Our adventures in finding a new home in Kentucky, moving here and enjoying our life. We have goats, horses, guineas and chickens as well as Pembroke Welsh corgis. We love nature, mountains, walking, being together and living simply. No more rat race for us!
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It's a time where people sleep in, get up and run around in their jammies until it's time to get ready for church or other activities. No one is usually in a hurry and you can mostly do what you like on Sunday morning. Well, maybe. But let me preface this story with talking about something I've been meaning to and just haven't gotten to just yet. The subject is guineas:
Here are Goodness, Ariana and Twice, who would like to kill a guinea. We started out with 26 and are now down to 13. A few wandered off and then we had a grisly mass murder by one of our livestock guardian dogs who decided that guineas were not the same thing as a chicken and therefore, had no right to live in her barnyard. Thankfully, she has been leaving them alone and the guineas have taken up residence in a tree in the field, about 30 feet straight up. They may be dumb but they aren't stupid. :) Guineas are noisy little things, and here is a video of them when they discovered our foster dog, Cookie, a week ago, sitting in the front yard. Cookie can barely walk but she still enjoys life and sitting in the sun, and is very happy here:
Yes, they are noisy, they are great little watchdogs and they also eat ticks with great relish. They love any kind of relish with their ticks. These are working birds and they work hard. About two weeks after they came to live here, I never saw a tick and the grasshoppers were gone in about 6 weeks. http://www.guineafowl.com/fritsfarm/guineas/ticks/tickstudy.pdf They are ugly little things but there is something endearing about them And now I know where the phrase "bless your pointed little head" comes from:
They sometimes fly up on the roof or roost on our front deck:
Now you know all the highlights of this very strange but funny bird. How does this all relate to Sunday morning peace and quiet? Well, I'll tell you. I got up and put the dogs out this morning and was in the process of feeding them when I heard such a racket outside. I stepped out the back door to see the guineas, who had decided that our neighbors, who moved in two weeks ago, had guineas AND Cinnamon the Rooster sitting on their back deck. Clacking away and pretty loudly, too. Then Cinnamon decides that they really should get up now as it is Sunday morning and they should not be late for church. He starts crowing and he has a very loud crow. I went and woke up Jerry (no sense in him enjoying Sunday morning peace and quiet in his warm bed now, is there?) and said "Your birds are disturbing the neighbors". So, good husband that he is, he went out and got their food and called them. Which they ignored, continuing to clack away and then flying up on the roof of the neighbor's house. I called out "chick chick chick" and they took notice and flew over into the yard. Cinnamon, not a good flyer on the best of days and missing a number of tail feathers due to the fact that he walked up on Molly and pecked her in the butt a couple of days ago (and it was well deserved, too, the feather removal, not the butt pecking), came running as fast as his little drumsticks could carry him. I think the neighbors liked us for about two weeks. I think I have to make some brownies later on.
One of the traditional things around here for a puppy to learn to play with and legally destroy is a cardboard tube out of a roll of TP or paper towels. Imagine my delight at work when they transitioned from a normal size roll to one of those giant sized things! The roll was a lot thicker and tougher and I thought it would resist squashing much better. And it did! But there was just one teeny tiny little problem. Which has to do with a curious puppy:
I believe this is Freckle Nose (as opposed to Freckle, who has a freckle on the left side of his muzzle) who got into trouble. So he wore this around for a while, never complaining about this thing stuck on his neck! He reminded me of the women in Africa who wear multiple rings around their necks to make their necks look longer! Freckle Nose is just fine and this particular toy has been removed from the play things they can have. However, I did find a rather heavy duty short tube that they like that they haven't been able to get into trouble with at all, so they will have something tougher to play with.
Yesterday I saw four robins in the front yard. A couple of days before that, I saw Happiness, the Bluebird out there, looking very happy. The temperatures have been in the 50s and 60s, today a bit cooler but it was also quite overcast and rainy. Right now we are expecting a strong burst of weather to come across here around midnight, heavy rains and some wind. The dogs have been tucked into bed and I hope to sleep through the whole thing. Here is a lovely sunset that we saw a couple of days ago:
And, yes, this is what I found in our yard yesterday! I was so excited to see this in February. I wouldn't see this until late April or early May in Michigan:
What is that? What is it I see? Is it the enemy, the most annoying weed in Michigan? I used to slay them in my front yard. Yes, OMG, it is a DANDELION!
However, here in Kentucky, it is very welcome because you know what? I don't care. They can grow all they want. I have a yard with grass and various weeds and that is just fine. They all mow down the same and I'm not trying to impress clients with my perfect yard. So grow little dandelion, and if you are very, very lucky, Jewel or Gazelle won't eat you. :) And of course, the most important thing, more videos of the puppies! I moved their Playtime from the front room to the kitchen. There were just too many computer wires and things to get behind and under out in the big front room and there is still plenty of room to run in the kitchen. I have four videos, so get a coke and a snack, and enjoy!
Well, yeah, it is. And the puppies live here. So they qualify. As I've mentioned, there is not a battery for the camera, it has apparently lost its memory, so I am cameraless. I went today to try and get one but they were out, so will try at Radio Shack tomorrow. That means I had to go through some photos to find something to write about. Today's story involves a little corgi named Freckle, so named because he has a little black spot on the left side of his white muzzle. Freckle is a pretty cute little dude and very smart. He kept getting out of the pool and then I rigged up the first playpen and in no time at all, he was over the board that allows Tabitha to step over and visit and feed the pups, and to escape for a little personal time when she is done. Except that Freckle figured out how to get out. And worse, he was rewarded with a full tittie every time he did because Tabitha was in the bedroom. What a motivation! We had to be careful when we got up at night because we didn't want to step on a small black puppy. Then one morning when I got up, this is what I found:
Tabitha likes to sleep on the dog bed in the bedroom with the fleecie on top of it. And little Freckle decided that this was just a fine old idea and he climbed up there, too. He was the ONLY puppy with HIS Mommie! At some point, I put him (fruitlessly, I might add) back into the pen and put Tabitha out. Then I came back into the bedroom to make the bed to find this:
Hayley is his great great I forget how many greats grandmother. She sleeps in until around 9 or 10 most mornings. And this little pup just goes and cuddles up next to her. She managed to sleep through most of it, though. Oh, yeah, for those who are getting one of these babies, see that little mark on the furniture? It was made by a Kallista corgi who was unattended. Expect these to magically appear throughout your house in the next year. It just sort of happens.
I know that everyone has been waiting patiently. All I can say is I have two camera batteries that will not recharge and am going to buy new ones tomorrow night. I also had company all weekend so it was difficult to stop visiting and blog. So we will start with the new Picture Pie. I have a feeling I have started a new art form! :) This one is inspired by the 30 or so hummingbirds that hang around our yard and feeders in the summer. It is a beef pot pie. I hope you all like it!
Next is the adorable puppy photo. I am so thankful that I could use Jerry's camera to get some nice photos so I can keep blogging.
And the best news of all, we got back the DM test results today. Two girls are clear, two boys are clear, one girl needs to be retested and 3 babies are carriers. None of these pups will die of DM and not one will cause their owners anguish as they watch their dog die a slow death from it. It can be done....just test and try to improve in each generation. That's all that needs to be done. You don't have to eliminate any dog at all from a breeding program, just try to breed up and keep a pup or two that has a better test result than what you started with. Enough of the lecture. Hayley had her teeth cleaned today and a rather large cyst taken off. She'd had some trouble eating and so I am hopeful that this will help her out. She had a McDouble for dinner. Somehow, she did just fine with that. :) The cyst was not tested, at Hayley's age, I really couldn't see the point. She is very tired, she fretted at the office and then in the car. She had her burger and a good drink and I would be really surprised if she even gets up this evening. Poor old lady. Everyone please say a little prayer for her....
I think it must be some kind of state law. Because when it snows, they come around in droves. This would be the Cardinal, the lovely scarlet state bird. They live here year round and when it snows, they are just brilliant flashes of red against the white snow. This is our snow storm of a couple of weeks ago, we got about 2 inches and all the birds line up at Kathy's Diner when it snows.
So far this year we have seen chickadees (not very many of these this winter, though), cedar waxwings, mockingbirds, blue birds (saw a couple of these the other day), juncoes, sparrows, lots of little finches including the larger purple finches and the cardinals. The cardinals are the standouts, though, and just really tolerant of the other birds at the feeder. Jerry's mom loved cardinals and we do, too! "Pretty Bird" is our mockingbird, he sits in the trees around and calls "pretty bird". We think he must have been around a budgie bird at some point because he really says it fairly clearly. He was guarding the one tree that has four feeders in it that we don't fill, I just needed a place to put them for the moment, and chased all the other birds away. :) Like it mattered. But it was HIS tree and no one was coming near HIS tree. Silly Pretty Bird. This is Pretty Bird from this summer:
He liked to sit right at the top of the neighbor's red cedar tree and would call and call all day, then fly over to the tree in our front yard and tell everyone "pretty bird!".
Now I know everyone has been so patient this week and to reward you all, I give you not one, but TWO adorable puppy videos! They are now 5 weeks and 3 days old. If you go back to the older posts and see the other videos, you can see how much they develop every week. Today I am looking at them and they have crossed the line from infants to toddlers. They can scamper and scurry, they can pick things up and hold on to them tight while some other pup tries to take it away. They are interested in their toys and the Giants who seem to spend a lot of time making coo-ing noises to them. They come when I call "puppy puppy". And they have been moved to the big puppy pen in the kitchen area. They have a lot more room to play and in a few days, we will increase the play area and decrease the peeing area so they learn to seek out papers to go on. They will also start to go outside tomorrow for short times since the weather is so mild here right now. That will give me a chance to really clean the pen out throughly 3 times a day or so. In a couple of days they will be allowed "Playtime!" which means free run of the front room to explore, run and play in. I still have to puppy proof this room. Here are the puppies checking out the new living quarters this afternoon after I put them in for the first time:
I will try and get a video done today and get it up here later on but here is something to get everyone's "Awww!" factor working well this morning:
JJ (Justin Junior) is in the middle flanked by two of the girls, who are virtual clones of each other. Thankfully their neck markings are quite different. This is where they go when I change their papers out. But they barely fit in here anymore! Today is our big move to the kitchen so they can be part of the family, a good worming and their first baths. A very exciting day for baby corgis! Also, I sent the DM tests in on Friday morning, if we are lucky, the results should be here by next Friday.
Sing a song of sixpence a pocket full of rye,
Four and twenty corgis baked in a pie.
When the pie was opened the corgis began to sing,
Oh wasn't that a dainty dish to set before the king?
The king was in his counting house counting out his money,
The queen was in the parlour eating bread and honey
The maid was in the garden hanging out the clothes,
When along came a corgi and bit off her nose!
OK, I have had some artistic license with this old nursery rhyme. But it is fun, anyway. And here is my corgi pie!
Now Jerry just loves chicken pot pie and I just happen to make very good chicken pot pie! So tonight I decided to have some fun with my pie and made it a corgi pie! I took the bits of crust that I trimmed off and rolled them up and attempted to make a corgi. Here it is baked up:
Well, now that I look at the pictures (after it was all gobbled up!) it rather looks like a lamb or a goat. Whatever.... we have goats, too:) It's the thought that counts, or at least that is what I am told. It was just an impromptu thing that I did to jazz up dinner time. I have an idea of how to handle it next time, though, and make a more realistic looking corgi. By the way, the pie was excellent and half of it was eaten for dinner, the rest will be lunches for Jerry this week!
Well, Geez, maybe it isn't off topic. Remember the post a little while back where I said that they cancelled school here if anyone even said the "S" word? We are having a "storm" right now, started snowing just a little bit around noon and it's 5:00 now. We have maybe 3 inches. They have already cancelled school for tomorrow. Jerry and I were in WalMart this morning and yep, the rush was on. Fortunately I was shopping for other things besides actual food, although I did pick up a few things. Someone sent me this picture of Austin, TX and I just had to share it, it is exactly how people down here feel about snow. And you really can't blame them for that, because this really has been an unusual year. 100 degrees nearly every day in July and August and 90s throughout September. Of course, I loved that part of it and thought maybe, just maybe, I would thaw out before winter got here. Not quite but I was feeling much better about actually going outside without thinking about if I needed one sweatshirt or two. And yes, two summers ago, that is exactly what it was like in Michigan. :) Even when I went up in August to get the last load of animals, it was quite chilly that evening and following morning when I picked them up. We had an awesome Fall and then around Thanksgiving, things started to crumble a little bit with the weather. I have been told that on average, there are just a couple of inches of snow every winter, and of course, this Dec/Jan/Feb we have had at least a foot total, I'm guessing. I'll have to see if I can find the total accumulation for this area. And what is that sound I hear now? Oh, it's just Jerry shoveling the front porch, a sound I have not heard since last March or April. :) Took him exactly 2 minutes to do it, too. You know, he's really good at this. We both are. I just took the trash out in the big container for the morning. It was at least a mile out to the road and I went up hill both ways. :) So it's not just the Texans that are freaking out about snow. But we are fine and this is nothing, really nothing, compared to what we have seen in 31 years living in Michigan.
I guess everyone is really enjoying the videos, so here is a 3 minute long one of them just doing nothing, exploring, looking around and working on walking skills. Please excuse my sniffing, I'm getting over a cold and I took this on Friday evening. That makes them just 4 weeks and 1 day old. They really don't do much at this age but they are working on basic skills, starting to interact more and trying to play (but not sure what the rules all are :). But...for the puppy addict it is nice to sit and waste time watching them. I'll do another one in about a week. For those of you who are on my list, go back and compare week by week, it is truly amazing how they grow and develop. On Wednesday (day before they are five weeks old) they will be moved from my huge bathroom (next to my bedroom) into the kitchen or the front room. I have to do some measuring and see where is the best place for them. I would like them in the front room but have to move a huge dining room table out first, so they may go in the kitchen to begin with and then move the table when it is a bit warmer and put the pups where that is. I bought this wonderful kitchen table and now have decided it's too big for us, I would rather have a small dining room table and a corner where I can work on things on a table or a small chair to sit in where I can read, etc. Enjoy the babies!
The grout was still wet, so there was a difference in the color for the moment and it will all darken down as soon as Jerry gets a sealer on it. He got some of the baseboards put up today but expect we will go and get some tomorrow so this can be finished up. We've waited so long! It was cleaned twice today but that scuz they put on the floor, the grouting, takes a while to get removed and I just have a personal Universal Law about mopping the same floor more than twice a day. And anyway, Hayley went out and peed on it since we had no champagne to break on it! We got some things moved out there, still will need to paint the walls, put up a different kitchen light and do the threshholds. But the hardest part is done and now we can just pick at it as we please. What a relief! Tile floors are a snap to keep cleaned up and with a dog household, we were desperately in need of the tile!
This is Hayley in October, before the new floors were started. We'd torn up the carpet but that was all at this point. She approves of the new floors!
So a license plate is a license plate, right? Well, not really. In my former state, although there was some variety, it is nothing like what I see in Kentucky! Above is a plain old license plate. The next one is the one we have on our truck:
When people asked me "why Kentucky?", the first reason was that we wanted little to no snow. The second reason I gave was that I wanted a horse on my license plate. :) It was as good of a reason as any, I figured. Then the one we have on one car:
And the other car:
There are all kinds for all sorts of causes, or of wildlife, etc. Sit back and enjoy! I like looking at all the plates and like seeing a new one that I haven't seen before!
I had a hard time deciding. I love the waterfall, the dragonfly is especially pretty, and the polar bear is very eye catching!
