Pets and other Friends – countrygirl-lifeonthefarm

Treats for Sassy

This is Sassy, a blonde cocker spaniel that has as you can see never missed a meal.

With a full coat and she loves the snow!! We have her sheared three or four times a year.

We’re trying to cut back on her food a little and I will honestly tell you she eats what we eat. One of the benefits of having our own farm is being able to hunt on our own land. We do love venison and use it in so many way but that’s another post. The reason for this post is to tell you that one of the most nutritious and weight conscious things we feed Sassy is our own homemade deer jerky with no seasoning or additives.

Finished jerky! We freeze it as soon as it's completely dry and pull out what we need for a week of treats. — Finished jerky! We freeze it as soon as it’s completely dry and pull out what we need for a week of treats.

Hubby will take a shoulder of a deer and partially freeze it and then thinly slice it on his meat saw. I then layer it in our dehydrator at 155* for about 6-7 hours until very dry and then pack it in ziploc freezer bags and pop it in the freezer. Depending on the size of the deer, we usually get three gallon bags of dried jerky from each shoulder.

Our dehydrator is very easy to use and so easy to cleanup.

The drawers are deep and easy to fill. Half a shoulder will fill it up.

Packaged and ready for the freezer or be eaten.

My daughter takes three or four deer hams and has a jerky spice recipe she uses for their own use, not for the dog.

Sassy is a pretty lucky and spoiled cocker spaniel!! We love her to death!

Sassy get a slice for breakfast, lunch, dinner, snacktime, and bedtime, well, she wishes she got it that much but she does love it.

New visitor at the farm

A few weeks ago when the weather got colder and most of the weed seed was gone I filled up the feeders at the bird station. I had dried some sunflowers of different variety and sizes and hung them in the wood house to dry so I would have some new things to put out for the different birds. I had also picked a lot of different varieties of grasses and hung them to dry also.

Hubby's uncle made this whopper of a feeder years ago and it holds 20 pounds of feed. — Hubby’s uncle made this whopper of a feeder years ago and it holds 20 pounds of feed.

Hubby made this squirrel feeder for me years ago and I'm begging for more. — Hubby made this squirrel feeder for me years ago and I’m begging for more.

The birds love the feeders and I have doves, bluejays, juncos, wrens, sparrows, cardinals and three different woodpeckers feeding from them this year. We also have this little rascal feeding as well. I grew up calling them fairy diddles and my husband’s family calls them mountain boomers. They are a miniature squirrel and you won’t believe how fast he moves.

We call him "Boomer". He's eating a piece of corn. — We call him “Boomer”. He’s eating a piece of corn.

He’s hilarious to watch and I’ve decided he’s living in our wood house and may have been the critter that ate all the seed pods and sunflowers. They mysteriously disappeared right before we started seeing boomer. He chases the birds but I think in fun. I’ve started adding mixed nuts, peanuts and fruit on the table where the big feeder is stationed. Boomer takes all of the nuts and puts them in the gallon jar on the swing post. If you look closely you can see the bottom half is whole shelled corn and the upper part of the jar is FULL of nuts.

That's a six inch stretch from tree to corn. — That’s a six inch stretch from tree to corn.

The squirrel feeder is a tractor with spikes coming up on both sides of the seat.

Boomer sitting on top of the squirrel feeder.

GYP – New babe on the farm

Belle is missing!!

Would those followers of mine be on the lookout for an eleven year old Walker hound. She has a collar with our name and phone number on it. We’ve only had Belle for about three weeks and she’s such a lovable hound. Hubby was coon hunting with her and Roxy on Saturday night on Little Mountain in front of our house. They treed once in a den tree and hubby pulled them off the tree and moved on. They took off for awhile and Roxy came back but Belle didn’t. I”m so afraid she is hurt and can’t get back. We’ve had her such a short time that I don’t have a picture of her but will post one that looks a lot like her so you’ll know what a Walker looks like if she should come in to your place. I’m sure she’s cold and hungry now. She’s very friendly and we want her home bad. Hubby is hunting in the same area tonight hoping she’ll hear Roxy and come to him. We got Roxy and Belle from the same owner who gave them to hubby because he was getting too old to hunt them and they love coon hunting. Those of you that live near know our phone number and can call anytime. Here’s a picture of Brandy who we think is Belle’s litter mate as they came from the same original owner and both are eleven years old. Belle is much whiter in the face.

Daddy’s other little girl

As much as he loves his beautiful and precious daughter, my hubby loves his second child too! She plump, frisky, hairy, lovable, and can get under his skin in a heartbeat.

BUT, when Daddy comes home from hunting, feeding the cattle, anything that she wasn’t involved in, this is what happens:

He made her a special bed and it sits in front of our bedroom window. She patiently (most of the time) waits/sleeps until he comes home. Once he comes in the door she waits for him to come sit beside her and tell her how much he missed her and rubs her ears. She listen to all of he hunting tales patiently as long he rubs those ears. She’s not quite the joy our beautiful daughter is but Sassy comes in a fast second!! The best part, she was supposed to be my baby as a Christmas gift eight years ago but it’s pretty clear where her heart lies. She is definitely one of the family!!

Orphans at the farm

I love babies of all kinds and have raised two kids of my own but I’ve also raised several orphan animals and thought I would share some pictures of them. It’s very gratifying finding them quick enough to get some warm food in them, warm blankets around them and a good warm bath no matter if they’re furbearing or feathered. Here’s some of my babes:

My gorgeous granddaughter, Victoria. I didn't raise her but had her with me every moment I could!!! — My gorgeous granddaughter, Victoria. I didn’t raise her but had her with me every moment I could!!!

Sassy - our current baby!! — Sassy – our current baby!!

Little Dan - now he's all grown up. — Little Dan – now he’s all grown up.

Baby Alex & Alexandra-dogs made them orphans

I can’t begin to tell you of all of the cats, dogs, fawns, squirrels, calves, rabbits, chicks and ducks I’ve hand raised but I can tell you everyone of them was worth the challenge!!

SASSY – Our baby!

Miss Personality is all you have to say!! She’s a blonde cocker spaniel and she things she rules the roost around here. She sleeps between us most every night. She hates a bath and trips to the beauty shop. She loves rooting around in the garden, digging under boards, chasing chipmunks & groundhogs, and she loves to hunt. She is my tracking dog during deer season and she bearly tolerates our two outside cats. Here’s out Sassy:

I know there’s a mouse or a chipmunk under those boards and if I wait long enough he’ll come out and he’s mine!!!!!!!!!

PINTEREST – My New Organizer & Memory

I mentioned in a previous post that I am a big fan of Pinterest and here’s my link if you want to visit: http://pinterest.com/ritascrafting/ . I love finding new gardening secrets/ideas, crafts, DIY ideas, sewing, good books and music from the other Pinterest boards. Most of all I love the fact that I can find gift ideas for my family and find the list easily. I can pin the recipes for cleaning and cooking in one spot and find it easily. I can look at what my friends are using/doing and try it myself. I can find some gorgeous decorating ideas, gardening ideas, and so much more.
To view the sites you have to join Pinterest but it’s really easy and you can add your own boards or just browse boards of others. It’s free!!!! By boards I mean groupings of favorites. I have seventeen boards which include DIY, Helpful Hints, Gardening, Wishlist, Family/Friends Wishlist, Music I Love, Books I’ve Read/Want to Read, Crocheting, Quilting, Favorite Blogs, Spring Cleaning & Decorating, Hunting & Outdoors, New Recipes, Beauty & More and a couple more. I’ll probably add some throughout the year and I add new pins to the boards a couple times a week. I would like to do it everyday but this time of year I spend a lot of time outdoors when I’m not at work and by the time I come in the house in the evenings I don’t care much for getting on the computer. I would rather shower and go to bed :)! Anyway, I just want to tell everyone about this site and hope you’ll check it out and maybe start your own Pinterest boards. I want to follow what you are doing!!

Sassy’s Trip to the Beauty Shop

We have a spoiled rotten blonde Cocker Spaniel by the name of Sassy. Hubby got her for me for Christmas six years ago and the whole family loves her. She’s very quiet and mild mannered for a Cocker. We started shearing her when she was about 1 1/2 years old because she just frets so when it’s hot. Since we’re shearing her, her coat gets so thick and we have to shear her in the winter time too or we don’t sleep at night for the panting and roaming the bedroom looking for a new cool spot.
Well, we’re at that time of the spring when it’s her or us!! We sleep with the windows open so she’ll get cool air but it’s not helping at this point.
Tuesday morning she went on her least favorite trip to see our groomer, Robin. Eddie said when they got there she was shaking all over but Robin said that as soon as he left she calmed down and everything went really well. Robin is so good with her and Sassy loves her except for the bath and haircut. All went well and as soon as she got home the weather changed and the temps dropped 20+ degrees. Guess who is sleeping in the middle of the bed between since Tuesday! Isn’t she adorable!!??

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