One Year Old

My baby girl (lol, pardon the silly nickname) Thea is a year old already!  She's maturing into a really nice little dog...she's smart, spunky, SUPER athletic, focused, loyal, and a little bit crazy at times.  :P  And very, very cute, of course.  I'm looking forward to continuing to watch her grow...if she follows Thane's example, she'll really come into her own during this next year.  

Oh, and she's still under 40 pounds, and is only 19.5 inches tall, which is probably why I still call her baby girl - she's so itty-bitty!!  <3  

Happy birthday, Thea!!  :P  

I've been sitting here for probably 10 minutes trying to think up a title for this post...it just occurred to me that I probably don't actually HAVE to have a title, lol.  

My sister Rachel and I visited the local fair today.  We had a lot of fun - it's been a few years since I've gone, and quite a bit longer for Rachel.  She prefers spending time in the craft expos, and I like walking through the animal barns...we compromised and did both.  :P 

We also tried deep fried Oreos - WOW.  They were REALLY good, lol!!!!

Anyway, I'm still editing photos, but here are a few so far.  :)

Happy Thursday!  :)  

Your (Ir)regular Installment of Canine Shenanigans

It's becoming tradition to sit out in the yard with the dogs for a little while after their Sunday afternoon nap.  We'll see how much longer that lasts...it's been getting cooler - yay!  I love the crisp, cool autumn temperatures.  :)  

Thea is 11 months old now.  She's definitely maturing into a very nice little dog, though I need to work with her on a few things - not her fault, just stuff I need to be more consistent about.

Thane likes to sit literally ON me, or right next to me when I'm sitting on the grass, so it's hard to get good pictures of him.  I managed a couple of close-ups today, lol.  

Thea is currently obsessed with this ball.  She's been carrying it around for a few days, and it's held up surprisingly well to her chewing on it.  She LOVES to chase it, and brings it to me or Mom over and over and over for us to throw it for her.  I got a few fun shots of her chasing it, though it's entertaining to throw a ball and then try to swing the camera up into position for a shot in time to catch the action.  :P

Lol, in the picture below, she's waiting for me to throw the ball.  (Ignore the white fuzzies in the yard...they're from a stuffed animal that she dissected.  I have a deal with the dogs - I rake the yard, and then they scatter toys, fuzzies, and sticks back across it...)

Here's one of Thane, doing what I call "soft ears."  He's so cute.  <3  He does this a lot, but it's surprisingly hard to get a good picture of it.

And one last one of my pretty girl.  Lol, I hope all the dog pictures don't bore people...the whole farm thing is taking a while, but the plan is to eventually also be spamming you guys with photos of goats, sheep, chickens, farm projects, etc.  :P  

Starting My Natural Fence

Lol, it's been a while since I've done a more farm-related post.

Today was a big day...this was the first time I actually did something on my property other than wander around.  

I started a fence - and not just any fence, but a natural one!  I did some research a while back on different options, and stumbled across a few ideas for natural fences.  There are some really neat ideas out there, but there was one in particular that made sense for my property, since it utilizes something that I have LOTS of - branches and brush.

Here are a couple pictures from today:

(Note - the orange tape marks one corner of the 4 acres I'm taking out of timber tax.)

Hopefully you can see these okay.  Basically, you use stakes or trees spaced a couple feet apart, and lay branches and brush in between them.  I used metal posts today because that's what I had on hand, but eventually I'd like to replace those with 8-foot wooden stakes and increase the fence height to 5-6 feet.  The snow gets deep out here - I need a tall fence so the dogs can't just hop over it in the winter!!

I'll start with the four acres I'll be building on, but over a period of a few years, I'd love to encircle the entire property (with a few holes for gates, of course!! :P ).

I think my "helpers" will be very tired of watching me drag around sticks by the time this thing is done.  Lol, maybe I should train them to help!!

A Setback

Lol, so, I made a boo-boo...a rather large one.  I jumped the gun with my lotion.  Even though I'd had mold problems with almost all of my test batches so far, I did some reading and thought I had things figured out...so I dove in and put quite a few hours (and dollars) into churning out around 100 bottles of lotion a couple weeks ago.

Since then, I've thrown out probably almost half of those due to mold...and looks like I've got a few more to throw out today.  

So...back to the drawing board.  I need to find some experts to consult, and see if they can give me advice to overcome this issue.  I admit that I'm tempted to cut my losses and give up....but the lotion is SO nice....I really do think it will sell well.  I just don't want to have to live in a sterile bubble in order to produce it, lol.  So we shall see.  Worst case, if I decide that making lotion isn't the right fit for me, I might be staying in retail a while longer, or perhaps I can come up with more creative artistic things to offer on my Etsy page.  

In happier news, Dad and I walked around a bit on my property yesterday and picked out a couple potential house sites.  It's fun standing on my own land and trying to visualize my little house sitting in the midst of a grove of trees.  

We also found one corner of my property that I hadn't previously identified, lol - probably because there was still snow on the ground the last time I visited that particular corner.  :P

Later, I took the dogs out to the woods, which I haven't done in a long time because we've had a pretty hot summer.  These past couple of days have been gloriously cool, though.  We visited the secret pond, and the dogs had a blast!  

Lol, I kept throwing sticks a little ways out to try to get Thea to swim, but she wasn't having it.

She and Thane ran several laps around the little pond at top speed, though.

Just a couple more weeks until it's officially fall...can you believe the summer is gone already?

Cuteness

I should start off by saying...no, I'm not getting one of these puppies!!!  I merely went to visit them because a) socialization is good for puppies, and b) they're tiny, fuzzy, adorable baby PUPPIES!  But as much fun as it was to visit, I don't think our household is ready for another fuzzball yet.

(Even though I think that Dewey really wants to change his name to Thaddeus and come be Thane and Thea's friend...)  ;)

My sister Rachel and I visited my friend's Collie puppies last week, and they were just SO CUTE that I thought I'd share a few pictures with you guys.  Lol, I figure this will help make up for yesterday's rather gloomy post.  

If anyone's looking for a Collie puppy, some of these pups may be available!  They'll be medium-sized (45-50 pounds) and will have moderate, easy-care coats.  Their parents are old-fashioned farm and family Collies.  They'll be ready to go home from Vermont in late September; if you're interested, contact me, and I'll get you in touch with the owner.  :)  

Anyway, on to the puppy pictures...  <3  

Mist, Rachel's favorite.  :)

My favorite...Dewey.  Isn't he such a little teddy bear?  <3  

I think this is Dewey again, but don't hold me to it!

Lightning...her name fits her personality.  :D

Sky, a handsome little boy with lots of white!

Lightning again...this little girl needs an active home!

Sunny Joe.  This is going to be one good-looking dog!

I think this is Sky again.

Breeze, a little girl.

Storm.  In contrast to his name, he's pretty chill.

Mist again...the puppies were all falling asleep by the end of our visit.  It was a big day for them - they turned 4 weeks old, and went out on the grass for the first time!

Look at the little white toes!!  <3  

Awww...Dewey.  <3  

A Bit of a Bummer

So I had Thane's hips x-rayed....and they came back as mildly dysplastic...which is not a good result.  It means that I really probably should not breed him, in case he passes bad hips along to the next generation.

This is definitely a bummer, and I'm still working to readjust my thinking, since this lays ruin to the plans I've had in mind over the past couple of years.  This pretty much changes everything...I bought Thea to complement Thane, so now I'm not sure if I should seek out another dog that complements HER...or perhaps bring in a different dog at some point that better fits my ultimate goal.

I do have time to decide...I can't have another dog yet anyway, and Thea is still too young to breed.  I'm working on trusting that God's plan in all of this is perfect, but I'll definitely admit to a little pang of grief in saying goodbye to this dream of Thane x Thea puppies.