Monday, April 29, 2019

Puppies

Remember that friendly stray dog we had a few weeks ago?

We had been watching for signs of pregnancy in either of the goat dogs, and we first noticed that Sadie, our Pyrenees mix rescue dog, was beginning to have milk. I had counted out on my calendar nine weeks from the time I had witnessed them being friendly. The puppies were born about five days later.

There were six in the litter, but one was already dead when we first found them in the corner of the goat shelter. It was a male, a good size, and looked fine, so he may have been suffocated. The other five all seemed healthy - three female and two male.

It has been a long time since I've been around puppies, so I had to do a little research to remind myself that the eyes wouldn't open for about two weeks. And that they would need some sort of puppy feed around four weeks. Other than that, Sadie has been taking good care of them and all their needs. For the first week, Sadie was very protective and wouldn't let us get very close, but has gradually given them more space and allowed us to pet them. 

The puppies already are showing personality. One is a protector, and barks or growls when we get near. One whimpers all the time. One is a loner, and likes to sleep away from the others. A couple have a stronger Pyrennees look, while a couple have a more Labrador look like the father.

We will be looking for homes for them since we weren't planning for more dogs, and certainly don't need more to feed. They are five weeks old now, so will be independent soon. Technically, we've been told, they are Pyrador-mix puppies. Sought after by some. They are cute.

























Friday, April 26, 2019

Rabbit Knitting

Around Easter time I thought I'd try making a few stuffed rabbits for the grandchildren. The knitting pattern was called Henry's Bunny. 

I also made a larger version using the Henry's Rabbit pattern, and gave it to a friend who has a pet rabbit. 

Crocheting is not usually my skill, but I saw an easy pattern for baskets using ribbon so made a couple of them.










Tuesday, April 23, 2019

Roast Chicken

With all the whole chickens in the freezer, I started defrosting one every week and roasting it, to have cooked chicken to use in supper dishes for the week.

I got into a routine: defrosting on Monday, roasting and deboning on Tuesday, putting the bones directly into the crockpot and cooking for a day, boiling the broth down on Wednesday and putting it in the freezer. All those empty Noosa yogurt containers came in handy because they are a convenient eight ounces. After several weeks of doing this, we had a nice supply of bone broth for soups.






Monday, April 15, 2019

Potatoes

We planted Yukon gold and Red LaSota potatoes in February. Six weeks later, they are coming up nicely.





Saturday, April 13, 2019

Calf Birth

On the day of the dramatic weather front, as we drove down the driveway we saw the beginning of a calf being born. I hadn't witnessed this stage of the delivery before so I found it interesting. You may find it too graphic. We first noticed it because it looked like there was a balloon hanging on the backend. 

After supper, we went out to check on her, and found the newly born calf lying in the grass. In just a few minutes, the mother had nudged the baby up to it's feet and it was walking around.












Friday, April 12, 2019

Weather Front

We had a very dramatic weather front the other day. I snapped a few photos as I was coming home, with the clear skies behind me. When I got home the dark skies were right over the house.