AKC family pups groomed for all lifestyles, ready for any adventure-all to the glory of God!
The leaves change and and people are out raking lawns and filling garbage bags with the trees’ once beautiful foliage. It is getting colder and the heat is on. However, not everyone uses central heat – especially people like us who live in rural areas. Instead, we burn wood. Continue reading “Keeping Warm in Winter”
My alarm went off, and I forced myself out of bed at the early hour of 5:50 – the IEGRC dog show was today! Quickly, I slipped into my plum colored “show” dress. It is dressy enough for the occasion, set off the dog, but its not so tight or short that I am uncomfortable (like the last time…). My sisters slowly got up too, and reluctantly started to dress, as I began to put up my hair. As soon as I had tamed it into a respectable pile, Mom came in (still half asleep) with her arsenal. Wielding hair spray, a handful of pins, clips, and makeup she put me in style. Yes, she enjoys it when we girls attend events! 🙂
We had packed everything the day before: our snacks, rhubarb muffins, water, and Midas’ new show leash, and dog supplies. So Jean fried some eggs and we sat down for a quick breakfast. Excitement was high! We were attending a large Golden Retriever dog show an hour an a half away, doing a little birthday shopping, and we had Burger King coupons in the car: a sister’s day out!
It was with great trepidation I pulled off the “gopher guards” installed last Fall to see if there was any damage. This was a two person job, done with caution so as not to scratch the young tree’s bark. With great rejoicing and thanks to God, not one tree was harmed – by either us or the evil voles! Father found a clever storage solution for the black drainage pipes that had been cut to match the height of each trunk – the handy dandy post we’d installed next to each tree. At this time we also did some weeding, and reshaping of the bowls around the base of each tree. Currently, we are still hand watering. Someday there may be a watering system… ~cue dreamy music~
This year marks 7 years at this property – it’s the longest we’ve been anywhere! We moved here looking for property. Land! We wanted a place to train our children where they could raise animals, grow a garden, plant trees, and build a home. After finding the idyllic spot at a fraction of California prices, we were thrilled to find 43 acres with ponds, trees, fields and barns. Immediately we began our “homesteading”. The children acquired goats, the parents cows, we planted trees, tightened fences, tilled the garden, and broke ground on the house we have now lived in for 5 years.
A Mackenzie magazine arrived in the mail around Christmas. It was full of pictures of expensive, delectable foods and desserts that were exorbitantly priced. When Father saw it he said all of them could be made at home, and most of the main dishes just needed butter to make them look and taste so good!
So after everyone had looked at all the different foods and talked about how they liked this one or that, Father said, “Hey, Jean, why don’t you make all of these meals out of this magazine? It could be your baking goal for the year!”
Continue reading “A Baking Challenge”
Ah Spring, I thought it would never come!
It had been an especially hard winter here, a death in the family, winter traveling, and lots and lots of snow! It seems almost unreal now: green grass, budding trees, garden planting – it is really here.
Continue reading “Springtime Happenings”
It was a picturesque, crisp, Fall morning. The sky was a perfect blue and the sun had just shot its first radiant beams above Mt. Dominion’s heights. I was heading down our mountain-goat-like path to the barn to collect my “lions” and do my dog chores.
Continue reading “A Morning Walk”
It was many years ago at our old house at the age of 10 that I began this sport. Gopher hunting was a useful occupation for father put a $2 bounty on the heads of these nasty critters that would dig up our pasture and eat our trees.
It started when we had our first flood irrigation day and the gophers were coming up everywhere to get out of the water. Mom said she got like 4! So, I carefully whittled a good point on my “gopher spear” and excitedly anticipated the next irrigation day.
Last year was the first time we ever planted garlic the way you’re supposed to: in the Fall. Our seed was questionable at best – wrinkled, spotty leftovers that had been forgotten in the cellar. But our row was tilled and it was all we had at the time, and we missed the local country store’s garlic seed sale.
Now, every time you put a seed in the ground, it is an act of faith. You are trusting, expecting, hoping that God will work that miracle again, bringing life from death. However, our faith was a little weak at this planting…
But God is faithful! Sure enough, the first signs of life were in the garlic row in March, after the deep frosts had thawed.
Yes, those cows we bought just a little impulsively in February came right off the range. And, though you could tell they were used to having people around, they were not broken to stanchion, let alone milking, and nowhere near the sweet family milk cow- yet.
Rosehaven Homestead 