Bear

Bear is settling in on the farm and getting used to his new family. He's smart, trainable, loves the water and is not afraid of lightning and thunder. We had a huge storm the other night and and he slept through the whole thing. Mostly, Bear's affectionate and lives for anyone to pet him. His favorite thing to do is run in the back field, and oh, how he can run. When you yell "Bear, come," he comes at you running full speed. I usually scream a little as I'm afraid he's going to barrel me over! We've got some training to do like sit, down, stay, fetch...the basics. He's 2 and 1/2 years old so he should catch on pretty quickly. We are so happy Bear is a part of our family. Thanks Randy♥

Here's Bear. I had a hard time taking close up pictures as he wouldn't sit still.

See that back hill? That's where he came running from!

Our Bear.

Beaver Dam on Cloud Creek

We've got a beaver dam on our creek....how cool is that! This past November we saw signs of beavers, and the possible beginnings of a dam. A month later we got a call from our neighbor, Edda Sue. She said "come over quick and bring your camera!" We all gathered at the creek and what did we see, but a beaver dam and their house. Edda Sue has lived on the creek her whole life and said there's never been a beaver on the creek before, so this is pretty unusual!

Josh, Randy, Ethan, Brittney and Charles checking things out on Thanksgiving Day.

Definite signs of beavers...

This is what we found a month later...their beaver house.

Ethan checking out their new beaver dam.

A duck has moved in, enjoying the dammed up waters...

A New Home For Randy's Newf

When I got home from my basket weaving class, I had a message to call Randy. "Mom...he says, how would you like a dog?" I laughed of course and asked him what he'd done. Well, to make a long story short, Randy thought it'd be good to have a dog at his apartment during college. He must have looked in the paper or something because he brought home a Newfoundland dog. He didn't have him more than a couple hours before he realized he'd gotten in over over his head. Randy thought our farm would be perfect for him. We've been looking for a dog lately and the boys have mentioned wanting a newf in the past. So we met Randy and Tanner half way and picked up "Bear." He's a beautiful dog and one look into his eyes I was hooked...though he is quite big! We had a good trip home and now he's getting used to us. We may end up changing his name...we'll let you know. We'll take a better picture of him soon. too.

Randy, Tanner and Bear

Basket Weaving Class

I signed up for a basket weaving class a couple weeks ago and today was the day. I came prepared with my towel, scissors, measuring tape and bought an awl there. When I arrived I knew several of the ladies (small town) and we had a blast for the next four hours making our baskets...yep, it took four hours to make my first basket. I will never look at a basket the same as they require much time and patience to make. Today we made a napkin basket and if I do say so myself, it came out wonderful. I'm very proud of it. I still need to stain it and plan on using our walnut hulls for the stain. A special thanks to our instructor Patsy. I signed up for the next class in March!

Here I am working on the bottom of the basket.

Four hours later...our finished baskets! Here are the ladies in my class. Our instructor is next to me on my left.