Fence Bliss

So this morning I get a text from my sister saying that they were coming down and while I was delivering a couple puppies to the Hannah Society, they started working on my fence. By the time I returned home most of the posts were set and brackets and rails were being put on. By 6pm the whole thing was pretty much done, I just have a couple of gates to make but right now the whole thing is secured. Photos to come at a later date. To celebrate I washed dogs. Now now I'm a bit sore all over. I had the dogs in the kennel area all day to keep them out of the way and then I let them out to see if they try to test the fence. Our Penny who is a "hide behind the corner kind of pooper" went over to the area that before she climbed over to enter her pooping place and tested the fence several times before settling for pooping next to the fence. I just realized that I typed the poop word several times. You know before becoming a breeder, I never thought much about dog poop unless I stepped in it. Now poop is a way to measure how well a dog or puppy is feeling. Poop is something to clean up so more poop can be pooped again in the same area. Poop is something to scoop up, avoid stepping in and wake up to the smell of. But anyways, I'm glad to have my fence done so quickly.

Fence Woes

I have given up on my wire with metal post garden fence. Been trying for several weeks to modify it to keep the dogs out of the garden. So today with the help of my wonderful son J, I went to HD and picked up supplies to rebuild it. So far I got 3 posts cemented in. Rained off and on all day, by the time we got home and started unloading the trailer, the cement bags just about fell apart and 3 landed on the driveway.



So the plan is to set wood posts and wood rails and then better wire with a smaller 2x4 opening instead of the more open wire I had in place.



So it kind of looks like my sister's new fence around her small dog yard, but without the snow and the board going around the middle.

Thinking of Spring

I've been thinking a lot lately, well since just after Christmas, about spring and renewal. Just a hint of warmer weather has me planning my garden. What to plant and what might not work. I am thinking that I will assume that after last summer's seemly lack of warmth that I am not even going to try to grow anything that will need an extended time of warm temperatures. So I will just stick to cool weather crops like lettus, carrots and staples like potatoes and onions. Last year I mostly grew weeds that I pulled up and fed to the rabbits to process for me. I did plant some seeds and nothing came up. So for the past few weeks my endeavor has been to block the dogs from going into the garden. I won't be able to grow anything if they are digging in the beds and chewing on stuff. So I've made repairs to the 4 foot wire fence that is supposed to keep them out. but Johaan fits thru it and Fritz and Penny push down the wire until it bends over and then jump over. So I've been decorating the wire with stuff I weave thru it. Like garden hoses that the dogs chewed up and rendered unusable, sticks, broken broom handles, broken rake, metal bird bath and pieces of a wooden chair that didn't fair so well in the rainy weather. It's a work in progress and I have a few weeks more to work on it. If all else fails I will be force to set posts and build a more permanent wooden fence. I'm thinking a picket fence. I know they don't like the pickets because I already put pickets on the gate and no one goes thru it or over it. I like a bit of whimsy, so I may just go for the picket fence. I have been also wanting to enclose my front yard more. Right now I just have the front along the sidewalk fenced, but I would like to fence the sides. With the Littles I want to contain them a bit easier.

On the dog front. I have a couple first going on. Our first litter of phantom marked labradoodles from our Tawnee and Baron and our first litter of miniature poodles from Liezel and Johaan. We still have a couple of Sadie and Fritz's boys from last summer. Our Penny went into heat in January and we put her with Baron, but we didn't see ties so it is possible that nothing happened Our Hiedi just went into heat and since it's been over a year since her last litter we will be breeding her again.

We also have a couple of new editions to our pack.

This is Nixie, she is a white with black markings miniature poodle. Nixie means water sprite or pixie in German. Nixie has a go forward adventurous personality, just like our Cubby.


This is Wini, short for Winifred which means friend in German. Wini is Teddy's friend and is a very light apricot miniature poodle. She is both playful and timid. Just like Teddy.

Tme For Fall Again

We have been getting ready for winter for several weeks now. At my sister's place, we harvested green beans a few weeks ago and dug up potatoes for 5 hours last Saturday. Sunday she made a trip across White Pass to Yakima and brought back apples, peaches, grapes, huge cabbages, peppers and tomatoes. My sister is great about canning food.


This is what my garden looked like pre-dogs. Now I have a wire fence to keep them out of my raised beds otherwise they dig holes. I've been busy reclaiming my garden. I let it go last year and with events that happened this summer, it wasn't great either. I planted one of my raised beds with carrots and lettus and nothing came up but a tomato plant. (here's where I roll my eyes.) So I made a goal a few weeks ago to plant and prepare better for next year and increase the area I can grow stuff in. By cutting back some bushes and removing some others I can more than double my garden beds next year. I also need to plant on a schedule. Like bare root plants like Rashberries and other berry bushes are available in February (rose bushes too) Cool vegetables can be planted in April like carrots, radishes and lettus. I can plant potatoes now, in areas that don't get boggy like my compost pile. Some of the best potatoes I've grown came from the compost pile. Because my backyard bogs during the rainy season, I've been laying several inches of gravel on my pathways so I can walk thru the garden all winter without sinking into the mud. I'm also bringing home a weekly load of grass and chopped leaves from work to add to my raised beds to compost all winter. In the spring I will mix in the compost from the compost bin that contains peelings, eggs shells and coffee grounds plus rabbit droppings. I have 4 bunnies that live above my compost bin and they process weeds for me. Everyone is saying this winter will be a wet cold one. I guess we'll see.

On the dog front. I recently purchased a miniature apricot poodle to breed to my chocolate toy male Johaan, I named her Liezel. Johaan was supposed to be a miniature also, but he remains small and I won't be able to use him on my larger girls like I planned unless I do artificial and I prefer puppies the natural way. Johaan will also be bred to my sister's poggle (toy beagle/poodle cross) Willow. Willow has a surprising terrier look to her but none of the high energy level terrier personality. All the other dogs are doing great and we have two fantastic litters of puppies, one of golden labradoodles and one of black and chocolate standard poodles.

I'm doing well, I miss my husband and I write about it on another blog that is personal. I've often kept a journal or wrote letters, so a blog is kind of like a journal. My son, Mike, is still driving truck, my son Jeremiah is now a specialist and was recently accepted on the the Scout platoon of his brigade. My little boys, Teddy and Cubby are growing fast and learning new things everyday and are the light of my life.

Mourning

Three weeks ago my husband of more than 11 years died in his sleep. He was only 47 and it was very unexpected and sudden. He wasn't in the best health, he had problems with bone loss in both hips, back problems, but I still believe he had several more years yet to live. I still feel like I'm in shock. All the things that we used to do together living our lives, I now do myself. All day Thursday I kept telling myself not to forget to put out the trash cans for Friday morning pick up. Wes was the one who did most of the food shopping and most of the cooking. Fortunately he made sure that we are well stocked up with canned goods and a full freezer. I just have to try to figure out what to do with it. Our labradoodle Hiedi was his dog, she chose him and was his constant companion since we brought her home as a 9 week puppy. The first night after he died I had her in my room and most of the night she laid on my bed, head up whining at the door, waiting for Wes to walk in and get her. The next day we cleared out his bedroom, so his scent was gone and that pretty much cut out the whining. A few days later she went into heat and has other things on her mind now. Hiedi is also just one of the pack with the dogs that live at my house, before she was singled out by Wes and they were more like a pack themselves. So it's actually better for her to back in the pack with the other dogs. Well except for Fritz, I don't want to bred her this heat and I've learn from experience that Fritz is fast and will tie to one of my mom's before you even know he was close by her. His is determined to do his job and do it well. So the best way to avoid him fathering an unplanned litter is to completely separate him. I miss my husband everyday that passes, it's hard not seeing him when I come home from work and it's hard not having him to talk to about everything and run my ideals about stuff I'm planning out by him and getting his input. I miss hearing him say "I'm working on it"