My blog has finally gone to the dogs

Around the Home
It's doesn't feel like that long ago that I began blogging about our daily and weekly lives.  Eight months has now passed...where has that time gone? One thing I do remember with great joy, was the encouragement I received from experienced bloggers here in New Zealand, like Leanne @ Cottagetails. I suddenly felt part of a huge community of like minded women, with lives fairly similar to mine.  My lovely cousin Ruth, who lives in Queensland, Australia, is just starting out in the blogging world as well.  If you have a moment, pop across to her new blog creations by Ruth.  If you are into crafts and quilting, Ruth is a gifted quilter who even runs her own patchwork and quilting business.

More Dog Stories
It seems these days that this place has really gone to the dogs.  Banshee, the puppies mum, is now feeding a 6 day old cocker spaniel pup.  The puppy is from a litter of 9, and the mum has become seriously ill with peritonitis and endometriosis.  The 8 other pups are being fed successfully by bottle, but the one we are looking after is refusing to feed.  So Georgia has taken over the role of midwife again and going over and putting this wee fella on.  The puppy then has his own wee box to live in.  He makes the 3 other puppies look enormous.

In the garden
This past Sunday was a perfect day to spend in the garden.  Alf and I had kept the day free of errands and other jobs, we even stayed home from church.  Sunday for us was a much anticipated day and the winter weather was gloriously clear, with a crisp frost to start the day.  Two big jobs were on our "to-do" list and were scheduled to be done. Firstly the silver birch tree that we stood under in the midst of summer, was finally cut down to make way for a new big garden.  Alf had a wonderful homeschool moment where he taught Alex chainsaw safety and how to cut up small branches.  Baby steps first thankfully, before any actual tree cutting down gets done.

 Alf sawing down the tree & Alex sawing off small branches

A homeschooling lesson for the farm loving boy and his dad.

Secondly, we are putting in a new path from our "garden gate" through the garden.  Instead of having 3ish smaller gardens, I will have 1 large long garden and a shorter one next to the chicken coop.

The new path heads towards the tree that Alf is trimming, turns right past the compost, then to the plastic house.

Mmmmm....clearly some tidying up to be done here

Who needs to hire a compactor, when you can just grab the nearest teenage boy

Georgia picking off the summer's dried beans for storage

Happiness is.......sunning yourself in the winter sun