Cow Hauling

A few pictures of Dana's recent cow hauling trips.



Donner Pass, CA


Busted for speeding-

SusanVille, CA

again-

Frozen river in Oregon

SusanVille, Ca again-

Verburg Transport-

Verburg Transport

somewhere in Nevada

Unloading at the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas

Whew... more then 1 today!

The Friday before Thanksgiving, Dana was laid off from his Coffman Construction job. He didn't see it coming at all. He thought he was safe from the layoffs. I thought he was joking when he called me and told me he had been laid off.

He's called everyone he knows at other companies, and they are not hiring either. They are all laying off too..

For now, he is hauling cows for Ty (Richmond Transport) and Luke (Verburg Transport) full time. Which means he's in the cow truck alot, and barely at home.

I am thankful that Dana worked hard and got his Class A CDL in July so he is legal to drive the big semi's to haul cows. I am thankful that the cow hauling business is booming still. I am thankful that Dana has something to fall back on, when so many others that are losing their jobs do not.

It's been awhile...

This is going to be one long post....

On Saturday August 15th, bright and early in the morning I woke up to my puppies being born! Mom dog is a French Bulldog (25 lbs) and dad is an English Bulldog (50lbs). We had a c-section scheduled for Monday morning (Bulldogs can't deliver naturally). But Izzie had other plans. I had babysat on Friday night until 2am. When I got home I checked Izzie's temp and it was still over a 100 degrees. She wasn't acting strange, she was her normal, huge, hungry self. I went to bed and at 5:30 am woke up to a puppy crying! I jumped out of bed, and there were 2 puppies already born. I thought for sure that she was done. She is just a tiny little girl. She wasn't interested in feeding them, so I woke Jayden up, and started to get dressed to run to the 24hour Walmart to get puppy milk and bottles. While I was getting dressed, Jay screams to me that Izzie just had another puppy! Izzie seemed to settle down and try and feed the 3 babies. I was sure she was done and ran out the door to Walmart. While driving home from Walmart, Jayden calls me and says "Izzie just had another one and it is VERY small. It isn't crying either. What do I do?!?" I talked her thru how to get the baby breathing, and pretty soon I could hear the little puppy cries. After I got home and made up some bottles, showed Jay how to bottlefeed without drowning the babies. We all settled down to feed the pups and get Izzie to clean them up. Izzie was exhausted. About 2 hours after the 4 puppies were born, Izzie started having more contractions and sure enough... puppy number 5 was born. I could *not* believe that little Izzie had 5 puppies in her belly. We gave Izzie and the puppies some time to rest and then weighed each puppy.

1st puppy was all white, female and weighed 7oz.

2nd puppy was an all black male and he was 6.5 oz.

3rd pup was a brindal female, she weighed 7oz.

4th was the tiny little runt male, all white. He was 4 oz!

5th was a girl, split in half colored. Half white, half black. She was 7 oz.

The next 8 weeks were quite an adventure! The puppies were all good puppies and grew like crazy. We found awesome homes for 4 of them, and kept 1 of them.

#1 puppy (Reilly) lives with the people I babysit for. I see her all the time. Shes a doll!

#2 puppy (Elliott) lives with the vet in Benson. He's a pretty brindal boy!

#3 lives (Darla) in St. David with my Aunt Jan and she is spoiled rotten!

#4 lives in a cow truck and travels all over the US! His name is Wilson and he is not a little runt anymore!! He's a big boy!

#5 lives with us. Thor is a beautiful girl, and the only one that got the Frenchie, stand up ears! She isn't black and white anymore. She is brindal and white. Very pretty colors!

About 2 weeks old:

4 weeks old: In birth order. Reilly, Elliott, Darla, Wilson, Thor

I'm sure I'll post some more pictures of the puppies sometime. I get pictures and updates on all of them.

Labor Day '09

This year we had a miracle happen! Dana was off from both his jobs on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday. We decided to do something fun! We needed to stay close to home because I was dog sitting for some friends and we have 5 new puppies at home. Dana borrowed a flatbed trailer from a guy at his work and we loaded up his quad and Blake's dirtbike. We packed a lunch and plenty of water and headed out to this place near our house. It's a way cool place! There are a bunch of jumps and a homemade dirtbike track. We stayed out there for about 5 hours, we all got sunburned. But we had a blast! And the best part was.......... Blake didn't crash on his dirtbike. He's convinced that I curse him because every time he goes to ride, I tell him "No crashing today!!". And he usually does crash. Jayden and I are kind of left out because we have nothing to ride... but Jay chases lizards and I take pictures!

Blake.

...

Dana and Jayden

....

...

Getting some air!

Almost a heel clicker!

...

Blake roosted Jayden

Back to School

It's my favorite time of year again......... Back to School!! The kids started school on August 3rd.

Blake is in 8th grade this year. He is attending the brand new built J.O. Combs Highschool. He's still in Jr High, just going to the highschool. His first semester electives are: P.E. and a full year Highschool credit of Spanish. He loves his classes, and is happy to be back with his friends. Blake had a nasty crash on his dirtbike. He was going around a turn (going to fast) and laid the bike over onto his leg. The foot peg slammed into his leg, right below his knee, on the inside. He is bruised from his knee all the way down into his foot. It is the nastiest bruise I have EVER seen. He's fine, and yes, he was wearing a helmet :) Maybe he'll learn to slow down? I doubt it! Haha.

Jayden is in 7th grade this year. She is attending J.O Combs Middle School. The same school that Blake went to last year. Her electives for the first semester are: P.E. and Art1. She LOVES her Art teacher! She is young, and really a fun lady. She even assigns Art homework. Jay likes her classes so far. Her best friend from last year moved, and Jay misses her alot. Jayden decided that babies aren't so bad afterall. She helps me babysit on the weekends and has a blast!

Jayden Mikala Clerc ♥

Happy birthday to JAYDEN!! She turned 12 on August 19th.

Recipe -

My kids really enjoy this. It's easy to make and it's really good!!



TATER TOT CASSEROLE

1 can cream of mushroom soup.
1 bag tater tots.
shredded cheese.
1 lb of ground hamburger meat.
serves: 6 or 7
Brown hamburger meat. Add cream of mushroom soup and stir together continuously.
Let simmer on low heat for 15 minutes.
Place mixture in the bottom of a casserole dish. Lay tater tots neatly on top of the mixture.
Place in oven on 350' and let the tater tots brown.
Sprinkle with cheese; melt it in the oven and ENJOY