a n n a b e l l e

Meet Annabelle. Dear, sweet, gentle Annabelle.

This precious girl was a stray. She wandered up to a barn with three puppies in tow. At first glance she and the puppies all looked well-fed and healthy. She had a collar on so I offered to take her to my vet and have them all looked over and scanned for a microchip. Certainly her owner would be searching for her!

At closer inspection, her collar was far too tight and she had the remainder of baling twine where she had been tied up. At the vet's office we learned she had heartworms and needed treatment. We proceeded with treatment and continued to look for her owners. Once we had her home, it became obvious that Annabelle had been severely abused. I am constantly in shock that people can be so cruel to animals and I must admit I am especially confounded that someone could treat Annabelle in such a horrible manner. She is literally one of the sweetest dogs I have ever met. She is graceful and deliberate in her movements. She does not run wild in the house- she primarily walks wherever she would like to go indoors. She is quiet and hardly ever makes a peep! She has never given a sign of any behavior that would aggravate.

Her one vice? She does not have any sense of spatial relations and she is definitely devoid of the desire for personal space. Her one love in life is to be loved. She will walk in the house and sit at your feet awaiting pets and kisses. If you stop, she will slowly inch closer until she is in your lap and her face is literally smooshed with force against your cheek. I have thought very seriously about training Annabelle to be a therapy dog. She is so kind and gentle that I think she would be suited perfectly for such a job.

I think due to her upbringing and her time as a stray- she is much more inventive and sufficient outdoors than many of our other dogs. She has shown them how to get out of the heat- find new and cool places to lounge. Because of this, she can be quite elusive...

"Nothin' to see here!"

As I mentioned before, Annabelle wandered up as a young mother (we believe she must have been just one year old when she had her litter) with three puppies. One of the puppies went to live at the barn where she was found. It is a perfect fit! The puppy, Tippy, absolutely loves it there and is a perfect "barn dog." Eventually, it came to be that Annabelle and her two other puppies would reside with us and become part of the family.

Annabelle and her puppies-Oliver (top) and Winnie (left)

We absolutely love this little Border Collie mix and her puppies. They are wonderful dogs and I feel blessed everyday to have such great animals in my life.

"Thhhhhhbbbbppppp! I have a great home now!!"

Who did this?

"Nothing to see here!! Just keep walkin' people.

What? This hole? I definitely did not dig this hole. Nope, this hole has been here for ages. Haven't you seen it? I had nothing to do with it. It was here before..."

"Yep, definitely here before."

b l u e

Meet Blue. He is a new member of our family. Blue is a 29 year old (in other words, quite and elderly fellow) Quarter Horse that belonged to the previous owners of our new home.

When we were in the process of purchasing the home, they were concerned with where Blue would live and asked us if we would like to take him and allow him to continue living here. We did not want to disrupt the life of this peaceful little guy if we didn't have to and so we agreed.

In a previous life, Blue was a Hunter/Jumper. I believe his show name was "Rock's Cutter Blue" though I do not have any of his papers and I am not 100% sure of that. He lived here all by his lonesome and I think he is very happy to have a couple of equine companions now. Horses are herd animals by nature and many of them do not do well alone. Blue, however, seemed to manage fine over the years but he seems to be keen on having friends.

For those of you wondering what is on his face... it is called a fly mask. It is see through (so he isn't blind-folded out there!) but it keeps the flies out of his eyes.

A crucial element

Step one of moving is.... (drum roll please)... building a fence to keep all of the critters safely contained.

It is back breaking work, though... or at least that is what I hear.

Not beautiful, but functional. And that is what is most important, right? Right? Please tell me so, because I still ache for beautiful.

Do you know what I think is beautiful? Close ups. I love them. In this case, it is a red farm gate.

We're Moving!

The exciting news from a month ago that I never had a chance to share because my computer suffered an untimely death? WE'RE MOVING!!

We found a great house outside of town where all of the animals can romp and play and have a great time and we are VERY excited about it!

Moving, however, is not my favorite activity. Packing and lifting and carrying oh my! I will be happy when it is all over and we are settled.

"Mom! Mom! Quit your blabberin'! You know how tasty I think cardboard is.. can I have it? Can I have it? I'm surrounded!"

"Pleeeeeeaaaaase??"

"Okay... I guess this biscuit will suffice..."

"But this cardboard...mmmmm.... it still looks tasty. See my drool on the flap of the box? I will just sneak a chomp or two when she's not looking. Woo woo woo!!"

Apologies!

Sorry for the lack of posting. I awoke (almost a MONTH ago now) to a laptop with a cracked screen and I just got my new computer! We have had so much new stuff going on around here I can't wait to share all of the news! But first, I have to get everything in order and get the new computer set up so I can start posting with pictures, etc.

Can you guess?

Does anyone know what this is?