WHIRLWINDS

Whirlwinds. Worked all week, finished projects that had to be completed at home, packed the TB on Sat and found out there was no a/c working. Drove to Jean's packed to the rafters and on the rafters of the TB, unpacked, settled dogs. Thanks to Don for putting the a/c in the kennel for my kids. Drove to the show on Sunday, said brief hellos and was handed a Samoyed to walk to the ring. Mostly a blur of activity after that, held Sammy's, chatted with friends, watched someone's van have an under the hood electrical fire (scarey, but no dogs in the van, but boy did my heart go out to the owner--what a way to end their dog show weekend), showed Rumor who was RWB to Elaine's Safari-a very nice young bitch. Loaded dogs back up, came home, now doing all the things that have to be done before I leave again. Work on Tues, hopefully get the lawned mowed before being gone a week (so it's not jungle fever here next week!), pack dogs back up, drive to LaCrosse to drop off two dogs, drive to Jean's, load up and then drive to Fargo. Three days of shows, with probably little sleep--because you know how much socializing goes with dog shows, swapping help to show Collies to get help to show Cardigans (a pre-thanks to Peppi and Brian for that!), of course we all show late on Sunday, so it'll be that, then a pack up, drive to Jean's, stay the night, pack up, drive to LaCrosse, pick up dogs, drive home and then back to work the next Tues. Whirlwinds.
Oh yea, and 16 short days to Spice's due date! Yipppeeee!!! Uh oh, I think that means more Whirlwinds. Sheesh, just writing it all out feels exhausting! :-)

Yup, she's preggers

Great news, all the signs of pregnancy are there for Spice! Her due date is June 16. I'll be getting some picks later this week. I kind of ran of out of oomph today. Yesterday was so busy, I'm working on sprucing up the indoor garage kennel runs. Love my new tools--especially that drill and it only took me about 30 mins to figure out how to make everything work with it. Stop that snickering! Got about 1/2 of the grass mowed, which anyone that's been out here can attest to the fact that there is alot of grass to push mow. Cleaned up the burn barrel area and put in some new metal flashing to expand the area. This worked out great because then I dug around in the garage and pulled out all the corrugated cardboard boxes that have accumulated in the past year and a half and got those burned. Yea, yea, ozone, pollutants, tell it to someone that lives closer to a landfill and has a truck. I burn my garbage, and I won't even begin to discuss what's buried in the big ol' hole out where there was a hog building. It's filled in now and Rick planted corn over it this year. If I start to glow in the dark after eating a few ears of sweet corn you'll know why. ;-)
All of the materials for the whelping box are on site now, this week when it's nice after work I'll finish sealing the wood and putting it together. As usual when I visit the Menard's I went a big over the top and it's going to be one solid, big structure. I think I'm going to have to actually assemble it in the bedroom--it won't fit thru the door all in one and I'm not even sure I could lift it in one piece. What the heck? It should last for puppies until I'm tired of having anymore litters. I'm a bit worried it might not be tall enough for the puppies, but I've already come up with an easy solution that can be added after the puppies get big and active. For now it's made so I can get in and out and over the sides without killing myself or pulling a muscle. These are important for those of us out of shape, getting way to old to crawl on the ground people.
I can't believe it's nearly 7 pm on Sunday--I want another weekend now! The good part is that on Mon, Tues, Thurs now I get to carpool and that means leaving work at 4 instead of 5--and heck the decrease in gas and pollutants from that V8 vehicle I drive should balance out the garbage burning, right?
Until next time...

Rain Rain Go Away and take the Wind with you...

Yesterday was interesting. It's been a rainy and windy May so far and I have now experienced the excitement of mud bogging. Along with a few other items, the gravel road took a real beating from the past winter. Since the last thaw there have been big mounds of black dirt heaved up thru the gravel. Add in the downpours we've had and well it's a little like driving in freshly mixed cement. I realize that my usual rate of speed down said gravel road is just a shade over the recommended limit, but I am now down to a crawl and still getting shifted and shoved all over the place. The driveway isn't a mud bog, it's a water obstacle course. Small, medium, large and pond-like potholes full of water down at the "dip" in the road. All in all a simply fascinating driving experience in and out of the farm. Ha.
Today, again, we have wind. Big time wind. I laughed at Sahra when she asked "is it always windy here?" because yep, it's always windy here. Sometimes a barely there breeze, sometimes gale force drama. Today's it's just below gale force which means I'm going to do inside things today. Trim some dog nails, laundry and vaccum with my new Dyson (thanks to Jean!). Maybe today is the day I get the sewing back out and finish up some more projects. For now it's some computer time while playing tug with Harold--I am the supreme multi-tasker--and humongoid cups of coffee.
Until next time...

HOSTAS

Here is the story of the hostas. They've traveled long and far to make it to the farm. These hostas started out at my grandmother's house on Dalewood, which then became my mom's and after her death, my sister's. I had taken a few clumps of these hostas when I moved into my first house on 17th St. They flourished in the front yard planter for nearly 20 years. I took several clumps when I moved into the A Ave. house. Again, they spread and bloomed for the nearly 2 years I was there, happily living under a huge maple tree in the front yard. In 2008 when Cedar Rapids was flooded I thought they were lost under the 10 feet plus of water the front yard saw that June. During the last day of clean up I was lamenting the loss of all of the potted annuals and the perinneal beds I had put in that spring and was particularly upset about the hostas. The Dalewood and 17th St properties had both passed into the hands of strangers and I thought Grandma's hostas were gone. Diane looked around and found a few stray pots and then dug up what she thought might be survivors. She took them home and popped them into her yard to see what would happen. These are some pretty hardy hostas. They grew in Diane's yard and last summer she dug them up and brought them to me. I had them in the pots under a shade tree but never got them planted. They wintered in the garage and I thought they would be dead by this spring. Let me tell you, these have to be miracle hostas because they survived the winter in those pots. I was looking for pots to put my herbs in today and found them and they are alive. So into the ground under the big shade tree in the front yard they went today, surrounded by x-pens. Here's to the Dalewood-17th-A-Post Flood Hostas-may you grow deep roots, big green leaves and lovely purple flowers.

A CASE for not mowing

My landlord left me the perfect excuse for not finishing my mowing. See below. :-) I really need to encourage him to park more farm equipment in the yard across from the house. Or maybe not, that's my dog training area!