In Search Of Spring

Wow today I woke from my winter slumber to feel the warmth of the sun on my face as it was peaking through my bedroom curtains. I grabbed my camera and headed out......in search of spring!

I felt like a child as I chased this robin from tree to tree and keep him/her in my sights with my zoom lens! My heart was happy and dancing as I felt GOD bathe me in peace and love.

Nature has that effect on me.

What a truly wonderful day this is going to be!

Spring fever is here........even if for a day!

Garden clogs here I come!

I can smell the dirt already!

I'm just a little excited!!!!!!!

We did have a little bit of frost this morning but think I will plant my cool weather plants today!

I have a cloche I made last year to use as a crop cover!

I will be planting a flat each of cauliflower, broccoli and a few cabbages.

I will also get my potato tubs planted.

This year I will grow only 2 kinds..... russets and a blue/purple potato!

If I have time I would like to get the ground ready for my peas today.

{I will sow seed directly into the ground}

Peace and Love,

Georgiann

{this moment}

 - A Friday ritual. A single photo - no words - capturing a moment from the week. A simple, special, extraordinary moment. A moment I want to pause, savor and remember. If you're inspired to do the same, leave a link to your 'moment' in the comments over at SouleMama for all to find and see.

Jaspers inner puppy came out! He just jumped on my hubby to sit on his lap!lol
We don't allow him on the furniture! I guess he just wanted some LOVE!

Have a safe weekend!

Peace and Love,
Georgiann

Weekend Highlights~

We had to clean the old dog crate because......

Good news! We got the dog!
We got the call late Thursday......our Border Collie we were interested in passed his behavior assessment! So late Friday, I took the kids (minus our oldest whom was at baseball) and met hubby to see if Jasper was the dog for us. We got to pet the dog (Seth as they named him) and really see how he responded to us! We also were allowed to take him out to the play yard and see how he acted!
He was great! After about 1 1/2hours we decided he was the dog for us!
He was micro chipped and licenced and we were soon on our way home.
I decided to take him to our vet for a check up and sign up for their plan! He was wormed, given a rabies vaccine and test for other things. All is great....no health issues!
Nick decided to name "his" new dog Jasper! 
After arriving home last night around 7:30pm we let him check things out for about 30 minutes. Then it was off to the dogie spa! Nick and I were drenched when it was all over with!:) but the dog was shiny and clean!

Today after going to a winter veggie gardening class, out to Vietnamese food then to a new herb/tea shop with my neighbor, I took a quick nap then went on a walk with our new dog and most of my kiddos! My friend with 7 kiddos I know from church just happened to be up at the park with her family.
Their oldest daughter rides horses and the local park has an arena. All the 4H group were doing their qualifying races or what ever they are called. (I'm not a horse person)

Another highlight of my day today was seeing a gal in the herb/tea shop that I met at the new Self Reliant Club I joined. The gal was friends of the owner and we all pow-wowed for almost 30 minutes about herb tinctures and how to make them!

Well hubby took all but me and our youngest child off to the lake for boat rides and fishing off the dock! Our friends live on the lake and hubby has his boat parked there all summer.
I've had a few hours of quiet.....Olivia took a nap for a few hours. Now its time to make a peanut butter and raspberry jam sandwich and water my garden as the weather has finally been warm the past few days!

Peace and Love,
Georgiann

On Cloud Nine~~~

Since our beagle dog died last month we have been trying to decide, when and what kind of dog we will get next! We all talked and decided we would get 2 dogs next time....maybe next December or some time in the spring.

We were thinking to get either a pair if Pocket Beagles or a Pocket Beagle and a Border Collie!

Over the fourth of July weekend I decided to "just browse" the Humane Society website.
OK you can stop laughing now! What was I thinking would really happen?
Needless to say I found a female 7 month old Pocket Beagle and a male Border Collie/Aussie mix up for adoption.
We waited a few days, then headed down to the pound only to find we missed the Beagle by 1 hour! She was still there on hold.....someone else got her! Drat!
But there was a bonus waiting for us when got down there.....a approx. 3 year old pure bred Border Collie had just arrived!
We were eager to visit with him in a room to see if "he was the one"!!!!!  We were told we'd need to wait for him to have a behavior assessment done first. The earliest it could be done was Thursday (today). So we drove home......to wait!

We got the call at 5pm tonight~ The dog passed his behavior assessment!!!!!
 We are going to visit with him tomorrow and if he passes our family assessment we will bring "Jasper" home with us!
The gal on the phone asked if we have ever owned a Border Collie?
I told her No, but I have read up on and know people who own Border Collies.
They all have many kids and love their "herding" dog!
 She did asked the ages of my children and after I told her she replied, it is noted here that this dog is not a good match for families with children under 4. (the dog was licking my soon to be 3 year old daughters hands the day we first saw the dog!) HHHUUMMM????

Olivia (almost 3) keeps asking when we are bring her dogie home!
I took pictures of "Jasper" so I could show them to hubby.
I put "Jasper" as our screen saver......so we can imagine him here!

I told the gal....I have done my research about the breed and my son Nick (11 on Aug 1) will be enrolled in a dog training class with the dog. The pound gives a $50.00 rebate after completing a obedience course. Nick also might take 4H to do agility training with the new dog.
We plan to get a Border Collie regardless and we sure hope that he is the one!

The lady recanted, saying, I do think this dog will be a good match as it sounds like you fully understand the breed. I told her that I want to visit with the dog in a visiting room with all my kiddos,walk the dog on a leash and take him out into the play yard for a while before making a final decision out the dog!

Does he chase the kids?
Does he nip or bite while trying to herd?
What is his energy level?
Does he pulled when walked?
How does he react to other dogs when out of his kennel?
What is the over all temperament of this dog?

If the dog passes my test, then we will have ourselves a new dog!
Keep us in your prayers if you would. We will be disappointed if this dog does not pass MY test but do know there are other dogs out there.
We are in love with this dog but its hard know a dogs true colors with a chain link kennel between us!
I sure hope and pray he passed my test!

Ann at Eight Acres, if you are reading this what can you share with me about the breed?
I seem to recall that you have a Border Collie of some sort?

I'll keep you posted as to what happens tomorrow!

Peace and Love,
Georgiann

Mourning The Loss Of Our Dear Dog!

Hi all or whom ever comes to read my blog! Not to many of you come to say HI....not sure why?

But anywho, I have had a really long day with 2 dentist appt. for the kids and 2 baseball games to attend! While at my first game of the evening my hubby called me to say.....Benson our dog died!

I thought how could that be? I was just home 30 mintutes ago!

Well it seems that I let the dog out at 11:30 am as I left to take the kids to the denist and pick up a few groceries.

We got home around 2:15 pm, ate our McyD's then unloaded the car!

I gave the kitchen a quick tidy up and did the dishes.

I looked out the back door and

 saw the dog laying under the picnic table "sleeping" and tossed him a piece of buttered toast one of the kiddos didn't eat from breakfast! Benson kept right on "sleeping" as the toast laid on the ground next to his back leg.

I said to myself, "Benson if you don't eat the bread the crows will get it".

Benson has always been kind of slow to get around.....its was his personality,so I did not think much of it.

I then quickly made brownies and tater-tot casserole a house favorite!

I forgot one of my boys was to bring snack for his game....so off to the store I went again.

We all ate a quick dinner and left the house about 5:15pm for the baseball games.

Hubby got home around 5:50pm and found the dog not moving!

Hubby was in shock about the whole thing and called me while I was in the middle of watching my first ball game....I still had about 1 1/2 hour before I would be home!

I held off telling the kids until we were on our way home.

Well, my head hurts and my eyes are all puffy and wet with tears. Its time I scoot to bed!

You can read some other posts of our dear ole dog!

 Here and Here and Here

Hubby and Jacob made a wooden box and dug a large hole for our Dear Benson.

We will have a small family ceremony with songs and prayers Saturday afternoon for our sweet dog.

R.I.P.

Benson

April 20 2000-June 17 2010

Peace and Love

Georgiann

Around The House ~

Happy Mother's Day~

Peace and Love,
Georgiann

Benson's Boy~

Its been about a week and a half since our dog Benson had his accident. After a long day of shopping with 5 kiddos in tow, I just wanted to unload the van and some of the older kiddos and head back out to Walmart to buy a ballet outfit for Jackie (4yr). She now taking a Creative Movement class!
It was a fairly sunny day and many folks were out walking their dogs. Benson our Beagle decided to wonder off to see some of the passersby while we unloaded our van. He was going a bit farther than I liked. Since I was leaving again to go Walmart with 2 of my 6 kiddos, I drove to where Benson was to give him a ride back to the house. That's when it happened.
I told Noah (7) to open the siding door on the van and boost the dog in......well, Noah does not know how to boost very well and the dog ended up breaking one of his back toe nails. There was blood every where and Benson's nail was hanging. Our trip to the store would now have to wait.
We ended up having to drive clear back across town to take the dog to the vet. The veterinarian gave us the news that our beloved dog would need to be knocked out for them to put off his nail. So since it would cost an arm and a leg (if you could see me now, I walk with a limp!lol) to put him out, it would be a good idea to spend more $$$$$$ to have his teeth cleaned and get his lump (he's had since he was 2yrs) taken off while they were at it. Oh, and for $100.00 more they could sent the lump to the lab to see what it was! We chose not to have the lab check it out!
The vet was closing for the night so we took him home and brought him back in first thing in the morning for surgery and teeth cleaning.
Benson is doing well and will get his stitches out this week,and is still taking his antibiotics. The vet did do an x-ray and it showed that our dog has 2 spots on his lungs. Our dog seems fine for now but who knows. We are not going to spend $2000.00 on chemo.
We do love our dog and pray he will be with us for many more years. He will be 10yrs in April.

Jacob,my soon to be 13 yr old (Feb. 4) just loves our dog. He is the one in charge of feeding and watering him. Most days you will find the two of them snuggled up under a blanket reading or napping. (those teenagers need their sleep!)

You can read more here about our beloved family dog!

Blessings and Love,
Georgiann

Name That Bunny~

We have two new bunnies and they need names!

Bunny #1 above^ and Bunny #2 below.

{ Front and Back of same rabbit}

These two bunnies were given to us by our friends a few weeks ago and still have no names! Both bunnies are said to be female. {we are not planing for baby bunnies!}

Can you help us think of possible names for our bunnies??????

Blessings,

Georgiann

Did I ever tell you.....

I love birds? Well I do!!!!!!

I just happen to see this bird in my neighbors tree! I always have my camera handy and was overjoyed this bird did not fly away as I took several pictures of it!

Nature brings such JOY to my heart!

Blessings,
Georgiann

Look Who's New @ The Bluebird Cottage!

I would like to introduce you to our new ducks, Jon Pier, Cookie (above) and Mrs. Molly! (below)

The breed of our new ducks is called Rouen . The Rouen breed is native to Normandy France dating back to 1750. These ducks were popular with the Victorians because of their coloring and massive size when full grown.

We were hoping to get some Indian Runners but bird season is over at most feed stores.

After asking around about Indian Runners word had it that area breeders of local Indian Runners had a hard time this year with hatching out ducklings. So chances of getting any this year was about a zero!

Hence my decision to get a different breed and a grown flock with genders determined! I only wanted 2 girls and 1 boy!

Nick was so excited when only after one day they were laying eggs! (I don't plan on eating them)

We hope to hatch out ducklings next summer.

My son Nick wants to try to incubate some eggs, but we'll have to see! Two of the ducks are 2yrs old and the other is 1 year! I decided I did not want to care for baby ducks this year so I was able to get full grown ducks!

Yeah....no heating lamps to deal with and trying to keep the kids off them! Last time we had baby ducklings they died....they did not like the cold toilet water (pond) Noah (3) wanted them to swim in! EEEKKKK!

Blessings for a Awesome day!

Georgiann

Wordless Wednesday

I pray the dog does not think he can lay in my garden AFTER the seeds go in! I wonder if he will know? LOL