Merry Christmas! Kids Can Make Everything Fun!

 Kids can make everything fun.

 And Al and I have a bunch of them.

Eleven, to be exact.

 We've never been bored.

 We've rarely been lonely.

Always have we been entertained.

And sometimes pushed beyond our limits.

But our children have taught us many things.

And we do our best to enjoy the moments.

 Hopefully we've taught them a thing or two.

And hopefully the learning was fun at times. 

 We love their sense of fun.

We love their sense of humor.

 And their sense of adventure.

 Even though growing up can be painful at times.

 There is always room for love and compassion.

 And hugs.

They are ready to try most anything.

And take time to smell the flowers.

And have good conversation.

They've been ready and willing, mostly, to try new things.

And discover their passions and gifts.

They probably keep some things secret.

But laughter is only a moment away.

 They love each other with great passion.

 And have become friends along the way.

Sparks fly occasionally.

But they typically are quickly repaired.

They don't mind taking the lead.

 Or taking a rest when needed.

 I am blessed continually by their smiles.

 And thankful hearts.

 Someone is always off exploring.

 Or trying to get others to follow.

Or gallop off into the sunset.

 Or climb to the top of the mountain.

Some seek solitude.

Others enjoy a crowd.

All of them love snuggling.

They'll leave their mark on the world.

I am blessed.

My New Winter Hoop House

So I built a new winter hoop house here at our new place. We had a nice day recently, but with cold weather coming I needed to get the second layer of protection on the little tiny plants.

Here are the little bitty lettuce plants.

And the little bitty mixed greens.

And the itty bitty spinach plants.

All the plants are now freshly watered and doubly tucked in. I'll close the hoop house up.

All tucked in before the temperature drops. I wish I could have put the plants in before November 1st, but I'll have very early spring greens! Maybe even late winter. I'll let you know.

Who's Training Who?

Having a houseful of dogs makes training interesting. I do train my dogs individually, but I also love training in a group.

Here I am working on self control. As you can see Cowboy is cheating a bit! The idea is for each dog to stay on his or her individual mat.  When we started out, it was a hodge-podge of dog bodies hovering around my feet. Except for Barbie, as she's done this before. (she's 3rd from the left)

While the dogs are milling about my feet, because I have FOOD, I say the dogs name who happens to be on the mat and then give that dog alone - a treat. This session took about 5 minutes before I got the behavior you see below. 

Once we get this far and each dogs stays on their mat, I can rotate through saying "Cowboy" - Treat, "Kevin" - treat, "Greta" - treat, etc. It is so fun to see the dogs inhibit themselves and wait for their turn. I also like to use small boxes or foam steps for the dogs to sit on. I work toward having the dogs stay on their mat or box, then I call one dog off and train that dog. If the other dogs stay on their mat, they get a treat each time I click/treat the dog in active training. This really teaches the dog self control. So fun!