The girls at 4 weeks old

 Our blue girl has found a home! She is so fun and sweet, we all love this pup. She will go live with her Dad!

 The little one has also found a family. I'm glad to know they will be loved but it's going to be so hard to see them go.

Meet the puppies

The four boys, one blue and three reds. 

 

Six girls. One blue and  five red!

New Puppies

 We have had a great friend staying and working with us for the last week or so. He came with his dog, Callie, who blessed our home with 10 puppies in the early hours of March 11. Callie is a red heeler who has worked on ranches and in feed lots with Nick her whole life. The dad to the pups is also a working red heeler. 

Keeping track

       So I have a hard time keeping track of everything that we need to do let alone everything that we have done. A friend suggested that I keep an ongoing record of our projects and adventures by posting them on the blog. Sounds like a good idea if I can get around to it. I have been wanting to start this for 2 months and I still haven't figured out when this will fit into my day/week on a regular basis. Oh well, better hit and miss record keeping than none at all. So here we go...

So far we have finished a quick overview of Egypt. We started this last school year but didn't finish the History Pockets. I think I enjoyed the making of these more then the kids. We also had an Egyptian supper with flat bread, Kofta Kebabs, and rice.The family liked it well enough and we have had the lamb sausage again. Always looking for new ways to use up the ground lamb.  We are also listening to a lecture on the Great Courses called The Other Side of History. We all love it. The kids work on a project as we listen and then we talk about it. Some words are big, some hard to understand, some topics go way over their heads but we are all learning bits and have fun info to share with Joe in the evenings.

On to Greece! We are having a blast with his. Way to many crafts and activities to fit into the 4 weeks I was hoping to spend on the part of time and the World. So far we have had a Greek feast, gone to the Cheyenne Greek Festival. and make clay oil lamps. The Festival was far from fun. The building was loud with a horrible echoed and we got there to late on Saturday and all the good food was sold out. The kids were terribly  disappointed. So we got pizza and had root bear floats at home. The day did turn out to be good but not they way I had planed.

So there is an overview of the last 2 months. We did have Wallace and Brody's Birthdays and the baby is growing like a weed. We also got a new dog somewhere in there. Well, lets see if I can keep after this new form of record keeping. Until next time!

Eggs for another day

We went from no eggs to about 18 eggs a day this month. After giving eggs to everyone who stopped by and having kids who complain that all they eat is eggs I felt something had to be done. So I started to look for ways to save eggs for when the hens decide to stop laying again. I found a great blog past on freezing eggs at Chickens in the Road. I used baby food  freezer trays so it takes 2 cubes to equal one  egg from my hens. I get  big eggs from most of the girls.

 The kids and I finished the living room timeline project today as well. Who knew that moving around all the furniture, changing the curtains, scrubbing down everything and decorating could make a room with a floor to ceiling timeline look so nice. We still have a few little things to hang and put away but all in all I think it's very nice. 

What a day

We got snow! This is the first time all winter we have a significant amount of snow on the ground, it's wonderful. Monday the sun was out and there was NO WIND! Yesterday the wind came back along with a bit more snow. Now all we have is drift the size of my car and bare dirt. So do we send the kids out with sleds or wagons?

 

 After sledding down snow drifts we hit the books.Today as part of school we decided to move the timeline. The wall it was on, behind the empty book case in the picture, was just to small. We took the time to clean out and under everything, it's amazing what you can find.

This is the new timeline, it runs from 1800 to 2019. Its behind the couch and the first thing people see when they come in. So much for getting the house decorated in anything but We have Kids style. We are all looking forward to filling it up, even Joe enjoys looking at it or asking the kids to tell him about something on it.

And in other educational news, the kids took it upon themselves to explore the world of science as I made supper. Brody made a potato clock, Hank got a recoring to play using 2 plants and Karlee got a  light to work using 3 bottles of water. They also planted beans in 3 different size pots and want to watch them grow.
 

Potato Chips

I have only made potato chips one other time, when the twins were babies. I tried it again tonight and they were really good, way to much work to do again in the next 9 years, but good.

Rufus, we will always miss you

It’s been a little over a year without our Rufus. At least one person a week will talk about how much they miss him.  I never would have thought the loss of a dog could hurt so much or last so long. 

Well, we are ready to fill the hole with another Rat Terrier. Easy right? No.
 After calling the people we got him from and finding out they no longer have dogs and the people they got theirs from no longer have dogs we started an internet search. Wow. 
After going through tons of pet sights, breeder listings and classified adds all we have been able to fine are mixes and high priced show dogs or they are too far away. Now a mix wouldn't be so bad but would it still be like Rufus? Do I want a Chihuahua cross? As far as a show dog will he hunt, work cows and sheep and still be a lap dog? Can we justify a $600 price tag on a ranch dog? 

 

 Also what type of Rat Terrier was Rufus? Type A, Type B, Teddy Roosevelt or Decker? He had UKCI papers. Some time in all our moving they were lost. I called the UKCI but they said that a litter was never registered from anywhere in Wyoming around that time. So now what should we do?

Rufus at bout 10 weeks

We were coming to the end of our options when someone pointed out that California might have what we are looking for and a trip is planed for Christmas. Great idea! So our search expanded. That is how we found Jreed. This man has so much information about working dogs. He also said he could help us find a well bred ranch dog. The perfect mix of hunter and fine breeding. We have hope again that another Rat Terrier will warm or bed and kill our skunks. We are learning more all the time about this breed of dog we love so much.

Rufus and Brody. Rufus loved babies.

In CA, he went everywhere with us

Rufus, thank you for opening the door to the would of Rat Terriers!

The only kill I have a picture of

Snow day

Milk Cow Blues

Milky was bit by a snake last Monday, in October! Joe asked how long she has had the golf ball sized lump on her face after he came in from milking. I assured him she did not have a lump yesterday, I would have noticed it. He planed on treating her for lump jaw but the next morning her face was so big her halter barely fit her. After we took the halter off her head really got big. We didn't want to treat her if we didn't have to but the swelling go so bad she couldn't eat. After some Dex she started to look more like herself again. I imagine the draining of puss and fluid will last a few weeks. Poor old girl, what next? 

 

Brody's baby book, 5 years late

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Wallace's baby book

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Family Day

Labor Day was spent at home. We took our holiday on Tuesday. The day was spent at Garnet Reservoir with my parents. We had the wagon along to take the baby on a hike. Turns out we went on a real hike, one that did not allow us to pull the baby behind in the wagon. So what should we do with the wagon? Race it down the hills!! The kids thought this was the best part of the day and Joe had just as much fun as they did.

The trail wrapped  around the lake. It was beautiful and because we went on Tuesday we were all alone.Wish we could go more often before all the trees die.

New friends