Short Visit with Gibby Today

Gibby didn't notice me when I opened the gate and walked up the driveway with the cats. (This is the third day Blackie has not come running to the gate - I'm afraid something has happened to her.) I walked over to the red house and fed the cats, going in and out of the front door to get the food and slamming it shut and Gibby paid no attention. I walked back to the car and drove it through the gate. By the time I parked it in the driveway, still out of sight from the dog pen, Gibby started barking. I moved the car up to a shady place where Mother could see the cats and chickens and went right over to Gibby. I tried to give him a dog treat through the fence, but he wouldn't take it. I opened the gate, climbed over the bundle of shingles, and joined Gibby in the pen. He was quite anxious to see what food I had and showed no interest in pushing past me to go out of the gate - that's a good sign. I gave him Mother's lunch and left him eating it while I filled his food pan in the house - it's so much easier going in and out of the pen now, but I know I'm not going to like this setup in the winter - maybe by then Gibby will be able to be out loose in the yard. I sat in the chair outside of the pen and tried to get Gibby to sit with me, but he was in constant motion. He has a circular trail through the weeds and he raced around it over and over. I wanted to get a picture of him but something wasn't working right in my camera. I used it on the way down to the farm, trying to get some good shots of a pair of sandhill cranes that were feeding close to the road and somehow I used up all of the storage room and couldn't get any Gibby photos. I also missed photos of three very little kittens playing on the stoop at my back door. I am a little worried that they might be Blackie's kittens and something has happened to her. The yellow tom came over and paid some attention to the kittens, something a mother cat probably wouldn't have allowed, if she was around.

I tried several times to give Gibby a dog treat but he never took it from me, he was too frantic. I'm thinking the only fair thing is to get another dog to keep him company, I hate leaving him all alone. When I left Rusty, at least I knew he had the cats for company, but Gibby is not at all interested in being friendly with the cats. There's another yellow lab listed on the local humane society website...