Bed Hogs-Round Two -Icelandic Sheepdogs in Canada

Here is Ch Tofra Lagsi of Greenstone Kennel with his two favorite Kitties, Sherman and TickyBoo.. Its a good thing it a queen size bed, as these three know how to hog a bed.

In this photo he is being kind enough to share his new Christmas stuffy with his mom.. so kind, now please throw it :)

Merry Christmas Hailey Pearl and Hayden Anne!!

Merry Christmas Everyone, I just had to share my Chrismtas Photo of my brothers daughters!!

Hailey Pearl is 2 and half and Hayden Anne is 6 weeks old in this photo..

Congrats to all my friends and Family that are expecting right now.. I can not believe how many new babies are due to be born in 2008.. last night I got a wonderful letter with yet another new baby coming annoucement.. that is... what for it.. number six due in the spring!!

We are sending our best wishes for a safe pregancy and a very healthy new baby to everyone who is expecting.

Jingle Bells..

Ch Belglen Runa of Greenstone- OFA Rate is "Good" !

Hello Folks

Here is Greenstone Cool Hand Luke aka Olof, out for a run outside, goodness the snow will just not stop.. another half foot in the past two days..

Well, Runa has finished her heat, and so we are expecting the litter to be born around Feb 20th.. will keep you posted on how the Ultrasound goes! in a months time. Runa's formal adult OFA has come in and she is OFA Good!!! This is wonderful news, Now both of her living siblings have been tested and the whole litter is OFA Good, as is both of her Parents and all her Grandparents are tested in Iceland, Three are Fri-A and one is C. In the coming litter, it is a overwhelmingly postive mating in terms of clean Hips.

Well, I am so looking forward to the holidays, even though its just Jason and Myself, it looks like it will be a very good holiday none the less and we are planning our normal special treats for the barn critters, I make everyone treats and on Christmas morning, everyone gets health special visits, apples slices are the goats favorites, Sweet feed is the sheeps favorites, Sunflower seeds are the birds and rabbits favorites, Cats and dogs get fresh turkey in a nice warm broth..

I hope that the critters enjoy their treats as much as I enjoy getting the buckets and different treats together.

Have made my own homemade bird food this year for the wild birds and they seem to be loving it, all the recipes came from Mother Earth Magazine, but if you want to try one for Christmas, here is my birds favorite.

* 1 pound lard* 16-20 oz. crunchy peanut butter* 3/4-1 cup raisins* 3/4-1 cup black oil sunflower or mixed birdseed* 6 cups cornmeal* 5 cups all-purpose flourMelt lard in microwave. Pour into a really large mixing bowl, stir in other ingredients in order above. Pour mix into cake pan, cool and cut into blocks to fit your feeder.

Freeze in zip-lock bags.

Yields 6 blocks roughly 4" square and 1-1/2" thick from a 9x12 cake pan, and these fit perfectly into our suet 'cages'.

http://www.a-home-for-wild-birds.com/bird-food-recipes.html

This is a great site as well for information on how to make homemade bird food, just rememeber that the birds that stayed because of your food, need you to feed them all winter and well into the spring, so keep those feeders full and before you know it, you will be having to buy bird books to figure out who all is visiting your feeder, and if you are like me, it will become a high point of the day, watching the birds off and on thoughtout the day.

Duke got into something that upset his tummy yesterday so have been keeping a very close eye on him yesterday, but he seems fine by today.. was very unhappy that I brought out the pink.. but afterwards so much better and will watch him very carefully today.

Well, had better get busy on my daily chores, have a great day.. Don't forget I am still looking forward to those bed hog or christmas photos of any Greenstone dogs!! so crack out those Camera's over the next few days..

Barks

Winter has arrived!

Hello Folks

WOW, did we have a storm yesterday, and the wind blew from a very strange direction for us, it came from the east..and that is not normal, we got just over two feet of new snow in a day to go with what had already, the drifts are amazing.. two of my dog runs (20 feet long by 8 feet across and six feet 3inchs high, and the snow is over them.. that means that the drifts are higher then 6 feet, 3 inches.. so that will be a ton of work to dig them out. They are so bad that my husband is using the snowshoes to get to and from the barn.. yikes. We have not seen snow and drifts like this since Iqaluit.. ok, so Iqaluit was worse, we could have drifts that covered houses, but still you get the idea LOL

There was only one dog that wanted to be out in the storm for any length of time and that was Olof, everyone else would go out and come back in fast, but not Olof, he thought the storm was SO much fun.. and he would stay out and play for five or ten minutes at a time, and when he would come in, he would be covered in snow, but if you put your fingers into his coat.. he was warm and dry for the last two or three inches of coat.. no wonder he didn't care at all.. he is a furry little polor bear.. I have never seen such a thick heavy full coat on a puppy as young as him. I know that Monika asked if his coat was to soft, and I didn't think so as his guard hairs are quite harsh, and after watching him come in and go out thoughtout the day in the storm and always coming back in just as happy as a bunny.. I am going to guess that while it might be a bit soft (the undercoat anyway) that its very weather proof..

Everything on the farm came though the storm safe and snug in the barns and house etc.. well back to working outside and everyone have a great day.

Well, we finally had to have a friend come over and plow us out , took him over an hour to clear the lanes to the house and then clear the lane down to the barn.. I am so glad that he came and it was SO worth the money he charged as snowshoeing was cool but not for everyday.

A few more photos of the dogs out playing in the snow.. the top photo is of Greenstone Duke, Greenstone Fire an Ice and Greenstone Cool Hand Luke out chasing each other in the snow.

Merry Christmas from Greenstone Cool Hand Luke