue Belle and Sue are going to get along just fine.