Chickens...Clucking Brilliant!

If you've been keeping up with my blog you know I've had wretched luck with chickens this year! So I decided to bite the bullet and buy one of those per-fabricated coops online. The Chicken Saloon received my business and shipped "The Corral" in a timely manner. Everything arrived intact and all the parts were there. Yippee! The FedEx guy brings me wonderful things. :)


This is supposed to house 3-4 full-sized chickens. I always like the animals to have plenty of room so I've got only two chicks in there. Later on I might add one more hen, probably a banty. I like it for the nest boxes and it looks like a little barn. Cute! Those are some happy little hen chicks. I'm looking forward to seeing those beautiful Silver Laced Wyandottes and their yummy eggs, hopefully in the spring! :)

We've also ad some bad luck concerning dogs. Yotee got away from me the other day and went to chase cars. He was hit by one which didn't slow down or stop to see if he was still alive. I was not happy about that! What if it was their dog? Wouldn't they want someone to do that for them? Anyways, Yotee came out of it with only a tibial fracture and will be in a rigid splint for roughly 8 weeks. He just had his wrappings changed and is now sporting a hot pink right, rear leg! He is ashamed. This is a picture a few days after it happened. That's the new guy, Kooper, in the background. Yotee's a bit crabby at the moment, but they play and have fun when they can. Kooper is currently upstairs barking at himself in the mirror...see what I'm working with? :)

We had our first hard frost last night, which is one whole month PAST the average frost dates for this area. I have to say I've enjoyed it immensely, but alas, winter is definitely on its way. *sigh* I decided to clean-up my little garden since there won't be anymore growing weather. I had a pleasant surprise at the amount of food I was able to get. I'm already planning on what I want to do next year. *teehee* What you see here are parsley, chives, rosemary, pumpkins, and tomatoes. Pretty good haul for being a bad year and learning how to garden in a whole new climate! Kinda proud. :)

And look at all food for my goaties! Glorious because they really, really like their forages! They're not really sure how they feel about the pumpkin plants yet, but I'm confident it wall get eaten! They love green things to eat! :)

I was able to mulch my strawberries before the frost. Thanks to purchasing a "bale" of cedar chips for the chickens, I ended up with a ton of extra and put it to good use!


I did way better with the pumpkin growing than I thought I would and now will have some for decoration at home and work. I'm hoping they ripen up though I have no idea if that will happen. Anyone out there know?
                                
                                                  Happy Fall Ya'll! :)

The Ups and Downs...

So we've had an interesting time lately here at the Muddy Manicure. Depression relapse, tibial fractures, disappearing chickens and house training new puppies have reared their ugly head recently!

I suffer from clinical depression and recently had a relapse that lasted the latter part of the summer. This caused me to spend a lot of time traveling between Montana and Washington to visit family. I also suffer from seasonal affects disorder and "clicked" into fall and started to feel sooo much better! :) I was feeling some of the warning signs but hadn't realized how far the depression had progressed. During this time I came to the conclusion that I will never beat the depression; I'll just have to pay closer attention.

Once I surfaced from the relapse, dad and Scott came over for a guided antelope hunt. They teamed up with Toby Werk from Blue Heaven Montana and Scott filled his tag immediately. It was a good hunt and everyone had a good time!

As a result of the hunt, my dad misplaced his really expensive binoculars. He requested me to head out to the gut pile to see if they were left out there. So I headed out yesterday and took my pups with me. Yotee came with me to scout out the gut pile and instead of behaving he took off the 1/4 mile to the highway and got hit. He ended up with a tibial fracture and I thank goodness that Dr. Schmidt in Chinook was able to take him on. He came home today and is a bit more mobile than I thought he'd be, but it's obvious that he hurts pretty bad.


For those of you who have been keeping up on the chicken escapades I have news. The goose (who thinks it's a goat) is the only bird left from the original group. I purchased an order of 5 silver laced wyandottes from Cackle Hatchery. They arrived happy and healthy and were doing great until my mom's wiener dog ate one. Then the next trip home two more chicks drowned in the water bucket.

So I am now down to two chicks and I caved and bought a pre-fabricated chicken coop from Chicken Saloon. It cost me a pretty penny but I'm hoping it will preserve the chicks I have left. It's called the "Corral" and it turned out pretty cute. I gave myself a blister putting it together but it was way easy to put together by myself and came in good condition!
 
I ended up with a new puppy when Lil Guy was run over. Sad day! I miss him! I now have Kooper who was one of Karen's puppies that she wasn't able to keep. He's a pretty good little doggie but he's no Lil Guy! :) I'm luck y that he was pretty much house trained but having been in a crate most of his life, I'm finding that I'm having to teach him how to be a dog. It's an interesting experience for sure!

Well that's all folks! Enjoy the dregs of summer! :)

Shave poochie poochie...

I know, I know...*hangs head*...I haven't written in a while. Bad Samantha. Bad! However, I intend to make up with an update with pictures and an interesting story.  :)

Setting: Early morning (OK maybe not too early) June 30th on HWY 87 between Havre and Big Sandy (that's less than 50 miles from my house).

I am headed home to Washington to help my dad with cherry harvest and since I will be gone for over a week I have decided to load up the posse and take every one with me. Interesting, no? I had purchased two rabbit cages for my birds and had under taken the painful assembly process. The night before I am set to leave I place the large dog crate and two rabbit cages into my TrailBlazer. I also have tied the four tires (minus rims) onto the roof of my rig. I have been preparing for the journey for two days and was super jazzed to leave early in the morning. I packed up and got everyone loaded (oh yeah it's as much a travelling shit show as it sounds) and head out for Havre (breakfast stop, duh) and home.

With breakfast at McDonalds taken care of, the two goats, duck, goose, eight hens, three dogs and I (crammed into the TrailBalzer) are on the road. I notice I'm experiencing some major wind resistance due to the tires...I topped out at 65 mph. I think, "Crap! This might take longer than I'd hoped." As I'm toodling along at my whopping 65 mph I hear the sheet metal of the roof flexing. Hmmmm...probably just normal for having crap tied to the roof, I think. Boy, was I wrong! All of a sudden the flexing stops and a massive POP! happens and in my side mirror (because my rear view mirror is block by goat cage and goose head) I see two of my tires go bouncing and rolling down the roadway. Double shit!

Thank goodness there was no one any where near me on the road. I pulled over, untied and removed the two remaining tires from the roof and shoved them in the one available space (the space behind the passenger seat which was supposed to be for the dogs). I then pulled a U-Turn and went off in search of my two missing tires. Luckily they were easy to find, so I hauled them up from the barrow ditch and began shoving and praying!

With a fair amount of determination, stubbornness and sheer luck, I was able to shove the two remaining tires into the rig. Now I have zero visibility for my rear view mirror and there is a serious lack of air flow. The 12-hour drive went well after that. I stopped about every three or four hours to water everyone and give the dogs (and me) a potty stop. I also put the goats on a leash and let them stretch their legs at the rest stops. People loved it!

Once I got home, my mom and I immediately set about getting all the animals out, housed, and fed and watered. While we were doing this my dad was trying to get the tires out. The good Lord was with me on the tire thing...dad had to use a pry-bar to get the tires out. The return trip was much easier (if not easy on my wallet) because I am now in possession of a new-to-me 2-horse trailer.

Anyway, the girls made it home safe and sound. Aaaaand here they are....

Goatie (standing) is now 4.5 months old. My guess is she weighs roughly 25 pounds. I'm still debating whether I will be getting a boy Goatie to make babies, but I won't have to make that choice for a while since Lala is just a baby. Lala is 3.5 months old and is about the same size as Goatie but she hasn't caught up in the poundage area yet. I know she's grown some but I can't really see it that much yet.



The birds have taken up residence with the goats because as you can see there are a few birdies missing. Something (probably my resident feral cats) started eating them, even during the day. However, since I put them in with the goats not a one has disappeared. Yay! I guess the 5-foot fence thwarts even the wiliest cat.

This is my "boss" chicken. Isn't she pretty? My hens are Barred Rock (this chick) and Buckeye (the red ones), I think. Then there is my one goose and one duck. The duck is for sure a hen (she quacks) but the jury I still out on the goose. I'm working on a good way to tell...it doesn't honk, kind of has a hoarse cheeping sound. I will for sure know if it lays an egg! :)

And as an added bonus, while at home in Washington Yotee got a haircut! He looks kinda like a lion because whenever the clippers got any where close to where hair remains he fuh-reaked out! So I just left it and now I call him my "little lion." :)

Sorry it's such a poopy picture.

It has been an eventful weekend here at the Muddy manicure. Saturday morning I put the dogs out and snuggled back in bed to read and when I let them back in I noticed Yotee was acting strange. I got him to hop up on my recliner and looked him over and discovered he had sliced his leg open! Yikes...I found out that he climbed up op my cold-frame window box and broke the glass, falling through. Well, looking at his wound I decided it was way beyond my vetting capabilities. So I bit the bullet and called the vet - I'd have to pay the emergency fee plus whatever treatment he needed. Let me tell you it was a pretty penny but Yotee is now stitched up and doing well. I just need to keep him from licking and tearing out his stitches.

So after our excursion to the vet we all settled down to rest and get down to the rest of our weekend. Saturday past in a blur but Sunday seems to be dragging for me. In order to speed life along a bit, I decided to bake. :) I had some seriously over-ripe bananas I needed to do something with. I decided muffins would be a great idea so I went to Tasty Kitchen and looked up a new recipe for banana nut muffins. I found a good looking recipe called, "Brown Butter Banana Nut Muffins" and set to work. I didn't have any patience to brown the butter traditionally, so I did it in the microwave. Turned out well actually. I also didn't have any buttermilk so I subbed in yogurt. The muffins are rather bland and I'm not sure if it was the subbing of ingredients or I missed something but I think I'll stick with my regular old banana nut bread recipe next time.

In gardening news, things are coming up like crazy! My corn, beans, pumpkins, cucumbers and zucchini are sprouted up and growing well. I am excited for this and am hoping the warm, semi-dry weather holds out long enough to get them all growing mad. Yum, yum for fresh veggies. I can't wait! :D

Now, I need to figure out something to eat for lunch. I think I'll head back over to Tasty Kitchen and find something to do with beef.

Productivity is an amazing feeling...

I have had one productive weekend! The new additions - Bug & Spatz - required a new living environment because they squished a baby chicken and a baby turkey. So I took all weekend to build their pen mainly because I ran out of energy to do the physical work. On Saturday, I drove the T-posts and ran one roll of wire. Then I had to make a Big-R run because I needed more posts and wire. The pen cost more to construct than the friggin' goats did! LOL After I returned from Big-R with my fencing supplies and other various sundries I finished the third side of the pen but just plain ran out of oomph to do the rest so I relaxed for the evening. This morning I moved my old chicken coop and took the front off to create an A-frame house for the girls. I also had to make a run to WalMart today to purchase a tarp, carabiners and some bungee cords because the girls needed some shade! So by 3 pm today the girls had a finished home with shade, a tub for their feed and mineral block, and had been vaccinated to prevent goat diseases!

One thing I do wish I had taken the time to buy (and I still might buy it) is this great book called, "How to Build Animal Housing." It looks amazing! I also recently purchased Storey's guide to raising dairy goats and a self-sufficiency book. I am excited for them to arrive!














I woke up this morning with some serious sun burn! I'm still not used to being this far North meaning a higher UV index. I checked yesterday and today's UV index - it was 8 both days. Out of 10! No wonder I burned...I had bug spray and no sunscreen on. I did buy some Banana Boat this weekend though and will be sure to wear it!


I also did some planting of my containers. I planted my little BBQ with cucumbers - the Bush Crop variety. I planted my wheelbarrow with zucchini and I chose the Black Beauty variety. In my 4' by 4' raised bed I planted two varieties of corn (Earliglow & Orchard Baby), two hills of pumpkins (Small Sugar), some Six Nation heirloom dried beans, and a mix of marigold seeds everywhere! They are an excellent bug repellent and pollinator attractant. I have several lilac bushes in my yard and they are blooming like crazy! I picked some and put them in a Pace salsa jar - don't laugh it's the closest thing I had to a vase - and put them on my kitchen table. Gorgeous and they make the house smell great!

I stared a small herb bed near the house and am hopeful that I can keep it growing well into the future. I brought some Libson Bunching onions from my mom's garden and planted small Rosemary and Onion Chive plants that I bought at Walmart. I also planted some parsley and basil from seed. The parsley is coming up well but I had to replant the basil since there has been such cool & wet weather. Here's to hoping it comes up!

I've mentioned  how my dogs are my kids right? I always make sure they are spayed and

up-to-date on their vaccinations. June marks their annual vaccination time. I gave them a 7-way that covers parvo, distemper and Leptospirosis to name a few. Yotee did OK but didn't want to come to me so I could pet him for a while. Lil Guy did great but he didn't want to get his shot which resulted in a cat and mouse game for about 5-minutes. I tricked him by coming in to the mud room then nabbed him! :) Ruby on the other hand did not do too well. She struggled big time, had to be stuck three times and bent the needle but she got her shot! She must have struggled enough to make me hit her muscle because she's limping around and in obvious pain. So I called my resident farm vet (my mom!) and we decided to give her an aspirin and I started icing her neck. She's now resting comfortably!

Next weekend I plan on getting the chicken coop's outside run built! I love warm, sunny weather and the ability to be outside being ultra productive. This evening I let the goats and chickens out to run a bit before they got put back in their pens. As they grazed, I sat back and reflected how peaceful and content I am here. The middle of June will mark my one-year anniversary of being a Hi-Line resident. I am thankful for the chance to work at a job I love and with people who are great! All in all it's been a difficult but amazing year! :)

Soapy Tables and Chickens...

So sorry to be tardy on my post...I've been busy! I got a bunch of extras from my mom when I was home; strawberries, Libson bunching onions, mint and Lilly of the Valley. I also purchased Walla Walla sweet onion starts, yellow onions, shallots, garlic and raspberries. I have planted the Walla Walla's, yellow onions, shallots and raspberries; all except the raspberries went in the tub (my cast iron garden planter) with carrots. I read in Carrots Love Tomatoes that onions and carrots do well so I thought I'd give it a try. The raspberries went along one of the fence lines and the strawberries went into my small strawberry bed. I planted the mint in two places near the house but I'm not sure how well it will do. Keep your fingers crossed. :)

I recently got my Homesteader's Delight order from McMurray Hatchery. I was super excited but kind of unprepared for the 'lil critters. They took up residence in my bathroom for a day and a half and it's taken me at least that long to remove their poo from the floor! I moved them to a big box I snagged from work and they have since taken up residence in the mud room with the heat lamp keeping the snuggly warm. I received 10 hens (tentatively identified as Black Austrolorp and Buckeye), two geese (absolutely no idea what kind), two turkeys (one bronze, one white) and two ducks (again no idea on the variety). Sadly one ducky "went to the other farm" not long after is arrival on Crazy Woman Ranch (my pet name for this quasi-chaotic place). He will be missed. They all got to go outside for a bit today. The geese, duck and turkeys have imprinted nicely and I've been handling them all multiple times daily to insure they don't get mean when they grow up. Also, I figure the little 4H kids could show them at the fair this summer.

Honey Lemon Soap

I have made two batches of soap from my purchased bases. One is honey lemon and the other is goat's milk and oatmeal. The honey lemon was the first time I tried to make this stuff so I tried it out and it lathers-up really well and smells wonderfully like sunny spring honey. I added extra honey to the mixture from my home neighbors Hibbard, Massey & Hibbard. They soap is kind of sticky but works great! The goat's milk and oatmeal is still curing in the form. I will cut it next week and wrap the honey and lemon bars. If Zurich has a Farmer's Market this year I'll be taking soap and various other things.

Base Unfinished

Another project that I started a while ago was my round, oak kitchen table. I have since finished the sanding process, assembled top and bottom and applied two coats of stain to the table-top. I will be putting another coat of varnish on the table and then it will be ready to use. A recent antiquing trip provided me with three beautiful and mismatched chairs for my set. I also just bought a pine buffet which should arrive at the end of the week. I am slowly amassing some nice things and it makes me happy. :)

Table Top Unfinished

Sideways Semi-Finished View

Well the Beagle is outside in the dark barking at who knows what and my chicks are peeping away. They want their mom to come check on them. By mom I don't mean me, I mean the Beagle. She truly thinks she's their mom. While the baby turkeys were outside today she tried to play with them Beagle style - I had to put the kaibosh on it but it was still cute!

Have a great night!

Some photos from around "Crazy Woman"

So I have decided to dub my little slice of Northcentral Montana the "Crazy Woman Ranch" courtesy of my favorite Louis L'Amour movie. This post isn't much but photos so come on over and take a look.

Can you see my lake?

The river is high, the slew is full and the surrounding creeks are out of their banks. This water is all from snowmelt.
Thankfully the nearby canals haven't filled with water and the barrow ditches around the house are blessedly empty. Everything here is just a bit more difficult so I do not want to have to face flooding issues.

This is a picture of me and my pooples that dad took when he was out for a visit. Notice no one is looking at the camera but me. We were facing a bit of cabin fever induced ADD that day. From left to right - Lil Guy the Chihuahua, Yotee the Mini Aussie and Ruby the Beagle.

And because I simply couldn't stand not having something growing green in my presence I started my garden plants this year. From left to right - jalapeno peppers, sausage tomatoes, Tom Thumb tomatoes and Black Beauty eggplants. You can kind of see my cabbage, broccoli and wong bok in the foreground.




And just so you don't think Extension Agents stick to the book please enjoy this video of a wonderful little song written by one of my fellow brethren. Turn up the volume and enjoy!

Life-long Goal Achieved

For those of you who don't know, my family is very into hunting. My father especially! Walking into our living room is like entering a natural history museum - elk, deer, bear, coyote and waterfowl mounts line the walls. My father has recently achieved two lifetime goals of harvesting a record book black bear and a once in a lifetime record breaking mountain goat. Today he achieved another lifetime goal of harvesting a buck antelope. The following pictures highlight that achievement.



Clint Graf's antelope taken 9/24/10 at Wildhorse on the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation in North-central Montana. It measured between 13 and 14 inches on a rough measurement. 





Clint & Samantha hanging the carcass for dressing.



Toby Werk the wonder-guide!



The celebratory cape picture.



Way to go Clint!!! :)

Puppy Sweaters

Winter is fast approaching up here so I've been trying to make the puppies more comfortable as the change approaches. I bought them sweaters - I know, I know....crazy dog lady. :) Anywhooo....here are the photos of Yotee and Ruby in their sweaters. I ordered an extra small sweater for Lil Guy but it was too big so I sent it off to be exchanged with an extra, extra small and will put up a pic of him in his sweater when it gets here. Enjoy! :)

Aren't they cute?

My goodness! It's been over a week since I last posted and I have to say that's a good thing. I have been busy preparing for workshops, coffees and visitations out with entrenched community members.

Next week I teach my fist clinic on fall garden clean-up and am hoping to get a couple people to show up. Sad statement to me but I'm hoping the longer I'm here and the more I hammer away at the concept of workshops the higher the attendance will begin to be. Keep your fingers crossed!

I am also scheduled to head out with a new friend, Hillary, and the Fort Belknap Community College book-mobile. We're going to load up her trunk with books and bring the library to the other remote communities. It sounds like a fun activity and time with Hillary is always time well spent. :)

I filled out two job applications for Scott today, here on the Reservation and am hoping he gets one of them. I am struggling terrifically with homesickness. I have "clicked" over into my fall mode and I just want to sleep. I am a bit worried about slipping back into depression but knowing the signs is a step ahead of where I was last time. I am going to call my doctor, who is great by the way, and ask for a referral to a counselor/psychiatrist because I feel like that is something I need to do. Please keep me in your thoughts because I'm feeling as though I need a lil pick-me-up lately.

I am excited at the possibility of my aunt and uncle from Kansas coming up for a visit while my parents are here over the Labor Day weekend. I haven't seen them in a very long time and I have to say they are some of my favorites! :) Another set of fingers crossed please for this event.

Mom and dad are coming over Labor Day weekend to visit, drop off a load of firewood and a truck, and help me fix some stuff around the house that we didn't get to last time. I am really, really looking forward to this! Scott is set to visit the third week in September and words cannot describe how happy this makes me! My friend Jenna is always telling me Scott and I are disgustingly close for siblings and I am grateful for that closeness. :)

I have a pumpkin! One softball sized Sugar baby pumpkin has emerged and I think there might be some other ones on the way. I will have to get some row-cover material because people tell me it freezes good in September but October is beautiful. I hope so because my acorn and butternut squash are just now blooming! I've put in an order with mom and dad to bring over a bunch of produce from home when they come so I can can, freeze and dry my brains out! Living in the Yakima Valley has really spoiled me with regards to fresh produce - I miss it!

I was invited to a memorial this weekend by a co-worker and am excited to be included in the community. It came a bit quicker than I thought. Traditionally a show of acceptance like that takes quite a while. The memorial is more like a wake than what a white person would equate as a memorial. The family is hosting a kids rodeo, an 'old-man roping', a feed and a give away. Not quite a party but a happy time to remember the good things about the person.

In addition to the memorial, I have big plans to mow the lawn and let me tell you what this is going to take all day Saturday I think. I have been OK with mowing the inside of the fence but the outside has been neglected due to a lack of funds for gas. It takes two tanks to mow the outside and one tank to mow the inside. I tell myself I'm lucky to have a nice big lawn but when it comes time to mow...sometimes I forget! LOL I also am thinking of planting some garlic and onions in pots that I have so I need to get some soil for that. Busy Saturday - thank goodness!

I ordered a new mini-laptop and it should be here next week. Now if only the communications company would get their but in gear and hook-up my Internet. School starts on Monday and I would like to be able to do my work at home! :) Also, when mom and dad come up they are bringing Lil Guy over and I am not only excited for him to get here, he's got a great personality, but I'm hoping he'll wear Yotee out so they all sleep at night. Yotee has been waking me up in the night because he gets bored and wants petted, or to play. It's wreaking havoc on my sleep schedule! :)

A Busy, Busy Day

Did you know beagles snore? Loudly! Ruby the Beagle is currently lying next to the laptop snoring away....rip, snarf, snore! You gotta love her though - she brings happiness and joy where ever her beagle nose guides her. After being gone all day she ran up and pawed at my leg like she always does...a joyful smile spread across my face and I loved on her as much as I could for the all of two minutes she was there. And then she was off; nose to the ground and tail in the air. My beautiful baby beagle! :) FYI - Yotee the mini aussie is quietly sleeping on his bed as a well behaved young man should. ;)

Today I had an interview in Moscow, ID for an academic assistant position in the plant, soils and entomological sciences department of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. It went well, I felt. I was interviewed by the people I would be interacting with the most and I found them to be laid-back, affable people. I was told there might be a possibility of transferring my MS over to the U of I which is a considerable benefit. Having my degrees from different Universities looks very well to other Universities I am applying for extension positions. Keep your fingers crossed an offer (from somewhere) comes across soon. My unemployment benefits from the state have run out and I am morally opposed to taking "Obama money." Unfortunately, if an offer doesn't occur from somewhere I may have to. Pray that He sends an offer! :)

While I was in the Pullman area today I got everything in order in case an offer isn't forthcoming so that I may return to WSU and complete my Masters degree. This is my fall back plan - if I have no job I will return to school. I haven't decided if I will move to Pullman and complete it or do it completely online and stay home while this happens. However, I set a deadline of mid-July for this decision to be made so let's hope I have nothing to decide! :)

I also stopped in at Crimson & Grey and picked up two new Cougar t-shirts and a new water bottle while there. I am as excited about the water bottle as I am the shirts! LOL Additionally, I stopped at my favorite restaurant, the New Garden, and ordered the Hunan Chicken with fried noodles.....auh-mazing! I missed that dish so much it's not even funny. I haven't been able to find anything close nor recreate it. I valued this meal a lot! All in all it was a good day. :)

I am continuing to work on my baby blanket and braided rug. I had a stroke of brilliance regarding the rug. Instead of using cotton string to sew it together I am going to use a piece of sheet about 1 1/2 inches wide to weave between the braided parts. It will be more lasting than the string which I believe will fray and break too easily.

Well, I am tired from my massive driving, interviewing and shopping experience today so I am going to sign off from this update. Have a wonderful day! :)

A Good Day

I worked in the garden all day, and let me tell you it was glorious! My family started a tradition of taking my mom to the nursery on Mother's Day weekend and having her pick out whatever she wanted as her gift. This year she picked two tea roses, a pink one with a slightly yellow center and a yellow one with a reddish/orange tinge on the edges of the petals. Those tea roses are so pretty when they bloom. We cut them and put them in a small milk bottle on the tables around the house - b...e...a..utiful! :)

In the garden today we planted some pole beans, bush beans, spinach and I found some Columbia tomatoes at the nursery. I am stoked about these! I know totally nerd but they were especially bred at the Prosser WSU research station for this area. I haven't been able to track down seeds let alone plants until I found these. My goal is to save some seeds from them. I planted my Ace55 tomato starts yesterday and they do NOT look any kind of good today! I hope they live...I put so much work into them.

My dogs have been very actively lately and by active I mean covered in dirt! Yotee comes inside with his little chicken legs showing in wet fur, and Ruby comes in with her belly and feet covered in mud. She then proceeds to jump on my lap and get muddy footprints all over my clean jeans! :)

I have been working on several projects lately, and maaaaan are my wrists, hands and fingers sore and tired! I am still crocheting the baby blanket which is what makes my wrists sore and have finally begun sewing my braided rug together - sore fingers...ouch! I think these projects are going to take quite some time because of the soreness they cause. I will get them done...I will persevere! :)

It's a Dog's Life

Hello, my name is Samantha and I am a dog lover. "Hello Samantha," the crowd echos. Welcome to my world, where I often wonder what it is like to be a dog, sometimes wishing I could be a dog and frankly most of the time feel dogs are better company than people. I have captured the dogs of Grandview Ranches in carious states of repose because honestly you can only see blurs when they are in action. :) Enjoy!

Ruby the Beagle on a truck ride to the store. She's my baby - a 3 year old baby. ;)

Lizzie the way over-weight wiener dog. I'm not sure why the pic looks so weird...maybe Lizzie's gravitational pull screwed with it.

Annie, our matriarch, is playing couch commando. No one messes with her couch time!

Scout, my brother's dog, is most endearing when she's sleeping. Dingy, spazzy and harebrained come to mind when I think of her. She is lovable though and named after a charachter in a book - how can you argue with that?!?

This is my mom indulging her 75 pound lapdog in his daily nap time. Boo is a rescue dog who very much appreciates his love time!

This is Yotee, as in coyote, sleeping....obviously. He reminded, and still does, so forcefully of a coyote that I just had to name him after them. Ahhhh to be so relaxed!

And last but not least, Ruby again. How a 22 pound beagle can take over an entire double bed with me in it I will never know. And she's a cover hog too!