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The Gift of the Vine – Oregon’s Wild Jewels

Who’s picking those berries??

Ever wonder where that purple mustache came from on your German Wirehaired Pointer’s mouth? Every wonder why your Great Dane runs an 1/8th of a mile down your driveway and stands staring at the bush growing by the pond? Ever wonder why you buy this product in the store when home-grown is soooo much better?? Wonder what I’m talking about???

WILD BLACKBERRIES!!!!!!

The start of our Wild Blackberry season!!

While the neighboring honey bees were hard at work pollenating our wild blackberry bushes, my angst about very little bees in my garden grew. However, this year’s crop of blackberries is tremendous, even with the lack of water we’ve had this summer. No doubt their roots are tapping into the year round pond in our front pasture, and although the fruit is smaller, it is abundantly positioned on the vines and packed with berry yumminess!! We have so many yet to ripen….

Waiting on the precious jewels of Oregon.

Wild Blackberries still to ripen

This is why my dogs stare at the bush growing by the pond, and come back with purple moustaches…

The last couple of years, I’ve learned a few things about picking these gorgeous, yummy, jewels of Oregon. It is best to go berry picking in the evening as the sun is setting, or in the morning just as the sun is starting to rise. If you don’t, you’re going to be contending with honey bees, bumble bees, and wasps…none of which I want buzzing around my hands, arms, or face. Be prepared to pick more than you need, because half of what you pick won’t make it to the bucket…your mouth (or your dog’s) may exhibit a purple hew after picking. Wear long sleeves, as those thorns really do not want to give up the treasures within their vines. I’ve yet to find gloves that can really work for picking berries. Any suggestions?? Finally, make sure you remember what you were wearing when it comes time to do your laundry…you’ll want to pretreat those blackberry spots left on your clothes…or you can always tie dye if you forget. 🙂

Glad I was wearing long sleeves!

Who’s picking those berries??

Penni helping to pick…Tucker is back there too!

Not bad for 15 minutes worth of pain, scratches, and fun. This is true family bonding time… 🙂

The 15 minute bounty!!

Category:

Blackberries, building a new home, Great Dane, Harvesting, Homesteading, honey bees, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Wild Blackberries

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The Skies Have It

I’ve always been taken by the sky. If you think about it, there are no comparisons to any other type of canvas one can paint on. Within varying shades, the background remains virtually the same. The medium, however, varies not by content, but by texture, shading, brightness, and color. When the sky merges with, and becomes part of the skyline, the impact is even greater.

Growing up and living most of my adult life in the San Francisco Bay Area, we had a merging sky – skyline referred to as the Bay Area’s natural air conditioner. This would occur as the coastal fog would come inland enough to hang, literally, on top of the bay area coastal mountains, creating the appearance of huge waves. This meant the jet stream was coming inland from the ocean, bringing with it that cool air and fog that creates those iconic pictures of the Golden Gate. It’s spectacular!

The Golden Gate Bridge in fog.

Arial view of SF Bay Area coastal fog by photographer Simon Christen

Unfortunately, in the absence of the fog, the skyline turns more of a brownish color rather than blue. Call it particles, or pollution…it totally detracts from the beauty of the canvas, however, creates some very wonderful sunrises and sunsets.

The skies of Oregon have been a welcomed surprise by the creative hand of the Master Artist. He paints a moveable, ever-changing display of undeniable beauty. In contrast to the Bay Area where so much of the majestic artistry compounds on the skyline, in Oregon, the sky gets most of His attention. It’s amazing, every time you walk outside, the canvas has been repainted.

These past two weeks or so, the sky has had some outrageously beautiful stories to tell, with the last couple of days expressing vivid beauty from pain. We’ve had the threat of thunder storms creating “ahhmaaazing” sunsets, culminating, yesterday, in Severe Thunder Storm Alerts on the radio and T.V.. all day warning of quarter sized hail, winds to 60 mph, 1/2″ to 1″ of rain, and ground to sky lightning. Imagine the attention those warnings got from someone, Me, who is used to seeing fog on the hills as a significant weather occurrence. (If you want to talk earthquakes, that’s another story.) Here are some photos of our incredible Oregon sky taken the past 2 – 3 weeks…and then a little video of a lightning storm (not mine, nor even from an Oregon storm…just a beautiful video.)

What a gorgeous sky!!

Awesome, yet, intimidating!

Twenty minutes of incredible beauty!

Category:

Bay Area Fog, building a new home, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley

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Animal Antics

Nature, domestic and wild, is really a great form of entertainment. During the last couple of weeks, we have witnessed a myriad of heartwarming animal antics that brought with them tears, laughter, and contemplation. For true effect, I’m writing about them in time order….

The five “Fine Wines” were moved to the chicken house (actually this was more like 4 weeks ago) and merged with the four “Shakespearean Untouchables” with great excitement!! They loved their new house! Benedict, our young-but-oldest rooster, set down the law very quickly. He chased the smaller hens around a lot, and was especially attentive to, Merlot, our younger rooster. There was some mild pecking going on from the older group, but no blood was ever drawn, nor feathers plucked. The most heartwarming thing that occurred every night through their transition was that no matter the disdain from the older brood toward the younger, at night when seeking safety inside the house, everyone was accepted to roost. There was some cackling going on as they all found their spot, but the chasing and pecking was at a minimum. The inherent understanding of the dangers that could befall each other if left outside was incredible to witness. I am continually amazed and entertained by my feathered friends.

The Roosting Broods

Two young red-tailed hawks have left their nest and are looking for a feeding ground. The chickens have learned to listen to the birds in the trees, and run inside when they strike the alarm. Benedict’s eyes have learned to watch the skies for dangers and darkness. He leads the brood in and out of their house as safety permits, and has determined the level of darkness that he will allow them to stay outside…after that, he rounds up any hens that are outside, into the house…it is so cool to watch. Here is the call that brings the brood indoors….

http://macaulaylibrary.org/audio/166694/play

Our Great Dane, Penni loves, loves, LOVES our neighbor’s dog, Daisy. Daisy is a true farm dog, of the Great Pyrenees variety, that protects their livestock. Daisy and Penni have a through-the-fence friendship. They actively run back and forth, stick their heads through the fence squares to say, “Hi,” and just lay down and spend time with each other. One day, Penni seemed confused by Daisy. Daisy was just laying there, Penni was trying to engage her, but it was a no-go. Penni looked back at me several times, so I thought I should check things out. As I approached Daisy, I saw something very strange…then it dawned on me…Daisy had a snout and mouth full of porcupine quills. PORCUPINE QUILLS??!!! I didn’t even know we had porcupines in our neck of the woods, but it makes perfect sense…we’re in the woods!! Long story short, Daisy’s human took her to the vet…wherein she was not only de-quilled…she gave birth to 6 puppies!!

This unfortunate guy made his way into the chicken’s yard area….

I didn’t see it, but he didn’t last very long. I found the brood close to it…the snake was already dead.

It seems that it is that time of year again….the Peacocks have arrived!!

This picture was taken last spring…they made a visit to the chicken yard this past week.

Beyond all of this…Tucker has gotten into burr bushes 5 times in the last 3 days,

Our poor Tucker doggy and those darn burrs.

the family of quail living under a wild blackberry bush have been exercising their bevy of tiny wonders, deer mommies are cautiously bringing out their spotted fawns from under cover, and the neighbor’s goats have been kidding and telling the world about it.

The highlight of all these animal antics, however, has to be the running of 1500 ducks down the main creek winding through town…..Enjoy!!

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, Chicken House, Chickens, Deer, Dogs and Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, Oregon, pumpkins, Rhode Island Reds

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The Vegetable Garden That Almost Wasn’t

This year, winter turned to spring really quickly, and weirdly, unexpectedly in our minds. Even though it was late April, temperatures were still dropping really low at night…I think we even got a light frost in early May. Tony had to leave on business for a couple of weeks…we had just entered the month of May. All of a sudden the weather was warmer, and we had NOT set-up the garden at all. In my mind, we were way late…remember, we were used to getting our garden going by Mid-March at the latest in California. I was starting to panic, but I pulled it together…hahahaha…..got out a big shovel and turned the ground over…Tony would have used the tilling implement on the tractor, but it wasn’t attached when he left. At that point it was MUCH easier….more practical…NO WAY was I going to try and get that thing attached.

My second obstacle was the fencing…we have to have protective fencing or nothing will survive. We had 6 wire panels with 2×4 boarders that Tony and my son, Will, had already made that past summer. They would be perfect for a quick set-up…remember, I was in panic mode to get my seeds and tiny sprouts into the ground. The one drawback was that it would greatly reduce the space I would have available to plant….we have 34 acres….my garden would be reduced to a 16’x 8′ rectangle…oh well…at least I’d have great tomatoes!! My son and I attached the panels together, and then I addressed the other issues.

Veggie Garden 2013 – Young, Growing Seedlings

My cute little garden!

Just planted!

First of all, the soil….the soil!! We have red, very iron rich dirt…not rich in much else…great for Douglas Fir trees, vegetables, not so much. Last year’s garden was a total Test Garden. We did not improve the soil, at all, on purpose, and it did okay with some help from granulated fertilizer. The tomatoes were delicious, the strawberries did terribly!! This year we chose a different area within the ashes of a burn pile. Mixing all of that into the soil beneath it really broke up the packed, rocky soil and seemed perfect for the potatoes, onions, corn, and celery. We also added pots with traditional bagged soil because the burn pile was not big enough for everything I wanted to plant…… I think we need to call this Test Season #2.

Veggie Garden 2013 – One Month Later (June)…Oh How They’ve Grown

One Month Later…Potatoes, Celery, and Corn

Carrots

Gourds…what do you do with gourds??

Pinto Beans

Watermelon, Cantaloupe, and Pumpkins

Tomatoes, Green and Yellow Bell Peppers

Category:

building a new home, Eggplant, Great Dane, Growing potatoes, Harvesting, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, San Francisco Bay Area, Silicon Valley, Vegetable Garden

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A Sad Reality

My next-day post turned into a week later…..the realities of life sometimes get in the way of those things, like writing, that I’d rather be doing.

There are other realities in life that we encounter less frequently (hopefully), but always, when they occur, too often. Before I get to that, I have some updating to attend to.

So obviously, the chickens have continued to grow. Since my last post, the “Fine Wines” have feathered out nicely and have been spending time in the small pen that Tony built for the “Shakespeareans”, aka…the “Untouchables.”

Watching over both broods, Penni is a very busy Mommy!

For three days, their outdoor run was not in the location you see above. We had them across the driveway, closer to their brooder inside the garage. They LOVED the great outdoors, and were very quick to get the idea that they could eat the grass, and bugs under their feet. Our first group didn’t seem to catch onto this concept quite as fast. Maybe it’s because they were raised by a Great Dane, and not a hen…hahahaha! This younger brood has taught us a lot about chicken behavior, and some of the dangers they face. They just, in all aspects, act more like the typical caricature model of those feathered fowl you see in cartoons. Younger than our first brood, these “Fine Wines” have scratched the dirt, found that grass is a great substitute to feed, chased bugs, and found a roosting place earlier and with more ease than the “Shakespeareans.”

The Fine Wines decided this was a good place to spend the night!

They don’t really want to be held (unlike Claudio), but have found that it is a necessary evil to getting outside. There is one exception to this, “not wanting to be held” tendency that I will detail in a bit.

The “Untouchable Shakespearean Four” have settled very nicely into the chicken house. We started out having to coral them at nighttime back to indoor safety around 8:30 to 9:00. The sun hasn’t been setting until about 9:30ish, and since, at this point, we manually close their access door we lose patience around 8:30. One night we waited, and it was so cool…it was about 9:15 p.m…our neighbor’s rooster called out…our little man and ladies lifted their heads and ran straight into their house! It was the most awesome sight!! Once the sun starts setting a little earlier, I’ll have patience to wait for this crew to begin doing that on their own…for right now, we do the nighttime coral dance. =o)

Well, now to get to the title of this post…during the week that we were introducing the “Fine Wines” to life outdoors, we had a real-life homesteading lesson. We left the brood out in their covered pen while we went to dinner. I wasn’t concerned as I had left the older group out many times with no problems…Tony, on the other hand, mentioned that we should bring them in…my thoughts won-over the moment, and we went to town…the 6 glasses of wine stayed out. As we were coming up the driveway back home, a hawk took off from a ground level position…near the outside brooder. I glanced at the six smaller chickens…they seemed ok. My concern was mostly on the older four, their outdoor pen is not top covered….they were not outside. Taking a peek into the chicken house, my fears were quelled…they were all there, but they didn’t come out to greet me. Something scary must have happened.

My attention then turned back to the “Fine Wines”…they were all grouped together in one corner of the pen, except one…it was laying, crumpled against the side of the pen…the opposite side of the pen. I thought, “Oh no!!” And within the few seconds it took for me to get to the brood, the additional thoughts that went through my head were…”Which one is it? I think it’s going to be the rooster…he’d try to protect the girls…he always does…Oh no is it Gretchen?” By the time I formed that last question, I realized that it WAS Gretchen….he was dead.

Little Getchen…..the rooster.

The little hen who would be a rooster!!

Our imagination tells us that Gretchen (the Rooster) must have run forward in front of the flock to protect them. Even though he was still so young, Gretchen always put himself in front of the girls when he sensed something. The hawk must have grabbed him through the wire mesh wall. It was very sad, and it was a very good lesson of true nature…it is all around us up here in Oregon. We have less of a threat of the artificial dangers such as animals being hit by cars, but a more prominent possibility of predators. This requires a different level of thinking and planning. We’re still figuring it out…like the fact that we now put a cat carrier into the outdoor pen so these little ladies and gentlemen have a place to run to for protection.

Do you remember me saying that the younger brood of 6 (now 5) do not like to be held….well, the night of the hawk made things a little different. Those little glasses of wine stood absolutely still while we picked them up to move them inside. They actually relaxed into the crevice of my arm and almost all of them closed their eyes as I walked them back to their home. They were scared, and exhausted. Huddling together, they ate, got a drink of water, then huddled together and took a good sleep. They were somewhat quiet for a little over a day, but something really cool started to emerge….we had a new little rooster. Up to that point I hadn’t noticed that we had two, except for a little “chest pounding” by Gretchen and this little one….welcome to the cockerel section, little Merlot!!

This little guy stepped up to the plate after Gretchen died.

My concern now….will little Merlot be big enough to stand up to Benedict if necessary? Hmmmmm……..

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chicken House, Chickens, Dogs and Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Oregon, Penni the Great Dane, Rhode Island Reds, Silicon Valley

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From Brooder to Chicken House

Still catching up….

About 10 days ago, we moved our 4 “untouchables” to their new home…the lavishly designed chicken house. Who are the 4 “untouchables” you ask, and why am I calling them that?? They are the 4 originals…the 4 amigos (although 3 are amigas)…the 4 never to be seen on a dinner plate, soon to be leg banded so no mistakes, named after Shakespeare’s, “Much Ado About Nothing” male character roles even though 3 are hens, first brood of chickens our family has ever raised. I feel very parental over these fine, feathered friends!!

Benedict (the rooster), Claudio, Don John, and Don Pedro – The 4 “Originals”

Don John, and Don Pedro

Claudio

Penni, our Great Dane, must have been a little concerned too. She HAD to get into the chicken house and count her babies. As soon as she found everyone accounted for, she relaxed and left the newly designed home with her approval. She hasn’t needed to get in there since, so I guess everything checked out to her liking… ;O)

Making sure all is right with her little puppy-chicks.

Their first night out of the brooder in the garage was a rough one….for me! I worried all night about raccoons or coyotes, were they warm enough, did they have enough light filtering in from the outside shop light. I had read that chickens like some sort of dim light in their house…that they are scared of the dark…really??? So I worried that they were cold, afraid, and vulnerable……am I the only one who thinks this way??

I think this is what you get when you move from city life to country life….an over exaggerated tendency to want to keep everything under your own roof to keep it safe. Maybe it stems from always needing to know where your animals are when you live in the city. If they are not within earshot or sight, they are at risk for getting hit by a car, picked up by animal control, or barking too loudly and disturbing neighbors. Dogs must always be leashed, confined, and controlled….cats, although given a bit more freedom, better not be choosing a neighbors freshly dug garden as an area of interest or they risk mysteriously disappearing. Always, always know what your pets are doing….since I have not been removed from that reality for very long, I am still working my way around the city confinement vs. being able to stretch the boundaries a bit more. I’m trying not to view the chickens as pets….but I think I have lost that battle with the 4 “originals.”

Me and my buddy, Claudio!!

Despite my worrying, the chickens have done well. The last couple of nights have been cooler than I’m comfortable with since they don’t have any type of heat source. A light bulb or the heat lamp may be something we add today. I’ve read varying advice on that. These 4 are not of egg laying age, and although feathered out nicely, they don’t yet have the body fat (I’m guessing here) to keep them as warm as they should be. I am not sure if that is true or not. But they are not yet roosting, and they huddle together on the floor in a corner during the night…that tells me that they are a bit cold. I’m not okay with that, so we’ll see what we can do today. If anyone has insight of this, I’d be happy to get your advice!! The chicken house is not wired so we’ll have to run an extension cord…hhmmmm. I’ll have to figure out how to get an extension cord through a wooden wall…I may have to drill a hole…..sorry Tony!!!

First time contemplating walking down the ramp to the great outdoors.

They made it!!

I’m not sure why we thought closing the chicken door was a good idea.

Stay tuned…..the “fine wines” have had a little adventure of their own….but that’s for tomorrow!!

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chicken House, Chickens, Dogs and Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Rhode Island Reds, Silicon Valley

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Chicken Coooooo…… naw……. Chicken House!!

When you think of chickens what comes to mind?? Well after seeing these little girls (and it looks like 2 – 3 boys) grow and feather out from their soft, downy, fluffiness…I don’t see dinner!! Those clean, pudgy fryers that I buy at the grocery store could never have been one of these cuties….I have to keep that separation…at least at this point. Tony thinks differently, he thinks that when the time comes we will have a delicious meal sitting before us that once was in the chicken coooo…..uhmm …house. Only time will tell, although I have no doubt that if it were the best option to feed the family he wouldn’t hesitate….but, there is a grocery store 3 miles away….and hunting has never been his thing. Age and time has a tendency to change you…maybe it will me too……but I’ve named them, maybe I shouldn’t do that.

Shelter….that was the big question on our list a couple of weeks ago. What are we going to use for a chicken shelter as they grow out of their brooder? We started looking around for premade chicken coops. There are some really cute ones out there, but I couldn’t see 10 fully grown chickens spending a rainy day or many successive rainy days, as we have here in Oregon, squished together in such a small area…. #1: these little gals like to stretch their legs… #2: I don’t want them having to be so squished together that they have poop everywhere they walk. I realize that they are going to have poop everywhere they walk no matter the size of the chicken coop….but if the shelter is a little bigger, it will be more spread out and they won’t have to be walking through fresh “piles” of it. That’s my inexperienced way of thinking. It may be really inefficient in poultry management principles…but doesn’t it make sense…a little?? BTW, Tony agreed with me on this one. 🙂

Not being able to find just the right shelter option, Tony decided to build one. We thought about contracting with Adair Homes (our home builder), but decided to take the project on ourselves…hahahaha. After looking at many different plans, Tony decided to combine a few different ideas, and the chicken cooooo….naw….chicken house was built. It really is a thing of beauty….

Tony Building the Chicken House (with a little help from Penni)

The Two Rooms and Nesting Box without Interior Wall

The Front People Door

Clean-Out Trap Door

Looking Out the Chicken Door

Roosting Ladder

Looking Out from the Chicken’s Area

Nesting Boxes

The Work Area and Egg Gathering Side of Nesting Box

Looking Out the Chicken Door

The only thing left to add now are the chickens…………….

Mickey 4th of July

BTW…our family would like to wish your family a Happy 4th of July!!! Our prayers go out to our wonderful country, that our footing would once again become solid in it’s foundation, and that God’s hand would not be lifted as we continue to move away from the principles that made our country great. May God continue to bless our United States of America, and may His people never forget the sovereignty of His love.

Category:

Adair Homes, Brooders, Buff Orpington, building a new home, Chickens, Great Dane, Homesteading, moving to Oregon, Rhode Island Reds

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Of Chickens and Dogs

A little behind in my posting….

In May we took the plunge and welcomed not one, but two broods of little chicks (4 and then two weeks later 6 more) into our home. I say, “our home” because as is the case with any animal we welcome in, they end up being a permanent fixture within our home. Picture 10 tiny chickens running to and fro, fluttering around as if their soft, downy feathers could sustain flight. Imagine the family of people, dogs, cats, and chickens all living in harmony under one roof. Imagine the chaos….can you see it???

Wait a minute….is this for real….who lives like this??? Uhhmmm….isn’t that how it’s done?? We’ve never raised chickens (okay, Tony’s dad had a chicken or two in the backyard when he was young.) Don’t they get cold?? What do they like to lie-down on?? Do you just throw food around for them…what about grit….can they eat lettuce…what about corn?? How old do they have to be before they can go outside….will they run away…should we build a coop or buy one…when do they start laying eggs?? Wait…what??? These little ladies (and maybe gentlemen) poop….ALOT!!

Benedict, Claudio, Don John, and Don Pedro

Merlot, Sangria, Riesling, Chardonnay, Champagne, and Gretchen

So we (no…let’s be more specific) I had a lot of questions. I saw little yellow Buff Orpington chicks, and tiny rust colored Rhode Island Red chicks looking up at me, and my heart melted. All of a sudden they were dependent on us to feed, water, clean, protect, and provide shelter….how could your heart not melt? Remember, I’m a city girl gone to the country. You eat things from the grocery store, NOT that you raise from “babyhood.” To me, these little girls (and guys?) are pets with benefits, namely fresh eggs. Tony hauntingly looks at me, blinking kindly and says, “We won’t touch the original 4, the rest lay eggs for awhile then into the pot.” I laugh, and talk about how cute they are, brushing his cute, nonsensical comments aside as a little blonde chick falls asleep in the palm of my hand. So….into the house they came….well, that is….under the same roof. Okay….into the garage within a make-shift brooder made from a small white cabinet.

Brooder #1

As they grew, I transformed a, yet unfinished, dog bath that Tony was building….it has been PERFECT for that “in-between” stage.

The chicks grew fast, and needed more space.

So, where do the dogs come in??? I think it is probably more appropriate to say, “DOG.” One big, Penni dog who thinks she is Mommy to this little brood of chick-a-dees. Now don’t get me wrong, there are 3 really curious doggies at the farm (can I legitimately say, “farm” now that we have chickens??), and they are just not sure what these fluffy peepers really are. However, the big, Penni dog has set the premise that NO ONE messes with “HER” puppy-chicks…Karli and Tucker are listening. After a couple of scuffles over territorial rights surrounding the perimeter of the brooders…the big, Penni dog keeps close track of what her brooder babies are doing. The real question is….is she protective over them because they are her “babies” or because they are future meals….hhhhmmmmm.

What's in There?

It’s much easier keeping track of everyone now that they are all in one place.

Are You My Mother??

Usually separated by a short wall, we bring them together a little bit each day.

Stay tuned…more adventures to come…..!!!

Category:

Brooders, Buff Orpington, Chickens, Great Dane, moving to Oregon, Rhode Island Reds, Silicon Valley

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One Year Ago Today

One year ago today….actually the 8th of June. It took me two days to edit, edit, and edit again a video that WP would be able to load. I should change the name, but I think it’s catchy.

Picture this…..the day taken off of work….a student missing a day of classes….an hour and a half car ride to the airport. The anticipation of the impending arrival. Suddenly, the flight tracker on my phone shows that the plane’s arrival is imminent. Looking out toward the tower, there it is! The white, flying vehicle holding the precious cargo is making its descent.

We are at the cargo bay pick-up site for Alaska Airlines. Surprisingly, (I don’t know why I was surprised at this, but I was) so are quite a few other people. I have never picked up cargo at the airport before, so this is a learning experience. The check-in/pick-up counter is somewhat….uhhmm….less in presentation than the airline’s ticket counter. We are told it will be a wait…20 – 30 minutes. So, we wait………

While waiting, people are talking about their cargo. The most interesting had to be a participant in the 2012 Portland Rose Festival. I believe his name is, Martin Buser, in any event, he is the 4-time champion of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race. He was waiting for his team of dogs being flown down from, I presume, Alaska. Those dogs were in awesome shape, and really beautiful!!

Our time had finally arrived….I could hear her arriving from behind the doors leading to the loading dock. Peering into the room, I saw my first glimpse…….

and then she was in my arms…

The emotions of the day were overwhelming. It had been 10 years of waiting for the right time to add another Great Dane into our home and lives. We wanted to wait until we had space for our big kids to run…not a dog park. There is a lot of “drama” at dog parks, especially when you bring in an extra-large dog with a lot of energy. It was finally the day, June 8, 2012, our Penni came home. Bred by Kerry Grant of http://www.kootenaidanes.com/ , Penni has been a delight of rambunctious, great dane antics. (She is so beautiful, and so friendly…her vet’s office (of which we take her regularly to be weighed) says she is the friendliest dane they have seen in their practice. She is gorgeous, through and through.

So today, we celebrate her / our one year anniversary! Penni’s birthday was in April…here is a quick video I put together for that auspicious event!!