Starry Nights Stables

Mending Fences

2011-07-12T09:12:00.000-07:00

OK, so I have been bad about blogging lately, but it's partly due to the fact that gmail was freaking out about me using a personal email account for things like Blogger and You Tube. I don't know why. I think it's because my email is part of an organizational email group created by my brother-in-law that all of us in the family use. It gives us an email address that is our first name @ our last name dot com. Very cool but gmail was having a hissy fit about it. So I finally got a secondary gmail account to use for non personal email stuff and it finally let me back into blogger. Ugh!

Anyway. There hasn't been much exciting to post about anyway. Summer is finally sort of here. (Today is below 70 degrees and raining...?) The husband, child and I are trying to make the most of the sunny days when we can. We were able to get away for a night camping at the coast. It was very fun albeit somewhat stressful when my daughter started the trip by stepping on a bee in bare feet!

The somewhat cooler weather pattern we have been experiencing so far this summer has been good for working outside. We finally got the fence 90% finished around the front pasture. We spend the day yesterday stretching and nailing the wire mesh into place. I must say, it looks good! Now I just have to get the insulators nailed into place and stretch the top line of electric wire.

We will be bringing my mare Ari home at the end of this month. More on that on my horse blog, if you care to read about it. She is, hopefully, pregnant and we will be expecting a foal next spring!

The sheep are doing a great job of maintaining the pasture. We love how low maintenance they are. We may even get some fall lambs.

We are still loving our chickens. We now have 7 total: Glory (Rhode Island Red), Beauty (Black hen of unknown heritage, Olivia (Splash Wyandotte), Daisy (Speckled Sussex), Belle (Light Brahma), Cordelia (Blue Andalusian) and Buffy (Ameracauna). We get light brown, dark brown, white and blue eggs. Some are large and some are medium. They all taste delicious!

The hens recently helped us mend a year long rift between us and one of our neighbors. Last year there was some ugliness over illegal fireworks and scaring the daylights out of horses on the 4th of July. I am not proud of how I acted, but in my defense, my horse had nearly died recently and I was NOT about to stand by idly and let her get injured running through a fence just so the neighbors could shoot off giant fireworks. But, the bottom line was I handled it poorly and ever since then there has been this awkward silent feud going on between us.

My husband suggested we put on our big boy/girl pants and go next door to apologize. I really, really didn't want to, but I knew it was time to put the past behind us. Especially since the neighbor's grandson has been coming over occasionally to play with my daughter. We decided to take a dozen eggs over as a peace offering. I let my husband do the talking and we gave them a brief, but sincere apology along with the eggs. Our gift and our words were accepted and things have been much better since. It's always nicer to be able to wave at your neighbors instead of averting your eyes and trying to pretend you don't see each other!

The rest of the summer will hopefully entail some dog shows, more camping, horse/pony camping and another pony show for my daughter. I can't wait!

Animals I Never Thought I Would Own

2011-05-25T09:34:00.000-07:00

There are a lot of strange animals out my living room window these days...

I never imagined we would ever have a flock of anything, much less a flock of chickens and now a flock of sheep!

Our three little Katahdins were trying their best to eat down the field, but we realized that we were going to need more sheep in order for them to be healthy and happy. (Sheep like to have 5 or 6 minimum in a flock so they can see other sheep at all times when grazing.)

Luckily, there is a wonderful family farm just up the road from us that had some lovely sheepies for sale. Sue of Rolling Hills Farm was kind enough to let these beauties come live with us. (If any of you know Shannon P. of Kenleigh Acres and her beautiful fiber products, she owns several Jacob sheep bred by Rolling Hills farm.)

Introducing Bonita and her two ewe lambs:

"Bonnie" is a crossbred Jacob/Columbia sheep. Isn't she beautiful? She had just been shorn in this pic. She is pictured with one of her lambs. This one is "Lizzy."

Hi!

Bonnie and her other ewe lamb, "Sunday."

Yes, we will have to have Bonnie shorn, but her wool makes for some lovely fiber. Any of you fiber/yarn/knitting enthusiasts can contact me privately to reserve next year's wool!

Bonnie's two lambs are sired by a St. Croix cross ram, so they will shed naturally.

Happy little flock.

And here is another animal I never thought I would own: a llama! This guy is Sir Silk AKA Silky. He was given to us by Rolling Hills Farm. Their neighbors were no longer interested in caring for him and he was looking for a new home. He is an experienced guard llama. He definitely keep a watchful eye on all the comings and goings on the farm. He doesn't like my husband. Whenever he is in the pasture, Sir Silk grouses loudly. Overall, however, he is nice as far as llamas go. Not too tame to be a guard animal, but easy to handle once haltered.

It sure does look funny though to glance out the window and see a llama in the field!

Ba Ba Black Sheep

2011-05-15T21:24:00.000-07:00

Sadly, the baby bird I blogged about in my last post didn't make it. She was eating, but not developing right, so I guess there was probably a good reason we found her on the ground instead of in a nest. RIP little baby robin.

Now, onto a happier subject: more cute baby animals! This time it's lambs. We are starting a herd of sheep as a greener, more economical alternative to spraying, fertilizing and wasting gasoline mowing our fields. We decided on Katahdins, a hair breed, for their ease of maintenance, lack of sheering and great reproductive qualities. They almost always twin, birth easily in a pasture setting and have great natural mothering instincts.

I was able to acquire a couple of 4 month old ewes and a young ram from a local family. I am still hunting for more ewes to add to the herd. So far the new sheepies are settling in well. Tues and Wednesday we will be finishing the fence and letting the lambs get started on their lawn mowing duties. Isabel named the two ewes "Star" and "Flower." She named the ram "Bruno."

This is the little ram. I think he's gorgeous.

Katahdins mature around 6 to 7 months, are short-day breeders (meaning they breed when the daylight gets shorter in the fall) and have a 5 month gestation. So if all goes well, we will have lambs next spring.

Flower. She is the most mellow of the three.

I hope we can have more lambs next year and sell them locally. (Katahdins are bred for meat.) If we can make a profit 3 years in a row, we can apply for farm deferral on our taxes, which would save us quite a bit of money. And besides, there's nothing cuter than a bunch of baby lambs cavorting in the fields!

The Call of the Wild

2011-05-06T20:48:00.000-07:00

Somehow my house has turned into the Wild Kingdom. It started with raising the chicks in the laundry room. All too soon they had to be moved to a bigger cage and it was blocking access to the pantry, so the chicks got relocated to the living room. Which was OK for a while. But in the last week or so, the chicks have morphed into CHICKENS, which means they are stinky and messy. So today I booted them to the hen house. They are still in their own cage as they are still on chick feed. I put the heat lamp back on them to stave off any chills from being outside. The adult hens were a mixture of fascinated with and indignant about the new roommates. The chicks immediately started copying the hens' clucking instead of peeping. It was cute.

Just as I am finishing vacuuming up the shavings and dust which has somehow spread over the entire house, I see my husband running inside with something in his hand. "I need you to mix up some of that Save-A-Chick and get me a lamp!" he barks at me with great urgency. "Uh, OK. But why?" I inquire. I look at what he is holding gingerly in his gloved hand and see about the ugliest creature I have ever laid eyes on. It is tiny and hairless. Then I see a beak and tiny claws. And half a bright blue shell. It is a baby robin. "Is it alive?" I ask. The pathetic critter flops around a few times and then goes still again. Apparently yes, but barely so.

My husband admits, "I found it while mowing the yard. I thought it was just a broken egg that a Starling had thrown out of a nest. Then I saw it move. I know I should just throw it in the bushes, but I can't bring myself to to do it." We stare at each other for a long moment. I sigh and grab the electrolyte mix designed for birds that we used when we first brought the chicks home. We decide to at least try to get the thing hydrated and warm. We decide arbitrarily that it's a "her".

We put the baby bird under a 100 watt bulb and using a dropper, manage to get her to drink some of the electrolyted water. I figure we are just prolonging the inevitable, but to my amazement 30 minute later the thing looks pinker and is moving around a lot more. Then a short while later I am shocked to see her lift her alien-like face and gape her mouth, begging to be fed. She starts emitting tiny peeps. Holy crap. This thing looks like it's gonna live.

We do some research online and decide to try feeding her some dog food that has been ground up and soaked in water to make a paste. We tap the top of her beak to wake her and she lifts her wobbly head and opens up. Gulp. She greedily eats our offerings. Huh. Well whaddya know?

Every 30 minutes or so we offer her food. She keeps eating. She poops too. I guess that's a good sign. She sleeps a lot and I am amazed to see that just like puppies, she twitches and moves in her sleep to build muscles. Looks like we will be hand raising a baby robin. Sigh. So much for my clean house. At least this one is small and there is only one of her. And they grow very quickly. In a week or so she will be unrecognizable from the pink, embryonic thing she is now. I wonder if she will imprint on us or be able to return to the wild?

I heart Lowes

2011-04-18T12:23:00.001-07:00

When we bought our house,it was very much stuck in the mid 1990's. The kitchen hardware was all brass and the appliances, while they still worked, were a lovely shade of almond. Not my cup of tea. But since they were serviceable, we couldn't justify buying new appliances. We upgraded all the knobs and door hardware to what is called oil rubbed bronze. This helped quite a bit. (That and all new light fixtures throughout the house.) Thankfully the kitchen and bath cabinets are great and are a very good quality.

But then the stove went kaput and we now had a real excuse to buy a new one! We went with black because the microwave is already black and while stainless steel is all the rage, it's a pain to keep clean. Plus, we thought it went well with our country house.

With a shiny new stove in place, we have been longing to buy a new fridge, but again, couldn't really justify the cost. We have been window shopping for fridges for a few months now. We figured we'd end up going with something pretty simple, due to our budget constraints. But then last night while at Lowes, we found a deal we couldn't pass up. A very expensive Frigidaire on clearance. Plus we got 5% off by signing up for a Lowe's card. Add in the Energy Star rebate and the money that our power company will pay us for our old fridge and voila! More than 50% off on a very nice fridge. Free next day delivery and installation sealed the deal.

So here it is in all it's shiny new glory:

Same dimensions as the old fridge, but I get 4 more cubic feet. It has a water/ice dispenser with a built in filter. I am very happy with it so far. And the best part, we finally got to clean underneath and behind where the fridge stands. We found a pile of old dog kibble when we pulled out the old fridge. Josh immediately blamed me, but I have never filled dog bowls near the fridge. I always do them in the laundry/pantry. So they must have been under there from the previous owner. YUCK!

Chicken Experiement Update

2011-04-16T22:47:00.000-07:00

Well, three out of the four adult hens are laying pretty regularly now. Only the little black bantam has yet to lay an egg. I know because her eggs will be white. One of the Wyandottes lays pretty normal light tan eggs. The other Wyandotte lays "bullet" shaped eggs. They are seriously the longest, skinniest eggs I have ever seen! Super funny looking. Glory, the Rhode Island Red, has turned out to be a real gem. Not only is she tame and easy for Isabel to pet, she lays the most GIANT eggs. They are jumbo sized. And a lovely dark brown color.

We are getting 2 eggs a day on average. Perfect for now. When the chicks grow up and start laying too, we will probably be giving eggs to all our friends and neighbors!

Speaking of chicks, they got moved to a bigger brooder. The Rubbermaid tote got too small pretty fast. Now they are in a wire dog crate with cardboard zip tied around the bottom edges. There are towels draped around the sides to prevent drafts as well as pine shavings in the bottom that I change every few days.

They like to play on the large stick I put in there. And they are starting to roost on the bar I put across the back of the cage. They get more feathers daily. The other day I chastised Isabel for scattering shavings all over the living room floor. Then this morning I saw one of the chicks take flight across the cage. Oops. They are learning to fly, so that is probably the cause of the sudden increase of shavings all over the house.

Yes, there are four chicks again. We added a Welsummer pullet to the mix. She will lay dark chocolate colored, speckled eggs. She is definitely more skittish than the Buff Orpingtons, but she's very beautiful.

Caring for the chickens on a daily basis is pretty easy. They have a large hanging feeder which I only have to add food to about every three or four days. The waterer I bought from Wilco always over flows, so I have to keep it in a deep dog bowl to prevent it from leaking all over the place. Not sure what the deal is with the thing. The chicks have a smaller version of the same waterer and it never has problems. We do the deep litter method in the coop, which I rake every couple of days or whenever it gets stinky. I originally used shavings, but have been adding pelleted bedding instead and like it better. The chickens like it too. As the pellets break down, it creates the perfect material for scratching in and dust bathing.

The biggest annoyance thus far has been that the farm about 10 miles from me where I was buying the locally made, corn, soy, GMO-free chicken food decided to stop carrying it. So now I have to drive about 30 miles each way to a place in SE called Naomi's Organic Farm Supply. Neat place, but it sucks to have to triple my mileage just to feed my chickens something other than the junk they sell at the local feed store. It shouldn't be that hard to feed my animals well.

Pretty soon we will start letting the chickens free range in the late afternoon. I was kind of hoping to wait for all the chickens to be laying eggs regularly before letting them out, but we'll see. They don't seem too unhappy in the coop. Isabel goes out daily and feeds them fresh spring grass and weeds, which they enthusiastically gobble up. Beauty, the black bantam, will even jump up in the air to grab the stems out of Isabel's hand, which amuses her to no end. The chickens get all the veggie and fruit scraps. They especially enjoyed the broccoli which was starting to go brown. They pecked it down to practically nothing in short order.

Husband still complains that keeping chickens isn't really very cost effective. But I keep reminding him that we aren't doing it to save money. I happen to like knowing where the eggs come from and what is being fed to the hens that produce them. And I find caring for the chickens to be fun and satisfying. I like seeing them happy and flourishing. All of the hens have grown since we got them and are sporting lovely full plumage. That's reason enough for me.

Finally!

2011-04-03T19:23:00.000-07:00

It's a start! Now hopefully the others will feel peer pressure.

The future eggs layers: our three Buff Orpington chicks. We came home with four of them, but somehow one dissappeared in the first 5 minutes. Not sure what happened but I think our Australian Shepherd may have snapped it up. I went around the corner to fill the waterer for the chicks and when I came back I found my daughter trying to herd the three remaining chicks back into the container, which was overturned. I asked my daughter several times if she accidentally knocked the tote over and she swears up and down that she did not do it. Meanwhile, Lacey was the only dog not in the kennel. I found her skulking around the yard licking her lips. I am very surprised that she ate it, but I never found the fourth chick, so I can only assume what happened to it!

A Big Fat Zero

2011-03-30T19:56:00.000-07:00

That is exactly the number of eggs we have gotten from the chickens. So far I have to give the Chicken Experiment a B+ for amusement but a big fat F for success. We thought maybe the two Wyandottes (which Isabel renamed Olivia and Katie) were lonely and feeling a lack of "flock mentality" so we added a super sweet Buff Orpington named Glory (because she was hatched on the 4th of July) and a black Bantam named Beauty. I know for a fact that the new hens were laying eggs daily before we got them. But so far? Nada.

Beauty is a funny, curious chicken with a lot of personality.

(front to back) Glory, Olivia and Katie.

Glory was hand raised by the couple we got her from and she is really tame. Even Isabel can pick her up. Which of course means Isabel is asking about 9,000 times a day to go into the chicken coop. I made the mistake of letting her go in by herself once and I found her holding Glory by the neck. Not on purpose I don't think, but the poor chicken was really relieved to be put back on the ground!

I guess we just have to be more patient. They have excellent food, clean water, a clean coop, light and ventilation. So not sure what the problem is. It's getting harder and harder to justify the chickens to my husband when day after day the nest boxes are empty! So HURRY UP chickens! You hear me?

My Little Star

2011-03-18T12:55:00.000-07:00

The Great Chicken Experiment

2011-03-17T09:53:00.001-07:00

Yes, we are jumping on the band wagon! We are going to try raising chickens for eggs and maybe meat, if I can get over the squeamish factor of eating something that once had a name and lived in my back yard.

For a while now Josh and I have been moving towards buying and eating as much organic food as possible. It's not cheap, however, and one thing that we noticed is that we were paying a bundle each week for "cage-free, organic, grain fed" eggs. Shoot! We can do better than that. We know a lot of people who have their own chickens and they are practically giving away their fine, farm fresh eggs each week. So why not try it ourselves? How hard can it be. (Famous last words, I know.)

Last year I rescued a couple of pygmy goats who were living in squalid conditions on an over crowded farm. They were skinny and malnurished. After a year of living with us, however, they blossomed into shiny, fat and sassy goats. Our big picture plan was to move them from their "temporary" pen into the pasture to help keep the weed down. Alas, our fence has been sitting unfinished all winter. Partly due to weather. Partly due to un-motivation on our part. Seems silly to hurry and finish a fence when the ground is waaaaay to soggy to put any animals on it for at least several more months. But unfortunately that meant the goats were still relegated to the dog kennel/potting shed. Since we were not using the goats as we intended, it seemed silly to keep them. We made the decision to sell them and were happily able to find a wonderful family with lots of kids to take them. I am sure Daisy and Bunny are much happier now with a large pasture and a new pygmy goat wether as a friend.

With the goats gone, we decided to clean out the shed and turn it into a chicken coop for our new experiment. So here is the shed, after being swept clean of goat dropping and old straw:

Note the heat lamps. The shed was already set up with these. We simply moved them to the far end of the shed were the coop will be. For now we took the red heat bulbs out and put regular bulbs in. It's not cold enough now to warrant the super energy sucking bulbs. But it's nice to know we have the option for next winter if we get another deep freeze.

In the spirit of being earth friendly and practicing sustainable farming, we opted to scrounge all the materials for the new coop from stuff laying around the property. OK, maybe it was more in the spirit of being cheap skates, but still! Either way, we still had wood left over from building the horse shelter that was just sitting around. We had an already made coop door hanging on the outside of the shed. I have no idea why it was here. Maybe the previous owners had started to make a coop or a green house or something and never finished? All I know is that we had a perfect door just uselessly hanging around. All it took was unbolting the hardware and replacing one board.

This is where the door used to be?!

We also re-purposed this un-used shelving unit sitting in the back corner of the shop collecting dust. Josh dismantled it and turned it into nesting boxes. Sweet!

In the processing of turning the dog kennel/goat pen into our shiny new chicken coop, we had to clean up the mess left behind by the goats. The inside of the shed was relatively easy to sweep out, but the outside portion of the pen was a soggy, rotting mess thanks to a lovely Oregon winter.

We raked the area as best we could by hand, but clearly we needed help to move this mountain of goat poo and hay.

Luckily a quick call to our neighbor and promise of eggs to come produced the handy John Deere tractor.

Josh's back says "Thank you neighbor!"

It took just a couple of afternoons and we are very pleased with the results. The only materials I had to purchase was a small roll of chicken wire and a bale of pine shavings for bedding.

Almost finished! We just need to add a couple of windows for better ventilation.

Josh went a little crazy making the nesting boxes. We are only going to have 6 chickens total so they probably won't use all the nesting boxes, but don't they look great? I may eventually have him cut a door on the backside so I can collect the eggs with out having to step inside the coop.

And here are some of the new occupants of the shiny new chicken coop. Meet Lucy and Ethel. They are 10 month of Wyandottes. Not sure which one is which but aren't they cute? We are starting with a couple of older hens who are already laying. That way we don't have to wait 6 to 9 months to get eggs. We have ordered 4 Buff Orpington chicks from our friend John at the Old Mill Feed store. We are picking them up on April 2nd. Isabel is super excited that we are getting chicks. Josh and I are just excited at the prospect of fresh eggs. So far we have spent very little money on this project. I even found a farm very close to us that sells corn free, soy free and GMO free, nearly organic feed for $12 a bag. It's made by a local farmer who utilizes all local suppliers so it's definitely supporting the little guys.

Farm fresh eggs, here we come.

Build-A-Bunny

2011-03-10T08:47:00.000-08:00

Isabel received a gift card for the Build-A-Bear store for her birthday from our good friends Jeff and Casey and their son Max. We decided to take a trip to the mall to use the gift card since it was such a miserably rainy day yesterday.

Isabel was almost overwhelmed by all the choices. In the end, she went with a super soft cuddly bunny with long floppy ears.

Here she is adding the little red heart to the bunny. It is cute the way the make it very interactive for the child.

Posing in front of the store with her final product. Super fluffy ballerina bunny complete with pink/purple tutu, pink toe slippers, and bouquet of roses. Isabel sends a big thanks to the Sinigaglias for their very thoughtful gift.

And just had to add this for fun: Isabel "helping" Daddy put a new faucet on her bathroom sink. My in-laws' neighbors gave them a practically new faucet when they decided to change their decor. It was passed onto us which we gladly exchanged for our circa 1990's faucet. This new one has a handle that Isabel can turn on and off herself which means she can brush her teeth now without help and get a drink of water at night without waking mommy and daddy. Yay!

Catch All Post

2011-03-05T21:44:00.000-08:00

My poor blog has been woefully neglected ever since I got hooked on the crack known as Facebook. I swear! It's so freakin' addictive and honestly, much easier to post pics on, so I haven't bothered blogging in a while. But my husband was giving me crap about not posting anything in a month, so this one's for him.

Nothing all that exciting to report. Impatiently waiting for spring to arrive. We got a few inches of snow last week during winter's final hurrah. The dogs and kid enjoyed playing in it. The hubs and I took Isabel for a ride on her pony, Truman, down our road before it melted. We got some really nice photos. This one is my favorite. We look like we belong in a tack catalog or something.

The dogs are all well. Summer continues to grow into a beautiful young lady. Greta is looking really good right now. Her coat is gloriously thick and her topline is dead level. I often look out the window and see her free stacking and I think, "Damn. Her silhouette is amazing!"

My three girls soaking up some sun.

I am happy to report that all three dogs still get along wonderfully. Lacey is starting to show her age. Her lupus is causing really big icky scabs on her nose and eye rims. She is on monthly glucosamine injections for arthritis and her hearing seems to be going as I often have to call for her 6 or 7 times very loudly for her to hear me when it's time to go to bed. But she's still enjoying life. Her appetite is great, her weight is perfect and she still begs to play frisbee. She also plays with both Cardis on a regular basis -- something I never thought she would do.

Isabel is learning to ride her new pony, Tucker. I got a really good deal on a youth sized English saddle for her and she enjoys it a lot. We are planning to enter lead line classes at the Welsh Pony shows this summer and fall. I am already piecing together her wardrobe. Who knew little tiny riding jackets and breeches could be so stinkin' cute?!

Isabel and Tucker

I also have started a restoration project on a pony cart for Tucker. My father-in-law is helping me with it. We will be tearing off the old seat and foot rests and replacing them with a nice new wood ones. I am going to sew a seat cushion for it and we will sand the frame down and re paint it. The wheels are pretty new and have tubeless tires, so no worry about flats. I picked this cart up off Craigslist for a song.

Tucker is already trained to drive. I have been doing a refresher course with him just to make sure he is safe. But about the time we finish the restoration, he should be ready to put to cart again. Driving him around the neighborhood is going to be a blast!

Isabel will be starting pre-k this summer. She is scheduled to start going to class 3 days a week in the fall, but her teacher is offering a 6 week/2 day a week course mid summer. We figured why wait and signed her up. It's going to be very weird seeing her off to school. But it's time. She can already write her name and a few other words. She can sound out simple words. She can use scissors and glue and draw pictures of people, animals and nature. She's definitely ready for some "higher learning."

That's about it for going-ons here at Starry Nights. We are eagerly looking forward to a fun filled summer and fall.

Summer Puppy Update

2011-02-12T13:22:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, two puppies from the Hannah/Wally Beach Boys litter got their first conformation points. Summer and Hiro both went winners for one point each under judge Pat Hastings. Summer was also Best of Opposite and Hiro got Best of Winners.

I was very proud of both puppies. Catherine is doing a great job of learning to handle her very first show dog. The two of them looked like pros yesterday.

Summer is finally learning that her job in the show ring is to stand pretty and gait nicely. She was still a bit wiggly on the table when the judge starting talking sweetly to her. She wags so hard that she ends up all over the place. Oh well. There are worse problems to have. :-)

No pics but Jaime did take some ring side photos as well as some very nice stacked photos of both puppies outside in front of the grass. He'll post a link soon to a Picassa album. Probably on Carolyn's blog.

In other news, I am writing this post from the local library computer, as my own died over a week ago. The hard drive went kaput and we are still waiting for it to be repaired. Not having a computer has been very frustrating, to say the least. I didn't realize how much I had come to depend on being online to feel connected to the world.

Welcome Tucker!

2011-01-18T19:32:00.000-08:00

Today we welcomed another pony into our little herd. He is an 8 year old registered Welsh Mountain Pony named Caris Armed Escort, otherwise known as "Tucker."

Click here to read more about Tucker and our plans for him.

Happy New Year

2011-01-01T08:39:00.000-08:00

(Posing in front of the Seattle Space Needle)

Hope 2010 was as good for you as it was for us. Looking forward to making 2011 our best year yet.

Some Christmas Cheer

2010-12-20T16:01:00.001-08:00

Making and decorating Christmas cookies with mom.

The finished product...

If you look closely there are some Cardi cookies hiding among the candy canes, trees, stockings and teddy bears.

Isabel telling Santa want she wants for Christmas. (Hint: Fleurabella and Isabella Groovy Girl dolls...)

Isabel got one of her Christmas gifts early this year. Her Shetland pony Truman came back home today. Read more about it here. She can barely wait to start riding him!

We got our shopping done yesterday. Whew! What a chore. Not sure why we chose to go out on a weekend.

Tomorrow Josh is home for a week. Hooray! It's the first time since he started work for the fire bureau that he has had both Christmas eve and day off. We are very grateful.

Hope everyone is surviving this holiday season.

A Month's Worth of Blogging!

2010-12-14T09:59:00.001-08:00

My computer and camera memory chip have not been wanting to play nice lately, so I had a big back log of pics and blog material piling up. We were finally able to get everything onto the computer so you will be subjected to one of those "lil' bit of everything" posts.

One of our many zoo trips this year. We bought a zoo membership and it has been worth every penny. Isabel loves going to the zoo. We even got into "Zoo Lights" (where they go crazy with Christmas lights) for free. Didn't get any pics of that though because it was too dark.

In mid-November we drove down to Roseburg to meet Trenton and the gang at a dog show to pick up Greta. While there, we discovered that Wildlife Safari was running a Thanksgiving special where you only had to pay a flat fee to get into the park (instead of the normal per person rate). It was super cold and rainy, but we decided to chance it since we were already there and knowing how much Isabel loves the zoo.

It was totally worth it! The animals were very active and we got a lot of close up encounters. Here is a giraffe right outside my car window. I could have reached out and touched her. Giraffes are so much bigger than I ever realized!

They had several young zebras in their herd. Apparently the breeding program is doing quite well. So cute!

The horns on this cow were VERY impressive. Good thing they are pretty passive.

Elk cow just strolling down the road. She kept stopping and looking at us.

This llama cracked me up. I swear there were laser beams coming out of his eyes! Remind me to never buy a llama. They are nasty...

This male and female giraffe were getting "romantic" while we were there. Isabel kept asking why the one giraffe was getting a "piggy back ride" from the other...!

I can't tell if Isabel is excited or scared to be so close to a camel!

Wildlife Safari has the most successful cheetah breeding program in the U.S. They also have this gorgeous pair of tigers. The trainer was out working with them while we were there. It was amazing. They use clickers and meat on a stick. And I thought clicker training a dog was hard!

This is Saigon, the male, demonstrating the "Big Tiger" move. It was impressive! Saigon loved being put through his paces. Leah, the female, groused the whole time she was being worked with. And Saigon kept emitting this pitiful "mewling" when it wasn't his turn. Super funny...

A few days after our Wildlife Safari trip, we got a dusting of snow. Isabel had a good time playing in it, even if there wasn't enough for snow angels or snowmen.

Our future fashionista...

As many of you know, I embarked on a weight loss journey a year ago. I started the day after Thanksgiving. So far I have lost nearly 60 pounds. I dropped 5 pants sizes. Josh said I needed to post these pics we took the other day. We were making a bag of clothing to go to Goodwill and found this pair of pants in the back of the closet from my pre-weight loss days.

I didn't have to unbutton them to take them off! LOL...

Isabel and her daddy at the Salem Riverfront Carousel just the other day. We hadn't taken Isabel to the carousel since she was really little (18 month old maybe?) Good thing we bought a punch card because she rode the thing 6 times before we had to drag her home screaming and kicking...

Corgi Flop

2010-11-29T18:27:00.000-08:00

OK, so this Corgi doesn't have a tail, but I still thought it was hilarious. Seeing all those people in bikinis makes me long for warm sunny days (as I look outside at the cold gray drizzle...)

Thanksgiving

2010-11-28T09:20:00.000-08:00

Since Josh worked Thanksgiving and the day after as well, we waited until yesterday to celebrate our family turkey day. My gracious sister-in-law offered to host at her lovely home in Forest Grove. We did the meal potluck style and everything turned out delicious. So here we all are posing for a pre-meal photo. As you can see, we are from different parts of the world (my sister-in-law and her family are from Zimbabwe) but we are able to come together and celebrate togetherness and friendship. And isn't that what the holidays are all about? (That and plenty of good-natured ribbing!)

So Happy (belated) Thanksgiving!

Pardon Me? Have You Seen My Fingertips?

2010-11-23T08:51:00.001-08:00

At 22 degrees out, I seem to keep misplacing them! It only takes two minutes outside before I cannot feel my fingers. We only got a dusting of snow, but it was enough for the dogs to enjoy for a short while before going back into their cozy kennel in the insulated garage.

Summer seemed puzzled by all the white stuff! Last night when I let them out to potty before bed, she was chasing snow flakes. She is just too darn cute for her own good.

Summer has copious amounts of lovely coat...

While her sister is nekkid as a jaybird still. Greta seems a bit hesitant but overall glad to be back. I think going away to "camp" at Trenton and Denise's was good for her (she was a big time "mommy's girl") but now she seems to have forgotten how to be a farm dog! LOL

Even at 10.5 years, Lacey still enjoys romping in the snow.

Gotcha!

Famous Cardi chest bump...

You can see just how big Summer is compared to Greta. Summer is going to have more, ahem, "substance" than her sister.

Frapping.

Dog pile on Lacey. I love the tongues.

Pretty, pretty girl.

Gainfully Employed!

2010-11-18T18:29:00.000-08:00

I got a job! Woot. I am the new part time Demo Representative for Nature's Logic pet food. (www.natureslogic.com) That means I get to spend time handing out samples and coupons and chat with folks about dog and cat food. Not too glamorous, I know, but finding a job with flexible enough hours to work around Josh's firefighter schedule was not an easy task! It pays well and I can get dog food at distributor prices. Score!

And the best part is, I will be selling a product that I don't mind getting behind. I think they offer a quality food and you can be sure my dogs will be switching over to it. They have kibble, canned, treats and best of all, pre-packaged raw! I have been having trouble sticking to a raw diet because some days it is too hard to juggle family and the animals . So I may give the pre-packaged stuff a try. The ingredients sound incredible and how easy is it to throw some patties in the fridge in the morning to defrost?

So if you happen to be in the Portland or Salem area, you might see me at any number of independently owned pet stores. Or at a dog show. Or an agility trial. Or a fly ball tournament. Or at the dog park. How cool is it that I am going to get paid to take my dogs to the dog park and just hang out for a few hours handing out samples?

Wally

2010-11-17T10:00:00.000-08:00

We love our Wally dog. He is so easy to get along with, a great house dog and a friend to all, canine and feline alike. Lately, however, Wally and his "brother" Pilot have been having some trouble getting along. Both boys want to be the dominant one and as you can imagine, it doesn't make for a peaceful living situation.

Therefore, Wally has been spending a lot of time at my house. We don't mind having Wally for extended visits but Mandy and I were feeling bad that Wally was getting bounced around between our two houses.

So when we heard that Jen and Bill, who recently lost their old guy Klark, were looking for another Cardi to keep their remaining Cardi, Buzz, company, we decided that this might be a perfect place for Wally. We talked it over with Wally's dad, Henry, too and he agreed that it would be best for Wally. So, just before Halloween Wally went to live with Jen and Bill.

I would say it's a match made in heaven.

The whole family on the day they picked Wally up.

Love at first sight.

Smiling Buzz.

Wally seems to be making himself right at home!

Wally and "his" kitties.

Jen recently sent me this update:

"(Wally) and Buzz get along really well, and he's taken to the kittens; he grooms the boy kitten's ears every morning - so funny. He is adjusting to "city dog" life - learning that he can't greet every person and every dog we pass on walks as enthusiastically as he'd like, that we stop and sit before crossing busy roads, etc. He plays fetch *indoors*- very enthusiastically - but he will only chase the ball outdoors. He is figuring out bed privileges he starts out the night sleeping on our bed, at some point he heads to his own bed (by the side of ours)- and then returns to our bed in the morning. He digs his long walks and loves Mt. Tabor especially."

I miss "Ba-Ba" but it makes my heart glad to know he's doing so well. Thanks Jenny and Bill for opening up your home to our Wally.

For Adults Only!

2010-11-15T08:59:00.000-08:00

Ha. Made ya look.

Actually, Josh and I just got back from a "Mommy and Daddy Only" weekend. Hooray!

Josh decided we needed to take an overnight trip without Isabel. It was time. We haven't gone away, just the two of us, since before she was born. So he made all the reservations, arranged for his parents to come house/babysit and whisked me away. I didn't know we were going until the day before and even then, he made the details of the trip a surprise.

I am one lucky gal to have such a romantic hubby.

We already had tickets to see "The Color Purple" in Eugene on Saturday, so we ended up staying in a beautiful bed and breakfast only about a mile from the Hult Center. It is called the C'est La Vie Inn and it is magnificent!

We had the Casablanca Suite all to ourselves which was great because it is a carriage house and separate from the rest of the rooms. We had a giant jetted tub as well as our own private bathroom. The gas fireplace made everything so cozy. The room was spotlessly clean and so beautifully decorated. Truly a perfect getaway.

Before we checked into the inn, we started our morning at one of our favorite places from college: The Glenwood Restaurant. They have been voted the "Best Breakfast in Eugene." We spent sooo many hours there eating the famous tomato cheese soup and gulping coffee by the gallon as we studied hard. (Well, pretended to study anyway.) So it was fun to go back. Our breakfasts were truly delicious, just as we remembered them to be.

After we ate, we checked into our suite. We still had lots of time before the show, so I spent about an soaking in the tub and then took a nap in the luxurious pillow top bed. I can't remember the last time I had nothing to do but relax!

The musical was absolutely amazing. Set design was ingenious, the acting superb and the singing perfect. I really enjoyed getting lost in the story. (And yes, I cheered when Celie walked away from Albert and I cried when she was reunited with her sister and children...)

Despite the typical Eugene drizzle, we chose to walk to and from the inn and the Hult Center. It was very refreshing. So after the show we walked to the restaurant that Josh had chosen. It is called Adam's Sustainable Table and I HIGHLY recommend it. You really can't go wrong with fresh local organic ingredients. My chicken piccata with fresh pasta and veggies was divine and Josh's hamburger with potato wedges was simple, but superbly done. And don't get me started on the bread pudding I had for dessert! To die for...

After all that good food, the walk back to our room was perfect. The rain even held off for a bit. We were quite tired when we go back so we watched a silly movie on TV and drifted off to dreamland.

Breakfast the next morning was very good also. The owner is an accomplished chef and my baked cheese blintz casserole with sausage and black beans was delicious. The fruit and yogurt parfait with home-made granola was pretty darn good too.

We were reluctant to leave all the leisurely luxury but at the same time we both started missing our little Frog Princess so we packed up and headed home after breakfast. We did stop in Corvallis on our way north to pick up a Groovy Girl doll for Isabel that she has been asking for for months. We also had a snack and coffee at the New Morning Bakery in downtown Corvallis. Another great little place that we always visit when we are in town.

The grandparents were happy to have us back early. Isabel had clearly worn them out! LOL.

Many, many thanks to Isabel's Nana and Papa for making this weekend possible. Your great care of our daughter and the animals made for a truly relaxing trip.

Better Late Than Never: Halloween

2010-11-11T20:21:00.001-08:00

The week following Halloween I was a bit distracted by the whole Sidney thing, so I am just now getting around to posting these. I scored the Tinkerbell dress on eBay for $5. The wings were half off at the Disney store and I made the shoes myself from a pair that had been previously been chewed on by a certain blue puppy and some paint and puffballs from the craft store. You can't tell in the pics, but the wings light up and blink. So cute!

Thank Goodness for Puppies

2010-11-08T11:35:00.000-08:00

It's been a tough week. I have been trying not to fall apart for my daughter sake (and my husband's). I still have moments of weakness where I dissolve into tears. (Like the first night when I only had two dog bowls to fill. That sent me over the edge.)

Thankfully there are several litters of puppies being featured regularly in blog-land right now so I can immerse myself in their cuteness whenever I am feeling sad.

I am also incredibly thankful for a certain goofy blue puppy who came into my life a few months ago.

She makes me laugh on daily basis. Summer is so, so sweet and quite a character. She is just so full of life, she makes it nearly impossible to stay sad for very long. She is a good face washer and doesn't seem to mind licking away tears. She's a good couch snuggler (Shhh! Don't tell Josh!) and has taken over the role of official "toy squeaker".

For a while there, my husband was pretty cranky over the fact that "yet another" puppy came to visit and just sort of, ahem, never left. But after the loss of Sid, he admitted that he's glad Summer is here and that he is resigned to the fact that she will stay forever. *grin*

Lacey Boo-Boo is having some trouble adjusting. She has never known life without Sidney, (except of course the first few months of her life when she was with her brothers and sisters) and seems to be feeling really insecure. She howls miserably when we put her in the garage kennel, even with Summer in there with her. The other morning I went for a jog and left Lacey loose while I was gone. When I came home, Lacey was waiting at the gate. As soon as she saw me, she started howling again! Very unusual behavior for her.

Both Summer and Lacey are on super high alert at night. A lot more barking than before. Last night when I let Summer out to potty and run around a bit before bed, she just sat on the walkway behind the garage and barked non stop. I had to introduce her to the Rattle Can of Doom to get her to be quiet. She learned very quickly that her incessant barking was not going to be tolerated. But it was still pretty weird for her.

Isabel seems to have accepted the fact that Sidney is gone. I don't think she truly grasps the finality of it, but at her age, I don't see a point in trying to explain it. We did tell her before hand that Sidney was leaving. She asked where he was going and I simply told her that he was going to a place where he would no longer be sick or feel pain. Some place where he would play frisbee all day long and never be cold or hungry. She took me at face value, in that fully innocent way that young children do and seemed satisfied with the answer. In fact, she was quite cheerful about the whole thing. In her mind, it was a good thing that Sidney was going to this wonderful place and she was happy for him.

I guess I could learn a thing or two from my daughter. Maybe we all could.

It's Never Long Enough

2010-11-03T16:08:00.000-07:00

This afternoon my heart dog, Sidney, was helped to the rainbow bridge. He was suffering from a traumatic back injury and based on blood work and x-rays, we think his body was being ravaged by cancer of some form as well.

We opted not to go to heroic measures. We also opted not to do an exploratory surgery as it was obvious Sid's body was simply giving out. So we decided to let him spend his last day at home. The vet assured us it was only a matter of time. We did the right thing to let him go. But why does the right thing have to hurt so damn much?

Sidney spent his last day eating whatever he wanted (steak, cupcakes, hot dogs, cheese, potato chips) and sleeping on the bed. It was a beautiful sunny fall day. Sid and Lacey spent a few hours this morning laying together in the sunshine.

I still can't believe he's gone. I feel like a chunk of my heart has been ripped out. Sid was not a young dog, but I simply cannot remember a time when he wasn't a part of our lives.

God speed my little wiggle butt.

I will always miss you.

Cragen's Century Remembered AKA "Sidney"
February 28, 1999 -- November 3, 2010

Glamor Girl

2010-11-01T22:04:00.000-07:00

Summer at 5 months of age. I have decided she looks a lot like her mother in blue. Such a pretty, pretty girl. And she's a funny little soul to boot. She had fun playing with Lucy who came to visit for the weekend while being shown at Vancouver. They became instant BFF's. It was very cute.

Clackamas Kennel Club Fun Match

2010-10-23T19:35:00.001-07:00

Today Summer went to another fun match in Canby. Once again, she was a very good girl. There was discussion on Carolyn's blog today about the "Super Happy to See EVERYONE" attitude of the Hannah/Wally puppies.

I'll let the pictures do the talking...

As you can see, Summer really liked the judge! LOL...

Ah, that's a little better. Still learning to stack herself, but at least she's focused on the cookie.

This fun match was awesome. The judge was really friendly and took her time with the puppies. And they let all participants get their photo taken, for free! They will email me the "real" one, but here is sneak preview. All the dogs got bandannas. And they let Isabel be in the photo too. How cute is this?

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie...Lay?...Lye?

2010-10-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

And here is the newly painted house and garage. It's hard to tell in photos, but the new shade of yellow is much richer and warmer than the old color. We love it!

I am so lucky to live here...

Catch Up

2010-10-09T09:03:00.000-07:00

Lots of exciting (and not-so-exciting) things here at Starry Nights lately. Let's see...

The house and garage are 95% painted. Only one upper section on one side of the garage left to do. After much debate we decided to stick with yellow. It's more of a warmer, more buttery yellow and we like it very much. It makes me happy (and somewhat hungry) to look at the house now. And it will be very cheery in winter. We ended up painting the whole thing by hand because we needed to make sure to get the paint on the underside of each board to try to extend the life of the siding. (Stupid LP....) We realized this is only a temporary band-aide, but it will buy us some time to save up for re-siding the whole thing.

After the great Red Maple debacle, (see my horse blog) we decided the property needed more trees. So we planted several Raywood Ashes, a European Mountain Ash, and an Autumn Purple Ash. My in-laws also donated some evergreens and were very helpful in planting all the new trees. They are supposed to be pretty fast growing, so hopefully we will have lots more color and shade in the years to come.

Obviously not our farm, but the beautiful fiery tree in the background is an Autumn Purple Ash.

A Raywood Ash in fall.

European Mountain Ash

In dog news, for those who missed it, Greta is temporarily living the life of a California girl. After the Richland dog show, she went home with her brother Cappy to hit some shows down south. We are very grateful to Trenton and Denise for opening their home to our funny girl.

As you can see, life is pretty rough for her right now!

Sidney, our 11 year old Pembroke, has been having some back trouble for the last month or so. I came home one day to find him all hunched up and clearly in pain. He was having some hind end coordination issues as well. Fearing the worst, I called the emergency vet and was assured that based on his symptoms that it was likely just a soft tissue injury and was told to crate rest him and give him Rimadyl. So that's what we did for several weeks.

When he showed no improvement I took him in for an examination. I had never seen this particular vet before and nor shall I ever go to her again. She hardly gave me the time of day, did a rather half-assed exam on Sid and told me to continue with the Rimadyl and crate rest. So that's what we did, however, a few days later Sidney went off his food, became very lethargic and clearly wasn't feeling well. This happened while I was in Richland for the dog show. My husband took him back in and saw a different vet who instructed us to immediately take him off the Rimadyl, give him a stomach coating pill and then come back in 7 to 10 days to possibly start him in steroids to help his back.

When I got back from the dog show, my husband said Sid was showing improvement, but I was shocked at how bad he looked! He has lost a lot of weight and was still very lethargic. I had to coax him to eat anything and he spent a lot of time sleeping. I feared we were losing our old man. But after a few days, he rallied. His appetite started to return and his attitude perked up considerably. He clearly still has a back issue, but at least he seems to be feeling better in general. Now a week later he seems nearly normal. He is back to being his bossy, obnoxious self. And strangely enough, his back is showing improvement as well with out any anti-inflammatories or steroids. His coordination is better and the "hump" in the middle of his back is lessening. If he continues to improve, I think we will skip the additional meds. I know how hard steroids can be on their system.

Sidney enjoying the sunset at Cannon Beach about 5 years ago.

In Isabel news, we have found a great pre-school for her to attend next year. This woman is so popular we had to get on the waiting list now for the 2011 school year! She is a retired school teacher who now works out of her home. They have a detached garage that is fully converted to a school. She still teaches reading phonetically and was very warm and positive when we met her. Isabel can hardly wait. Plus, the school is literally 3 minutes from our house.

For now, however, Isabel just continues to enjoy life. The other night her friend Caleb came over for a really great "Movie Night". Caleb's dad, Ryan, brought his projection machine and we played movies on side of the shop! The kids bundled up and laid on fold out lounge chairs. We had a campfire going in the fire pit to warm up by and later for roasting marshmallows. The weather was incredibly mild and everyone had a blast.

The kids posing in front of "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs." You can see just how big the image was!

Other than that, we are just busy doing projects here and there around the property trying to get ready for winter. I am soooo not ready for the rain. It seems like I blinked and suddenly fall had arrived. Sigh. There's always next summer, right?

3 going on 13...

2010-09-26T09:00:00.001-07:00

Summer @ the Fun Match

2010-09-20T14:14:00.000-07:00

Chintimini Kennel Club hosted a fun match in Corvallis on Sunday as part of AKC's responsible dog ownership weekend.

I thought it would be good practice for Summer. And it was fun. Summer behaved perfectly. She kissed the faces of anyone who said hi to her, kids and adults alike. She met lots of different breeds both large and small. She made friends with a young smooth Collie who was sitting near us ringside. She never got ruffled by any of the noise or activity. Even when a young Bouvier puppy knocked over the ring lattice right next to where we were sitting. Summer is a pretty brave girl.

She did better in the ring and on the table than I expected. The floors were quite slick but she managed without too many problems. She held relatively still on the table for a young puppy. And she even figured out how to bait. She's definitely one smart cookie.

As she grows up, Summer is becoming more and more like Hannah. She's going to be bigger than Greta and longer more like her mother. She is getting lots of glorious coat and her color just continues to get more beautiful. Her feet are already as big as Greta's and so are her ears. She's still wide in front, but not nearly as bad as Greta was at this age.

She is also more like Hannah in personality. Smart but laid back. Will roll over for a belly rub from anyone. Opinionated too. She has already flipped me the imaginary doggy middle finger a few times when she didn't want to do something.

So here is a little 2 minute video of Summer at her first dog show. Enjoy!

More Creepy Crawlies!

2010-09-14T09:38:00.001-07:00

I don't what the deal is with all the ginormous bugs around our property lately, but check out this spider I found yesterday!

It is a Black and Yellow Argiope AKA the Black and Yellow Garden Spider. According to what we read, this is likely a female because of her size and bright coloration.

They are harmless to people, but there was no way I was getting close to this thing. It was huge and scary looking! Actually, they are good to have around because they eat large amounts of annoying buzzing insects, but still...gave me the heeby geebies!

Now For Something Much Cuter

2010-09-09T20:34:00.001-07:00

Summer and Greta are like two peas in a pod. Sisters taste good.

Gotcha!

Roll the puppy!

Are leaves edible?

This bone has been marinating in the yard...mmmm. Summer's ears are up for the moment. Yay!

Tickling the puppy. (Yes Isabel is wearing a poofy pink Princess Dress. I swear I wasn't like this as a child. Not sure where it comes from!)

Oops! Isabel tripped while sprinting across the yard. This is the resulting photo op. Too cute!

EEEEWWWWWW!

2010-09-07T18:58:00.000-07:00

Last night was a very mild evening, so we had the house windows open to air out all the stuffiness that has collected over the summer from using the a/c. As I was going about doing my usual end of the day clean up after Hurricane Isabel, I heard Summer going crazy in the kennel.

She was barking her little head off, but I ignored it because I figured she was just anticipating the nightly romp in the living room with Greta. But the puppy didn't stop barking after a few minutes. Nor did she stop when I yelled at her from the window. Annoyed at how obnoxious she was being, I headed to the garage to see what the problem was. Look what I found in the middle of her kennel!

It was the biggest beetle I have ever seen in my life! I screamed and ran to get Josh as there was no way in hell I was touching that thing. Summer was backed in the corner of the kennel looking at me like "See! I TRIED to tell you!"

It made horrible screeching noises when Josh picked it up. I almost threw up it was so gross...

Hiro and Summer Video

2010-08-29T09:00:00.000-07:00

Glory Hallelujah!

We finally broke down and got high speed internet. We are now in the 21st century thanks to an AT&T wireless internet card. Woot! I am still kind of in shock. Especially since Josh set it up while I was out of town for the day.

So Hiro came for a play date with Summer yesterday. He is still a big mushy love bug. The two siblings had a great time wrestling. I tried to take photos, but they were moving too fast and everything came out blurry. I did, however, get some great video.

And now that I am no longer in the technological dark ages, I am able to upload and post video!

So without further ado, here they are. Make sure to have your sound turned if you're in the mood for a laugh! (And yes, I had fun playing with Windows Live Movie Maker...)

Summer at 12 Weeks

2010-08-27T16:32:00.000-07:00

Summer-Summer-B0-Bummer at 12 weeks. Going butt high, but I think she looks nice for being at an awkward age.

Note she is standing on my very own stacking box. :-) Josh helped me put it together this afternoon. I still need the Velcro for the back part so it was a little tricky using it for this photo shoot. Once I get it all secured, I can try to get her to lean forward a bit more. As it was, we got a lot of blooper shots of the back rung coming off...

Her beautiful head. The ears are nearly there. That left one still wants to fold at the base a bit, so we are still taping it.

Hiro is coming over to get his third shot tomorrow and have a play date with his sister. Isabel is excited to see the "big puppy" again.

Our Nightly Entertainment

2010-08-23T07:45:00.000-07:00

I know it's kinda dark but it's still pretty funny. Greta and Summer love to wrestle and at some point, Greta always gets the "zoomies" and runs crazy all over the living room. That night she kept running under the end table and making circles. I have better video of them playing, but for some reason YouTube doesn't want to let me upload those. I will keep trying and post them here if I ever succeed. (And yes, uploading a video on dial up takes hours. That's why I start it and go to bed...)

And just for fun, here are some blasts from the past!

This is Terra (C-Myste Xterra) with her Kong toy. Make sure you have the sound on for these.

And this is one of my all time favorites. Kimi-Willow (C-Myste Baledwr Eskimo Kiss) herding the vacuum. She was such a nut!

Some Things You Should Never Take For Granted

2010-08-19T10:33:00.000-07:00

Ugh. Sprained my sacroiliac joint carrying hay to the horses. Not good. Been flat on my back for nearly 4 days. Just now able to get up and walk around some. Won't be doing any bending or lifting for a while. Thank goodness husband has a flexible job and can stay home to take care of me/child/house/animals.

I will never take my back for granted again...

Summer Update

2010-08-13T21:05:00.000-07:00

No, puppy! Those aren't edible either.

Well, we redid her x-rays at 5pm and apparently whatever we saw earlier in the day were not rocks. Based on their size, shape, color, etc I would have sworn they were rocks and so would the vet, but the new x-rays showed that whatever was in her intestines was being digested. There were just tiny little specks of something spread out through all the way to her colon. The vet said if she had to guess, she would say they were bits of bone.

However, I know for a fact that Summer has not had any bones of any kind for over a week. All her chewy bones are super hard and impossible for her to get any pieces off of them. Maybe she ate shells at the beach? I doubt it as there were almost no shells on the sand that I saw. It's possible in theory, but I was also watching her like a hawk to make sure she didn't pick up any pebbles. I am pretty sure I would have noticed her eating a shell.

Well, whatever it was that we saw, the bottom line is the puppy won't need surgery after all. And that's good news no matter how you look at it.

She did eat a bit more dinner tonight and is still pooping. The color and consistency is still off, but no more true diarrhea like this morning.

We'll continue to monitor her closely just in case. Bad puppy for giving us all such a scare!

Summer is a BAAAAD puppy...

2010-08-13T13:38:00.001-07:00

Summer AKA C-Myste Baledwr SN Summertime Blues is staying here at Starry Nights to grow up. If she lives that is!

A little over a week ago, this innocent little puppy sucked up a bunch of rocks before I even realized what was happening! I tried to pry them from her mouth, but she swallowed them in one giant GULP.

Of course, this happened at the exact same time we lost Digger to very same thing. Needless to say, I was pulling my hair out with worry. But we fed the puppy some olive oil to "grease the system" and have been keeping a close eye on her. The day after she ate the rocks, she thew up one about the size of a medium olive. Whew!

She seemed to be ok (i.e. eating/drinking/going to the bathroom, playing, etc.) until yesterday when she refused to eat breakfast. Then she refused dinner. Wouldn't eat breakfast this morning either. Then she started pooping puddles. Uh-oh.

Took her to the vet and insisted on an x-ray. And guess what? 3 lovely rocks sitting in her intestines. Two small pea sized ones and one bigger one about the same size as the one she thew up.

Since she doesn't seem to be in too much distress, we are going the olive oil route again and will x-ray again later today to see if the rocks are making any progress. If not, we will re-evaluate the need to do surgery. I will likely opt for the surgery as I would rather know they are out. Plus the longer you leave them in there, the more risk of damage to her intestinal walls. We do NOT want to have to try to re-sect her intestines if possible.

Why oh why did she have to inherit the Alice gene? Baaaaad Summer! Will keep everyone posted on how things turn out. After we got home from the vet I was able to get her to eat a little and she went potty again. It was far from normal, but at least it wasn't a puddle like this morning.

In happier news, got an update on Abby (FKA Poppy). Her family reports that she plays non-stop with their golden mix and that Coty LOVES his new puppy. I can tell from the photos they sent.

That's one happy kid and dog.

Thanks for the update Colleen. Keep 'em coming!

The New "Kids" on the Block

2010-08-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

OK, they're not technically kids because they are two years old, but I thought it was funny anyway.

Meet our newest herd members:

"Daisy"

"Bunny" AKA "Rabbit"

They are purebred Pygmy goat does. They are going to be our attempt at "green" weed control for our pastures. We avoid using chemicals whenever possible to maintain our lawn and have done pretty well at just hand plucking the weeds as they pop up around the house. But despite our best efforts, the weeds have gotten out of control in our pastures.

I know the goats won't be as effective or quick at weed control as chemicals would be, but we feel better about choosing this option. Plus, their kinda fun. We missed having the goats around. These two are very tame, have been show goats as babies. Daisy's bite went off as she grew, so she is no longer considered "show quality". Bunny is her constant companion, so when their breeder decided to find her a new home, they came as a package. Bunny is very, very sweet and lets Isabel walk her all over the property on a leash.

Right now the dog kennel has been turned into goat housing while we finish fencing the front pasture. I attempted to tether the goats in the field, but it was a dismal failure. If I staked the goats too close together, they got all tangled up and just stood there pathetically bleating. If I staked them far apart to avoid tangling, then they just stood there and called for each other. Silly goaties.

Soon we will have the fence up and they will be able to free roam the front acre. I am hunting for a couple more small goats to add to the herd, as two won't be nearly enough to tackle all the weeds.

Both Daisy and Bunny need to put on a few pounds, as they were the meekest in their previous herd and got chased away from the food a lot. I have wormed them and added goat appropriate minerals to their diet in addition to giving them free choice hay along with grain twice a day. They are eating well and have already put on some weight.

Stay tuned to see who else joins the herd next!

Poppy Goes Home

2010-08-09T20:41:00.000-07:00

Poppy will be living with Colleen and family in Tualatin, which is very close to me. They promise to bring her back for play dates with Greta. Poppy's new name is Abby. She will be registered at C-Myste Baledwr SN Kokomo. So cute!

(We taped her ears after snapping this photo.)

Abby will be Colleen's son Coty's dog. She will sleep in his room. They are a great match. Coty is interested in learning more about agility and rally. I am to let them know next time there is a dog show in the area so they can go check it out.

I love when we find great people like this for the puppies. Makes giving them up easier knowing they will be so well loved.

Now that there are no other puppies to rip it off, Summer got her Princess Crown. Her ears are going to be a piece of cake compared to Greta's.

Crowns are very itchy and annoying.

Summer seems to be handling the transition ok. Tonight may be a bit tough on her. She does like all the attention she's getting now that she's the only puppy. She gets to be outside with the family more. (As long as I keep a close eye on her with the rocks. Stoopid puppy still grabs them off the ground. Now she seems to want to just carry one around in her mouth, but I don't trust her for an instant!)

And Then There Were Two...

2010-08-08T08:45:00.000-07:00

Bye Louie/Hiro. Isabel will miss you. We look forward to seeing you grow up. Play nice with Phoebe and the cats.

Workin' Hard for His Money

2010-08-02T09:39:00.000-07:00

Just so you don't think that all I ever blog about is dogs.

Check out Josh's exciting night at work:

http://southwestportland.katu.com/content/fire-starts-rv-spreads-home

Too bad he is working overtime today also! Hopefully he will get a chance to take a nap this afternoon.

Love you, honey! Thanks for being the breadwinner and letting me stay home to be a human, horse and dog-mom.

I Just Can't Seem to Help Myself...

2010-07-30T16:20:00.001-07:00

I could just sit and watch these puppies all day long. It's hard to get anything done! I have taken hundreds of photos of them since they arrived last week. LOL.

I love sleeping puppies...Here is Summer taking a mid-day siesta.

Poppy is a quiet puppy...when she's sleeping, that is!

For Jaime and Katherine. Louie is so sweet but he has a rowdy side when he wants to. Mainly just after eating. Every morning after breakfast he gets the "zoomies" and races around the kennel. It's hilarious. I used to drink my morning coffee in front of the computer. Now I just sit and watch them play.

Nate has a new name: Brodie.

Tried to capture his cute little trot, but puppies hardly move in straight lines for more than a nanosecond.

Here he reminds me of his Uncle Chase.

Such a happy, happy puppy. He will be registered as C-Myste Baledwr SN Surfin' USA. He is the only one who still resists the leash. He lays down and gives you the saddest puppy eyes. That must come from Hannah. LOL.

Leash Training 101

2010-07-28T08:11:00.000-07:00

Whew! Learning to walk on a leash is hard work!

Puppy Party Pics

2010-07-26T18:18:00.000-07:00

Other than being hotter than heck, I think everyone had a pretty good time. Lots of people and dogs we haven't seen in quite some time. Big puppies, little puppies and dogs who are still puppies at heart played and frolicked under the shade of the many E-Z Ups.

Brian amusing the crowd with his funny stories.

Huxley thought it was very unfair that he was in jail.

More socializing.

Malibu kept an eye on everyone.

Front to back: Hannah, Clem, Lucy and Iris.

Hi Iris.

This other red dog snuck in the puppy pen! Actually it's one of the Pie-Ell puppies. She came down so we could all admire how pretty she is. She played very well with the little puppies.

And then she took a long nap!

Nemo came to visit again with his new family. Here he is with Becca. I think he looks very happy.

Malibu playing "fun police" while Nemo and Hope run wild.

Greta was not thrilled with the arrival of the new puppies. She refused to eat for two days. I think she was put out that her kid was more interested in the interlopers.

More Cuteness Than You Can Shake a Stick At...

2010-07-23T16:19:00.001-07:00

It would be a understatement to simply say that Isabel is excited about the puppies. The poor things are hardly getting any rest because she wants to play with them *all* the time. I had to explain to her that they are just babies and they need their rest...Not that it did any good. She still sneaks out to the puppy pen every time my back is turned.

Awww...

Katie didn't even move as Isabel was attempting to snuggle with her.

Opie and Quinn sharing a secret.

Nate or maybe Mason attacking Isabel's piggies.

This is one stunning puppy.

Also, the puppies got professional photos taken this morning. Stay tuned to see the results!

Slight Change in Plans

2010-07-21T23:28:00.000-07:00

Due to the large number of folks coming to the puppy party, I have decided that my idea for doing the kabobs is a bit too ambitious.

So instead we will be doing burgers on the grill. Much easier for a large crowd. We will throw on a couple of garden burgers too for anyone who isn't a carnivore.

I will still be making potato salad and fruit salad, but if anyone feels like contributing any additional side dishes, I wouldn't say no to the help. Or if you have a particularly yummy dessert you would like to share, that would be fantastic as well!

Still BYOB/W

See ya'll in a few days!

Puppy Party!

2010-07-17T20:20:00.000-07:00

What: Evaluation on the Wally x Hannah 2.0 litter

When: Saturday July 24, 2010 2pm

Where: Megan's Place in Newberg (ask for directions)

Why: To snuggle puppies, of course!

We will be outside on the lawn unless it's unbearably hot. We have some shade and an e-z up and about a half dozen chairs, but feel free to bring your own.

There will be a BBQ dinner following the puppy evals.

Menu:

BBQ Chicken/Veggie Kabobs

Homemade potato salad

Fruit salad

Bring your own beer/wine.

As the sun goes down, we will be lighting a fire in our fire pit and roasting S'MORES! (Brings back the good 'ol camping days...)

For those who wish to spend the night, we can offer an air mattress in one of our extra rooms or if you wish, there is lots of lawn space to pitch a tent.

This will be a pretty casual affair and should be lots of fun. All I ask is that you comment below and RSVP for dinner and/or accommodations so I can have some idea what to plan for. (I know some of you have already contacted me.)

"Hope" to see you there!

Reptile Man at the Newberg Library

2010-07-14T14:58:00.000-07:00

Every Wednesday the Newberg Public Library has an activity outside on the lawn. Last week was a folk singer. Today was the Reptile Man. Isabel was very excited to go see the snakes. (And so was Snow White apparently.)

Sunblock? Check. Hat? Check. Sunglasses? Check. Cute child? Double check.

I think this is a green Mamba. Cousin to the better know black Mamba.

I can't remember which snake this is.

Rattlesnake, I think.

Python being held by a bunch of kids. Isabel got to pet this snake when the presentation was over. I asked her what it felt like and she replied, "A toy." That's 3 year old thinking for you. :-)

Rhino aka Nemo

2010-07-04T21:32:00.001-07:00

Marianne sent me this video tonight. I think Nemo is a much better name than Rhino...I would say things are going well.

Rhino Pics

2010-07-04T15:03:00.001-07:00

Rhino's family dropped him off this morning. The kids had already said their good byes and it was easier for them to stay at their grandparents. Steve and Yvette are good people trying to do what's best for a dog they clearly love. Kudos to them.

Rhino spent the morning and part of the afternoon playing on the farm with my dogs. Of course, he and Greta got on like peanut butter and jelly.

As far as I can tell, Rhino is a sweet, happy-go-lucky guy. He is not a dominant personality yet he isn't really shy either. He did some barking at the big strange black and brown things in the pasture (horses) but otherwise settled in quickly.

He did try to sneak off with a fresh horse apple plucked from the manure pile, but as soon as I commanded him to "drop it" he did so immediately. Good dog Rhino.

I also tried to get a feel for his temperament by doing things like examining his toes, eyes, teeth etc. and he was good for all of it. I picked him up to see what he would do and he could have cared less. I rolled him onto his back and he was totally relaxed and enjoyed a belly rub.

Overall, I think Rhino has a pretty typical Cardigan personality. I cannot say how he would be in a house with young children only because I didn't let him interact with Isabel out of concern for both child and dog, but I think he would be perfectly fine in a home with adults or older children.

Later in the afternoon, a friend of ours went for a drive in the country to come pick up Rhino for the time being. Marianne and her husband Brian have Hope, the littlest puppy from our first Hannah/Wally litter. The also have an older Cardi girl named Derri.

Huge thanks to Marianne for fostering the little guy. Who knows? Maybe she and Brian will fall in love with Rhino...

Something Seems to Be Missing Here...

2010-07-02T20:45:00.000-07:00

Oh yeah. That would be our stove/oven which decided to crap out 6 days after our home warranty expired.

It was 15 years old so I guess it had a good, long, useful life. And I was planning to replace the appliances....eventually...

So we are picking up the new one tomorrow. At least we got it on sale. And it's black which will look better than the old almond colored one.

In other news, Isabel had to go back to the doctor for the second time this week. She was having a recurring fever and was acting very lethargic. Her toe is healing well and showed no sign of infection so we were puzzled as to why she had the fever. Then she told us it hurt to go potty so we went back in to get her tested for a UTI, which she has had once before. Of course, she couldn't squeeze even one tiny drop of urine for the sample while we were there but the moment we got home she peed enough to fill two sample cups!

Turns out she does have another UTI so now she's on anti-biotics and feeling much better!

Can You Give Rhino a New Home?

2010-06-30T19:31:00.001-07:00

Hi! My name is Rhino. I am a one year old neutered male Cardigan Corgi. I currently live with my family in Bothell, WA but I need to find a new home. I sometimes get too excited around the two young children I live with and forget that I should not herd them, so my mom and dad say I need to live somewhere where there are no kids.

I get along well with other dogs and often spend my days at doggy daycare where I happily play with other dogs of all sizes. When I have been around kitties, I just ignore them.

I also sometimes get possessive of my food, so I need a new family that can enforce the rules at feeding time. But when the rules are laid out for me, I respect them.

So won't someone please give me a new home? I am current on my shots and am housebroken. I love to play and go for walks.

A Tough Week

2010-06-29T08:50:00.000-07:00

Poor Isabel. She has been having a bad week so far. It started on Sunday morning when she woke up really early and threw up in her bed. Then she came downstairs and told me she felt sick and then promptly threw up on the living room floor. Lovely. I covered the couch in towels, got her a pot lined with paper towels and let her spend the morning watching TV.

Mid morning she insisted she was hungry, so I let her eat a couple of saltines and sip some apple juice. Big mistake. At lunchtime, while I was distracted, she went into the bathroom and while sitting on the potty, thew up all over the floor. She called to me and I ran into the bathroom and of course, stepped right in the puddle of puke with my bare feet. GROSS. At least it was on the linoleum instead of the carpet or furniture.

She slept all afternoon that day but was able to keep some bland foods down that night and seemed fine the next day, other than taking an extra long nap again. Kids are amazing in their ability to bounce back from illness.

But the fun wasn't over yet. Yesterday evening as I was making dinner, Isabel managed to shut her foot in the backdoor. She was heading outside to play with the dogs and somehow managed to slam the door on her big toe, resulting in a nice cut and peeling her toe nail 2/3's of the way back. The blood and screaming that ensued were epic.

Isabel was in a lot of pain and we were unsure how to clean/bandage her toe, so we made a trip to the urgent care doctor. But that ended up being a complete waste of time and money. All they did was put a band aid on her toe and charge us $200...What a freaking rip off. I really dislike doctors sometimes.

So here is Isabel this morning. She is asking to be carried everywhere and refuses to uncurl her toes.

Her poor piggies.

Ah the joys of parenting. (Oh, and Josh was at work when Isabel was throwing up so he missed out on all that fun. At least he was home for the Big Toe Incident because Isabel was not a good patient!)

King of the World!

2010-06-17T08:28:00.000-07:00

"I can see the whole yard from up here!"

I love Wally. He's such a Good Dog. I will be showing him at Canby next weekend. Should be fun as Wally likes to play the "Stare at the Cookie" game. It would be kinda neat to see him earn his Grand Champion title, even if I do think it's mostly a money making scheme.

Isabel loves Wally too. She keeps finding leashes and putting them on him. He just patiently follows her around and puts up with playing "doctor" and dress up and the like. Good boy Wally. No wonder your puppies all have such great temperaments.

Counts for the Clackamas KC:

(Sat and Sun) 2-6-5-0

Ring times:

Sat 9:00 am after 2 briards and 9 vallhunds
Sun 12:55 pm after 2 buhunds, 3 old english and 6 bearded collies

Not too painful.

Kids n Dogs

2010-05-12T19:56:00.000-07:00

I know. I know. Not very original blog content, but they are so darn cute I can't help but share.

Think she's having fun?

Ashes. Ashes. We all fall down!

Wally enjoys his visits to "the farm."

Handsome man.

Father and daughter.

Greta may have Hannah's coloring, but she is Wally's daughter through and through.

Boo Hannah

2010-05-06T09:02:00.000-07:00

As we anxiously anticipate the arrival of the Wally x Hannah puppies, I thought it might be interesting to re-visit some pics from the first litter. Carolyn posted 5 week pregnant pics of Hannah on her blog and was speculating we might have less puppies this time. I don't know...I think Mandy may be right. Hannah wasn't that big when she got to my house, but ballooned like crazy in the last couple of weeks.

Here she is at about 3 weeks prior to the puppies arrival:

Here she is about a week later:

And another week later:

And about two days before the litter of 10 arrived:

Here's to hoping for another super healthy, beautiful litter with lots of blue girls, whatever the number ends up being!

Close Encounters of the Balloon Kind

2010-04-19T09:18:00.000-07:00

Yesterday morning I woke up at my usual time (7am) and started to make my coffee before heading out to let the dogs out/feed the horses. As I was scooping my morning brew, I noticed the neighbor's dogs (some sort of Anatolian livestock guardian things) were barking a strange sounding alarm bark. My own crew was unusually quiet.

Just as I stepped outside my backdoor, I heard a loud roaring noise and was startled when I looked up towards the source of the sound to see a hot air balloon hovering just over my house. Like I mean literally only 20, 50? feet over my house. Close enough that I could see the people looking over the side of the basket and clearly hear them say, "Good morning." Once the heart palpitations passed, I grabbed Isabel and we headed outside to watch the balloon pass by. We spotted a second one. "This is cool," was my initial reaction.

Then we noticed the balloons were getting lower and lower. And I noticed the trucks emblazoned with the company logo driving up our road. Hmmmm. They don't appear to be just passing by.

We watched as one of the balloons dropped lower and lower and eventually touched down in the empty field across the street from us. A bunch of employees from the balloon company ran up and grabbed the basket. They were only on the ground for a few minutes and then the balloon headed up once again and eventually floated on its way.

The horses were watching all the commotion across the street with extreme interest but otherwise seemed OK with it.

Then I noticed the second balloon was hovering awfully close to the row of aspen trees that lines out driveway. As in, touching the tops of the trees close. They attempted to get the balloon to go higher, and it cleared the trees, but was now floating just over our house. It seemed they were aiming for the same field across the street, but it soon became apparent they weren't going to make it. It was coming down at an alarming rate. Uh, please don't land on my house...

Soon they dropped a rope from the basket and an army of people were suddenly scrambling through our front pasture grabbing the rope and clearly attempting to pull the balloon away from the house. At this point, the horses decided that the action was coming a little to close to home and they started to get agitated. I went to their paddock to try to talk them down or maybe catch one of them, but in a manner of seconds chaos erupted. A gal from the balloon company came running up my drive way and asked in a panicked voice if they could touch down in my field. Um, do I really have a choice at this point?

The balloon didn't make a sound when it touched down, but the giant billowing horse-eating monster was too much for Ari and Patches. Ari turned and started running her paddock in a blind panic. She even attempted to jump the fence at one point and thankfully only bounced off and was unhurt. She did break the electric fence on top, but nothing that isn't an easy fix. I tried in vain to catch her but she was absolutely convinced that the hot air balloon was going to be her demise.

It took nearly 45 minutes for them to deflate, roll up and pack the balloon. My horses were running crazy all over the paddock the entire time. Suddenly our close encounter with the balloons wasn't so fun. I feared that the horses were going to hurt themselves or get sick from the stress.

The balloon pilot at least had the good manners to apologize and give me his card. He said if they caused any damage or cost me any money, to give him a call.

I did finally manage to catch Ari and Patches and had to walk them out for quite a while because they were both drenched in sweat. I checked them both closely for injuries and kept a close eye on them all day yesterday. They seem to have survived the ordeal unscathed.

What a morning. Not quite how I expected to start my day. From now on, I will take my hot air balloon experiences from a distance, thanks.

Easter

2010-04-05T08:59:00.001-07:00

Sunday morning a couple of Isabel's friends came over for an impromptu Easter egg hunt. The rain held off just long enough! The kids also dyed and decorated eggs (with lots of parent help). Then we all enjoyed BBQ'd chicken, fruit salad, home-made potato salad and strawberry shortcake for dessert.

A good time was had by all.

Ryan, Caleb's dad, in the kitchen mixing egg dye.

Josh hiding eggs.

Ready to start!

Once Isabel figured out the game, she was determined to find the most eggs.

Caleb's G.Q. pose.

My favorite pic of the day. Ari wanted to know if there were any carrots inside the Easter eggs.

Congrats to Cappy

2010-03-27T08:15:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, Captain became the first puppy from the Hannah x Wally litter to finish his championship. We are so very proud of Cappy, and of Trenton for doing such a great job showing him.

(This is from last summer in Bandon.)

In honor of Captain's accomplishment, I thought it would be fun to take a little trip down memory lane...

Captain was once one of three blue boys in a litter of 10 puppies! He was the first blue to come out and the third puppy born. He was HUGE from the very beginning! I knew as soon as I dried him off that he was going to be special. His wide white blaze was stunning and his coloring was lovely.

Captain started out the biggest and I'm pretty sure he still is today. Here he is with his tiny sister, Hope, who was so little we didn't think she would make it through the first night. Hope and Captain were inseparable. What an odd couple they were!

Cappy, even at only 5 weeks old, showed so much promise!

He can be such a goon, like his dad Wally. Here he is wrestling with his sister Greta.

First experience with snow. Raising a litter of 1o in the winter was no easy task, that's for sure.

Greta and Cappy, July 2009

(Thanks Denise for this lovely photo.)

So again, congratulations Captain! We look forward to hearing about your new exploits.

New Family Member

2010-02-28T10:57:00.001-08:00

A four legged one that is. Introducing Patches, our newest herdmember...

He is a registered Miniature Horse. (Yes, he is considered a horse, not a pony, even though he only measures 32" tall at the base of his neck AKA withers.) You can read more about him on my horse blog, Cross Country Dreamin'. Can you stand the cuteness?

It's Undeniable...

2010-02-17T11:55:00.001-08:00

...that these two have a very special bond. I know that corgis and kids are generally a great combination, but Greta and Isabel are cute beyond words.

Greta took my breath away the moment she was born -- I knew she was going to be something special. But while my plans involve being a show dog and then eventually a momma dog, right now her calling seems to be being a best friend for my daughter. Check out these photos from when the puppies were only 4 weeks old!

Look who's in Isabel's lap? All the photos are like this!
Josh and I sometimes feel guilty that Isabel is an only child. But I don't think Isabel minds one bit that her only "siblings" are the four-footed kind. And I couldn't have asked for a better temperament in Greta or any of the other nine puppies. Yet another reason I would like to repeat the breeding.

This is what I saw looking out the window this morning.

Good dog Greta. Good dog.

This and That

2010-02-17T08:26:00.000-08:00

Haven't been posting much on this blog lately. Lots happening on my horse blog. Getting ready to bring my horse home in order to save money. Boarding a horse is expensive! So we've been taking advantage of all the spring-like weather to build the new paddock and run-in for the horse. Also gearing up for the spring and summer show season. Ari and I already went to our first schooling show and brought home a blue and a red ribbon!

Josh is back to work! Hallelujah for small miracles. He's doing quite well actually. His back feels great and he is nearly 100% again. He also started his bike racing season. His first race didn't go as planned, but I'll let you ask him about that! Let's just say he needs a new helmet!

The dogs are enjoying the warmer weather as well. It's not unusual for me to look out the back door and see the three of them sprawled out along the concrete walkway behind the garage soaking up the morning sunshine. Greta is finally done with her heat cycle. Now she just needs to put a few more pounds back on and we'll be hitting the show ring again soon.

We were able to sneak away for a quick beach vacation over Valentine's day. The weather was amazingly warm and mostly sunny. Even on when it rained, we were still able to play on the beach. We were joined on part of the trip by Isabel's friend Caleb and his dad. The two kids had a lot of fun playing.

Little signs of spring every where I look! I am so ready to be done with winter.

Happy Birthday Princess Frog

2010-02-05T08:32:00.001-08:00

I can hardly believe Isabel turned 3 yesterday! She is turning into such a funny little girl. She keeps us on our toes and cracks us up constantly. Since we are not "party people" we decided to keep the birthday celebrations low key. The day started with Josh picking up Isabel's best friend Caleb for the day. He had to go get Caleb at 6am because Caleb's mom had to take her parents to the airport, drop her car off at the shop and get to to work by 8am! But it was worth it as the two kids had a great time playing all day.

Looking at something interesting outside.

Little does she know, a scary Caleb-monster lurks behind her!

We did have a small celebration at the Underground Cafe. It's mostly a college student hang out, but we love the food and atmosphere there. I'm not sure all the people trying to study appreciated us being there, but we kept things pretty under control.

Isabel has discovered the Disney princesses. She has been coveting this cake we saw at Safeway for months now! Somehow the entire party ended up being princess themed. Hazard of raising a girl, I guess.

Our little Princess Frog eating her cake while her new Snow White and Cinderella dolls watch.

Happy Birthday Bubba. I love you!

Stoopid Baddogs...

2010-01-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

Lacey, our 10 year old Aussie, knocked open the garbage this morning. Josh went to leave for his follow up appointment this morning and discovered shredded paper, plastic and whatnot all over the ground outside. I went out to pick it and to my horror, realized that the dogs devoured an entire cooked chicken carcass.

Great. Now I am having visions of splintered bones and perforated intestines. I called the vet and they told me to watch them closely for the next 48 to 72 hours.

Sometimes Lacey makes me so mad! This dog must have an iron gut. So far in her life she has eaten the following (without ever getting truly sick): an entire "bear" of honey, a bag of chocolate covered espresso beans, a toilet intake valve (which resulted in flooding our downstairs), a strand of Christmas lights (glass and all), power bars, more trash than I can count and many other various unknown nasties that have ended up all over the lawn. I am not all that worried about her, but the last thing I need right now is for Greta to get sick. I am also worried about Sid, the old Pembroke, because of the fat content I am sure he inhaled from the carcass. Sid had a bout of acute pancreatitis a few years ago so I try not to let him get into really greasy things.

Stupid, stupid dogs...

Snow Day

2010-01-09T09:31:00.000-08:00

EDITOR'S NOTE: Josh wanted me to amend my statement below regarding his back injury. He is not technically "bed-ridden," just out of commission for at least 3 weeks, probably longer. However, I would like to point out that he has only been out of bed for a few minutes at a time all weekend long. He is hoping to be able to start scheduling physical therapy on Monday. We'll see...

So these pics are actually from December when we got nearly 5 inches of snow in one afternoon, but I am just now getting around to posting them thanks to my 3rd sinus infection since Thanksgiving. I was so miserable that the doc referred me to an ENT, who thankfully decided I do NOT need my tonsils out, but did put me on a heavy dose of prednisone and yet more antibiotics. I am feeling somewhat human again, but am definitely not enjoying the side effects of my meds. Ugh!

In other news, Josh is bed ridden for 3 to 6 weeks thanks to an acute lower lumbar strain. An MRI also revealed several swollen disks. He is not a happy camper. Thank goodness for muscle relaxants and ibuprofen.

He originally injured his back in November moving a patient at work. He took a good amount of time off from work, rehabbed his back carefully under the guidance of a chiropractor and was feeling really good. He was back to work and cycling by Christmas. But then a few days ago, we took Isabel to the zoo for the afternoon and he carried her on his shoulders for a little bit, as well as on his hip when she got too tired to walk. By the time we got to the car, he couldn't stand up straight. It was very strange since he carried Isabel for literally less than 15 minutes. But apparently his back was not completely healed and something about the way he was carrying her aggravated everything about 10 times worse than his original injury. Poor guy...

Anyway. Onto something happier: kids, dogs, & snowmen.

First Snow of 2009

2009-12-29T13:37:00.000-08:00

Around 1:30 pm today it started snowing! First snow this year. First snow at our new house. And no one else is here to enjoy it with me. Josh is baby-sitting Isabel's cousins and he took her with him to give me an afternoon off. I hope he makes it home tonight! Thank goodness for all the wheel drive Subaru.

Right after the snow started, Greta was running around snapping snowflakes out of the air. Here she is gazing in wonder at all the white stuff falling from the sky.

Little Dog Lost...

I'm a big kid now!

2009-12-27T09:07:00.000-08:00

Many of you may remember the beautiful crib Isabel's grandpa made for her by hand. It is an amazing piece of artwork but at the same time it is very sturdy and built to last. I have no doubt it will become a family heirloom to be passed onto future generations.

Another nice feature of the crib is that it converts to a toddler bed and then eventually it can be used as a full size bed. Isabel has never tried to climb out of her crib and has been very happily sleeping through the night in it for quite some time. But as her third birthday quickly approaches, we decided it was time for her to start sleeping in her "big girl bed."

I am amazed at how simple the transition was. I planned on many sleepless nights of repeatedly putting her back into bed. However, she seems just as content to sleep in the toddler bed as she was the crib. Hooray!

She does sometimes get herself up and attempt to get dressed by herself if I am slow coming upstairs in the mornings. Which is all fine and good as long she is only wet when she wakes up!

Anyways...

So thank you again Papa for Isabel's beautiful bed. As Isabel put it, "It's so, so warm and cozy!"

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T10:57:00.000-08:00

HO! HO! HO!

2009-12-09T20:15:00.000-08:00

Tonight was "Kelly-Land," an annual holiday party hosted by Kelly-Group Keller Williams Realty here in Newberg. Each year they transform their turn-of-the-century farmhouse office into a winter wonderland complete with lights, decorations, snow, free pictures with Santa, free mochas for the parents and a stocking that the kids get to fill with free toys.

This was the first year that Isabel was actually willing to sit with Santa and didn't cry! I was very proud of her. When Santa asked her what she wanted for Christmas, Isabel replied, "A candy cane." Santa laughed and said, "How about a doll too?" Isabel replied emphatically, "Yes!" It was pretty cute. I really like how her picture turned out. (They will email us the "official" one later, but the ones I took over the photographer's shoulder turned out great.) We also got to chat with Jessica, our realtor who sold us our house. (She works for the Kelly Group.) She was very excited to hear that we still love our house and wants to come by to see the place all decked out for the holidays.

We also got our Christmas tree today. In the spirit of being "green" we bought a live Noble fir and have it in a pot our our living room. We will plant it after the holidays. We also got the energy efficient LED lights for the tree. I will have to try to get a picture of our tree. It's very cute.

How to be a total jerk on Ebay...

2009-12-07T18:53:00.000-08:00

I just have to share this. I cannot believe how dishonest some people are.

I have been looking for a new pair of tall leather riding boots. After trying on several pairs at the local tack shop, I have decided on Ariat boots as they are unbelievably comfortable. I have been looking for a good deal online and the other day I came across an Ebay listing for a pair in the exact size I need, that had been tried on once, but were other wise brand new. I thought, aha! Here is my chance to get a very nice pair of boots and save a lot of cash. There was a pretty good "buy it now", but there was also the option to make an offer. So I thought what they heck, I think I'll make an offer and see what happens.

Of course, the seller did not accept my first offer and sent me a counter offer. I countered back and so did they and so on and so forth for a few days. Also, a random but important side note in this little story is that I also emailed the seller and asked them to send me additional photos of the boots, including the bottom of the boots specifically. Which they did right away.

So this morning, I countered with what was pretty much my final offer. I agreed to their price, but wanted free shipping. You see, when you are making an offer on Ebay, there is a little section to add "terms" to you offer. If the seller accepts your offer, they also have to accept the terms you set. So the terms of my offer were that the seller pay for shipping.

Fairly quickly I got an email from Ebay saying that my offer had been accepted. I was excited and was logging into my Ebay account to pay for the boots when I got an email directly from the seller (not through the Ebay message system). The email stated, "i am so sorry i cannot find them and will have to cancel - hope you understand." Then I got an email from Ebay stating that the seller was requesting to cancel our transaction. I was thoroughly confused at this point and hadn't had enough coffee. I thought who the hell loses a pair of boots, especially when they just took additional photos for me the day before, but oh well. I agreed to cancel the transaction and didn't think much more about it except to be pretty disappointed.

That is until I saw that the seller had re listed the exact same boots only moments later. OK, now I'm pissed. What the heck was this person doing? Then I tried to make an offer on the boots only to find that they had blocked my ability to bid on the boots. Now I'm furious. I can only guess the seller didn't realize my offer had included the additional terms until after they accepted it.

I immediately reported them to Ebay as a fraudulent seller. I had to actually call Ebay to report them as the stupid resolution center was too limited in its options and this little fiasco didn't fit into any of their drop down menus. When I told the very nice customer service rep what this person had done, she was pretty shocked too. Unfortunately they can't force this guy to revoke his cancellation of the transaction, and they won't tell me what exactly is going to happen to the seller, but she did say "Oh yes! This will definitely affect his ability to sell on Ebay again." I hope he/she gets more than a slap on the wrist, but knowing the way things work, probably not. All I can say from this experience is don't buy anything from horseysaddles4u.

Happenings

2009-12-04T08:40:00.000-08:00

My father-in-law commented yesterday that I haven't posted in a while. That's because not much has been going on that is blog worthy. The Thanksgiving holiday was crazy and busy, but filled with lots of friends and family. My birthday was un-eventful. With Josh working we didn't have anything planned, other than taking me out to eat at some of my favorite places. (mmmm...sushi....)

Greta has been taking a break from showing to grow up both mentally and physically. She is just coming out of a massive full coat blow. She has also hit that awful skinny teenage phase that many Cardigans go through. I will be entering her all four days at Portland (thank doG for the bred by class price break!) I guess that means I gotta start taking her to handling class again so she won't pull the crap she did at Richland.

Isabel is completely day time potty trained. Hooray for small miracle! She is talking up a storm and is excited for Christmas. Everywhere we drive at night, she has to exclaim and point out all the lights appearing on the houses and yards.

Josh has been home from work the last week for injuring his back while moving a patient. Nothing serious, but bad enough that when he had a pretty major fire his last shift, he was pretty boogered up after the adrenaline wore off. So he has been getting chiropractic three times a week and that has been helping. The doctors recommended being pretty conservative and taking at least a couple of weeks off before returning to work given the nature of his job. I agree. Backs are nothing to mess with!

I have been busy riding my horse every chance I get. We have started taking dressage lessons twice a month and am already seeing progress! Yay! I have also decided to start my usual New Year's resolution early this year and have begun trying to get back into shape. I would really like to drop about 25 lbs by spring. I am trying to do strengthening exercises a couple of days a week (sit ups, push ups, pilates, etc) and go for a walk or bike ride the other days. My mind really wants to start running again, but my body says no. Every time I do, my knees and hips punish me horribly. Sigh. I hate getting older. Josh keeps mentioning wanting to try triathlons again, but wow. I don't know about that. That was a lifetime ago that we were young and supple (and stupid) enough to want to swim a mile, bike 25 and run a 5k (or whatever the distances were....) That just sounds way too, uh, energetic for me these days...

You Suck At Craigslist

2009-11-25T08:43:00.000-08:00

Need a good laugh?

Check out http://www.yousuckatcraigslist.com/ ...

Much like sites like the Fail Blog and F. U., Penguin, this one makes me giggle! Guess I like very low brow humor...

You Know You're a Dog Person When...

2009-11-12T09:24:00.001-08:00

You're too lazy to cook dinner for your husband but spend half an hour putting together the dogs' food. Josh walked into the kitchen as I was prepping the dog bowls last night and exclaimed, "They eat better than I do!"

I have to admit, the chicken, pork neck bones, beef heart, peas, blueberries and Missing Link did look more appetizing than the fish sticks and tater tots I had thrown into the oven for the humans...

(I will, however, spare you a photo as some people might be grossed out by the raw meat...)

Happy Howl-O-Ween

2009-10-31T22:24:00.000-07:00

Isabel giving her best "bewitching" smile as mommy forces her to pose for the obligatory "stand in front on this wall in the living room while I take your photo" picture.

Posing with her puppy.

Mmmm....Oreos.

Ready to Trick or Treat with her cousins, Zenzo (Superman) and Thabo (Little Devil).

Ding dong!

Hooray For Underpants!

2009-10-26T09:30:00.000-07:00

Hip, hip, hooray!

Isabel has been out of daytime diapers for over a week now. We only had one accident the first day. Since then she has been 100% about using the potty. Even when we are out and about. She doesn't seem to have any fear of strange bathrooms yet. Crossing my fingers that she continues to be so awesome about it!

She is still a bit young to understand waking up to go potty, so we are still using a diaper at night. But the books all say that is normal for many kids and is actually OK until they are 5! I sure as heck hope she isn't still using a diaper at 5, but if she is, I guess we'll roll with it.

(And no, there have not been anymore broken bones in the pursuit of toilet training!)

Today's random cuteness: Isabel and Hannah from a few months ago. I found this picture on the camera when I was uploading some images. I did not take it, so I can only assume Josh walked in on this adorable photo op. (Hannah was not technically allowed on the furniture while she was here so I am amazed that my husband reached for the camera instead of just shoo-ing Hannah off the couch...)

Happy Birthday Tree Litter!

2009-10-20T20:25:00.001-07:00

It's hard to believe the Wally x Hannah Tree Litter is turning 1 today! Seems like only yesterday I was watching 10 roly poly puppies tussle and play in our living room. Here's a little trip down memory lane:

Puppy pile at 1 week old.

Playing with Isabel around 4 weeks old.

Awww. Who can forget the Christmas pictures?

Captain, always the biggest, barely fit in the doll sized wagon!

Greta sporting her Princess Crown at 10 weeks. I had to tape her ears until she was 7 months old! Sheesh!

Seaside, August 2009

With a stolen treasure, October 2009

Happy First Birthday to Fig, Sage, Captain, Duncan, Elmo, Frodo, Greta, Hope, Iris, and Josie!

Old Dog, Young Dog, Several Stupid Dogs...

2009-10-10T09:25:00.001-07:00

I hate that we outlive our pets. It seems so unfair. Two of my dogs are getting older. I try not to think about it, but Sid, the Pemmie is already in double digits and Lacey, our Aussie will be 10 next spring. Sidney is going to live forever I think. He's looking a little older in the face, but otherwise he has not slowed down a bit. He is every bit the bossy, snotty little dog he was the day I brought him home at 8 weeks.

Sidney and Lacey about 5 years ago on a camping trip.

Lacey Boo-Boo on the other hand isn't fairing as well. She has had canine Lupus since about age 5. For a long time I didn't know what it was. Our vets in Dallas were no help either. Her main symptom is a constantly scabby nose. She also seems to tire more easily. It could be helped with steroids, but from past experience we know those make Lacey very aggressive and miserable.

Yesterday, Lacey gave us another scare. I went to let the dogs out of the kennel a bit earlier than usual and most of the dogs were still sleeping when I approached. All of them jumped up to greet me with smiles and body wiggles. All but Lacey that is. She stood up verrrry slowly and was all hunched up. She seemed to be having trouble walking and was clearly in a lot of pain.

I immediately flashed back to two years ago when Lacey had a serious back problem on Christmas eve. Some of you may remember this incident. We found Lacey essentially unable to walk or even stand up. Josh rushed her to the vet for immediate treatment. At the time, we had decided that surgery was not an option for financial and personal reasons. It being Christmas eve, we had family obligations that night. We left Lacey on a blanket in the house heavily dosed with pain meds, muscle relaxants and steroids. I think I must have hidden in the bathroom at the party half the night, crying my eyes out. We got home about 4 hours later expecting the worst, only to be met at the front door by a happy bouncy Boo Boo dog. It truly was our Christmas miracle! She still needed several weeks of rest and drugs after that. But as far as we can tell, she made a full recovery.

Until yesterday. I was just sure that she had injured her back again. So I gave her the only meds I had on hand, which was 75mg of Rimadyl, and called the vet. They said to give the anti-inflammatory a chance to kick in and if she was still as bad, to bring her in. Otherwise we had an afternoon appointment. Thank goodness within 15 minutes Lacey was clearly feeling better. Withing a few hours, she was walking almost normally. Whew! If what was going on was neurological, Rimadyl would not have been enough to give her this much relief. Clearly it was something else.

Turns out, the vet just feels that Lacey has arthritis in her back and hips. Possibly related to her previous back injury. But most likely due to getting older. Lacey was a Frisbee fiend in her younger days. We would spend an hour or more every evening throwing the disc for her at our house in Dallas. She was insatiable. Now? Her heart wants to, but her body gives out. It kills me. I also feel guilty. Did all that Frisbee playing make her the hunched up cripple dog she is today?

A much younger Boo Boo at the beach.

So the new routine consists of weekly glucosamine injections for the next four weeks and then monthly after that. Rimadyl as needed. I am grateful it wasn't anything worse. And other than her Lupus, the vet felt Lacey was very healthy for an older dog. All major organs functioning as they should. No other concerns.

*knocks on wood*

Getting old sucks.

Dremel Tool, Where Have You Been All My Life?

2009-10-07T19:32:00.001-07:00

I was recently given a dremel and today I gathered my courage and gave it a try. Up until now, I have always just used clippers on my dogs' nails. I guess I thought dremeling just looked too hard or that the dogs would hate it. Boy, was I wrong!

I will never go back to nail clippers again.

I started with Wally dog, as his were getting pretty bad. Plus, I figured he had probably had his nails dremeled a time or two in his life. It was a good guess, because Wally just layed in my lap the whole time completely relaxed. Which was good because it took some experimentation on my part to figure out the best angles.

Then I moved on to Greta, who was a pill, but better than when we did her for the first time at Richland. I even had a good helper! Isabel was very happy to hold Greta's head while I dremeled. What a good dog handler in the making she is.

By now I was feeling really confident and decided to go for the trifecta. I grabbed Sidney and put him on my lap. I only had to correct him a few times and was able to do all his nails. What you have to realized is that is truly a miracle. This is the dog who even with Josh SITTING on him won't let me clip his nails. I literally haven't done his nails for years because it was such at traumatic ordeal for everyone involved. Sid's nails stayed fairly short at our old house because we had that huge concrete pad between the house and barn and all the dogs kept their nails worn down on it. But I noticed Sid's were starting to look really bad since we moved.

So with just a little help from Isabel to distract him, I was able to get the crotchety old Pembroke's nails decently short. (It's hard to struggle when a child is hitting you in the head with a blanket or poking you in the eyes and nose with sticks...) It will take a few more sessions to get them really short, but today I took all of them down to the quick.

Woo hoo!

The only dog who escaped was Lacey and that's only because she has really long toe hairs and they really need to be trimmed before I can safely use the dremel on her. I was too lazy to go find scissors at this point...

And just for fun, here is an image I captured the other morning. I call it "Corgis Descending a Walkway."

Farm Dogs and Tea Parties

2009-09-29T11:20:00.001-07:00

Wally has been at our house for the last few weeks learning to be a farm dog. After some initial hesitation, he has discovered how much fun digging for gophers, patrolling the fence lines, chasing kitties and being DIRTY can be!

Greta likes playing with her dad. He's FUN!

Just had to post this for Mandy. She found an adorable Beatrix Potter Peter Rabbit porcelain tea set for Isabel on eBay. As you can guess from the pic, she loves it. Thank you Auntie Mandy!

Boo-Hannah Update

2009-09-07T14:40:00.001-07:00

Well, the vet thinks she's gonna make it. ;-)

Hannah is on her third splint. The first two came off and had to be replaced. Saturday morning we had an actual appointment with the Dr. He says everything looks fine and re-wrapped her. In another week we go back and hopefully will be able to take the splint off for good.

Hannah thinks breaking her toe was the best thing that ever happened to her. She gets to be a full time inside dog now and is the recipient for all of Isabel's left overs. (Or as in the case of the other day when Isabel fed 3/4 of her hot dog to Hannah through the door of the crate, she often gets fed by the child when I am not looking.)

Hannah is looking quite good, all things considered. She is growing a nice luxurious coat after completely blowing it, guard hairs and all! She's put on a few pounds and gained some muscle. Maybe once her toe is healed, I will have to talk Mandy into specialing her just for fun...

Annual Corgi Picnic

2009-08-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

Today was the annual Corgi Picnic at Barb and Cheri's place in McMinnville. It's great that we only live 20 minutes from them now. Though the day started out cloudy and cool, by afternoon the weather was perfect.

There were lots of Pembrokes in attendance, as usual, but this year we had 5 Cardigans! Woo hoo! It was a mini family reunion as Heidi was there with Phoenix and Frodo, Greta's brother.

Phoenix is a happy, happy girl and loooves her mom.

Frodo has grown up to be such a handsome young man, even if his ears never made it past half mast.

Frodo demonstrating that his ears can go half way up when he's motivated. (He was intent on barking at the strange black long-legged dog that dared show it's face at a CORGI picnic.)

He's a love bug, mush puppy just like his mom and dad and siblings.

Isabel had a good time too. Here she is playing with the ice cubes that someone dumped in the doggy pool.

Trying to teach some wayward Pemmies how to weave through the cones.

Tire jump!

We attempted to get a family portrait. Phoenix decided she needed to be included too. She plunked herself down next to Frodo and was the only one who didn't move. Funny girl!

This one cracks me up. It's what Frodo would look like with normal Cardi ears...

My two girls. Wouldn't they make a good brace?

Cheese!

I broke Mandy's dog!

2009-08-27T08:48:00.000-07:00

(The duct tape is to keep her from wearing a big hole in the end of her wrap.)

Monday morning, as we were getting ready to leave for a two-night beach trip to Seaside, I found Hannah hobbling on three legs! Upon further examination, I discovered the inside toe on her left leg was pointing almost backwards. Uh-oh. This can't be good.

Josh took Hannah to the vet (huge thank you to Newberg Veterinary Hospital for getting her in so quickly!) where they did x-rays. Her toe was indeed broken. They reset the toe, put her in a splint, and sent her home with pain meds. Hannah will have to go back for a re-check in 10 days and will likely have to wear the splint for another two to three weeks.

So because Hannah was still very groggy from sedation and we needed to keep an eye on her, we ended up taking Hannah, along with Greta, to the beach with us even though the house we were sharing with my brother-in-law's family wasn't technically a "pet friendly" place. But it had a nice fully fenced yard and I spent a lot of time with the dogs outside. Hannah, alas, did not get to go to the beach. She did, however, get lots of sympathy belly rubs. The three days of crate rest was good for her, even if she didn't understand why she couldn't come into the lovely beach house and sleep on the bed...

Now we are back from our trip and Hannah seems to be feeling fine. Her splint doesn't seem to hinder her as much as you would think. She adapted to her new "peg leg" fairly quickly. I have to put a plastic bag over it every morning to protect it from dew, but otherwise the vet said to let her self-police her activity level. (Which for Hannah involves about 5 minutes of excited play when she first wakes up and then she settles in for her daily routine of bone chewing and napping.)

I feel terrible for breaking Mandy's dog. I really don't know how it happened. I let the dogs outside around 7:30 that morning and when I came back out an hour later, Hannah was broken. I knew they were running around, but I didn't hear anything unusual. It's normal for them to run and bark and wrestle...Guess it was just an un-lucky morning for Hannah.

Sorry Mandy!

Potty Training: Who Knew It Was a Contact Sport

2009-08-22T14:43:00.000-07:00

So I broke my nose yesterday helping Isabel use the potty.

We have one of those little toddler sized potties with the drop in insert. Isabel has been slowly inching her way towards getting out of diapers for good. She had just finished peeing in her potty and I was helping her carry the insert part to the "grown up" potty to dump it out when I ran smack into the bathroom door with my nose. I was turning, bent over, and was looking at Isabel and not watching where I was going. The bathroom door was ajar towards me and WHAM.

I heard a sickening crunch and then I hit the floor. I sat there for several seconds trying to figure out what happened. Then I felt the hot flush of pain start in the bridge of my nose and spread across my face. I grabbed a towel, anticipating a gush of blood, but to my amazement, it never bled. I was very, very dizzy however and sat there for quite a while going over my options in my head. Josh was at work, so I was on my own.

How was I going to get to the hospital? 9-1-1? No, I was still in my PJ's and bathrobe. Call a neighbor? Possibly, but we don't really know any of them all that well yet.

Thankfully, the pain and dizziness subsided after a while. I kept expecting blood or horrible swelling, but none ever came. However, based on the extreme tenderness, discoloration and stuffiness in one side of my nose, I am pretty sure I broke something in there. I have pain going up above my eye into my sinus and down all the way to my teeth. Even my teeth themselves are aching.

I called Josh and asked him to ask the medic on duty if you can still have a broken nose without blood or obvious swelling. He said yes. :-(

Sheesh. I guess I need to be more careful. Or else I might end up in a full body cast when Isabel learns to drive...

It'a Alive!

2009-08-18T23:57:00.000-07:00

My horse training blog has been resurrected for any of you equestrian types out there.

Click here.

Super Mare

2009-08-17T21:58:00.001-07:00

Can I just say how much I love this mare. She is sweet, fun to ride and makes me laugh on a regular basis. We have started going for short trail rides outside the arena in the orchards surrounding the barn. She clearly doesn't have a lot of experience with life outside the arena walls, but she seems to enjoy getting out. She never spooks at the things that would normally scare a horse (i.e. big burn pile of pallets or deflated mylar balloons that landed in the middle of the orchard). Oh no, she has to leap 15 feet sideways at some unseen bogey man, within sight of the barn, at the END of the ride. Good thing a large tree blocked her path. Silly girl got my heart pumping, but at least I stayed on top.

I still have hopes of starting lessons with her and getting more "serious" about our riding. But for now, we are having a lot of fun. Which says a lot because before I got Ari, I was seriously contemplating quitting riding forever.

A New Family Member

2009-08-14T08:29:00.000-07:00

No, not in my immediate family, but he I am sure he will be spending a lot of time here at Starry Nights. Introducing my in-law's new puppy:

Pawshere Always A Rainbow AKA Tucker

Pictured here at 13 weeks, I think, he is will be sporting his "cup" for a little while longer and will then be switched over to ear posts. I am personally glad we don't crop ears or tails in Cardigans.

" Who me?"

Someone needs to explain to Tucker that it usually works better to wait until there is no longer a foot in the shoe before attempting to chew it.

Getting chest scritches from his "mom".

He was a little hesitant at first around Isabel, but soon figured out that this running, shrieking being could quite possibly be the source of a lot of fun!

"Let me outta here!"

Tucker is a wonderfully calm, biddable puppy. He already seeks to please and was very easy to teach. He seems to like to sit back and assess new situations first. But he is also a very confident puppy and not easily upset. His sire is a working assistance dog for his owner, as well as a gorgeous show dog. It looks as if that wonderful, steady temperament was passed on to the puppies.

Dog Days of Summer

2009-08-09T18:21:00.000-07:00

There's nothing like watching a child enjoy simple things like running just for the joy of it, or leaving no rock or blade of grass unturned, to remind us that life is good.

Hannah and Greta

2009-08-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

I have been trying all week to get a good photo of Greta with her mother, but they are always so busy playing it's been nearly impossible. But today I finally got a great shot of them resting in the yard. (No, I did not pose them.)

The rest of the photos from this week look more like this!

Hannah the Farm Dog

2009-08-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

Gross, but happy!

Civil War!

2009-08-04T09:29:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, there was a Civil War re-enactment a few miles from us, up on a very old farmstead on Parrett Mountain. Josh, Isabel and I braved the heat to go watch a "battle." It was very loud! Between the guns and the cannons, Isabel kept Josh's hands clamped over her little ears the entire time.

The club putting it on is local to the Willamette Valley and they hold re-enactments all over the northwest throughout the year. We enjoyed it very much and are even entertaining the idea of joining one of the groups!

Of course, I was fascinated by the Cavalry. I want to know how they get the horses so de-sensitized to the cannons!

These guys were having the time of their lives, despite have to wear wool uniforms in 100 degree heat!

Whole families participate. We met one guy whose wife and all 6 kids are all into re-enacting.

Isabel wanted to get into the act. She picked out this adorable bonnet and didn't take it off for several days afterwards. (She even slept in it!)

Even beautiful Civil War ladies have to answer nature's call!

Bye-Bye Truman

2009-07-31T12:48:00.000-07:00

For a little while anyway. Truman will now be living with Emily and Evan at Pawcific. They are leasing Isabel's pony until Isabel is big enough to ride on her own, which will likely be about the same time that Evan outgrows him. Evan's grandma, Kathy, will be caring for Truman and training him to do all kinds of exciting things like driving. It's a win-win for everyone!

A horse and his boy.

The cutest part was when Evan decided he wanted to lead the pony into the horse trailer. Truman loaded like a perfect gentleman and Evan felt so proud of himself. What a good pony!

I am sure we will be seeing regular updates on Emily's blog.

Dog Show, Devonwood & Dressage

2009-07-19T20:15:00.000-07:00

Well, the dog show this weekend (Stumptown) was a bust. Greta was dumped both days. Rikkii, the Vallhund, was dumped the first day, took Breed the second but was passed over in group. He did make the cut, which was exciting and he was *this* close to getting a placement, but then nada.

So instead I am going to blog about my exciting horse experience on Friday. If you're not a horse lover, feel free to click elsewhere now.

This weekend with the annual Dressage at Devonwood show. Lucky me, I now live 15 minutes from Devonwood, THE premiere dressage facility in the NW. It is seriously the nicest barn I have even seen. It's nicer than my house. I think it costs as much as many people's mortgages to board there.

Stained wood fronts, rubber paver aiselway, sheet rocked and finished interior!

This horse had a for sale sign on his paddock. He could be yours for a mere $20,000!

Josh, being the thoughtful hubby that he is, stopped in on his way home from work on Friday and grabbed me a schedule. I was looking it over and noticed that Ari's half brother, (same sire) North Forks Brenin Cardi, was competing that afternoon. I have only seen pictures of this magnificent stallion, so later I headed up to watch him compete.

OH MY GOD.

It was practically a religious experience watching this horse do dressage. He was absolutely breathtaking. The judges thought so too. He won both his classes against much, MUCH bigger warmbloods and the like.

So here's where the story gets weird or funny or fated or whatever you want to call it. There was a pretty decent sized crowd watching that afternoon. All the beginner horses/riders had already gone that morning, so now things were getting exciting with the upper level classes. I sat down in a shady spot next to two slightly older ladies. I noticed one had a video camera and the other had a humongous camera with a zoom lens. Throughout Cardi's performance, they were shooting away. When he was done, they hooted and hollered quite loudly (somewhat frowned upon in dressage society). Laughing, I asked if they were Cardi fans. One of the ladies turns to me and says quite proudly, "I'm his owner." I was shocked but pleased to meet her. Then I informed her, quite proudly myself, that I owned a half sister to Cardi. That's when the other gal exclaims, "It's not Queen Arietta is it?!" I said, yes actually it is. "I used to own her when she was a baby!" says the woman. I was again quite surprised by this turn of events. So we began chatting and I found out quite a bit about my little black Cob mare.

Turns out her name is actually "Tess". Apparently she was quite the spit fire in her past. From the sounds of it, she was a royal pain in the ass, hence her name "QUEEN Arietta". When I told them what a good girl she has been for me and how much I love her, they were quite amazed. They assured me that was because Ari had chose me. They said if not, there wouldn't be a damned thing I could do to stay on her. This made me chuckle, as the whole reason I bought Ari was because I felt so safe riding her.

Then I followed these gals back to the stabling area where Cardi was getting a bath after his spectacular performance. I hung back and watched as they fussed over him and then put him away in his stall. Jessica, Cardi's rider, saw me ogling Cardi and invited me over to come meet him. She handed me some treats and told me to feel free to go in his stall and pet him. My jaw just dropped when she said that. Unsure at first (he is a stallion after all) I just sorta stood in the doorway of his stall and fed him treats. Then when he gave me a gigantic nose bump looking for more goodies when I ran out of treats, I started laughing. He is so much like my Ari. So then I went in the stall with him and petted him all over. He is a beautiful animal and so incredibly sweet.

After that I talked with his rider, Jessica. She is super nice. I couldn't get over how somehow who has every right to be a total stuck up snob was so down to earth. She talked with me more about Ari since she was the one who started her under saddle. She told me lots of funny stories about my mare. Then she had to go get ready to ride another horse. She invited me to come back the next day and watch more. I wish I had been able to instead of being busy with the dog show.

It was certainly a night I won't soon forget! Here are some pics I took during Cardi's FEI Intermediate I performance:

Cardi can really FLY!

This amazing fellow is a Friesian stallion. I think he looks sweet.

Cute little Fjord gelding warming up.

I think this was one of the shortest horses competing. He is a 14 hand Haflinger pony.

Bandon Win Photo

2009-07-12T14:06:00.000-07:00

My favorite part is the tip of her tongue hanging out...

Mandy & Henry's Visit

2009-07-07T21:25:00.001-07:00

So I didn't actually take many photos at Bandon because I was rather busy. I did get some beach pics, but so did a lot of others. So instead, we had an informal photo shoot in the yard at the new house when we got back.

The handsome Pie-Pie:

Greta, who after going Winner's Bitch both days at Bandon is now up to 6 points!

The elegant Iris:

Sweet and bouncy Hope:

Isabel enjoyed having so many "puppies" to play with this week!

Mandy and Henry and the dogs went home today. Greta will miss having so many playmates.

First House Pics

2009-07-01T09:01:00.000-07:00

In no particular order...

Back patio.

Greta helping Isabel torture the small bugs skating on the bird bath water.

View from the front yard looking southwest. The large vacant lot is for sale, but our area has 10 acre minimums so will never be developed. I think the sellers are hoping for a rich California buyer wanting to put in a vineyard.

My kitchen is so sunny in the morning! Please excuse the dated floor and horrible poofy curtains. I love the cabinets! They are Kraftmaid and they rock! All we have to do is replace the cheapy brass knobs and presto! Instant update. We are keeping the appliances that came with the house for now. They're pretty old, but they function quite well. My stove and burners heat up much faster than my old ones. And the fridge is huge compared to the one we had in the manufactured home! Someday I will get all new matching stainless ones, but we will make do for now.

Pool just waiting for a party. Josh figured out how to use the electric skimmer thingy last night and sucked out all the nastiness that had settled on the bottom. I can't wait to try it out. It's supposed to be hot the next couple of days, so maybe will take the first dip one of these evenings before I leave for Bandon.

Koi pond in the middle of the driveway turn around. (Yes, there are actually fish in it!) One of the first things we did was install the wrought iron fence around it. I had horrible visions of Isabel falling into the pond or the dogs drinking from it and getting giardia or something equally nasty.

We Made It!

2009-06-30T15:25:00.000-07:00

Barely...

Whew. What a tough couple of days. Been going non stop since Friday. We have almost everything moved now. The only things left are my herb pots, which are temporarily housed at the in-laws, the goats, the pony and Noah, the retired TB.

We spent all day Friday packing the U-Haul. Saturday night we were finally able to get the keys and get into the house. We were up until nearly midnight cleaning the house and carpets. Sunday we had a caravan take the majority of the stuff to the new house. Josh, his parents and a couple of dedicated friends went back down for a second load of big stuff (washer, dryer, freezer, etc.) Sunday night was our first night in the new place. We were too exhausted to even enjoy ourselves. Monday I unpacked while Josh started cleaning up outside. We made a trip to Home Depot and child/dog proofed the house and yard. Monday the roof contractors started putting in the new vents in the attic. Which brings us to today, Tuesday. We headed back to Dallas to pick up odds and ends, do a final walk though of the old house and pick up my horse and the barn cats. We dropped Ari off at her new barn without too much trouble. Now Josh and his parents are in Dundee picking up the order of grass fed, hormone/anti-biotic free beef. The contractors are finished with the roof vents and are now working on remedying the mold. Yee haw!

This is the first 5 minutes I have had in days to sit down and get online. It feels very good to be here, it's just been a long road. We LOVE the new house. It is so light and bright with all the windows. It feels just perfect for us. Isabel's new room is HUGE and she seems to love being here too. She's still a bit stressed and confused, but is adjusting well.

Next is fencing the pasture and filling in all the damn holes the previous owner's dogs dug. Right now the pasture isn't safe for animals.

Sigh.

The "to do" list is getting longer by the minute...

But we are incredibly happy to be here!

Well, they just got back with the meat. Gotta go run and help unload. Will try to post pics later when I find the box the camera is in!