Till' The Cows Came Home...

When we had our first child,  Rob's Dad gifted her with her very own calf.  Now, to a non farming family that may sound odd, but to this farming family it was an honour.  When our second daughter was born she too was given a calf.  This was an extra special gift since Dad passed away suddenly a few months after his second grandaughter was born.  The girls have been able to raise their calves into full grown mamas and been able to see them start their own herd.  Often we will ship the girls' calves in the fall and we tuck the money away into a special account for the girls.  This year, we reserved one of their calves to give to our son so he can start his own herd.  We know Opa would've done this if he had been here.  These are his farm grandkids, continuing his legacy.  Up until this year our cows have always lived over at the main farm, but this year we have brought them home!  We are so excited to have our own herd here at our acreage.  Rob spent some time getting all the fencing up and strong as I do NOT enjoy chasing cows all over the neighbourhood!  So our cows are here and happy.  They are growing nice and fat on the fresh green grass and any compost scraps I throw their way!  The best part is seeing the kids run to the fields and call...'Come on, Come on, Come on!' and see their cows run up to greet them.  Opa would be proud.  

A big shout out to 'Zomar'..our favourite cattle moving man!

Here come the Herefords!

Home at Last!

Puppy Paradise...Part 2

The pups are all vaccinated and ready to go. We've had them listed online for just a few hours and we're already getting inquiries and bookings to view. This is the LAST time we plan on doing this so I'll enjoy it while it lasts! Here's a few parting shots of the pups...they are just so darned cute right now.

Puppy Paradise...

Yup, the pups are doing great! Today they are 5 weeks old! Their eyes are open, they're pudgy and they're mobile!!! Even Isaac is getting in on the puppy action! Oh Puppies....Here we go again.....

Who Knew?

Who knew that a dog who hadn't had puppies for years could have 2 batches of pups in 6 months time? I think our dog Nazzy was just as surprised as I was that she was going to have pups again! I can't say that I was too excited about it...first of all who wants to deal with puppies twice in 6 months, and secondly, poor Nazzy! We were so fortunate to have the help of our friend Heather when Nazzy had the first batch up pups last August. We didn't have a clue what to do but Heather stepped right up and walked us through it and helped us advertise/sell all the pups! We kept one of the pups from her 1st batch and the kids named him Toby. Toby has turned in to a beautiful, huge dog and we are so happy with him. (Will post on him tomorrow). Now, because we kept a pup, Nazzy nursed a little longer than if we had sold all of them. So...here we were, thinking we were smart we tucked away an envelope of money from the sale of her pups so that we could get 'the procedure' done on Nazzy. We gave her the time needed to finish nursing and then Christmas rolled around. I thought to myself, 'we'd better get her booked for her procedure right after Christmas'. Good intentions. Well, on New Year's Day one of our neighbors, Rachele, called asking if we'd seen her dog around. I asked it's name and she told me...I said, 'hold on, I'll take a look outside'. I opened the door and called for Lynden....to my total shock, a beautiful golden retriever bounded out of our dog house...yah, the dog house surrounded by the dog run, that's surrounded by the 5' fence. yah, that one. This dog had jumped into our pen and when I told hubby he commented that he had let that dog out of the pen the previous night when he saw it in there. Yikes!!! I quickly phoned my friend Heather and asked what we should do....her words...'too late now!'. So, true to murphy's law, here we are, with not 8 (like last time) but 9, yes 9 pups! The pups were born on March 1st. They are just a week old here and their eyes aren't even open. Don't get me wrong..puppies are adorable..but they turn into work! So...here we go again...and yes, a couple of the pups are golden retrievers! Will keep ya'll 'posted'!

Puppy Update...

There's 8 of em'. We've got boys, we've got girls, we've got long haired, we've got short haired, we've got black, we've got brown, we've got mixed...but most of all...we've got toooo many puppies! I shared in a previous post about the birth of these little guys (here), and now here we are 6 weeks later. The puppies are super energetic and love all the attention they can get! Well, it's time for us to think about finding homes for the pups. A friend of mine works at a vet clinic and knows lots about animals and where to find good homes for them. Heather's going to give us a hand and I am so thankful because I wouldn't know where to start! We've done this once before but it seemed like last time everyone came to us by word of mouth...I don't think we'd be as lucky this time around! We are going to keep one but which one is the question? Rob and I are leaning towards the little black guy with the brown markings...he reminds me of a shepherd or maybe he has a little rotty in him. Either way...he's a cutie. Olivia is in love with 'Jack'. Jack is the little black one with the white chin. These are going to be big dogs by the looks of things! So, soon they'll have their shots and checkups then off they go...this is getting too expensive!

Here a Puppy, There a Puppy...

Yup, you guessed it....everywhere a puppy! Well, our dog 'Nazzy' (named after the hockey great Naslund) has just had a healthy batch of pups. We can't say we were surprised. We knew it would happen again one of these years. I gave a gentle reminder to hubby every year...'you know, if we don't want to deal with puppies again we really should do something about it...' Well, time flies and things get forgotten and now we have no excuses! Now, don't get me wrong, puppies are fun and cute and soft but little puppies grow into bigger puppies who chew and pee and poo and then there's the work of finding good homes for them and so on. Thanks to the help and wisdom of a friend (thanks Heather:) we determined she was expecting pups about a month or so ago and were waiting for the arrival. The girls have been anxiously waiting and checking up on Nazzy every day. This past Sunday evening Naz took off and we didn't see her for about 24 hours. We knew what this meant...time to hunt for puppies! She was really clever this time and found an old out building in our bush that still had some hay and was dry and warm. What a good mama! On Monday night we heard her at her food dish and quickly headed outside to follow her. It was quite an adventure! It was pitch dark and pouring rain. So, flashlights in hand away we went! This is the part where I"m supposed to mention that it was actually Uncle Ken who found the pups...thanks Uncle Ken! Nazzy is the proud mama of 8 baby pups. All are doing well and the girls have swept themselves into 'mommy mode'. They traipse out into the bush every couple hours and make sure all is well. They fill Nazzy's water and food dish, and assign names to the babies. This has been a really fun family experience. Tonight we had the official moving of the pups to the pen up front so we can better care for all of them. Grandma and Grandpa came out tonight to check out their grandpuppies. We'll keep you 'posted' on the little critters.....

Search & Rescue...

Well, we've had quite the couple of weeks with animals! Yesterday Rob had a super busy day...you know, gotta make hay while the sun shines...well in our house that's literal! So, Rob comes up to the house yesterday and says, "I gotta get baling but there's a mewing coming from inside the baler!" So, we headed out to the machine, which has been sitting idle for a few weeks, and sure enough, we could hear a kitten. Finding it was another story...it had somehow either been born, or relocated to the inner workings of the machine. So after much coaxing we got her out. Rob's hands were pretty scratched up from both the kitten and from trying to get his big hands in a little space but she's rescued. So, now what???? We are dog people, not really cat people. We've had cats in the past but we have awful, and I do mean awful, luck with cats. So, catsy is up for grabs....any takers? We think she's about 4 weeks old, very strong and loves attention..just ask my girls! I love that even though my hubby was in a huge hurry he took the time to rescue this little helpless animal. Not everyone would have taken the time or the care to do it.....but hey, he is a farmer after all!

Saying Goodbye....

Well, we've had a pretty rough week around here with our pets...but for now I'll just share about our farm dog Sheba. Sheba was just a puppy when I met Rob 15 years ago. I would go visit him at the farm and Sheba would always greet me...even jumped on my car once! Once we married we lived on the farm for 7 years and Sheba became part of our 'family'. Once we moved off the farm she quickly found a loving 'new' family with the Blakely's. Sheba was the most gentle, loving dog. She had a very special bond with Rob...they are actually very similar in personality! Sheba had a beautiful black fur coat in her younger days....Rob says it's because she ate so many eggs off the farm. Sheba was a very faithful farm dog...she put many miles on while she travelled alongside Rob as he drove the tractor up and down fields. Well, a few years ago Sheba started showing signs of age. She started to have troubles seeing and hearing. In the last few months her body started to fail her and she could no longer function well. Rob made the heartbreaking decision to have her put down, so, at 10 am this morning our farm vet came out and ever so gently sent her into a peaceful, permanent sleep. Poor Sheba. We have many fond memories and pictures of Sheba...these are some of the ones we took yesterday when the kids and I went to say one last goodbye. We'll miss you Sheba, but we're glad you won't suffer anymore.