Autumn at our local dog show...

This past weekend we competed in our local club's dog show! I attempted to show Autumn myself! I havn't actually showed "myself" for almost 2 years! As its worked out, I didn't have anything to show and then when Autumn became old enough, my commitments at work took priority so I've had my handler show her.
She is sitting at 5 points and I thought maybe I could have put a point or 2 on her.......
This was not the case. I am disapointed but I think "we" did well...
Here is my pretty girl before the show...oh how I love this little girl!!!!


This is Casi's ribbon, she had taken her in the sanction match the evening before. Sanction match is like a "mock show"...run like a real show but just for practice. Casi ended up going Group 1 and then going in Best in Show!!! Too bad that wasn't in the real show!!!


Here is our first go around...I thought Autumn moved the best for me this day.


The judge going over Autumn...

Here is the group going for Winners Female...Autumn took reserve (2nd) this day.

Saturday, Casi showed Autumn and I have to say both my girls looked great! I had several comments from fellow show people how professional Casi looked and what a great job she did! Very proud of my girls!!!

Saturday there was no ribbon for us and Sunday, out a class of 5 females Autumn took reserve again...so i guess 2nd isn't so bad, unfortunately, no points for 2nd....

We fell in love with this wee Chihuahua! Normally, not a chihuahua person but this little spit fire of a boy wowed us from ringside. He was all of 2.5 lbs but wow...did he have a BIG personality! He ended up taking group winnings and got best puppy in group too. He looked like a live squeeky toy!

All in all was a good show, no points but I did take the plunge and showed for myself and after such a long absense...was good for me! Casi proved that she could handle the points ring and her and Brittany competed in Junior Handling. Out of a class of 6, Brittany took 2nd and Casi took 3rd, so again really well done and really proud of all my girls!

Planning our next show, whether it be me showing or having my handler depends on what weekend and if I'm working! Stay tuned!

8%

I recieved this in an email today. It said that only 8% will forward it on to anyone while 92% will not. I decided to do a post about it......

One day a while back, a man, his heart heavy with grief, was walking in the woods. As he thought about his life this day, he knew many things were not right. He thought about those who had lied about him back when he had a job. His thoughts turned to those who had stolen his things and cheated him. He remembered family who had passed on. His mind turned to the illness he had, that no one could cure. His very soul was filled with anger, resentment, and frustration.
Standing there this day, searching for answers he could not find, knowing all else had failed him, he knelt at the base of an old oak tree to seek the one he knew would always be there. And with tears in his eyes, he prayed: 'Lord- You have done wonderful things for me in this life. You have told me to do many things for you, and I happily obeyed. Today, you have told me to forgive. I am sad, Lord, because I cannot. I don't know how.. It is not fair Lord, I didn't deserve these wrongs that were done against me and I shouldn't have to forgive. As perfect as your way is Lord, this one thing I cannot do, for I don't know how to forgive. My anger is so deep Lord, I fear I may not hear you, but I pray you teach me to do the one thing I cannot do: Teach me to forgive .'
As he knelt there in the quiet shade of that old oak tree, he felt something fall onto his shoulder. He opened his eyes. Out of the corner of one eye, he saw something red on his shirt. He could not turn to see what it was because where the oak tree had been was a large square piece of wood in the ground.
He raised his head and saw two feet held to the wood with a large spike through them. He raised his head more, and tears came to his eyes as he saw Jesus hanging on a cross. He saw spikes in His hands, a gash in His side, a torn and battered body, deep thorns sunk into His head. Finally he saw the suffering and pain on His precious face. As their eyes met, the man's tears turned to sobbing, and Jesus began to speak.
'Have you ever told a lie?' He asked? The man answered - 'Yes, Lord.' '
Have you ever been given too much change and kept it?' The man answered - 'Yes, Lord.' And the man sobbed more and more.
'Have you ever taken something from work that wasn't yours?' Jesus asked? And the man answered, 'Yes , Lord.'
'Have you ever sworn, using my Father's name in vain?' The man, crying now, answered - 'Yes, Lord.'
As Jesus asked many more times, 'Have you ever'? The man's crying became uncontrollable, for he could only answer - 'Yes, Lord'.
Then Jesus turned His head from one side to the other, and the man felt something fall on his other shoulder He looked and saw that it was the blood of Jesus. When he looked back up, his eyes met those of Jesus, and there was a look of love the man had never seen or known before.
Jesus said, 'I didn't deserve this either, but I forgive you.'
It may be hard to see how you're going to get through something, but when you look back in life, you realize how true this statement is.
Read the following first line slowly and let it sink in.
If God brings you to it - He will bring you through it.
When Jesus died on the cross, he was thinking of you!
If you are one of the 8% who will stand up for Him, forward this with the Title 8%
92% of people won't forward this

May God Bless You and your loved ones

Window pics...

I promised earlier that I would take updated pics of the house with the new windows in.
So for extreme effect I thought I would show you from the very beginning....
This is the house, the day that we looked at it with real estate.

This is the house when we had added the shutters and the front deck. We had also take off half of the deck that was a long the driveway and put in a stone walk way with flower beds.

This is the most current picture...don't mind the snow, that was a cruel trick of mother nature...

This is with the new windows.

We are getting there slowly! I am really pleased with these windows. They are cosmetically so much nicer to look at, and they are so much more airtight! Cleaning is a breeze now! Love em!

The Basement Chronicles..

Welcome to our basement! This is a part of the house that I have never blogged about thus far. The reason being is that it was a granny flat for Dave's mom. So this was her space and not ours. She has recently moved giving us more space as the kids are certainly getting older and bigger and needing it! I will be doing a post today about how it looks today and then blogging about the changes that we have done as they happen.
Basically the space consists of a living room/rec room, bedroom, a 3 pc bathroom and a small kitchen. Our plans are to keep the bedroom for a spare room for company or when the kids have friends over.
Here is a view of the bedroom from the kitchen.

This is another view from the kitchen looking into the bathroom, bedroom and the rec room.

A view of the kitchen from the rec room. We plan on using the cupboard space for extra storage.

This is the rec room. The kids have grand plans for this room! I allowed them to choose the colour of the room. I figured this was their space so let them choose.....well they chose RED!

It was amazing that they all agreed on this one colour but it was red. It will be a dramatic change to the room and I hope it turns out. I am kinda scared as I would never go that bold but if they hate it, they will have to look at for a few years. If anyone is near a CT store, go to paint and look at the Debbie Travis collection for "Moulin Rouge". Remember...they chose it! Not me!

Here is another view of the livingroom as you enter from the kitchen.

Will keep you updated. The snow day yesterday was perfect for putting the kids to work. We got all the trim painted and because they chose red, we had to prime the walls first, so that got done. Today the 1st coat of red goes up. Wish me luck as I am still scared...eeeks...red....

I can hear my dad always wanting my mom to paint walls red when she asked his opinion, who knows maybe it skipped a generation..

Wish me luck......

Mother Nature certainly has a twisted sense of humour...

Yesterday morning we woke up to this......a 2 ft blanket of snow. Eeeks! After every last bit of snow was gone, the grass was getting greener and I had raked off all my flower beds. After seeing bits of spring flowers coming up and Dave had even worked up the garden...we get this...
The kids even got a snow day yesterday.... A SNOW day in April!!
They loved it, especially considering they will be off on Friday again for the Easter weekend.

We had actually already sat outside and used our patio furniture this year!

At any rate...the temps are supposed to warm up later this week so hopefully we will rid ourselves of this white stuff...enough already! I remember being told that late spring snow is very high is some kind of nutrient so lets hope this is good for something!

New Venture!

A few weeks ago we went and visited a farm not too far from us to look at a ram for our herd of sheep. Almost right away it became clear how serious they were into their sheep, with the bio security precautions they were taking and the different registrations they were talking. They were an older couple and it was so cute how they answered for each other and they both knew names and numbers of their sheep and what they had delivered even years previous!

Now our herd of sheep is just a commercial flock, they are not registered and our lambs are sold for market.

However it really impressed upon me how awsome it would be to be that involved with something together. I have my horses and the sheep are his babies. So Dave and I got to talking about something that we could go into as a venture together and learn and study together.

So it came back to a few years ago, we had checked into Myotonic Goats. They are also referred to as fainting goats. Basically if they get scared or excited the myotonia in their bodies causes them to stiffen and they fall over. This does not hurt them, this is a natural part of who they are.

Also I should mention that it is cruel to purposely make them faint by scaring them...it would be cruel make any animal scared. At the time, there was none to be had in Ontario, and we weren't that serious then to have them shipped from the prairies. We had just bought the farm and there was so many other things to do at that time. Now, however we are committed!

Me, always having a flare for the different or unusual got right into researching the breed, the standard, the different registries and talking to a few different breeders. What really peeked our interest too is that there are only a handful of breeders in Canada. According to one breeder I spoke to, she said there are less that 300 registered in Canada which makes them a rare breed. There are alot in the states but with the border closing a few years back, made bringing breeding stock across the border impossible.

So it is really exciting for us to think of being part of something that will help restore the breed in Canada....plus they are soo cool!

Long story short, we are now on 2 waiting lists for "kids". 2 does and 1 buck each. One list is a breeder in Eastern Ontario and the other is a breeder in Manitoba. The kids are due anywhere from April to June. They will not be weaned for 4 months so it will be into fall before we will get our kids, if we get kids as they already have a lengthy waiting list. That will be ok so we can configure things here to house them and be able to pasture them apart.

We are excited and looking forward to seeing the different colour patterns that they have and what will come our way!

Call us crazy...probably...

Spring arrives!

Well it seems spring is here! We have been outside and puttering at this and that, so havn't had much time for blogging! Alas, it is pouring down rain today so perfect weather for inside stuff (ie...computer time!!)
Spring is going to bring some new additions to our farm, I hope at least. I am anticipating 3 foals this spring but the one mare I am not sure if she caught. The other is really heavy in foal and by the looks of her she may go early to mid May. The third girl...seems to change every day I see her, one day I think she is not, then I see her again and I think she may be later on. She is really chubby to begin with so it makes it hard to know for sure!
I have done a back to back breeding with Sadie and she too is due early May so I am eagerly awaiting babies! They will be my only puppies until likely late fall.
Dave has been really working hard installing all 16 of our windows and getting them finished on the inside and the outside. I am soooo pleased with how they look, and how they function! No more putting sticks in the windows to hold them up!
I will do a post with pics soon!
I can see the peeking of my spring flowers coming up. It is always such a refreshing site after a long cold snowy winter! As much as the rain makes things muddy and soft, it also washes the dirt and grim of the winter away! I always love the promise of what spring brings!
So happy spring folks!

Autumn shows at Nickel District Kennel Club

Last weekend I packed up my baby and entrusted her with Peter (my handler) for a 5 show weekend in Sudbury. I again was on pins and needles all weekend waiting for word on how she was doing!
The entry was low, there was only Autumn and one other male. So winning Best of Breed for either dog would only mean 1 point per show.
So in total Autumn won Best of Breed 3 times, bringing home 3 points, she is now up to 5 points, half way there to her championship.
Peter who handles alot of dogs really liked her and commented several times what a nice all round girl she is. That makes me feel good! I tend to agree but perhaps I may be a tad biased!!!
So my next plan for her is our local show the end of April. I plan to show her myself and see what lil ol me can do! Wish us luck!

He passes!!

Congratulations go out to James as he passed his driver training last week also! Since mid January he has been going to in class sessions and just completed 10 hrs of private driver instruction. So this enables him to try for his G2 in April compared to waiting until August (a full year after getting his G1).
He is happy and we are a little relieved to "maybe" be off the hook for some of the driving this summer! Way to go James!

Casi's Focus

Just to give you the heads up....
Casi has created her own blog. I had encouraged her to do this as she has soooo many great pictures that shouldn't just be filed away on our computer.
Cass is a great photographer and has an eye for detail, colour and imagery. She is going to use her blog to post her pictures and show them off!
Her blog is called Casi's Focus and you can find it at http://casifocus.blogspot.com

Brittany turns 13!!

Here she is! Our Britt is a teen! Hard to believe that 13 years has gone by. What a fine young lady you are growing up to be! WE love you lots!!!!!!

Here is Brittany at 1 year old. She wasn't walking at the time so we placed her against the counter for a stand up shot. She walked days later....

I think this is my favourite shot of her. At 4 years old, she loved to have her hair done and I couldn't get enough "hair pretties" in. Ahhhhhh...gone are those days but how I loved dressing up the girls.

Here is she on her birthday....she got her own camera this year. Now we can avoid the fights over Casi's camera! It is pink of course...Brittany loves pink!

She is also loving "The Clique" book series by Lisi Harrison. We got her some more to add to her collection.

Brit and Madi...

Brittany, Madi and Amanda...

13 Candles!!!!

Brittany and Karen....

Just being silly.....

This picture is whatever you wanna make of it???

The girls went "rockabowling"...which is basically bowling in the dark with music and strobe lights....Brittany tries a different move??

Casi gets a strike???

Hands up....

I hope she had a great birthday, we took her out for supper at the Mandarin for superb buffet. I can't believe how fast these years have gone...it is almost unfathomable that she is a teenager. I love your perky personality Brittany. I love how independant that you are, even though that is trait that sometimes annoys me the most! I love that you are growing up strong and have a good sense of right and wrong and I know that you will succeed in whatever goals you set for yourself. LOVE YOU BABY!!!

Brittany and Tye randoms

In honour of all Brittany's hard work and dedication to her boy Tye I decided to make this post about them. She has trained him and worked with him, teaching to listen (mostly) and help him be a respectful addition to our canine family.
I hope the responsiblity of looking after her own pet will help her to grow and eventually be responsible with other areas of her life as she matures!
This is the day we brought him home..

Ever alert, Tye misses nothing!!!

Thanksgiving

Christmas 2008...this picture says it all...I love this one!!!

Do you think he is spoiled????

Also as we have so many pics of Tye here, thought I would do a post of him as he has grown. Here he is as a baby. He looks pretty little there...we probably hadn't had him that long.

This winter we discovered that Tye had a hate for snow shovels. Basically any shovels, rakes or anything that we might use, he tries to "kill".

Here is Tye with Jimmy in obedience class. Jimmy is a Cairn Terrier and was one of Tye's good buddy's in class.

Tye in a sit-stay. He always gets this little orphaned look when he would sit...like he was being abandoned or something!

Relaxing at class...

Tye graduated Advanced Novice Obedience class!

Last week Tye graduated from his 2nd round of obedience classes. He learned basic commands in his first round but in the 2nd round alot of repetition on sit, down, wait and come. He definitely knows what he is being told...and most times he listens but still sometimes he has his own mind about things...not a terrier...no???!!


Just a couple of random shots of Tye...out of the 300 or so I had to choose from!!


I am pleased to see how much Britt loves this little guy. He is a sweetie and so so funny! He has a quirky personality that I know I have really enjoyed getting to know. I am impressed how responsible Brittany has been towards him and owns up to looking after him when it isn't always convenient.
GOOD JOB TYE (& Britt too)!!!

Late Winter catch up..

Is it spring yet? Gosh I hope so! I am so sick of cold temperatures and snow!
As promised earlier here is an update on what has been going on with everyone here.
::James::
James has been taking drivers ed for the past 6 weeks or so, he has completed the in class work and just wrote his test (fingers crossed) and has about 3-4 more in car driving sessions to do. He has recently started taking Co-op through school and has been placed in one of our local abbatoirs. Surprisingly he really likes it! He even thinks this is where he would like to end up with as a career. Knowing James, he is apt to change his mind again but as least he is enjoying what he is doing and learning some skills. He is still working at McDonalds and will be there almost 2 years soon! He has just tentatively bought himself a vehicle. I say tentatively because he hasn't actually paid for it yet but the the verbal agreement is in place and soon it should become concrete. It is a 1995 GMC Jimmy. It looks like a nice vehicle, James and Dave went over it last weekend and with some work and parts it should be safe to be on the road. We have been getting some insurance quotes and WOW its best to be sitting when getting them. It is literally highway robbery for young males to have insurance. We went on an online website that gave quotes and James changed his gender from male to female and the quote dropped in half. That was amazing..he changed nothing else but the gender!!!
He is doing ok in school....his usual stuff that he lags in getting done and then I have to get on his case and then he does it anyway but as long as he gets his credits we are both happy. He is preparing to go to old Quebec City over the march break on a school trip. I hope he enjoys the rich heritage that city has to offer!
::Casi::
Casi is still working at Canadian Tire and liking it but probably loving the paycheques even more! She recently bought her own plane ticket out west for the summer and just bought a gorgeous Pentax K100 camera. She bought this from a photographer and it looks to be an awsome camera for her interests. She signed up for gr. 11 photography next year so hopefully she'll put it to work. She already has such an eye for pictures. She is doing fabulous in school and pulled honours on her last report card. This semester seems like it is going just as well. She has just completed her course sign up for next year and by the looks of things it will be challenging but it is something she wants to do and I know she can do it! Cass has expressed interest in helping me show the puppies so i am thinking of entering one of the puppies in our local show the end of April to see what they can do. Who knows...if she gets good enough, I won't have to pay a handler!!
::Brittany::
Brittany would love a job but of course is not old enough! Hard to believe but my baby turns 13 in just days away! I can't believe it, where has the time gone? She is doing really well in school and also has managed to pull off honours. She and Tye have been continuing with the obedience and graduation in next week. Their instructor thinks Tye is really for agility and just this week had him doing some jumps!! It was cool! Brittany is our typical pre teen turning teen...loves msn, loves the phone and just hanging out with her friends. She would like a cell phone for her birthday but I just can't warrant that...she'll have to wait a little longer! She is planning a party but still yet not sure of what they are!
::Us::
Us?? Well things have been busy transporting the kids from their various activities and jobs. It seems I just fill my van with gas and it needs to be filled again and all I've done is run the kids here and there! I am sooooo looking forward to spring. I really do not like this time of year where everything looks stale and dead. We have alot of winter clean up to do, which is typical for the spring. We just bought 2 new rams for our sheep as our old guy was pretty much retired last fall. We only have 10 lambs or so because of this...he didn't really make his rounds within the herd!! I am hoping for 3 foals this year. By looks of the mares, I am thinking we will have 2 and the other one really doesn't look bigger. This should happen in May hopefully! I am still working and Dave is likely going back to nights in April sometime. Just thankful for our jobs at this point in the state of our economy! I am hoping before he goes back to work, he can get the rest of my windows in and do some other jobs that have been crying to be finished! I am hoping for a spring litter of puppies due early May and am planning some dog shows for spring/early summer too. I would imagine that spring will be just as busy but the thoughts of getting outside to do yard work sounds wonderful in my cabin fever state!
Spring can't come soon enough! Come on spring!