I have worked on the Nigerian Dwarf section of our website as well as the Other Animals section today for several hours. There are many photos to be seen there now. I am trying to fill in all the blank places on our website, so stay tuned!
I started all the puppies on a mixture of wet Royal Canin small breed puppy food and canned Science Diet puppy food. I mush it all up together and let it get soft and the puppies love it. The mommas love it too- so they have to go out until the puppies are done eating! Then, they can come in clean up the leftovers.
It is really amazing how the Brussels develop so much slower than the dachshunds. Our dachshunds are a week younger and have big teeth and can eat the dry food. The Brussels have just tiny tooth buds coming in and don’t eat anything that’s not soft. I would never have guessed different breeds of dogs develop at such different rates. I never usually use wet dog food or canned dog food but the Brussels puppies are such slow pokes at eating, I thought this would help them out.
Well we picked our final peaches of the season. Our last ones were the best ones. We had one really big one Willy wants to eat!
We spent the rest of the day putting up our new goat pen. We got it almost done now. The pig, goats and lamb literally raced back and forth and leapt in the air for joy at all the space they have now. We were in stitches because it was so funny.
Then, our naughty buck, Chickory, went up to the fence where Jacob was standing, stood on his back legs and peed on Jacob’s leg!! Poor Jacob was so mad he cried!! He thinks the buck doesn’t like him. I told him bucks are just disgusting like that. They think their pee smells good and attracts the does. They pee on themselves to make themselves more attractive. Chickory probably thought, “I really like that kid, but he sure does stink,” so he decided to share his cologne with Jacob.
I don’t think that explanation helped Jacob any…..oh well, I tried!
We have a new member of our family- our 4 legged family that is. We went to visit a good friend who also has mini dachshunds. She had several in a puppy playpen and I was helping her clean her fish tank and visiting with her Tuesday afternoon. I was unaware as I worked on the tank that Willy was making a new friend with one of the puppies.
When we were done with the fish tank he wanted to show me something. We went to see what he wanted to show us. Then, he turned and asked my friend, “Can I have one of those puppies?” and points to 3 puppies in a pen. My friend told him he’d have to ask his mommy, with a snicker. She had already asked me a week ago if I’d buy that exact puppy from her! Of all the puppies in her house, Willy attached to that very same puppy she’d already tried to get me to take. Then she said, “If your Mommy will buy you that puppy, I’ll even give you the family discount.”
I told William no. He came back at me with a very sad hound dog look to his face, hugged the puppy up close by his neck and said, “Please Mom. This little puppy loves me. I will take care of her and I want to train her like Jacob does and her name is Hazel.” Hazel even has hazel eyes. The name is perfect for her right out of a 5 year old’s mouth. My friend laughed because she knew I was had.
So, I put Willy on the phone with his Dad so HE could be the one to break the sad news that we were not going to buy Hazel. William pulled his sappy sweet line he used on me and threw in the bit about taking care of Hazel himself and Dad caved right there on the phone without even consulting with me first!! Thanks Dad!! Willy was all smiles and glee as he ran to get his new puppy.
So there you have it- Hazel is our new girl. She is inseparable from Willy. She has the perpetual sad hound dog look to her face I adore that some dachshunds have. She cries if she isn’t right with Willy. She knows he’s HER boy. And, Willy finally has his OWN dog. There is nothing cuter than a boy and a his dog, is there?
Well, Maggie is starting to show. She is definitely going to have puppies. I am so excited to see what she and Charlie produce together. I bet they will be gorgeous puppies.
The puppies are all playing together and wrestling and growling. I love it when they learn to play. This is when their personalities start to show through. We are giving the Momma’s a little longer breaks from their young charges now so they can stretch and regain their sanity before being returned to their puppy pens. When they are gone from their puppies for awhile it is so funny to see them get dive bombed by hungry mouths. It’s total pandemonium when Mom returns. They act like they are starving to death frantically searching for a nipple. All our Mommas have been great mothers. They love taking care of their puppies. WE love taking care of puppies too!
As if we didn’t have enough to do Saturday, a big storm blew in and cleaned every dead limb from our trees and scattered them all over the yard. A very large branch came down in the front yard on our horse swing branch! I am glad we didn’t lose that branch. The kids love that swing and we love that long low branch.
We have so many large trees in our yard we are bound to get major damage to the house someday. We have had several 25-50 ft trees fall and so far none have hit the house! I am glad we escaped with minor damage yet another time.
We spent the better part of the day cleaning up the damage. We bribed the kids with supper at their favorite restaurant, a Mongolian BBQ, if they cleaned up all the small sticks in the yard. That cut down the work for us significantly! At Gallagher Farm- kids work for their food! Ha! Ha! I guess if you look on the bright side, it gave Jim a chance to show off his new chainsaw too.
Enjoy the pictures- and I hope it doesn’t happen again soon!
The puppies are all getting fat and cute. Muffin’s and Sophie’s can walk now pretty well. They are so hilarious to see walk around because they are so tiny. They don’t look like they should be able to walk. Tootsies are just starting to wrestle around with each other. Tootsie is teaching hers how to play. She was laying on her back letting her biggest puppy bite her on her lip. I have heard little growls and barks coming from them as they figure out how to be “big dogs!” Millie’s just opened their eyes and are getting their wire hair in. They are very cute. They are starting to look like dachshunds finally! Hannah said tonight, “I could just watch these puppies for hours,” as she pulled up a chair to do just that. This is the fun part of having puppies- who needs tv when you have puppies?
Well, things are humming along here on the farm. The puppies are keeping us very busy. Everyone has their favorite and it’s so fun to play with the puppies.
We have started school too and are busy with our studies. We are anxious for some cool fall weather after this hot Kansas summer. We are about to pick the last of the peaches off our our tree and are thinking of canning them. We have made a visit to the Wildhorse Orchard and picked up a 1/2 bushel of apples the other day. We are waiting for them to come on full at the orchard so we can go pick our own next time and buy some cider. Hopefully we’ll get plenty of apples made into apple pie filling for the freezer. If you want a good apple pie filling that freezes well, try this:
Apple Pie Filling for Freezer
6 lbs apples (I used 16 medium apples for 6 lbs)
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 T. lemon juice
Wash, peel, core and slice apples. Treat to prevent darkening. Combine sugar, flour and spices. Rinse and drain apples. Pour sugar mixture over apples and let stand until juices begin to flow, about 30 minutes. Stir in lemon juice. Cook over medium heat until mixture begins to thicken. Ladle pie filling into containers and cool at room temperature, not to exceed 2 hours. Seal, label, freeze. I have been storing mine in Ziplock disposable plastic containers. They stack well in the freezer. Makes 6 pints.
*Don’t overcook your apples because they cook again while in the pie. The White Mountain apple slicer is a must for slicing the apples! It makes them nice and uniform. Plus, you can whiz through a pile of apples quickly with it.
Tootsie and Millie were brought into the “maternity” ward today to await their new arrivals. The doggie spa treatment will commence later tonight when we start doing nails and washing bellies and grooming their fur. We are excited and hoping for safe deliveries for both. I’ll post pictures when the babies arrive!
Today all the Brussels pups went for a vet visit. They had their tails docked, dewclaws removed and ears cropped. They are quite a bunch and were turning heads in the office all over the place! The procedures went just fine and they are doing well. I’ll keep posting new pictures as they change. I love their little flat faces and snub noses. I can’t wait to see eyes in a week or so!
Around The Farm Blog
