Grammys Corgi Country

Getting ready to go on a big trip for a few weeks is really a pain! I’m sure it will be fine once I get there, but I have never liked the getting ready part… trying to remember all of the things that might come up and make arrangements to cover them… Getting things cleaned, folded and packed… and for me, it is so hard to look at my dogs and horses and contemplate leaving my babies for any length of time. It just really tears me up.

I’ve been around animals since I was born… My parents always had dogs… In fact, that is how they met when they were 9 years old (They were born within 6 months of each other). My dad’s little white Pomeranian went to visit my mom’s little dog. They became friends, and he would go over at 4 in the morning to help her chop wood and get their stove going so she could make the tortillas for the day, and she would give him some for his family too. That was in 1929 and the early 30’s, when food was scarce for a family whose father had died of pneumonia 3 years earlier.

They always had dogs, and got my first dog for me when I was 6 months old. She was a little half-dead Chihuahua/Doxie mix. They got her fixed up and I had my Bootsie until she passed when I was 11. By that time, I also had a german shepherd and one of Bootsie’s pups, Bootie, while my mom had her dog, and my dad has his.

Over the years, my dad brought home all sorts of other animals as well. We had rats, and snakes… rabbits, raccoons, a skunk, and a raven (from the time when he was a featherless nestling until he passed at the age of 25 years old) among many others. He was able to get me a horse for me for my 11th birthday, and helped me train her and learn to ride. He taught me to go to the older people at the stables where we kept my Ladybug, and to listen to the older, experienced horsemen to learn about horses… their handling, care, and training.

Anyway, the only time I haven’t been around dogs is during the time I was in Bible College for a couple of years, and then I had a big stuffed dog that I kept in my dorm room to hug and pet. I believe that is one reason I’ve always had really good blood pressure… Researchers have proven that having a pet and just sitting there stroking it helps people to calm down, relieves stress, and lowers blood pressure. That is the main reason why more and more nursing homes are allowing animals in to visit patients… and lowered stress hormones also helps speed healing.

At least the last time I visited my son a couple of years ago, he did have a dog, so I won’t be “dogless,” and that is some consolation. (Maybe I can hide a corgi in my carryon… What do you think?)

Take some time doing something that will help you find calmness and peace today…

Last night I got to bed around 2:30 a.m. (I’m still trying to catch up on back emails and other stuff) and everyone else had been in bed for several hours, and were snoring their heads off… It was cold enough to be another “Three Dog Night.” Hubby has a sinus problem currently, and so, apparently, do all three corgis. I laid there for a while listening to the chorus of snores and almost got to sleep when suddenly a mouse started chewing on something in a drawer.

I was NOT happy! I REALLY didn’t feel like getting up to look for it so that it would shut up, so I laid there for another 10-15 minutes listening to the crunching get louder and louder (or so it seemed!) As I’ve mentioned before, we are surrounded by open fields so we get a lot of mice coming into the house and that is another critter war I am waging all the time. Sadie helps a lot, but she can’t catch them all, and this one really seemed to be building a condo or something in that dresser.

I finally decided to make some earplugs out of some Kleenex that I keep in my headboard, and got to sleep for a couple of hours, but when I had to get up for a bit at 5:30 a.m., and then got back to bed, that rotten little chewer was still working hard. I really hated to get up again, but prayed about it (I pray about most things lately) and felt that if I had left the big metal flashlight in the headboard above my head, and I got up right then and went and looked, I would be able to put it out of my misery.

Normally, THAT flashlight is not kept there, but after the other night without electricity, I guess that I had left it there, because I found it right where I had felt it might be, and sure enough, when I got up and went to the dresser, I heard it start chewing again, pulled open the drawer and there it was … a Humongous mouse staring up into the light. I ended up waking up poor hubby, but I stunned the little sucker and gave it to Sadie to take outside and dispatch.

It was my hubby’s dresser, and I didn’t take the time to find out what the paper was that it was doing such a good job of shredding, so I guess I’d better let him know so he can check… I know it had shredded some of the boxes of his collectible cars, so he’s not going to be a happy camper. I guess I shouldn’t have used the earplugs when I first went to bed.

Well, my DIL is still not doing well, and seems to be getting worse. I may need to fly across country to help my son soon. I hope that I will be able to keep blogging from there… Would you believe “Grammy’s NOT in Corgi Country…” or should it be “Grammy in Miami…” (Not really, Florida, yes, Miami no, but it sounds cute…)

May you win all your personal wars so easily!

Disclaimer: I do not put the ads on my blogsite, and I do not endorse those that promote unbiblical ideas.

Pembroke Welsh Corgis are totally wonderful little dogs if you want a smart, brave, energetic little dog to work with. They love having something to do, and thrive on learning new things that give them a feeling of accomplishment. Because they are so smart, they can be stubborn, pushy, and get into trouble if they aren’t given things to do that keep their attention.

They are also bred to be very energetic because they were supposed to be out in the fields working with animals that they could herd all day. I think, because they were bred to work hard in cold climates, their metabolisms don’t burn fat as fast, or they would have had problems with running out of energy while working under those conditions, so being overweight can be a problem. Because they are so cute and smart, and are always trying to please, it’s easy to give too many treats, and that can cause a problem if you aren’t careful.

Many people get these little dogs because they are beautiful and small, but they don’t realize that Corgis are really BIG dogs in small bodies. They tend to bark with a BIG dog voice and use it a lot, and, unless properly trained, they have a shoulder block that can knock your feet right out from under you… They use it on herd animals sometimes when working with them.

Because they are smart, they NEED someone who is around them, interacting with them… being a fairly constant companion, stimulating them both mentally and physically. They do wonderfully well in activities like agility classes or being helper dogs because of this.

Corgis also have memories like elephants, so you have to be very careful, especially when they are young, to protect them from things that they might learn to fear. For instance, if they aren’t properly socialized, or if they are hurt or frightened by a child or a stranger, they don’t tend to forget it, and while they will totally give their heart and soul to someone they have learned to love and trust, they won’t be very friendly with anyone else… they may learn to tolerate them, but that is all.

They also need someone who will be “Alpha dog” in their lives because if you let them, they will take that spot for themselves and have a tendency to run your life. They really love to be in high places because that is one way that dogs show dominance over others. It also gives them an opportunity to see farther than when they are down on the ground, and they are as curious as a cat (as I’ve mentioned before).

This probably sounds weird, but if you get them another dog as a pet, if they have to be left alone a lot for some reason, it often helps. I don’t think a lot of people realize the responsibility they are taking on when they get a Corgi, and they really should research the breed if they are thinking about getting one… Actually, I think that is probably true for any breed they are thinking of making a part of their family.

May you have a wonderful day with the companion of your choice…

Well, Praise God… so far the news is pretty good for my Daughter-In-Law. She is doing much better than expected for what was going on. She is still in the Critical Care Unit, but things are starting to look up. She and their family will continue to be in the rest of the family’s prayers.

I spent quite a while on the phone keeping family members updated, because, though we live so far apart, when a problem comes up, we all pray together… Thank God for phones and email, because we’ve all been “Reaching out to touch each other…” as the old phone commercial said. This way, my oldest son can get the news and updates out without having to do it all himself when he has so much other stuff to take care of for his girls and his wife.

I don’t know about the rest of you out there, but I’ve let a lot of chores go over the holidays, and now it’s catch up time. At least now that the water is on again, I don’t have to take all the extra time to haul buckets of it to places it was needed… Take a minute and think about not having running water for a several days. It makes it very hard to do a lot of “simple”, everyday things like cleaning your hands, your body, and your dishes, not to mention flushing. You have to haul in water to do all that, and then heat the water you haul because you can’t use the water heater. It really is time consuming, if not very difficult. I am totally thankful for running water… especially HOT running water!!!

Feeding the horses and watering them also takes some time, because a couple of them are over 20 and when it is very cold, like it has been, I try to make sure they get a hot mash of wheat bran, sweet feed, carrots and alfalfa pellets everyday or two.

I give it to them with their late evening feed so it helps them to warm up a little more from the inside out, gives them the extra carbs they need to produce energy for heat, and helps keep them hydrated. Sometimes horses don’t want to drink very cold water, so the gallon or so of warm water they suck up with their mash helps with that, too.

They get about a quart of each ingredient mixed together, and then I add hot water and let it set for about ½ hour to soak the water into the grain and bran, and to cool down enough so that it is fairly warm to the touch, but not to hot when I put it into their feeders. They LOVE it!!! I just have to watch because the dogs like to sneak in a “taste test…”

Another thing that takes a lot of extra time is cutting wood for the wood stove to help keep it at least close to 60 in the house when it’s close to 30, give or take 5 degrees, outside. At least the Corgis and Sadie help with gathering up the cut pieces and bringing them in.

With all this AND getting things ready for Christmas, the chores have backed up as I mentioned before. One thing about Corgis and other dogs with heavy undercoats is that the dust bunnies breed around here like RABBITS… Wonder if that is why they are called “Dust Bunnies…” Sadie has been herding them and bringing them to me a lot lately… I wonder if she is hinting. I probably had better get out the vacuum before she starts getting hairballs again.

Well, hope that your life is getting back to normal. I’m just thankful that I have a good house, wood to cut, enough horse feed, running water, and a couple of dogs that like to earn a little extra jerky by helping me clean house.

Today was cold and wet. We got more rain and a lot of mist, which will be very good for the grain we had planted in the pasture last week. I hope that this will keep up, off and on, for the next month or two, and we should get a very nice harvest.

Unfortunately, for the Corgis, we weren’t able to take them out to the park as we had planned. Corgis are a bit on the short side (very little ground clearance) and running in wet grass leaves about half of their body wet, and, like I said, it was COLD out here today.

We ended up staying at home and watching the first season of “Eureka” DVD’s that I had gotten Hubby for Christmas. It’s a pretty interesting show, I think. We like Sci-Fi books, movies, and TV shows, and this one has all of the things we like in it… good character interaction, humor, new and interesting story concepts. That last is one thing that is often lacking in so many of today’s shows. Too many are sort of “reruns” of other shows with different people playing the same parts and having the same basic storyline.

That is also a BIG part of the problem with so many of the movies they make today. Half the time, the producers seem to think that making an old movie over and just making it bloodier, sexier, or scarier is a good thing. We don’t go to the show very often anymore, and THAT is one of the main reasons.

Another problem is that someone will decide that some book is good enough to make into a movie… often an old classic book that is really well loved, with a great storyline and message, but then they decide to “change” it until it hardly resembles the original story! THAT is very irritating! For instance, “The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe,” was done very well and followed the storyline almost perfectly. We, and everyone else that I heard that saw it, were thrilled with it. THEN, they decided to make a sequel, and they DID NOT follow the storyline nearly as well, and made it more of a war story. The original storyline had a really good message to it, but that barely came through in the “Prince Caspian” movie.

At least it wasn’t as bad as the second Batman movie with the Penguin… I think there were a BUNCH of parents that were upset with that movie, as it had been advertised through McDonald’s and most thought it was supposed to be a family movie… I grabbed my kids and WALKED OUT about a quarter of the way through that trash!

We NEED more good family movies with storylines that are encouraging to people who go and pay good money to watch them… things like “Sea Biscuit,” “The Incredibles,” “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” all of the Veggie Tales Movies, and “Cars.” Movies that older kids and families can watch like, “Ironman,” “Spiderman,” etc. are also great… They didn’t use a lot of blood and guts or foul language in them, but they had great action scenes and stories that weren’t far off the original mark.

That’s the main reason we get movies that we can rent on DVD. WE can pick and choose what WE want instead of having to listen to so much garbage that is on the TV or in so many movies. It’s another example, I guess, of making wise choices of what we put in our brains, as I mentioned a couple of blogs ago.

Have a great weekend…

Hubby and I took another drive today with O.C. and B.G. Dott is going to be “indisposed” for about two weeks, and can’t go in the truck or car right now. She was NOT a happy camper!

We went back out into the hills around the same area we were in last week, and since I got a new digital camera for Christmas, I took a lot of pictures.

We went a lot further up into the hills this time, with me white-knuckling the dash as I gazed out the window and straight DOWN several hundred feet into some very deep ravines. My leg was about worn out pushing on a non-existent brake pedal as we came down those steep switch-back dirt roads. One place was so steep coming down, that O.C. slid off the front of the truck seat!

It WAS very pretty up on top of the hills with the views that were available since the air was very clear. Some places were still a bit misty, but by the afternoon, most of the fog had cleared off, so it was beautiful.

On the way back down, we stopped by that little valley from last week again, and let the Corgis out so that they could run around for about 30 minutes.

I’d mentioned in a couple of my blogs that we are in oil country, so, since we drove through one of the many oilfields to get into the back hill country, I also took some pics of them.

It just so happened… Hmmm… that we “found” a few mud holes to run through, too, so Hubby was able to come home with muddy wheels. It is nice having him home so much more this past couple of weeks with so many paid holidays and just using a couple of vacation days.

Oh, and we also got another waterline break about 4 days ago, but we got it fixed today because it was so close to the surface and the blowout sort of dug it out itself. This is about the shortest time it has ever taken to do that, Praise God!!! We didn’t even have to haul in extra water for the horses because they had enough to last that long in their water barrels.

I hope your first few days of this New Year have been as nice as mine. Keep looking for the bright side…

One thing about Corgis, and Border Collies apparently… they are like cats…(don’t tell them I said that… it’s a “dirty word” to a lot of dogs). They play just like them, though. One of Dott’s favorite things to do is to chase the “fishing pole” type toy that my son made for her. It used to be a long buggy whip and he flicks the long end around and she chases it and sometimes even turns flips trying to follow it and grab it.

I mentioned, the other day, that they all love to chase the “little red bug” (my son’s laser light). In fact, you have to be very careful not to start a fight with that thing, because Sadie, Dott AND B.G. will all start chasing it and then bang into each other, which can cause a fight. It’s a lot like little kids that start playing roughly with each other, and then one gets hurt and they start fighting.

Sadie caught a mouse outside while I was feeding the horses the other day, and she was slapping it back and forth and tossing it in the air exactly like a cat would do. Dott and B.G. do the same thing with a lot of their toys, and it’s hysterical just to watch them.

Ok… so I take pleasure in some of the simple things in life, but letting God take care of my cares, and taking time to smell the roses or watch the Corgis play, makes life so much more satisfying than stressing about things that “may” happen, or things that I can’t do anything about anyway.

That is what is so wonderful about Corgi Country. It is a haven away from traffic, noise, and other sources of stress. I can always turn off the TV and listen to music or even just listen to the birds sing, or the horses munch on their hay. Doing what the Bible says in Matthew 6:34 has become my main philosophy of life I think… At least since I’ve tried to follow it this past year, it has worked for me! Essentially, it says to take one day at a time and don’t worry about tomorrow.

After all, we don’t even know if we will be here tomorrow (freak car accident, stray bullet, meteor coming through the ceiling, etc.). If you’ve taken care of the important things between yourself and God, then THAT isn’t a problem, so just do what you need to do each day, to keep things in running order.

Be careful not to add the world’s problems to your shoulders by feeding your brain depressing stuff you can’t do a thing about anyway… that doesn’t mean not to do your part, like voting intelligently according to your principles, but so many times we sit there and watch T.V. shows that just put junk into our heads. Computer people say, “Garbage In, Garbage Out,” when talking about programming a computer and some of those principles apply to what we allow to go into our brain.

Today, start the New Year by making an effort to feed your brain good things… things that bring you joy and peace, and cut back on things that bring you down. This has been shown, by numerous studies, to lengthen your life, by lowering blood pressure, and the levels of stress hormones in your body that tears it down over time… Take a walk with a loved one, or a dog (same thing actually) and really LOOK around you. Look at the rainbows in the diamonds of dew on the leaves or a spider’s web. Watch a comedy or read a funny or uplifting book. Feed your brain good things!

Take your first steps toward a more peaceful way of living today, and try to make it your way of life…

I had gotten to bed so late, that I slept in today, and then had a wonderful breakfast of leftover turkey, dressing with a fried egg, and mashed potatoes with ham gravy. I LOVE leftovers… just pop ‘em into the microwave and fry an egg real quick!!! Hubby had taken the day off work, so we watched several episodes of Eureka… he’d gotten the first season of the TV show on DVD as a Christmas gift… and then we watched the corgis play.

My son started playing with them with his laser light. He is very careful not to get it in their eyes so they don’t get injured, but BG, Sadie and Dott just love chasing that “little red bug” around the house, skidding around the kitchen floor and ripping at full speed down the hall. They chase flies or moths the same way, leaping and jumping around. It’s funny, too, when they catch one of the real bugs because they will get a weird look on their little faces and then spit it out real quick.

Later, while I was feeding the horses, Sadie caught a mouse. She has a tendency to play with them like a cat, too, pitching them up in the air and catching them. We always praise her a lot when she gets one, because she’s turned into a great mouser, and catches them in the house, too. That is one of the problems of living in the country with fields all around… the mice come in the doggy door.

After feeding, we walked the dogs around the pastures, so that they could run and play. They ran around like crazy dogs, checking every big rabbit hole, weasel hole, and squirrel hole. We’ve had rabbits and squirrels since we moved here, but a couple of years ago, when they had a big fire on the other side of the hills from us, some weasels moved from those hills to our place… at least that’s what we think happened.

My son was really surprised when he saw the “weirdest looking squirrel” peeking out from the woodpile, and then again a few days later from a hole by the ditch. He came in telling me that he’d seen a ferret and was wondering if someone’s had gotten loose around here, though it is illegal to keep them in California. We looked online and when we came across a picture of the animal he’d seen, it turned out to be a weasel.

It was such a nice, restful, fun day. It was extra nice because Hubby rarely takes a day off work during the week, and we will still have two more days before he has to go back. BG, especially, loves having his Dad home. He is his Dad’s dog, just like his grandma, Mist, used to be, and loves it when he gets the chance to go to work with him (rare now), or spend any extra time with him.

Oh, I almost forgot, the recipe to Nana’s Candied Yams:

You need 1 lb. of brown sugar, 1 Piloncillo cone (or another lb. of dark brown sugar), 2 c. honey, 1 c. water, and 3-4 lbs. of yams (peeled and cut into large chunks– about 1.5 inches each)

In a large pot with a lid, place the brown sugar, honey, piloncillo and water. Heat on high until syrup is in a high rolling boil for several minutes. The syrup should be almost hard crack candy when scooped with a spoon and dripped into a cup of cold water if done correctly… CAREFULLY (don’t splatter) put yam chunks into syrup and cover. Keep heat on high so that the rolling boil will restart and continue for about 45 mins. DO NOT stir!!!

The boiling syrup should be boiling over the top of the yams and coating them (Just peek to check, but don’t open lid to much). DO NOT be tempted to put in more water as fluids come out of the yams and all the liquid will not boil off in time if there is to much. While still fairly hot, spoon yam chunks into a couple of large cake pans. Coat a cookie sheet lightly with butter, pour syrup in and let sit until cooled to make candy chunks for later enjoyment.

I hope that you had a restful day after the rush of preparations for Christmas, and I pray that the rest of the weekend is a blessing for you as well.

It’s twenty minutes to midnight and I finally got a chance to sit down at the computer. Christmas is almost over. I just came in from feeding the horses and it is REALLY blowing out there… hard enough that I had to lean to walk against the wind while carrying the hay to Cory’s stall. At least once in the stall, it was nice and cozy, so his hay won’t blow away.

I put Dancer and Tuffy’s hay by some other outbuildings so that they can eat without their hay blowing away either. They do have a stall available, but I’ve only seen them in it when it is really hot and they want to stay out of the sun… I don’t think they like the creaking of the tin walls or something when it’s windy.

The stars shone so brightly that I could see the sweep of the Milky Way, which only happens when it is extra clear and dark. It made me think of a very interesting television show that I watched a few days ago. It talked about this lawyer that had a computer program that star researchers use, and how he had used it, along with all the references in the Bible about the star that the Wise Man followed, to pin-point what he thinks was the Star of Bethlehem. It was a fascinating program, and I plan to purchase it for our Church Library (I’m the librarian.) If you are interested in checking this out, his website is: http://www.bethlehemstar.net/.

It turned out to be quite a day. Last night, at about 1 a.m., I found that there had been a hole in my purse and my lower partial (which I had taken out because of a sore on my gums) had fallen out and the dog (probably Sadie) had chewed them up… This is NOT GOOD!!! I had recently had the dentist check to see how much it would cost to make a new set, and the part we would have to pay, even with the great insurance I have, is WAY more than we could handle. This partial is of the four lower, front teeth, so it is VERY noticeable. I guess I needed to be humbled a little or something. There is nothing I can do about it, so I guess I’ll just have to live with it until the Lord makes a way for me to get some new ones.

I finally got the last gift wrapped and went to bed, and when I got up this morning, my cowboy son called to ask if it was alright if he came by to bury one of their old dogs who had passed away. Cheyenne had been a rescue dog that they had found and befriended a little over 9 years ago. She acted as though she had been abused before they found her and was terrified of most people and just a bunch of skin and bones. My daughter-in-law finally got her trust and, like most abused or neglected rescue dogs, she won the COMPLETE love and devotion of the beautiful animal.

Cheyenne looked as though she was probably a cross between a Golden Lab, and a German shepherd. She looked like a Golden Lab, but with German Shepherd coloration. She was beautiful, and once she learned she could trust some people, she was very sweet, though still a bit wary around strangers. She was really good around my grandson from the time he was born. She was several years old when they took her in, and had been showing her age quite a bit lately. Cheyenne will be greatly missed by those that loved her. My son buried her out in the side pasture where several other doggy friends we’ve had over the years are buried.

The rest of the day went pretty well, though. There was tons of food, (tomorrow, I’ll give you the recipe to Nana’s Candied yams) lots of love, and fun opening, and watching the little kids open, presents. The Corgis helped clean up the wrapping paper, as usual, and enjoyed their jerky treats and the many handouts of food and leftovers during cleanup time.

It’s a good thing they don’t get to eat like that all the time or we’d be rolling them around from place to place. Corgi’s DON’T have very long legs, so if their bellies get to big, they tend to drag the ground… remember the picture of O.C. when she was pregnant with those eight pups?!

I hope your day was a full and satisfying one, and that you were able to give God your problems and count your blessings. .

Merry Christmas everyone! I hope your day was a special one filled with love and joy.

We always go into town to my sister’s house (used to be my mom’s before she left for Heaven), and join with the rest of our extended family for the whole day. There is always a ton of food, (not great for someone who is trying to change their lifestyle away from dwelling on food…) and the company of many friends, as well as family, as people drop by off and on during the day.

Three of my kids will be there this year, and four grandkids, as well as nieces, and grandnieces. The two of my sisters live next door to each other, so all of the dogs come over, too. That’s a minimum of 12 adults, 6 little kids between the ages of one and 8, and 8 dogs. Needless to say, it gets quite crowded at times.

One of my sister’s dogs is a one year old German Shorthair dog that is HUGE. Actually, she belongs to my BIL. She is all legs and energy, and, like most puppies, she’s not always careful about others when she is playing. You have to be careful that she doesn’t knock you “head over heels.” She’s such a silly girl, too, in the way that she drinks water. She puts her head way down to the bottom of the bowl to drink, so she sprays water all over the place when she’s done. She usually ends up having to go outside after a little while, though she has been able to stay longer as she’s grown older and gotten a bit more disciplined (like all pups…)

My sister, the kids call her Mimi, has two little Chihuahua mixes named Dolly and Kisses, and the other sister, the kids call her Naunie, has an older yellow lab named Daisy, and a black and white Shih Tzu named Mia. Our three corgis have all gone to Mimi’s since they were tiny pups whenever we go in, so they play quite well with Dolly and Kisses. None of them are too happy with the bouncing, careening, gigantic (as far as they are concerned) Molly, though.

One of our Christmas traditions is to all sit around the living room before opening presents, and talk with the children about the real reason for the season, and sing some songs, including Happy Birthday to Jesus. I’m writing this on Christmas Eve, so I will have to let you know how the day went in tomorrow’s blog. I’ve got some last minute wrapping to get done tonight.

May the knowledge and joy of what God did when He sent His Son so long ago, bloom like a beautiful rose in your life, and may you have a wonderful, joy filled day. Again, have a very Merry Christmas!