A Dozen Dogs in Our Backyard

About four months ago, I went on a long training run out on some of the rural roads near here. Somewhere around mile three, a floppy eared black dog joined me, and kept up with me for 7 1/2 more miles. She was covered with ticks, had the worn out pads of a very old dog, and the perfect white teeth of a puppy. I brought her home, Neil cleaned her up, and we named her Sarah. The vet estimated her to be about 10 months old.

Eight weeks later, Sarah delivered nine healthy puppies on our bed - Uno, Otto, George, Max, Funf, Hershel, Virgil, Gus, and Lena O'Reilley.

That makes a dozen dogs we've had in our back yard (including Lulu and Smidgen), and one cat (Tiger). You can see the puppies in their music videos in the two posts prior to this one.

Puppy Minuet

Nine Puppies and a Chihuahua

Birthdays!

All our birthdays are at the end of the year, it seems. Shiloh was first, turning 19 (that's 133 to you and me) on October 20. She was born in 1987, she's seen a lot of changes.





Juli was next three days later, turning 38. Too old to party, she settled in with two dogs, a cat, a book, and a blanket.



Neil turned 37 on 11/11 (and happy birthday to his twin Nate in Florida).



And will be followed in one month by Rachel, who turns 11 on December 11, at which point she is prepared to take over the world.

Ok, ok....

...So we've been a little lax with updating the posts to the blog. But there's a really good reason. Neil was out in our wooded area, when he was attacked by a wild boar - luckily, I was there to document the whole thing.







Only instead of a boar, it was a 7-year old chihuahua....



...wearing a fabulously fashionable orange hoodie.



Some of the animals took the arrival of the new family member in stride ...



While others were not so easily won over.





Grief counseling was provided to those who needed it.



Meanwhile, "Smidgen" has been putting her best face forward, and has become a genuine member of the family.

The Unmown Meadow

Some shots of the "unmown meadow".






As pretty as the meadow is, both ragweed and poison ivy grow there, and I got hit with both our second week here.



Luckily there was jewelweed growing nearby to counteract the poison ivy, so Neil harvested a bunch of it and juiced it in a vegetable juicer. It turned me orange (it stains everything it comes in contact with), but it worked, and if you've ever had a posion ivy outbreak, you'll know being orange is a price you'll gladly pay!

Since then I've rounded up an arsenal of products to counteract the problem.

Burt's Bees Poison Ivy Soap.



This has pine tar and jewelweed in it. It's good to use immediately after you've been exposed to get the sap off of your skin.

Natra-Bio Poison Oak/Poison Ivy Relief:



An absolute miracle. Even after I used the juiced jewelweed plant, my palms and the soles of my feet would start to bother me, especially right after midnight. It would wake me up out of a sound sleep, I would check the alarm clock - always the same time every night. This is a homeopathic product, and it cleared me up in just a few hours. Amazing stuff.

Pictures of the House in August

Just in case you were wondering, the kitchen and the laundry room didn't stay that way.



This is the oak barn.



The wood is in good condition underneath all that trumpet vine.

We're going to fix it for water and electricity and turn it into an apartment for us while the major rennovations take place. The barn looks out to the meadow towards the front, and to our neighbor's barn in the back.

Here's the path Neil cut through the meadow:



The hill behind the trees is a pasture across the river, and cows come out every morning to graze. I can see them from my office window every morning.

This is a view of the back of the house, and the path through the meadow:



Here's the path Neil cut through the woods to the river.



Some pictures of the river going across our backyard.






Some pictures of the front of the house.

The Joys of Homeownership ...

We've been homeowners for 23 days now. Middle Tennessee is beautiful, and our neighbors have been wonderful. There's a girl Rachel's age who lives right across the street, and they've become fast friends. They're in the same grade, ride the schoolbus together, and shared a tent at the Girl Scout camping trip.

Our house was built in 1920, and was suffering from some serious neglect. Filthy ... well, the word just scratches the surface. Comet with Bleach is my new best friend! Check out the pictures of Neil with the kitchen vinyl, and Lulu in the laundry room.




But on the plus side - we're home owners. We have an acre and a half on the Calfkiller River. Neil's already mowed a path through the meadow and continued the path through the woods to the river with his machete. We have good schools, good neighbors, in a town we can afford, and in one of the most scenic areas of the country - an area known for its waterfalls!