One evening, just before Christmas, I came in from school. I was exhausted. There is an awful lot to be done in a school in the run up to Christmas. We had made lots of Christmas cakes and they all needed icing. I needed to get my breath back and have a cup of tea.

Normally Diarmuid is ready to make the tea for me. Not this evening though. The minute I opened the back door he was out into the back hall.

“Mam, I have bad news,” he was gesticulating wildly. “There’s been an accident.”

Panic stations

For an instant I was alarmed.

“It’s Shadow. She’s been really bad.” By now, we are in the kitchen. “She stole one of the Christmas cakes. The big one. She pulled it down. Dad heard her and he came out. He was very cross. I’m very cross.”

I took in the scene. There had been three Christmas cakes wrapped neatly in tinfoil on the kitchen worktop. Now one had a large bite out of it. The bits of tinfoil were spat out on the floor and the odd sultana coated in golden crumbs blended into the terracotta tiles.

Dog house

I didn’t have the energy to be cross, but D wanted me to be cross. So I went out to the garage and admonished my Pyrenean Mountain Dog. She kept her head on her paws and stared right ahead. That is generally her demeanour when she is guilty.

Back in the kitchen, I surveyed the damage. Luckily, Tim had heard her before she had time to take a second bite. I cut a triangle out of it. A few days later my nephew, Jack, and niece, Kate, came over to join in an icing party. The space became a cave for Santa’s reindeer.

Guarding duties

The reason that Shadow was in the back kitchen in the first place was because she chases the postman. So each morning she is put in until the postman has come. Pyrenean Mountain Dogs are ideal guard dogs and Shadow takes her role very seriously.

She is very territorial and checks out the farm every morning. She loves a walk and gets very excited when Tim picks up the quadrant to go grass measuring. She waits at every stop until him and D are ready to go on. But her chief role is the protection of our home and farm.

Dog in action

I saw her in action one evening before Christmas. Our car was in the garage and I got a lift home from school from a student teacher. Once we drove into the house Shadow was out and barking at the strange car. She positioned herself right in front of the driver’s door and barked with intent, incessantly. One would not dream of opening the door and pushing such a large dog out of the way. I opened the passenger door and she quickly took up position there. I was nervous opening the door. I talked to her to let her know who was there and she calmed down. She changed her noise to crying, as if apologising for not recognising me. A dog like Shadow is invaluable about the place. Speedy, the Border collie, always backs her up. He barks and stands with her. Nala, Philip’s dog, stays a few paces behind them, trying her best to have courage. But her nature is to be friendly to all people. She’s a double doodle.

Man's best friend

A dog is certainly a man’s best friend. There will have been lots of puppies given as presents for Christmas. Some of them will be dumped in another month when they start to get bigger and more difficult to feed and exercise. With our proximity to the city, we will probably see a few of them. The dog warden will be called and they will go to the dog’s home.

If somebody wants to get a dog as a companion, then the first place to check out should be the dog pound. There are lots of lovely dogs there just waiting to be loved.

Imagine, the new year has begun.

Next week, schools will reopen and I will remove all traces of Christmas from my classroom and my home.

Last year I was really tidy with my rolling of the Christmas lights around cardboard and so on. It made for very easy assembly. It takes a bit longer to put everything away carefully, but it’s well worth the trouble. Despite my best efforts I have overindulged and will start to address that on Monday. It’s always a Monday resolution.

Over Christmas we’ve had some welcome down time to talk and think about the farm and the industry. I sterilised all the calf feeding bottles and feeders. I got my signs ready for marking the buckets of colostrum in the fridge. The lists of calving dates are up and the watch has begun.

The first calf is due on 1 February.

The men are organising the calf shed. It’s really good to be doing these things without pressure. Once that first calf is born, there is no time. There are three weeks left to finish the organisation. The heifers will start to come home and we will be back in milk production.

So this is the week to think about a few new year resolutions that might make life easier. I invariably make too many resolutions and lose them very quickly. Still, it is always good to plan the year ahead. Most important of all, write it down and pin your list up in the kitchen or office. Then live it. It is possible to instigate change. Happy new year to all my wonderful, loyal readers.

Read more

Katherine O'Leary takes a trip down memory lane

https://www.farmersjournal.ie/a-winters-walk-to-clear-the-mind-329013