Sugar Bend Farm

Hope

Hope is Marty's daughter.  She was born 11-01-1999.  She takes after him in the being able to warn me before I go into anaphylaxis shock.   Hope was trained, but did not become a registered service dog for a few years.  She worked at home but Marty went out every where.  as Marty got older Hope started sharing his out side of the home work.  Marty still went out he loved to go to crowded places, while Hope does not do as well in crowds.  She is over protective.

Hope is the only dog working for me at this time.  Hope has only one litter of puppies before I fixed her.  It was to hard on me to watch her give birth.  Alex will be taking over some of her work when he is done training.  Medical alert dogs never stop working until they are called home to God.

Here are some pictures of hope:

I will share more pictures of her when I load more.

Marty

Marty was born 1-17-1995 he past away on 11-07-2008.

Marty was a service dog for anaphylaxis for my self.  He also warned my daughter before her asthma got to bad.   Marty was 12 weeks old by the time I figured out what he was trying to tell me.  after I did I trained him to be a service dog.  He passed his test at 11 months old.   Marty fathered over 100 puppies in his life time.  Our top breeding dam had very large litters.  Her biggest was 17 puppies.   We also studded Marty out to approved females.  They had to have at least 4 generations of no health problems and have the right type of owner.   We were going to freeze Marty's sperm , but we then decide against it.  We ended Marty's line.  There will be no more dogs from his line unless we decide to breed his granddaughter.

Marty was a well love dog by many.  His favorite place to go was Disneyland.  He love to go on the rides and see his favorite workers. The employees at Disneyland gave him treats , always had to come see him.  When there was a ride he could not go on he went with the employees to be spoiled while we rode at ride.

Marty has been on t.v. and in a few magazines and made the front page of the paper.  He saved my life many times and our daughters also.  He made the front page by fighting a German shepherd who jumped our 5 foot fence and held our youngest daughter by the neck and would not let go. Our daughter was 4 at the time.  Marty was not even 2 years old.

Here is pictures of Marty:

Buying one of our puppies

Thank you for your interest in owning one of our "Golden Blessings".

We offer high quality puppies from high quality parents.

Our dam Gracie is a registered service dog for medical alert.

Our sire Alex is almost done with his training to be a medical alert dog. He comes from a champion line. 

For their first litter we are offering these pups at a lower cost than what the next litters will be.  

We have a litter of 4 females and 3 males.

Females are offered for $550.00 limited registration, $650.00 full registration.

Males are offered for $500.00 limited registration ,  $550.00 full registration.

One pup is already sold, but we do not know what sex yet as the puppy is yet to pick out the special needs child yet.   We are letting the puppy pick him out.  This puppy will be trained by us to be a service dog to this young boy.

All puppies come with:

A health guaranty, Akc papers, Current vaccines, Puppy care package, Vet checks, Health certificates, Micro chipping, Dewclaws removed.

Shipping is an option if it is needed at a cost of $300.00. A crate is included in this cost.

If you are interested in buying one of our puppies please message me.

The puppies are 3 weeks old today

The puppies are 3 weeks old today.   They are so cute.  They are coming out of their shells now and are trying to play and they wag their tails now.  It is so cute! 

They have started eating baby food.  We are watching to see who has a strong early service dog way.  So far we have Josph and Hanna who are showing it the most.   Their mother is a service dog  and their dad has to finish up some of his training to become a regestired service dog. 

One of the future owners is coming over to see the little bugers next week.  We can not wait for this day.  Their son will be receiving the one who show the service dog type and we will be training it for just him. 

God Bless, mj

Schedules, Routines, Decluttering, Painting, Electrical Upgrades, Etc. That is what's going on! LOL

I am getting into my new routine and cleaning schedule implemented at the beginning of the year and loving it.  My old routine and cleaning schedule was working ok, and we were getting by, but the new schedule is a breeze and such a blessing.  Hubby has even noticed things are moving more smoothly in the household.  It's nice to see it happening, but even more so when it is noticed by Matthew and commented upon!!!

Noah is doing better at nap time now that we have a better schedule going, and have moved his nap time from 1 to 2 pm.  Not sure why....but for some reason at 1, he would lay down and whine and talk and play for an hour and not get any rest until 2 anyway.  I have learned I need to be more flexible instead of "this is the way it is and deal with it" about naptime.  Now he lays down, sleeps for 1 1/2-2 hours and is ready for the rest of the day and not so overtired and grumpy for the evenings.  (Which makes time with daddy really hard when he is like that!)

I love the house when it is cleaned and organized.  Clean....check....Organized.....getting there.  LOL  There are still several closets, and drawers that I need to get sorted out and straightened up.  I am trying to decide now whether I want to have a garage sale (extra stress and time, and I hate people filtering through my belongings!) and making a little bit of money,or to donate it to the Thrift Shop and Women's Shelter.  I am also having a hard time of dealing with all Noah's clothing he has outgrown.  I keep hanging on to it thinking we will have another baby, and if it is a boy, I will have all these nice things for him.  But on the other hand, there is a dear friend at church who has a young baby, and giving these clothes to her for Isaac would be such a blessing to her and to me as well.  I need to pray about it and see what God wants me to do with them.  Right now, they are just boxes of clutter upstairs in the corner of a bedroom that is already too full and cluttered already!!!

Matthew isn't too helpful when it comes to decluttering unfortunately.  LOL He comes from a family of absolute overboard packrats!  He isn't nearly as bad as his mother and father, but close.  LMSO  So, I am working on him in little baby steps.  My first step, has been and still is to get rid of something so rediculous you will all laugh about it.  The first step is to get rid of some of the clothing he has in the closet that he never wears.....wait..........let me correct that.  HE HAS NEVER WORN!!!  LOL  Years ago, before we met, someone gave him some church clothes.  One suit is really nice but way too small.  The other two are polyester leisure suits with the gold buttons that make you look like you are to be on a yacht.  LMSO  I kid you not, they are hilarious looking.    I don't sneak things out of the house, because I promised him I wouldn't.  We have talked about it, and I wouldn't want him doing that to me, so I will not do that to him.  That is a simple lesson in respect and love.   But I have asked him several times to go through the closet with me and always has an excuse to not do it.  I have even asked him if he would simply sit on the bed while I go through it, hold certain items up and wait for him to say yes or no.  I would box or bag the unwanted items and take them out of the house myself.  But he says, not today hunny every time.  UGH! 

On the other hand though, Matthew made a committment to me last night, without me bringing up the conversation that he will commit to spend a few hours each day ont he weekends on painting and changing out electrical stuff in the upstairs bedrooms so we can move up there and use the bedrooms down here for a craft room, and a toy room.  YIPEEEEEEE!!  We have most of the wall paint done anyway.  We just need to paint 2 doors, and 2 windows in Noah's room, and he needs to do some electrical work done on the outlets and the switch plate.  We have also been thinking of installing a ceiling fan in his room, but not sure we can afford this just yet until tax money comes in or if Matthew gets some more overtime.  It sure is handy to have a hubby that can do this work himself instead of hiring someone else to get it done though (even if it does take MUCH longer than expected to get it done. LOL)

Ok, I have been putting off tidying up (by writing this blog) the front room long enough.  The front room looks like a toy store blew up in here.  LMSO  I need to straighten up a bit before Matthew comes home, and get some spaghetti on the stove to cook. YUM.

Hubby date tonight , And my babies I worry still

Hubby has a date tonight and it is NOT with me, LOL.  Tonight is the night be make the long drive to my parents house (they live 13 houses away)  to watch college football with them.   Tight the Sooners(ou) play.  Hubby loves the Sooners(ou) and just to be ornery daddy is rooting for the other team .   Mom get to cook the chili dogs for dinner and enjoy her boys have fun watching football with them.  We girls are going to have a quite dinner at home of ??? we do not know what we are having yet??  If it was 2008 and we were not trying to keep a food budget I would take the girls out to Black Angus for dinner.   But I am trying real hard to be good so we will make dinner at home.

Shayna will be leaving in a few days to go see my best friend Janet's house for a few days.  Shayna is 18 years old and Janet is her one of her other moms, that is what the girls call her.  Janet daughter Mya is not a cousin but their sister.  My other great friend Karen is their other mommy and her children her their siblings.   God gives us friends that become family.

Anyway Shayna is going  to see them in Texas and I am still worried.  Do we ever stop worrying about our babies??  Michelle is different we did worry when she was 1st out on her own.  But now we do not worry as much as we used too. But yes we still worry.    It is funny how we mom's are.  I tell my girls I could be 100 years old sitting in a rocking chair with them sitting in their own rocking chair next to me them being 80 years old and I would still worry and want to protect them.    I know God is in charge and loves them more than I ever could.  But he gave me a job to do and he never told me when I was done or when I got off work!

God Bless, mj

How about a frilly apron for your little princess???

Usually I keep this blog for craftiness and sewing that I myself have made, but I am making an exception today.  LMSO  I had a friend who decided she wanted to try her hand at making a frilly apron I had seen on the net, for my 5 year old neice Mindi.  It is super adorable and SOOOO SIMPLE!  So I thought I would show you all the pics and maybe inspire you to make one for yourself, or your little princess!

As you can see, she made a simple apron shape and then added a coordinating fabric ruffle on the top and the bottom of it, and finished it with pink ribbons for the neck and the waist tie.  How cute!!!!  If you decide to make one of your own, please let me know so I can see!!!!

Here is a close up of the fabric.  Yes that is froggy fabric.  I love it!!!

Raising Petie (a baby house sparrow)

It's a still winter day with large snowflakes gently falling outside of my window.  The cardinals and sparrows who usually sit in the shrubs just outside the window next to me aren't there right now, but my "pet" sparrow, Petie, is sweetly serenading me from his cage.  I found him this past July in the unfortunate position of being cornerned by Jed the cat, in the barn.  He wasn't quite ready to be out of the nest, just shy of the fledgling state, and had fallen from a nest in the high peak of the loft where there was no chance of putting him back with his family.  So, of course, I had to bring him in the house and put him in a box, fully expecting that he'd never make it.  Since he seemed fine when an hour or so passed, I turned to the dilemma of what I was going to feed him. 

 The best I could come up with was raw egg yolk from a dropper.  He had used that to grow on while in the egg, hadn't he?  I decided that had to be more natural and nutritous than any store bought "bird formula".  Day after day, each hour during the day, he was fed raw egg yolk mixed with a tiny amount of water.  He was so cute, gaping there, waiting for his dropper which he would take completely down this throat until full.  The day I came home after being out at the fair, and he flew out of his box, right over my head, was a real surprise. 

 I then borrowed a cage from a friend to keep him in until he could learn to eat on his own, in the hopes of releasing him one day.  I let him out daily to practice his flying, and also hung his cage out on the porch so he could get acquainted with the outdoors.  This provided hours of entertainment for Jed, the barn cat, and and also the originator of Petie's life in captivity.

One day Petie refused the dropper, which caused me to be quite concerned, but I realized that he had just moved on to the the stage of needing to be hand fed with a watered down food.  He went through a stage of eating canned dog food, and then one of eating chicken laying mash mixed with water, which I fed him by hand.  He also had a little plastic lid which I filled with water in his cage so he could learn to drink on his own.  By the time the day came that he was eating seeds and dry laying mash on his own, his tail feathers had all fallen out, and he had lost his ability to fly!  We did try releasing him, but he just landed on the ground and let us pick him up.  I knew he'd never make it  in the wild, and back he came into the house to live out his life in a bird cage.  His feathers have all grown back, but he still doesn't fly too well.  He's a very personable little bird who serenades us all day long, and likes to be talked to and nibble on my finger with his beak.

I've never been a person who wanted a pet bird, but I now have one!   What else could I do?  Knowingly leave him for the cat to eat?  I just couldn't do that! 

Fleece in the Valley update

I've been busy sending out emails and invites to various and assorted fiber junkies here in Montana.  One of the things I've come across is that most lists are outdated.  That's a little frustrating.  About half of the invites bounced back.  Oh well, I've gotta keep trying! 

So far we have 12 members and I've opened it up to local yarn shops who promote Montana wool! 

RASHES AND MENOPAUSE

HI!  I WAS WONDERING IF ANY OF YOU LADIES OUT THERE HAVE EVER SUFFERED A RASH DUE TO MENOPAUSE OR PERIMENOPAUSE?  I CURRENTLY HAVE ONE JUST BELOW THE BRA LINE, BIKINI AREA, INSIDE ELBOWS AND ARMS.  ITCHY WITH LITTLE RED BUMPS.  I AM HOPING ANYONE OUT THERE WHO HAS EXPERIENCE THIS CAN SHARE THEIR EXPERIENCE AND GIVE ADVICE.  THANK YOU SO MUCH AND THANKS TO ALL WHO LEFT SUCH KIND COMMENTS ON MY LAST POST.

MELANIE