Just Some Advice

Last Week At Skunky Acres

This past week at Skunky Acres has been a busy one. Our youngest resident started kindergarden and has had a roller coaster ride. Kindergarden is a pressure cooker now days( it is definitely not the sweet little class I went to). Now it is big school and the kids are put through the ringer. Our little one is adapting well, but has his ups and downs. I am also adjusting to having an empty, quiet house for the first time in 10 years. I miss both my boys when they are at school, but I will have to admit it is nice to have some time to myself.

The new dog is also settling in, although it has occurred to our original dog that she is sticking around longer than the others before her. Freckles spends her days looking at the new dog and sighing. They get along well, though. Penny is even accepting her name change well. She is wonderful and I can't imagine our life with out her any more.

Toyota Prius, the Ultimate Farm Vehicle

Do to the county fair I have really put my car to the test this week and I have discovered it is quite the little champ. We have hauled 80 pound healthy dogs, a 45 pound bleeding dog, 100 pounds of feed, kids, shopping bags, chickens, even buckets of livestock bedding. It may need a little cleaning out, but I think it has really proved its worth.

Ladies and Gentlemen We have a Winner

After seriously questioning the place in our home for a second dog, and giving up for the most part that we would ever have one a wonderful thing happened. A friend recommended a web site called petfinder.com. What a wonderful web site. It allows you to look at the pets in your area, enter your criteria, and then you can email the rescue groups to see if they think the dog will match your family. This is a much better system than randomly bringing home dogs from the animal shelter. After lots of looking and lots of emailing we now have a wonderful dog. She is a 2 year old Catahoula Leopard dog, and she is everything we had in mind when we decicded we had room for a new pet. So far she is good with the chickens, the cats, and Freckles. I guess that this must be the breed for us since Freckles (our original dog) is one also. I will post pictures as soon as I have some.

Score

Skunky Acre is proud to announce that it is now home to an award winning chicken. Sally the buff cochin and her owner took not only first place for the large breed chickens, but grand reserve champion for the entire poultry house at the local county fair.

Is my son cool or what !

Sad

Max had to go back this morning. It was a very difficult decision but I made it. He was just to hard to control ( he ran away 5 or 6 times a day), he ate my house, and he tried to eat a cat. The cat one is what broke the camels back. I can't endanger the welfare of one of the animals I already have. I miss him, and wish him nothing short of a wonderful home. I am also questioning the place in our home for a second dog. We have the room, love, and desire but it is just to hard to find one that fits. I guess we have a lot of thinking to do.

Dog Number 54

Our quest to get a second dog has become a crazy affair. The first dog we brought home attacked Freckles ( our original dog) and hurt her bad enough that she needs several medications and veterinary care. Then we brought home a puppy, you can imagine why that one went back the same day. Right now we have Max. He has been giving us quite the run around, but we think we might keep him. The vote is in the morning so we have until then to continue to evaluate. Max has proven to be a handful. The first night we had him he decided to leave and hike all the way down the mountain to a movie theater. Lucky for us the local animal control found him, and we decided to call them on a whim. He is a sweet heart though and I really hope he works out.

Why is this titled Dog Number 54 you ask. Well, when we were bringing home Max he had no name. I asked the boys what they wanted to name this latest dog. My oldest son replied " Oh, I don't know how about Dog Number 54". To be fair we have named quite a few animals this week alone. I feel his frustration.