not a vegetarian -or- and then there were 24.

Claire is sitting at my feet gnawing on a bone, calm and quiet as can be. It's like she's a completely different dog than just seven hours ago...

...Doug and Kim have three dogs: Avy, Bump, and Cash. They work on a farm about 30 minutes away from my house - it is absolutely beautiful and so peaceful. Today they invited me and Claire, and Amy and Kingsley to spend the day with them on the farm, just hanging out and letting the dogs run around. I knew it would be a blast, but was also a little concerned that Claire would be so set on exploring in the woods, that she would get lost. Amy and Kim promised that they would help me round her up if that happened, so off we went early this morning. When we got there, Doug and Kim had already started a fire in the fire pit, and their three dogs were frolicking in the field. As we headed over to them, Claire suddenly spotted the chickens.

One of the sweet and innocent chickens.

She stopped right in her tracks and went into hunter mode. I saw this transformation happen and tried to grab her, but it was too late. She bolted across the field towards the coop, and the chickens scattered, squawking and running as fast as they could on their little legs. A chicken, however, is no match for Claire. Doug, Kim, and Amy, and I were yelling and running after Claire who was barking and running after the chicken. Claire managed to grab a mouthful of feathers before I lost sight of her when she ran around the corner of the house. Suddenly I heard the chicken screeching. Doug finally caught up to Claire who was quickly de-feathering the chicken, and gave her a good scolding. Kim found the poor chicken and bandaged her wounds, then put all of the chickens back in the coop and closed it up. I was so mortified. But Doug and Kim were so gracious, despite the fact that Claire tried to eat their livestock! And without the 25 chickens for Claire to fixate on, she went off and played with the rest of the dogs.

The farm is just gorgeous. It's in a valley surrounded by woods, and there's a big field out in front of the chicken coop. And, not only is there a big field, but there's also a pond that has frozen over. Claire and Kingsley busied themselves by exploring, Cash and Bump spent most of the time fetching sticks, and Avy stood guard over the eggs that Kim collected from the coop. It was so cold that we all stood around the fire to keep ourselves from getting hypothermia. At one point, I rested my gloves on the side of the pit to warm them, but as we were talking, they caught on fire (huge bummer!)

Kim and I trying to stay warm!

(after I lost my gloves to the fire pit)

While Claire was exploring, she decided to go ice skating on the pond. It was hilarious because she didn't have any traction at all, but kept forgetting that she was on a sheet of ice. When Doug threw a stick to Cash and Bump, Claire wanted to go after it too, but forgot that she was in the middle of the pond and just kept running in place while trying to get to the stick.

Trotting across the ice.

It was an awesome day spent with awesome people in an awesome place. Kim and Doug, I will understand if Claire does not receive another invitation to the farm unless she becomes a vegetarian - but I sure hope I get to go back! :)