Bale-ful Looks
TonTon was standing outside watching Tima the Bad be Bad and he was shivering. Poor old Ton very seldom shivers and in fact prefers to be outside but he was shaking all over in the cold.
So I called him in and put Boo’s coat on him. Immediately he hunched then sat with a thump straight down onto the floor. He refused to look at me and refused to move. It was as though he had been tied to a brick and been dragged to the ground.
I sat with the camera and said Look at me Ton. He ignored me, hunched on the floor, totally miserable. Look at me, I said and he quickly shot me a bale ful look – deliberately out of focus. To me, then back to the window. Fast. 
I hate this coat. he said. It smells. Made of lead. I cannot work under these conditions. Look at that! No-one is guarding Tima the Bad. No-one with a brain anyway. That pig will get away with everything with Boo in charge. He has no idea.
Alright, I said and opened the door. Ton raised his bottom from the floor as though it weighed a ton and stumbled across the sill to the veranda where he collapsed to the floor again and refused to move any further. For him the coat was a straight jacket – a punishment – an awful thing. So he sat in deepest gloom , refusing all commands, until I gave in and took the damn thing off.
Freed, he ran off like a shot. The coat still hovering in the air above him he darted from under it. Not even a thank you. I laughed and hung the coat back on it’s hook.
The four middle sized pigs are still on form – getting fat and happy.
The Littlies are also dealing with the cold very well now though they still have the heat lamp over their midnight snack bowl at the entrance to their hut.
Aunty Del waits to be milked. Her production is just above one and a half gallons now. It is due to warm up a bit this week so I will dry them up and reshuffle the other cows to absorb two dairy cows into a herd of pregnant ones. With another small herd of beef animals. Even though Aunty is not pregnant she has to be on the lean pregnant girl diet. We don’t want her getting fat.
I hope you have a lovely day.
celi
ps. Don’t forget to check out the two new pages in the drop down MENU above. The Library and The Cottage Industries. We are building onto our internet village.
65 Comments on “Bale-ful Looks”
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Poor TonTon – you had me ROFL 🙂
Sorry old dog he is!
Funny Ton, this smells like that other dog, said he! The piggies look wonderful. Have a good day C.
You too Kim – when you retire (soon) we will talk baby blankets! c
Poor TonTon — the looks you got! Made me smile — piggies looking well!
Yes, they are still unusually calm but growing nicely
Poor pup – very unhappy with the whole coat story.
Have a wonderful day C.
Seems I have missed loads whilst being AWOL.
🙂 Mandy xoxo
Oh NO! We are still a soap opera – everything moves very slowly – you are up to date now..Welcome back! c
That is one Very Unhappy Dog face. Tima and Boo looking at him through the window (and probably sniggering) can’t have helped. Love the mental image of Ton rocketing out from under the loathed jacket and disappearing over the horizon 🙂
He gave me a wide berth for the rest of the afternoon too! c
I think it was Boo and Tima giggling on the other side of the door that did it for him…
George acted the same as Ton the first time we put a coat on him. As he has aged (12 now) he loves the horse blanket style coat. Begs for it when the temps get down in the 40’s. Ton does looks so miserable however! Is Boo better?
No, BooBoo will be a limpy dog forever. He will use his foot most of the time when walking with me outside – but always carries it up when limping about inside. His life is totally changed now.. c
Poor baby Boo…..
Poor Ton Ton really does look rather peed off with the coat…and certainly knew how to tell you of his dis-satisfaction. Lots of love to all
Thank you Patrecia – love to you to. c
Poor Ton Ton what a face. Not a happy dog. 😀
He practices that look! c
A baleful look on a farm is very baleful indeed as it is full of actual bales. We who do not live on farms cannot whip up such baleful looks as we have no bales to fill them with.
Ha ha ha ha – file it – an aside in a childrens book maybe? c
We are not so different from the animals you know… 😀
Yes, no-one likes to look silly.. c
Your piggies always look so clean, everyone on the farmy seems so happy. We are expecting some serious winter weather tonight, hope it passes you by.
I hope it passes us by too Eva – we are just coming up above freezing!.. c
I’m laughing out loud here. i know the look and just what you mean. Maybe he just needs his own lightweight jacket. I used to put a raincoat on my dog during monsoon season. She hated it and gave me those looks. I appreciate the Monday morning giggle. Thank you.
Poor dogs – they hate to be mollycooddled.. c
I just love how you described Ton and his reaction to the coat !! What characters you BOTH are!! The four little piggies look nice and plumb & I’m glad the other two are hanging in there as well. You’ve got a lot of animals to think about – that’s for sure.
My parakeet Sky Bird died. She had a tumor… the poor little thing. And her mate Anthony is desolate and calls for her continually. I’ve been thinking about buying another parakeet because my heart breaks for him…. and HE’S DRIVING ME CRAZY! ; O ) (Do they call them ‘budgie’s’ in New Zealand?)
Budgies are the little brightly coloured birds, but I think a parakeet is bigger? You know I am not sure. We used to have canaries. Sorry about Skybird. When you buy another one will he accept her easily or do you have to sit them in cages alongside each other for a while. c
From what I’ve read, budgies are actually bigger than parakeets. They’re both from the same parent stock… or something like that… but budgies became bigger. Maybe it was all that heavy British food, LOL I sure didn’t know there was a difference when I had budgies in Malta.
You asked a very good question about whether the male will accept a new female… or should I have them in separate cages for a bit. I do know that ‘Eric’ – and old codger of a parakeet I adopted – took the the one I called ‘Baby Bird’ (another male) immediately and began to feed it. Which was so sweet. BUT, in true old codger style, there were times Eric just wanted to be left alone. But did they ever bond.
Baby Bird didn’t live very long after Eric died, which I’ve heard can happen, even though when two birds have bonded… even though there was still another bird in the cage with Baby Bird.
Everything you ever (or ‘never’) wanted to know about budgies vs parakeets…(I’m sanding you this because I was wrong above.)
“Many people are more familiar with the term “parakeet” to describe a budgie. They are the species Melopsittacus undulatus and are a parrot native to Australia. … There are actually two types of budgies commonly seen in aviculture, Australian (often called American parakeets) and English budgies.”
Our little Jack Russell Luna is the Queen of that look…we call it the “malocchio”, Italian for “evil eye”!
Ah yes – that would be the look! c
; o )
That is hilarious! My sisters dog does that too. “I hoped it wouldn’t come to this”
You can almost hear their words, aye! c
Well that’s just hilarious 🙂
Morning Deb! c
That is the very definition of a baleful look! Poor Ton!
[J] The problem with a blog post like this one, Celi, is that it wears out my fascial muscles. Internal laughter is extremely tiring. You’d think it would wear off when I leave the computer to attend to insulating the loft, but no, my wife pops her head in to see how I’m ‘getting on’ (as she likes to put it – though we both know she is chief work-planner and supervisor general) and asks me why it is that, despite working in a claustrophobically small space doing a universally disliked task with hazardous materials, I’ve an inane grin on my face. The very opposite, in fact, of a baleful look!
Love this blog! Have always wanted farm animals and especially cows. Thanks for all the stories and info. The new pages are the perfect extension I dont have a blog but am so grateful i figured out that others do I am way behind in the technology world and this suits me way more than other social media
Well done!!
Like what does that mean my comment is waiting modification?? Sigh 62 and blog illiterate
It just means that this is the first time you have commented and i get to approve you! And you are APPROVED! yay… c
You remind me how much fun life can be. But I have to be careful not to smile at baleful looks from my teenage granddaughter when I suggest gloves, coat, and hat.
Yay approved
How would you feel if you were an aristocrat and were forced into a hand-me-down coat huh? Laugh ,, he probably warmed up quickly once he started running 🙂 Laura
Thanks so much for your new library page, great idea! I enjoyed looking through the farmy book lists and have made a wish list from them. I do indulge myself with a new book now and then and when I’m finished reading them, I donate them to the local library. Love this blog, thank you Cecilia.
I had a mare that grew an absolute delicious winter coat of her own. When the wind howled and the temps got down to the below zero range I threw a blanket on her. It was a handsome horse blanket mind you, not unlike the handsome dog coat you offered Ton. She would stand there like I had glued her feet to the ground and look at me as if to say “How am I supposed to walk with clothes on “………I informed her that I would sleep better listeneing to the wind howl knowing she had a proper blanket on !!! It was rather comical.
Ah yes, I know that hairy-eyeball look very well……..usually when I’ve said all done now, and head inside, despite the fact we’ve just walked at least 3kms, had endless games of catch and 2 or 3 swims, or like right now, when she’s wet and knows she can’t come inside, but lays with her head on the step and shoots me those baleful looks! Lovely photo of Ton looking displeased and Aunty being …..coy?
Poor guy looks like having been straightjacketed.
Priceless. I know that look, not from Diesel-Dog -who loves his handmedown coat- but the G.O. who will only wear, do, what he wants, how he wants and suggestions are not necessarily welcome no matter how well-intentioned or sensible. Unless, until he assimilates the idea as his own…
sounds like a bloke
I am a firm believer in DMSO works very well on Boomer’s knee (when it was blown) and on other animals muscles. It’s easy to find at animals feed stores, if you are interested.
Linda
What is it? c
DMSO dimethyl sulfoxide. I had a friend who had scleroderma and her physician recommended it. It does have downsides, but I use sparingly. As soon as I smell corn on Boomer’s breath I stop…it means he has had enough. I don’t use it again ever, unless he re- injures his knee. In his lifetime with us he has damaged his knee three times. The last night slightly. http://www.alternative-medicine-digest.com/dmso.html
I recommend it seriously. Our horse doctor (years ago) put me onto it.
I’ve gotten that look too from my boys over the years. The worst was putting boots on Pedro, a 12 pound brown and white Chihuahua/terrier mix. He hated having wet feet and walking in snow or on ice, so I figured boots would help. He didn’t fuss about having them put on, then walked with all for legs as stiff as possible. Yes, I laughed at him, he was deeply insulted. The look was unmistakable and the boots came off. The boots were more or less shredded when I found them later in the day. I never saw him go near them, but when I went to put them on they were gone. Never bothered with boots for the dogs again.
Oh I’m sad to hear that Boo is limping. And if I saw my darling TonTon shivering I’d get out the parka too (that’s what I had for my Sammy who also stood stock still with his red parka on).
His eyes just melt my heart. Gorgeous boy.
As Ton is getting older and darling Boo will be unable to fulfil all his former tasks will you be quietly looking around for a pup to join them and be trained . . . after your travels and when spring has spring? You had three before when old Cooder was still alive. . .
I think three dogs is too many for me to manage. We will toddle on with the two I have for a while yet I think.
Sometimes we anthropomorphise and sometimes dog brains are just transparent 😂
Maybe Ton would prefer a fleece sweater?- lighter but sheds water and blocks wind
What expressions
Aaaaaand the Oscar for Best Actor in a Canine Tragedy goes to… Oi! TonTon is master of yet another skill set! 😉 Not that I should be the slightest bit surprised, of course. Great fella that he is. ❤
K
Oh, poor Ton. I recognize that look. It’s canine embarrassment!! All the piggies look good.
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Oh the look on Ton Ton’s face is classic! I bet he ran like mad when devoid of the jacket 😃