a day on the farm....

Yesterday Abbie had a "well baby check" with a visiting nurse from the hospital. (yes, they actually sent someone up from York)... and it turned out to be a dear and long time friend, Katie...who I have known for years via the dog world. Katie pronounced "excellent" with both Abbie and Sadie. Since the day was absolutely beautiful, and Sadie is getting a little "house bound", we decided to take Abbie down to the farm to show her where she is going to live and introduce her to the animals....

I'm not sure what's up with the ladybugs!!!! They are absolutely everywhere!!! and even though I like them very much.. they're kind of annoying. Just coming in from outside, you almost need to take the time to brush them off. They certainly liked the warm side of the house and barn, and considering that they are "lucky", we'll invite all the ones that would like to stay!!!!

Ed has fired up the outside wood furnace and we have heat in the house now. We need to.. since the plumber has finished his work and there is also water in the house... we're keeping it on a low temperature, just enough to take off the chill, and it's working very well. The house has a nice "feeling" about it... oh I can't wait to live there....

We had lunch together.........

Then went down to the barn to do chores and show Abbie around. We wanted to be sure that Mocha got to meet her "new owner"... course if the "new owner" had been awake.. well, that might have been a little more interesting. But Mocha seemed interested (or maybe it was just the funny hat that she was looking at!!!) Either way, one day if someone asks Abbie, "when where you first around horses".. she can truly say... "I was 5 days old".........

AND... you just know we had to get a photo opt of Abbie and chicken (who inspired her hat)... not so sure that either one cared... but we thought it was funny........

the time zone called Abbie....

You'd think that when Sadie and I traveled to York last Thursday for her doctor's appointment, I might have thought that they would keep her. But, as we loaded all six cocker spaniels into the truck and went over our "list" of things we would get done while "in town", it never entered my mind that this would be the "beginning of things to come!!!" Sadie's blood pressure had been quite high at the previous appointment, so they wanted her back in a few days to re-check it, selfishly all I saw was "two hours in the truck for a 5 minute doctor's appointment" and never dreamed that they might want her to stay... which is exactly what happened. Poor Ed, not only got the call that Sadie would be staying at the hospital until Abbie arrived, but also that he needed to come down and collect the dogs!!!!

I notified Kassy, Diana and Kelli that Abbie might be arriving in the night. All three of them arrived to be Sadie's support team, and we kept a careful vigil all thru the night. All three gals had worked all day long, so it was going to be a pretty long night for them, as well as for Sadie. "Things" progressed well to about 8 centimeters and that was about as far as it went, for several hours, Sadie tried to move "things" along, but to no avail. At about 8:00 am, the doctor and mid wife had a long chat and came to Sadie with the idea that Abbie was going to need some help, and thus a c-section. At that point and time, Sadie was more than agreeable, and so Abbie arrived in the world on a slightly different game plan (hope that isn't going to be some omen with her life :-0 )........

And as you all know by now, baby Abbie was born at 1:22 pm on Friday October 16th!!!

Sadie and Abbie had a long list of company that came to visit. I think I got photos of almost everyone with baby Abbie, too many to post, but I hope that one day I will make a scrap book for her and she can see all the people that have been waiting to meet her. Sadie and Abbie also received so many nice gifts, (including this wonderful fruit basket from "aunt Kelli and uncle Rick") it's going to take her weeks to get all the thank you cards out... but, in the meantime, may I offer my sincere thank you to all of you for your support, encouragement and lovely gifts!!!!!

One of the "treats" from the hospital is a gourmet dinner the evening before you take a baby home. Sadie invited me to be her guest of honor.. and my goodness, it was a gourmet dinner!!! Here our chef delivers the meal... he was such a funny guy!!!

Both Sadie and I chose a wonderful dinner of haddock with all sorts of good trimmings...

And the dessert?? well, I'll just let you drool over them for a moment..........

As it turned out, the day was "quite messy" weather wise, in fact, we had just enough snow to say that we had our first "official" snow of the season.... I had already decided to stay the night with Sadie and Abbie, being "tucked" in at the hospital, that amazing meal and the excitement of Abbie heading home the next day, made for a very special evening.

Monday morning, we packed up and headed out. (don't you LOVE the hat???) Because I was teaching my dog classes in York that evening, we decided that Sadie and Abbie would just spend the afternoon at Kassy's house, that way they wouldn't have to "be alone" their first evening. ( Fire chief had to be at the station that evening!!!) That idea worked very well, Sadie had some visitors there, and Abbie got to meet the first part of the "dog family" (I'll put those pics in another blog).... It also gave Sadie a chance to catch her breath before heading home.



And so, life begins at home with baby Abbie, we don't know "night from day"...any little peep is heard by all (including a gaggle of cocker spaniels)

and "people" sleep in the strangest of places.. (due to the "surgery" Sadie finds a chair is more comfortable than a bed just now) I haven't slept thru the night, but I wasn't doing that anyways.... so as Ed said "now you have something to do when you can't sleep!!!"

and our "little peep" runs the show and has totally taken over our lives.... we are now living in the "time zone" called...

Abbie................

just a blog

I must be tired, because I have tried twice to write a blog about the arrival of Abbie, and it's just not working... so, for your entertainment... how about some pictures, and when my writing skills (such as they are) catch up to me.. I will tell the story of Abbie.... until then... enjoy!!!!

Happy Birthday!!!!

Home for a few hours, to get some sleep, see my doggies, and catch my breath. I know you have all been waiting for the "news", so I am posting these photos and will give you all the details in a future blog....

So, here she is.... Abigail Mae, born 10/16/09 at 1:22 pm... weighing in at 7 lbs. 13 ounces... 20 inches long.... by (unplanned) C-section

Sadie and Abbie are doing very well... and you can be sure there will be many more stories on this.... back to the hospital.........................

Happy Birthday

just pics

busy holiday weekend...

Columbus Day weekend!!! and so far, it's been busy!!! I was thinking the other day that every month has a holiday, whether it be major or minor, except for the month of August... think it over and let me know!!! Anyways, the weather has been cool/cold, but beautiful, the leaves are in full color and the sun has been bright.. the horses sure do love this weather - no bugs!!!! They spend as much time as they can out grazing, they know the days are getting shorter and I think they are preparing for the winter months ahead.

Pulled Mocha out on Friday afternoon and did a bit of driving with her. She hasn't been out since my day with Deb and Alice in the woods. I wondered how she might go, but there were no worries. She was absolutely perfect... such a joy to drive!!! Ed even took her for a little spin up and down the drive... my "next project" will be to get the "big boys" going as well as Mocha does, but it's all a work in progress!!! Friday evening we had Rick over for supper, Kelli is away and we didn't want Rick to be all alone!!! We had such a nice evening together, and the time flew by!!!!


Saturday was "dock day", I had been watching the weather report, and "was told" that Saturday would be the warmest day of the weekend. Well, it didn't start out very warm, plus there was a good wind blowing across the lake all day. Nate (and Kas) Dave (and Deb) arrived in the afternoon to give us a hand ---- BLESS THEM!!! The wind did die down slightly as Nate and Dave jumped into the water. They were so brave, but that water was COLD!!! I keep telling Ed that we should pull the docks on Labor Day weekend, but he just can't bring himself to wrap summer up that early. Course, if our "dock help" ever decides differently..he might not have a choice!!!!

The "new" docks are much lighter than the old wooden ones we used to have... but there really isn't anything "light" about them, and hauling them up on the shore required a real family effort. but, they're put away now and after today's weather (in the 40's and a real good wind blowing) we did chose the "better" day. -- thanks again everyone, we just can't do this job without all of you!!!!! We went to the "pub" for dinner and again, another evening that flew by.

This morning Ed and I went to church - Sadie was feeling a bit "punky" (her due date is tomorrow) so we left her home to rest. And after church, Ed thought it would be a good afternoon to mow our field. So, he put the mower deck on the tractor, hooked up his I-pod and was off mowing.

I puttered around the barn, doing chores and the like, and Betty came by for a visit. She hasn't had the chance to come to the barn in quite a while, so it was so nice to have the afternoon with her.

For sometime now, I have had in my mind, that I would like to have Camille drive in the cart with Mocha and I. So, today, after I made a few trips with Mocha, I got Camille and took her in the cart with us. She was quite good, and actually seemed to enjoy the ride once she got used to the idea. She sat quietly on the floor board (she wasn't too excited about sitting up on the seat) and actually it worked out better for me as well. So, it turns out that I might have a "driving dog" as well as a driving horse!!!!

We finished up around 5:00, and it was getting to feel rather cold. I tucked everyone into the barn, and Ed had finished mowing the field...

It was home to light the woodstove, have some supper, blog... and then maybe some popcorn and a good movie will be the perfect way to close the day....

Still on baby watch!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

nothing exciting

So, I really don't have much to write about, nothing that exciting going on, just the usual day to day things. Working at the house, teaching dog classes, settling into the big camp.. and of course, on the watch for baby Abbie!!!! I totally "stole" this picture from a wonderful blog that I read!!! (hello cowgirl goods!!) I just thought it was so pretty, I would love to do something like this in a cross stitch!!! I love old signs, seems like there was so much time taken when making these wonderful items... "we" don't do that sort of thing any more.

Ed's been puttering with the driveway this week, we need to have a good gravel base. There are all kinds of gravel pits around here, and you have many choices as to whether you want the gravel brought in, or if you have the equipment, you can haul it yourself...and which pit you wish to haul from... etc, etc. Our tractor can do the work, so Ed thought he would have some gravel brought in and dumped and he would take it from there...

but - Rick offered him his dump truck to haul gravel in. It's a big savings if you can haul it yourself... so Ed took him up on the offer and had the dump truck all Tuesday to bring gravel in. Boys and their toys!!!! a dump truck, dirt.. and a tractor... it's just a bigger version of a sand box!!!! :-)








I brought some lunch down to the house so we could eat together... it was a little chilly, so we fired the woodstove off - first official "burn" of the season. It did a nice job, and there will be many more fires for sure in that little stove!!!!

Because we had rain and damp weather the next couple of days, Ed worked down in the cellar. He built the wall that will separate the kennel area from the rest of the basement. There is going to be a tub for bathing dogs, and a toilet, just for convenience.. so, once he finishes this wall, the plumber can come back and finish up his work. Another one of those "one project needed to be done for the next project".. we seem to have a lot of those just now.

The turkeys won't be with us much longer. It's sad in some ways, but the truth is, they are beginning to eat us out of house and home!!! I bought 100 pounds of grain last Tuesday, and another 50 pound bag today!!! At this rate, we could hardly afford to feed them. The first batch of six departs next week, and the second batch the following week.

This is our biggest bird, it's definitely a "tom" and he can be quite aggressive at times. I always keep a close eye on him when I have to do "turkey chores": He certainly has the respect of the other birds as well, everyone moves out of the way when he comes walking thru....

Sadie and I put together a couple of fleece blankets for Abbie this week. I picked out a green background with lots of animals on it.. and she picked out a pink background with big fun flowers on it. Tonite she worked on finishing up her blanket. These will be nice to put on the floor, or wrap Abbie up in, I have made them before.

so, that's all there is to report... as I said nothing too exciting... but that's OK.. life can be good even without excitment.......

into the month

I have a few days of blogging to catch up on, welcome October!!! a month that I have always liked, but it became even "more favorite" when our first daughter was born, (see the next blog).. and now, we look forward to our first grand daughter coming within a matter of days!!! The trees are putting on quite a show and everywhere that you look is full of color. I take picture after picture and try to decide which one is prettier.. and then decide... they all are!!!!




We are, once again, settled back into the big camp. It feels homey here, and I am doing somethings differently from when we were here last winter. We will stay put for the winter while we continue to work at the farm, and think that when we move next spring, it should be into our new home. At least that is the current game plan.. always subject to change!!!!

Now that Kas has celebrated her birthday, we await anxiously for baby Abbie. Mona will have a rude awakening when she finds out that this is a car seat... not a cat bed!!! All of the pets are curious about the new and exciting things that keep appearing around the house.. for some, it will be the first baby. I'm not too worried about the up coming changes and pretty much know how each one of the animals will react.





It was fun to have Ken and Buzz back here last week. There were some finishing touches that they needed to do, but had to wait for Ed to get his things done. Most of this depended on the house being vinyled.. case in point, the railings on the small entrance porch, fix up some sheet rock that had been damaged due to the weather last winter, and re-vamping the cellar stairs that did not past inspection. Very minor things, when you think of a whole house being built....




We can't say it enough.. what a pleasure it was to have these men building our house. They are true craftsmen, and certainly take pride in their work. Sadly, it's a quality that can be hard to find in this day and age.

Buzz, giving careful attention to our railings...

And here is our beautiful "front entrance"... can't wait to have a huge number of family and friends come to use it!!!!!

October is also the month to celebrate "weddings"... today - the 4th - Kas and Nate celebrate their fourth wedding anniversary!!!! They took the day to tour around, and dropped by to say hello to us...I took this "family photo".

So... here we are.. so much has already happened and so much still to do.. it's going to be a busy month and another month that will fly by... catch your breath!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy number 24......

October 1st--happy birthday to Kas!!! Where has the past 24 years gone??? both Kas and I would like to know, I can remember her "birth day" as though it were just a few months ago. Amazing.....

We had a nice celebration with family and friends

And for Kas and Nate, this is the second birthday that they have spent together!!! with many more to come....

my "three" daughters, Kas -- Sadie and Diana... (who has been a life long friend and almost another sister!!!)

I am so very blessed that my girls are so close, and that I was able to spend another birthday with my girl....


happy-happy b-day!!!!!