Yippee!!!

Oooh yesterday was wonderful!!!
Charles & Craig built another great big dog pen, for Sara and the puppies.

Then Chris & Charles cleaned out the chicken pen...
And what did we do w/ all the wonderful composted chicken stuff????

FILLED TWO RAISED GARDEN BEDS!!!!
mixed it all up w/ some good peat moss, garden soil, and more composted manure. and Poof!!! I have a GARDEN!!
well, its a start lol

I plan to start a few new raised beds each year.
I planted my tomatoes...
Jalapenos
summer squash..
green beans.

sooo excited!!!!!

The Deed is Done **sniff**

Saucy (Sausage) is now at the butchers.

The guys got the small livestock hauler....

Backed it up to the gate....

each got a board...

They looked like they were preparing for battle.

They just knew there would be no way to get her into the hauler without a fight.

I came outside to see how it was going...

STOP! I yelled.

Let me try.

I went inside..

got a few eggs..

walked up to my girl...

gave her an egg (out of my hand)...

and threw the last 2 into the hauler....

She hopped right up into the hauler like she had done it 100's of times before.

I think the guys were a tad disappointed, they wanted to battle lol

I have tried to explain to them time & time again, THEY cause the chasing.

THEY cause the battle...

if they would just be sweet ad calm, the animal most likely will be calm too.

She was shut into the hauler and then gave me this look... (the one in the pic) like.. Hey!...... Whats going on Mom??? What are you doing??

When we took Hot Dog to the butcher it really wasn't too hard. But Saucy was my first pig...

she was my baby... She would eat eggs out of my hands every day...

She would run around like a puppy each time she saw me coming.

This time was not so easy.

But.. Its done.

Yes, I am sad... But. i know she lived a very happy spoiled life.

I know she was treated w/ respect.

I know she felt safe.

And I know she will be put down humanly.

and...

I know that in 2 weeks my freezer will be full of home grown, yummy pork.

I'm not gonna say there wasn't a tear shed....

I'm not gonna say I didn't almost turn the truck around more than once on the way to the butchers....

But I did what I set out to do.

This was the plan from day one.

I did it, even tho everyone said I couldn't ever go thru w/ it.

Now....

I can only hope it will be easier from now on.

Sleep? what Sleep?

Sara has decided that she wants "help" raising her pups. Well, not so much help as she doesnt like to be alone w/ all these babies.

She MUST come wake me up and get me to come with here every other hour ALL NIGHT LONG.....

She has decided that she can't go potty alone anymore either...
I MUST accompany her to do her business.

""sigh""

I am growing more impatient about the new house... Those who know me are fully aware that my patience is NOT something that I am known for. I am soooooo ready for this house to be here!

Spring, new house, garden, puppies eating "real" food.. the list goes on and on.... Things Dana wants NOW!

Now its winter & I want Spring....

The weather this year has been so crazy!
One day have to start a fire, the nest tempted to turn on the A/C.
Well, its finally colder outside... and all I want to do is start planting my garden! lol Can I ever be happy w/ the way things are at the moment?? lol I guess not.

The weather man said no sunshine this week, should be fun. **sigh**

I plan to start cleaning out and packing things up today. I am so excited about the new house, I have to do SOMETHING. So I figure it might be a good idea to prepare things a little bit... might help pass the time till the move and actually feel real if there are boxes stacked in the corners lol
But.... first I have to dig and find the corners! Oh my.... this is gonna be a big job.

sleep deprivation,,,,,

We lost one pup, Best I can tell she smothered while nursing during the night. :( She was the smallest pup, but otherwise very healthy.

Sara seems to be getting a little bit of Mastitis in one tit. But we caught it very early and all seems well.. but.....
You try to make sure 11 hungry pups do not nurse from this tit!! HA! Good luck. And Sara doesn't really enjoy me milking it out every day either. Not to mention the big old band-aids I have on it the rest of the day to keep pups at bay.

All is well and the pups are 1 week old today :)

Excitment building & self control tested...

The men who are doing the improvements on our land for the new house came today.
They marked for the house, foundation, septic, electric pole etc...

While he was here he said... I could add a 40' x 40' 8 stall barn to your loan for about $1 a day.

Ooooh how I would LOVE to get a barn.
but...
that would add about $70 a month to our note.

**sigh**

PUPPIES!!!

Saturday 2/11/2006, (the DAY after going to the vets) I decided to run to the store... Not 15 min into my trip, Craig called me on my cell.. "Mom!! Get home now!! PLEASE!!!" "A puppy just fell out of Sara!!!!!" he was freaking out a tad. **giggle**

Of course she would start the one time I leave!! grrr lol

I rushed home, and between 3:20pm Sat and 2:00am Sunday morning, Sara delivered 12 of the most beautiful Black Dane Puppies I have ever seen.

This was her first letter, she did GREAT!! Isn't it just so amazing how they just know what to do?

All the puppies are doing great. No problems at all. and sweet Sara is just an wonderful Mother!! The pups are all well fed, she keeps them very VERY clean, she is sooo very careful not to lay on any. Its just so cool to watch.

Now, I , on the other hand am a nervous wreck lol every squeak, I have to run & make sure all is well. and of course it always is.

I took them all to the vet this morning.. they are perfect! the vet commented several times at what a outstanding litter this is.

We are happy!!!
Very tired, but happy! lol

now.....
what are we gonna do when they get mobile??? Oh Dear!

Busy week.

It's been a busy week of canning & mailing out lots of Amish Peanut butter.

Went today and registered the truck and Suburban, got new car ins went to the vet, post office bank... etc etc etc. Tomorrow its new tires, oil change, bank, post office and grocery shopping. exciting huh? lol

Sara is getting so close to having her puppies.. its sooo exciting.. we went to the vets this morning to get an x-ray to try to get a puppy count... they couldn't get a good shot.. all we know for sure is there will be no less than 7 lol BIG help.

Oh to have 10 year old troubles....

Oh to have the troubles of a 10 yr old....
Bryan came to me this morning...
he was obviously very worried about something important.
"Mom" he said....
"I don't wanna grow up."
Why? I asked.
"I don't know what I'm gonna do about kids."
What are you talking about?
"Well... I want to get married..."
"I want my wife to have babies..."
"But I'm not gonna Mate to put them in her!"
"Mating just seems very unusual to me..."
"I have decided I am NOT going to mate."
Don't worry Bryan.... If you don't want to mate, you don't have to.
"Whew!! Will you tell my wife that when I get her?"
Yes Bryan, I'll tell her.
"Good, Can I have some gum?"
LOL