Last Week, This Week, Next Week

Last week was the final week of the basketball season. Since I never even mentioned it before, I took my camera to the final game. The team was for 8-9 year olds and Elijah and Selah played on it last year. I stuck Bella in there this year as she just turned 8 in January and it makes my life more efficient to have them all in the same place at the same time. She did pretty decently for a new player.

My three in one shot -

Selah is very good at getting the ball down the court, but barely makes baskets because she doesn't practice much. Elijah can get those baskets because he practices every chance he gets. Next sport up is Elijah playing flag football. He wants to play tackle, but he's quite little and I think he'd get broken. Flag it is!

Elijah shooting

So, last week, most of the puppies went to their new homes. The last one just left two days ago and went to my good friend, Wendy. The big boy we kept, Alaska, is enjoying learning the farm dog life, but napping under the kitchen table during breaks.

Yesterday Alaska got acquainted with the bunnies, chickens, goats and barn cats. He enjoyed the whole experience. 
 

Poor Montana can still not have the run of the land, as she takes off. I am seriously hoping that the underground fence that is going in the next few will work wonders to give her freedom and keep her home!

The debate is whether to enclose the entire chicken structure in Montana's zone or cut it short. At this point, she is way too rough to be the chicken's guard; that is Fiona's domain. 

 

Our final two baby goats were born on Friday morning - Banjo and Barley, born to Agnes. I think I'm going to have to keep Barley; she looks like Vinny, the daddy goat I sold. 

This is Anges with Banjo, isn't he darling? She is doing a great job being a first time mother.

Yesterday I hauled the kids out to the barn with me; James installed guinea-proof wiring in the rafters of the barn, Elijah accompanied JD to the big dump (and counted 90 eagles!), and the girls helped me with the goats, while Bella babysat the puppy. We dewormed and trimmed the hooves of 8 adults and the 6 babies, then JD wethered the four little boys. All in all, a good time!

This is Betsy, the papered baby girl that I am going to sell this year.

Alaska is getting just about too big to be lugged around. Amazing how much he has grown!

Our next week adventure is HUGE - Julia's biological sister, that was adopted into a family in Canada, is coming to visit with her mom for the week. They arrive Tuesday - the girls haven't seen each other since Julia was 6 months old!

Jenny

The Babies

The babies were two weeks old on Saturday night; most of their eyes are opening and they are starting to put their weight on their little legs. They attack Montana for milk anytime she comes near them, so she tends to sleep across the room and just show up when she feels it is time to feed them. 

We have two little girls that are still under 2.5 pounds, but the others are over 3 pounds. The little girls are marked pink so I can make sure they are gaining weight and everyone has blue on their paw that got de-wormed and nails trimmed. 

It seems like every week is going to be bringing large changes!

Jenny

Montana and her Puppies

So, Alei and I made the road trip to bring Montana home on December 23rd; she was only 10 months old and had already been guarding alpacas. I transitioned her in with the goats, which she was fond of, but after 10 days, she jumped the fence and went missing in the night. We spent three days looking and posting about her, when she emerged from the woods behind the neighbor's house. After that, JD heightened a portion of the fence from 4 foot to 8 to make sure we didn't lose her again while we were on vacation. We also began planning a large electric fence to allow her access to all the farm and house, but keep her home.

One day while a friend was visiting, Montana did a roll onto her back to have her belly rubbed and I was astounded to see what I perceived as the beginning of milk to feed puppies. I talked to the lady I got her from and while at first she admitted that she had not been separated from their male Pyrenees, she later told me that they hadn't been together. The evidence I was seeing led me to believe the first report!

While I was sure she was pregnant, I thought we had a few weeks to prepare and literally was just praying it would be after our Florida trip. The night before we were leaving at 4 a.m. for Disney, I went to the barn to feed and close down the animals and there was the first born puppy crying next to Montana.

We delivered puppies 2-6 in the cold barn between 8 p.m. and midnight. It was absolutely too cold for the puppies so we made the decision that we had to move them all inside. That was much more difficult than it sounds when it involved a 100 pound dog that was scared of stairs, the backyard and the house itself. We packed up the puppies and started leading her towards the house. Twice she laid down and wouldn't budge and poor James would pick her up and carry her. (JD went to be about 10:30 when a friend and her son came to support James and I for the long night!) 

We had to carry her through the backyard and down the retaining wall and into the house she was scared of. We positioned her and the babies on a blanket in a pool in front of the wood stove. She was so exhausted that I don't think she minded. She ended up delivering #7-9 in the basement, but little #9 was still- born. 

At 1:30, I collapsed into bed and my alarm went off at 3:00 to shower and finish packing for a 4:00 departure. I left my sister and pet sitter a text that Montana and the puppies were in the house. I left a dirty and tired new momma dog with 8 hungry puppies that appeared to be nursing well.

 I had a sister and two friends that all tended to Montana and the puppies several times a day. We have some Montana challenges, like she will still wander off, yet doesn't want to go to the bathroom too well on a leash. It is very time consuming to tend to her each day. 

I had the house call vet come and check out Montana; she even cleaned her nicely. I came home for a slimmer, cleaner momma dog and fatter, rounder puppies.

Here's pictures of the babies taken just yesterday by Alei - they were 10 days old.

I'm planning on weekly pictures - they are going to grow so quickly! They are also getting different colored yard tonight to start charting who is who - we have four boys and four girls.

Tomorrow I'll try to blog a bit about our Disney adventure -

Jenny

Lost and Found

The last three days have been a bit tough, once I went out to the barn on New Years morning and discovered that Montana had escaped from the fence and was gone. That whole day consisted of searching the woods around the house, like over 100 acres, and putting lost dog flyers and posters around town. We had over 560 shares on Facebook alone, so everyone had their eyes peeled for Montana. 

By the third day, I contacted Great Pyrenees rescues and animal shelters all over the state. That evening she walked out of the woods behind a neighbors house and they called us immediately.  

She seemed happy to see us, but I still don't know if she would have come home on her own or not. 
 

Thinking that maybe she got through the one gate that doesn't have goat fencing, I put her in the smaller fenced area this morning. She was right back out! She has enjoyed the snow with the kids!

We are in the middle of a bit of snow storm, but JD drove to Lowe's and got boards and wire to extend a part of the 4' fence into an 8' fence to ensure she doesn't get lost again while we go to Florida. After that, we are going to have a very large invisible fence installed around house, garage, barn and chicken coop area that I truly hope keeps her home. 

On the crazy topic of animals, I have a surprise moving to the farm after our Florida trip - you wouldn't guess this one. Also, remember the pregnant cat I brought home on Black Friday? (Honestly, I don't remember if I ever blogged that story or not.) Her name is Friday and I guess she is pregnant, but we still have no kittens. My sister, who typically doesn't enjoy animals, has taken a liking to Friday and is taming her nicely. This is her "keep Friday from hiding under the bed" look - I think it's working.

Jenny