Today is another very special day... Miss Abbie is turning FIVE!!! A very big deal for sure. We have three birthdays in October.. Kassy - Abbie - and my Dad!!!! Abbie was headed out for a special shopping day with Sadie and Jessie, but had to come to the farm to see me... (and do something else)...
Sadie said she can't believe she's the Mom of a five year old (think I can believe I am the Mom of children with children???)
Other than turning five... this was the harvest pumpkin day. That little pumpkin seed which started out in a paper cup, and grew all summer long in the front garden.. is now already to be taken home and made into a Halloween jack o lantern.
It grew to a nice size, and was heavy!!!!
And one little girl is happy with her growing success!!!!
Pumpkins and presents... being five is a wonderful thing!!! Happy birthday!!!!!
The trees at the edge of the pasture are putting on quite the fall show.......
Guinea hens enjoying the warmth of the day and getting ready for cold winter days ahead........
Livy had a very special visitor last week... think you're seeing double... well, yes you are!!! That's Livy little brother (half brother) and he now lives in town. A lady by the name of Val, has been seeing us out walking all summer. She has stopped a few times, because she lost her little dog a while back and is ready for another. She stopped by the farm, met the dogs, and when I told her that Livy had a brother needing a home, she contacted Karen....
and Guinness has now become her little pal. Val and I were just dying to get them back together...so we picked a beautiful afternoon, and Guinness and Val came over and the puppies had a great run and play in the dog yard...
Livy loved playing with her little brother.. and they were so cute together...
Guinness will be taking a puppy class soon, and I dare say these two will have lots of time to play and be together... (Livy looks like she approves of that idea!!!)
So, here we are, another month. But today is a very special day... it's Kassy's birthday!!! I have always had the wonderful blessing of being with our girl for every one of her birthdays, nothing doing today... I had to go down and spend some time with her.....She's a beautiful wife and Mom.... and I (we) are just so proud of her....
We had a nice lunch together, and just some time to sit and talk... until the bus rolled down the street. Then we had to take the time and check that out.. and all the little kids getting off that big yellow bus. (very exciting!!!)
Snack time....
And a happy birthday "selfie" (as they call these photos...)
It was a wet fall day, but nothing dampens these spirits, and it's been such a pretty fall. I think October is one of my favorite months.. and really, from now until around the middle of January, I love this time of year. (I could do without the "real winter" months, and the hot summer months.. if truth be told!!!) It's going to be a busy time of year, but I plan to enjoy every moment possible!!!
One thing I haven't talked much about are the morning walks. I meet up with a friend and neighbor almost every morning, and we leash up the dogs and take a nice walk to start the day.... here is Livy, Tazzy and Cam.. all hiking along....
Livy, Hunter and Trevor... the boys are 13 this year, and I have to say, they can keep up with the younger ones.. though by the end of the walk, they seem happy to head for home... (have breakfast and usually snooze the rest of the morning!!)
Didn't get a very good picture of Susanne... but that's her girl Phoebe trekking along with the cockers....
We have a few different routes that we like to take, but the fair ground has been one of our favorites. There is a "track" and four times around makes a two mile walk. Often we're not the only ones that are out there... but it's fun and a good way to get the day started.
This is another friend, Kathleen and her boy Brutus. I have convinced Kathleen that she should give obedience showing a try... and being the good sport that she is... she's going to. Right now, we're all taking a rally class with Diane..... learning all the different signs and then running the courses....
Kathleen and Brutus are making good progress, and I think they will have their first title by the spring.....
Livy is doing a good job too. She gets a little confused, because she is also doing confirmation with Karen,and sometimes does her little show dog thing... but over all, she is coming along...
It's so nice to have an obedience dog once again. It's been a long time. Moxie was my last "real" obedience dog... I did show Cam a few times, but it really wasn't her thing. Livy seems to really like it, so I have high hopes for her....
Caught this great photo of my other little gal, enjoying the warm and light of an afternoon sun. Wish I had more time to spend like this, but it seems there is always something going on!!!!!
And here we are again.. check in day at neads...Right now, Danny is the only Maine boy, so we had a nice time traveling down with the gals, and taking time to fill Dave in on Danny's progress. He's doing very well, super laid back, easy going and seems to enjoy all there is about life.
NEADS is expanding... they own a few of the properties around their current campus, and are in the process of building a new client house. When clients are matched with their dogs, they have to spend two weeks at the NEADS campus to do their team training. While they do have a nice house for them now, this one is being built especially for the clients, and I dare say, will make "living" here those two weeks even easier.
This is probably the least favorite of our check ins... Dave likes to see how the dogs handle scary things, and what is scarier than those horrid Halloween stores. Believe me.. this is NOT one of the stores I would normally choose to be in. I don't enjoy being scared, and I find some of this Halloween stuff down right gruesome. But I suppose if the puppies can handle it for a little bit, I can too...
Danny, just as I knew he would... was a pro. He figured out right away that this stuff is all fake... since dogs don't see things the way we do.. he never worried about all the zombies, and other such creatures. I wasn't too thrilled when they screamed at us, or worse yet.. jumped out at us.. but Danny wasn't one bit bothered.
Dave tested him with masks of all sorts, and things that "glowed".. and Danny thought each thing was just one big toy to play with. Needless to say, Dave is very pleased with his "solid" reactions... I fear that many Halloween stores have done good dogs in.
It may seem kind of mean to subject the dogs to this sort of thing... but making sure that they are steady and ready to handle whatever comes their way is a huge part of the training. Danny my boy, you're looking good!!!!!
AND... I am taking a bit of bragging time here... I have two "calendar girls!!" Last year, it was Ginger who made the cover of the NEADS calendar.. and this year (2015) it's Miss Rylie!!! (In fact many of the photos are ones that I have taken!!!)...I know that I'm "a bit" of a picture nut... but it's cool to see them!!! (and you can order them on their website!!!)
So, with September coming to a close, fall is in full swing. The apple orchards all around the farm are busy, it's a great apple year. The weather has been nothing short of amazing, and I find myself outside as much as I possible can be!!!!
Open for business!!!!!
Reagan, Kass and Sadie came up for a visit.. we went to lunch at our local little place, and then went onto the orchard to get some apples.
Though, one little chap was far more impressed with the tractors of the orchard than the wonder apples. So while Kass and Sadie did some pumpkin shopping and looked over the apples and other such things, Reagan and I spent time exploring farm equipment.....
His Mom finally convinced him to pick up his own little pumpkin... which was hard when you want to take them all home..... but, after much searching, he did come up with the perfect one....
Back on our own farm, we found an escapee once again. Miss Mocha has decided that her pasture area is just not enough and has been booking it under the fence. She never really "goes" anywhere, but it isn't safe to have her loose... so, we'll need to find a way to keep her contained.....
And we need to prepare these little ones for horsemanship....
Abbie loves helping out in the barn and has no fear (which is good and bad) of any of the horses. Fortunately, all our horses are really good with kids, and despite his huge size, I dare say Duke is probably the best.
With the warmish weather, the bugs are still a bit of a bother, so Abbie though Duke would appreciate a bit of fly spray.
After the horses are all taken care of.... she's off on her four wheeler. (I have a feeling that in just a few years, her Papa will think she has out grown this one... and will "need another!!")
And speaking of fall, and all the fall things that we do around here. This is another (on going) project. Filling that woodshed so we have a nice warm house over the winter. Actually, I enjoy stacking the wood. I do it in stages so it isn't so overwhelming....
and find great satisfaction when our woodshed begins to look like this. Planning on 11 cord this year, and we'll see how long we can go without firing up the big furnace!!!!!
Abbie "fetching her ponies".....
Out for a little walk......
thanks to Miss Escape Artists.. the round pen will be used as a pasture spot for a while. (which is probably what she had in mind the whole time)...
So, as another month comes to an end... and the farm goes along on these fine fall days.. I have to admit, that I (sadly) do not spend as much time as I would like (or used to) with my little blog here. But since I do enjoy looking over the stories myself, I will try and spend a little more time, keeping it up to date... (especially the photos)... and will just try and fill it in when I take the moments to do so.....
