We have a new arrival and some heartache here at the farm...

   Molly, the miniature Mediterranean Donkey, came to live with us two Saturdays ago. I have wanted to get a donkey for several years. Last week I was talking to a friend of mine who mentioned that he is trying to cut down on the number of animals he has, and also mentioned he had a mini donkey for sale. I had to have her!

   She has been here for a little over a week and seems to be settling in nicely. I'm hoping she will bond with the goats (especially the babies once they start arriving) this winter and stay with them once I put them out to pasture again in the spring. Some of my older does are pretty set in their ways so its probably going to take more than a couple of months for Molly to win those girls over. Any babies born this year and after should bond with Molly from the start win no problem.
   I'm hoping Molly will fill the void we have right now in the 'protection' department. We had our old Chesapeake bay retriever, Whiskey, who thought he was a Great Pyrenees. He was raised on a farm with a Great Pyrenees for a few years before we got him. He loved people but did not like strange dogs or other critters in the pasture with "his" animals. This past year he has been slowing down a lot and not quite been up to par in the protection department. I'm not really sure how old he was but we've had him for almost four years and the lady we got him from said she thought he might be at least 5 or maybe 6 years old then. Sadly, Whiskey passed away yesterday. He will be greatly missed.

R.I.P. Whiskey. You will be greatly missed by our family.

Four years ago today.

Six years ago today.

 

Thursday, October 1st.

There are days I get the feeling T thinks I've sat around doing basically nothing while he has been at work all day. Today I've decided to track my hours.... or at least attempt to.

6:20 a.m. - Alarm goes off.... of course I push the snooze button. Did you really think I was a 'jump out of bed on the first alarm' kind of girl? If so, you are so wrong!

6:30 a.m. - Wake up. Take a few minutes to get out of bed, let the dog out, & see if Z is awake.

6:50 a.m. - Go see if Z is awake & realize I should have come in a few minutes earlier. He is still sleeping pretty soundly! Ugh. I don't like mornings like this. The last few days he's been awake when I got up. I like those days better than having to force him out of bed.

7:10 a.m. - Z is finally on his feet and out of his room! Once he is up, getting him to get dressed and ready doesn't take long. Good thing because the bus will be here by 7:30. He likes to eat lunch at school so most mornings he wont eat anything here.

7:27 a.m. - Bus is here. K is out of bed and running out to tell Z “Good-bye” to which I have to reign him back in because he is in his underwear, no pants. As soon as he realizes it he hurries to shut the door “we don't want them seeing my undies”. No, K, we don't want them seeing you in your undies!

7:30 to 7:45 a.m. - K and I take the papers out to burn. Today is garbage pick up day, so we set that out by the road too. He is such a good helper – when he wants to be!

During the time we were taking garbage out the big trucks from Hoffman's Farm started coming in. Must be they are going to cut the corn in the field behind Mom's house this morning.

7:45 to 8:30 a.m. - Fed the dogs. turned the eggs that are in the incubator. Now it is time to feed the outside critters. We started with the quail then moved on to the rabbits. We had just started watering the rabbits who are penned outside the barn when K headed for the house saying he was cold. He had shorts and a long sleeve shirt on but that wasn't enough on a morning when its a damp 47°. He never did return to help me. When I got back into the house he was sitting at the counter eating a can of peaches that he had opened all by himself. I guess it only makes sense – If I have to feed the furred and feathered critters, the kidlet must be hungry too.

8:30 to 9:00 a.m. - Clean up all of the toys that are scattered around the house. Not sure how we didn't get to this last evening before bed, but that isn't anything unusual. Sweep the floors. Then go back over the living room and dining room floors with the vacuum. K points out how much more dirt went into the vacuum canister even though I had just swept a lot up with the broom. I explain – again – if he and his brother would take their shoes and boots off as soon as the come in from outside there wouldn't be as much dirt on our floors each day. I swear it is a challenge for them, every day. To see who can track in the most dirt and mud. No worries, boys, your dad has you beat - hands down!

9:00 a.m. - I sat down to have a cup of coffee and check my email....”Somehow” I ended up on Facebook.

9:25 a.m. - I realize the time and decided I better get moving. I still haven't eaten, but that can wait.

9:30 to 10:00 a.m. - I cleaned cat litter boxes while K started to empty the dishwasher. I don't remember what distracted me but I didn't get back to help K. Then all of the sudden I heard Whiskey (the outside dog) barking and I realize that I hadn't taken him out by the barn. I like to do that so he doesn't scare 'my extra kids' who are coming for the day and their mother. Whiskey normally likes everyone but for some reason does not like they kids' mom. He was barking because the other kids are here. I ended up just bringing him through the house and onto the back porch while for now.

10:15 a.m. - Its time for K to start getting ready for school. He is in the afternoon Pre-K class so my Mom will be coming to pick him up soon. She gives him a ride to school on the days that I watch the other kids.

10:40 a.m. - “K you need to get out of the tub. Its time to go”. Typical day. He doesn't want to get a bath but then once I get him in the tub he doesn't want to get out.
Get him out of the tub, start getting him dressed and … Oh NO! … I still haven't packed his lunch!.. I know, I've had all morning, what seems to be the problem? … I throw something together really quick while Mom is helping him get his socks, shoes and coat on.

10:50 a.m. - K and Mom are out the door. They have twenty minutes until he has to be at the school door. Good thing they only have three miles to go.

10:50 to 11:45 a.m. - I spent this time reading to, redirecting and playing with the 1, 2, & 3 year old kiddos.

11:45 a.m. - The three Littles were all so chilled out this morning, I was about to lose them all to naps so I decided I better start lunch before they all fall asleep. Normally we don't do lunch until around 12:30 but today they are all extra tired or something. The three year old sounds like she has a cold so maybe that is why she's tired today.

12:00 to 1 p.m. - Lunch for the kiddos. I folded a load of laundry while they were eating. Got them all down for naps. Cleaned up from lunch.

1 p.m. - I ate lunch and spent some time catching up on emails and a few bloggers who I follow.

1:30 p.m. - Got a package of burger (just delivered to us last night) from the freezer, for tonight's dinner. The beef was raised on my land. The owner has cows but no land, I have land and not enough animals to eat all of the grass. This works out well for all of us.
Changed out the laundry, and put a load of towels into the washer. How does a family of four use SO many towels and wash clothes?

1:45 p.m. - Started writing this blog post. There are hundreds of things I should be doing, other than this, right now but there are three sleeping kiddos in my house so … Shhh.
I did manage to finish the job that K had started.... I emptied the dishwasher and then refilled it.

3:00 p.m. - How is it possible that its time to wake up the Littles! The older kids will be home soon.

3:30ish - 7:00 p.m. - Three crazy hungry kids get off the bus.
The other kids were picked up.
I made dinner. Everyone ate dinner.
I had Z practice his spelling words for tomorrow's test then K and I went out to start feeding animals, while Z watched tv with his dad.
I still have not located the crested ducks that we let out of their pen last week. I saw them one or two times after letting them out. I'm not sure if my pekin male has chased them all off or if something has eaten them. While feeding the buck goats I see that there is a white duck sitting in the pasture, all by itself. I sent K to herd or carry it back. He was a little leery at first because I've been telling him all summer to never go in the pasture because the bulls were in there. The bulls were sent to freezer camp last week, but K forgot that and was like "Mom, the bull will come get me". Poor little guy. I had to remind him they were no longer here. But I'm glad he knew to question me. He ended up carrying the duck to the fence and I carried it the rest of the way back to it's pen. It is very thin. I don't think its been eating or drinking for a few days. We looked around but still can't see the rest of them. There were five crested, two pekin, a black and white Swedish, and a grey and white Swedish. Maybe they've become coyote dinner.
Just as K and I were finishing up chores we heard the coyotes start howling not far away (at the base of the hill) and K got scared and decided he was going in the house. I have to admit they give me the heebie-jeebies too.

7:00 to 7:35 p.m. -  Bedtime routine for Z and K.

7:45 p.m. - Remember the load of towels are still in the washer... guess I better empty the dryer and fold those clothes so I can dry the towels.

8:15 p.m. - Get a call from my mother saying she forgot she has an appoint and can't take K to school tomorrow. Now I have to figure out how I'm getting K to school tomorrow, or will he just stay home with me and the other kids for the day.

9:09 p.m. - Are you kidding me!?! The towels still have not made it into the dryer! I'm going to do that right now. As tired as I am I should go to bed, but anyone who knows me well, knows I'll still be awake a few hours from now.

Late Saturday Night....

Saturday evening was a rare night out for *T* and I. My mom came to stay with the boys while we were gone. *T* brought me home around 8:45 pm then went back out to spend some time with his fellow firefighter friends. We try to have the boys in bed by 9pm every night but that night they were excited, as they always are when we leave them with someome else for  a few hours. Mom stayed for about an hour after I got home and then I sat down to watch a show on tv. In the meantime the boys were playing quietly in their bedroom and about the time I was going to get up to start getting them ready for bed *Z* came running into the living room and was digging in his one toy tote and went back into his bedroom with a handful of toys, then came running back and was digging for more. On his first trip through I asked him what his brother was doing and he said "just playing" and went running out of the room. I knew I had to go see for myself because they had been quiet for too long.

This is what I found when I got to their room. Now lets not forget that *K* is only 11mths old and doesn't even walk yet and it was 10:20pm when I took this photo. He was playing so contently that he didn't even know I had walked into the room until the camera flash went off.





He is sitting in the middle of *Z*'s bed playing with his Little People Tow and Pull Tractor.  That is when I figured out what *Z* was digging for in the tote in the living room. The tractor was in the bedroom but all the animals and people were in the tote in the other room. 

*Z* came back with his second load of animals and climbed up there and started playing with his brother. It was the cutest thing ever. I said "don't you think that you should be going to bed soon"? and *Z*'s reply to me was "we ARE in MY bed Momma"! I just shook my head and went back to the living room.... there is a point when  mom knows she may as well surrender!

I love that *K* is getting old enough that the two of them can sit and play now. I just wish for now they'd do it at a lower elevation. I hope *K* doesn't fall off the bed and get hurt in the mean time. I guess he is so determined to be a big kid he doesn't care that he momma says he is "too little" to be doing these things.

I also couldn't believe how wide awake they were for it being so late. I did finally get *K* to go to bed around 11pm and then *Z* and the dog fell asleep on the couch with, the cat standing guard around 11:30pm.







Wordless Wednesday

R.I.P. Nickie Lynn..... I love you always and forever!

I can't even begin to put into words what happened or how I feel about my little girl passing over the rainbow bridge.

Happy Anniversary Nickie! and I still miss you Libby!

Today is the 5th Anniversary of Nickie living with me.... I can't believe my little girl has been here that long.

1 Year Ago

Today is also the 4th anniversary of Libby (my great dane passing). She is in the top photo, the grey and white Dane.


4 Years ago

Today didn't start out good but ended well

I am amazed at what we got done today. After the night I had last night and the way the morning started out, I'm suprised that I was able to do anything today. I'm not sure what started it but last night I got in a very emotional state that lasted into this morning. I just couldn't stop crying. I thought going to sleep would help, but once I went to bed I just couldn't relax and go to sleep.
On a better note, while *T* was at the fire hall this morning I got the goat's feet trimmed and the horses brushed out. When he got home *T* and I got a lot more work done in the house. We moved the old gun cabinet out of the living room and put the new one in, got rid of the old dresser in the bedroom, moved the ceder chest upstairs and the brought the big dresser down to the downstairs bedroom. *T* started the lawn tractor and made sure it was ready for another mowing season. I think I washed every piece of clothing we have today. Not really but it sure seemed it. I hadn't done laundry all week so all of our work cloths were dirty plus I changed all the sheets on the beds today too, so that added to my pile. I do still have about two loads left but have decided to wait until tomorrow to finish them. The little Jack Russell even got a bath today. The other two dogs will get their turn at some point in the near future.
While in the barn this morning I found where the chickens hid their nest. there were 14 eggs in it. I'm not sure how fresh they are so I've decided that I will give them to the dogs since I still have two dozen eggs that Mom gave me and now that I know where the nest is I'll get the fresh ones. I knew they must be laying because their combs have been bright red for a while now, it was just a matter of tracking them down.

Blast from the past

Click here >> One year ago today
When I reread this I had to laugh, just reminded me of how silly I really am. This year my chickens have not even started to lay eggs yet let alone start setting.


Click here >> Three years ago yesterday.
Spring ... Is that You?
03.28.05 (6:45 am)
I think spring is finally coming. The temperature this morning is at 37* and it is sprinkling, not really raining but just a light mist in the air. I'm not really liking the mud that comes with spring but it is definitely better then the 4 inches of snow we received last Wednesday morning. That was awful.

I see that my lilies are trying to come through the surface of the mud... I'm hoping that Dayna doesn't notice. I swear she has a vengeance against the irises at the corner of the house, she has dug a trench along the end of the house.... ggrrrr.... how do you get a dog to stop digging holes in your lawn?

I went to see my brother *J* and his family yesterday after sunrise service. Little *R* is so weak from her chemo treatments, but she is feeling a little bit better now then what she did a few days ago. I look at that little 15 lb body and wish that I could take the treatments for her, though I have a feeling she is handling it better then I would ( I'm a wimp) - she is such a fighter. She has had three rounds of chemo and has to have at least three more before the stem cell transplant. I just pray that God will give her the strength it takes to get that far.

After reading this one I had tears of sadness and of joy at the same time. My dog Dayna passed away a month after I posted that about her digging up my iris'. Today would have been Dayna's 9th birthday if she were still alive. I still miss her so much.
The tears of joy were for my neice *R*. She finished all her chemo treatments and her stem cell transplant in '05 and is doing great :D She has been free of cancer for since the end of her treatments and is now a beautiful 4 year old.

Happy 1st Birthday Ace

I didn't realize that I have so many pictures of him sleeping but maybe that is because that is the easiest way to take his picture without ending up with a big blurry smudge across the photo. It seems like if he isn't sleeping he is moving too fast for the camera.

Men & Dogs... You just gotta to love them...

Last evening had some very strange events take place. *T* called me at work and told me he was going to *P*'s house to get a gun cabinet that was given to him, he asked if I wanted to stop there on my way home from work. I'm thinking "you are the one with the truck and the muscles and *P* will be there to help, so why do you need me?". He said he just wondered if I wanted to stop in... NO I didn't I wanted to go home and get my shoes off. I guess I was being a bit antisocial but I can't help it, I just wanted to go home. Besides that I was wondering where on earth we are going to put this new gun cabinet. Anyhow *T* got the cabinet home, but on the ride home the thing started pulling apart. By this time I'm shaking my head in discust, "why did he bring this thing home?". I went in the house and started my evening chores of laundry and vacuuming. The nest thing I know *T* is coming in the back door in a rage saying something about the back window of the truck being broken. I asked what he had said and he said he had set the cabinet up in the back of the truck, so he could put a couple screws in the top to hold it together before he brought it in, then went into the barn to get the screws and the wind blew the cabinet over... and smashed the back window out of the truck. WOW!!! I acually wanted to laugh but I knew better. Did I forget to mention that we were having sudden gusts of wind that came out of nowhere off and on all afternoon. Seriously... this is just another example of >>>>> He doesn't always think before he does things <<<<<<. After making a quick trip to town, coming home, fixing the back window of the truck, he "fixed" the cabinet he asked me to help him carry it in the house. During this whole chain of events I had noticed Mom's one dog Sydney was here playing with Ace. They were chasing each other around the yard and having a great time. I had thought about going out and telling her to go home in case Mom was looking for her but decided that I'd let them play for a while because the looked like the were having such a good time. Well I forgot that Syd was here and when I went out the door to help *T* I left it open and Nickie (one of my other dogs) came out behind me. We usually don't let Nickie outside without being on here runner because she can't be trusted with small animals. I didn't even have time to catch Nickie and she had attacked Syd. My first reaction was to grab Ace (the JRT) and make sure Dawson (the Aussie) was well out of the way of the fight. I took those two the short distance to the milk house because I didn't want a two dog fight to turn into a four dog fight (trust me... it can happen in a blink.. much to my dismay this has happened to me before). In the mean time *T* had managed to get ahold of Nickie and was taking her back to the house and Syd stood there in the yard looking at me like "WTH just happened" I honestly don't even think the poor dog knew Nickie was outside, because she and Ace were having such a good romp... she never even tried to fight back. *T* said she was just looking like "someone get this lunatic off me". I'm so thankful that *T* was able to get ahold of Nickie without getting bit. The last time something like this happened I ended up with a two inch gash in my leg while trying to separate two great danes, two Aussies, and Nickie (the little mutt). When that happpened Mom had just gotten Syd and I had just gotten Nickie, we thought they had been together enough and had hashed out all their differences.... aparently Nickie is still hold a grudge from four yrs ago...LOL. At least now I know to be more aware of where everyone is at all times. Normally this isn't an issue because Nickie is on her runner and even if Syd is over here she knows to stay out of Nickie's reach. All the other dogs get along great. Nickie just seems to have it out for poor Sydney.
For right now the cabinet is still sitting in the middle of my dining room....grrr. Anyhow, hopefully tomorrow we will be able to get things rearrange and get the new cabinet to it's place, and the old one out.

Today seemed farely unevenful. Just as I was getting home from work Mom came over to chat for "a few minutes" which turned into over an hour. She is so stressed out right now, with everything going on with Dad. He had Congestive heart failure, Parkinson's, Diabetes, High Blood Pressure, Subepideral bullous pimphigoid, complications relating to each of these, and now one of the latest things seems to be that he is getting really confused and doesn't know what he is doing at times. Mom is just so exhausted that sometimes she will just come in and sit down and sigh repeatedly... I can tell she just needs a break from it all for a little while. At times Dad just seems to be giving up, he gets so discouraged because he can't do anything and he used to be so active. They could use all the prayers and good vibes anyone could send their direction.

Now I'm upset!!!

My camera decided it is not going to work today....



I haven't taken pictures in a week or so and now that I am finally in the mood and actually had a cute subject .... "it" says "NO... not today sweetie, I'm tired, not doing it!"



It acts like the on/off switch isn't contecting or something ... I don't know, but I'm not happy! I really wanted to post some new pictures too.



Here are a few that I took in December but for some reason or another I never posted.




On one of the coldest days of the year Dawson went out the front door and started checking to see if there is anything interesting going on over at the neighbors house.

He didn't see anything that interested him over there so he started looking to see if the mailman is coming yet... He always has cookies for the dogs.

Ace says "To H$LL with the mailman ... he'll be back on a warmer day and I'll get my cookies then."

The goose on the other hand seemed to be enjoying the frigid water hole behind the barn.















I have to figure out how to get my camera fixed so I can get a real update posted.

Meet Abby and Dawson

I do believe these are two the most spoiled pets in McKean County, PA. Abby (the one sitting up)is my Mother's Aussie and Dawson (the one laying down) is mine. My parents live right across the road from me so Mom and Abby are here quite often. When I took this picture the dogs were waiting for me to milk the goat so they could have some of the milk.
We got Abby when she was six weeks old, but we have only had Dawson for a few years, I rescued him from the Cattaraugus County SPCA. I have no way of knowing but I swear these two are related. I think that is one thing that first drew me to Dawson when I met him. They seem to be the same breed, just different colors and a lot of their mannerisms are the same, even before the two ever met. What is really interesting is that we bought Abby from a family from the same town that Dawson was picked up as a stray. Hhhmmmm!! See why I really wonder about these two. They also seem to be about the same age.