Marcella, we could not do it without you

She is one of the most challenging creatures I've worked in partnership with. We had some rough spots in her first year. Maremmas are not like a pet dog, and if you try to treat them like one...well, good luck, and it would also be a disservice to them. They were bred to be livestock companions and guards and while they certainly have many loyal dog like behaviors, they set their own boundaries when on their turf. While Benedetto is much more of a field periphery walker, Marcella sticks with her charges. I have found in Maine that Benne is much better with the sheep, and Marcella's job is with the front barn of small goats.

Marcella came to us as a pup. We got her from a sheep farm that had been raising them as working dogs for years. He knew his stuff and I learned a lot before I purchased her. I will tell you that we looked at getting one when we first arrived at the old farm in Oregon and had our first sheep. But I wasn't ready. I had come from having dogs my entire life but they lived inside at night and were with me during the day. I talked to a lot of experienced Maremma people, and I just knew I wasn't ready, and I didn't want to muck up a good dog.

I'm really glad we waited. But I'm also glad we brought her home. She is a valuable part of our farm. Now in Maine, Marcella lives in the front barn near the house, with some smaller Misfits, and Earnest. She has an important job of keeping them all in check, and she also keeps the rats at bay, and the eagles that float around looking for chickens and rodents. Ever since an eagle took one of our ducks out west, both Marcella and Benedetto go crazy when hawks and eagles fly, and they watch those birds until they are gone.

Most of the challenges I had with Marcella were in her first year and a half. Some of it was my fear of letting her be her-the breeder had told me if she felt she needed to be some place and it meant going under a fence, she'd find a way. She proved that on her second night, coming out under a gate from her barn stall where I bedded her those first nights. There were also simple issues of feeding-you do not get near her food-in any way-and in her first year I had a serious wound from her, and she would not back off. I sat patiently waiting her to release her grip, knowing if I moved my hand it would rip it open. Treating a wound on a Maremma can also be difficult, or trimming nails. As she has matured certain things are easier, but she is always going to be a Maremma.

Now I understand her much better. If I'm in the stall with her and the goats, her charges, she wants attention, but I also know there are some kinds of attention she might see as a threat.

I always tell people, if you came to our farm and Benedetto was at the fence, you might get away with petting him, but that would not happen with Marcella. If someone comes into the barn with me, she is up at at them at her stall. I have to take the person in [and only do with certain people] and we act normally and let her examine the person.

She is a beautiful creature too. She consistently crosses her legs - a dog version of Grace Kelly, I always think.

Happy birthday, Marcella, you are one of a kind, and a good partner. Thank you for teaching me how to treat you.

Three years of Marcella

She started out stinkin' cute, and from day one she loved the elements-rain, mud, whatever came out of the sky, she embraced and does to this day. She is the smartest dog I have ever worked with, and the most challenging too. But I would not do it any other way. The relationship we have is one of my strongest in the barnyard. I have made mistakes but have learned more from her as far as communicating with an animal than any other I've known. And I still have much to learn.

So here are some pics of her from her first days, including one of her first introduction to The Head Troll. And we all know how she felt about Earnest from the start.

What a dog, what a creature, a teacher for me, a guard, a patroller keeping the outsiders on call. I have no doubts if anyone were to intrude here, without permission, they would have a firm set of canines in their flesh, or would be told in no uncertain terms to get out - fast. In many respects, she is my dog, rather than our dog, but...she really belongs to nobody-rather we and the farm work with her and by her. She is also fun to be with. She greets me at the gate, exuberant for the day. She has a routine, with me, each morning. Into the feed room we go, she eats, then patrols the hay bales, announces herself to cats and roosters, cleans up any spare feed, then out to the goat area and she patrols the stalls, then out to the barnyard. Sometimes she slips out of Boone's stall and does a fence check, looking up to the hills. She follows me to Old barn where i feed the grumpy pigs and donks, and maybe get some firewood. She is alert, conditioned, agile, strong, fearless.

She is the ever beautiful white wonder, Marcella.

Meanwhile, a pig named Cornelia expands her horizons

Cornelia is taming up and now sits for me. She also allows me to plop her on her bum so she is sitting up in my arms while I rub her belly. Day one of that produced much squealing, day two–less, and on day three she started figuring out that all this belly rubbing stuff was pretty nice.

Marcella seems to have an affinity for pigs. Just as she did as a pup, gravitating to the then young piglet Earnest who became her buddy in crime, she seems to enjoy the new piglets too. She came to sit with me the other day while I had a coffee break with the pigs and she sat down with all the piglets about her, sniffing, poking, and climbing on her. She just sat and took it all in like a doting auntie. I caught this image of Cornelia giving her what appears to be a kiss, and it is of sorts, but pig kisses also come with the question,

Is there anything to eat on your lips?

Marcella guards a massive...well, read on

I came to the barn last night to do feedings and all the usual suspects were hanging about, waiting, some ruminating waiting for more of earth's cast offs to ruminate some more. One comes to innately know when there is a slightly different arrangement of bodies at the feet, and I noticed Marcella, usually bounding to me or waiting at my side for the next job, was lying in the middle of the ducks, goats and pigs.

It was not a casual lay down either, she was at attention, showing everyone with her body positioning and ear pricks that she had something special, and it was hers.

Do not come near this, she told each nose bold enough to sniff too close.

I calmly looked, knowing it could be a baby bird, rabbit or dead snake, to name a few possibilities. Not that I'm callous to this, but one has to learn to be of them, the herd, and not over react. About seven times out of ten I do this pretty well.

What I saw was a gray, long, fuzzy object, about ten inches long and two inches wide. I considered the possibility it was the tail of a dead cat or squirrel. She allowed me in closer, as if I was somehow the one she was waiting for.

Look at it, isn't it magnificent? It's huge!

She stood up, looked at the thing, then looked at me, with the same expression Muddy gives me when he has his beloved Frisbee. So I picked it up, and examined it visually. I realized it was a giant hairball. It jogged my memory, of finding Marcella with her head in a bucket of old Victor's wool clippings. This dog will eat anything. It is usually futile to try to grab anything out of her mouth. I dare any of you to do it, but only if you sign a court document of waiver with a notary and a lawyer present.

Yes, Marcella, that is one fine hairball. Thank you for waiting to share it with me.

And with that praise she bounded out of the barn, looking for her next project.

Even The Head Troll fails

I heard her sighing–deep, heavy breath sighs, then some cud chewing.

She was sitting with her head in her feet, alone, there was nobody within sight of what is usually a busy barnyard.

"I sent them all away," she said to me, seeing me standing by the gate.
It was my cue that I could now dialogue with her, even though she was in no state to converse.

"What happened?" I ask softly.

"They did not understand my vision. I could not express it well enough. And once Stella died, it began to unravel....I guess when I changed the script to Latin, it was more than they could handle. they said it wasn't fun," she paused, more sighs heaved out of her tiny body- a body now beginning to show its age. "Is creation always "fun"? I asked them. Do we not have to stretch sometimes to grow, and expand?"

She went on, "I had Iris stand in for Stella, but it was useless, an utter waste of my time. I have to face facts-I can't run this place and give my words and ideas justice anymore. I let my muse down."

More sighs.

"I have failed," she said in a matter of fact way.

"Everyone fails at something," I tried to reassure her.

"No, I never fail at what I set my mind to. It has always been this way. But lately, I can't keep up. My feet hurt too. I can't be everywhere anymore. I can't remember all the places I've hid the secret codes. I need to fire myself," she said.

I had never seen The Head Troll this way. Always my right hand aid, the task keeper of the barnyard, it was hard to listen. She has been my rock for so long. I did not want to believe these things.

"Sometimes people think I can do it all, I think," I told her. "They make me what they need me to be in their life. I walk around, knowing I can't live up to it. So it's a daily failure, of sorts. It's always under the surface, an inner voice saying, you fraud."

We sat together on the rickety stage that just weeks early had held such excitement for The Head Troll, and therefore, for me.

Earnest came out of the barn.

"I learned all my lines," he said politely.

"I know you did,, Earnest, but Summer Stock is cancelled for good. I am not capable of making it happen. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. I got to learn Latin," and he walked off to his mud hole.

"Maybe that is enough. The pig got to learn Latin," I told her.

And she scurried off, "I just remembered where I hid that code book!"

The Head Mistress on duty

It may not always look like it, but Marcella is always watching what is going on in her barnyard. She is over a year now and I can see the maturity level rising. She has really good instinct which her breeder worked hard over the years to maintain - he breeds for working farm and has a flock of his own and also educates about the Maremma breed throughout the year.

I sat today at lunch and took this sequence of images of Marcella- all within about ten minutes. She may look beautiful, but I wouldn't want to be a stranger entering her barn at night.

One year ago she entered the barnyard

I am once again amazed that...it has been a year. A year since Marcella landed in the barnyard. No other animal I've ever lived with has been so challenging to understand-only because these dogs are not bred with a pet mentality. I have learned, and relearned things about Maremmas as I work with Marcella. I won't say she is smarter than me, but she definitely is clear on where she lives and her instincts are keen.

When she arrived, it was the first time in my life I ever left a dog outside to live. All my dogs, even our labs, are house bound. The labs do not mingle in the barnyard, by our choice. So I have a very different relationship with Marcella than Huck or Mud. That first night was chilly and I put her in pen, within a closed stall. Some goats were with her, but she had a contained area to herself. The breeder told me that when one of these dogs wants to get out, they'll figure out a way. By the second night, she had dug under the fence and was happily sleeping with the goats. It was me that tried to 'keep her safer' in an area, but she didn't need saving.

Marcella the pup who of all the animals in the barnyard to buddy up with, from day one, was a pig named Earnest. To this day, I don't think I've more tender photos of two creatures. They still are buddies, but it is more like two 13 year olds, one can over doe it or vice versa, and words are exchanged. Earnest is still very tolerant of Marcella who occasionally lets her pup spirit out, by grabbing his tail, or pulling his leg. Earnest could put a tooth in her if he needed to, and it has happened on occasion, but they have learned their boundaries. Sometimes at feedings, she and Earnest will both find a fleck of grain and a mini squabble starts. You just do your best to separate all the creatures well at feeding. These dogs are very protective of their food, or anything they deem as their food. I learned it the hard way with a bad bite, and the breeder had warned me and helped me through some incidences and how to show my alphaness.

I continue to learn. Perhaps the biggest lesson is letting go of some control with these dogs. I have not been able to fully do that, especially with Benedetto. I think if it were just Marcella, it might be different, as she does not stay from her barnyard long if she does get out-but when Benedetto is along, she runs a bit farther, but always comes back. We haven't had any escapes of late, but as warm weather approaches, and Marcella turns a year now, she will need to begin more in flock training. Sometimes I feel I've botched it, but I see her instincts and I think its just a matter of separating her some from Benne and making her be with the working flock 24/7 for awhile. If not, she will be a guard of the barnyard, the latter result is not the end of the world. We have not had a raccoon or hawk since.

Thank you, Marcella, you are a wonder. I will continue to work with you and do my best-I know you are doing yours, even if it is not with the flock-yet.

The Head Mistress in training

Today the weather is wonderful–arm and mainly sun. To be honest, I had a tish of a hangover after we stayed up late with friends celebrating the Solstice. The best way for me to deal with a hangover is to work outside, so the universe played along with me.

I need to really get the flock together with the White Dogs, in earnest. Benedetto is very calm around everyone, he is more mature than Marcella that way. But Marcella is doing well. She still has a tendency to chase if animals start running. So I hung out doing chores in barnyard and kept the flock in with the dogs. Soon I'll start leaving them together all the time.

I sat with her a lot and when she was calm around the flock I praised her. I walked about the barnyard and anytime she put her head down to begin what looked like a chase, she was scolded, and then praised the second she stopped. Nobody's pregnant this year so I don't have to worry about mamas being chased. I still have some work to do with fence repair before I trust her and Benedetto in the bottom field. Benedetto found a hole to get through Old Barn, and he really had a good run about yesterday and this morning. Marcella went with him. I need to relax about this, it is what i want him to do, but not yet. One more month and I'll feel better. There is still one side of our acreage with ways for animals to escape, and we plan to fence that this coming year. I mainly worry he might go somewhere and chase a cat, and get shot. So I was just really pleased he came back after his long run. And Marcella comes back sooner since she is more bonded with the barnyard. Once he's more bonded with flock, I'm hoping I'll relax.

One of Marcella's habits since a pup-and I've heard of other Maremma's doing this- is she sits in the middle of the hay pile at feeding. Sometimes she even eats some hay. I just love that. She is such a wonderful dog.

Pig and Pup....still

As many who follow along often ask, does Marcella still like Earnest?

Yes.

Like any relationship, theirs has evolved over time. Marcella has been a bit sidetracked by White Dog's arrival, but she and Earnest still are buddies....and like buddies sometimes do, there is a fight every now and then. It is always around food.

If you think it might be complicated to feed the various Misfits, you are correct. I have an elaborate system that changes with each new animal's arrival or parting. There are so many gates and stalls that I rely on that it is too complicated to explain, but here's a recap: At this writing, Marcella eats in the hay barn with The Head Troll; Earnest eats in a stall with Rosie, Moose and Goose; Eleanor is now housed with Victor, Sophie, and Scooby Keith, but each has a separate unit within a giant stall to ensure proper feeding; the piglets eat in one area and the sows elsewhere; the lower Misfit Village is for Stevie, Raggedy, Professor and Rudy; and then Aldo who is now hanging with the flock knows to come up and eat in the orchard. But now I have to let White Dog out at the precise correct time-he sleeps in the lower Misfit Village and will eat the goat feed and fight over it, so he comes out and is placed in a interior hall in the goat barn to eat by himself. When he's done, only then can I let the chickens and ducks out, and everyone else. To further complicate matters, White Dog has an issue with the barn cats, so we are working through that, and that is why he can't eat in the hay barn.

So, I digress. Back to Pig and Pup. This morning Marcella was a bit under the weather, not sure why. But while White Dog ran out on his own, she took to sleeping in Rosie's hay bed-much to the dislike of Rosie. Rosie is powerless to Marcella, so she took her pink piggy body out to the sun. Earnest hung out in the barn with Marcella for the longest time. When I went over to Marcella to talk to her, noticing she wasn't feeling herself, she gave me a soft growl, which is her way to say, "I don't feel like being touched right now."

I left her and Earnest alone and went to hang out in the sun with the gang. It is cold here, rare for us, but about 30 today. The sun still feels good and as long as the animals are dry they are content. The best thing you can do to keep your animals warm is feed them properly and keep them wormed, and if you see a shaking animal in the cold, give them hay. It warms them up right away [of course, this is assuming you get them out of the wind and wetness}. Coats really aren't necessary to goats, but I have them on some of the elders.

About 20 minutes went by, and out came Marcella and Earnest, side by side, slowly. It was as if Earnest sensed she wasn't herself. Marcella came over to me and was very submissive. We sat together for some time.

Last week Marcella and Earnest had a fight over food. Despite all my attempts that you read above, there are always little bits of grain here and there, and sometimes Pig and Pup will fight for that one tiny morsel. Marcella seems to rule above the pig now, but every now and then, he gets a tooth in her, like he did this time, under her chin. But then you see them walking side by side, casually laying down by the cement wall to take in the sun's warmth.

{Books and art make a very nice holiday gift for the animal lover}

In the fields and everywhere

It is a gorgeous day and I'm in at 2:30 taking a quick break. I took my phone down into the fields today while I mowed. I have to say you get some pretty cool effects thee days with phones and I rarely carry mine with me except in the car. I am not a texter or iphoner zombie and mainly use it for emergencies. However, I'm playing with Instagram and it is sort of fun. How many ways can a freelance-artist-farmer-writer stay connected? But any way to show photos of Marcella!

We are taking the plunge and mowing down one block of the lavender-the Provence variety which does not do well as a dried bundle but is suited for bud-and we have plenty of bud in the Grosso. We decided we will fence this section and re-plant our struggling fruit trees from the current Donkey Hug area. They are struggling not from neglect, but from the admiration the goats, pigs, sheep and now Aldo give them. My gosh, we have worked so hard to help these trees over the past years. They have been head rubbed by the pygmies, stood up to the wrath of Lucy the 300# pig, survived sheep and goats getting into their fenced cages...and more. This year I sort of let go, and I am finished with trying to grow things in an area that has evolved into a second barnyard for elders. The poor little dears [the trees, that is] will be transplanted and we will hope for new and continued life. I also want a Translucent apple tree for pies, and some filberts too. We decided we would do this so we can let the pigs out there at a certain time of year to eat fruit and nuts.

We're also going to plant some vegetables down there since we have water access. It will be yet more fencing, more work, but it is part of farming- evolving your needs and fields.

I think that is the biggest challenge-and joy-of farming for me. It is always evolving. It is always work, always something new to be challenged by. This year we are also going to get one of the upper fields ready for the sheep, to take pressure off the other fields. We cross pasture, but I need that extra land put to use, and now with Marcella, I feel better about having the flock up there out of my site.

So when I went down to the field to mow, there she was. She shows up out of nowhere. We call her a shape shifter. She followed me back to the barn, but before I even got there, she had somehow managed to place herself between me and the barnyard gang. She is a wonder. I loved how the light was bouncing off the barn on this photo of her, somewhat of a mystic she is.

So now I'm off, back out to the field to till the area where I just mowed, a woman and her tractor...and magical shape shifter. A beautiful day to be a farmer!

Marcella saves the night!

Cue the spooky music.... last night about 11 PM, Marcella showed us she knows her job.

Now this particular Marema does not bark, unless she needs to send a clear message. She once barked once, then twice, slowly and I knew to check it out-and a piglet was caught in a fence. I have heard others say their Maremas bark a lot, and others who say their dogs are like Marcella-that when they bark more than a few times, you better go take a look.

I had gone to bed at 10:30 and was contently dozing off, and I had the fan on. I heard a dog but thought it was the one across the river who tends to bark a lot. Martyn came in about 11 and he said it was Marcella. He was nonchalant about it. The barking continues and I got my old self out of bed and we took flashlights out into the dark barnyard.

Now night time belongs to the creatures, I've always felt more like a guest of the barnyard than the shepherdess at night. We entered through the orchard where Aldo the llama, and his goats reside–Stevie, Scooby Keith, Raggedy man, Rudy and Professor Otis Littleberry. Adjoining paddocks there have the older ponies and Doris and June and all the piglets.

To flash your light into the dark and come upon different sets of golden eyes, all shining calmly at you at various heights is both unsettling and amusing, especially when your guard dog is sitting upright, at attention, looking straight into the pony paddock, barking.

I must say, to come upon Marcella, so white, sitting so still and strongly, attentive, was a beautiful moment. It made getting up out of a slumber in pajamas and sandals worth it. I looked into the dark pony paddock and could see in time that the two elders were near the gate, and all was well. But Marcela continued to bark.

And then I saw it. A brown mass, short and squat. Motionless, standing closer to Doris's stall.

"What is that?" I asked Martyn. "Is that a wild pig?"

Now this is a ridiculous question- if it had been a wild pig, all hell would have broken out and it would have been horrible. Wild pigs are...wild. And very fierce and destructive-but there are getting to be a lot of them for a lot of different reasons.

"It's Earnest," Martyn said calmly.

"No, it's not...is it?" I said. He looked brown, and he seemed so out of place, which he was. I called for him, and once I got my bearings I understood that yes, in fact, it was dear Earnest-and he was making love calls and actions to the ponies–one of them must have been in heat.

The entire time, Marcella stood her ground and barked, until I went in and talked to Earnest, and managed to chase him out of the pen and back to his barnyard, with Marcella helping.

I praised that dog to high heaven. I realize it wasn't a life threatening situation, and if I hadn't gotten up, chances are Earnest would have cozied down with Marcella and the goats and she would have subsided her barking. But I was just so pleased with her, keeping her Misfits in check. And I got to hear her bark and the tone of it for a non life threatening situation-perhaps some night it will be a more aggressive bark, and I will understand her call is more serious.

I really think it was a turning point.

"Now do you know what I mean that when she barks, there is a reason?" I asked Martyn as we walked back to bed.

He did. And then my flashlight shone on two sets of beady, bright eyes, one set was about a foot off the ground, the other slightly taller. A visitor would have assumed raccoons. But I knew it was Moose and Goose observing from the backdrop.

The challenge and healing reward of Marcella

In which The Shepherdess is reminded by a beautiful white creature that all is well and neither of the two are that bad after all.

UPDATE: A magical encounter was taking place far from Apifera while this experience happened at Apifera. Please read my comment below-after you read the post.

Of all the creatures I've ever worked with, I think Marcella has been my biggest challenge. I have worked with terriers and many other dogs in my life-in obedience training and in therapy work with some. I am certainly not an expert, but I know how to train a dog in basic obedience and boundaries, but this is my first guard dog. It is also the first dog I've ever had that lived in the barn since day one and is separate from the household.

But I want to share a really beautiful episode I had with Marcella yesterday. While you won't need a hankie, it will open your heart a notch.

The day began with beautiful weather, and Martyn was home too, it being a Saturday. We had many things to work on, and the cooler weather had me feeling energized. I had plans. But just about everything went a muck early on. None of it was end-of-the-world-stuff, there were just a whole series of occurrences that made the morning frustrating and at some points stressful for woman, man and beast.

At one point, Marcella had found her way into the lower field where I have three young ewes that I recently separated out from the flock. They are being weaned. It is a horrible time for me-and them-the day of weaning. They often cry and cry in these long horrible blah-h-h-h-s sometimes for hours. But these three settled in well, and all seemed fine. But Marcella went down there and must have startled on of them as one of the ewes ended up in an upper field, alone, and like most sheep, she could not figure out how to get back to her two friends.

Now I am pretty darn good at herding sheep. There is this bossy woman up the road a few miles who keeps trying to sell me one of her herding dogs, I always decline. I work with my flock everyday, some are leaders, some followers, some are not real sharp and can drive you mad, but they herd well, and know the routine. So anyway, I'm out there trying to herd this one lone 5 month old ewe. I'd get her close and she'd abandon ship. Then I got Martyn out there, which meant I had to herd him too. We worked 30 minutes and finally got them back in the barnyard. But I wanted them in a stall, to relax them after this stressful bout of running. Well, to make a long story short, it took another 30 minutes, and even after we did it, Marcella kept ending up in paddocks I didn't want her in, doing a bit of chasing.

I lost my temper, but more importantly, I lost my grounding. I felt that this was it, I was done with breeding sheep, I was no good at it, no good at maintaining the tolerance of separating animals out from mothers to wean them. I was tired. I was fooling myself. And, I didn't stop there, I told Marcella I was a loser guard dog worker, and we both had to accept this and make changes.

I had spent the entire morning-it seemed-trying to fix, control, and manage. And it all felt useless. And I hated for my animals to watch me go through this-I'm supposed to be the healing leader, after all. Where was my leader?

I decided to grab my camera and head up to Donkey Hill to get composed. This is an area that Marcella-normally-does not hang out in, although she knows how to go under fences and gates to get there if she really wants to. I certainly didn't want her there at this minute as I needed a break to clear my head and calm my temper. Shepherdesses can flair up you know, at least the redheads of the bunch. So I was sitting on the dusty mound, near a little Willow tree that I have recently named "The Healing Tree". I am hanging a white strip of raggedy cloth every time I hear of a friend or creature needing my prayer or healing thought. I had hung a few prayer rags for some friends, but had also hung one for me-because I felt I needed guidance.

So there I sat, in a dusty heap, legs stretched out, and I began calling the donkeys. They always come to me, but they were nowhere to be seen. I had a long, good cry. Yes, shepherdesses cry too, for many reasons. I needed to cry. It was better than anger. And in between sobs, as pathetic as it sounds, I continued to call my donkeys. But they didn't come. I hung my sad little head and sniffed away. And then I felt a presence behind me and knew it must be Pino.

I turned and there sat a beautiful white creature, without an ounce of resentment in her eyes. She sat upright, right beside me, and we sat that way for a long time together, looking at our Healing Tree. It was such a beautiful, poignant moment. Marcella is a shapeshifter, she appears without sound or fuss. Eventually, I thanked her for not giving up on me, but in reality I didn't need to say any of it to her. She is just total acceptance, without ego. She had moved on hours ago.

I decided to mill about Donkey Hill with her, and took these photos. She is beautiful while working. And I had an epiphany. I am trying too hard to control her. She is bred to guard, not to sit in front of one gate and not enter it, or come on my command. She is doing just fine, it is me that has to let go more, and roll more with her youthful punches.

Later, over a glass of wine, Martyn told me he saw us the moment Marcella came and sat with me and it nearly broke his heart, in a good way. He said it was a Hallmark moment never to be recorded again, but he saw it, and I was part of it along with Marcella. Some things are not meant to be shared in image, but only through the heart and soul, and that is the experience I had yesterday with a very fine guard dog in training-The Head Mistress–the always forgiving, Marcella.

Portrait of Marcella

The odd couple meet Marcella

I do not let Marcella hang out at will with the old llama. Although he is very docile, and elderly, I don't trust her around the llama. She still has some play in her that could be problematic. Like I've said recently, at almost 7 months she is maturing, but is still prone to outbursts of,

"Hey Hey! I'm a monkey! I get the funniest looks where ever I go!" [Perhaps you youngsters won't get the humor in that].

I mowed last night and had her out with the war vets, as I call them, the most crippled of the Misfits, and that includes Aldo. He ignored her, but kept his eye on her, and she pretty much stayed away from him. But there were some moments when she got too pokey. She's big enough now to get away from a kick. She has to be able to run through a field with Aldo, that is just how we are set up here. Since Aldo is older, and appears okay with it, I don't think it will be a problem as she begins her real work the sheep.

I grabbed my camera on the day I let Marcella in the field. Scooby immediately went to Aldo's side, it was sweet. He is very independent of Aldo here, but is bonded to him for protection, I notice. Nobody picks on Scooby, he is an island, a real talker and his routine is to wander into a remote part of the field and graze. Then he chats up a storm when he sees me far off in the barnyard. But this particular day, when Marcella entered in the field as only Marcella can- full speed ahead and guns a blazin'-Scooby was staying close to Aldo. And when Aldo left, Scooby left. The image of the two of them leaving, seen here at the bottom, was so amusing to me.

The Head Mistress begins her real job

It's all evolving now. The Head Mistress spent her first day out in the fields. First, I let her escort me as we moved the 4 rams into the lower field. They were unfazed by her, pretty much, and she them. Then we took the main flock to the upper side fields, and this was Marcella's first time in that area.

Marcella's first guarding assignment

This Pino Pie Day will be Marcella's first. We will see what shall be.

My hope is she settles in to the routine of cars coming and going and doesn't bark the entire time. I don't think she will. She is not much of a barker. Now that she is 6 months, she is beginning to mature and when a stranger enters the barnyard with me, I make sure she is greeted without fanfare and then we go on our way. The idea being not to smother her in goo-goo-ga-ga talk as all of us often are prone to with pups or youngsters, so as not to let her overbond with humans.

I think what will happen is she will settle down by the gate that leads into where the donkeys will be, there is shade there and she likes to lie there, where she can observe through the fence. We will ask people to admire her from a distance but not pet her. I don't want to take any chances. She is after all - a guard dog.

Marcella and the grumpy pig unite in girl power

Martyn and I have been working manically on getting everything ready for the June 15th Pino Pie Day [are you all coming?], but that doesn't mean I can't take time for breaks to sit and really watch the various animals, their language with each other–and me, of course. It is all fun, and I learn or see something new each time.

Watching Marcella mature over the past 6 months has been both amusing and frustrating, but also so interesting. One thing we've both witnessed several times is Marcella appearing to step in and guard Rosie, when Earnest gets too amorous with her. Rosie has show no signs of being interested in a roll in the hay with Earnest [she was spayed early on] and when Earnest starts showing signs of his Mojo working, Marcella slips herself between the two of them to keep Rosie out of his reach.

But then last night I witnessed Rosie step in and intervene when Earnest started getting lovey with Marcella.

I don't believe it is jealousy, I think it is just two girls instinctively knowing they aren't in heat, so they say,

"Back off Little Big Man."

My God, did you or I ever think these two females would ever work together like this? Just a few months ago I wondered if Marcella would ever understand Rosie Language-a hard one to decipher depending on her grumpy level that day.

But don't feel sorry for Earnest. I think he is the happiest guy around. Different ladies all over the place to swoon, his own barnyard, a field of daisies and grass to go on dates with Doris and June, his own swimming mud hole with private beach, belly rubs from me, fresh eggs at a whim–the guy is in hog heaven. Today he stopped by the pony paddock while I did feedings and Mama Sugee was in heat so he did some real flirting. A pig flirting with an ear less, blind old pony-now that was fun to watch.

Marcella continues to mature and I've noticed some leaps. She is quicker to stop puppy play when I say, "STOP!". She still loves to taunt Earnest and grabs his tail and ear tips–he could end it quickly if he felt the need. She also is starting to explore other parts of the farm-which was bound to happen, and it is okay. She is after all here to guard the fence line of all 22 acres if needed. So today she found her way into the donkey paddock through Old Barn. There was no problem, and since in time I plan to drive the sheep through their to get tot he upper field, she is one step ahead of me.

This month she will go into get spayed–a necessary requirement to keep the gentleman callers away. And besides, she has one boyfriend, a pig, she doesn't need a canine calling.