Thank goodness for the Sauna! We'll be firing it up tonight - the water's been frozen in the shower for 2 days now! This is one of my son Seth's barrel saunas - he was recently interviewed by the Wall Street Journal regarding them. We've got our eyes peeled for the article at some point in the future!

- thanks to my husband Jim for coming home early from work to help blow some snow!








After the storm - here is the henhouse; we still need to plow it out, in the meantime there is a little path I trundle through to feed the hens, the peafowl and the geese. I have moved Jim's turkeys over to the barn where they are doing fine sharing the back of the barn with the sheep.





This is the rootcellar that was built into this hill back in 1940. We have potatoes in here along with some cannas; last year I used this cellar for aging cheeses - it worked okay but it was kind of hard to manage the humidity. The little shed in the foreground is one of Jim's smokehouse projects. Everyone thinks it is an outhouse but it's not. In the summer it is covered with clematis and is quite lovely.




Here is the house - now wouldn't a soft yellow with plum trim look great?






And the barn - I still can not get the door to the milkhouse open and I'm beginning to worry since the snow is beginning to harden over and it won't get easier. This morning it was -23F; it has warmed up to the minus teens but we'll need to wait another day or so when it is due to warm up before tackling this project!

Just West of us in the Twin Cities ~ Solo's boy Cooper!!

Solo, out on Rustic Road 4!

a last update for today, around 4...it continues to snow steadily and blow.




updated at about noon..it continues to come down..and now the wind is picking up!






Blizzard conditions today - we already have around 8 or 9 inches of snow; it is wet and heavier than last week's snowfall. The plows likely won't come down the road until sometime tomorrow so it will be a bit of a challenge to feed the stock. I was prepared however and the goats are indoors with plenty of food and bedded down in preparation for the windchills that are predicted. The poultry are also indoors and dry. The dogs have just come inside and covered the kitchen floor in snowballs!

Here are a couple of pictures, one down the road towards our neighbors Melvin and Sylvia, the other down the road to the west.

This little quote came up on my facebook page this morning. I liked it!

There comes a time in life when you walk away from all the pointless drama and people who create it.

Surround yourself with people who make you laugh so hard that you forget the bad and focus on the good.

Life is too short to be...anything...but happy

As such, we're having Larry Painter out to Wisconsin for a working clinic this summer. He's a great clinician as well as a very good person to be around!

We are in the middle of a blizzard today; my 85 year old neighbor just called to offer help - there seem to be good people all around!

Noche came out today with Susan to work with Phyllis. Noche' is from Solo and Ruby's litter and is just 6 months old. She's showing natural talent and we look forward to watching her mature and progress.




It began snowing hard and blowing up a blizzard but you can't keep a good dog down!

Remember summer?

From New Mexico, the word from Nancy Culley that Riker earned an agility leg in Open Jumpers (1st place!) The picture here is from February 2010 when I met up with Terry and Nancy in Tularosa, NM at a trial. Riker is by Blitz v Bertrupaty x Zonnetje. Blitz just passed on last week at a ripe old age.

...and while we're up here in the North freezing, Vespa is living the good life down on the track in Florida :0)

Solo says that 4" of fresh snow is fine by him! It was a warm day, around 20F; I took a gift of 5 hens and 2 bales of straw to our friend Stephanie - it was a sort of 'gift pack' with one each Arucana, Brown Leghorn, Australorp, Partridge Cochin and Speckled Sussex. These hens are all laying now so it will be a fun addition to their small (1 hen, 1 rooster) flock.

Congratulations to our friend Lynn and Briarlea Ziva on her Agility debut and her first Q (Qualifying score) today!

A clear morning and 10F - we go to Phyllis' farm this morning to work sheep and I'll need to have my Carharts and muckboots on- not a pretty picture, I can assure you! Solo had a good training session yesterday; I hope to enter him in an AKC obedience trial in January in El Paso, TX so we are working on those exercises as well as his french ring work.

The garden catalogs have begun to arrive; general vegetable catalogs, tomato specific catalogs and, a first this year, a snap bean catalog. Who knew?? I have dragged out some paper to begin to design a new garden on the south side of the house, the older I become, the less I enjoy mowing grass. We have ostrich ferns working to take over the entire back yard and that may be the ultimate decision. We also plan to paint the house next summer; I've been given carte blanche to take photos of interesting color combinations on other folks' houses as I suggested that it would be fun to have a house color other than white!

I need to put the bee hive away; it was not a huge success what with a weak colony to start, and a cold and wet spring. I rationalize by thinking that at least we helped with pollination and will try again next year.

With freezing rain coming down this morning, the decision was made to stay home rather than go toward Minneapolis for training. After sliding around doing chores (the goats inside, thankful for a warm and heavily straw bedded barn) we worked dogs - Solo is picking up his french commands slowly - especially the changes of position - although he's game to learn. He is also less than amused by the muzzle but is generally a good sport about it all. He's a really fun dog to work along side. Indoors, I have put a couple of loaves of wild rice bread up to rise and already roasted a chicken for supper.

I had an email from North Pond Restaurant in Chicago this past week inquiring about buying our 2011 lamb crop; I replied that I would need to see what the season brought before committing but it would be great to have them all go to one destination! We have been steadily upgrading our lamb flock to all Dorpers - they are one of the 'hair' sheep, thus don't require shearing. They also are short sheep, great for those of us who don't want to deal with sheep the size of ponies! Some people feel that the hair sheep breeds have meat that is more mild than 'wool' sheep. We certainly can't argue, the lamb from this year is tender and mild. Here's a link: www.northpondrestaurant.com

Briarlea's Life Is A Breeze RN MX MXJ NAP NJP MXF NFP has been invited to the Eukanuba AKC Invitational in Long Beach, California. Good luck to Breeze and Maggie!

Cranberry Fruit Conserve - you might have seen this on the Google page, it is delicious!!!

From Barefoot Contessa Parties!

• 1 12-ounce bag of fresh cranberries, cleaned
• 1 3/4 cups sugar
• 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and chopped
• Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
• Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 3/4 cup raisins
• 3/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans

Cook the cranberries, sugar, and 1 cup of water in a saucepan over low heat for about 5 minutes, or until the skins pop open. Add the apple, zests, and juices and cook for 15 more minutes. Remove from the heat and add the raisins and nuts. Let cool, and serve chilled.

Makes 4 cups.

Sleet, freezing rain, icy roads - looks like early winter has arrived! Meanwhile, down in Florida, Reg Cobb and Nina CDX finish their Rally Excellent title! Nina is from Ali Shaba de Tremaudan SchH3 and Briarlea Luna de la Luz CD FR2; she has been working in Utility also so we're hopeful she titles this coming year. Reg is in his 70's and has been a Bouvier owner for many years now with multiple High in Trial awards to his credit.

5 months old now, Solo and Ruby's pups!

Noche'
Briarlea Reina de la Noche'











Tillie in Montana

Congratulations to Jet on earning his AHBA HTAD Started Sheep title today! Here's a picture from when he was just a baby, wearing his little red coat. He's a handsome young fellow now at a year and will be available to a trial or ranch home once he's trained up some more.

My grandson Anthony and Birdie this summer in Royalton, Minnesota. Birdie is from Schwartzi de la Saulaie Maraiche FR1 x WTCH Briarlea Lark of High Rolls CD TD PT and is scheduled to have puppies in 2011!

Went to the Guthrie yesterday to enjoy the old Hitchcock '39 Steps' with my mom and my sister - it was great fun! I did manage to get home -- with cheerful assistance from one of the Minneapolis Policemen after driving around for 40 minutes trying to get back on I-94!

It's truly cold here today, the buckets are frozen and the dogs would really prefer to be inside, thanks! I've started touch pads with Solo - restarted, really, since I'd done foundation work with him as a puppy, but he needs review! I also made liver treats from the 8 lamb livers we had saved from this fall - the house smells still from that process but we know the dogs will love them!

Congratulations are in order for Nancy and Terry Culley as Bennie earned his Novice Agility (NA) Title this weekend as well as his Novice Agility Jumpers (NAJ) title. Looks like he finally figured out how to lift those back legs!