Annie and Jessie - on the job

Annie and Jessie are on the job now.

We here them working through the night and even during the day.


They have been warming up to us slowly and we get to pet them...when they want to be pet.

Anatolian Shepherds have a long history. They originate in Turkey as guard dogs for sheep.

They were never household pets, they were workers and loved their jobs.

To this day, Anatolian Shepherds still have that working drive.

These sweet dogs have protected herds from wolves, cheetahs, and bears for centuries!

These pups have our respect.
They will keep our small herd of goats from harm and risk their lives.
We look forward to growing with these little girls (they aren't even 2 yet!)
and see them grow to be amazing adult dogs.

Thank you so much to the Allen family for allowing us to adopt these amazing dogs.

Viva Las Vegas....for 12 hours.

We got into Las Vegas at 1pm on Friday afternoon.
Jeremy has never been to Vegas before so we did a quick run through.
We drove down the strip, pulled into the Paris hotel.
Took the trip over to the Bellagio.
Ate lunch at the Bellagio.



Went back to the Paris hotel.
Drove to our hotel (the only one that would allow two 100lb dogs in the room)

And met our new family members!

This is Annie...she is so sweet and was very timid while in the hotel.

This is Jessie, she was a little less timid but wouldn't come out of her crate either.

So we went to bed at 8pm, woke up at 2am and got on the road.

You may ask how we got the dogs in the car?!?

We loaded them in their crates on a bell hop cart.

They didn't come out of the car the entire trip!

Once we got home, we had to turn the crates over to get them to come out.

Poor babies!

Body Guards!

We have had a rough couple months with the threat of a mountain lion in our area.

So we have been researching Livestock Guardian Dogs (LGDs).

There are so many options but we were at a loss as to which one would be good for our family and farm.

We were lucky enough to have a family that had two LGD's that needed a new home.

So we adopted them!

However, they were in New Mexico and we are in Northern California.

Can you say "Road Trip"?

We met half way in Las Vegas, NV.

What a drive! It was so pretty but so desolate!

Our chicks are big girls now!

We have eggs!
12 of them now!

It seems like it has been forever since we got our little baby chicks
and now they are big girls!


Emily is so excited and checks the coop over twice a day!
She took the picture below.

Pappa's Corral

As most of you have heard we have had issues with keeping our fiesty goats inside the fence.

So when my parents came to visit, Dad and Jer went to work.

Hey, it was free labor!!!

Can you believe they ran 400 feet of no-climb fencing in less than 48 hours?

They are amazing men!

We officially named it "Pappa's Corral"

My Hardworking Ranch Hand

My husband is such a hard worker.
Not only does he have a demanding job as a firefighter....
but he comes home to an even more demanding job.

We are finally able to get going on the solar installation.

You see, we are off-grid which means that we don't have any power unless we run off of solar power or a generator.

Our generator has been charging our batteries but it uses propane (which is expensive) every time we have to run it. We run it about 2-3 hours a day.

Once we get the solar up, we won't have to run the generator and that will save us lots of cash!

Solar is FREE!!

He will be working on it again this weekend so I will update my blog with pics.

Welcome Lucy!

Since I can't have another baby until June of next year. We decided to adopt.
Not a baby!
A puppy!

This is Lucy, our Australian Shepherd. She is so much fun and so sweet.

Emily loves this little girl.

This little girl loves to sit at my feet!

She thinks she is a big girl and loves to play with Lily and Lindsay.
They don't know what to think of this little pup.

She does know how to keep up with them though. We went on a 2 mile walk and she made it the whole way!

Another girl on the ranch!

Poor boys!

Between all our animals, kids, laundry and housework how do I have time to make my own bread?

My secret? This book!

Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day


This book has the recipies to make a variety of breads in literally 5 minutes. I have made dinner rolls, loaves for sandwiches and dinners and breakfast yummies!

This is the Pecan Rolls. I made them this morning and the prep time was a bit for than 5 minutes since I had to make the filling but it was so simple. I had everything in my pantry which is the best part.

This is what they looked like before rising and baking.

Here is what they look like after they have been baked!

I will post more pictures of the bread I make so that I can convince you to buy this book!

Next on the list....bread for lunch. Be back soon!

Goats, Goats, Everywhere!

My parents came to visit us for 10 days up at the ranch! It was so amazing to have them there for such a good amount of time.
My Dad loves helping out with the animals.

I snapped this picture as Dad was getting attacked by the hungry goats!
Well, they weren't attacking him, they were attacking the grain he has in his hands.

They are not shy about getting up on the quads.
Patricia, the Nubian/La Mancha baby, loves to play on quad.
I can only imagine the trouble her and Emily will get into when they get older!




Did you notice Emily's outfit?
It is the common practice to wear boots when working around the goats.
Their hoofs are killer when wearing flip-flops.

Back to the outfit...Cowboy boots and a sundress.
Is there anything sweeter?

Western State Horse Show

We visited the Horse Show and Emily got a new pair of boots!
They are Justin's..real boots!

She rode a pony. Now she wants lessons. What did we start?!?

Who needs to visit a petting zoo?!? We have our own!

The Davis Family came to visit us again! This time they got to meet our goats and llamas.
The llamas now eat out of our hands!
The kids had a blast playing with them.


Jack was having fun holding the branches for the goats to eat! He was cracking up!
Check out the video!

Antheraea polyphemus

I have been trying to figure out what kind of moth this was.


It is a GIANT Silkmoth.

You can find out more about them here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antheraea_polyphemus

Chicks - No Longer

My chicks are now grown. They are about 9 weeks old now but are not laying eggs quite yet.

I have to admit they are the easiest animal to take care of.

Give them food, water and a safe coop and they are good to go!

I swear that they grow another inch every day!

Jack - My Little Ranch Hand

Sometimes when Jack is cranky and won't go down for a nap he gets to do the chores with me.
Great training!

We ride around on the quad, feed the animals and he ooh's and aahhh's...and drools!

I think as soon as he can walk he will be in charge of the chicken coop!
he he!

A Giant in the Boonies!

The other night I was watching TV when I heard a THUMP on my glass window on my back door.

I thought it was a bird at first but it was in the middle of the night.

Then I thought it was a bat - it was the same size.

Nope...I was totally wrong!

It was a MOTH!

His wing's spanned 6" and his body was about 3" long.

I have NEVER seen anything like this before.

Totally amazing!

The Goats and Llamas get delivered

We hired a company to transport out goats and llamas since we don't have a large enough trailer.


They came right out of the trailer, into the pasture and started eating!
The llamas - named Tom-A-Llama and Ding-Dong - came out of the trailer and started stripping leaves off of the oak trees. I lovingly call them my "Fire Prevention Crew."

We have 2 acres fenced in for them and in the 2 weeks that they have been here, have made a significant change in the scenery. The goats eat EVERYTHING!!! The llamas are a little more picky but they get the branches that are a little higher up.

This has been a HUGE learning experience for us and we are enjoying every minute of it.
I will be sure to take some more pics...I have been so busy!!

Cluck Cluck!

Our chicks are no longer little furry things...

They have grown into teenagers (as I refer to them)
They like to go outside in their run and chase bugs and try to fly.

Hopefully by summer we will have a fridge full of fresh eggs
or
a freezer full of cluck cluck!