Never Mind

I should learn not to expound upon meteorologist predictions. I should realize by now that if I say, "It is time to hang up the ice skates", then the following day we will be hit with frigid temperatures. Mr. Yesteryear Acres couldn't believe that the ice on the pond was disappearing. He said it was way too thick and when I showed him the receding ice pictures from yesterday's walk, he insisted he see the pond for himself.  When I reached the pond

It was completely frozen again

If I didn't have yesterday's pictures - Mr. Yesteryear Acres probably wouldn't even have believed me

Mr. Yesteryear Acres said, "See? Still frozen!"

All Grits cared about was that Mr. Yesteryear Acres came on the walk

"Oh Boy! Oh Boy! Mr. Yesteryear Acres is here!"

Isn't that how everyone says thank you?

Looks like the ice skates are back in action!

Where Did the Ice go?

We have had a really nice deep freeze on our pond for most of November and December.  At one point the ice was so thick, I am pretty sure you could drive a car onto the ice with nary a crack.  It has been perfect for ice skating and every morning you can see fresh deer prints across the snowy ice.  Just last week it looked like this

But when I took Grits for a walk this afternoon.....

Grits said, "Hey! Where did the ice go?"

I mean it is still hanging in there but, it is getting pretty thin

I do not think the deer will be walking across the ice this evening

Not unless they like ice SWIMMING rather than ice skating!

I am sure we will be inundated with another round of winter storms before spring sets in but I think today we should hang the ice skates up for a while. Looks like ice skating activities will have to be placed on hold. Hey, if the temperatures don't drop soon, maybe I should get out my paddle board! I could ice/slush/paddle/skate/ board my way across the melted/frozen/icy/slushy pond!

One Week Old

Juneau's little puppies are now one week old. Juneau is the best mommy and is taking awesome care of her 10 little babies. Right now all 10 are lined up and nursing happily while Juneau is nestled around them with a happy wagging tail.
If you listen closely, you can hear them all filling their tummies with the nice warm milk.  Life is good!

Juneau has 6 boys

and 4 girls

I love their little white stripes on their heads

Next week their little eyes will start to open

But for now....

It is still naptime all day long

Happy Monday!

Sunday Breakfast....for me?

This morning I was moving a little slowly.  I am tired.  As in T I R E D.  My son came in the kitchen and said that it looked like I needed a good Sunday morning breakfast.  I told him that I had too much to do and would just grab a bowl of cereal later.  That is when he said that he would make ME breakfast. I said he didn't need to but he insisted.  He then gave me a cup of coffee and had me sit down while he prepared my morning breakfast. He made "Eggy in the Hole" which is definitely one of my favorites.  You take a piece of bread, cut out a little hole in the middle and then put it in a saute pan with melted butter and crack an egg right in the hole. You saute the bread and egg together. When it is perfectly cooked, you can poke the center of the egg and then have hot yolk run all over your buttered toast.  Mmmmm.  And of course, my son made a perfect Eggy in the Hole for me.  It was so good!  AND if that weren't special enough, he even made me a tall glass of fresh squeezed orange juice!  Now that is one Sunday breakfast that will have me smiling all day long. Happy Sunday to me!

Dental Patients x 2

Today was one of those days that was over before I knew it.  I took care of the doodle doggies and doodle puppies and my daughter AND Mr. Yesteryear Acres and by the time I turned around, it was 10:25pm at night with all my emails left to answer and my blog to write.  I guess Mr. Yesteryear Acres felt left out and this morning he had some work done on his teeth and when he got back after his dental appointment, he was wiped out as well.  Now I had TWO dental patients.  My milkshake duty never ended all day long. My doodle doggie duties never ended all day long.  Hopefully tomorrow both Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my daughter will start to feel better.  Hey - maybe I will even get a chance to sit down! Gee....I crack myself up! That was a good one wasn't it?! Well a girl can dream!  Hoping for a better day tomorrow. Back to work for me!

Milkshake Duty

To say that my daughter looks uncomfortable would be an understatement.  Her face is so swollen from yesterday's surgery, it looks painful even from the outside! She is pretty miserable which is a little concerning as the surgeon said that day 3 or 4 would be the worst.  I don't think her face can swell much more.  I stayed up with her most of last night and today I have been on milkshake duty.  Milkshakes are about the only thing she can tolerate so I have been making a lot of mini milkshakes all day long. I have managed to squeeze in some work here and there and of course doodle doggie and puppy time, but most of the day has been spent with my milkshake chores.  I am hoping tonight that she can get some sleep so that I can grab a few zzzz's as well.  I am one tired mama!  The late night classes leading up to this has really zapped my energy.  If I don't get sleep tonight, I may be forced to take...a nap! Until then, one peppermint milkshake is on the way!

Best Christmas Present.....EVER!

There are so many wonderful Christmas gifts you can give during the holiday season.  The gift of cookies.  The gift of candy.  The gift of chocolate.  The gift of love.  I mean the list of awesome Christmas presents is endless.  This year, I gave my younger daughter the Best Christmas Present...EVER!  That's right. EVER!  Today she got to "open" her present.  It is a very expensive present.  It is so expensive, I should have probably made it her Christmas present, Birthday present, and maybe even Christmas present again! It is THAT nice.  I am sure you are wondering what in the world IS this awesome present?!!  Well this morning, before the sun was even awake, my daughter and I drove in the darkness to......The Oral Surgeon's Office! YES!  For Christmas, I gave her the gift of .....Wisdom Teeth Surgery!  WOW!  Isn't that a great gift?!  The oral surgeon said it was a REALLY good present because all four of her teeth were severely bone impacted and needed to come out right away.  It was a much needed surgery. I am sure the tears in my daughter's eyes after awaking from surgery this morning were tears of love and appreciation. I am the best gift giver.....ever.

One more class to go

Today I spent most of the day running errands.  I had a list a mile long and very limited time to get it all done.  Now I have less than 30 minutes to:
Work on my tax forms
Walk the doodle doggies
Finish making dinner for Mr. Yesteryear Acres and my son
Answer my emails
Write my blog
Get my 45 minutes of exercise in
Change clothes
Make a cup of coffee (long late class)
Empty the dishwasher
Load the dishwasher
and
breathe
Soooooooooo I guess I will definitely keep "remember to breathe" on my list but some of the others are just not going to happen.  These 5 hour night classes are killing my orderly daily schedule! Gosh - I can't wait for my Midnight O'Clock dinner again! Who doesn't love Thai Peanut Chicken at midnight? Ugh!  I sooooo need to workout tomorrow!  And I am going to make it happen!

Night Class

My daughter and I have been taking a night class every evening from 5-10pm.  I have a carefully planned schedule during the day to try to fit in everything I need to get done before I leave for the class.  This has resulted in me running around non-stop all day and STILL falling short of accomplishing my things to do.  Today I was literally finishing the pasta sauce with 30 seconds to spare so I could get to the car to make it to class on time.  The class is very strict and no late admissions are allowed so we have to leave on time.  That might seem easy but when you raise doodle puppies, there is always something that pops up at the last minute.  Today I had everything planned so that my daughter and I would be finished eating "dinner" by 4:00pm so that we could get out the door and get to class on time.  Well dinner didn't happen for us (again) so here it is 11:47pm and we are getting ready to eat our dinner so we can sit down and enjoy all the hard work we put into it earlier today.  Mr. Yesteryear Acres assures us it is delicious so we can't wait!  I was just about to have my first bite when I remembered - I NEED TO WRITE MY BLOG!  SO here it is!  Just in the nick of time.  One more class until we graduate.....I wonder what time we will eat tomorrow evening?  My guess.....11:46pm.  I like to set big goals!  Dinner time!

Newborn Puppy Picture Monday!

YAY!  Our doodle babies are here!  Juneau brought the New Year in with adorable doodle puppies to love.  They are doing great and I don't think she is quite done delivering yet.  Here are some NEW newborn puppy pictures for our Monday Puppy picture update!

Juneau's babies.....all snug and warm

She is such a good mom!

They are all nursing and doing great!

One more on the way!

She should be done delivering later this evening

AND

Belle had her babies

She had a small litter - just 3 adorable red doodle babies

They are gorgeous

Way to go Belle!

Mommies and Puppies.....all doing well.
Happy Monday!

Back to our Regularly Scheduled Program

Okay. Okay. Okay. Christmas Vacation is officially and completely over.  My son goes back to school tomorrow and it is time to get back to our regularly scheduled program.  No more eating Christmas cookies.  No more eating Christmas candy.  No more quasi exercise days.  It is time to get back into shape! First up - Clean the House day! I started early this morning and have been cleaning non-stop.  I literally haven't sat down all day long.  There was so much to do as I was a little neglectful in the house cleaning department.  I mean who wants to vacuum all day long when the kids are home and begging to go on a snow hike?  Not me!  Luckily my younger daughter is still home so she was able to join me in the ultra-fun cleaning day.  I am thinking she did not feel as lucky as I did, but she was a great sport and helped me all day long. We even had doodle "help"......

"Are you SURE you need to strip the rest of the bed?"

"Cause this works for me!"

Gosh our doodles are the best helpers ever!

The worst part about cleaning is - well - the cleaning.  The best part about cleaning is when you are all done and everything is sparkly clean. Happy Clean day!

Dairy Farm Heaven

Today my son was living the dream and spent the entire day at a Dairy farm.  He got a tour of the entire operation. He saw the calves, the milking equipment, the newborns, the silage, grain - everything.  The farmer gave him an in-depth and thorough look at the life of a dairy farmer.  My son learned so much and just had the very best day ever.  I asked him what his favorite part of the day was and a close second was the made from scratch farm lunch.  He got farm raised beef vegetable soup, homemade bread, homemade applesauce, apple butter and cookies AND cold FRESH milk. It was a feast custom made for my boy. His favorite thing was of course the entire day but the thing he was most surprised was when he got to be a part of the artificial insemination process.  My son said he did not expect that today he would be wearing gloves up to his shoulder and having his arm you know where - but it is all part of the dairy life.  When I say he saw it all - he really did!  There was even a calf born today! His dream to become a farmer got a little stronger today.  Power to the Farmer!

Snowball Fetch - Best Game Ever

This morning we woke up to a chilly -1* outside and they are saying next week that -1* will feel warm!  There is no excuse for hiding inside with such an epic winter forecast so my daughter and I took a long snow hike first thing this morning. We figured we are pretty much acclimated to the cold at this point, well acclimated as in I must wear arctic gear plus 100 layers just to let the dogs out, but who needs to put their arms down anyway?

The snow hiking begins

This is how we amuse ourselves along our walk

Snowball Fetch!

SCORE!

We can do this for hours

So can Olive

I'm going to catch that snowball this time!

So ready.....

Got it!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hey? Where did the ball go?????

Thank goodness there is always another snowball right around the corner!

After a winter day filled with snow hikes, sledding, and doodle snow fun, we decided that a batch of homemade pasta would be the perfect end to a perfect day. We were right! Mmmm.  No leftovers here!

Happy Snow day!

One last snow romp

My older daughter had to go back to the Marine base today.  Christmas vacation is officially over but Mother Nature was soooooooo nice to give us one last fun snow romp before my daughter hit the road.

We were so excited to wake up to a winter wonderland

Grits says, "Snow is delicious!!!"

The doodle doggies were so happy to see all the mud disappear

Nothing beats one last snow romp before the long drive back

Snow much fun!

I will miss that sweet smile!!!!

Grits will miss her too!

TAG!  You are it!

Time to go already?

One last snowy goodbye to Yesteryear Acres.......

Travel safely my sweet daughter of mine. 

Thanks for the awesome time together!

Happy New Year!!!!!!!

Happy New Year!  Happy 2014! Amazingly enough, everyone stayed up last night to welcome in the New Year.  We had a lovely celebration and got 2014 off to an excellent start.  Today has been a busy day full of outdoor activities, cooking projects, delicious food feasting, undecorating Christmas, and more. We have been scurrying around non-stop all day long.  Our Christmas decorations are now neatly packed away until next Christmas.  I am glad that we are done with that job but will really miss my deer in the backyard.  They looks so beautiful with all the white lights at night. I suppose our nightly glow-in-the-dark fetch game will really be dark for this evening! Right now we are packing up the car and are heading to Mr. Yesteryear Acres parents' house for our annual traditional New Year's Day dinner.  We will have one extra guest for tonight's feast.....Grits!  Mr. Yesteryear Acres Mommy said that Grits could come so of course Grits got a bath and she is all beautiful for our New Years Day celebration. I told her to be on her very best puppy behavior and Grits said, "Of course I will!"  Good little puppy! Party of Five....plus Grits ready for feasting.  Happy New Year.  Hope you have a good luck meal to share with the ones you love!  Happy January 1, 2014!