50 week challenge

I'm an avid fan of Cesar Millan, and he has issued a 50 week challenge for us dog owners.  i decided to jump in.  First challenge of week #1, walk you pack for 1 hour a day.  It's kind of hard to incorporate a one hour walk every day, but will do my best to accomplish it.  For those Canadian days that it's just too miserable to go out, I have my friendly treadmill to do the job.  So off I go for hour #1 of day #1.  I should be seeing some improvements on my dogs behaviors, I'll try and keep track of it.  Let's see if I can keep this up for the whole year.  You are my witnesses, keep me motivated, I intend to lose a few pounds in the process.

Fresh from the farm.......

back in action

I should start with wishing everyone a happy new year, may 2010 be as good to you as i hope it will be to me! 
I've neglected my blog over the holidays, but I'm back in full force.
We had five new additions to our animal family, a beautiful litter of boxer puppies.  We thought we were ready for this, as this is our second time around, but nothing can compare taking care of 1 puppy to 5.
No matter how cute they are, it gets tiresome trying to keep a clean house with these five little mongrels running around.
We are lucky to know that at least two of these sweeties are going to friends', we will be able to see them grow up and become what they are.

DD#1 back in school, daycare back in full force, horses running away, cow sleeping in the hay stack....good start to 2010.  keeps me on my toes.


Fresh from the farm.....

time to work!

My female boxer is pregnant, and I do believe she is in labor now.  She is breathing pretty heavily.  Last night she took much longer than normal to eat her food.  Last breeding was a loss for us, since she only had one puppy and we have to give away to the owner of the male, but this time, their is definitely more puppies in there.  At this point?  I can see them moving around in there.  Lumps and bumps are appearing everywhere.
Ho the memories of my labors!  I hope everything goes well, and I can't wait to see those little potatoes popping out of there.  They will be loved and loved some more by everyone around.

.....fresh from the farm

H1N1

We've all heard about this form of influenza going around the world, and putting a scare into everyone.  We've heard from opposites sides of this.  Should we, or shouldn't we?  Who's more at risk?  What's the consequences, symptoms, etc.......
I'm a little suspicious of the effectiveness of the vaccine.  It's just went too fast.  What are the long term effects?  It's very hard to make a decision.
I've taken the conscience decision to not get the vaccines for my family and I.  I hope I'm doing the right thing.  But only time will tell.  We will take every precaution to keep this virus away.  but trying to teach 2 and 3 year old's the proper way to wash your hands, to cough, and not to share stuff with other kids is hard.  But with constant supervision, we will do it.
What's your take on the H1N1?  Will you get the vaccines for your family and yourselves?  Feel free to post your comments.

busy days

The weather is changing rather quickly.  Frost over the weekend,  DH putting on his long-johns, Canadian geese flying over head, got to get a move on and get our winter organized.
We finally have a bit of firewood, thanks to good friend that give a hand unselfishly.  #0+cm of snow fell in BC yesterday, so we have to know it's coming our way.
DH was a brave one yesterday, he decided to get on the big mare were keeping.  He looked so funny and so small on top of her.  But she behaved gently, like the gentle giant she is.
I'm a little tired from the weekend, waking up every three hours to feed Salvat is a demanding job, but so rewarding.  It melts my heart when i hear the little purring coming from him when his little stomach is full.  It's a first time experience for me, and I'm loving it even though it's time consuming.  Hopefully I can make this one into a house cat that will not attack my birds.

fresh from the farm.....

a long journey ahead

I've taken on the task of raising a newborn kitten.  It's going to be quite and adventure, a first for me.  I really do hope to save this little guy.  But I tell you, it's a proud moment when you see him latching onto the bottle, and just sucking away.  Got a long journey ahead of us, starting in two hours from now.  Yep, fed every couple of hours, for THREE weeks.   Ho well!  Que sera, sera!  I will update this post threw out the night, keep track of the progress that Sal's(Salvat means saved in Catalan) doing.

3:22am-  We've had successful feedings all night. Urine and bowel moments.  We are doing good, or so I hope.


UPDATE: 12/10/09  Sal is doing very well!  He's quite the strong little bugger.  When he smells the milk near, he's hard to hold down.  I'm pretty confident in saying, that Sal is saved!


.....fresh from the farm

saving baby kitten

Doune, my female cat has had her share of ups and downs with her litters.  Always one that dies, is not normal,or all but one of them don't make it.  One litter, seven kittens, one alive.  Let's just say that turned out to be one fat cat.  She's always had her litters in the house, except this last one.  She spends the night inside, and goes out during the day.  But three days ago, she didn't come in for the night.  I found her the next morning, all skinny.  She'd had her babies during the night, outside somewhere.  Guess i was going to become a cat stalker.  We are just about ready to go to the store, when we hear whimpers coming from the basement.  Seven baby kittens!!!  One was not alive, so that left us with six.
For some reason, my female just won't take care of them.  On the first day, she managed to sneak out of the house early afternoon, and was nowhere to be found.  We called and called her all evening.  She finally showed up at around midnight when i got home, only to find her kittens very weak and freezing.  I rushed them into the house, placed them on the furnace grill trying to get heat to them. For some unknown reason, she just doesn't want to care for these little guys.  Threw out the night, I lost five of them.  Only one of them is still alive, and I'm going to fight for him with everything I have.  Rushed to the pet store this morning, got replacement milk and little feeding bottle.
What a joy to finally see the little tongue stick to that nipple.  What a hungry little guy.
So far, he's doing great.  Only have to get a bowel movement for today out of him, and we're all set.
It'll be hard work, feeding every two hours for three weeks, but it's all worth it if i get a cute little kitten to live in the process, will keep you updated.
Now all I need is a name for the little guy!

fresh from the farm......