Fall Festival: Gone to the Dogs

Now it’s your turn! I’d love to hear all about how you and your family amuse yourselves as the seasons change. Do you have special activities that you do with your kids? Are there certain movies that you watch during the fall? Do you have fall crafts, games, books or field trips that you enjoy? Share your favorite autumn vacation spots at Daily Dwelling.

Today's theme is all about fun. For me, the fun part of fall is feathering my nest by doing the things I shared yesterday. I also enjoy decorating my porch. I set out pumpkins and tie cornstalks to the porch posts. Dressing up is fun too, although I don't always do that now that I'm a little older. Last year I went up to the bar dressed as a hippie. It was great because I love to people watch and I could do a lot of it with those big glasses on!


For us, for now, our dogs are like our kids. So, one of the best parts about fall is watching them play and have fun. Good luck trying to rake with them around!

Gone To The Dogs

I started working on curtains for the living room last night. I left the fabric all spread out after getting sidetracked with the frost warning. This morning I found this...


Which quickly turned in to a belly up "I'm sorry Mom but I'm wagging my tail and I'm cute" pose...


I think it is safe to say that this project has officially gone to the dogs!

If you've been around here long you know this is nothing compared to the havoc our dogs can create. What do your dogs (or cats) do to push your buttons!?

Chick City and a Rough Night

Well, Becker Farms is now the proud home of 99 Colored Range chicks! They arrived Friday and I was able to get them home from the post office and settled before going to work. I took the above video that morning. Aren't they fun to watch! I'm thrilled with how vigorous they are. I didn't have to show them how to eat or drink, they just jumped right in. They do need a bigger space so I'm going to work on the eggmobile today. Right now the chicks are in our basement. Once the big chickens are out the old coop is going to be our brooding space. We did have one fatality yesterday, it was very weird and I still don't know why it happened. The chick had a bum leg and a sore on it's belly. Honestly, it looked like a little piece of intestine had come out and wrapped around the leg. It was horrible and I hope it doesn't happen again! On the plus side, the rest are doing great!

Apparently I was super worried about the chicks last night. The night went something like this:

9 PM - Hubby takes a shower, I start to fall asleep on the couch.

9:10 PM - Uh oh, what is that sound! Sounds like a chick in distress. Oh, that's just the puppy snoring on the old couch.

9:30 or 10 PM - Hubby wakes me up, I move to the bedroom and go back to sleep.

10:23 PM - Wake up, dreaming chicks were all gone. Fall back asleep. Toss & turn a lot.

12:43 AM - Wake up to another weird noise. What is that!? After listening I determine it is the puppy barking in her sleep, so she's having a rough night too. But where is she!? I get up and find the bedroom door open (unusual) and the puppy on her couch. Fine, she should be okay there. Then I tiptoe downstairs and watch the chicks. All still alive!

1:05 AM - Back to bed.

3 ish AM - Wake up dreaming of a new idea for a Criminal Minds episode. Eventually fall back asleep.

6:43 AM - Sam (our medium size lab) decides I've slept long enough and should wake up and let him outside. I do so after making a mental note that human children are a very bad idea and could be the end of any kind of sanity for me...

Enjoy your Sunday, check back later for my Sunday Stroll!

Meet Bear

I'm still in a little bit of an unmotivated mood like I was on Sunday. So here's my post.

Meet Bear, our 125 pound baby. You've seen enough pictures of his little blond sister. We call him Eeyore because that is exactly who he acts like.

Brian already had Bear when we met. Bear and I had some issues to work through back then. Brian went away for the weekend and Bear wouldn't get off the couch. I mean really, he refused. I pulled on him, he curled his lip. Then I got smart and pulled the cushion out from under him. Still, he wouldn't move. I finally put the cushion on the floor next to the couch and coaxed him on to it. Then, I slid the cushion across the wood floor to the doorway. Picture the big lug on an iceberg, that's what it looked like.

In fact, he still will hardly touch the floor. He's scared to death of it. Too slippery I guess. He actually walks on his tiptoes to get to the couch. As I type, he sleeps next to me, curled up on his couch cushion. Since we got the new (used) furniture awhile back, we got rid of the old couch. I thought the cushion would make him a nice bed so I saved it. I think it made his life way, way better. He loves his cushion.

Can't you see it in his eyes?



P.S. He stills grumbles at me occasionally, but we've worked it out with some leash training. I have a slip leash in every trouble spot and if I even think about putting it on him he moves as quick as a big dog can.

This is WAR!

I am so sick of dog tracks in my freshly planted garden...


of dog poop all over the garden (I thought I'd spare you a picture) when I'm trying to dig in it... and now... now I'm really, REALLY mad. This...


is damage to my garlic. My precious, vigorous, first-time-for-me garlic. The same garlic that is the only thing actually growing in the garden so far. Except asparagus. Anyway... THIS...


is the solution to all my doggie garden problems, or at least I hope so. The garden just happens to be next to the electric pasture fence and I just happen to have some push in posts and extra wire. I love animals, but I'll be watching tomorrow morning as they bound out to the garden for their morning business. And I'll be doing a victory dance as they get they get the shock of their lives. After all, this is war, and I'm hoping to win!

This is why...

...I'm glad that new dog bed cover only cost me $1.


This is also why we needed a new cover in the first place. Once every few months the "puppy", now 1 1/2 years old, feels the need to destroy something. Bitter apple spray seemed to stop her from chewing up the bed at night. Unfortunately I left it lying too close to her cage today when I went to work (for her brothers to lay on) and she sucked it into her cage.


The good news is I might be able to fix it, the even better news is that if not I still have the other half of the sheet to make a new one from! This was at least sort of funny, much less tragic than a few weeks ago when Brian lost 2 pairs of slippers to the little mutt in the same week!

Oreos and Rain

Most of the snow is gone now and it has been raining since sometime last night. Once lunchtime came at work all I could think about was coming home and cuddling up with a book, a movie, 3 dogs, and a cat. Brian is working late tonight as he is on lookout for flooding across the roads. After working my way up the wait list I was able to pick up Multiple Blessings from the library on my way home from work.

I did chores and got attacked by the mean Leghorn rooster. I am so fed up with him I'd like to make him dinner but that would be a lot of work for 1 rooster. Plus, I just don't like the idea of the hens being out there without him. Today was the first time he's managed to get me good with his spurs and my hand was bleeding the prove it. Oh the joys of farm life!

About the oreos: I just love oreos. I think they're great. However, I sacrificed my oreo habit when I started trying to eat mostly local and mostly without HFCS. I found this great homemade version online and use it to get through the cravings. For some strange reason I wandered down the cookie aisle last night while shopping and somehow a box of double stuf (on sale) managed to get in my cart. I don't feel great about, and that is what I'm going to remind myself tonight. As I eat them, one by one. With milk. :)

Let's see... what else is new? Oh, I also got a couple of good books from the library about sheep so I've been studying up on lambing. Bonnie is due on the 23rd and although I am very excited, I am also about as nervous as a mama hen! The tentative plan is to let her lamb in the pen with the other ewes then move her and the baby(ies) to a separate, adjacent pen to allow them a little bonding time. We'll see how it goes.

How is the weather where you are? Have you, or your animals, been fooled in to thinking it is spring? What do you like to do on rainy days to pass the time? Or, how about this: what is your favorite guilty pleasure? Keep it decent!

Dogs Days of Summer

Since we all miss those nice warm summer days I thought I would share some warm weather pictures. These are some of my all time favorite pictures. I love the teal blue colors of the water and of course I have great memories of all the fun we had that day.

Weird/Bad Dreams

I have really weird, and usually scary, dreams several times a month. Brian says I'm crazy but I blame it on watching too much America's Most Wanted as a child. Watching CSI in recent years probably doesn't help either.

Last night we went to the snowmobile races. Several of our friends were racing and it was a pretty good show. There were a couple wipe outs that made me cringe but no one got hurt. We got home around 11 PM.

I let the dogs out right away but soon after I let them back in I heard our cat, Baxter, meowing frantically. He was outside on our front porch!! Now in the summer he does go in and out as he pleases but he hasn't been outside since the first frost last fall and he never tries to get out when it is this cold. I still don't understand how he got out. Brian insists that he must have darted out when we left and I hope he's right. Our door was unlocked and I question whether someone stopped by but I still think they would have pretty much had to throw him outside to get him to go. Maybe I'm just paranoid.

So the cat was fine although the dog had obviously mauled him. They play nicely in the house but outside he does not defend himself and Maci gets about half of him in her mouth at once. He was wet with drool and had little snowballs hanging off of him. I cleaned him up with a bath towel, then went to bed around 11:30 PM.

I had weird dreams off and on most of the night. First I was dreaming about some kind of hostage situation, then someone running from the cops, then I started to dream that our friends had a sick baby and they were calling me to ask how to take care of it. That last part makes a lot of sense because people call me constantly to ask how to take care of their sick pets. They baby thing was a new one though.

So in my dream, I could here this baby making funny noises in the background. Then, at 3:04 AM, I sat straight up in bed and realized it was our cat making those horrible noises!! It sounded exactly like cats that come in the clinic who are blocked and can't urinate. That is a very painful condition and they make sad, pitiful noises when it happens. I woke Brian up because I was scared to go looking for Baxter myself in case he was in a lot of pain. I told him that Baxter was either sick or he had another mouse. We had a Momma mouse move in to our kitchen and he has been catching the babies.

Well, needless to say Brian was very confused and so I jumped out of bed and went to figure it out. I found Baxter batting a mouse around under the kitchen table. Thank god!! I didn't disturb him and went to lay back in bed.

I left the light on while I lied there and tried to think happy thoughts. I figured out a long time ago that if I go straight back to sleep my dreams will just pick up were they left off. Then at 3:24 AM, Brian's boss called. Brian got up and went to work since the wind was blowing and the roads were getting bad. I fell back asleep after he left and sleep without incidence until this morning!

Do you folks ever have bad or weird dreams? Why do you think that happens? If you don't, what's your secret? Am I crazy like Brian says or is this more common than I think?

P.S. Those rooting for the mouse can breathe easy for now, I think it got away and is hiding behind the gun cabinet. Baxter just took a break from siting in front of it to come over and try to lay on the keyboard.

Our Winter in Pictures!

I'm away from home at the Michigan Vet Conference this weekend. I want to get a post up but don't feel like saying a lot so I thought it would be a good time to post some pictures. These are all from the last few months (some are from fall). I'll take advantage of the hotel's wireless and upload these now instead of fighting with my connection at home. Enjoy!

Brian's grader, our grain setup in the background.

Our first batch of Seventh Generation TP, Maci apparently wanted it out of the box!

The TP neatly stacked in the cabinet. We really like it BTW.

Sam doesn't help much when I'm sewing.

Our Christmas tree with all western ornaments this year.

It is hard to see but look close: you can see Maci's paw about to clock Baxter upside the head, and him about to fight back. They box all the time!

He crammed himself behind the printer to recuperate.

And they're friends again...usually not this cozy.

This is from early fall. Brian built this calf shelter in one day. I had mixed feelings about treated lumber and decided it is better for us than replacing/rebuilding every few years. I was so proud of him. :)

My first every meat loaf. I'll post the recipe someday. It was a special request from Brian when I announced that I'd like to start making a meal plan. He said it "tasted like meatloaf" which is what I was going for!

Our new logo, many hours in the making. What do you think?

An interesting pic I thought, it shows how badly we need to insulate around our basement.

Brian's latest project - a new sheep feeder!! We used the plans found here and he made it in just an hour or two. Works great and saves a lot of hay waste.

Rocky & Shady, our two Arabians.

Pistol & Pooh Bear, relaxing in the sun.

They have hay 24/7. That is how they stay warm. They have been doing great even in this extreme weather, with only a couple wind blocks. The four of them can eat a round bale in 2 or 3 days in this kind of weather.

This is a typical Sunday, when we're lucky.

Funny, I have similar pictures in all four seasons now. Don't believe what you hear - chewing is not always a phase!! :)


I hope you enjoyed getting a glimpse in to our life during the past few months. It can be kind of crazy around here but we (usually) think it is worth it. How do these pictures compare to scenes from your own life? Which pictures do you like and want to know more about/see more of?

I'll have a more substantial post up sometime soon!

Sunday Stroll

It feels good to be out strolling again today. It was still very cold as we've been getting storms all week but at least the winds died down and the sun came out. I couldn't resist getting some more pictures of the horses while I was breaking their ice. The rest are mostly views from our front porch before the wind stopped.








Check out who else is strolling today over at Quiet Country House.

Just Checking In

No real great content here, just checking in. I've had a very enjoyable weekend with 4 days off in a row. The only downside was that Brian was gone hunting in the U.P. but I did get in lots of quality time with the dogs. Today the 3 of them plus me and the cat all crashed out on the couch for a long nap. All I had to do was make the 20 ft. walk out the back door and gather the chicken eggs. The sheep and chickens are pretty easy to take care of this time of year, just have to refill the feeders and waterers every couple days.

I've started looking in to our options for rebuilding the barn, including hoophouse type structures. I'll be sharing what we learn about their pros and cons here, plus I just finished You Can Farm by Joel Salatin and started Keeping a Family Cow, so there should be some book reviews coming soon.

I hope everyone enjoyed the holiday weekend! :)

Sunday Stroll

So today I went strollin', and this is what I saw.



The leaves are so thick you can't see the grass in a lot of spots.


I've still got some peas trying to grow in the garden. I don't think they'lll make it much longer. Temps are supposed to be down to 27 tonight.


Here's a bigger picture of the garden, all done now. That's the asparagus there in the middle (I didn't want anyone thinking my weeds were THAT tall!)


Maci, enjoying the fall.


And the horses.


They were very happy to get a new round bale.

Check out who else is strolling over at Quiet Country House.

Also, thanks to Joyce, I'll be mentioning something that I am thankful in each post this month, in no particular order. What a great way to carry the Thanksgiving spirit all the way through! Today I am thankful for my dogs. We have 3: Bear, Sam, & Maci. I appreciate having them around because they are always in a good mood and happy to see me, even when I'm crabby and not particularly nice to them. They keep us from being lazy by waking us up every day - there pretty much set to go off at 5:30 even on the weekend. They help me feel safe when Brian is gone, and they are good cuddlers. Of course they do have there problems (like when Maci launched WWIII on my chickens :| ) but I love them all the same. Forgot to mention how entertaining they are, as right now I'm watching the cat bat the dog in the face.

So, what are you thankful for?