Children: "Can we go outside and ride our bikes?"
Karl and I: "Yes, you may!"
Children: "Are you going to come with us?"
Karl and I: "No, we have a lot of unpacking to do."
Children: "But someone might try to kidnap us!"
Karl: "Who?? You are pretty far from the street (our driveway is about 600 ft long) and not many cars come down the street anyway!"
The children were dumbfounded but quickly ran outside to enjoy the fresh air!
This is why we feel our new location is best for our family. The children are more free to be, well, free. Yes, we have the added challenge of animal pests, but the dogs will take care of this in no time.
On Saturday, after our battle with the tree line, the children were caught red handed playing in the fields. Their imagination play was coming forth in the long grass and open land.
Not wanting the puppies to feel left out and a little curious to their reactions, I let them free of their leashes to run amok. After the initial run off of energy due to being freed, they quickly found their place in the family. Their purpose in the family is to be companions and protectors of the children. With this much land, it will be difficult to be close enough to the children at all times to protect them from snakes or other creatures. However, the dogs will be with them.
Together, they can explore and play within the fields. I have been teaching the puppies the names of certain animals (fox, chipmunk, squirrel) through toys they tear apart. They are continually praised for attacking their toy foxes with comments of "Get the Fox!" Katie immediately grabs her fox and Blossom will grab the free end. The fox is one enemy we will have to deal with when the poultry comes to the farm. I want them to see a fox and immediately go on attack. I have also been careful to not give the puppies any ducks, geese, or chickens to play with as these will not be seen as toys or victims. But for now, they are enjoying romping through the tall grass and sneaking up on each other. Katie is quicker to come when called because Blossom is still following a scent trail. We will be working on this and have received some good advice from the Puppy School teacher.
I had to include this picture as I find it so adorable, a girl and her dogs. You can not see Blossom, she is on the grass in front of Isabella and next to Katie. They are all watching the geese flying by as they return south for the winter. Since the swamp is about two miles from the north west side of our land, we see many wild life coming and going.
Later in the evening, I spotted 7 deer on the edge of the nature preserve and the soy fields about a mile away. This was very unusual since black powder deer season has begun. As a matter of fact, Doug shot an eight point buck that day. Not bad for his first buck ever and only 12 years old. You can really tell we are becoming assimilated when Karl and I are excited for our neighbor's child's success. We will be attending a deer barbecue soon to celebrate. For those of you who do not understand the above comments, points are the antler tips, deer season is divided into three sections, bow, black power, and rifle with limits of 2 bucks and 10 does in each season. This is something we have picked up in recent weeks by listening to the locals.
