So, instead of blogging and picture taking, we are gassing the generator, cooking creatively, (or going out to eat) and busying ourselves with basic needs rather than the normal riff-raff.

Today, we visited a laundromat. I went in and as soon as I walked in and saw “LAUNDRY SOAP” on the dispenser on the wall, I realized I forgot soap. I said out loud, “Oh no, I forgot my soap.” The lady there said, “If you want to spend a lot of money, you can get soap in that machine.” Why, thank you. So, I left to go to CVS to get soap, candy, and survival gear.

As we left, Jacob remarked, “This laundromat looks like someone bought a liquor store and threw some washers and dryers in there.” It was rather dark and dank with a cracked tile floor and dirty ceiling. Right then, he solved a life long mystery for me as to how anyone ever came up with the idea of a laundro-bar.

This laundromat was sans liquor- and probably a good thing as I may have been tempted to knock back a strong drink today in all the craziness of recent life. Even better than whiskey though, this laundromat had cable tv. You might not know this, but when your kids don’t have cable tv, and then all of a sudden they have it- it’s amazing what that does. It’s like my four children were not even there while I washed load after load and then folded dryer after dryer of laundry. They sat on cheap plastic lawn chairs and ate gummy worms while their parched brains soaked up the warm glow of cable tv. That was way better than whiskey.

I wasn’t sure how this laundromat thing would go today. I haven’t been to the laundromat in some time. I got a weeks worth of laundry done in 2 hours for 10 bucks. I’m really considering going back. The dryers there were so huge, I can’t help but think what other things could I dry in one of those? I think we could nearly fit my entire family in one. Why can’t I buy one of THOSE at Sears?

I hope to get our electricity back soon, but in a strange sort of way this has been a little bit of a break from our regular routine. Sure, some things are harder and I really HATE being cold, but other things you just let go because either you have to, or you feel like you can. Jacob said, “Mom, when the electricity comes back on, can we just pretend it’s not and keep doing what we are doing?” Well Jacob, I prefer to sleep in a warm bed rather than a cold one and I sure like to be able to vacuum especially when half of Thomas’ food winds up on the floor, so no. But, we may not do things EXACTLY like before. As much as we love the business of raising puppies, we are scaling way back for more family time. I think these will be our last litters for awhile. So, get them while you can!

I better get busy figuring out dinner. Thanks to all of you who thought of us after hearing news of the ice storm. No offense taken if you didn’t. Merry Christmas, Happy Festivus, and all of that fun stuff. Check back soon for our Christmas Tree blog.

This afternoon, I am photographing Brussels puppies for their new families. So far, I have taken 168 photos. All but about 40 photos are instantly trashed. The remaining photos I will crop, tweak, sharpen and do whatever I have to do to try to get them to look decent. Many more of those 40 end up trashed too. Some of them I save for the families to get on their CD rom, but won’t put on the website. I may end up with 1-5 decent photos in the end worthy of the website, an email update or an advertisement. Mind you, these still aren’t calendar quality or framing quality photos. They are just clear, sharp, colorful photos- I hope!! Some weeks after taking 170 or so photos, we go back to the drawing board and start over completely. Some weeks, we make do with what we get. I have been known during “puppy season” to take 8 + solid hours taking photos, editing, sending them to families and updating the website with that week’s puppy photos.

So while in the middle of doing photos today, I got the idea to share it with you. Some days are particularly funny. Some days are very trying. Sometimes you get a puppy that won’t wake up. Some times you think about such things like double sided sticky tape and velcro.

Today our subject is Verdell Barkley. He is quite a handsome fella. However, he thinks a cute puppy is more than a pretty face. He wants you to see much, much more than his adorable bearded face. I set Verdell on a blanket on our couch, facing the camera, ready to shoot. I stand back….

Verdell decides to see what’s up on the TOP of the couch!

There’s gotta be something for him up there!

Guess not…..let’s see what’s over the edge….whoa!

Hold me! Squeeze me! That was scary!

Let’s just stay safe and sniff around on the couch….by the way, what is she DO-ING with that annoying flashing thing in my face?

Maybe if I hide my eyes, it’ll go away?

NOPE! Still there!!

Back to sniffing……

and digging…..

and wrestling….

and growling….

and even biting!

“Verdell! Be a good boy and stand still for your pictures…..”

Oh….alright……

JUST KIDDING!!

All that…..and just one still photo. But, wasn’t it worth it?

Surely you will understand if you get a full “action” photo and not just still portraits? I will try NOT to send photos of their hind end’s at least!!

Although…..my favorite all time outtake type photo was this one of Pixie our chihuahua….now talk about a dog on the move. That dog would not stand still for a single thing. We have precious few photos of her because of it. Every time I take photos, they all end up in the trash! So, one day while trashing more Pixie photos from our most recent photo shoot, I came across this one photo. Since it summed her up better than any other photo I had, I kept it. Don’t stare at it too long. The photo starts moving and it’s bound to give someone a seizure. VIEW AT YOUR OWN RISK!!

MAN! That dog is FAST!!

Here is Jacob. He is showing his bantam white Wyandotte to the judge. He is supposed to introduce himself, give history on the breed and then tell the judge about his bird anatomically from head to toe (or tail). He is supposed to talk about the breed standard and why this is a nice bird and what faults it might have. Did you know there is a breed standard for chickens?? Then he is to put the bird in the cage and “show it off” so the judge can see it walk and strut around. Then he takes the bird from the cage- head first only!! and the judge will ask him questions to see how much he knows. He will be judge on all sorts of criteria about himself, how well he spoke, his bird, his handling of the bird and so on. Jacob is naturally quiet and shy so it’s a big deal to get him to do this!

Now it’s Hannah’s turn. She showed a Porcelain Mille Fleur d’Uccle. Hannah is a natural at this. She is awesome at showing and is not shy like I was when I was a kid. She got 2nd place this year in her age division and she just went up into the older kid’s division! She kicks butt at showmanship. She took the big prizes showing her goats the first time last summer too. Did you ever know chickens could be so much fun? We didn’t either until a few years ago. I had no idea poultry clubs existed. It must be a Kansas thing. In Oregon, we eat chicken, or we “save” the chickens- but we don’t show the chickens. I can bet my kids know a whole lot more about poultry than any of you!

Here is Jacob ready for the Avian Quiz Bowl in his age group. I was very proud of him this year just for getting up there this year. Two years ago he got up in front of a large crowd of people -the biggest crowd we’ve ever been to so far for this- to participate in the Avian Bowl for his first time. He kept hitting the button to answer a question, but someone else always got to answer the question. He thought his button was broken. He didn’t get to answer one single question the entire time and he bawled his eyes out the whole time in front of everyone. It was pure agony to watch. The judge felt so sorry for him that he gave him a chance to answer a question without anyone else ringing in and even though Jacob knew it, he was so flustered he answered wrong, which only made it worse. Grandma was in the audience wanted to save him and let him come back and sit down with us, but his mean mother made him stick it out up there till it was over. Later, he learned his button worked but he wasn’t hitting it fast enough.

So- last year Jacob did not want to participate and I didn’t make him. This year, I told him it was time to get over his fear. He understands now why he didn’t get to answer any questions and he KNOWS all the answers but as a result of that first time he has an unhealthy fear of the Avian Bowl. (no, not Avian Flu) He is a shy kid and it takes guts to get him up there in the first place. After crying the whole time 2 years ago in front of everyone and nobody rescued him- he is truly scarred! I’ve decided, since I’m trying to raise him into a MAN with confidence- he needed to face his fear. (Aren’t I mean and terrible?)

So I told Jacob he had to get up there and I wasn’t giving him a choice. If he didn’t want to even push the button once, he didn’t have to, but he had to sit up on the panel. (I am truly a mean mother) So, Jacob got up there. He knew all the answers and had psyched himself into winning, but he got bamboozled by the 6 year old smiling little punk next to him- his friend Graham! Graham hammered the button and hogged the questions because this was his first year and he was so excited to finally be UP there and not just be watching his older sisters. The kid was smoking everyone. Halfway through, Jacob got the hang of it and started hammering the button himself and Graham and Jacob duked it out for the last half. Graham took 1st and Jacob took 2nd. I didn’t care- I was just so glad Jacob overcame his fear. Jacob is BEGGING to go to another Avian Bowl now! (Whew! It worked!)

Here is Jacob with silver and Graham with gold. See? The little punk is STILL smiling.

Here is Hannah with the intermediate panel. She got kicked from beginner to intermediate this year because she turned 10. Last year she slaughtered the other kids. She hit the button and answered so many questions that she didn’t give any other kids a chance as single question. The funny thing is she isn’t even competitive really. She wasn’t even that quick to hit the button. She just knew more than the other kids. If any kid hit the button first, they got the question wrong, then Hannah answered it correctly for them. It went from exciting at first to rather embarrassing really because it was just her and it seemed like she was showing off. We were sort of squirming in our seats and apologizing to all the other parents in the audience quietly as she dominated the game.

Finally, the judge came to the rescue and said she had answered more than half the entire Quiz Bowl questions and she would have to let the other kids have a chance. He meant- don’t hit the button again. Hannah thought he meant- don’t hit it so fast! So, the next question was read. She paused and looked around and nobody went to answer it- so she hit the button and answered it and got another point! We were just groaning in the audience. I’m sure there was a Dad that wanted to grab Jim by his collar and give him a black eye. You’ve heard of soccer parent rage- have you heard of poultry club parent rage? Hmmm- probably not. We are not that cool! So, then the judge re-iterated to her not to hit the button at all! She was already 1st place and nobody could catch her. (Oooohh! THAT’S what you meant!)

Here is Hannah with the intermediate group. This was her first year in intermediate and the questions were extremely difficult this year- even for an adult. She only had 1 day to study the 17 pages of very difficult questions and she did not do well. I have to say, she really shamed the Gallagher family by not winning a medal. We almost auctioned her off in the raffle for not bringing the family home a medal. But- we decided at the last minute to give her another chance.

Well, as you can well imagine, boredom has set in for the non-poultry enthusiasts by this point. William has resorted to going outside and poking his eye out with organic matter.

Thomas discovered that if he threw rocks into this very dense poky bush, the rocks fly back at you. So, he kept himself entertained- thoroughly entertained as you can see by his laughing- at throwing rocks into this little bush. After wrestling him for hours inside the building trying to keep him from squawking, I guess we decided if the rock came back and hit him in the face, well surely it wouldn’t hit THAT hard, right? The plight of the fourth child……

Frankly, I don’t blame either one of them for poking their eyes out and throwing rocks in their own faces after hours of poultry mania.

Our final winnings: (ribbons go purple, blue, red, white highest to lowest)

HANNAH
Partridge Cochin, blue ribbon
Mille Fleur d’Uccle, red ribbon
Showmanship, 2nd place medal

JACOB
Americauna, purple ribbon
White Wyandotte, purple ribbon
Showmanship, 2nd place medal
Poultry Judging, 1st place medal
Avian Bowl, 2nd place medal

Here is the poultry club- well a good part of it anyway. What a wholesome group of kids, huh? This was the smallest turn out we’ve had in the 3 years we have participated. There were lots of other 4H events this weekend I heard. Surely NONE were more entertaining than the poultry show?!?!

Cookie had been sick and refusing food and we had taken her to the vet to try to figure out her ailment. Through talking to two vets and searching and reading online, we determined she had pregnancy toxemia. She was off feed and would not eat and wanted to just lay around. We started making a liquid gruel and turkey basting it down her throat to keep her nourished. We started treating her for the toxemia with medication and had scheduled a c-section to safely deliver the kids since she would not have the strength to birth them naturally. I tried to get the appointment made for Friday the 2nd or Saturday the 3rd, but neither of the two vets we use were available that day. Both vets made appointments with me Monday the 5th and I planned to take the earliest appointment that morning.

So, we had to nurse her over the weekend and we continued her medications and her liquid diet as we had all week. Friday, she had more strength and was doing better than she had been previously. Saturday, she was up and walking and drinking from the water bucket which were definite improvements. We were thrilled that she was finally improving after a week of worry and I was confident everything would be ok after her c-section. She was going to make it!

Sunday morning before church on March 4th, Hannah brought Cookie her breakfast and found her body in the igloo doghouse, dead. We were all in total shock. I flipped her body over and noticed she was dilated and bulging from pushing. Apparently in the night, she went into labor and it was too much for her- just as I knew it would be. She died trying to deliver her kids, our first kids! If I had known she was in labor I would have taken her to the emergency clinic. I knew she did not have the strength to deliver naturally.

We all bawled off and on for days, and I am not normally a crier! Every time I thought of her or spoke about her, I couldn’t help it. She wasn’t just a goat to us, she wasn’t just livestock– she was our pet and we loved her. We got her at 2 days old and raised her on the bottle along with Snickers. We have waited almost 2 years to get our first kids from her and had just taken the goat nipples and bottles out an washed them in anticipation of her babies. I was doing everything humanly possible to save her and I was so encouraged by her improvement that I let down my guard. I didn’t think she would die. Now, I am full of regret and all the things I would have or could have done differently. My heart has been heavy with grief over that goat and sorry my kids had to find her and deal with the sadness of yet another loss not long after Millie lost her little puppy.

We debated all day Sunday what to do with Cookie’s body. Monday Jim stayed home from work so we could properly bury her. Nobody wanted to send her body to be incinerated and putting her body in a dump just did not seem right. So, Jim and William dug the hole. I went out and helped finish digging when they tired.

When the hole was dug, we all gathered around. Hannah got Snickers because she wanted her to come to the funeral too. Snickers knew Cookie was sick. We knew how sick Cookie was because of Snickers. Snickers stopped head-butting with Cookie and instead would lick her on top of her head and on the face trying to make her feel better. When Snickers ate, she dragged hay over to Cookie and dropped it on the ground in front of her to try to encourage her to eat too. Anytime Cookie would muster the strength to walk, Snickers walked side by side with her and let Cookie lean on her a little. They were very close companions and Snickers knew, probably long before us, that Cookie was ill. It was only fitting Snickers came to Cookie’s funeral too.

Jim brought Cookie over in the wheelbarrow, in a bag. He said to me, “Nicole should I bury her in the bag our should I take her out of the bag and just lay her on the dirt?”

Willy, our 6 year old, answered, “Dad, we should leave her in the bag because if Snickers sees Cookie, she might die of a broken heart like on Where the Red Fern Grows.” I think my heart cracked a little at that comment, but we all agreed. So we put Cookie in the hole in the bag. We all filled the hole in together.

Meanwhile Snickers ate bark, leaves, and anything else she could find in the woods while we buried her friend, apparently unaware of what was going on.

It wasn’t long and we were done. Cookie was buried and we were all glad we did not send her body away and that we buried here right here on our farm where she belongs.

Hannah noticed Snickers and her inattentiveness to anything but the tasty morsels she was finding. Hannah finally said with a little disgust, “I think Snickers just came to the funeral for the food.” (With kids, there is always comic relief)

Sadly, there will not be any baby goats this month. We are looking for a new friend for Snickers because she is lonely now, but nothing will replace Cookie, the goat Snickers grew up with.

This morning I was halfway done outside and my stomach was eating itself it was so hungry and visions of bacon strips were dancing in my head. If only Jim was in the house cooking up the bacon and eggs for me and brewing my coffee! This is a bum deal! I have to do the work AND cook the breakfast this morning. But, being in this unique dual position I am able to see both sides of this story. I will now confess that sometimes on the weekend I sneak back into the house and leave Jim and the kids to do the rest of the chores in the bitter cold on their own, or I don’t go out at all, on the excuse that I have to go make breakfast. They don’t complain because they want the breakfast, but it’s really selfish of me because who wouldn’t rather stand by a hot stove and sip coffee while they turn the bacon. Give me a break! Let’s see- smash your cold fingers while breaking ice, or butter toast? Drop wood on your frozen toes, or flip an egg? Chase a wayward animal in thick snow, or pour OJ? AH HA! I know now that farmer’s wives made the breakfasts out of guilt for not being out there in the cold with their husbands. It was little more than a pathetic excuse.

Now I KNOW why the farmers got their big breakfasts. I wonder how many farmers knew this? Not to sound feminist, but I am thinking since farmers were men, not many. The stomach is a powerful thing. A hungry stomach also distorts thinking. I’m sure that to this day they are still thinking their wives make them farmer’s breakfasts out of love and appreciation. Ha! And- now I also know why boxed cereal doesn’t find it’s way to a farmer’s breakfast table. Boxed cereal is only a fit breakfast for people who sit in office chairs and lift fingers, not 40 pound bales of hay. Boxed cereal is a pathetic excuse for a breakfast. It’s the breakfast for those who plan to burn say 50 calories before lunch, not 500. It was invented when office jobs were invented I’m sure.

Now that my lips are almost thawed and my speech is slowly becoming less slurred, I think I will go make my eggs now.

Last year, we had 2 puppies born in two different litters with cleft palates, they soon died of course. Then, we had Maggie and Izzy successfully bred to our new male, Charlie, and neither ended up having puppies. Charlie was not yet fertile. In November, we tried to get Pixie bred with no luck, she had a strange heat cycle. We tried Muffin next, she also has had a strange heat cycle and I don’t think she is bred, it’s too early to tell. Then last week, Sophie delivered 3 babies, the third baby took too long to come and was born dead. This morning Millie went into premature labor and delivered one little dead baby. She is beside herself crying and mourning for her puppy.

This is the downside of raising animals. That’s for sure.

We are anxious to have another baby in the family and for Thomas to have a younger brother to grow up with. They are about 1 year apart in age. This little house will be quite full with another child, but we are happy and don’t care if it’s a little crowded. The kids are so excited they can’t stand it. If you think about us, you might send up a prayer for us and For that we can get him here as quickly as possible. This baby needs a family and patience has never been a virtue of mine!

You can follow our progress and see For on this website if you’d like:

http://www.reecesrainbow.com/sponsorgallagher.htm

We are in the beginning stages of the adoption but are working fast and furiously. Our home study is being done tomorrow! Piles of paperwork await me to be done before the social worker comes. So I will write more later…

Here is a photo of our baby!

Millie got x-rayed today. She isn’t very big- she has just started to show. We wanted to make sure Charlie’s boy’s could swim after Maggie and Izzy not being pregnant by him. I guess he was just too young then because we saw at least one little puppy in Millie. She was borderline too early to be x-rayed and the puppies bones had just started to calcify so we were thrilled to see one. The vet thinks she has more in there that just have not yet calcified so they don’t show up on the x-ray.

Sophie is getting downright huge. Her belly is just big- there are no butts about it. The poor girl waddles around. She is hard to pick up because she’s so wide. She still has 10 days to go. I doubt she makes it ten days. I am going to have to get things set up for her early just in case. She can have them as early as Feb 3rd and I want to be fully ready for her by then. ( YAY PUPPIES!! )

Tootsie and Cookie are getting quite lumpy in the belly. Those are two cranky girls when they are pregnant let me tell you. I have been penning them together but away from everyone else because they have been causing a ruckus not wanting to share food or doghouses. The hormones are really cranking I think. They were nasty to poor Amanda almost two weeks ago and she ended up having to get stitches in her belly. Poor girl. This happened the same day Cyndy asked me how many fights a week do I have to break up and I said, “None- they all get along great.”

They always have all gotten along before that incident, but Toots and Cookie are the jealous type and they love each other. They share everything and love being together. I think they know they are sisters and they get jealous when anyone else gets in between them. So- they are in solitary confinement together but perfectly happy that way. I may make their own little doggie yard and leave them together all the time when spring comes.

Heidi is still kicking- she’s about the same. I hope spring will loosen her up and put a little spring back in her step! I am ready for spring. Come on spring hurry up!

It won’t be long and I’ll have puppy pictures to post. So stay tuned!

Well winter has finally come to Kansas- about 2 months late. The dogs don’t even know WHAT this white stuff is! It sure was pretty this morning when nothing had been touched yet. Since we’ve missed out on a lot of it this year, I didn’t mind shoveling too much this morning. This picture is our goat pen and chicken coop blanketed in snow.

We let the girls out to go potty this morning. Hazel and Maggie LOVE the snow. We have to watch Maggie because she is foolish and will make herself into a furcicle if we let her. See her snow helmet? This was taken AFTER I wiped most of it off. She could not even see- her fur was frozen down over her eyes like a helmet that was too big. Poor Mag!

Amanda ran around and around and when she came back, she had a snowbeard from eating snow. I hope she was wary of the yellow snow. Isn’t she cute?

Hazel saw Amanda’s snowbeard and said, “Mom? Are you going to eat that?”