Making Connections

It has been over a week since I had Internet and have not been faithful to my new blog, so tomorrow expect some good posts. If you like post a story about this years winter storms and what you would like to see in my blog. Good night and stay warm.

And We Have Snow

Around one last night the snow blew in, just what I had been waiting for. We got over ten inches of snow and way over a foot in spots. So far my classes have been closed until tomorrow, but there is now way we can get off this back road. While a chicken roasted in the oven I went outside with the dogs. It is wonderful how aging dogs act like puppies in the snow.

Pookie was had been abandoned on our road when she was a pup. I was around seven or eight at the time and brought her to our house after playing in the mud. She became a quick addition to our home. This winter has been a cold one for her, but she is more inclined to play in the snow more than Deci.

Deci had also been abandoned on our road when she was about full term with a litter of pups. She had been passed around by neighbors up until she gave birth.

Our home is placed upon a pretty decently sloped hill. When it rains water runs from a pasture behind our home into the bottom of the hill and forms a swift stream and sometimes a creek. A wooden mattress frame had been left in the woods at the base of the hill and Deci found this a perfect place to have her pups. That summer the remnants of a hurricane slightly flooded the county. It wasn't until a swift creek built in momentum that we discovered she had given birth in the woods under the wooden frame. We quickly followed her into the woods after the frame had slipped and trapped her puppies in the temporary creek. Since I was the smallest I had to crawl under and pull the nearly drowned pups from under the frame. She had given birth to eight puppies; one female, seven males. After that day she never left our family.

Deci has now gone through mammary tumor surgery, suffers from arthritis, and continues to dislike anything that even sounds remotely like a creek. Anytime the water feeder gurgles she runs away afraid.

Both dogs are aged, but dearly loved and protective of us. What does you dog or pet mean mean to you?

Check out http://www.aspca.org/pet-care/ for more ways to keep you pet safe. On the right hand side is an opportunity to get a FREE pet emergency packet with window decal to alert firemen or other safety personnel that you have animals inside and a ASPCA poison control center magnet just in case you pet consumes a chemical or other dangerous poisons.

Waiting on Snow

Supposibly the snow front is right on top of us, but I haven't seen any yet. For the first time in years we had a truly White Christmas & New Year, I live in the mountains and got ten inches of snow. I thought I would share some pictures from our Christmas & New Years snow days.

The barren Black Walnut tree and plenty of pines are weighed down by the snow.

The Blue Jays left the seed for left overs from Christmas Eve brunch.

Doves, Downy Woodpeckers, and smaller birds feed from the feeder in the front yard. The birds sound so beautiful in the morning.

The houses new teeth, I didn't know the house had a Christmas wish.

I was once told that those blurs in photos were the spirt of of passed loved ones. If that is true I believe that center one is my Granny Ruby, who passed away five years ago this past Christmas Eve. What do you believe?

Why Worry?

I started back to college after Winter break last week. I missed the textbook sell yesterday at my campus. I was freaked out since one of my textbooks for literature had not arrived and I badly needed it. I didn't have enough money to go to the main campus over sixty miles away, since my truck is becoming a money guzzler. Well today it arrived out of the blue, ten days earlier than Amazon siad it would. This was after a little laying it down at God's feet. He does simple things to make a big impact. So why worry about that needed manicure or missed appointment, maybe God planned it that way.

When It Snows, You Get Work Done

For about seven months I would visit a local farm and show one of their heifer's. The farm was beside a road leading into the deep mountains in North Georgia and quite beautiful year round. Last February had been a very busy month for me when I was in school, I exhibited cattle and sheep at shows in Georgia. During one of my last visits to the farm and one of the coldest. The farm owners son showed two beautiful Angus heifers also, since we kept our cattle together we went to the same shows. The Georgia Junior Livestock Show & Rodeo was in a few day and we had to groom our animals for show. We prepared to wash the heifers as the sky decided to snow.

This is toward the begining of the snow fall.Over the years of being outside during the cold I have developed an imunization to cold, to a point. Even though it snowed we continued to wash each animal and tried our best to free them from the muck of the barnyard. Oncw we finished our task I took a lot of satisfaction that I was able to manage to walk on the already freezing ground. I also took satisfation the following days at the fair.

Here is the result a clean and profesionaly groomed heifer that placed fourth in her division.

It was events like washing a cow in the snow, losing a boot to a barnyard full of muck, and the sight of a heifer with her first calf that I learned that I wanted to be a cattle farmer. I started college last Fall and I hope to achieve my first degree, an associate degree of Agriculture & Natural Science from Dalton State College.