What's Going On

Still not a ton going on.  The only really new thing is that I found a nifty dome-thing for sale that might make good temporary housing while I build a real house.  I could put it on my property in the spring and move in, though I'd be kind of roughing it for a while, lol.  

So now I'm weighing out whether it's better to invest a bit of money in temporary housing so that I can save toward my permanent house, with the idea that I would have less debt in the long run...or whether it's better to see if I can take out a loan and get the permanent house built by the end of next summer.

I'm leaning toward the temporary housing...I like the idea of moving onto my land this spring.  :D

I neglected to get any photos of the dome when I visited it yesterday, so you'll just have to look at my dogs again.  Lol, I need to get out and do some different photography sometime!!  

Anyway, I'll keep everyone posted.  I'm hopeful that 2019 will be a crazy year full of adventure and changes, LOL!

Eyelashes.  I remember people commenting on his lashes when I first brought him home:

I was looking at older photos recently, and realized that Thea is actually out of coat...she had quite a bit more coat during the summer.  Ironic that she lost it right before winter.  She'll probably start growing it back after she goes into heat in the next couple of weeks.  In the meantime, she doesn't seem particularly bothered by the cold.  

This is her excited, happy "smile."  She's waiting for me to throw a toy.  

Lol, in this picture, she's probably stalking over to see what Thane's up to.  She keeps a close eye on him to make sure he hasn't found anything interesting that she should confiscate.

Thane does "noble" so well.  <3  

It's funny....he's 2.5 years old now, but once in a while, from a certain angle, he still looks a bit puppy-ish to me.  

Lol, he's sneaking away with a toy that Thea had been playing with a minute earlier.

Aaaand...my favorite picture of the day.  ❤❤❤

A General Update

My apologies for being so lax in posting in recent months.  Part of the reason is that there's simply not much going on as pertains to "Butterscotch Farm."  It's pretty much just daily life and waiting...and waiting...and more waiting, lol.

But I guess there are a couple things I can fill everyone in on.

First, I had Thane's hips checked again, and the second x-ray confirmed that he doesn't have good enough hips to use him as a breeding dog.  I'm pretty bummed, but God must have something better than for my sweet, goofy, handsome boy to become a daddy.  So Thane will be neutered soon. 

I will probably someday be the sort of breeder who re-homes adult dogs once they're done breeding, just so that I'm not accumulating too many dogs and ending up unable to give them the individual time and attention that they deserve...but I have a sneaking suspicion that Thane may be a permanent member of Butterscotch Farm.

So that means I need to find a new stud to use with Thea when she's ready to be bred.  I plan to breed her to a full Rough Collie; she'll provide a nice infusion of genetic diversity, along with plenty of drive and working instincts.  I have a couple very nice stud possibilities in mind.  

I haven't decided yet when I'll be breeding her; the earliest possibility would be June or July for fall puppies, but I might wait until next December or January because it would be easier to take time off work in the spring.  Depending on a million zillion factors, I may be looking for a new home for her sometime in 2020...preferably one where she can be the Queen Bee, bark to her little heart's content, and ideally have some sort of a job.

I've been thinking a lot about my breeding plans and goals lately...and I have a LOT of ideas....but almost all of them revolve around me being in my own house, and ideally working at least part-time from home.  

That leads into the sad, sad story of my attempts to make lotion, LOL!  Let's just say that it could be going a whole lot better.  I whipped up a small, sample batch a couple weeks ago to see if leaving out the goat milk and using a good amount of preservative would eliminate my mold problems.  Alas, I was just looking at the little sample jars yesterday, and saw a big, black spot of mold on one of them.  

I'm leaning toward giving up the project.  It was kind of cool making the lotion, but I'm not sure I could see myself doing it as a career - I like some detail stuff, and I really DON'T like other detail stuff...and I'm thinking the lotion-making process might fall under the category of detail stuff that doesn't exactly make my soul sing, lol.  

I've got some other ideas for a stay-at-home job, but nothing solid enough to publish.  And I'm sure that pretty much anything that ends up working out will still require a transition period of a year or two away from my day job.  

So I'm pretty much just waiting and saving up money to build a cute little house next year...and then I feel like life can really start moving.  Maybe that's not the greatest way to be thinking, but oh well.  I'm sure I can find plenty to keep me busy this winter while I wait!    

(Doing more training with these two little crazies, for instance...)

 

Anyway, I guess that's mostly it for an update...happy Monday, everyone!! 

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?