Tales from the Raven

We heard noise from the backyard today and went to investigate.  A big husky was standing on the far side of our pasture barking his head off–but since the orange cat was up in the carport, with us, we couldn’t see what he was fussing about.  Then I noticed a spot of grey standing out from a wood table in the middle of the fenced area.  Our tom cat, Shadow, was facing down the dog with his back arched and his tail the size of a giant roller brush.

The hissing and barking went on until I walked down to the near side of the pasture (still a good thirty feet and two fences from the dog) and called Shadow.  He jumped down and came to me, and I put both the cats up and chased off the dog, no harm done.

Interestingly, the dog could have gotten into the pasture where Shadow was if he’d had the intelligence to run around to the open gate, but he never left the side of the fence where he was closest to the cat.  He looked like some kind of Husky, with a narrow face and mean little eyes.  I like dogs, but I didn’t like this fellow…still, that might have just been the fact that he was on my property uninvited.  He had a collar, and took off down the long side of our property when I told him off.  Our guess is he lives somewhere down there, with a distant neighbor, and followed Shadow home.

Shadow has, of course, decided the trespasser was intimidated by his big bad self.  He’s dropping comments about getting a medal of valor, and has reassured us that he’ll keep out a sharp watch in case the intruder were so foolish as to come back.

So much has changed for us over the last year.  My graduation, our move, many of our long-term plans for the family by way of where our kids go to school and our financial goals.  Some of it was expected, much of it was not.  All in all, though, 2008 was a good year.  Even the curve balls kept things exciting.  Here’s hoping the new year has it’s own share of joys, and maybe one or two fewer surprises!

Hope you all have a great New Year’s night.  I’ll be celebrating it in true geek style, on WOW.

Yesterday afternoon we mostly finished the big project of Christmas–putting in a floor-to-ceiling mural in our daughter’s room.  The room’s small, so the mural really opens it up, like a big window.

This morning our daughter woke up at six something with a fever of 102, so we showed her the room even though it still needs a bit of work.  She needed the boost.  It also has a snuggly reading corner with lots of butterflies, so she’s happy to lay back on the pillows and watch the rainforest.