Gibby is a Great Dog

I think I should change Gibby's name to Gibby the Great or GG for Great Gibby. The poor boy spent most of yesterday and a good part of today locked up on the front porch so the furnace men could do their job. Apparently he didn't bark or do anything to make the men aware that he was even there. Once the new furnace was installed, I let him out, and he was even nice enough that he didn't pull too hard on his leash. He ran out to the end and then turned back, which was really good because the ground was a sheet of ice. Gibby was glad to get back into his dog pen, he went right in and then ran back and forth and around a couple times before settling down by his food dish.

I went back to the farm again after dark and had a great time. I wore a headlamp, the kind made for bicyclists, and it made walking around much easier. The cats were fun - the headlamp caused a reflection of their eyes that made the porch on the red house look like it was decorated with Christmas lights. I wonder what the cats were thinking when they watched a head height headlamp aimed at them. There are some new cats moving in. They have the same coloring and small size as my cats, but I can tell they are new because I hardly get to see them - they disappear the minute they spot me. They're probably coming from the big barn that's across the street from my west-side neighbors, there has been a lot of crossbreeding between that feral colony and mine for years. Maybe there was a bumper crop of babies over there, too, and they didn't have a big die-off. New cats as scared as these are might not even stay around, they might just be checking out the possibilities. I don't know if anyone feeds the cats over there anymore, Carol, the woman who used to feed them died several years ago. I don't even know who lives in the tenant house there now - it might not even be a tenant house anymore. Part of that land was sold and a giant house, that looks like a great big gray and gloomy orphanage, was built in the field behind the tenant house. I've never seen any people near either house since the orphanage was built.

Anyway, Gibby is back in his giant doghouse, and the heat is on. I'm carrying a doggy door and some new tools for installing it around in the car - but it's way too cold to install it.