An Early June Jumble

As long as we're on a flower picture streak.......Here are a few June Blooms :-)

Featuring the Mock Orange:

 And the Lovely Roses:

 And to take a quick break for some action shots we have Frisbee Dog!!!

Bless the Lord, O my soul,

    and all that is within me,

    bless his holy name!

As for man, his days are like grass;

    he flourishes like a flower of the field;

for the wind passes over it, and it is gone,

    and its place knows it no more.

But the steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on those who fear him,

    and his righteousness to children's children,

to those who keep his covenant

    and remember to do his commandments.

Ps 103:1;15-18

A Day in the Life.....

While thankfully not always typical of our days around here, there was a real humdinger recently....

It all started innocuously enough the night before....a ewe in labor.  Normal enough right? Well this ewe, (by the name of Miriam) was apparently not convinced that her pregnancy was drawing to a close in the most typical way possible for a sheep--udder swollen with rich colostrum, contractions to push the lambs out and lots of gooey stuff.  Not that all of these things were not present, because they most definitely were.  But for whatever reason that got stuck in her sheepish head she decided that she must proceed with all possible volume!

I really had other plans for that day, but they had already been rearranged by a little lamb that needed some extra attention.  The main goal for the day was supposed to be planting some 100 raspberry canes that were still languishing in their shipping packaging now three weeks after their arrival...still patiently waiting for the time and weather conditions ideal for their planting.  Late in the afternoon I finally got around to digging the holes intended for the canes.  I made it up to 84 holes before it was past time to feed the lambs and get in the house to supper.

That night after dinner, I was just going over to the tractor to get a scoop of dirt so that I could start planting my raspberry plants ahead of the predicted morning rain the next day.  But when I arrived at the farm and the crazy critter poor dear started in with such a bawling I figured I'd better have a look.  Typically when a ewe goes into hard labor she will find a quiet(er) spot in a corner, or the like, and with much pawing, some lip curling and a few soft grunts....  That would have been far too inconspicuous for Miriam!  Initially I wondered if she had already had a lamb that another ewe had stolen away (which had already happened once this year with another ewe) and Miriam was making all that racket trying to locate it.

But there she stood by the hay feeder--stomping the ground and making enough noise to be heard clear down in Tennessee! If y'all didn't hear her we'll be very surprised ;-)  It may have been fainter and a bit muddled by the time the sound passed through the wind generators at the Ohio border and bounced around a bit in the mountains, but if you think back I'll bet you'd be able to remember a confused bellowing coming from the North several nights ago!

We got her in a pen in the barn since it became obvious that she had not lambed at all yet, and hoped that she would quiet down at least a little..."the neighbors might want to sleep tonight!" we thought.  It was almost as if she was trying to call the lambs out from inside of her--an approach that I've neither researched nor witnessed before, but it didn't really seem to work all that well; so I can't say as I'd recommend it to any prospective mothers.  Mostly it created a lot of tension in the attending staff....some of whom were even wearing hearing protection. :-)  Thankfully that hoop barn doesn't echo!

Well it took a couple of hours of bawling, straining, strenuously crying, pushing, loud callings, some ground pawing, sonorous exclamations, wire chewing (I've never seen that before either!), baritone bellowing, generally an awfully lot of noise before she finally got the first little guy out.  Whew!  After that things quieted down enough to at least being measurable on the decibel scale--it's harder to keep the volume up when your tongue is going a hundred miles an hour licking a lamb off!

With the hardest part over with, the substitute for the stand-in for the acting assistant to the head shepherd (that'd be yours truly--there's a real shortage of true Head Shepherds physically on earth these days....) came back to the house to get the bottles warmed up for a last feeding of the little orphan lambs.  When I got back to the barn about a quarter after eleven, lamb number two had popped out (I know, I know... it's a misnomer :) and was wobbling around on shaky legs.  By the time I'd fed the little ones and fetched Miriam a bucket of water she had another water bag.  I'm still in training to be absolutely accurate in determining whether those bags (which seem to come either before or after the lambs is born and sometimes both) are indicative of another lamb or of afterbirth.  Thus I decided to go back to the house and catch a couple of quick Z's before trudging back over to check her again.

One twenty minute nap later and I was back in the barn.  With no more lambs and no other progress proceeding from the ewe's rear regions I figured that she must be done and moved on to making sure the lambs were nursing well and getting sufficient nourishment.  It turned out that Miriam's bag and teats were so swollen that the lambs were unable to get their little mouths around them!  The solution, of course was to strip some of the milk out until they returned to a more normal size that the lambs could afford themselves the use of.  Because it was the rich colostrum, filled with nutrients, anti-bodies and extra vitamins, I was sure to save every drop I could to have it on hand for later emergencies or occasions when a mother ewe had little or no milk at the time the lambs were born.

So by the time that poor tired under-shepherd made it to bed it was a quarter to one in the morning and I'd still not gotten the raspberries planted!

With all the trouble in the previous few day that had arisen from my tardy arrival at the sheep quarters (from stolen lambs to one that was abandoned by his mother and left out in the rain) I determined that I'd better be over there early the next morning to make sure that the newborns were still doing OK and to encourage all the lambs to go in the barn when the rain, which was predicted for the next morning, arrived.  Plus I'd still not planted the raspberries!

So at five AM the next morning I was trying to drag myself out of my nice comfy bed and get over with milk for the little orphans.  Then the rain was delaying, so I decided to seize the opportunity and get those raspberries planted!

This time I was able to get the tractor without urgent interruption by any sheep and get my dirt to fill the holes where I'd cut out the sod in order to plant the canes.  Now I was in business!  Planting raspberries is not a terribly gigantic task since they are only in the ground an average of four inches deep, but still if you get enough of them it still takes awhile...I had 100 plants to set and it took two and a half loader buckets of dirt to refill the holes with fine compost/dirt around the canes.

There were only a couple of glitches during process that morning.... I ran out of gas in the loader twice (!) because I was using the last little bit of gas I had from cans in two different places; and thought that I shouldn't use much gas when the tractor was basically only sitting at an idle.  Shutting the tractor off while I filled the holes between runs for more dirt would have been logical, but I had discovered that the battery was getting weak and didn't want to have to jump it to restart...(which I ended up having to do anyway after it ran out of gas)  Also it seems to burn just a little oil and the smoke helps with those pesky biting insects! The mosquitoes had been rather plentiful around these parts again this year and early in the morning at later at night when the wind is low or has died down, they can be thick enough to make you want to strain the air before you breathe it!  

So after a bit of finagling with the tractor, and about two hours of planting, the raspberries were finally in the ground! Thank you Lord!

At this point someone (that only got about four hours of sleep the night before) was starting to get a bit drowsy, but the rain that I'd counted on to make going back to bed easier hadn't showed up yet.  So what do you do?  Make hay while the sun shines right?  Well the sun wasn't really shining, just the clouds hadn't started raining yet--so I stuck to doing the chores and a couple of other little tasks rather than haying.

Thankfully the rain soon came and I retired to the house.  The only problem that remained is that there was a whole list of things to do someday when it rained!  But sleep was really calling by that point....and the couch held my rapt attention for a little over an hour and a half.

Once the rain started pounding fiercely, I woke up and made sure that it looked like all the ewes and lambs had made it into the barn to stay dry.  Cold wet lambs and living lambs just don't seem to mix--especially at early ages!

After attending to the feeding once again, it was back in the house to do a bit of baking :-)  It was truly a bit of an emergency--we'd somehow run out of cookies!!!

I did have a bit of a break in the middle of baking to buzz over to church to be at prayer time, but six or seven dozen cookies, 4 loaves of zucchini bread, and two dishes of rhupple betty bars later it was time to start supper....and since I was already in the kitchen watching over all the things in the oven I took over that as well.  A lovely goulash, Mom's wonderful bread, peas and salad with a dish of the dessert rounded out our dinner for the day.

A little later that evening good 'ol Baxter's services were called in to play since the chicks were out wandering the yard.....again.  A good herding dog is invaluable, and Baxter does a pretty good job with the chickens.

After one last baby feeding, it was off to bed as quick as I could--to make it before ten thirty...so much for going to bed early! The next morning I woke up a few minutes before six to go check the lambs and feed the orphans.

Whew! Makes me glad that I don't have that kind of day too often--it could get to be tiring! ;-)

Like all of life, Farming has its seasons--the ebb and flow of different times of the year,  but with agriculture there is so many different things that you can fit in, overlap and use to fill the cracks it seems like there is the potential for staying busy most of the time.  That is one thing that I love about the lifestyle: there is always something different to do, a different approach to try, something new to learn about.  I enjoy having the animals and working with them--though they can be aggravating at times...and I truly savor the changes of pace through out the year and being in tune with the seasons as they come and go.

As the writer of Ecclesiastes stated "there is a time for everything under heaven."  While in this period of busy Spring work I pray that I will remember to enjoy the bustle now, and yet still thankfully accept the slower rainy days and hot Summer days to come because "[the Lord] gives to his beloved sleep."  In all of life there is a balance--and we must be careful not to lose sight of what is really important and the reason we are here in the first place: to bring glory to the only wise and sovereign God. 

If what we are doing and what we are living do not accomplish this basic intrinsic purpose, then the sum of our total efforts is zero.  While this is a sobering thought, it should inspire us to take a more careful and intentional approach to life.  This is not to say that we as Christians must go around looking, as one pastor put it "like the poster face for the book of lamentations!"  In fact we are commanded to be joyful.  But how, except by faith and daily living in obedience to God, can we really think that we will ever experience all that God has offered to bless us with?  We must not presume upon the grace of God!

However as we strive to follow Christ and love the Lord our God with all our hearts, minds and strength, I truly believe that we can confidently expect God to bless us--it is what He want's to do after all.  He has promised to work all thing together for the good of those who trust Him! And that is a reason to be glad and rejoice!

"Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth! Serve the Lord with gladness!  Come into His presence with singing! (Ps 100)

Technology, picture update, and politics

Two days of spring left. Temperature has dropped back down into the balmy 60's (as opposed to the scorching 90's, the steamy 80's, and the somewhat satisfying 70's). The house is being reclaimed by the people and animals, pushing the remnants of the pre-garden and some of the larger, hardier house plants outside. Baxter has nearly caught 175 ice cream pail lids (Frisbees) and has jumped almost to eye level--somewhere around six feet in the air. He has the legs of a frog. :) Matthew's plucker is complete (pictures later) and is collecting parts for a garden cart and some other chicken and gardening equipment. The garden is coming up nicely. Most things are doing well around here; the exception being the tomato plants, which look more like small trees but have yet to start producing any tomatos.

As I write this, I'm listening to Chopin's piano concerto #2 in F minor. (ED. it's now after supper, and I'm listening to Beethovens No. 1 and No 3, Eroica) Classical music can be quite relaxing after a hard day. If you want proof, just Google 'the effects of music'. Another good Google seach is for web radio, and the first entry has some good clasical stations. One of these days, I'll have to try to get some classical back on the blog. Of course, the bluegrass would still be there. I've finally (I think) figured out how to change the content of a page by the information after the ? in the url--so you could choose which music you want--but I'm getting ahead of myself.

Technology

If you are not technologically inclined and have trouble comprehending terms such as web browser, then feel free to skip this section. Otherwise, here we go! :)

I discovered a cool new website that has some nice color combos, and I've tried one of my favorite on pottervilla.net. I'd love to hear what you think. Pretty soon, I'll be re-designing this blog away from the standard (three of the people in our blog roll use the same one) to something in close correlation to pottervilla.net. Also on the agenda is moving the sidebar to the other side, so we can see the entire music player. :)

On the Tuesday of the blackout, I received a new hard drive I'd ordered (it was a day late, but I didn't complain since I had no power to run it with :) Since then, I've been trying to swap that out with my current boot drive (the hard drive that runs your operating system, or in my case two operating systems), but have been having currently insurmountable difficulties with my copied dual booting setup. Now, I'm giving up and am going to use that drive as my secondary data drive. I also have an old third hard drive that I'm going to try to install Linux on. Apparently, Linux needs three partitions, and each hard drive can only support four. You can support more if you use logical partitions instead of primary partitions, but that requires having a dynamic hard drive, which apparently can only boot one operating system. It doesn't make sense to me ether, but that's what the computer is saying. The new hard drive should make backups a lot faster, as well, since I would only have to backup to a drive in the computer rather than to a drive all the way across the network.

Firefox 3 is finally out! It's a worthy upgrade, especially if you already use Firefox. If you use Internet explorer, it's still a worthy upgrade. If you use any other browser; or especially--terror of all terror--a browser provided by your internet service provider, it's definitely an excellent upgrade. I've just finished outfitting mine with the quintessential Google Toolbar, ad-block plus, FlashBlock, Foxmarks (keeps your bookmarks on a server so that you can synchronize them to any computer), IE Tab (which will let you open the few pages that don't render well in Firefox with the Internet Explorer rendering software, but you still don't need to leave Firefox), Fire Ftp (which is a file transfer utility for your Firefox browser, better than the add supported one that I currently use), and Fox Forecast (which gives an Accuweather.com forecast for the next four or five days, day and night, as well as a radar and sever weather warning alert). McAffe SiteAdvisor is also an installed must.

Pictures

A Recient Sunset

Breakfast :)

A Sunrise

Baxter playing with Dad (the shadow)

Baxter Playing with the chicken plucker
We have a bunch more pictures of the plucker, but I'll let Matthew post them.

A tree growing in a tree - not good

The sky and fields looking south

The flag against the sky

A Picture with interesting power lines :)

Two bushes in the new landscaping

Jimmy - one of the roosters that's going to survive butchering time.

Politics

First off, let me say that I abhor politics. Politics is just a bunch of men (and now women) in fancy suits slinging verbal mud at each other; politics is fueled by the dirt of hard working taxpayers, and powerful corporations supply water. You and I buy the suits--not by choice, mind you--and still submit to every kind of abuse. The suit-wearers place unrealistic controls on us; they bombard us with propaganda through their servants the media; they even limit the control we have by submitting to an international "consensus" which delegates power to a committee of so-called 'experts.'

Unfortunately, politics is necessary. Not the kind of politics that I just described above; that is the kind we have now. Some statesmen (basically truthful politicians), such as Ron Paul (who sadly dropped his bid for republican nominee), Chuck Baldwin and Bob Barr still have a vision for a good government. Not all people follow the first and second commandments: love The Lord your God with all your heart, etc., and love your neighbor as yourself. Early after Israel settled in the promised land, they did not have government by man; they had judges and priests who kept things in order--some of the time at least.

Now, we have no such system. We have republicans and democrats. The republicans are hypocrites and the democrats are lairs. The truth of the matter is that a truthful democrat is ether a fool or ignorant. Republicans who do what they say are really constitutionalists.

The first issue at hand is the move to electing officials by 'popular vote', essentially changing America from a representative republic into a rough hewn democracy. The powers that be plan to do this without the necessary constitutional amendment. Beware the easy road; Take care when politicians make no big deal of something!

Next is an issue on which I don't really have an opinion: whether we are better off with Barrack or Hilary. Obviously, since she dropped out, it isn't something worth considering any longer, bar a government class paper. :)

Is the economy really in a slump now? According to bea.gov, (I realize the government can't always be trusted, but how political are statisticians?) the 'Real Gross Domestic Product' has been positive since 1991, and has only been negative seven times since 1950. That's in inflation adjusted numbers. For a good report on current inflation head over the the turtle mountain hillbilly. Inflation certainly has an effect on the economy. I know that my faimily (and probably most people reading this) are spending less these days than they have previously. In inflation adjusted dollars, dad's making a lot less now than he did five years ago. I guess that constitutes economic problems. But then, we live in michigan where our wonderful democratic governer managed to pull the state into economic crisis well before anyone else felt anything, then (in my opinion) pulled the rest of the country with us. :)

Concluding thoughts:

"The more you read and observe about this Politics thing you got to admit that each party is worse than the other." - Will Rogers

"A politician is a statesman who approaches every question with an open mouth." - Adlai Stevenson

"You and I are told we must choose between a left or right, but I suggest there is no such thing as a left or right. There is only an up or down. Up to man's age-old dream -- the maximum of individual freedom consistent with order -- or down to the ant heap of totalitarianism." - Ronald Regan

"The great masses of the people will more easily fall victims to a big lie than to a small one." - Adolf Hitler

"This is what the king who will reign over you will do:...He will take a tenth of your grain and of your vintage and give it to his officials and attendants...He will take a tenth of your flocks, and you yourselves will become his slaves." - selections from Samuel 8.

Wow, 10%... we need a king!

"But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh." - Genesis 47:24

20%...We need a pharaoh!

Now To him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!

In his name,

Jonathan

Fire Rainbow!? & etc...

Well, I finally have something to blog about. Looking south over our house, I believe I have seen a fire rainbow! What a gift from God!


According to Wikipedia,

A circumhorizontal arc or circumhorizon arc (CHA), also known as a fire rainbow, is a halo or an optical phenomenon similar in appearance to a horizontal rainbow, but in contrast caused by the refraction of light through the ice crystals in cirrus clouds.

It occurs only when the sun is high in the sky, at least 58° above the horizon, and can only occur in the presences of cirrus clouds. It can thus not be observed at locations north of 55°N, except occasionally from mountains.^[1]

The phenomenon is quite rare because the ice crystals must be aligned horizontally to refract the high sun. The arc is formed as light rays enter the horizontally-oriented flat hexagonal crystals through a vertical side face and exit through the horizontal bottom face. It is the 90° inclination that produces the well-separated rainbow-like colours and, if the crystal alignment is just right, makes the entire cirrus cloud shine like a flaming rainbow.^[2][1]

A circumhorizontal arc can be confused with an infralateral arc when the sun is high in the sky; the former is however always oriented horizontally where the latter is oriented as a section of a rainbow, e.g. as an arc stretching upwards from the horizon.^[2]

I checked the pictures of infralateral arcs, and this wasn't it. Although I realize that this rainbow in the sky wasn't nearly as bright as some of the ones documented across the internet, I doubt that I will ever see one again--a circumhorizontal arc, the rarest of all meteorological phenomena!

Pretty Cool, huh?

One of our music providers has gone off line, so all we have on the blog right now is bluegrass. Sigh... ;-)

Lets see...there are some flowers out, so here's some pictures of them:


These are just a few of the little wonders God has scattered across our yard.


Here's a picture of our front sign (the one mom painted):
And one of the beloved dog who wishes that I would quit taking pictures and play with him. :-)
Speaking of the dog, I reciently found some pictures of him from before he came to our house:


And here are matthew's chicks (more due to arrive Monday):
Some of those chickens(by my reckoning) have got to be from the weirdest parts of God's creation.


Finally, Matthew's newly revised (and much sturdier [he replaced his 12 1/2" pvc pipe hoops with 6 1" steel pipes {bent to spec--he went over to the gentleman from church's house and curved them on his trailer--and anchored to the ground via fence posts}]) hoop house:


And now I'm running out of pictures.

The DSL Chronicles

Every spring through fall, our DSL internet service becomes spotty. This year, with mom teaching Koreans English, we need better than spotty. So, we(she) have been constantly on the phone with the central office, or shepherding a tech around the house(technically, the service people shouldn't need to be kept track of, but some of the ones we get need to be told where the mouse is at the computer[really, it's true!] even though we keep it on a tray like most people do). One tech even came on the phone with the people at headquarters to tell me to undo what he did when he was here. Good thing I was watching. :-)

There was a really nice, knowledgeable guy (definitely a divine blessing) out from AT&T (the owners of the phone line, but unfortunately, not providers of DSL in this area) who checked all the lines for faults, and came up with no problems. He even told us all the technical information to relay to the service provider to backup his story. However, we still cannot seem to reliably and speedily connect to the internet, like we can all winter.

As their last possible fix(or so they say), the service provider is going to order a new line from the roadside box to our house. There's not much else we can do ether after they throw up their hands, as they seem to be the only DSL provider in this area. The cable line stops up the road, and satellite has too much of a lag. We could look into getting an air card(which gets internet from the cell towers)but that is pretty expensive.

The Close of Band

We had our last band rehearsal on yesterday, and the concert is next Monday. We are playing(not necessarily in this order):

The William Bird Suite(movements 1 and 6)
Abrams Pursuit
Liberty Bell
The 1812 Overture
Marche Hongroise
Salute to America's Finest

I'm not sure what we will do in the way of brass music over the summer, but we might startup the PotterVilla a Capriccio again.

Friends, Children, Countrymen!

We had some friends from the UP (that's the upper peninsula to non-Michiganders--we live in the lower peninsula) come down to visit us for the homeschool conference. We got to look after four of their five kids while they went to the big city for the conference. Compared to 'normal' kids, these guys (actually more girls, as they only have one boy out of five) are very well behaved, and a joy to have over the weekend. When they come is one of the only times we get out the knex(see knex.com) and build stuff. Since the toys follow basic building principles, it's pretty easy to build some BIG stuff. While they were here, we built a ferris wheel that stood about three feet high (we have built stuff that scraped the ceiling--and higher). There was some smaller stuff to come out of the weekend too, but not worthy of mention. I plan (if I ever get around to it) to make mother a knex spinning wheel out of the pretty hefty circular center. Knex is sturdy enough that I think it could actually be pretty useful. :-) Mother has this thing about standing up (it's a miracle that she can even walk, due to a back problem, and a risky surgery--but more on that another day) so a drop spindle doesn't work the greatest for her. Ether treadled or motorized, I think a knex spinning wheel would do the trick without costing a fortune. Mom doesn't even know if she likes spinning yet, so the less investment the better.

While the kids were here, Matthew and I slept on the floor, him in his little closet/plant growing room, and me in the office/music room. It wasn't the most comfortable, but we managed. That way, the four oldest kids could sleep in our room. Their parents slept downstairs in the guest/exercise room (notice that a lot of rooms have two functions? it's the key to a useful house) with the youngest. We had contemplated sleeping outside, but since the weather was iffy, and we ended up not venturing out.

Current Events

Right now, Matthew is building outside (ether a chicken tractor, a whizzbang chicken plucker, a whizzbang garden cart, or something else I'm not aware of :-), mom is upstairs doing something I'm not aware of, and dad is somewhere I'm not aware of. Our internet is very spotty now, making it difficult to do web programing. Blogger seems to make it through some though.

Self imposed summer school starts several weeks from now, when I can hopefully finish up my advanced physics and trig. Also on the agenda, calculus, art (one of these times, I may finally learn how to draw!) and music should help fill in the time in between doing computer work, helping keep up outside, and operating my brother's and mine lawn mowing business, dubbed PotterVilla Acres lawn care services. We mow about three of four lawns over the summer (mostly for widows from church, so we don't charge much--however the price of gas is beginning to change that :-<).

Concluding Thoughts

I'm afraid I didn't follow my last post's advice very well, and sorry for the long post. We did have a lot to catch up on, though. :-)

Let's finish off with a verse(actually 2):

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.

Makes for a nice end of a long post, doesn't it? When the Apostle Paul wrote it, it was in the middle of a letter to the Ephesians. I still like it at the end.

Anyway, we'll talk to you all later (whether by reading your blog or in the comments of blogs or whatever :-) and hope all you mothers out there had a wonderful day devoted to you by people who are always devoted to you.

Thanks for reading,

In His name,

For His glory,

And trying to follow His path,

Jonathan Potter
for PotterVilla Academy

Our New Dog

We have a new dog! Well actually he's been here since Monday afternoon, so I guess he's only sort of new :-)

As Jonathan mentioned previously, "Baxter" is part Border Collie, and part Newfoundland (we think). Everybody (including me) keeps going on and on about his feet, but since they are white they are set off nicely. However, what I really find interesting is that between each of his four toes is some sort of webbing--which I guess the Newfoundlands have. Also his pads are slightly rough and sort of sticky or something, he is able to walk on a glaze of ice with no difficulty whatsoever. It is almost a problem, because if you are following him over icy ground, he tends to make the bad spots look no worse than dry ground.

Baxter was originally named after Baxter Black, the cowboy poet, by our Pastor's wife when he was their dog, but we have renamed him after Miss Sadie Baxter--the kindhearted old maid, and benefactress of Lord's Chapel in the Mitford series of books by Jan Karon. She once claimed to be "firm and slightly tart." Although Baxter (the dog) is not at all firm, and is more a sweet little (or not so little) puppy than tart, we think that is pretty much what he needs at this stage of his life. ( the firmness, slightly tart that is)

Here he is:He has the prettiest markings (especially when his feet aren't dirty) and his fur is so soft. He is also quite agile. In these pictures he's playing with the innards of a golf ball. The dog seems to be pretty smart, we just need to work on making sure he knows he can't get away with much. He's not quite housebroken--but we have a carpet cleaner!! Fortunately, he's only had one accident so far, and I think that was probably my fault--I was trying to catch up on blog reading and start writing while everyone else was gone and didn't keep track of him as well as I should have.


It is nice to have a dog again though, particularly one that will do something. After our older dog (a Cocker Spaniel and Lab mix) died at 10yrs old around thanksgiving, we had several qualifications for a new dog (although not all of them were met) #1 Floppy ears for Dad. #2 Not too big for Mom. #3 Short hair for Jonathan, who is semi-allergic to dog hair (along with almost every thing else: Grass, Trees, Cats, Dust, Peanut Butter, Soy, and sometimes Me :-) ) and #4 Will do something for Me.

Baxter met most of the qualifications, except for the short hair, and how could we refuse him?

One of his favorite games is chasing a running person and then getting in front of him to herd him back to where he started from. A couple of nights ago, Dad Jonathan and I were all out letting him chase us. I would run one direction, and then when he caught me, Jonathan would run the opposite way (from where I started) and then when Baxter caught him, Dad would run a different direction until the dog caught up with him, and the process would repeat. Good exercise for all involved! Unfortunately, the ground is really soft, and when I run I sink in about two inches--making it rather hard to go very fast. Not that it matters how fast I go, that dog can run like the wind, and turn on a dime. I imagine that's why they use border collies for herding sheep. We may have to get a few!


Our last dog, Lady was short and fairly fat, and could hardly keep up with me walking fast, so it is really fun to have a quick dog. Of course that was later in her life, and she was really Mom's dog, Lady would lay by her wherever Mom went. Sadly, we had to have her put to sleep the Monday after Thanksgiving. The vet had removed a tumor from her awhile before that, and surmised when he put her down, that it was probably cancerous. I got down stairs that morning, and found her all twisted up and leaking bloody urine. Dad and Mom and Jonathan took her in to the vet soon after where she was put to sleep.

Overall she was a pretty good dog, especially at eating any people food that happened to come her way. It's kind of funny, because Lady was such a "Mom dog" while Baxter doesn't really like her as well--he's sort of attached himself to me (not that I mind the least bit).

Baxter is really a very nice dog, he's just so active. He has a really sweet personality, and will give most anybody a free face-licking. Pastor and Ms Kathy are sad to give him up, but he is just such a puppy that they couldn't keep up with him. Ms Kathy is home most of the time, but Pastor is usually over at the church studying, or out farming, so he couldn't help with Baxter very much.

So he's ours now, and a very nice dog he is.