Our Dog Family

Patch and Button had PUPS!!!

This wasn't how we'd planned it, we'd originally planned on sending her over to friends to have pups with their male Shih Tzu who is on the smaller size scale like Button.
However, they were having a wonderful time visiting family in another country.

Fast forward a bit and Patch and Button were expectant parents.
We watched our tiny Button swell in the middle and prayed for her health.
She delivered early, we believe to birth the stillborn pup and then gave birth to two live pups.
Complications came after birth when she continued to push - disgorging her Uterus, the medical term is to go prolapse.

The second I arrived home from work we rushed Button and the pups up to an emergency vet.
They could try to save her but it wouldn't be cheap.
We paid - a lot.
They quickly gave her a blood transfusion before they could do the emergency surgery.

Hubs and I spent the night hand feeding the pups as they kept Button for late night surgery and to recover.
She came home middle of the next day drugged and tired.
Thankfully it only took a few short feedings for her to bond with her two little boys.

They have grown quick!
One thing has been very apparent, the boys adore each other.
They sleep together, play together, eat together, follow each other, fake attack their papa together.
Which is how hubs and kids got me to agree to keep the pups.
That and Button will never have puppies ever again.


Our family now has two families - human and dog.
Us - Hubs, Me, Prissy & G'man
Dogs - Patch Asta, Button Beatrice, Scratch Kega & Puka Dot
Click here to see what Kega means
Click here to see what Puka means

Scratch is still the largest and the fluffiest of the two brothers.
Yet is the calm, quiet one like his papa.

And Puka is still the most hyper - just like his mama!

Happy National Puppy Day!
Feel free to share your pups with me!

Button and Pups

Button and Patch had pups!
Two healthy boys and 1 stillborn.
However, Button went prolapse after birth.
This means she kept pushing and pushed her uterus out of her body.

Thursday she gave birth, Thursday night she was in emergency surgery.
Also, Thursday night hubs and I spent the entire night hand feeding, keeping warm and praying for our lovely little lady still at the vet's.

Friday morning we got the call to come to get our girl.
 

She no longer has a belly button but she is home and doing well.
Of course, she had to have her uterus removed so these little boys will be the only pups she ever has.
She'd lost half of her blood and received a blood transfusion.
We are grateful she made it through.

Thankfully her milk didn't dry out during her 14 hours away from the pups.
The boys are healthy and adorable!
Cuddling on top of one another is their absolute favorite thing to do and if you separate them, for any reason, they whine. A lot.

Life has been full here, slightly stressful, very expensive, but full.
Full of joy, full of love, full of hope and full of gratitude that all is well.

Blessings and Transitions

In March my husbands' seizures increased so much that he had no more time off at work - even with his doctors FMLA paperwork for time off. She was unhelpful this year in changing medication to something that worked better as the two he was on had stopped working. Unhelpful with filing the new needed paperwork for him to retain his job and unwilling to do anything that might have helped us. Needless to say, she isn't our doctor anymore.
Not that it makes a huge difference as we are uninsured until I've been at my new job for 3 1/2 months. At that time we most likely would have been searching for a new doctor who took our new insurance anyhow.

Leap ahead I was offered 3 jobs - huge blessings as I've been a stay at home mama for 13 years - on my 39th birthday I was offered the job I truly wanted. Its 7 minutes from my home, I stay busy all day long and time vanishes quickly. Even better I have work I enjoy and feel like I do a good job in my position.

Hubby's having a go at being the stay at home dad. He's doing a great job and he's still mostly sane even being around our dastardly duo 24-7.
Our life has been full of ups and downs, after 12 years at his job building up a decent 401K we cashed out enough to pay off tiny bills and buy ourselves a small unretirement gift.

After searching for a while we found a wonderful gem. A 40 yr old class C motorhome in near perfect condition! (insert squeal here - louder)

I made a joke as we drove it home that he had just bought his own dog house (joking, just joking).
He came back with that as long as we have it we will never be homeless - touche, he wins the point.

Our amazing friends S & S thought we should run it up for a quick trip over Labor Day Weekend (since I had it off paid) to test it out - they, of course, came with us in their RV to make sure we were safe. Also, they adore camping. S's parents also bought a class C RV (2018) this year and wanted to test it out so they joined us. We had an incredible time.

This year has been full for us, so many blessings, so many changes and lots of new experiences.
Prissy was asked to Homecoming next week and our small circle seemed to flip. Dress from a friend, shoes from our neighbor, nails being done by my bestie S & hair cut by me - most likely styled by me as well.

Winter will be spent fixing up the motorhome, we want to paint inside and outside, fix the brake light, the hot water line & change the valve on the propane. We also are going to give it a tune up and change out the fuel filter. Lots of little things that will give it the TLC love it needs to shine. It truly surprised us camping - everything works! Furnace, AC, propane, stove, sinks, toilet, onboard generator etc. Even more amazing it made it up Parleys Canyon! (For those of you who don't live in Utah it is a main road up a mountainside with a 6% grade for MILES to reach the top. It's not the grade of steepness that makes the road so hard to get up but the length in which you need to drive your car up that steep of a climb. Its burnt out more than one engine.)

So while our garden has been amazing and I've already canned several fun things this year I really have been to busy to blog - on any of my blogs. Not even the most amazing surprise birthday love from all my neighbors this year - so hi, still alive, still here, still making it one day at a time.

PEAP from POTUS

My son G'man was awarded the Presidents Education Awards Program for
Outstanding Academic Achievement!

G'man was over the moon to receive this!
Something signed from the President himself.

After the last year of nasty politics, insults and hate it was eye opening to see such 

simple joy because the PRESIDENT signed it.
Respect and love for the office of his country.

We've gotten to embroiled in the details, the whose doing what that our country seems to have forgotten that we are one country.
We are one people, all wanting similar things.
To live well, to live safely and to grow old with those we love.

Also my adorable cutie really enjoys to pose for the camera!
Button is our lovely little lady.

A Peak Inside

I know I haven't been writing anything but puppy news, that's because my life took a very different turn a few years ago and my writing followed. My main blog is now Our Bit of Dirt.
After years of thinking all I wanted was a small garden, I came to realize what I truly love.

Homesteading.

For those that liked my writing, family or hilarity; feel free to drop by the new blog.

From new eggs to meeting our new hens.

To the amazing finds I've been able to snag this Spring!
Free tomatoes to a driveway full of bricks!

My life is full of new fruit trees, berries, grapes, potatoes and so much more!
I've met some truly amazing people along the way.
Learned more than I thought I would in a short span of time and have continued to find new loves!
Jams, jellies, wine and pies are in our fresh future!

Last winter I started repairing two of my quilts that are getting thread bare and have started to repair them.
We continue to build, add and grow new things.

In the last two years our lives have changed so very much - feel free to watch the crazy ride!

Meet Button!

  Please welcome Button!

When Button was only two days old a girl in my daughters online Academy class held up a cute brand new puppy!
Long story short, we went to see the puppies!
This photo is from when Button was only 4 days old!

That day she was ours!
Named and paid for!
All we had to do then was wait! and wait and WAIT!
(I hate wait*)

Button came home at 8 weeks old
on the day of our 15th anniversary!
The photo above is her meeting our other pure bred Shih Tzu Patch



This is our darling today!

She is our sunshine!
Her and Patch are FINALLY getting along,
Patch was jealous, annoyed and afraid of the little darling with razor sharp teeth.
I've currently nicknamed her Tiny Teeth of Terror and its more than fitting!

 My life is richer, fuller and more filled today!

So welcome to the family my cute baby Button!



*Favorite quote from The Princess Bride

Puppy! Meet Button.

Meet Button!

Photo of Button 4 days old!
She, like our dog Patch, is pure bred Shih Tzu.

Shih Tzu's are a wonderfully smart breed of dog, very loving, highly loyal dogs.

They need TONS of attention.

Which makes it easy on our dog that I'm a stay at home mama/gardener/homesteader.

They also have REAL HAIR, not fur, making them great for our daughter who is allergic to dander 

and therefore highly allergic to cats/dogs and various other pets.
So far as long as she washes her hands and doesn't touch her eyes after petting or playing with him she's been 100% fine.

Button now at 6 weeks old!

She will be coming home in just over two weeks after her first puppy shots!

Hopefully (fingers crossed) just in time for our 15th anniversary!

For those that are wondering if I've fallen off the face of the planet,

I really haven't 

we've just been hard at work in the yard!

Check us out on

Our Bit of Dirt
my blog about our tiny urban homestead.

This year we've added 3 fruit tree's - Plum, Apple & Pear.

Our berry bushes are growing back lovely and this year we might even have enough for a pie!

Our garlic is growing in strong, onions, carrots & lettuce all growing well.

Peas have started to come up and soon I will be training them along the trellis.

So drop on by my homesteading blog to see all the latest!

Camping!

Camping!

Our camp site was roughly at 9,000 feet.

However we did take a day trip down to Current Crick.

Just one of the amazing days up in the mountains with the best people!

Our camp site! 

On one of our many nature hikes I stopped to take a great photo and the hubs snapped one of me!

So here is the shot of me, followed by the shot I was taking!

I could have stayed there forever!
(please forgive my disheveled appearance it was day 3 of camping and I really didn't care at all what I looked like.)
I mean really, who needs to look beautiful when everything around you is stunning!?!

I have to say I needed this camping trip!

Its been a stress filled summer and taking a week away to rest, relax and unwind was heavenly!

The stars at night were magical! 

Our site was directly underneath the milky way and at night (the moon NOT up) 

the sky was bright!

There are no words for how amazing the sky is far from the city lights!

I could try to talk about the inky blackness, the dark deep velvet of night, the shimmer and the brightness along with the depth of light.

How it looks so deep you could dive in and swim away to the furthest star in no time at all, yet if you don't have the imagine in your mind its just not the same.

Fall is coming.

Already the trees were turning yellow!

Sorry I haven't been blogging much, I've had a rough summer. 

Then I've two weeks of constant apples (canning, slicing, peeling ect)

Today is prayerfully my last day of apples - next I start on cucumbers!

A Day with Friends

Today we celebrate a friends birthday!

We headed up the canyon, found an idyllic spot and celebrated another year of friendship.

The cool breeze was a refreshing break from the rising temps in the lower valley!

Good times, good food with great friends!

Happy Birthday!

Moving Homestead!

Ever since we bought our home five in a half years ago we have been working on adding to it! Changing the weed choked over grown back yard into a multi use space.
As you can see from my first two blogs on our house to be back in 2010 House & House part 2 we have worked hard to create a viable space, one for us, our kids and our mini farm.

Over time this blog has been filled with all my drama! Family, friends, kids, outings, camping, trips, pets, projects, rants, movies, books, recipes and other nonsensical tidbits.
Trying to get any type of sense, or reason for my mash up was impossible. Good news for all, I am moving the main bulk of what I've focused on for the last few years - our growing urban homestead.
My gardens, chickens and rabbits - plus all my future homestead projects to a more focused blog.

So if growing things - animals or plants, composting, green houses, building the items your self or doing it all on a small bit of land on a very tight budget is something you are interested in please follow my new blog over at Our Bit of Dirt.

This blog, Blessed Rain, will focus on family and friends - I will warn you that I won't be posting here as often but its not going completely dormant.
You have been the best and the most amazing people! Thank you so much for your friendship and support over the years.

When we first moved into our home I couldn't imagine raising chickens or rabbits but couldn't wait to get my fingers into the dirt!
Now I can't imagine my life without them! We hope to add many new things to both our yard and our lives - bee keeping, aquaponics, a green house, rain barrels and fingers crossed learning how to distill oils!
See you there!

Our Urban Farm

We have the very large back garden where we grow the large things, zucchini, squash, cucumbers, pumpkins, corn, peas ect. (The list is varied and changes yearly but those are the basics)

The upper photo of the lettuce is my wonderful and amazing grow box, showing only one of four sections. Its growing fabulous this year and I can't wait until I can start to harvest it sometime next month. We start it in March, replant it in summer and enjoy lettuce until late fall.

The lower large photo is my kitchen garden. The blog to how we made it is here. Last year we planted carrots, onions, dill, radishes and cilantro in it.
This year we've planted two large sections of carrots (raising rabbits has increased my desire for lots of carrots). We moved the garlic from the upper garden into the middle sections and they are growing amazingly!
Last years dill is coming up around the garlic and they seem to be growing well together! By the time the dill needs more room the garlic will be ready to be harvested (normally mid-July). So we will see how well it does when I pull them out.
The lower photo of the plants came as a surprise, this year when tilling our back garden we found wild scallions growing!
I've already chopped up a handful and cooked them up with pork chops! Very yummy!

As I blogged before (here) we have added meat rabbits to our family. These are the breeders so they have been named and will continue to be doted on. The kids have permission to fall in love with them (as we hope and pray they all turn out to be good breeders)
Hubby designed and built the hutch all on his own from mostly reclaimed wood we were given for free!
On top we built a grow box and are currently growing wheat grass for the rabbits! Up next we will be building the grow out boxes for the babies we hope to have later on this year when these four are old enough.
Fun facts about rabbits - the males are the sweet ones! With many species the males are dominant and aggressive - not so with rabbits! If you are looking for a pet rabbit, choose a male! They are the sweetest things ever, I ADORE Zorro! Such a love!

Then come my ladies! I adore my hens! All 9 are well, we are getting 7-9 eggs daily now that its warmed up. We've been getting so many eggs I've started to sell them, 1-2 dozen a week!
Also I've added Mukluks, the latest in Chicken Couture - in spring and fall when the rain pours down (as it did ALL week this week) these are a must! 

My girls are the sweetest, fluffiest nutters! When hubs wanted chickens a few years ago I couldn't fathom raising them (he hadn't even mentioned rabbits!). Gardening, I was good with. I love playing in the dirt! 

Love the feel of earth, love fresh lettuce, carrots and our first harvest of garlic last year might actually last us until we can harvest in July - but I've been milking them along! We love garlic!

Raising chickens scared me! I was worried about the amount of care, time and health of taking care of them in such a mixed climate as Northern Utah has - bitter raging cold in winter and fiery hot summers.

They have been a joy!

I can't even believe it took me so long to get them! I don't know why more people don't have chickens in places its legal to raise them!

Next year (or the year after, life always throws odd things at us) we hope to add honey bees. We are also working on converting our small shed or even building a green house for an aquaponics system. Hopefully in the future we will have lettuce all year round, along with duck weed and fish.

So we have a bit of land, not much at all really, but manage to have a small homestead set up. The key is to take it one step at a time. I'm not overwhelmed with everything because we've slowly added one thing at a time.

Until next time ;) stay safe and healthy!

A 10th Birthday Party!

Yesterday G'man turned 10! 

Today we celebrated with a fun filled day at the Nickel Cade - a local video arcade place where every game is only five cents to play!

Two amazing hours of games, friends, presents, cake and prizes! Everyone had a blast! I'm just thrilled that it turned out perfect!

All eight kids (6 not including mine) that were invited showed up! Everyone enjoyed the goodie bags, cake and soda. Most of all everyone loved the games!

We did have one down side, today when we got home G'mans friend and next door neighbor stole one of his toys - IN FRONT OF US!

I kid you not, he refuses to give back the small toy and his family's response has been, yeah he's been caught stealing from some of his friends.... That's it.

So while the party was great, we did end up having to ban one child from coming back to our home.

I am very disappointed with how people are raising kids, allowing them to consider this not only okay but normal behavior.

Also one of the funniest bits is his Lego Mine-craft toy came with a treasure chest full of --- a french baguette...?
Not what I picture as treasure but hey G'mans happy with it!

So another year has disappeared, vanishing quickly and we have a fantastic year ahead! Both my kids are in double digits now! Not sure if I should be thrilled or terrified. 

Also I've decided that from now on every year they age, I'm getting younger. I'm done with aging. No more sore muscles, strange aches and grey hairs. So let the good times roll! 

Easter

First off HAPPY EASTER! 

I had some fun today with Zorro, our adorable sweet male rabbit. He's so large and adorable now! I need to post new photos of him soon!

Gifts this year were different our kids are older now, Prissy is 12 and G'man is turning 10 in a few weeks. They did the Easter Egg hunt at Hubby's work like we do every year - this is where they bagged a ton of candy and a few nice prizes!

We however got them big kid gifts.

G'man got a wood burning kit and will be learning how to use it, while Prissy got a new art box.

For our adult friends and family (that live close by) we made up Easter Omelet baskets!

Highlighting our farm fresh eggs of course!

Each basket had 2 sets of 3 eggs. One set blue/green from our Easter Eggser (Americana's), one set brown from our Rhode Island Reds.

To go with the eggs we added cubed ham, cheese wedges, peppers, tomato, mushrooms and an onion.

We dropped them off yesterday so that they could wake up to an have a wonderful Easter Breakfast! So while we are all still feeling a little under the weather and haven't been very active. I hope to be posting more wonderful photos of our new cute additions soon!

Until next time, Happy Easter!

wink emoticon

Meet our Meat Rabbits

The top two bays of the rabbit hutch

Yes, the title really did read rabbit. No, its no longer a popular meat here in the USA. However, for many years it was a dietary staple.
After getting chickens last year, my darling hubby decided we were also getting rabbits.

When I say decided I mean he started creating plans, figuring out where he was going to put them and then of course finding us local meat breeders willing to sell us a few young breeders!

Meet Stormy & Misty our Does

Zorro our Buck

My only chore is making sure they are fed, watered and then finding ways to cook them up!
This week we butchered our practice bunny. An adorable white bunny we had named Bonnie, until we realized that Bonnie was indeed Bubba.
I cooked rabbit for the first time! It turned out amazing! Here is a link to the recipe.

Now Zorro is only 13 weeks and the Does are only 7 so it will be several months until we can think about baby bunnies. For now we are going to finish building the bottom two bays of the hutch, Then build out the growing pen.

The wood for the hutch we received from a friend of ours, it used to be fencing but had been damaged. We were able to salvage much of the wood and create a beautiful hutch all at the same time.

For those interested, my husband and daughter are making a video of building the hutch. It will be posted to their blog in a few weeks when the bottom is completed.

As for us, we've been busy. We have several spring projects we are hard at work on and will be planting the cinder block garden this weekend. I already have lettuce growing and raspberries to plant!
Our chickens are all healthy, fine and laying! We got a full 9 eggs the other day so Spring is truly here!

Blessing to all, may your life be full!

Early Morning Mountain Walk

Sunday morning  I took our dog (tiny one Patch) and Rocko (HUGE one) for an early morning walk, while the men made breakfast.

There are few ways I'd rather wake up in the morning than a solitary hike through gorgeous terrain.

Very few. 

Maybe only one.

The dogs were well behaved during both our walk and the whole trip. For two dogs that don't spend a lot of time together then being put into a camper for a few nights they were amazing!

Most of the time the sky was a bright blue, the first night we had a light fog roll in over the mountain range, making some of my photos hazy, but it cleared up and stayed clear the rest of the trip.

Glasses not mine, overalls mine

Breakfast Saturday: Pancakes, eggs (fresh from our girls) and sausage.

Then of course I headed back out with my camera to do more exploring, photos and hiking.

More on the wildlife and adventures tomorrow!