Stepping Outside

I have been doing some really fun things with my mom and younger daughter this week as we are celebrating SPRING BREAK ’10. We always have a ton of fun together and people really love to see 3 generations of women having such a great time. We get stopped everywhere we go with someone asking “Are you 3 sisters?” which of course is made in jest, but we all get a good laugh out of it. My mom is without a doubt the coolest grandma and makes every trip just the best time. She knows all the latest hip music and has energy to spare. My mom always goes out of her way to make sure everyone is having fun and people who meet her love her instantly. We have been enjoying several adventures this week and have been daring enough to step outside our comfort zone and have tried new things. Today was Merengue Dancing Lessons! I have to say, my daughter and I were a bit uncomfortable thinking about doing this and maybe even a little embarrassed at first. How could we get up in front of people and DANCE?? Well we took the big leap of faith and plunged right in and you know what? We had so much fun and laughed and laughed and then laughed some more. I think it is good every once in a while to try something new. Give it a shot. Forget about what others think and just DO it. Live your life by adding a little spice to it. Don’t sit on the sidelines watching others experience the joys of taking new chances – grab one for yourself. You just might find you have the time of your life.

Inbox

I get the nicest mail from people who have gotten puppies from us. It is always the highlight of my day to open my inbox and see emails with adorable puppy and doggie photos attached. Sometimes I get monthly updates and get to watch our puppies grow, other times I don’t hear from families for years and then get the happiest email with the most awesome photos. I am pretty good at remembering exactly which puppy they brought home down to the colored ribbon their puppy wore. It is so much fun to see a pictorial essay of our sweet puppies growing over the years. Doodles come in as many different varieties and flavors as you can imagine. We get short scruffy “Benji” type coats and long wavy “sheepdog” type coats. Some are curly, some are straight. We get chocolates, vanillas, cafes and apricots. Some doodles have long legs and others have boxy square heads. Once in a while we have a doodle that has some parts very poodley and other parts totally retriever. Yep – there is a doodle for everyone!!! There is one common thread that binds all the doodles together and that thread is love. Doodles just are wonderful givers of unconditional love. They love us every minute of every day of every week of every year without fail. They love to be part of the family and give all the admiration and devotion they have to give. And when I open my email inbox, I get to see all the love my doodles get in return. It is Doodle awesome! Thank you!

Smile - with sprinkles on top!

Spreading happiness is something pretty easy to do. If you bring a smile with you wherever you go, you are sure to see smiles in return. I try my best to always be kind and cheerful in all that I do. I never hesitate to give the checkout person at the grocery store my biggest smile and give them wishes for a good day. I am nice to the gas station attendant, the bank teller, waitresses, waiters – whoever I meet. I firmly believe in bringing happiness with me and I hope to share a little bit of good tidings in each day. Smiles are contagious and if you take the time to pass one on, who knows how many other people will get smiles of their own. Today I was talking to the person serving me ice cream and I thanked him by name for my scoop of goodness and he was so shocked I knew his name. He asked me how I knew him and I told him I didn’t, I just read his name tag. He was really happy by that simple gesture – and then he shared some happiness right back with me as he added an extra gigantic scoop of sprinkles to my cone. So share your smiles!! Share the happiness!!! You never know when some happiness will be sprinkled right back upon you. Here’s hoping for lots of sprinkles in your life!!!

Tiny Steps

Did you know that when puppies are born they cannot hear or see? They come into this world completely defenseless and totally dependent on their mommy to take care of them. The only thing they know is to move towards the warmth of their mommy and they have to use their nose to find out which way to crawl and to find some nice warm milk. The puppies are so tiny they can fit right inside the palms of our hands. They cannot even go to the bathroom unless their mommy licks them to stimulate the process. It is amazing to watch the little babies come into this world so small and helpless and then grow and change into cute adorable happy puppies. Right around two weeks of age the puppies begin to open their eyes. At first it is just a little peep – barely a sliver of opening but gradually the eyes open more and more. They look a lot more like puppies once their eyes open but at this point they still can’t hear. That takes about one more week. It is quite obvious one the puppies can hear because as soon as you walk into the room, you can hear them bark as if to say “HI! We heard you come in!!!!! WOW!!! We can hear!” They really start to look like puppies now and at this point they start to get up on their feet and toddle around a bit. Mommy still takes care of them for most all of their needs and during this week the puppies really drink a lot of milk. We double the food for the mommy as she has to be in top shape to feed all those hungry puppies. Once the puppies enter the fourth week, we start offering solid food. The mommy dogs are very glad for the break. At first the puppies all look at us like “WHAT IS THIS?!!...WHERE IS MOMMY??? What is in the bowl?? How do we do this?” They look quite pitiful in the beginning but they do quickly learn that we are most excellent chefs and the stuff in the big bowl is YUMMY! Within 1-2 days they happily lick their bowls clean and look forward to the next feeding time! By the time the puppies are 5 weeks old, they are up and playing and having fun with each other and it is then they begin to explore the big brave outdoors. It is amazing to watch the transformation that occurs over those few short weeks. We start out caring for little tiny defenseless babies and then get to watch them grow and change and mature and learn to explore and to play and become ready to spend their lives with their forever families. We feel pretty lucky to be a big part of all those tiny first steps in life.

Epiphany

Have you ever had an epiphany - and then immediately wish you hadn't?? Well today I was struck with a very loud and very strong and maybe some might say obvious epiphany....The clothes in my closet did NOT have a clandestine meeting during the dark days of winter and unanimously decide to shrink. I was under the impression that somehow my clothes mysteriously got smaller over the past few months. I was quite sure they committed a suicide mission and threw themselves into my dryer and selected SUPER HOT SHRINK MODE and spent several days tumbling around in the oppressive heat. I did not in any way think that perhaps I was the one to change size. I mean how ridiculous of a thought is that? Well today, I met reality straight on. I was out for a lovely day of shopping at the outlets with my mom and my daughter. A day of nothing but stores stores stores and EVERYTHING on SALE!!! Life is grand!!! What could be better??? A new spring wardrobe awaits!!! So the first store I grabbed all the delightful choices in my size and proceeded to the dressing room to try on the kaleidoscope of choices. Outfit number one ...Hmmmmmm. That's a bit tight. Oh well, I don't look good in yellow. Outfit number two...again a bit tight, and perhaps not that flattering. I am sure someone pulled a fast one and marked this with the wrong size.
Outfit number three ...can't....quite...get...it...on....ACK! Who is changing the sizes of these clothes??? I think I need a new store. Yes, most definitely I need a new store. Ahhh new store. New choices!!! Dressing room awaits!!! Outfit number one...is perhaps what some would say VERY SNUG. Alrighty, soooo I don't look good in green. Outfit number two.....OH MY GOSH!!!! What is going on here?? Did these clothes talk to my clothes and decide to ALL get MUCH smaller??? And, yes, that is when it hit me. The epiphany. I realized at that moment that...I am a bear. I have hibernated all winter and have stored some nutritional "extras" to make sure I survived the brutal cold days. I should be grateful, because maybe I wouldn't have survived our many blizzards if I were not part Grizzly. Soooo that leaves me with perhaps uttering a very mean, very shocking, very insulting FOUR LETTER WORD...... D I E T!!! ACK! I believe the doggies and I better hit the trails. This Bear can hear the outdoors calling!

What IS that???

Did anyone else notice something particularly unwelcoming and most unthoughtful this morning???? SNOW!!!!! HELLO!!! What IS with the absolute determination of Mother Nature to blanket us in white stuff??? I mean we totally got our fill this winter. We had so much snow here in Ohio that my son actually got to cross country ski almost every day of January AND February. Our sleds got so much action that the bottoms are completely rubbed smooth. We had enough snow to go snowboarding, albeit farm style - but still - that is a lot of snow! Our kids have never been SO glued to the evening news, waiting hopefully for the announcement of yet another snow day.
I LOVE snow. I really do - but even I got to the point where I thought - yes, yes there IS enough snow on the ground. We are good. I mean when you actually have to shovel your backyard so that the doggies don't disappear when doing their business, that is enough snow. When the doggies get stuck in the snowdrifts, that is enough snow. When you have to make trails and the snow is waist high on either side just to be able to walk to your car, again, that is enough snow. When your husband has to climb up onto the roof to RAKE the snow off the roof - HELLO!! ENOUGH SNOW! So when Spring arrived and we finally saw the GREEN grass and the YELLOW sun...I thought HALLELUJAH! We have made it! YEA! Warm weather. Spring Flowers. Happy sun filled days! We moved the clocks ahead and I know that MEANS SPRING FORWARD and I thought "ahhhhhhhh warm sun-drenched happiness". Until this morning. Until I opened the back door. Until my doggies looked at me with pitiful eyes that said "AGAIN?!!" *sniff sniff* "WAH....COME BACK SPRING!!!!!!" The birdies, and flowers, and trees, and grass, and doggies, and kids, and most desperately... ME - We miss you already!!!!
(and as a side note..... Dear Mother Nature - I refuse to admit that the world looked so beautiful this morning all covered in white and the doggies were adorable bunny hopping through the yard....cause you might take it the wrong way and think I want more!)

Mr. Yesteryear Acres

I thought I would share a little bit about my husband and all that he does for Yesteryear Acres. Most people get to know me through emails, website updates, facebook posts and now my blog. I love getting to know all our puppy families and I do work very hard. I am busy working from the second I wake up until 10:00pm or 11:00pm each night (yep that includes weekends too) but really - the secret to our success and our very many healthy happy puppies is all that Mr. Yesteryear Acres does each and every day. My husband Darwin is just the best friend anyone - human or canine - could ever ask for. He loves dogs. I am sure you are thinking that loving dogs would be obvious given we spend all our days and night with doggies but when I say he loves dogs, I mean he LOVES dogs. He loves playing with dogs, talking to dogs, walking them, caring for them, feeding them, snuggling with them. Heck he doesn't even complain when he has to clean up after them and believe me - we do that A LOT around here! Whether it is 106* and so humid you can't bear to think of walking outside or freezing cold with blizzard conditions, my husband gives the same enthusiasm and devotion to caring for our furry friends. He is kind of like the postman... "Neither rain, nor sleet, nor gloom of night..." When new puppies are born, he sleeps on the kitchen floor with the new mommy and babies to make sure they are all okay. He might do that for 3 or 4 nights in a row and believe me, we do NOT have a comfy floor! Our dogs and puppies need care whether it is Easter morning or Christmas Eve and my husband is always the one to sacrifice his time to make sure our four legged family members are well cared for. He has missed a number of important celebrations, vacations and family gatherings and has never once in his whole life uttered a single complaint. All of our dogs adore him. They save the bestest smiles and the biggest hugs for him and he gives all that love right back. I know every one of our dogs would do whatever my husband asked of them. They are devoted to him and he to them. I think when most people think of the work we do here, they think about all the work that goes into raising puppies, which is indeed a huge undertaking that both my husband and I gladly share. But just as important as caring for the puppies is making sure the mommy and daddy dogs get showered with love and attention. Every day my husband spends hours caring for them and they are healthy and happy and very well loved. We are really lucky because our happy mommy and daddy doggies go on to bless us with happy, healthy, well loved puppies.......who then go on to bless new families with all the unconditional love that only a doggie can bring. It is a perfect circle filled with love and joy.

TV watching

How many of you remember the old shows on TV like Andy Griffith, I Love Lucy, Leave it to Beaver & Lassie? Well I remember them like it was yesterday.....or even today. Yes, on any given morning the first thing I hear when I walk into the kitchen is "Hello, I'm Mr. Ed" I then spend the next hour with "A horse is a horse of course of course..." stuck in my head. Why you ask? Well because my husband is in love with shows that occurred before the advent of COLOR. And no, my husband isn't over the age of 50 remembering fond childhood memories or something sentimental like that - he really likes those shows. I mean really. He loves how the Beaver always somehow messes up but then learns that important lesson from his dear old dad. He laughs at the crazy antics of that talking horse and adores the camaraderie in the town of Maybury. When my daughters were younger and had to write down their favorite TV shows for a school assignment, while everyone else wrote down Sponge Bob or Friends or something like that, mine wrote down Bewitched and I Dream of Jeannie. I actually had one teacher write back "What is I Dream of Jeannie?"
I used to be really outnumbered as all 3 kids would side with their dad and tell me how much they love his TV shows and "Daddy picks out the best shows!" My husband would say "just look at the kids....they really LOVE Lassie!!!" And of course, as you can guess, Lassie always won. I mean who can resist 3 kids (well 3 kids and a husband) with their faces glued to the TV wondering if Lassie would save the day?! I was clearly never going to change the channel with everyone giving me the sad puppy eyes. As my kids grew older, slowly the tide turned and TV shows with color and action and mystery and suspense started making appearances on the TV. Evening TV watching was now reserved for current shows. Or so I thought. Because last night I walked in on my son and husband and doggies watching a black and white movie with Danny Kaye and I was getting ready to change the channel when unbeknownst to me.....I was again about to be outnumbered. Evidently Phoebe, our pregnant doggie, LOVES Danny Kaye or at least that is what my husband told me. Phoebe totally went along with the ruse as she was sitting with all her attention on the TV all snuggled up in my husband's lap. And I heard, "Just look at Phoebe.....she really LOVES Danny Kaye!!!"
OKAY... I believe the dogs and I will get to the living room first tonight. I am going to have a serious talk with them and I am pretty darn sure they are all going to LOVE Survivor. I think Phoebe in particular will find Jeff Probst to be soothing and comforting. Just to be sure, I think I will bring the puppies in with me for extra support! Tonight the TV will be mine!!!!!

Best Friend

Today I was emailed a poem from one of my daughter's friends - it was written about her. It really touched me and got me thinking ... If you find one best friend in life you are indeed truly blessed. A best friend sticks with you through both the hard times and the fun times. A best friend knows you inside and out and appreciates you for who you are. A best friend doesn't try to change you but rather accepts you; faults and all. We all make many friends throughout our lifetime. Some come and some go. Some are great fun to hang out with and some you can count on to always be a part of your life but a best friend is different. You think of them first when times are bad. You don't even need to ask for a shoulder to cry on because it is already there. The second something wonderful happens you can't wait to share your news and you know without a doubt they will be just as happy as you are. Yes, if you find one best friend in life you are undoubtedly lucky. I feel the luckiest of all because I found my best friend in life...and married him :) And now we spend our days together surrounded by lots of furry best friends who are always glad to see us, give us the best shoulders to cry on, and are always right by our side as we welcome all that life has to offer.

Grocery Store Run

Late last night I had to make a run to the grocery store as we were "GASP" out of ORANGE JUICE! I hadn't realized the extreme importance of having orange juice in the refrigerator at ALL times - day or night - but evidently one of my beloved family members was very close to meeting DOOM if I didn't run and replenish our stock. Orange Juice is just one of the things we buy in mass quantities. We actually consume between 8-10 gallons of milk EVERY WEEK. Yes, there are now only four people living in this house and yet, we manage to drink gallons upon gallons of milk. Without fail each week upon greeting the cashier I hear "Wow, That's a lot of milk! Do you drink that much?" Usually I am kind and say something sweet like, "Yes, we love milk! It goes great with cookies" or something to that effect. Once in a while I throw in a "NOPE - I take a bath in it, it does wonders for my complexion" or "No, I am doing a scientific research project on the shelf life of milk - I am betting 2 weeks before it starts to smell." You get the picture. So I picked up my three gallons of Orange Juice and 15lbs of Peanut Butter. I like to buy the big 5 gallon SUPER size peanut butter cans and of course you should buy at least 3 because heaven forbid we run out of peanut butter!!! And with my lovely cart full of OJ and PB, I proceeded to the cashier. Yes, I was asked if I liked Peanut Butter and yes I was tempted to say that I like to use it for facials but I was remarkably good given the late hour. As I was leaving the store I happened to walk by the Ice Freezer where they sell large bags of ice cubes and I noticed a sign on the door. It said, "HEALTHIER THAN HOMEMADE". I actually did a double take as I was sure I read the sign incorrectly. "Healthier than HOMEMADE?" Are you serious? OH NO!!! Have I been cheating my family all these years with my painstakingly made by hand ICE Cubes when I should have been using the HEALTHY ICE all this time??? EGAD! Where have I gone wrong?! I never realized that my zero calorie, zero nutritional content HOMEMADE frozen water was lacking! The grocery store has HEALTHY ice!!! Ice with.....zero calories and zero nutritional content but somehow destined to make us feel better and become healthier human beings. I feel shame. I must apologize to my family. I must apologize to my doggies. They love ice cubes in their water bowls during the hot summer months and I have only been giving them HOMEMADE ice. Sniff sniff. I wonder how many others have been unknowingly consuming....HOMEMADE ICE?! I hope we will all be able to recover from our serious nutritional deficit.

Communication

Today I am waiting for my phone to ring as my oldest daughter is hopefully going to have time to chat this afternoon. She is a Chemistry major in her second year at the United States Naval Academy, so our phone call time is precious and few. The day she left for the Naval Academy was without a doubt the hardest and saddest day of my life. We are a very close family and having her leave home was hard for us all. Somehow we manage to get through and I think the biggest reason is the ease in which we all communicate these days. Internet, Facebook, Email, Texting - how lucky are we? In any given day, I can go to my facebook page and click on my daughter's name and see how she is doing, look at new photos, and even instant chat with her if she is available. I think of the parents that had children go to Service Academies before the proliferation of emails and social networking and wonder how they ever survived. How did they go through weeks and weeks of no communication and no word on how their loved ones were doing? I shudder at the thought and know they had an inner strength that would rival the greatest warrior. I feel so blessed that I can email my daughter any time I wish and let her know all the happenings at home. She is really good at emailing back - even if it is a quick "Thanks! I love you mom!" I am always grateful to hear from her. We can all thank the Internet for making the miles between our loved ones shrink to a more manageable distance. Even though I miss my daughter each and every day, I feel lucky to live in a world where your dearest loved one is only one email away.

In search of.....COFFEE!

So this morning I left the house bright and early so that I could drive my daughter to the other side of the world for an ACT test. Was there a testing site within 50 miles of my house? Nooooooo. But being the good mommy that I am, I was up at the crack of dawn (the puppies did say "HEY WHERE ARE YOU GOING? CAN WE COME WITH YOU? ARE YOU GOING OUT???!!!") and proceeded to drive my daughter to the ACT site. I armed myself with the essentials: iPod, laptop, and cell phone and decided I would find a lovely coffee cafe for the duration of the test and diligently work on my puppy website and emails and of course the daily blog report. We arrived at the ACT site on time and after I said my goodbyes, I politely asked my GPS to find the nearest Caribou Coffee or Starbucks. BINGO - A Starbucks within .7 miles! YES! So I set the Starbucks as my new destination and headed off. Within minutes my friendly GPS announces "Arriving at Destination". I look around - NO Starbucks. None. Zip. Nada. My GPS then starts yelling "TURN AROUND. MAKE A U-TURN!" So of course I listen to my GPS and TURN AROUND only to find the same NOTHING that was there the first time. Hmmm. So I ask again, "Dear Friendly Trip Advising GPS - PLEASE locate the nearest Starbucks or Caribou Coffee". Once again - YES! A Starbucks can be found .4 miles from your current location. OKAY! Happiness is just 1/2 mile away. I head off, dreaming of my caramel macchiato with extra caramel. Calories be damned today!
Again I hear the magic words, "Arriving at Destination!" YES! Okay. Where is it? Again NO STARBUCKS! Now I am getting desperate. I again PLEAD with my GPS....."Dear not so friendly GPS THAT IS SUPPOSED TO KNOW WHERE THINGS ARE LOCATED, PLEASE PLEASE FIND ME COFFEE. ANY COFFEE! I need my coffee!!!!" Success! There is a Wild Bean Cafe in .3 miles! Wild Bean? That sounds promising! So I head off towards Wild Bean. I am sure many of you are laughing right now. Maybe even rolling on the floor as you are imagining me heading towards that famous coffee house where I can sit and type and work with lovely coffee house music and Wi-Fi and maybe even a fireplace! As I hear the GPS announce, "Arriving at Destination" all that I can see is a BP Gas Station - where is my lovely coffee house?? Yep. You got it. Wild Bean Cafe IS the BP Gas Station. Alrighty. I am thinking that for the entire 4.5 hour duration of the ACT testing, I will be driving aimlessly in search of ONE...CUP....OF.....COFFEE...(I am now thinking caramel AND Whipped cream!!!!) So ONCE AGAIN, I ask my DUMB and NOT SO SMART GPS system to locate a REAL Starbucks Coffee House and I get 3 locations, and, because I CAN LEARN - I CALL the Starbucks locations BEFORE I head off. The first 2 are located inside Grocery Stores but the third is a genuine coffee house and they welcome me on the phone and say come on over! JOY! Caffeine! Heaven! YES! So I arrived and got my delicious Caramel Macchiato - GRANDE - with TONS of extra Caramel AND Whipped CREAM! Mmmmmmmmm
Now to upload tons of new puppy pictures to our website and make other people as happy as I am sitting here with my delicious and much longed for cup of happiness.

Talking

Puppies have a lot to say. They like to start talking as soon as the sun comes up and have things to say throughout the day. To the novice, it sounds very much like this..."bark, bark, barkbark, bark, BARK, barkbarkbark, bark, bark." But to the trained ear, it goes something like this, "HEY! Did you see that? THE SUN IS UP! YEA! It is morning time. I love morning time. Don't you love morning time? Morning Morning Morning Time! I wonder if our human mommy will get up soon. OH I hope so I hope so I hope so. I am hungry. I want to go outside and go to the bathroom. I want my breakfast. Hey, where is my toy? I want my toy! Let's wrestle instead! YEA Let's all wrestle until our human mommy wakes up....WE ARE WRESTLING! WE ARE PLAYING! WE ARE WAITING FOR YOU TO WAKE UP! OH MY GOSH! Here she comes!!!! HI Human Mommy! Good morning! We are so happy to see you. Want us to sing you a song? BARK BARK BARK BARK. Why aren't you smiling human mommy? It is already 6:36am! Haven't you had your coffee yet? I don't think she has had her coffee yet do you? MOMMY GET SOME COFFEE! Then come back and play with us!!! I think we should grab her pajamas and give it a little tug. I am sure our human mommy will love it if we pull on her jammies!! GOOD IDEA! WHOA- HUMAN MOMMY DID NOT LIKE THAT AT ALL! Maybe we will should just sit here quietly and wait until after she has had her coffee........NAH!!! GOOD MORNING HUMAN MOMMY!!!!!! It's another beautiful day!!!!!!"
Aren't you glad I translated that for you?

Spring!

Did you know that spring is just around the corner? I mean it is really really close! After this winter, I think we are all looking forward to spring. Spring means flowers, and green grass, and flying kites, and picnics, and fishing, and mushroom hunting, and playing outside with puppies. Spring is awesome. The world is all anew again. It is almost impossible to take a walk outside in springtime without feeling utter fulfillment by the sheer natural beauty the world has to offer. The world is alive with new flower buds, little green sprouts on the trees, and the sweet fresh smells of nature. A long walk in the woods can clear out the winter cobwebs from the brain and rejuvenate the soul. I love to take our dogs out walking in the spring. The second I say "Do you want to go for a walk?" .. the dogs answer me by dancing and twirling in circles as if to say "OH BOY OH BOY YES!!!!" They love to romp through the fields and bound down the trails with happiness. If you take a moment to look closely - you will witness pure unadulterated joy. The dogs are thinking of nothing but living in the moment. Frolicking in the springtime wonders. We should all welcome spring with the same enthusiasm. HELLO SPRING!!!!!! GLAD YOU ARE HERE!!!!!!

Leprechaun

If you were to ask any of my 3 children if Leprechauns are real...each one would answer "YES!!!!" We have a particularly clever Leprechaun that lives here at Yesteryear Acres. He makes an appearance each St. Patrick's Day and has been known to destroy their bedrooms, remove mattresses from their beds, empty all the clothes from their drawers, turn every gallon of milk in the house green and somehow escape their elaborate traps each and every year. My children have made some very ingenious traps over the years. I am surprised that none of the traps have been successful. While they have managed to catch a piece of his jacket or snag a piece of green thread, the leprechaun has eluded them every year. He is quite the sly one. Of course we arm ourselves from head to toe with the appropriate green attire in hopes of escaping the nasty leprechaun pinches, but this does not at all stop the leprechaun's shenanigans. One must walk very gingerly here on St. Patrick's Day. The leprechaun does have his limits however. We have never had a green puppy...................yet.
HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!

Leaving Home

I often get asked how I can part with my sweet puppies. How could I possibly let our cute cuddly doodle puppies leave here and go to new homes? The answer is that it is surprisingly easy. Watching the puppies leave with their new families is one of the nicest parts about raising puppies. Not the actual good-bye itself - but rather being responsible for the joy that a new puppy brings to a family is very fulfilling. I feel like Santa Claus each time a new family comes to our home to pick up their new furry baby. It is like they are opening the very best present under the tree on Christmas. The one they were hoping and hoping for and now - here it is! We get to be a big part of that experience. Tears of joy, instant head-over-heels falling in love, overwhelming gratitude, and pure down to the depths of your soul happiness surround us every time a new puppy goes home. Puppies have a way of bringing a big smile - right to your heart. Bringing that much joy to someone is a happy and beautiful thing and I think of that each time I wave good-bye.

ACK!

I think my exact words were "ACK!!!!!!!!!!!! WHAT DID YOU DO??!!!??!!" This was my reaction last night when my very tall 13 year old son walked in the kitchen door......BALD. Okay not BALD - but pretty darn close to BALD. He decided that it would be awesome to use the number one blade on his entire head. My daughter is the actual barber and she usually gives him a very close high and tight military type crew cut. She does an excellent job and I am always grateful for her hair cutting assistance. So of course, I didn't think anything when the 2 of them went outside with the clippers. If I only knew. My daughter said that her brother REALLY wanted it that way. My son said it is cool. I could only think...WHERE IS YOUR HAIR?? WHERE IS YOUR HAIR!!!? And when the dogs saw my son, they just wagged their tails. Do you know what they were thinking? They were thinking- we love that boy. He is awesome. We don't even notice whether he has hair or no hair, dressy clothes or working clothes, shoes or no shoes...he is just the bestest boy in the whole world. Dogs are awesome that way. I think the next time I want an opinion on how I look, I will ask my dogs. I think they just might know best.

Favorite Thing of The Day

We have a tradition in our family that each night at the dinner table we share what our favorite thing of the day was. Sometimes it is really easy to think of your favorite thing of the day... "My favorite thing of the day was when you surprised me and cleaned all the dishes!" Once in a while so many wonderful things happen it is hard to pinpoint just exactly what was THE favorite thing of the day. "Hmm was it breakfast in bed, watching a movie together or the fantastic dinner???" Other times, you have to really dig deep and maybe even get a little creative to come up with a favorite thing of the day. It might be that you were grateful to have stepped in puppy poop with only one foot instead of both feet. Or you might be particularly grateful for the one puppy that didn't have an accident on the kitchen floor - rather than focusing on the 8 puppies that did. Or when washing 10 loads of laundry you are grateful that you do have puppies and family that make the dirty laundry. The best part about sharing the favorite thing of the day is that you can really learn what makes the other members of your family happy. You might think you know what their favorite thing of the day was, only to find out it was something small - perhaps insignificant to you- that really made them feel happy. Then your favorite thing can be to make more moments like that happen. It all comes full circle and can really change your outlook on life - because the focus of each day is thinking about what brings you joy. And if you are searching for joy, you are sure to find it.

Food

I just finished watching the movie "Food, Inc." For those of you that are unfamiliar with the movie, it is a documentary that gives a long hard look at what actually goes into the production of food. After viewing the movie, I have to say I feel quite blessed that we have had a large garden every year for the past 25 years. We usually plant a 5 acre plot of land and have everything from tomatoes to popcorn. Last year we planted 97 tomato plants. It is a lot of work. I spend a lot of my summer picking, canning and freezing our vegetables. You know it is going to be a long day when you have picked 4 or 5 laundry baskets full of beans before 10am! We usually can 104 quarts of tomatoes, freeze 50 pints of corn, 50 quarts of green beans, and then varying numbers of beets, zucchini, eggplant, peas, pea pods, Lima beans and popcorn. Sometimes I will spend 8 straight hours just peeling tomatoes! I am accustomed to hearing "you know you can get a can of tomatoes at the store for $1.00" but I just shake my head and know that mine taste MUCH better. Incredibly - all our dogs love our garden too. They love fresh green beans and zucchini and tomatoes. We have a couple of dogs that like to pick their own green beans. They are pretty good at it too! I think when it comes to putting food on our plates, we should do more than open a can. Invest just a little more time and put some love into the dish. Know where your food comes from and you might just find you feed more than your tummies, you nourish your soul as well.

FRIDAY

I love Fridays. They make me happy. I am not sure why that is because I never get a day off of work and I work just as hard on Saturdays and Sundays - but there is just something about Friday that makes you think WEEKEND, just like you did as a child. Remember when you couldn't wait for Saturday morning with CARTOONS on TV!? I know it isn't as special now because at any given moment of any day, you can find cartoons on TV but back in the day, you actually had to wait until Saturday before you could watch cartoons. My favorites were the School House Rock segments in between the cartoon shows. I can still sing the entire Preamble to the Constitution word for word because of School House Rock. Saturdays meant it was time to play and unwind and get a pat on the back for working hard all week. Saturdays are pretty fun for the puppies too. The kids are home from school and the puppies have fun playing with them. My son in particular spends a lot of his time playing with the puppies. I suppose his "FRIDAY!!" means PUPPIES!!! I think that just might be better than cartoons. ENJOY YOUR WEEKEND!

Pictures

We are expecting rain this weekend so we decided that today would be a good day to do our weekly photo session with the puppies. In order to get 2 or 3 really good shots of a puppy, I take somewhere in the neighborhood of 25-30 photos of each pup. So on average I take around 300 pictures each week - which takes a good 2 hours as unbelievably, puppies don't understand "Look at the camera and SMILE!" I have to say I am especially talented for catching just the perfect picture of a tail or ear. You should see my collection of ear photos! Dazzling!!! Anyway - today was nice and warm and I actually took OFF my jacket! The puppies really had fun and you can almost hear each puppy say "RECESS!!! WEEHOO!!"

Wet Mushy and Muddy

Yep! That is our yard. One big muddy messy soaking wet field. Our record snowfall has now led to record mud making. Do you know what puppies LOVE???? Yes - you guessed it Romping in the Mud - making more mud. That is way more fun than staying up near the house where it is somewhat dry. I think the thought process goes something like this:
"Hey do you see what I see?"

"YES -- I see all that soft earth that is all nice and brown and squishy calling us! It is not at all like this hard cement area that is all nice and clean"

"It is way too boring to play up here, don't you think? I hear mud baths are all the rage and is just like going to the spa for the day! LET'S GO!!!"

And off they go. I have to say chocolatey brown is a lovely color, but perhaps not so much on a cream puppy. Luckily, I am very good at giving quick and thorough puppy baths. I get lots of practice!
Enjoy your mud puddle days!

Hello Everyone!

So begins our blog with all the happenings at Yesteryear Acres Goldendoodles and Labradoodles. I will be sharing the ins and outs, ups and downs, and tales (or should it be TAILS) from life here at Yesteryear Acres. I feel blessed to spend my days raising sweet loveable puppies and I hope you enjoy reading all about my escapades here in doodledom :)