Our first casualty

We set out new pens tonight to give the chickens and ducks more space, and boy do they enjoy it. It was great fun to see the ducks splashing around, with everyone having a good time. But, I noticed that the sheep were acting funny and hadn't eaten much. This is very unusual for them. Our littlest dog, Dax, had really seemed to enjoy the farm. He even liked the sheep and went straight up to them, slept near them, etc. Today, he was sleeping in the yard, or we thought he was. Something didn't seem right, so I went over to check him and found out that he was dead. We're not sure what happened, we think its possible that a hawk might have caught him, or maybe the sheep did something to him. Anyway, we are now without a wonderful little dog who overcame a lot of hardships. He was severely abused when he was a puppy to the extent that we are sure he suffered brain damage. Because of this he never did well with potty training. His bones creaked when he walked because the arthritis was so bad. And he had allergies that caused his skin to itch and become irritated. Despite all of this we loved him dearly. He will be sorely missed by all of us. I was telling John tonight that while I was pregnant with him, we used to get Dax to howl just for the fun of it. He had the funniest high pitched howl you would ever hear. Our dear boy, we will miss your sweet smile. May you be running free of all skin problems, with a clear head that brightens your loping gait that has no pain. We loved you.