The big guy

Wow.  We picked up a dog the other day from the rescue society who we work with.  He is part Great Pyrenees, mixed with something else.  We named him Sampson.  I didn't really realize how big he is until we got him home.  The lady who had him has four Great Pyrenees, so he looked normal-sized at her house.  I should have known when he took up most of the room on the back seat of the Saturn on the ride home.  But still I didn't realize how big he is until he got home and I compared him to my dog.  I thought she was a smallish-normal-sized dog.  But she is tiny in comparison!

He is about 85 pounds right now and he is under-nourished.  I can feel all of his bones.  You wouldn't be able to notice just by looking at him thought since he has so much fur.  It is amazing how much fur he has! 

We picked him up on Saturday, so today will be five days.  Today is the first day that he has been left alone.

I have to admit we have had some problems with him.  He has been in an outdoor, uncovered kennel for about a year with no one on the property.  I guess the owner had the farmer down the road feeding him every few days.  I would think that he would be very wild, but really he is very kind.  He needs to learn manners about dog interaction about people interaction, but he learns fast.  He is not house trained, but he has only gone once in the house.  He has learned sit and come.  He walks well on a leash...not great, but well.  He isn't aggressive about food.  We have been putting a doggy diaper on him every time he comes in.  He hasn't been bad about that either.  He gets to listen to the radio all day long.  :-) 

We are not sure if we will be able to keep him or not.  But for now we are keeping our hearts open to the possibilities and giving him all the love that he should have had over the past year and a half of his life.

This picture isn't him, but it is about the size he is.  He has more golden color on his back and a mask of golden, white and black on his face and head.

Too long

It has been too long.  I haven't written here since Mother's Day.  And today is Father's Day.  And by the way, it is also my son's 8th birthday.  It is a day of remembrance for me.  A day where I remember my Dad, who I have been spending a lot of time with lately.  A day to remember my father-in-law who passed more years ago than my son has been alive.  And to think of my husband and the awesome father he is.  And it is interesting for me to also be thinking about my son, how he is growing and what a wonderful Dad he may become in the future.  But mostly I am thinking about his birth and what an amazing and awe-inspiring day that was.  I could ramble more about that in great detail, but what I really want to say is that I was THERE and I was so honored to be truly present as I watched a miracle unfold.  The golden chord of life continues to awe me as I watch him grow. 

Life has been a bit of a challenge lately for my family and I.  My mom is 86 and she took a tumble about three weeks ago.  I am very thankful for my large family at times like these.  Several of us took turns staying and helping.  It hasn't been easy for any of us.  It has been a challenge to keep work going and to keep life in general going.  It has been tiring.  Thankfully Mom has made use of her stubborn streak and she is soldering on.  She made it up and back down the stairs the other day.  That is a miracle too. 

Our garden is growing in spite of the June-uary we have been having.  Not much sun.  A lot of rain.  We ended up planing tomatoes, both the starts that we had and the starts that we got from the market, peppers, celery, some different herbs, carrots, lettuce, potatoes, onions and three kinds of squash.  We also have strawberries and blue berries almost ripe.  I think that there is also a raspberry plant going strong.  I don't know much about them...I think the woman who lived here for a while planted this.  I like rasberries though, so I think I should learn more about them. 

Our chickens went through a tough phase.  One of them stopped laying and wanted to hatch everyone else's eggs.  She lost most of her feathers on her belly and overall she just looked bad.  It was a good think too because it made me realize that the feed that we had bought, that the store said was chicken feed really was not.  It was ok for chickens, but it didn't have the calcium needed.  Once we changed them back over to the better feed and let them run around for a few days in a row, things seemed to take a huge step in the right direction.  They are all laying again now and all is well. 

Our cat was ill too.  We tried all sorts of ways to help him without meds from the vet.  But we finally broke down and used the heavy guns from the vet.  The cat is so happy that he is darting around the house.  Glad it worked and that he is more/less back to normal. 

The three of us auditioned for community theater this summer.  It is the musical of Anne of Green Gables.  It was my first real audition even though my husband has been in many plays with them.  I got the role of Marilla, the spinster who adopts Anne.  It is a challenge for sure, but it is a lot of fun as well.  And both my husband and son are in it as well.  Good family fun!  Hard to keep things going at home, but worth it in the long run...I hope.  :-) 

I have been doing a lot of reading these days.  It is funny how I spent all winter reading about gardening and now that I am gardening, I am spending a lot of time reading fun books.  I am reading a lot of Terry Prachett books.  I like the ones he writes about Granny Weatherwax.  She reminds me a lot of Marilla in Anne of Green Gables.  Maybe I am doing character research? 

Counting my blessings today.  With that I should say that we are one month away from paying off our car.  And less than six months away from paying off our second car.  That is just exciting!!  It has been hard work, but totally worth it. 

Oh yeah and our CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) started up again.  Loving all the fresh veggies!

All right.  I had better get back to my day.  Hope you have a good one!