Time Flies

It's been over a month since I last posted. Christmas came and went, New Years, Birthday and other stuff.
We had been giving some thought to moving to the city. Peter is driving 90 minutes one way for work. Work is slowed down right now and for someone who works on commission, not a good situation.
I had found several homes in the city that I thought we'd like. I insisted on three bedrooms (the boys don't need to share, really they don't), big enough fenced backyard, garage and some trees. One house which really measured up will soon be in a major construction zone, so...no.
Another house had just gone to auction...didn't work out but the 1899 house and really really big garage were really nice.
Found one in the suburbs but right next to the railroad tracks and after being in the peace of the country, that would take some getting used too.
And since the farm is paid for...and he's willing to keep making the drive, we will stay. Maybe until Alex graduates. And our school is either #1 or #2 on CSAP scores, statewide and we are a little country school. 125 students preschool through 12th grade.
Other news.
The coyote got our little dog DJ. The three remaining muscovy ducks and one of our cats. Mischka finally ran him off. The neighboring rancher may have gotten him. Brazen thing brought back one of the ducks and ate it in the barn and then had the audicity to make himself a bed in the straw.
We do have a new puppy. Max is a Great Pyrenees, he's about 3 months old now. Max is short for Maximum Force Against Coyotes. We will see.
Since we are staying farm people, this weekend I'm bringing Sasha home and two other goats. And on Monday, I'll maybe buy some chickens. I was going to wait until spring for the chickens but they've been selling really cheap at the auction. I do know that I do not want to raise chicks again. We shall see. Usually they are so cute I end up with chicks anyway.
I have pictures of Christmas, Max, Dirty Mike (the hamster) to post but Andy has the camera's disk with pictures of his science fair project at school. I'll post those as well.
Just a reminder to family and friends...my dad's 70th birthday is the 29th. Send him a card.

Early morning fright

This morning I let the dogs outside and checked to see if I need to defrost the windshiled on the truck.
Right away Mischka and DJ start barking and running after a coyote right by the fence. They chased him over onto the BLM land. The very scraggly coyote was about the size of M and could have made a snack out of DJ. Jack stayed on the front porch and barked.
Maks was in the house, having been outside earlier.
For a change, the truck didn't need defrosting which was good because after chasing down DJ, we would have been late for the bus if the truck did need defrosting.

Thanksgiving 2011

To start the Thanksgiving holiday off right, our school has a grandparent's day every year. Following a meal of turkey and all the fixings, the grandparents are treated to a musical extravaganza.

Alex spoke about what he was thankful for which included the fact that turkeys are easy to raise and taste good. I don't remember him doing much in raising any of our turkeys.

Andy told what he loved about his grandparents in the form of a poem. Andy was also one of the servers of the meal. That's his fourth grade teacher, Paul Frank, with him.

It's a dog's world

When we first moved here we had Corey, the cocker spaniel, and Katie the Keeshond. We soon added Bear the Great Pyrenees/malamute. They are all gone now. Our current dogs are Mischka, Jack and DJ.

Jack is a Shih Tzu we adopted from a shelter. He's about 8 years old and likes nothing better than to lay in the recliner and sleep. And if it's on Peter's lap, so much the better. Jack also travels well, he went with us camping last summer. That's the back side of Ming the Siamese.




Mischka is a austrialian shepherd, pekenese, and german shepherd mix. She looks exactly like her dad, Nick, and her grandpa Tick Tock.




We just got DJ from Magie's family. Magie and her youngest daughter are allergic to DJ. They were allergic to Connie, his mom. DJ's dad, a chichuahua, belongs to another friend of ours. DJ is short for and reversed for Junior Dog. DJ and Mischka have the same mom, which makes them half-siblings. Despite the four year age difference, not to mention size, Mischka and DJ get along pretty well.




After Danny and Eliza died, Mischka didn't have anyone to play with, Jack being the lazy bones he is. DJ loves to run with his sister.

Halloween 2011

Alex was a ninja (again) and Andy was a Pokemon character. Magie made the costume for him. We carved pumpkins at home on Thursday night, went to the carnival at the school on Friday night, stayed home on Monday night and Tuesday morning tossed the pumpkins in the horse pasture.
Saturday Magie and I worked concessions at the football game, it was close but the Eagles lost. So football season is over. And the Broncos lost.

Not a Good Day

Sometime during the night, Eliza, the little white dog, started hemorrhaging. This morning we had to put her down.
So I took her picture off of the blog. I also removed the horses while I was at it. We seem to have "inherited" a horse. For the last week, the neighbor down the road's horse (I know bad grammar) has been hanging out with Sophie. The neighbor hasn't come to get Muffin. We've called several times. Sophie likes hanging out with Muffin. Sophie's mom, Gypsy, isn't entirely thrilled but is adjusting. Gypsy is doing much better about it with Muffin having jumped into the pasture (she jumps out of the neighbor's pasture) instead of hanging out by the fence.
Changed the name of the blog. Going to let this one sit for awhile, see if I like it or not.

Waves in the Sky

Andy came running in to tell me to come outside and see these clouds this evening