Tuesday, November 29

A little like Christmas,,,

Yesterday I dug out the Christmas decorations. Didn't put up the 7.5 foot tree due to the Posh Dog Bed Pit in the middle of the livingroom, there's just NO room. I did manage to put up my little Christmas village on the mantel and hung the stockings....I know, I know there are only 4 stockings, gotta get Miss Molly one the next time I'm in town. I am still hoping that maybe she'll have her "furever" home by then. So there's a little Christmas spirit living in my house. Enjoy your day!!




Sunday, November 27

Slumber Party...

I think the girlz had an unauthorized slumber party last night. 
This is how we found the Posh Dog Bed Pit this morning!!          

Stuffed critters everywhere--haha
Schatzie, do you know anything about this mess?!?!?
Looks like Goofy partied too hard...

 Even the chicken made the party
 

Saturday, November 26

Black Friday Finds...

Finally back at the blog...I have been feeling a little "frumpy" the past few weeks, so my blogging has suffered. Anyhow, I am back.

Ron and I usually don't do Black Fridays but some items on the Menards Christmas ad caught our eye. Fortunately, we didn't have to get up in the wee hours to grab our bargains. We headed to town at 5:30(Menards opened at 6a.m.) in search of  2 items....dog beds and unstuffed dog toys without squeakers. We nabbed our loot and got out of dodge. We were headed home at 7a.m. spending most of our time standing in the check out lane. So the Christmas shopping for the girlz is done!! YAY!!

Check out the Posh Dog Bed Pit!! 
 Each toy has 2 squeakers.........
We've hid the toys til Christmas...
yep, you see 3 fox, 3 raccoons, and 3 skunks(that don't spray)
that's 18 squeakers!!!!

Sunday, November 13

Gracie's Gotcha Day

Today we celebrated Gracie's 6th Gotcha Day.  It was November 13, 2005 that we added her to our family.
She has indeed made our life interesting--we've learned to deal with megaesophagus (an eating disorder) a move to and from the island of Molokai, a back injury caused by her sister's rough housing, she survived an attack by 3 pit bulls, eating rat poison, being sprayed by a skunk, etc,etc...With Gracie there is never a dull moment. The first photo is from Petfinder.com. It was love at first sight!!
She was the little yellow dog that nobody wanted....I am so glad she found us.
 First stop after completing  all the adoption paperwork was Petsmart to pick out her own toy. 
She picked out a "wooly man" :)
 Gracie is a cuddle bug.

 Today we made "cookies"--Gracie loves cookies!!
Yesterday we received a package from Gramma E.... 
Gracie loves getting packages almost as much as eating cookies!!

So if you are thinking of getting a puppy to add to your family,
PLEASE don't SHOP~~~~ADOPT!!



Saturday, November 12

From green to red...

 Last month before we had our killing frost, Ron and I harvested approximately 100 green tomatoes. So what do you do with 100 green tomatoes?  Well, you wrap them in newspaper (thanks to my mother-in-law) and set them in a box in your basement and forget them....

Here's what we started with....100 or so tennis ball sized green tomatoes.

Wrap in newspaper...throw them in a cool dark place and wait!!


Surprise.....3 weeks later, you have 100 beautiful ripe tomatoes.

I just finished canning 3 quarts of stewed tomatoes, 3 pints of juice and 
7 pints of salsa!!! 
WOOHOO

Friday, November 11

trying something new

Trying a new photo editing program...
my blogger friend Lyn told me about Picnik.com
So today, I gave it a try....lots to learn, but I like the outcome so far. Please share your thoughts.

Sunday, November 6

A gift...

It's been awhile since I grabbed the camera and just set out on foot to snap away. Late this afternoon, after hanging with the girlz, I wandered about the ranch. I really didn't know what I expected to find. Fall is nearly over, the harvest is complete, and the land is tired and ready for its slumber. As I walked, I stumbled upon a stem of soybeans that had eluded the combine. As I snapped the photo I was reminded of a quote by Minor White~~ "There are no accidents, only gifts." The combine missed that stem of beans for a reason--it was meant to be a gift, a gift of food for perhaps a field mouse, a hungry game bird or maybe a deer.


  Remember everyday is a gift, that's why they call it the present.  
Val :)

Friday, November 4

All because...

As you all know I have spent the last two days recovering from the untimely run in with a skunk. I began my day with taking the girlz on their usual morning walkabout. Now normally I walk the dogs in the daylight, but I had to work at 8 on wednesday and the forecast was for snow/rain and temperatures dropping throughout the day. So, I thought get up, get out and get the walk in. It's approximately 6:30 a.m.(pitch dark) and we were about 1/2 way done with the walk when Gracie and Schatzie got a whiff of something and away they went. Fortunately I had Miss Molly on a leash!! Once I caught up with the two of them they were busy looking for something  in the bushes and I am pointing my flashlight in their direction. I hear rustling and  what I thought was birds in  the treetops, I see no birds...when all of a sudden WHAM....the smell hits me and Molly. We've been blasted by a skunk. I later found out the rustling I heard was probably the skunk stomping his/her feet warning of the impending blast. Anyhow, Gracie and Schatzie got a direct blast, unfortunately I didn't know this until we returned to the house. The wind was blowing about 20 mph and I bent over to smell them and thought, they don't smell too bad, maybe the skunk missed them.  Well....the joke was on me....I let them into the house...so now I had 2 smelly dogs in my house and Ron asking, "did the girlz get into something??"

Yep, they sure did....once I realized they got blasted, outside they went. Ron didn't have to work on wednesday morning so he was given the task of giving baths to the girlz. By the time he was ready to give them baths it was raining very windy and COLD, so he gave them baths in the bathroom.....the bath consisted of hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and dawn dish soap. Found this recipe on the internet and it does work--some sort of chemical reaction to break down the oils of the skunk spray.

Meanwhile, I get ready for work and jump in the car with my boss( we carpool on wednesdays)..."he says, gosh I smell a skunk!!" I about died, I had showered, clean clothes even gave myself a spritz of perfume and he smells SKUNK!!! Once I got to work I found a bottle of disinfectant and went outside in the rain and sprayed myself. Feeling more confident that I no longer smelled like a skunk I brought our first patient back to the operatory. I work as a dental assistant, what a great job to have the day you smell like a skunk. We begin working on the patient and she says, "wow, I can really smell that!!"  I nearly dropped to the floor, I'm thinking oh no, she smells skunk!!  HA...She tells us she can smell the decay from her tooth....as I pick myself up off the floor I am grateful for tooth decay at this particular time.

Fast forward a couple hours when Ron arrives at the clinic (he's a dentist ) to do a checkup on one of his patients...As soon as he walks in you can smell skunk...He puts on his scrubs and his street clothes go into a plastic bag and yes the disinfectant comes out again.  We all managed to get thru the rest of the day at the clinic without further incident. However....

Wednesday is BOWLING night...so since Ron's street clothes were ruled unwearable and bagged we had to go shopping for new jeans and a shirt for him to wear to bowling. He got his jeans while I went to the pet store looking for other remedies for ridding our home of the aroma of SKUNK.  Found this great stuff called "Natures Miracle" it's an enzyme that you just spray on you, the dog and all other areas that the smell has effected. It is indeed a miracle!!

Neither one of us was in the mood to bowl...yet we did it for our team. As we are waiting for our lanes to open we sit and chat....our team members (not knowing our story yet) say....you guessed it, "do you smell SKUNK?" Oh no, not again...somehow the skunk smell has been embedded into our skin I just know it and we will never be rid of it. Despite smelling like skunks and Ron forgetting his bowling ball we actually bowled pretty well.

Finally returned home at 10p.m. entering the house and the stench of skunk hits again. I sprayed the girlz, carpet, furniture and the air with the enzymes. This was all I could do....the ugly task of cleaning would have to wait til morning. Sleeping only for a couple hours, I woke gagging from the stench. I jumped on the internet and surfed for ways to remove the smell from everything...We had all the suggested items to rid the smell, however it's just going to take time.

Thursday and friday  I spent the entire day doing laundry, everything was scrubbed down ceiling to floor, shampooed carpets, dogs given more baths, windows open, candles burning, baking cinnamon in the oven. Thank goodness it was sunny and warm so the girlz could be outside ALL day. I did make another trip to the pet store for more Nature's Miracle..first store---they were out :(  the clerk told me there's been a run on the Nature's Miracle, thus telling me that I'm NOT the only one that had an encounter with a dreaded skunk. I guess in a small way that makes me feel better...Thank the Lord the 2nd store had the goods--I bought all they had.  :)

All in all, although I am exhausted,  I am somewhat grateful to that stinky little skunk-- cuz now my fall house cleaning is done. Top to bottom--inside and out  :)


Thursday, November 3

Got skunked...so what am I using???

It's slow, but we are winning the battle. Some have asked what I've been using~~~
so far the products in the photo have helped to rid the dogs and house of that nasty skunk aroma. 


I will  tell the entire story soon, going to give the girlz another bath and then I  need to run to town for more cleaning supplies and not to mention give my poor olfactory system a much  needed rest.  

Wednesday, November 2

We got.....

SKUNKED..........................

Gracie and Schatzie were sprayed this morning by our local skunk.
Fortunately, Molly and I were not sprayed directly. So we are looking for ways to get rid of the SMELL!!!
Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.   :)

Tuesday, November 1

He's coming home....

Kp2 is coming home to Hawaii today!!! He's been in rehab in California for almost 2 years.
Ron and I spent many hours with this little goof ball.
I will post more of his story soon.


 Happy Day for the many volunteers that helped to save this crazy little seal's life.