Dog Attack, Sunshine & Seed Starts

Yesterday I was attacked by a large dog.

In all my years of large breed and wolf/hybrid rescue, I have never been bitten in anger. Never even had my hand nipped.

My grandmother's evil chihuahua, Tata, used to dart out and nip at our legs and hands if we reached for her. but I never counted her as a dog.

It took place here, yesterday. A dog we intended to adopt. He's half St Bernard and half Great Pyr, 1.5 years old and "very good with children". The people were kind enough to bring him out for a meet. They said he was great with cats, dogs, people and children but weren't sure about livestock or poultry.

It happened very quickly and was so very strange. I bent only enough to reach out my hands to him, he was a tallish dog so I didn't have to bend far. I petted him and felt and saw happiness and a connection between us. But as I started to stand up I felt the connection break and I knew he was going to bite me. As I took a step back he stood up fully and lunged for my face, forcefully enough to pull the man with his leash forward toward me too. I put up my arm to block him but wasn't quick enough. I felt another arm come up between me and the dog's throat (I believe it was my grandfather). I felt his teeth on my face, then it was done. When i looked back at the dog he didn't look like the same dog that got out of the truck. I believe if he hadn't been leashed or had pulled out of the mans hand he would have continued the attack.

I discovered this morning hat there are 5 punctures, one going through my upper lip and also puncturing my gums, one right on my temple which cut and punctured and one in my chin that I found this morning, goes all the way through and into my lower gums. The temple wound hurt the most and is still lightly bleeding today.

Only one of the 3 people who came with him showed any concern but the other 2 may have just not known what to do, they just got back into their truck and sat there. The 3rd person seemed very concerned and fallowed into the house and waited a bit to see how bad it was. I emailed them asking that they not put the dog down or harm him in any way. Just that they definitely keep him away from children. Also that they pay my medical bills and only if any are absolutely needed. I have not heard anything from them.

I don't know why it happened but I am glad it happen to me and not to a child or elder person, or to Nik. It could also have been much worse, the temple wound could have been my eye. I'm so very thankful it wasn't.

There has been a very strange mojo afoot, something very "not right". People have been acting oddly for a bout a year now. Perfectly fine and nice one minute then completely batshit the next. I'm hoping it's cabin fever but fear it's something much worse.

Anyway, We're still looking for a LGD to join the Cottage family.

Aside from that mess ...

The sun is shining brightly and it's to begin warming for at least a few days. I have a plenty of laundry for it :) Yesterday I made up some more laundry powder (my recipe is about halfway down this page) Just one small batch of it for now.

I'm getting ready to start some seeds soon. lots of heirloom tomatoes again with hopefully plenty for the markets as well :) We have a lot unpacked but the dinning table is still covered in boxes.

I've been learning a little about permaculture, which turns out isn't what i thought it was at all and is actually pretty much the way I have always seen things. Along with that i have been learning about Living Fences and alternative fencing. Both have interested me for years and eventually I would like to put them to work here.

I'm also greatly looking forward to the next gathering! Several of us on try to get together monthly and I haven't been able to make the last few.

We have strangely been unable to find our plunger or the sewer snake thing but I keep using Ye Ole baking soda and vinegar and the clog is a bit better. Nothing else has gotten fixed yet and sadly there is some leak around the toilet. Having running water inside and a working toilet are both very important to me. If we can't repair the toilet ourselves with almost no money then I will have to turn the water to the house back off, which I so don't want to do.

We checked the cistern the other day and it was way up, only a few feet from the top. I have a good long handles fish or pool net on The List and that's what we'll need to clean out the junk stuff. Until we can empty it and get down there to clean it completely and prepare it for regular use. I don't know how it got so full tho, it's not connected to anything for rain/snow run off. We'll see. If it is useable i plan to get a manual hand pump for it.

Well, my meal is finished and I'm back to get some work done. I hope the sun shines brightly for us all!