We could never be happy without some contact with animals. We’ve enjoyed daily contact with our own pets – and also with some unexpected wild friends.
Teddy was one of those impulsive decisions that worked out. I was actually working on a Saturday shift with two developmentally challenged ladies the day I met Teddy. It was the early summer of 2001, and we were yard-saling (a favorite Saturday activity) when we stopped in at a farm about which I had heard near Prescott. It was a rescue mission for stray dogs. Ian was just in the beginning stages of building our new farmhouse on our 220 acres at the end of Pettem Road. We…
One lonesome kitten just doesn’t work. After the tragic death of his sister, Sweet Pea, to viral pneumonia, Munchkin needed a new pal. The terrible virus, the plague of the Smiths Cove felines apparently as it didn’t appear to be widespread elsewhere, lingered on with our poor Munchkin. Day after day — his nose was a seemingly endless fountain of thick goobers. He napped most of the day on the leg of one of our big stuffed toy bears (interestingly, the one that bore the name tag…
I was still in the store working on a freelance editing project at about 10 PM one clear June night (the sun had just set– it was basically the longest day of 2014), when the still silence was broken by a loud shrill sound that was enough to sever my concentration. There was no doubt that it was the scream of a distressed animal. My thoughts went immediately to our adult cats. Mercifully, kittens Munchkin and Sweet Pea were safely inside (they had been out on the deck enjoying…
In Nova Scotia, it is a challenge to find some types of pets, but felines are not one of them. In most areas, there is a serious cat overpopulation. After our oldest cat, Anna Bee, passed away in early April at the ripe age of 20, we were content to return to our long-standing four-cat limit, which we had established back in 1993 but had broken many times since then. In Nova Scotia there is a concerted drive to cut back on the feral-cat population. An organization in…
One morning in July 2012, I was bringing water around to the area in front of the house where we tied Rebecca before heading off to the store when I spotted a small unusual object. It was a ruby-throated hummingbird laying still and lifeless in the grass. With our five cats uppermost in mind, I quickly picked up the tiny bird. I was relieved to discover that it was alive but stunned. I assumed it was a youngster who hadn’t learned to fly well yet, although it was…
Only some of the pets chosen to make the move to Nova Scotia made it. That’s because we ran out of room for our rabbits. The rabbits were both farm animals and pets We did not raise them for meat but to sell to others for pets and also for their hair. I sold angora rabbit hair along with sheep’s wool and goat fleece, mainly to spinners. I loved bunnies; the hairier the better. We had planned to leave the buyers of the farm a few of our rabbits,…
Ian enjoys working with trees. Our new property in Smiths Cove needed some tree-pruning, partly to improve visibility for the new store. The resulting wood would be used to produce heat in our combination wood-oil furnace. One warm winter day, he was trimming some trees on the east side of the property when he noticed that a curious bird had come to check him out. He recognized the bird as a ruffled (or according to most sources, ruffed; but we’ve always known them as ruffled) grouse. The last time we had seen one of…
I don’t know if I’ve ever respected an animal more than I have Rebecca. Rebecca and her sister, Rachel, came to the farm as puppies with a specific purpose: protect our livestock. Purebred Great Pyrenees, they were in the Livestock Guardian Dog category. Our farm had grown to include a large assortment of animals and birds of different ages. Predators, especially coyotes but also foxes and wolves, were an inevitable problem. After researching the subject, we concluded that our best defense was to fight canine with canine.…
Imagine our relief to have arrived in Nova Scotia after our 32-hour trek (which followed an emotionally and physically draining week of loading the Uhauls and preparing to leave our farm) with everyone we had started off! Ian and me, of course, but also our four dogs, five cats and assorted budgies, lovebirds and cockatiels. We had much for which to be thankful on that first weekend in 2011 in Nova Scotia, which was fittingly Thanksgiving weekend. It was a glorious warm, sunny weekend, so I set the birds…