Big Dogs, Big Brambles

Lizzy (my Moms Boxer) was out playing in the pasture today with Rhett and Scarlett, while my Mom worked on the electric fence next door. I had to grab the camera. They tower over her! And they are still growing.

They are the sweetest dogs. They are like the draft horses of the dog world. Gentle Giants.

Vicky snuck into our pasture, when I was in the neighboring pasture with the goats. Rhett and Scarlett love her, but the feelings aren't mutual. Their size scares her to death. Look at the size of their paws compared to her.

I need to think of a caption for this picture.

My Mom put up more strands of electric wire in our neighbors pasture, so the goats can work on the enormous wild blackberry bush over there. So yesterday I brought the goats over one by one on a leash, and let them find out what electric wire is. That way they wouldn't run right through it before they got zapped. Then off they went to the bush. It's hard to get a picture that shows just how big the berry bush is.

See the goat eating off to the right. And those are tree's growing out of the top.

I think they will be eating on this ginormous bush for a looooooong time.

Kimberly 

Good Dogs

I'm doing a pictureless post this time, because Blogger has been giving me a hard time uploading pictures lately. My last post took me several hours to put together, all because it kept gettting stuck half way through loading pictures.

My Mom came inside yesterday with a giant smile on her face. She said she was out by the pasture, and all the goats were out in the very back eating the the shade of the eucalyptus trees. Then she spotted a coyote in the front of the pasture. She didn't know where Rhett and Scarlett were (most likely asleep under the trees), but they caught wind of the coyote. She said they took off after that coyote, chased it all the way to the back of the pasture till it leaped over the fence. Then they stood at the fence watching the coyote till it cleared several neighbors properties. Thats when she yelled to them "Good Dogs! Good Dogs!" They were quite proud of themselves. This is the first time they have been witnessed in action.

Sweet Pea still has a small udder. No calf, and she has not shown any signs of coming into heat. But at least she is healthy, and hasn't had any more episodes. She is on a rye hay diet, and is starting to loose weight. Thats a good thing.

Emmett never adjusted to being a lone guinea pig. After a month of not hearing a single squeak out of him, and him continuously barricading the door to his box with his food dish we decided it was time to find him a friend. Our local feed store gave my Mom the number for a lady they said is "Thee Guinea Pig Lady". As it turns out, it was the same mother and daughter that she bought Emmett from, AND the people I sold all my rabbit supplies to. What a small world. The daughter is in 4-H and raises, and shows many verieties of guinea pigs (AKA cavies). They were very nice, and showed us many different guinea pigs available that were young enough to be placed with Emmett. Many years back when I first started raising Satin Angora rabbits, I had wanted a Texel guinea pig. I just loved their long curly hair that grows in ringlets. But finding a local Texel cavy breeder is like finding a needle in a hay stack. Their aren't very many people raising guinea pigs period. They had one young Texel male available. He was very sweet, and a pretty orange with white dutch type markings. I bought him and named him Sir Locksley. I also bought a black with white markings female. I named her Flower after the skunk on Bambi. I think they said she is a Silky, I will have to check the pedigrees when they drop them by. She was the only long haired female they had available at the time. She is being housed in a seperate cage for 2 reasons. 1. She is to young to be bred. 2. The two males (boars) will fight over a female (sow) if housed in the same cage. Emmett personality did a 180 the moment I put Sir Locksley in his cage. He is squeaking, and chattering up a storm. I will have to post pictures in my next post.

Our weather has been rather crazy and unpradictable this year. Well I should say the last few year I guess. It seems it just can't make up its mind whether it wants to stay hot or cold. One week we are having a heat wave, and the next it is cold and raining. Last week it was cool and it rained a little, then it got humid and hot, and now we are having another heat wave! Its supposed to get up to 106 today. It's a good thing our air conditioner is working.  It's supposed to get even hotter, and Tuesday is supposed to be 111 degrees, Ugh. Rhett and Scarlett don't seem to mind the heat, its an excuse for them to hang out in the irragation water all day. They certainly love water. I have tried pushing Rhett into the water a couple times (just playing around of course), and he responds by trotting around behind me and trying to push me in! He doesn't succeed, but he does get my pants soaked. They sure are smart dogs.

Oh, I almost forgot. Several blogs have been saying that Google Friend Connect is going to disappear. I tried searching Google for this information, because I had not received any notice. I could find no information from Google that this is going to happen. I did find many blog posts from the past several years with rumors saying that this was going to happen numerous times. I am hoping that this is just that, Only a rumor. Because if so, I will loose all the blogs I am following. I am going to write down all the blogs I follow just in case. I have been working on creating a Website and Blog Links Page for my blog, so I can move over all the blogs I follow from the side of my blog page, and get things straightened up a bit. But that has been easier said than done. I thought I could just transfer the Blogs I Follow widget thingy onto the other page, but I was wrong, or I don't know what I am doing. So it will get done. Just slowly as I grab peoples Buttons and pin them on the page. It will pop up one of these days.

All for now.

Kimberly

Happy Thanksgiving

An Autumn Blessing

Bless us, Lord, the fall wind blows;

The winter storms begin.

Bless this house in which we dwell

And keep us snug within.

Bless the walls, the chimney top,

Likewise the thumb-turned latch;

Bless the cat beside the hearth,

The mouse he tries to catch.

Bless the books that line the shelves,

The hands that gentle things,

That bake the loaves, make the beds,

And bless the heart that sings.

Let laughter live within this house;

Bless children as they play.

Bless all who knock upon the door

And loved ones far away.

Bless the teapot steaming hot,

The little cakes so fair.

Bless all who call this house a home

With peace and love to share.

Bless harvest hoards in cellar bins,

The rooftop firm and tall.

Give with these autumn blessings

A thankful heart to all.



The oven is fixed, after being out of service since July. Yay! Just in time for Thanksgiving.

My mom went straight to work making an apple pie. It made the house smell so good. Guess what I had for breakfast?

I think I'm the only person on the planet that doesn't care for turkey. My favorite thanksgiving dish actually comes from inside the turkey. Stuffing.

With the cool fall weather here, everyone enjoys relaxing in the living room by the fireplace. Including the dogs.

(The Vicky dog is on top, Petunia below, and her mother Amy to the left)

They really did arrange themselves that way. It's such hard work being a farm dog : )

I have taken so many picture, that I just haven't gotten around to posting. So I'm going to share some now.

My mom, preparing the grapes for jelly.

I hope you all have a happy Thanksgiving.

Kimberly