Sitting

This is a rare sight...Scout sitting. The other day she hiked on the beach for about 3/4 of a mile, then we went home and after lunch she wanted to walk Tonto in the woods. In between she was running (yes literally) around the yard all day. It is a rare moment that she actually sits! So much energy and enthusiasm....so much fun!

Heading out to a horse show.

Happy Halloween

We had a nice time last night celebrating Halloween with friends. We were invited to a fall festival, held at Coonamessitt Farm. What a great and safe time for the kids. There was food, games, animals, hay rides, mazes, bounce house, marshmallows, fire pit and candy, of course. Scout had a blast!

Have you ever seen an elephant herding chickens?!

Baby goat tasting Scouts sweater.

Daddy and Scout in a donut eating contest

Scout plays a game of GA-GA

Heading home at the end of a fun night with family and friends.

Happy Fall!!

The flock

The rescued flock is fitting in and doing great along with our original flock. A couple have died, one was seemingly healthy and was giving us a blue egg everyday. We found her dead for no apparent reason. The old one with an infection in her eye recently died. She had other issues, she was loosing weight and tipped over frequently. She was otherwise very happy, ate, drank and stuck up for herself with the others. She loved to be held and the week before she died all the horse kids spent a lot of time snuggling her. The day before she died she sat on the big swing with me and our friend Ritchie. She died peacefully and we are happy that her last couple months were spent free and happy.

Our twins...inseparable.

from the rescued flock, fat and healthy now.

Amazing blue eyed Orphington.

all the rest have yellow eyes.

Momma to the black baby

The black baby..looks much like a hawk when you see her.

The rooster has all his feathers now, daddy to the black baby

She is finding the feel

Lately Scout is very interested in ground work. I try to let that flourish by always giving her the opportunity to work on it. We took Tonto out for grass and Scout, as usual, got her brush and groomed her pony. Then she wanted to take her for a walk. We headed for the trails behind the house. Scout leads, holding the end of the lead line. Tonto and I follow behind her. Scout decides which trails we will take. As she marches along she is saying "Tonto walk", "Tonto come", "good dog", "whoa", "Tonto kiss me" (after Tonto nuzzled her check). I noticed 2 fabulous things on this walk. First, Tonto was not trying to walk over the top of Scout. She was patiently walking along with Scout's pint sized steps. Second, Scout has developed a feel. She never looked back at Tonto while walking. However, if Tonto slowed to nibble something Scout, without slowing down or looking back, would bark out "Tonto walk" and forge ahead. I was really surprised by it happening so young...but extremely delighted!

Beach Day

Today seemed like a great day for the beach. Scout and I took the dogs and headed to the beach for a walk. Scout did not want to go into the back pack, she wanted to walk. First she walked Ace, on his leash...she loves walking the animals. Then we looked for treasures. Today there were lots of crab shells and claws and lots of stones. We stopped so she could throw stones into the ocean and then get down on her hands and knees to rub her hands in the huge piles of stones.

It was a great time to talk about footprints. She could look behind her and see her own, and mine and then we searched for Ace and Seamus prints. She saw the tire tracks and said "jeep". I love seeing her face when she is discovering something new. You can just see the information soaking into her brain.

We saw gulls and terns and...

SEALS!! They were traveling along the shore. Heads kept popping up as we traveled down the beach. The weather was great and the dogs were happy to be able to run on the beach again. LIFE IS GOOD.

Winter is coming

The mornings are getting colder and thoughts of snow are on our minds. Winter fun will be here soon. Here are some great shots to get you in the mood.

Lizzie and the boys.

Little, the watcher

Our Lizzie...we miss her.

Satinka, the queen

Takoda, the clown

Family fun

Fall Harvest

Winter is coming and we are putting the gardens to bed.  This is a sample of our last :( harvest. We are so proud of the LONG carrots. This is the first year we have accomplished it. Success certainly is attributed to the new deep raised bed we made this year. We also got a trash can full of potatoes. They were an afterthought, we just tossed some potatoes that began to grow eyes into the trash cans and put in some compost! We picked several gourds, pumpkins, cukes and still in the ground are beets, swiss chard and eggplant.

We are spreading are beautiful compost on the bare spots in the yard and planting grass. We are cleaning out all the pots and putting away the lawn furniture. The chicken coop is getting winterized. Zach finished shingling the wood shed we built (out of discarded pallets and stockade fencing). We Have 2 cords of wood split and stacked under the protection of the shed so far. Winter (and skiing!) will be here soon and we are prepared! Life is Good.