winter days

We still had a bit of snow to contend with on Wednesday, but for the most part, we were pretty well cleaned up from Tuesday's snow. It seems as though we are in this little weather pattern of snow every few days... fortunately, the little breaks allow "life" to continue. And so, it was dog class Wednesday night, actually it was graduation night (which had been cancelled the week before). Ginger was thrilled to see her friend Lily...

And because Lily was the only puppy to show up for her class... we allowed them to play the better part of the time. Lily is a white Boxer and was born deaf. However, as you can well see, it doesn't stop her one little bit.









Her owners are teaching her hand signals, and if you didn't know, you could not guess that she is any different from any puppy in class....

Happy graduation Lily...

For the "big dogs" everyone managed to come out for their graduation. This was really a nice group of dogs, and I have to say their owners did them proud.









Thursday morning, we headed down to NEADS for our monthly check in. It seems I have pictures of NEADS in all kinds of "weather" except for snow.. so, had to get this shot...











Like we did last month, Dave started the puppies in the training room. We worked on the basics like sit, stand, down and come.. and showed Dave how well the puppies are doing wearing their gentle leaders and cape. He was pretty pleased with the progress that both Ginger and Leo have made.

Then we packed up and went to the local Home Depot to work the puppies in public. I was surprised at just how busy the store was on a Thursday afternoon. We played with shopping carts and listened to all the different sounds of the store. The puppies got lots of attention and took it all in stride.

Dave watched us run thru the obedience lessons there, and gave us some tips to keep things on track. It is always so good to check in with him, not only is it a wonderful day of friends and puppies, but it keeps me fresh as a trainer to be a student.

Leo, taking in all in... he is such a good puppy!!!!

THEN, Friday... more snow!!! My boss called and asked if I could cover the post office. He has such a long drive and of course, I have all of 800 feet to travel, so what can I say. I don't mind working these snow days.. for the most part, it stays pretty quiet, I make a few extra dollars, and get to take Ginger with me... not a bad trade. Besides, look at this nice view that I have from the office windows.

Ginger is getting pretty comfortable at work. She likes to see the people coming in and out, and they like seeing her. In fact, when I don't have her with me, they always ask where she is.....

look at that sweet face... she will be another one that will be hard to say good bye to......

And here we are back at another weekend!!! Doing what we have done the past few, cleaning up and moving the snow around that came during the week. Up until now, Ed had pretty much handled it with the truck, but this weekend, it was time for the "big guns".









There has been so much snow, that he needed to clear a little space in the pasture for the horses. Especially for the "little guys"... Mocha and Kringle are about up to their bellies...

I feel so blessed that we have all this equipment. The job is big enough, I could imagine having to any of this "by hand". We even took the tractor down to Kas and Nate's to make more room for them.

We're dealing with a real cold snap right now.. it is only in the single numbers during the day, and well below zero at night. But as we head into the last week of January, spring is getting that much closer.. the days are already a half hour longer and now the sun doesn't go down until after 5:00. Winter days on the farm are to be treasured....

ANOTHER snowy day....

Well, we no sooner got all caught up from last week's storm, and we get another one today. Yup, it's winter in New England. Today's snow wasn't quite as much as the last one, and this evening, it has turned into sleet and rain, and should be ending before the morning. Maybe this is less snow, but it's heavier and therefore, moving it-- is a job.







Ed had some business work that had to be done, so it was up to me to get things done around the farm. I had to get some wood brought inside, with the sleet and rain coming, if we lose power, the woodstove will need to be chugging in good shape (though we do have a generator too). After my "wood work" I wanted to get the barn in order. The horses will be kept inside tonite.... they were already inside... but these "snowy" butts are proof they had been out...





actually, they don't mind being out. It still amazes me how the snow just sits on their backs and doesn't melt. They have a great time playing together....











and racing thru the field....

But, a clean stall with fresh water and a meal of green sweet hay... they decide that coming in, isn't such a bad idea at all....

and everyone will be tucked inside, safe and sound while the storm finishes up.. tomorrow.. will be another day of clean up work.. because the next storm is "scheduled" for Friday...... when is it spring????

just getting caught up...

So.... last Wednesday, we got hit with a good ol fashion snow storm. Literally feet and inches of snow!! Ed spent the better part of the day plowing and just trying to "stay ahead" of the snow.. but the real work is always the day after.
Just to show you what we were dealing with, when I went to let the doggies out for their nightly "run", this is what I found when I opened the door that goes into the dog yard. I did a little shoveling, just so they could get out the door, but they weren't very happy with the idea.




Especially when it meant, climbing "up hill" just to get to the top of the snow. Fortunately, the cockers are light enough that they sort of stayed on the top. But, I can tell you... they were certainly "quick" to go that evening....










Poor Ginger ended up "swimming" thru the snow.. she didn't seem to mind it so much....













And even just the little time that they were out, all the cockers came in looking like this... poor Trev... I didn't let anyone upstairs until they all "melted" off....








Thursday morning, Ed put on his outside gear and headed into the world of white to do battle with the clean up. Abbie was there to encourage Grandpa.. but she isn't too crazy about his "silly" hat...











What the truck couldn't move, the tractor could. One nice thing, there's plenty of room for us to put all this "white".. and rule of thumb, always push it back as far as you can... just to be ready for the next storm.










Tonka enjoyed watching the tractor work.....












Abbie and Tatter enjoyed laying together on the dog bed.. enjoying the warmth of the stove.....











After Ed got the barnyard done, he tackled the dog pen for me. Not only so the dogs could get out.. but also to unbury the fence. Our fence isn't very high, only about three feet, but it was "lost" in the snow....

It was a big job...

but the doggies will certainly enjoy the raceway that Daddy made for them.. and as I said, it's alway just getting ready for the next storm.....

happy birthday!!!

It's my hunny's birthday... well, actually yesterday was.. but, with Ed going to his weekly meeting at the Fire station and me teaching dog classes... no one was home to celebrate.

We did a celebration with the kids on Saturday night, taking "Dad" out for dinner. The cake waited until this evening.









And I would have been out tonite too, teaching dog classes, but the snow storm cancelled the classes and kept me home...

So, we all had a little piece of cake and celebrated Ed's birthday today...

Happy, happy sweetie....

a story for a Sunday...

My friend and fellow service dog puppy raiser, Scott.. sent this wonderful story to me. I just had to share it with all of you, maybe some of you already know about this.

This is Bettia Eistel and her horse, Fabuleax 5.. they live in Germany. Bettia has just written a book about her life, but to my knowledge it has not (yet) been translated to English. She was born in 1961 and her mother had been given the drug Thalidomide, which at that time was used to prevent miscarriages. No one knew much about the drug (neither do I) but children were often born with major birth defects.. one being, having no or extremely small limbs.. arms, legs, etc.








Bettina is an Olympic rider and has competed at the highest levels of dressage... and has WON!!! She and her amazing horse have a relationship that is certainly meant to admire.









I'm not so sure what I admire most.. this young woman's attitude towards life and her zest for living, or the wonderful horse that has to "understand" what this is all about. According to the story, she does EVERYTHING for herself and her horse.....









Saddling with her teeth!!!!!














Bridling with her feet!!! (Notice how nice he drops his head???)












Bathing and grooming.............













cantering...........showing...................

and winning!!!!!!

But most of all... loving.....

This story makes me remember a gal I had the pleasure of knowing... Louise.. she attended several of my obedience classes with her German Shepherd. Louise was also born without arms (her Mom had taken the same drug). At first I couldn't' figure out why Louise was in the classes, her dog was her service dog and was trained to "perfection". But Louise liked to be out with her dog and "doing things" and thought that the class would be fun for both of them. As we got to know each other better, she would share many of the details of her life... and like Bettina... she had a real appreciation for life. She drove her own van, went to dog shows.. and did..well, everything that everyone else did.

One thing that sticks in my mind though, Louise hated the snow and ice.. she had good balance, but trying to get around in the winter was very hard for her. Her biggest complaint was snowbanks.. made by the plow trucks they often blocked the sidewalks. She never let them stop her, she just didn't like them. As it turns out, I broke my ankle one winter (falling off a horse) and was in a cast and on crutches for many weeks. Only then did I truly apprecaite what Louise had been saying about snow, ice and snowbanks.

Her dog - "Morgan" - was so much fun to watch. Those of us who became friends with Louise never thought to ask her if she "needed" anything, because Morgan took such good care of Louise..they seemed to be one and the same. I did one time say "can I give you a hand with that?" Louise smiled and said "Yes, two hands would be pretty nice". I then felt a little ashamed, only to see that she had been joking with me.....

Lousie moved away and I haven't seen her in years... but I do think of them often, espcially now that I do this puppy raising thing. Maybe I should try and find her on facebook, anyways.. on a winter Sunday afternoon, I am inspired by these two ladies... and I hope you were as well....

real snow!!!

All week long, "they" have been talking snow. Ok, it's January, we're suppose to get snow... so what??? The last storm was predicted as a 'blizzard".. and yes, we got snow, and it was windy, but honestly.. I didn't see the big deal about it all. Now, we hear "nor easter", high winds, cold.. and I think "yup". To celebrate, I pull out a bag of those wonderful strawberries I picked last June, dish up some ice cream and have a grand little after dinner treat. Oh they were so good.. a little taste of summer in the winter.

We had a bit of "excitement" on the farm yesterday. Sadie woke up and looked out the window to see Tonka and Duke standing in the front yard. NOT in the pasture... in the yard. They had taken down the fence and were wondering about just as they pleased. It wasn't any trick to "catch" them.. walk towards the barn and yell "let's eat" and you can get two draft horses moving quickly. Silver, Mocha and Kringle were still "inside" and didn't discover the fence being down. So, the first thing .. Ed and I went out and got that fence put back.

The rest of the afternoon, I found the horse sunning themselves... almost as though they knew we had weather on the way... maybe they did....

This morning, we woke to this... REAL SNOW!! Howling winds, snow drifts that were "feet" high.. a real New England snow day.

Ed had a bit of time just breaking the driveway open....

This is what you could call a "white out" for sure.. I can't even see the end of the driveway...











If you look very closely.. Ed is in the picture.. plowing... maybe getting a white truck wasn't such a good idea.











Ginger had a grand time when I put the dogs out this am. The cockers were not so impressed.. they "did their business" and came right back in. At least I had a dog yard this morning.. by night fall, my entire fence (which is only three feet high) is "gone".. totally covered by the snow. So.. guess the doggies will be going out the front door for a bit... you'd think that Ginger would break some paths for the little guys, but she can't be bothered.








This was "yesterday".. our down fence. I think what happened was Tonka was reaching over the fence to get a bit of grass, and just took it down. With today's snow.. there won't be any "tempting" grass on the other side of the fence... fortunately it didn't take us long to put it back. We kept the horses locked inside until we were back in business....

And when we let them out, they ran right to where the fence was down.. who says horses aren't smart and don't' remember....

Silver - "hey Tonka, look at this.. they put the fence back!!!"

Tonka - "ya, I see.. it's just no fair"...

Hopefully, the fence is still there, with this snow, I don't know if we can even see that.. guess I'll find out in the morning!!!!