1st Day of School

I can't believe he is starting Middle School today. It doesn't seem possible that he is in 7th Grade! He's excited, but also very nervous about all the challenges that he will be facing this year. I know that he'll do great!

His younger brother isn't nervous at all. He is very ready to tackle 6th grade! However, this is the first year that big brother isn't on the same bus & that made him very nervous. I don't think he was expecting to feel that way, until the bus came and he got a bit choked up.

Here's an old picture of the boys & Haley, starting Kindergarten & 1st Grade, back in 2005. Wow, have they changed!

The girls were with their mom this morning, but she sent me a picture. Don't they look ready to take on the World? Go Girls!!

Haley's gone....

Today was particularly retched. Yesterday evening I opened the chicken coop door to find dead bodies all over the place. I was pretty sure I knew who the culprit was....this morning she killed one of our free-range chickens, the ones that she hasn't bothered in the 4 years that we have had her here on the farm, right in front of me. Killers have no place on the farm or in the family. I loved that dog. I'm dreading telling the boys when they return home this evening. I have spent most of today crying....

Get her Haley!

The dogs were having so much fun playing in all the fresh powdery snow yesterday!! That's Haley, our almost 12 year-old shepherd mix, chasing Daisy, the 1-1/2 year old, big black lab.

Happy Halloween!

Here are the boys and Haley, all ready to go 'Trick or Treating'! We have our soldier, Nate the Great (complete with magnifying glass), and Sludge, the dog. What fun!!

From my front door...

So sorry I missed posting yesterday - I've injured my back, so I'm confined mostly to the couch, with a little bit of walking around the house allowed, as I feel up to it. I was racking my brain, trying to think of something interesting to post, and came up with this idea - repeating my very first post! Compare the view out my front door today, with the view back in February...

Haley

Remember my 'Partner in Crime', Haley? Besides car rides, she LOVES to go trail riding with me. Here she is in the woods, where she runs circles around us, checking out every single scent! You can almost hear her, "Hurry up, will you?!" She wears a perpetual smile.

When we have to travel along a road, I tell her "Heel!" and she tucks herself right in beside Tillie.

When I'm riding Kitch or Lily, she'll actually put her nose right into their tail and walk directly behind. Unfortunately, she had an accident with Tillie last spring and doesn't trust her anymore. I can't blame her and am so proud of her for trusting me enough that she'll travel this closely for safety sake. I would HATE for her to get hit by a car, and if she wouldn't perform this trick for me when I ask for it, then she wouldn't be able to go on these adventures with me anymore. That would just be too sad. Actually, considering her injury last spring, no one can believe that she CAN do these adventures anymore! For an almost 12 year old dog to heal from that severe an injury is almost unheard of - she's quite amazing!!