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"

A Spring Posting

I know it's been forever since I have posted. Sometimes I have a lot to say and sometimes I have the search for just the right thing to say on my mind. We've been plenty busy with dogs and puppies. As you can see, we have a bit of everything right now. Update from my last posting, Gretchen did finally have her puppies, six days late! All boys! Six of them, 2 chocolate and 4 black. Of course the choco boys got place right away and I'm glad that they did since both went to wonderful people, but at the same time I wish people were more open to even looking at the black puppies. Photos don't do them justice. With their dark brown eyes and black noses lost in all that curly black fur, it can be hard to capture their faces. But when I see them in all their shiny black glory I can't help but love the way their fur reflects the light in such beautiful manner. All but 3 of Hiedi's pups have found homes. Emma had puppies 5 weeks ago, 1 black girl, 1 chocolate boy and 4 chocolate girls. These are the first chocolate girls that we have had since Diva was born last 4th of July. And we still have a couple poodles. What does all this lead to? Lots of cleaning of puppies, cleaning their sleeping areas and cleaning poo. Besides mountains of laundry. I think I'm gonna try to figure out a way to sew crate pads that fit over the crate trays like fitted sheets. Oh I did manage to lay some more laminate flooring last Sunday. We have a bedroom downstairs that we have been using as storage, so we cleared the room (some of it is still in the living room, yikes!) and painted and installed the flooring. I still have finish work to do downstairs, like finish the waincoating and trim in the bathroom and kitchen and reinstall the bathroom cabinet, vanity top and sink. Oh and build a half wall between the living room and kitchen. Then, I can start the flooring upstairs, someday.

Hiedi's Puppies are here!

Hiedi's puppies arrived late Friday afternoon, the 21st. Everyone is doing just great Mom included. There's a total of nine puppies, 5 boys and 4 girls, all looking like reds and a couple cream girls. Of course this early they don't have a lot of hair so they really look pink. I like to tease my husband and say they are pink. Take a look at the photo yourself, don't they look pink? Especially on the pink background. As of this writing we are still waiting for Gretchen to have her puppies.

Waiting for Doodles

Today our two litters Labradoodle puppies are due. Both mom's have been safely transported to my sisters house to whelp and raise their pups. Sigh. Someday soon I hope that will all change. But, anyways the moms are all ready and have nice large comfy crates. Lots of cloth pads and soft clean towels standing by. Now all we have to do is wait. Ah waiting. I only have a few days here so I hope they don't keep me waiting long.

On another note: Mercedes' puppies are doing great and getting big. Their hair is really starting to show it's curliness. We've been feeding mom in the crate with the puppies because she doesn't like to be away from them for long and a couple nights ago I was straightening up stuff in the room while the dogs were eating and there was Baron halfway in mom's food dish eating her food! We've been mixing canned food with water and pouring it on top of dry food like gravy, so the food was all soft. Their eyes and ears aren't even open yet, but he was able to follow his nose and find a way to the food. In the next few days the pups eyes will be starting to open and a few days after that, their ear canals will open.

After sending out birthday greetings from last year's winter puppies, we have received several new photos and they have been posted to the photo blog. I was very pleased to find out that one of Mercedes' boys that's almost two years old now has turned into a silver beige just like his mom. He had a blaze on his chest as a baby and so I'm now wondering if that had anything to do with his different coat color. Especially that all but on of the new pups has a blaze. We'll see.

The Puppies Are Here!

Mercedes had her puppies very early in the morning last Saturday the 8th. She started having them about 3:20am. Just 6 puppies, all a wonderful chocolate color. Two girls and four boys. All except one has a marking on their front chest area. One has a mark on his chin and alot of white on his chest, his name Baron Von Chocolate. Baron is the boy I'm planning to breed to Emma and Tawnee. One of the girls is very tiny. Her name is Alice In Wonderland, AKA Alice. Alice is going to be Cubby's puppy. The other girl is the largest puppy in the litter has an upside down triangle on her chest like a super man shield, her name is Super Sweet Charlotte. Charlotte is Teddy's puppy.A male puppy is going to Daisyhillabradoodles. That leaves just two puppies left to place in good homes. Today the puppies went to the Vet to have their tails docked and dew claws removed. All puppies are doing great and Mama is taking good care of them.

Eagerly Awaiting

Two days to go until the happy event. At this point puppies could come at any time. The count down is on. I'm hoping that Mercedes (aka Sadie) doesn't start having her puppies when I'm at work. She seems to have puppies during the day. Last year Sadie had them during the day and every time she delivered one, it was a secret that she wasn't sharing with me. I would be there waiting and waiting and no action. Then I would walk away for a couple minutes and come back there would be another puppy. At least I know that she is a good mommy and makes sure all her babies have a good start.


So this weekend we achieved our goals for making sure Sadie is physically ready and she has a comfortable spot for the BIG EVENT. Teddy, our Puppy Whisperer is ready and eager to beginning training and guiding a new batch of puppies from birth till the time they leave our care. Teddy and I worked side by side tonight getting the last few details ready.


We elevated Sadie's crate to enable easy access to everything happening within the crate. This also saves our knees and is a lot more comfortable than crawling into the crate to clean up messes or move puppies around or aide mom with whelping her puppies. It also allows more light and lessens drafts. That is Teddy's bed. Sadie fancies herself Teddy and Cubby's nanny and likes to be close to them. Teddy and Cubby are right there when puppies come. Once puppies are cleaned up enough they are all greeted by all of the family. Puppies first sense is the sense of smell, we make sure they know us as well as their mom right from the beginning. Pups are also greeted and smelled by the other dogs in our house.


Here is Sadie groomed for puppies. This time I elected to keep her look and leave her in a "sweater" and leg and tail poofs. See how big her belly is? It is wonderful to feel her babies move under our hands. All her "feeding stations" except the two forward ones have been exposed. The two forward ones are seldom used by puppies no matter how many pups are trying to feed at once.


This is just another pose. Normally her sweater goes all around her chest, like it's closed or buttoned. When I groom her I follow the line of her rib cage. Did you know that the poodle cut is also referred to a lion cut?


Look familiar? This is almost the exact same set up that we did for Sadie a year ago for her last litter. See how her hair color looks lighter or more silver in this last photo. The shorter Sadie's hair is the lighter it looks, the longer the darker with more chocolate it looks.