I can't believe I haven't posted anything since May! I have been remiss, I vow to do better. How much better,  you might ask. I refuse to say.

Let's see, a quickie recap of June through September would seem to be in order, no? Here's what happend:
                                           

My son's 8th grade graduation

                               

Trip to Italy and Spain

After being gone a month, there was a lot of weeding and cleaning up on the farm!

Soccer started up again, a very important thing in our family.

September:

Drive, drive, drive. (We live an hour and fifteen minutes from my son's school and forty five minutes from my daughter's school)

October:

We are already half way through it and I don't know where the first two weeks have gone!

Why is it that when it is a sunny glorious day outside I get grumpy? Well, actually, let me rephrase that...when it's sunny out and I have to go to town...then I get grumpy. I absolutely despise leaving the farm when the weather is lovely out and I could be outside doing a million fun things. I get even grumpier when it's nice out and I don't have to go anywhere but I have to do indoor chores like opening mail, paying bills, cleaning bathrooms and kitchens, or cooking. Oh, the horrors!

Before running errands and going to town or doing anything in the house or kitchen...here are just a few of the things I'd rather be doing:

Grooming Horses

Helping my husband with the bees

Playing with Poppy and Lady

Playing with my Gypsy girls

We are having so much fun with our baby girl, everyday there is something new to experience.  My dear friend Jeanie showed me how she brings out a bunch of fun "toys" for her foals to learn about so, I thought I would do the same. I bought Bliss a new pink ball and brought out a bag full of goodies as well. She is so curious and interested in everything...loving this!

Don't tell me you don't adore her "chocolate" dipped tail!

My dear little Bliss (aka Cougar Hill's 72% Dark Chocolate Bliss) is almost a month old, we are so blessed. It's hard to believe how quick the time goes by, seems like just yesterday poor "Truffy" (aka Cougar Hill's Chocolate Raspberry Truffle) looked like this:

Poor thing, she was getting so huge! And now we have this:

~Bliss just an hour old~

~Bliss, 5 days old~

We got our new paddocks done not more than a month ago and I am so loving them. I can stand in the living room and look out the window and see the horses. I can stand on the back deck and gaze out on the beauty of my dear, sweet Gypsy girls. It is a huge blessing and I am having so much fun watching how they interact with one another and the quirky little things they do. I also splurged and put in a Nelson waterer that serves both paddocks...did I say I love it, love it all. God is good!

I often stay up later than I should and then I get hungry...it's better to just go to bed and get enough sleep and not eat late at night. However, when I am up late I do enjoy some little something to keep me working those late hours. Luckily I adore smoothies. I think when the kids are grown and gone (sniff, cry, whimper) I shall have smoothies for two of my meals and just eat a meal I actually have to chew once a day. Just think...no prep time, hardly, and minimal clean up, which equals more time outside. That works for me. So here is one of my late night smoothies...raspberry dream...yummy.

Why choose such a small glass? It has flowers on it and looks like spring. As you can see from the obvious overflow, it was late and I miscalculated grossly. Such a waste!

Mastiff Girls

When we bred Lady we  did so with the intention of keeping one of the pups and we were thrilled when we ended up with four of them to choose from. Choosing was difficult though, because we liked them all. We finally ended up keeping the only female as we have always had female dogs and that is what we are used to, so we went with it.

But, as always happens when you get a puppy, it began to be a lot of work. My kids' schedule was a bit hectic and I was feeling overwhelmed and we thought we just might sell her after all. But we haven't... and I am so glad!

She is almost potty trained I would say...no thanks to us...we have really done a horrible job of being consistent. But, in spite of us, she is a dear sweet girl. She sleeps on her bed in our room at night and actually cries when she wants to go outside. Lovely.

We decided to continue with the flower names and picked "Lady Poppy." Her mom is "Lady Daisy" so we thought that would go well. We had an entirely different name picked out but it just didn't work, she wouldn't come to it. I finally realized that she was so accustomed to being called "puppy" that she thought is was her name. So, we figured "Poppy" sounds about the same in "dogese" and it has worked well.

Hummus

I just loved the way my Hummus turned out the other day and HAD to take a picture of it. Makes me hungry right now.  As I post this I am wondering, "Is there any left in the fridge, or did we already eat it all?" Of course, at midnight, it is not a good idea to start raiding the fridge...even if it is just to look for Hummus. I got this recipe from a friend of mine who was kind enough to share it with me. I am wondering if she just got tired of having to bring her Hummus to every function and so she decided to just give out the "derned" recipe. Regardless of the reason, it is the most yummy version. I like the simplicity and the garlic-a-luciousness of it. The more garlic, the better!

You Tube Channel

I now have a You Tube channel for Cougar Hill Farm...here is my first video:

I realized I need to take more videos of the farm, so some of the footage is duplicated. It was fun to play around with the video though. I am always taking photos but don't often think about taking video footage, especially of the horses.

Country Girls

This morning we were headed to church and since my car is the one that drives all over the universe (not really, but it feels like it) it looks like a mobile garbage can/storage unit. I know there are other moms out there that can relate to the feeling that your car is your second home, like an apartment on wheels...only I wish it had a kitchen and a bathroom. I need an RV!

Anyways, my daughter goes to get in the back seat and she has to clean out the left-over hay from last night when I had to bring a couple of flakes up from the barn for the sheep. Then, we get to church, it takes an hour so we obviously need to use the restroom as soon as we arrive. As we are washing our hands and getting ready leave the restroom we notice a trail of hay behind us all over the bathroom floor and begin to laugh because that is something that only happens to country girls!

So I decided to start a list called, "you know you are a country girl when..."
1. you leave trails of hay everywhere you go.
2. you are returning to the house after doing the chores and you see another dead mole in front of the door and instead of carefully picking it up with gloves and disposing of it properly you just kick it off the end of the porch.
3.  "1911" isn't just another year to you.

4. When you no longer bury every dead chicken the raccoons kill, putting up the little cross and condoling the children,  instead you just get your manure fork and "huck" the remains into the woods...someone will finish eating them.
5. When you actually use the word, "huck."
6.When you do all your morning chores in your pajamas, you've got your overalls over the top of them anyways!
7. You spend more money on your muck boots than any other shoe you own.
8. You take better care of your muck boots than any other shoe you own.


Well, if you'd like to add any to my list, please let me know...I will be adding to it frequently.

Curro

Here he is, our prized ram, Curro. He is an English Southdown Babydoll and will be soon breeding our four lovely ewes so we can have some adorable lambs this summer!

Curro, earlier this spring...he'll get the job done!

And he has a handsome face too!

The snow is almost gone, it was quite an amazing few days for us here in this part of Washington State, we are so unaccustomed to getting any snow fall that is more than a few inches or lasts longer than a day. The kids had a great time in it but, boy cleaning up the horse paddocks took us pretty much all day yesterday. Pretty hard to scoop horse poo when it's frozen to the ground or hidden by a bunch of snow. The horses have no problem grinding it into the pea gravel though!

Charlie, my dear 20-year old Qtr. Horse, he made it through our snowy days pretty well.

My Dad made this bell for us, it hangs on our back porch. We use it to call anyone outside to the house... the kids know when they hear the bell, it's time to come home.

My daughter getting kissed by a handsome fellow!

View from the front porch to the round pen, orchard, pump house and chicken house. Seems unreal that the snow is almost gone now.

Manolete en la Nieve

This is our new Spanish rooster, Monolete. He is finally a big boy. He made it through the Raccoon wars...only 3 of 15 poultry to make it. He is a handsome fellow, that's for sure.

Orange Boy and His Mommy

I love this shot of mother and son together. Mastiffs are such a regal breed!

Puppies in the snow

Where we live a person can get snowed in with 2" of snow...yes, it's true! So, today we had a play day and stayed home all day. It was glorious not to have to go anywhere at all. We got our two remaining puppies out to play with my daughter...good times.

                                                              Here comes orange boy!

Almost a month late...

My post and the snow are almost a month late! When I started this blog I thought I'd be posting everyday...uh-huh, nice try. Basketball and puppies have since taken over my life, both of which are quite a lot of fun so it's alright.

We have sold two of our four pups and looks like the other two will be going soon. It is such a bitter sweet experience, especially for my daughter and I. Her favorite, yellow boy, went to his new home last Sunday and she cried when he left, I felt sad too. And yet, I was so happy for the big guy, he went to a loving home. He will have a family that knows all about having big dogs, a fenced yard, people home with him almost all day long, two adorable little girls to dote on him...what more could we ask for!?

Our other pup, Blue Boy, also went to a fabulous couple. They have just the right set up for the big guy and were so excited to get him. They have their schedules all worked out so he is alone the least amount possible, they already had looked into puppy kindergarten, he will be well loved.

And there it is, the satisfaction of seeing a pup that you bred with care, attempting to bring a healthy dog with excellent temperament into the world and then finding the perfect match for him. It is the answer to our prayers.

And along the way you get to meet some really special people. I have already seen pictures of both pups in their new homes and look forward to staying in touch and seeing how they grow and thrive with their new families.