On the Homefront: Dog and Donkey Update, and More

This past week has been a roller coaster ride for me, but the good news is that little Pippin, the pup I found in our barn two weeks ago, has been returned to her owners!  They saw the ad I posted in our local paper and identified her (someone had painted the pup's toenails pink, and they mentioned that one of their daughters had done that).  Hopefully they will be more careful in the future and Pip (whose real name is Daisy) will be safe and happy now.

My bad news is that my donkey, also named Daisy, has taken a turn for the worse.  We don't really know why, but we will try a couple more medication options before giving up on her.  I really hope she can pull through, but it is looking less likely now.  I will try for another month, but if she does not begin to recover or gets worse, the kindest choice would be to let her go.

Oh, don't try to look so innocent, you dastardly rodent!
(from NBC News)

Also this week, my electric fence charger stopped working, a mouse attempted to live in my car's heating/AC system, got caught in the fan, and died (my car stinks to high heaven now and the corpse is interfering with the fan so I have to get my car in to the shop to be looked at), and a pesky armadillo has been digging up our yard.  The dogs finally caught the culprit one morning and made its life miserable, but armadillos are almost impossible to kill.  I thought about taking matters into my own hands, but then the distraught critter squeaked for mercy and I caved (I am such a softie).  I literally kicked it to the curb and out the gate, hoping that it would stay away.  I also closed up any gaps I could find in our fence and I think I have finally blocked any armadillo's access to our yard, at least for now.  Oh, and to top it all off, my terrier mix, Ruby, managed to scrape her upper lip raw trying to bite the armadillo shell, and almost gave herself heat stroke in the process.

Another dastardly mammal trying to look cute!
(from Natural Unseen Hazards Blog)

Ah, life in the country -- let me tell you, it's not all peace and quiet.  In fact, it's more like tooth-and-claw survival of the fittest at the moment.  If I miss a post or two this week, it's because I'm just trying to survive here!