May
2009
Daisy says “Happy Birthday, Mom!”
May 19th, 2009 at 07:36 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Dogs
Meet Daisy, Mom's 80th birthday present
Daisy makes it a six-pack again… that’s a six-pack of dogs. She’s Mom’s 80th birthday present, and is just the cutest, self-assured little ball of fur.
Meet Daisy! So far, she’s met each of pack, starting with Mindy, the big Black Lab. Next to get acquainted was Koda the Husky/Shepherd cross, who came charging out a door when no one was looking. After that, Coco the Lab/Redbone Hound cross came out to greet her.
That took over an hour. Then it was time to meet Sarah the Finnish Spitz and Kiki, the Shepherd/Border Collie cross.
Daisy is a Black Lab (daddy)/Aussie (mommy) cross that was a gift from the owner. Free is a very good price indeed.
Daisy meets the sheep
So far, she’s been out to meet the chickens, the sheep, and the horses. She wasn’t interested in meeting the cows who just came home, but did get a ride in our old Ford farm truck when Bev and Cindy delivered 6 bales of hay to Clyde and Amber. There, she also got to meet Bruno, the boxer.
Mom with Daisy
Now, after a romp in a very wet front yard (the sprinklers just went off), she’s sound asleep in Mom’s arms. No, she’s not sleeping there. Sarah gave her crate to Daisy and her “safe spot” will be in Mom’s bathroom.
We fully expect Mom will have to take her out in the middle of the night, and yeah… that’s not our job.
Please don’t wake us or the rest of the pack!
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
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Feb
2009
Some dogs just never learn
February 14th, 2009 at 09:24 pm by Shari Thomas in Dogs, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherWe’ve had another round of snow, about 3 inches. Not enough to shovel, just enough to make it really white and sparkly.
Our old gal, Mindy has been bugging Cindy and me to take her out with us when we go feed. So, most mornings, about the time she thinks we should be going out, she begins to patrol the hallway, the kitchen, both bedrooms until finally we gather our coats, hats, and gloves.
Each morning, it’s game on!
... the rest of the story...
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Jan
2009
Snow: Five inches in three hours
January 25th, 2009 at 08:36 pm by Shari Thomas in About Beryl, Around the Farm, Chickens, Dogs, Family Cow, Horses, Sheep, WeatherShortly after dinner, Cindy suggested we feed, even though is was about an hour early. Good thing we went out when we did. The wind was already sustained from the south-southeast at better than 20 mph.
We got the chickens fed, and closed in again (with high winds we keep their door closed), and turned our attention to the rest of the animals. As I tossed a couple flakes of hay into the cow and calf, I couldn’t help but think of the Arnold Palmer Classic Golf Tournament, where they had sustained winds in excess of 30 mph. Talk about golf balls going where you didn’t want them… the hay didn’t exactly land where I wanted it, either.
On to the sheep… C’mon girls, go that way so I can throw the hay over here and miss your woolly coats. You’ve done well this year. Maybe your wool will be worth a little more with less alfalfa tangled in it.
Cindy fed and watered the horses and called our two dogs back to the house. By then, it we spitting rain and we still had to reposition a couple bales of hay at the cow stack. With that done quickly, we stopped by the hen house to gather the eggs and head inside.
Within about 45 minutes, it was snowing… hard! It’s been doing that now for the past three hours. Weatherbug tells me we’re supposed to have five to 10 inches by tomorrow night.
Hmmm, we already have five inches and there’s a lot more storm to come yet. Bev’s not gonna have much fun tomorrow, digging out to go to work, only to have to dig the Senior bus out, too.
We’re even expecting a thunderstorm or two this evening… better known as “Thunder-snow”. Right now it’s 29.5 degrees. The wind had shifted to the northwest about time the snow started. That’s our indication that the front has passed. Never mind the jet stream is going the opposite direction.
I know one thing, the “arctic dogs”… Sarah the Finnish Spitz, and Koda the part Siberian Husky, would rather remain indoors, while our two lab crosses just love the snow. The shepherd… she’s not sure but will go play as long as someone else goes first.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
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Jan
2009
An average winter day on the farm
January 22nd, 2009 at 06:32 pm by Shari Thomas in Around the Farm, Chickens, Dogs, Family Cow, Horses, New Life, SheepThought I’d share an average day here at “Four Country Gals”.
With five dogs in the house, morning comes early, as in when the first dog wants out. That’s shortly after 5 AM. Mom gets up, since it’s her dog, Mindy. Then she heads back to bed.
Now, if Mom stays really quiet, the rest of the dogs settle down for another hour or so. About time Mindy wants in, the other dogs want out, so that’s a good time to start the coffee… around 6 AM. Start the coffee doesn’t mean “brew”. It means put the beans in the grinder side.
Brew is as easy as push the button to start the grind/brew cycle, something the next person up gets to do. That’s usually Cindy. She and Mom like to watch the sunrise from the kitchen. At this time of year, that’s about 7 AM.
Bev is up by 7:30 and I follow anywhere from 10 to 30 minutes later. Since Bev leaves the house at 8:30 at least 3 times a week, she gets her morning “computer duties” done first.
I get online shortly after 8:30, first checking e-mail and then proceeding through the overnight stats. By now, the dogs have all been out and back in at least three times before settling in for their morning naps.
Cindy and I both eat breakfast at the computer, with the exception of a weekly “breakfast at the table”. That’s the day we have a hearty farm breakfast. The rest of the time, it’s cold cereal or toast.
About 10 AM it’s time to feed the animals. Why so late? It has to do with the weather, attempting to keep the sheep from lambing in the middle of the night, and our own schedules. We’ve found that if we wait until 10, we’re not in quite such cold temperatures. It takes us about 30 minutes to get the horses, sheep, cows, chickens and wild birds all fed and watered.
Every once in a while, we have to spend a little longer rearranging the hay stacks. If we bring 10 or more bales into close reach, we only have to do that every couple of weeks.
By 11 it’s time to get serious about driving traffic. I have found that I can combine my Entrecard “drops” and Adgitize ad visits. It takes me about an hour to visit 50 blogs, stopping to read fresh content, and also to comment where appropriate.
All the while, I keep an eye on CNN, watching for breaking news.
Every three to five days, I spend time approving Entrecard advertising requests. On a monthly basis, I award credits to random advertisers, so I have to maintain some spreadsheets, which I keep updated regularly.
With six blogs to maintain, my biggest problem isn’t what to write, it’s what to write today. I have chosen to update one blog a day at a minimum. That keeps content fresh, but it also gives me permission not to write in each blog daily.
I guess part of it also has to do with “rewards”. Entrecard gives me 25 credits for new blog posts (maximum 3 per week), and Adgitize provides 100 points for a single daily blog post.
By late afternoon, I’ve typically fleshed the post in my mind. But first… it’s time to feed the animals again. As the sun stays up later, we’ll adjust the feeding schedule to feed about an hour before sunset (in the cool of the evening).
It takes me 15 to 30 minutes to create my blog posts. I edit as I go and use a spell-checker.
Once that is done, I drop some more Entrecards (rarely more than 100), sometimes working from the “inbox” where folks have already visited me, and sometimes just using the toolbar to select random blogs.
By 7:30 I’m ready to quit working and start playing. I keep a paid membership at Pogo, and we also have several games installed on each computer.
Bedtime comes as early as 9 PM. Since we each have TV’s, we tend to watch TV from bed for another hour or so, before quieting down for the night.
Oh, the dogs… they get at least two “last outs”. Mom puts them out and when they come in, they get treats. Bev puts them out before “pills”, and then lets them in for “pills” (only two actually get meds, but all get 1/2 a marshmallow). I put them out last and when they come in, I dispense treats in turn for obedience as in “sit, down, etc”.
Buy me a beer and I'll write more posts more often.
