I can’t believe it has been so long since I've posted anything. This summer/September has been a bit crazy. This was my first year of actually having a garden that produced a wonderful amount of food for us to eat. It was so amazing to go out and pick our produce from our very own garden and it definitely kept us busy. I was hoping to have a fall harvest as well, however that will probably be a very small harvest. With my work schedule and it getting dark so early it limits my time in the garden I leave for work at 7:30 and get home at 7 pm, oh the joys of commuting.

We officially have three dogs at our house now; my two family dogs have stayed with us ever since their weekend visit. They have brought so much joy to our lives and Asa’s. Our little Chihuahua who is only three pounds and is a result of a puppy mill had two seizures last weekend. So after two vet visits a thorough blood test and urine analysis which their was blood in his urine. They believe that he is fighting off a major infection. His white blood cell count was extremely high not the cells that represent cancer though thank goodness. So he is antibiotics and steroids for 14 days, hopefully this will fix whatever he is fighting.  I’m grateful that Dean is not working right now and is only taking evening classes so he can bring him to his vet appointments & keep an eye on our baby (or little man as Dean would say.) All the tests results should be back Thursday or Friday at the latest.

A new school year has started and we have survived our first month! Getting 20 preschoolers adjusted to full day school can be rough and boy have we battled some screamers, criers and hitters! But we survived, YAY!! My new co-teacher is also amazing and we've discovered we have a lot of the same interests which is nice; especially when we can just sit back and laugh at our chaotic days. I plan on posting more later this week and discussing one of my new hobbies!!

Michelle

I've had quite a fun filled doggy licking week. Ever since we've lost our moose its been quiet and somewhat sad around our house. Especially Asa has felt the affects, whenever we woulda ace him alone even if it was ten minutes he would destroy the house! Which he's never done, so I decided to bring my two small family dogs for a visit and boy did they lighten up the house!

Asa has been do happy and goofy, my little black girl Tessa and him play fetch for at least two hours a day! I'm not looking forward to returning them this weekend.

Duckling!!

Our first ducklings have hatched three weeks ago! Well only two hatched and one survived. I tried finding another khaki Campbell duckling in our area for them to be friends with but unfortunately it's too late in the season. So the lonely duckling is now hanging out in our bath tub with a special stuff friend who she loves. I'm guessing its a girl to early to tell ;)

It's had taken my momma duck almost two weeks to start laying again after hatching her eggs. I'm so excited to have duck eggs for my baked goods again!

However my Rhode Island Red Rosie has been stubborn and is constantly wanting to be broody which is interesting since usually Rhode Island reds aren't known to be broody so I've been down one less chicken egg. We think we may have finally gotten her to stop being broody fingers crossed!

Update

Sorry I havent checked in, in forever. We've been getting lots of projects accomplished outside. We've fenced in our entire chicken area and its run area so that they have extra protection and then we can let the dogs run outside and know that they are safe.

We've also had to put down our Rottweiler Moose. It's been very sad and quiet around our house. Poor Asa is now very lonely as well, he's glad to have his toys and bones back but he misses his companion. I've always believed in adoption and giving dogs second chances and I still do. However moose has taught me a lot over the last year. I also know we gave him a wonderful year; we took him on a road trip to Oregon to play in the ocean spent everyday playing on our large property and shared many nights snuggled on the couch which is what he loved. These are the wonderful memories i will always cherish.
Ive learned that some dogs just can't be changed know matter how many people and behaviorists you work with. I wish people would know just how important it is to socialize, train and treat animals, they aren't just objects. However when I'm ready I will adopt again because I know there are more animals out there who need our help and love.
Sorry for the rant I'm still angry with his previous two owners.

It's freezing!!

I'm stuck outside! While I was at work Dean decided to self clean the oven. While that's wonderful he wanted to make my oven sparkly clean and all, I'm now stuck outside freezing my toosh off! The house is smoking and smells terrible! And there's another three hours to go!

I know I could just leave and go somewhere but I just wanna stay and hang with my animals. So I'm sitting outside plotting my garden bed layout. We just finished yesterday building and filling our garden beds. I'm so excited to grow my will first garden. Last spring and summer we were so busy doing work around the house, since it was our first summer here that we were to busy to build an actual garden site. Hoping this summer will be decent for some fresh home grown produce!

They got me

Well as I previously posted u got my first silky egg a couple weeks ago. Which is really funny because Dean kept teasing me that they were all roosters. And if course me being the proud mama said "no they're not, they don't look anything like the silk roosters!" We'll it turned out that this chicken mama was right thank goodness or I'd never hear the end of it. All three of my Silkys are now laying eggs and rather consistently too.

Now on to another fun adventure I've started. I've put seven of my khaki Campbell duck eggs in the incubator, fingers crossed that they hatch. This is my first time and I'm a little nervous. I've promised Dean I would sell the ducklings however if there is a crested he agreed I could keep it since I lost my beloved crested last fall. I know my chances of hatching a crested is small but you never know!

Loving the spring!

This spring feels completely different, it's our second spring here in our house and its already changed a lot. Our flowers are blooming that we planted last year which is always amazing to watch. Our plum tree and blueberries are also looking amazing.

It's also been a year since we've started raising chickens. We've been getting an abundance of eggs everyday. Last week I even got my first duck egg! And yesterday I got my very first silky egg, they turn a year next week. :)

The first picture is of my khaki Campbell egg and the second Is a silky egg between my two Rhode Island eggs. It's amazing how small the silky egg is.

Prancer and Asa

Prancer and Asa enjoyed an early Saturday morning sharing a carrot

March is here!

Yesterday I woke up feed the dogs and took them out, just like I do everyday. However the weather was amazing, as soon as I was outside I was instantly shocked by how warm it was and windy. I love being outside during a nice warm wind storm. When I came in I checked the temperature and it was 52 degrees! That's really warm for it not even being hardly light out. I can feel spring in the air and I'm so excited to start our outdoor projects. The chickens have been free ranging more and our ducks have been enjoying their pool again. As I'm writing this my ducks are outside playing in their pool in a warm light shower of rain I love watching those two love birds be silly and splashing around.

Mr. Speedy

A miracle happened this morning. I must warn you this story may be a little long. It all started last night when I let my two dogs out. I went outside as it was a beautiful clear night, I noticed my lab running back and forth beside my chicken run and lots of chickens squawking. I knew something was wrong as they should have all been quiet inside their house; I had not locked the door yet as I had just gotten home. But then I saw one of my lil buff silkies running outside its run. My brain went crazy I knew my lab probably wouldn't purposefully hurt him, my Rottweiler on the other hand not so sure. He's just way bigger then this two pound itty bitty. And of course my Rottweiler showed up before I could catch him. Moose pinned the poor thing and as I was grabbing my lab away from Moose and the silky and Moose moved underneath the tree and I was unable to stop him.

The noise I heard was horrifying and I was so upset . And then it was silent and moose came back inside. I locked myself in my room til Dean got him I was so upset that I wasn't able to do anything.

Well when Dean got home he asked if I looked to make sure it was dead and I said yes I couldn't find him; then he made the comment "did you see feathers?" I said no but retold him the whole story, we both went outside looking for him and couldn't find him he said he probably escaped into the wood through our outer fencing holes. And that he'll either die out there from injuries or he'll be back in the morning.

Well I woke up at the crack of dawn went outside and what did I see but Mr. Speedy running back and forth beside the run trying to get back in!!! I was do relieved and happy, I held that little man and told him just his happy I was. This story just proves to anyone who thinks chickens are stupid they are wrong, Speedy knew to run and hide in the woods til morning. Also there wasn't a scratch on him nor a feather missing! Apparently my Moose is more gentle then I thought. To think he survived Moose last night and a Bobcat in September I would say he's one lucky chicken.

By the way I did discovered how he got out, an animal tried to dig a hole and made it just big enough for Speedy to get out, I don't think he ever will again.

Sonic!

I never knew we had a Sonic here in WA even though I don't think it's anything special my sister and I had to stop and check it out with Prancer on our trip home.

Prancer!!

Ok so I know it's been a very long time since I posted on my blog. I had something very difficult happen and haven't felt like posting and am not quite ready to write about it. However something wonderful happen today! I met my Prancer and this time he really is a Prancer!! The funny thing is when I first reserved him I thought he was a girl and a couple weeks later I was told he was a boy. They asked if I still wanted him and after watching him grow from day one on the breeders blog I was already in love with him so of course i still wanted him the gender didn't really matter to me. The wonderful thing is Prancer was born on Christmas Eve, so Prancer fit him perfectly. There were seven in his litter him being a REW and the rest being black. MJ the breeder did a wonderful job with her first litter and I can tell she truly cared for Prancer. He is a wonderful boy and has already adjusted nicely, Asa my lab and him are already becoming friends.

Happy birthday to my Moosey

Yesterday our Rottweiler Moose turned 3!! We celebrated by giving him lots of loves and getting him new peanut butter and blueberry Zuke treats. I love the Zuke brand because most if not all is grain free, which both our dogs are allergic to and they usually carry one flavor that is poultry free which our lab is very allergic to.

We've only had Moose for almost nine months and he's came along way. We could tell he had been abused in his pasts home, however he's starting to look past that and he's becoming a BIG lover. We're still working on food aggression. This is the toughest challenge to break, he has improved though with the gaining of our trust. What can we say we love Moose!