Wanna Be a Steader!

Lately on the Homestead...

Well, my house smells like peppermint this morning…a couple of weeks ago I found out that we have a mouse (PLEEEEEASE let it be just ONE!!) and doggone it!...it keeps tripping all of my traps (I KNOW they work cos they get my fingers!!), PLUS I got several of those traps that you bait and when the mousie goes in the trap closes around them…NOT ONE is tripped!!  EEEKKK!!!  So…a friend told me…and also showed me in a great book…that if you put peppermint essential oil on cotton balls around the walls, in cabinets and other places where mice run, that mice are allergic to peppermint and will leave!  WOOHOO!!!  So…since I forgot to get cotton balls, I dipped a few Q-tips into some oil and placed them in strategic places.  No one heard the mousie all night!  So, either he’s laying low or he left.  It’s AWEFULLY cold outside…but I hope he left!

Some good news!...You know that our sweet dog, Hickory, died on the 7^th, well…we just picked out a little Miniature Schnauzer puppy!!!  We’ll pick her up on Friday, Feb. 1^st when she’s 8 weeks old!  She’s all black – except little white spots on her chin, throat and the tips of her toes on both right feet.  She seems to be very sweet and cuddly like her momma.  So, right now we are all in such a schizophrenic state of mind…we are still feeling the sadness of missing Hickory and still expecting to see him in his favorite lounging spots or behind us in the kitchen while we’re cooking, waiting for something to fall or getting used to him NOT barking whenever the doorbell rings.  All those habits that we fell into over the last 10 years that you don’t even realize you have.

Then…the next minute we’re just bubbling over about our soon-to-be new addition.  By they way, we have decided to call her Maggie!  (AKC name will be Magpie Maggie.)  After having a larger dog (Hickory was a Sheltie, but he was a bigger one; about 22” tall at the shoulder and about 45-50 lbs.  Even though he was AKC registered he ended up being on the bigger end of the breed.  But that’s OK, we weren’t going to show or breed him anyway, he was gotten to be a part of our family), so we decided to go a different route this time…for starters, Maggie is a female (poor Ty, now he'll REALLY be the only man in the house!), she is a non-shedder(!!), she is smaller and therefore will be more of a lap dog.  So, you can see what I’m talking about…we still miss our sweet “boy” but we are SO excited about Maggie!

So, that's what's going on at our house.  How about yours?

Blessings from Ohio, Kim Wolf<><  

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03:05, 2008-Jan-23 .. Posted by gabbie427

Who would have thought about using peppermint!! Congrats on the new addition to your home. Maggie sounds adorable!

God's Blessings,
Amy Jo

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11:25, 2008-Jan-31 .. Posted by leighannwhitten

Thanks for the peppermint tip. I'll have to get some oil next time I'm uptown.
Have fun with your Maggie. Ours is a blue heeler and we love her! Puppies are great fun aren't they?!
Blessings,
Leigh-ann