Birds of a feather....

Well I think that I can let go of all of the serious stuff for a little bit. Just when it comes to dogs, I don't feel the need to just sit back and watch bad things happen. I will never understand why people do not spay or neuter their pets. More so how people can abuse or abandon such a loving and loyal companion. Just do not understand..... It really breaks my heart.


We have been so busy around here. I have about 30 jars of pickled beats down stairs in the pantry. It looks so nice down there. A whole shelf full of things that I made and grew in my own garden. Really too, it is rather exciting. It has finally been raining here. The pond has come up a few inches over the last couple of weeks. There were puddles all around the yard, and the lawns have all thankfully greened up before the winter winds will settle in on us. We are in the midst of a beautiful Indian summer. It has been wonderfully warm outside. Into the mid 20's and high teens nearly every day. Gives us plenty of opportunity to get all of our outside chores done before we wake up to snow, then get stuck in a rush to get it all done in a hurry. The yard is now all tidied up. Flower posts emptied, humming bird feeders washed and stored away for next summer. The outside chicken feeders and waterers are all washed out and put away till spring, even though all of the ladies are still out nearly every day. The pig went to the slaughter house today, I am not too sure when we will be getting the call to go and pick up all of the pork. I will go out to the back yard tomorrow afternoon and take down all of her fence and posts. Store them nicely in hopes of getting a few more piglets next spring.

The majority of the potatoes are still in the ground. I have just been digging as we need because the cold room isn't really cold enough yet because it has been so warm out. They have been rather nice sized so far, and not too bad of numbers to each plant. That is all a good thing. It is looking like we will have a few hundred pounds again this winter. We usually share some with a few friends too. I mean who really doesn't like fresh potatoes, and even better when they are FREE!

The firewood is nearly complete, the woodshed is filled right up to the top, and there is all ready a whole pick up truck load tossed into and piled neatly in the basement. I felt so relieved when we finished up that shed, knowing that we are finished. There is just a little more out there in the back yard to be cut and split. A pick up load is going to a good friend of ours, they are planning on supplementing their heat a little this winter seeing as out electricity is so expensive up north here. The last will either be tossed into the basement again, or just piled out back for next years long cold winter.

As I had said, the chickens have still been out nearly every day. The 3 chicks left that Momma had hatched off have taken to the trees and are refusing to come into the chicken house at night. We found them out there a few nights ago and they are sleeping a good 20 feet up the tree and have no plans of sleeping inside what so ever. We don't know what exactly we are going to do about them out there, if they will have to be caught and put inside, eventually come in on their own, or if they will end up staying out all winter! My rooster has a new home as soon as I find the time to get him out to his new place. I am sure that he will be happy there too. My polish chicks are free running now with all of the big hens, and are doing better everyday. Growing really fast now that they are able to get outside. They don't seem to be getting bullied too badly, and are doing a great job of sticking together. A few of them are looking so good too, with huge puffs on their heads. They are turning into stunning birds. The 2 bigger silkie chicks are getting big and fluffy now, the 5 little ones, even "crooked feet" are all getting big and are loving all of the space that they have in their half of the chicken house.

The houndies are doing really good, they love this fall weather, well that is if its not raining, especially now because we have filled the woodshed, which was their hiding place out in the yard when it rained. But they love the warm days, the flocks of birds, and all the fancy new things to smell. Pebbles is a "rockin' and a rollin'" I haven't seen the lynx in days and days now so she has been allowed to accompany me for walks to the back yard again. She loves that, and becomes a puppy again in an instant.

The kids, hubby, other critters and myself are all good, we had a virus come through the house, Big Daddy was the only one lucky enough to avoid it. But we are nearly 100% again. We found the boys old scooter and skateboard a week or two ago and they have taken up both activities with a vengeance. My little guy built a post to skid on and alley oop over. We have just a gravel yard, and the road in front of our house has too much traffic so they just practice in the garage. The men of the house have good plans on finishing their go-cart this winter, they have an engine and are waiting on a clutch. We will have to go out of town to get the clutch because we aren't sure on the size to just order on line. Apparently they are not all the same. They will go out early on a Saturday morning and light up a nice fire in the garage so that it will be nice and warm to work all day, and those 3 can usually get a lot accomplished in an afternoon out there. They will also begin working on the old beater snow machine soon too. It belongs to a friend, but he hasn't used it in years, so said that if hubby and the boys want to fix it up and use it they are more than welcome. They all enjoy the time spent together, and the boys are learning how to weld and fix engines. All talents that will be appreciated when they are adults. I, myself am not missing my job in town, I have been so busy here that there is just no stopping long enough to get bored! I like that too!

Come Closer, Take a Big Whiff!!

Well that time of year has begun once again. My favourite, yet one of my busiest times of the year, Fall.... I love everything about it, the smells, the food, the fact that the boys go back to school. :) Don't get me wrong, I love my boys more than anything, but when September rolls around and I hear that big yellow bus coming down the road I really do get that warm fuzzy feeling down deep inside.

I also love fall because it is harvest time, and harvest time came a few weeks early this year, on labour day weekend actually, I went out to the garden to find everything in sight dead. It had went down to minus 3 that night, and perhaps if I had of read the paper, listened to the radio, or even turned on the dang T.V. I would have known. But I didn't see it coming, and I woke up to a dead garden. I really wasn't overly upset, it has been a long trying summer, and I am ready to start bringing in my bumper crop ( I hope!) of veggies. It began with all of the dead tomato plants, from my pretty boat, and picking the 10 lbs or so of cherry tomatoes. I did that outside in the sunshine and warmth of a nice fall afternoon. I made my 9 jars of green tomato Chow Chow 2 nights later, it is just too good to resist, but to make a mental note that you all will witness, next year remind me to purchase a dang food processor! All of my beans and pattison were already inside the house and most of it was already pickled in the pantry. I had run out of jars, so I had to go out to Canadian Tire to buy another case or, 2, ha ha actually 3! But I should have enough extra ones now to do my beets as well. So that must have me up to a good 75 jars now, but they aren't sitting around empty, they all have good food in them, or will very soon.

My next mission is to begin digging my potatoes 4 - 65 foot rows to be precise, that is a lot of taters to dig, let me tell ya, but the bright side is that we don't really have to buy potatoes for a good 10 months of the year, we have a nice little cold room in the basement and they all go in there on the floor, in their original dirt. Next will be my beets, all of them will be canned and I might even go and buy a big bag of them when they go on sale for cheap at the grocery store, because pickled beets are a real favourite here in this house. Last out will be the onions and garlic, they will be hung to dry in the cold room above the potatoes, to be used for the winters cooking.

After the whole garden is out, I will till the soil, toss on my compost pile, clean the chicken coop and for good measure spread all that manure and shavings finely on top. I will till again so it is all together and composts properly over the winter. Then I will plant my garlic, you see I married an Italian, and although my Mom was a very simple cook with very little to no spices at all other then salt and black pepper, in my house we really enjoy our garlic, herbs and spices. But garlic does best if you plant it in the fall, you have to think of it like a yummy tulip that needs that cold spell then the very early and wet spring. That is what makes it happy, and the only way to grow it up this far North.

If you were to come to my house this time of year you can usually smell the kitchen out in the yard, the boys step out of the school bus and smell the air, and on top of the smell of poplar in the fall (another favourite around here) will be the smells wafting from my kitchen window, they come in and take a little walk around the kitchen to see if I happened to have any extra little pieces hanging around for them, I usually do, and it will tide them over till its time to sit down for supper. The smells are of canning and preparing winter meals in bulk, I do my meat pies and cabbage rolls in the fall as well then again in January. Normally making a good dozen meat pies in one afternoon, then I am set for the first half of the winter and Christmas. Cabbage rolls are made by the hundreds, then frozen in meal size portions so that I can have those quick and easy meals in the winter when the weather is just too nice to spend the day inside cooking.

Christmas baking doesn't usually begin till later October, after Thanksgiving has passed and it has cooled off some more in the house. Our woodshed should be full by then and a few of cord of firewood will be tossed into the basement because we will be lighting a fire at night here and there, especially if I wasn't using the oven that day. Hockey will have begun and we will be looking forward to waking up to that first snow fall, the kind that makes little boys giggle like little girls, and the kind that makes my hubby grin ear to ear because he gets to get out the snow plow and play in the yard in 4x4. Then hens will all be locked in together and relying only on me to provide food and water for them, the extra roosters will be butchered and made into soup for cool winter Sundays. Yup, I sure do love fall.

Fall means winter and that means time to dig out all the winter gear, and/or go buy new coats, boots, hats, mitts, and vests, I would like to take this opportunity to mention something close to my heart. PLEASE do not buy anything with real or fake fur on it. The "faux" furs that come from China where the majority of our clothing comes from is not fake, and very often the furs are from cats and dogs, they are skinned alive and left to die with no remorse. It is estimated that10 million dogs are slaughtered annually in China. Real furs often passed of as fox, lynx, wolf and rabbit, are also very often from dogs and cats, just dyed and trimmed. At Chinese fur farms the animals are abused and neglected to the extreme. Please don't buy any furs, real, or fake. Even the fur trim around your boots or mitts can be from a dog or cat! We as privileged folks must quit supporting such barbaric practices and then it will end feel free to do your own research, I actually encourage you to. Look up videos on You Tube about the Chinese fur trade, but be forewarned these are not for the faint of heart and not for a true dog or cat lover unless you are willing to make a stand and quit supporting them and to pass this message on to your friends and family. This is an excellent and informative video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mkw_OUnVXqM
Thank you evryone, and keep warm this winter without the furs. We do!

May you always walk in sunshine.......

Time, Time, Time.....

Sometimes time just has a way of catching up to us. You know what I mean, that day when you realize how fast time goes, and how every year that ticks by is faster than the year previous to it. That has been happening a lot lately here at the farm. From the time that seems to skip by years at a time to the only weeks at a time. My precious Pebbles turned 10 this past spring, when I look at her greying face I wonder just where the time went, and realize just why she has turned into such a great dog. Its because she is getting old, I know that she still has a good 5 years or more left in her, she has bad knees but her health is beyond superb and so is her spirit. My Baby turns 9 this Christmas, and the Hubby and I have been together for 12 years. Time really does fly when your having fun. The days are shortening, the bugs have slowed down and its nearly time for our annual corn roast, all signs that our great Northern Summer is coming to an end. The biggest sign however is that my boys return to school in 2 weeks, and we are left wondering where the heck summer went. I mean we got a lot accomplished and all, but still, come on we're not done yet.

As the holidays are drawing to a close we are realizing all the chores that aren't yet completed. So we have to diligently set our minds to completing a task or two each day. The garden doesn't get put on the schedule, it tells us when it needs to be done. Yesterday we picked 2, 5 gallon pails of peas and beans, so today I will be blanching the peas and tossing them into the freezer, and pickling the beans. I have 2 nearly dead 5 foot cedar trees that need to be planted, and a little bit of painting left to do. The back to school shopping is nearly complete, the last which might be finished up this coming weekend. We have plenty of firewood that still needs to be cut, then split and piled into the woodshed, eaves trough to be put onto the front of the house, and a HUGE pig that needs to be slaughtered before the winter winds settle down on us. Oh, lets not forget a chicken house reno somewhere in there as well. I am glad that all my meat chickens have already been put into the freezer.

But anyways, back to passing time. Its great too see my boys grow more independent and knowledgeable, no more tying shoes, or pouring milk, they even scramble their own eggs. They are learning things to pass on to their future children and even I hear them talk about something that happened "years" ago. This fall it will be 6 years since we lost my Mom to cancer, and my boys will soon have no memories of her at all, unless I keep her spirit alive in their hearts through stories and sharing my memories with them. Odie turns 7 this fall, which also explains his greying face, and less bouncy step. When I look at my husband I see a few grey hairs in his beard, greys that show he works hard and loves harder. I no longer see that 20 year old face when I look in the mirror, I see a Mom, a wife, a farmer, a hard worker, and a woman who loves to laugh and tell a good story. I see a woman who looks like her Mother and is a little afraid of that. We all must age though, I guess its just how we take it.

So as we enter into another fall, with my little boys entering another grade higher, and one less year at home hugging them goodnight, I am going to hug them a little tighter perhaps, and tell a few extra stories about my Mom, Granny, and even "Oscar" the first basset we owned. Maybe I can complain a little less and hug a little more, maybe we all should. Before we know it, and before we are ready or even aware of it, we are all going to be old, and wondering where these days went. My in-laws have a sign hanging in the cottage that states it perfectly "These are the good old days"........

Life between shucking peas and shovelling dirt....

Summer in the North is so fast that it feels like its gone in a blink. So in the North on a small farm there is rarely a moment of rest, and NEVER a minute of boredom. All chores and tasks on the farm are completed by the whole family and they are nearly always learning experiences, or turn into one of those "remember when" chores. We can usually laugh together, then at the end of the day look out at what we accomplished as a family, while we eat our home grown chicken, and a salad with fresh veggies from the garden. Really I don't think that life gets any better than the one that my family has built for itself. I mean, ya, money is often a little tight and we have to keep watch of the bank account, but I wouldn't trade if for that little 30 x 90 lot EVER!!!

Civic holiday weekend we took off to a little town called Notre Dame Du Nord, its a quaint little town of only a few hundred people right on the Quebec/Ontario border. But for one 3 day weekend a year it turns into a redneck "big town" with well over 10,000 people crowded along the edge of one down town street while transports race up the hill with a full load of lumber, the black smoke rolling out of their pipes like an old coal engine train. Some even have train whistles on them, its really neat, and for my 3 truck enthusiasts life really doesn't get any better for them. As for myself, well I will put it this way, it takes a little getting used to, I found that at the bottom of the hill it smelled awful of burning rubber, and raw burning diesel fuel. Apparently to the guys that is a good smell, but too me, not too great, it was everywhere, choking and blinding you. So we tried the top of the hill where the trucks don't smell. But the trucks go so fast at the top of the hill it was scaring me, yes I am a total wuss. I am OK with that too. We had a great time overall and I got a few good pics of some great looking trucks, and some crazy hillbilly men! Next year is up in the air for me, not too sure if I will be attending or not. The boys go every year, and love it, they come home stinky with smoke and looking a mottled grey colour. I will see what next year brings for me....

We have also managed to make it out to my in-laws cottage a few times this summer, only about a half hour drive from home, we know that it will be a good afternoon. We eat great food, have better conversation, and create some dang good memories for my growing boys, who are actually blessed enough to have Grandparents, and Great Grandparents, in their early 80's they are still healthy and live out there for the summers, on the lake living the quiet and peaceful life like they have been for the last40 years or so. The other day was actually their 63 wedding anniversary. Holy Crow, that's all I can say!

My friend came out to the house one day last week and we butchered the last of the meat birds, aside for one. She is the one that was attacked by the dog and survived, we felt that she deserved to live a long life after what she went through. She has affectionately been named Tracy, after a friend that has had more than her fair share of battles. Anyways one of those hens must weigh about 12 lbs cleaned, they are just beautiful birds and the first one we butchered went right onto the BBQ grill, we ate like kings that evening, fresh chicken, sweet potatoes, salad and a raspberry cake. Well worth all the work of cleaning and plucking those last 6 birds. I tried to send a bird home with them last time, and they wouldn't take it so my solution was to feed them supper. It sure was fantastic too! :)

My garden is doing really well, my peas and beans are ready for picking, I have a few lbs of fresh peas in the house today that need to be shucked, and put into a pot to be steamed for supper. The beans are just to say ready, we have started picking the odd one, but in a few days we will once again have beans coming out of our ears, no one really complains about that either, the Swiss chard is growing like a weed and we have been eating from it for the last week or so. I have potato plants out there that are up to my armpits and must be 4 feet wide, I have actually seen hedges smaller than those plants, we are just hoping that the potatoes underneath are as well endowed as the plants above the ground.

My hubby brought me home a tandem load of sand last evening, so my old unused well in my dog kennel is now gone, and filled with sand, the top tile from the well was pulled off with the big truck and just kinda rolled off with out breaking, so I think that I might keep it, and use it for a planter, possibly filling it with fresh herbs to be used in the summer months, we can paint the concrete with pretty designs and flowers, now just to figure out where to put it. I still have about half that load of sand, and it will get spread in the low spots in the dog kennel, and on the front lawn where we yanked out the trees, to landscape. Then we can just plant the new pyramid cedars and spread topsoil and grass seed to finish up my front lawn. It really is never ending, the boys and bassets are loving the huge sand pile in the kennel. Hoover was so excited when he saw the pile through the patio doors, giving me that "really? for me?" look. The boys and the hounds have been busy digging holes and running around on top, well I should get out there and get to work, gotta spread it by the wheel barrow load..... Gonna be a long day, perhaps with a Mr.Freeze break and some fresh scrambled eggs for lunch...

Summer sunshine....

Well summer holidays have officially arrived for the boys and me. Thank goodness because the chores were beginning to pile up around here. The bassets and Pebbles are enjoying the summer heat and sunshine. To be honest, so are we. The garden is all planted everything is up and green, almost smiling at me. My Momma hen is still strutting around the yard, unfenced, raising her 4 little ones who are sprouting adult feathers now. My female guinea fowl has been making a clutch of eggs under a balsam just out of the chicken coop. I am going to leave them and see if she just might set when she has enough of them to make it worth while for her. I went and got 4 more baby ducks last week. They are supposed to be more Indian runners, the 2 yellows definitely are, but I am doubtful about the 2 brown ones. The big ducks (of course) are not being the slightest bit friendly towards them, showing no hospitality whatsoever. The dog kennel is now white with dandelion fuzz. No more yellow to be seen.

I bought a hummingbird feeder yesterday, we have noticed a hummer hanging around the clothes line, even perching on it. He is so small and elegant. There are no wild flowers, or really nothing much at all for him to eat, so I felt bad and bought the little guy a feeder. I hope that he is able to find it, and might even bring some friends over for a visit. I don't really know why I never had one before, not even a wild bird feeder in the winter. Well that will change this winter. We have Whiskey Jacks hanging around often, as well as a Mourning Dove. I can hear her, and her lonesome song. She always sounds so sad, perhaps some seeds will cheer her up.

So way out back there has been an old 10 or 12 foot long wooden boat. She is a pretty little boat, looking old and worn and neglected for many a year, but a pretty lady none the less. I have been eying this special boat with holes in the bottom, and small pieces of wood rotting and falling off, for 3 years now. Not wanting to get rid of her, waiting for a special purpose, that I knew over time I would figure out. She is green on the outside, dark green, with a bright red inside, rather stunning when we drug it out of the bush the other weekend to clear the area for the laying hens to scratch and peck. Well, she has found her purpose, we perched her on the front lawn, hubby made a beautiful cedar log cradle, and there she sits near the front door, on the lawn. I have filled her with dirt, and planted 60 or so strawberry plants inside, she is due for a fresh coat of green paint, maybe even next week. I also put a nice little string of white lights and a solar bow light inside. I was able to find 2 cute duck statues that really resemble my runners. I perched them inside to guard the berries. It looks great. I really hope now that the plants live and offer us plenty of fruit when next summer arrives.

Sometimes the smallest things can give us the most pleasure. Rescuing an old boat that likely brought its owner out on many voyages onto local lakes, the days catch laying on the floor before being gutted and cooked for supper. Somebody once really loved that boat judging by the unfaded red paint inside. Now, instead of being hauled off to the dump, getting buried, and rotting slowly away, she bares new life. I am going to name her after my Mother. I will be watching for little plant sprouts and will get a pic of those too. I hope they grow, imagine walking out your front door and picking a bunch of fresh strawberries....

Gonna be a bright, bright, sunshiny day....

Well it appears as though the nice weather has finally arrived, and we are all hoping that it might actually stay this time around. I was able to get my garden planted a couple of weekends ago thankfully. It is just beginning to pop out of the earth now. I still have plants left to go in, and more plants to buy to put in as well.
But anyways, my duckies have been out and about a lot recently, one neighbour has even nick named them the happy travelers. It seems as though they have picked the lawns around us bare of bugs and worms so they have now decided to venture down and across the road to the yards with the nicer, more bug ridden lawns. Well Sunday evening after a very long day of outside work moving the chicken coop. (Pictures coming soon I hope.) Those little brats took off once again across the road, this was about 9:30 in the evening too, so there I was all cozy and comfy on the sofa when I see them out the front window running fast to get away. I had to toss on some boots and head down the road and chase them home. I figured, well that's enough of that so I cornered and caught them and threw them into the dog kennel so they would be stuck safe till I could build them their own pen when I got home from work on Monday. They were not impressed with me at all about the whole situation, quacking up a storm and pacing the fence with a look of forlorn on their little faces. How can you see forlorn on a ducks face you ask? Well it is as obvious to me as a mother of any baby, you know your child.... Well actually that isn't true at all. They don't seem to have any facial expressions at all ever. I see a curious look, but that is more by the tip of their head and the beady little black eyes, they really can't smile or frown like a dog can. Basically, they just always look surprised!
But back to my story, well the ducks had to spend the night and next day in the dog kennel, I figured, well hey, there must be a lot of bugs in that yard, for one, the ducks have never been in there before, and for 2 every time I pick up a poop, there is always ants or little dung beetles underneath.... YUCK... I am not too sure what they did all day when I was gone to work and the dogs spent a lazy afternoon locked up in the house. But I do know that they got a rough and tumble hour of "play" in the middle of the night. Let me explain, Hoover went out for a pee around 11 pm, he did not even notice that the dicks were in his pen. He went out, down the stairs, peed on the grass, back up the stairs and into the house onto the futon. That is his regular routine, why change what works for you. Right? Well Odie has a very different routine, he does not go out at 11 with Hoover, he stays in snoozing on the couch in the living room, unless I feel motivated enough to go and drag him to the door. Most nights I do not feel that energetic. Instead Odie wakes me up sometime between 2 and 4 in the morning. His routine is as follows, cry at edge of bed till mom wakes up, (yay) go to door and cry till mom gets there to let me out. Then he ever so slowly goes outside, stopping on the deck to smell the night air, checking to see if its raining and he should make this a quick pit stop. If it isn't raining, he will saunter down the stairs and wander around the yard. He is usually at least 15 minutes. I go back to bed now, I was getting to cold in the early spring waiting up for him to do his duty, standing there at the door while he takes his time and my precious sleep eludes me, so that he can sniff. Darn hound. So when Odie asked at 4 I got up let him out and went back to bed. I forgot about the ducks......
I was woke up at 4:51 to barking. Oh crap I thought, I forgot Odie out, he must be getting chewed up by the bugs. But, Oh no, he was out there chasing and catching the ducks, he would run and jump on top of one, chew him up, (playfully like he does with Hoover) then dash the other way waiting for the duck to chase and attack him. Well the ducks of course would just run in the other direction, flapping to try to fly over the fence. With no luck of course. I was standing out there laughing at them all and the whole situation, Odie's tail was wagging so fast, and I have never seen him so happy before. So it took me a few minutes to catch him, with ducks flapping and flying over my head and quacking. He didn't put up a fight to come in, he likely just thought that he would play with them again when he got up at 7. Poor birds were so relieved when I came into the house, they first strutted around the yard like they beat him up and that was the reason that he left, then they cuddled up in the corner and went to sleep. Odie did the same thing in the house, fell asleep right away and didn't want to even get up at 7, till I reminded him of his ducky friends out in the yard. But that time he was tied. Hoover still thought nothing of them in the morning, smelled them all from top to bottom then came into the house. So everybody lived to see another day. I wonder though how long they would have live together before they would all be friends? So the ducks are once again fenced in next to the dogs and the 3 of them and Odie play together through the fence again like they always used to do. It really is a wonderful life, especially if you are lucky enough to have a "wee" farm!

Days for learning

It has certainly been a busy few days for little Hoover, he seems to be learning everything so fast. He has the doggy door and ramp down pat now, like an old pro. He brought me in a big stick from outside in the yard, he walked up the ramp backwards and I don't know exactly how he got it in the dog door. I washed all the laminate flooring in the house yesterday, just the sun room and living room, both kinda large rooms that get a lot of traffic, he chases the vacuum, and beat up the mop, walked all over it covering it cute little round footprints before it had a chance to dry. Then within the hour had manged to pee and poop in both rooms!! So much for a job well done! Oh well I guess that's life with a puppy!

I have a vegetable garden out in my back yard a rather large garden for up north here, about 45 by 60 feet, I hired someone to till it for me on Monday so I decided to go out and plant a row of carrots on Wednesday! How eventful that was. Hoover came out for the fresh air and exercise, as did Pebbles and Corky. I had to tie Hoover of course and boy did he howl!!!! For such a little boy and still being so young he has mastered the art of the "poor me" howl! I moved him from the corner stake that he was tied on thinking that he might be happier in the shade near the pond, well he was only happy for about 25 seconds before he started howling again then suddenly "SPLOOSH" he fell into the pond, I rushed over to him, he was already on his way out, climbing up the bank, soaked and green from all the algae in the pond. POOR little boy!!!!! Well that was it for gardening that day, and into the house we went, not before walking the 500 or so feet to the house on a sand road!!!! He looked and smelled awful!!! So into the tub he went, he was good, I made sure that the water was nice and warm for him, I scrubbed him really good with the dog shampoo, got him nice and bubbly then rinsed him out!!! When he dried he smelled soo nice. The nice smell has since left him, he smells like an old hound dog again, with puppy breath!!!

He is playing a lot now when in the house, and eating like crazy, I quickly discovered that he wasn't eating near enough so upped the food! For breakfast the last few days, usually around 7 he has been eating a couple strips of beef heart, a few good chunks of last summers "catch" that never got eaten, I think that its Walleye, a few chunks of chicken thigh, an egg and about a table spoon of sour cream mixed in for good measure. And NO none of it is cooked, not the chicken or the egg! He loves it, wolfs it down in a few minutes then walks around with a big bulging belly, goes out for a poop then feels much better. At lunch around 12:30 its a lot simpler, more chicken, usually a whole wing, or thigh, along with a few more strips of beef heart. That usually tops him up again for a few hours and give him the energy to play for the afternoon. Then for supper usually around 6 he has about 1/2 to 3/4 cup of kibble. Again, he goes out and poops away his lunch and then takes a nap. He will play for the evening, till the boys go to bed, then usually go get into stuff, and likely pee somewhere in the house. I top him up again at about 9-9:30 then he goes to bed when I do. Anytime between 10 and 11:30. He is doing so well, getting bigger and fatter everyday! The time of his puppy hood it probably going to go way to fast, and before we know it the chewing and barking will be done. We will likely miss all these puppy isms very much, except for the peeing everywhere!!!! So I am trying to cherish everyday with him, like I do with my 2 beautiful boys. He already has a special place in our hearts!!! I have included pics of my two beautiful Pekingese the top right is Corky, our 12 year old boy, and the one on the left and below him is Pebbles, my spoiled little girl!