Category: Family

Booker the Farm Dog; Plus one Year, Minus one Leg

Happy 1st birthday to our most favorite farm dog Booker!!!! This guy became a part of our family in the fall of last year. He’s learned a lot, riding in the Ute with dad is his favorite activity second only to playing in the water and playing ball with the kids.

As we celebrate his birthday today we are very grateful that he actually made it to his first birthday. Unfortunately last week Booker had a run in with a vehicle. He’s doing pretty good now, but we had to make the tough decision to amputate his front left leg.

While we thought we gave him a lot of love before, the care he’s getting from these kiddos is definitely next level. If you ask me how the kids are taking it, it’s all very different. Hoot is pretty sad still, there’s a lot of adjustment and fear but he is getting through and adjusting to Booker’s new dog life more each day. Auggie woke up the first day and told me he was….”thinking about it, and I’m so excited to have a three legged dog. I’ve only ever seen them on TV!” And Millie is doing well, but only after a very long explanation about how unfortunately “no sweetie, his leg will not grow back”. After accepting that she has quickly taken to over-mothering and while the car didn’t kill him Millie’s constant taking care of him just might!

We have heard from many folks about their own three legged dog stories and what a great wonderful life they can still have. My favorite words so far were from our vet, “that’s why God gave them four legs!”

Booker is doing a lot of resting most days right now but slowly getting back into walking, and trying to run to keep up with the kids. It’s an adjustment but we know it will be a short lived one as each day he get stronger and shows us he’s still our best farm dog!

Farm Help

As a farm mom I’ve been taking my kids to work with me for a very long time, 9 years to be exact. We have a lot of childcare help but there is also a lot of time that they are with me. Moving to the actual home place this past year helped immensely, but it’s still a struggle sometimes to have kiddos in tow while you’re trying to work. Just the other day Millie got to come get fertilizer with me when school was unexpectedly cancelled.

But then a few days ago, I must have blinked or something because instead of wrangling three kids under four while trying to get something done; I walked into the house, asked the oldest to come help us move equipment, kissed the other two and headed out to get a job done.

It was a quick job, move stuff out of the field that got planted the day before, but having our son Hoot out there to give us a hand was super helpful and made for a much quicker turn around. It’s not the first time he’s helped and his brother Auggie is a close second to being on the very helpful end. Millie is….well I have no doubt that she will also sneak up into the the helpful category before I know it.

There is a part of me that I know will not avoid the “you’re gonna miss this” of those toddler raising days; but in this moment I was just really proud that we’ve gotten this far.

The Pirate Ship Sails….Farm Kid Style

We have an old boat. It was recovered years ago from the side of the road where someone had (so generously) left it near our property. My husband and I saw just “an old abandoned boat”, while our kids saw a pirate ship just needing some attention before she hit the high seas. Since I’m writing this blog we all know who won that debate.

So a short haul down the road, a lot of pressure washing, and this old gal has over the years been the center of many adventures. She’s caught salmon on the Pacific, fought off pirates near the Caribbean, and yachted through the Panama Canal. However with all these adventures under her belt, she had yet to actually get in any real water.

With all the rain this winter, the call to get her out on the sea was too much. Our kids saw that flooded bottom ground below the farm and it had to happen. So with waders on and a little prayer we launched that old pirate ship in the ditch below the farm. And to all our amazement the dang thing actually floated! Not one leak!

It was a great afternoon. Captain Hoot could have stayed all day with first mate Auggie, deck hand Dad, a few fair maidens (Millie & her cousin Addison) and boat dog Booker aboard.

The original idea was to finish out her first sail with a sleep out under the stars, but with temps still near freezing at night even an imagination as big as these farm kids have wasn’t enough to convince mom that was ok. Maybe next year…..

This flooded ditch below the farm holds a lot of adventurous memories for me as a kid and now they are all starting over with the next generation.

I love their imagination, I love how they make things happen and never think “well we can’t do that.” And I’m very certain that someday they will sleep out under the stars in their pirate ship; another adventure of many down the road that our farm kids get to dream up.