I drove up our driveway a few days ago here at Struan Farm to find a large group of feral turkeys grazing around the orchard area, metres away from Clifford's dog house. Technically a group of turkeys is called a "rafter," but that's a topic for another blog post. The turkeys were gobbling away and getting closer to where the dog was tied up, napping away.
All I could think of was Clifford vs. The Turkeys Round 3. That blowing out his back leg for the third time might actually kill him at 14+ years. He's been on doggie aspirin since the first two turkey chasing-induced injuries and is just starting to walk more normally on that back leg. It would be so like Clifford to go up to doggie heaven in a blaze of glory, chasing turkeys one last time.
The fact that he's pretty hard of hearing played to my advantage. I pulled the car into the garage and snuck around behind the workshop without waking him up. I then chased the turkeys up into the air whooping and waving my arms like a mad woman. I'd hoped they would fly across the road to the neighbour, but instead they flew up (quite high for turkeys in fact) and landed over by the pond and QEII bush reserve. Far enough away so Clifford couldn't see them. I'd done my job on the turkey front well.
I then went over to the sleeping dog. Clifford hadn't stirred at all. To be honest, John and I talk about the fact that one day he won't wake up when we go to get him, and I was a bit worried that this might be the day. I couldn't believe he hadn't woken up with all the noise: car, garage door, turkeys, Karen. I stuck my head into his house and softly said his name.
One sleepy eye opened then the other, phew! Maybe he'd heard the chaos but thought he was dreaming?
As you can see life is not dull here at Struan Farm. This is the sort of thing I get up to when I'm not gardening or looking after John/the farmstay and the Piopio Community Fruit & Veg Stand: shushing feral turkeys away from the dog. Looking forward to pet lambs soon.
maybe he was dreaming of Roast Turkey on Christmas Day Karen.
Posted by: Katherine Scott | 08/15/2018 at 11:06 AM