Happy First Birthday Puppies!

I have been a bad blogger and not posted for quite a while, but now I have something fun that has to be shared. The puppies turned one on Dec 4th. To celebrate, we invited all the pups and their families to join us at the North Clackamas dog park for a puppy playdate today. Sunny and all five of her boys had a wonderful time playing, chasing and acting like a pack of wild animals. We have been in contact with all of the pups' new families except for the little girl (we called her Gracie, don't know what they named her). If her new family reads this, we would love to see pictures of her and have you join us at the next playdate.

Unfortunately, I didn't check the camera batteries before we left and they were low so the pictures turned out a bit blurry. You can still see how big all the pups have gotten and how much fun they had together.


That's Sammy in the front, Sunny in the middle and Sprocket (Butter) back by Tori and me. Even though he was the first to arrive, this is the only decent picture I got of Sprocket. The pups were so excited to see each other, they didn't stop for pictures.

Neo (Junior)

Wyld (Lil Buddy)

Jack running with the pack.


I think John missed Wyld (Lil Buddy) most.


Sunny was very happy to see him also.


Sammy trying to bully his big brother.

We are so proud of all the pups and grateful to their new families for taking such good care of them. We hope to see you all again in the summer!

Mother's Day

Welcome back! It's been way too long since I've posted on here. I guess I'm not finding our lives very interesting lately. Of course, once it hits me, I come up with several things to post all at once.

I got the ultimate Mother's Day gift, a weekend alone with my mom and brothers in Sunriver. None of us could remember the last time we all got to hang out together. It was a very nice weekend. We set out for a bike ride on Sunday morning that turned into a three hour trip. We made a couple pit stops along the river to rest and let Sunshine swim. The poor girl got so tired at the last pit stop she just laid down and couldn't go on. Ryan rode back to the house and got his truck to pick her up like a princess. I'm surprised she didn't join us in the hot tub to soak her aching bones too.

Brandon, Mom, Steph, Ryan and Sunny

Brandon, Heather, Steph, Ryan

Mom and Ryan

Catching my breath while Sunny swims

Brandon and Heather up a tree

Sleepy Pups

My Boys

Since the boys greatly outnumber the girls in this house (we make up for it in the henhouse), I figured they should get their share of blogage.

These are the human boys of the house.

This is as dressed up as they'll ever be. It's nice to see once in a while.

I asked them to give me a GQ pose.

The puppy boys

I loved how this series of shots of Ty and Woody turned out.

I can't leave out my girl! Here she is with her "baby" Sammy.

See How They Grow

We are down to just three boys now, Woodrow, Sammy and Junior. Yes, we decided to let Tori keep her Samster! We now have a live in babysitter for life. We are still trying to find Junior's new family. The longer it takes, the more we become attached.

Don't you just want to get in there with them?

They're not always so adorable. Sometimes they do horrible, horrible things like kill my best hen. I tried to be mad, but they looked so cute with their bloody little noses. She didn't learn to stay on her side of the fence after the first two times they got her, so it's kind of her own fault.

On to happier times. I took Woodrow out for his first hike last week with Tiffany, Oliver and Sunshine. We did the loop around LaCamas Lake in Washington. Woodrow had never been on a leash before and didn't get it, so we just let him follow. He was very well behaved. He even did fine when I put him on the leash towards the end of the hike.

Here he is testing out the water. He didn't go for a swim like mom, but he had fun playing on the shore.

The Bacon Experiment

UPDATE: The bacon is all done and I thought I'd share the results. We discovered that by hanging the bacon in the smoker instead of laying it flat on the racks, we could get much more in there. That left us with only two more batches to smoke. That wasn't the part that ruined it though. I didn't take into account that the seven days of curing was for a slab of pork. The sliced pieces soaked it up much faster and the bacon is overly salty/sweet. We found that if we cut it up into little bits and used it in dishes like scalloped potatoes, it was fine. It is too strong to eat on it's own though. Next up is the ham. If that turns out well, I'll consider trying again next year.

So far the great bacon experiment is not going well. What's the great bacon experiment, you ask? Each year we purchase a cow and a pig from a local farmer. This year, we decided to keep all of our pork fresh (uncured) so that we could cure it ourselves. I found this blog that made it look real easy, so without much planning, we began. Our first mistake was having our "bacon" (technically not bacon until it has been cured and smoked, but that's what I'm calling it) sliced by the butcher. It would have been much easier if we had left it in a slab, but what's done is done, so we move on. Our second mistake was curing nearly ten pounds of meat, then discovering that we could only fit about one pound at a time in the smoker. That means that a lot of it is drying out in the refrigerator and probably won't be as juicy as it should be. Maybe I'm wrong and that part won't hurt it at all. That would be a welcome surprise. Our third mistake was using a smoker without any instructions. Neither of us has smoked anything before (foodwise that is) so we just followed the instructions on the blog. Apparently, there is more than one kind of smoker and ours was not the same as the one on the blog. We left the bacon in there all night and it never reached anything near 150 degrees like the instructions said. It did, however, turn into jerky. I tried frying it to see if it was any good. Because it was so dry, it burned very easily.Once I finally got some cooked without blackening it, it was ok. Terribly smoky, but edible. On a positive note, mistake two probably saved the rest of the bacon from suffering the same fate. We have a second chance (or ten)! BUT, we won't know the fate of the rest of the bacon right away due to mistake four (is that right? I've lost count!). I'm not taking the blame for this one though. This was the fault of some very nosy puppies who were trying to get to the yummy meat smell that was just out of reach. They didn't get the meat, but they did get the full bag of hickory chips. And they were so proud of themselves too.
P.S. I just realized that the picture of the bacon in the fridge gives a rather disturbing sample of our diet. Despite what it looks like, we do not live on bacon and alcohol (tempting as that may be!).

So You Think You Can Dance?

Our youngest child sure can! He gets his sweet moves from his father. Here's just a sample of Jack's fancy footwork.

Hard Headed Woman

Here are the rules:
1. Put your iTunes on shuffle.
2. For each question, press the next button to get your answer
3. YOU MUST WRITE THAT SONG NAME DOWN NO MATTER HOW SILLY IT SOUNDS

1) IF SOMEONE SAYS "IS THIS OKAY" YOU SAY? Dareh Meyod - O.A.R.
2) WHAT WOULD BEST DESCRIBE YOUR PERSONALITY? Lilacs - Matt Costa
3) WHAT DO YOU LIKE IN A GUY/GIRL? Here We Go - Dispatch
4) HOW DO YOU FEEL TODAY? No Turning Back - G. Love
5) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE'S PURPOSE? Imagine - Avril Lavigne (cover of John Lennon)
6) WHAT IS YOUR MOTTO? When We Meet Again - G. Love and Special Sauce
7) WHAT DO YOUR FRIENDS THINK OF YOU? Say Hey (I Love You) - Michael Franti & Spearhead
8) WHAT DO YOU THINK ABOUT VERY OFTEN? The Hardest Button to Button - The White Stripes
9) WHAT IS 2+2? Spitting Venom - Modest Mouse
10) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR BEST FRIEND? Hope - Jack Johnson
11) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Liver Splash - The Meters
12) WHAT IS YOUR LIFE STORY? Heaven/Where True Love Goes - Yusaf Islam
13) WHAT DO YOU WANT TO BE WHEN YOU GROW UP? Rainbow Country - Bob Marley and the Wailers. (that's pretty close!)
14) WHAT DO YOU THINK WHEN YOU SEE THE PERSON YOU LIKE? Symbol in My Driveway - Jack Johnson (Yeah, John's just a trophy husband)
15) WHAT WILL YOU DANCE TO AT YOUR WEDDING? Give it Up - Amos Lee (that would make a great wedding song)
16) WHAT WILL THEY PLAY AT YOUR FUNERAL? Run - Indigo Girls (not even close! for the record, I would prefer Pleasure and Pain by Ben Harper)
17) WHAT IS YOUR HOBBY/INTEREST? New Thrash - Sublime
18) WHAT IS YOUR BIGGEST SECRET? These 3 Sins - Gomez (oh, that is great!)
19) WHAT DO YOU THINK OF YOUR FRIENDS? Bang Bang - Dispatch (there's so many ways that is so wrong!)
20) WHAT'S THE WORST THING THAT COULD HAPPEN? Invisible - Modest Mouse
21) HOW WILL YOU DIE? O Maria - Beck (If I meet a Maria, I'm running!)
22) WHAT IS THE ONE THING YOU REGRET? Nutshell - Alice in Chains
23) WHAT MAKES YOU LAUGH? Mayday - Dispatch (not at all funny)
24) WHAT MAKES YOU CRY? Body Movin' - Beastie Boys
25) WILL YOU EVER GET MARRIED? Ran Away to the Top of the World Today - O.A.R. (I guess that's a no?)
26) WHAT SCARES YOU THE MOST? Come in the Harvest - Piers Faccini (I'm not touching that one!)
27) DOES ANYONE LIKE YOU? Crowing - Toad the Wet Sprocket (my roosters love me)
28) IF YOU COULD GO BACK IN TIME, WHAT WOULD YOU CHANGE? Ganges a Go-Go - Bombay the Hard Way
29) WHAT HURTS RIGHT NOW? Camilo - State Radio (that song hurts my heart)
30) WHAT WILL YOU POST THIS NOTE AS? Hard Headed Woman - Cat Stevens (well, everyone will know who it's from!)

I Hate Goodbye

The pups are eight weeks old already. It's time for them to move on to their new homes. It will be bittersweet because they have been a lot of work, but also a tremendous joy in our lives. To make it even harder, the kids named them all several weeks ago. I tried to go on just calling them all "puppy", but the names eventually stuck in my brain.

This is "Junior" aka "Thud". He was the first born. He's a typical oldest child, very serious and in charge. He's a leader, for sure.


You all know "Lil Buddy". He is quite a tank. Despite his reputation, I think he is going to be a very good dog. He is the first to come running when I call them inside. He really pays attention to what I'm doing at all times and makes eye contact. I think he will be an easy one to train.

Another one you already know, "Woodrow". He is Mr. Mellow. You can usually find him snoring on his back while the other pups are playing. I think he knows he's staying.

This is the little girl, "Gracie". She is very smart and independent. She's the last one to come in when I call them, if she comes at all. Whenever we talk to her she does the head tilt thing back and forth. She reminds me alot of Sunny.

This one is going to be hard. His name is "Sammy" aka "Samster the Hamster". He is Tori's favorite and it's going to break her heart when he leaves. I can't even think about it without crying. Look at those droopy eyes, who wouldn't love him?

Last, but not least (actually he is the smallest) is "Butter". He is a sweet, gentle soul. I hope he gets to be the top dog at his new home.

Puppy Videos

The puppies are spending a lot more time outside. Sunny really enjoys playing with them now. They got to play in snow for the first time this morning, but weren't too fond of it. They played for a few minutes then they were all at the door whining to come back in.

Hawk

John was watching his beloved Eagles lose their chance at the Superbowl on Sunday when he noticed some feathers flying out on the deck. Thinking that our young roosters were fighting, he got up to shoo them and found this instead:

A hawk, probably the one that came to visit our meaties this fall, had caught a robin and was preparing to feast on it just five feet from our back door! No, it is not chained up. The puppies were dragging that chain around earlier and the hawk just happened to land on it. John started to open the door and the hawk flew off with the robin. Sadly, this was not an omen for the football game. He had hoped it represented the birds of prey(Eagles) killing the helpless little songbirds(Cardinals). If he hadn't taken the pictures, I would have thought this was all a beer-induced dream.

Little Buddy

In an effort to convince Big Buddy's parents to let Little Buddy come live with them, John has been taking many pictures of him and asked me to post them. He also wanted me to tell them that Little Buddy wants to go live with his daddy and learn to be a good dog just like him. I do not condone puppy pushing. Ok, maybe I do but only if someone really wants said puppy and just doesn't know it yet. ; )

Don't you love me, Lesley?