And we're off!

We're headed west! We watched the weather forecast and as soon as freezing temps were predicted we set our moving date for packing yesterday and pulling out early this morning before the thaw softened the driveway down to the cabin back to mud. We were very appreciative that Andrea's whole family came yesterday and helped to load the truck. By the time the tailgate was finally pulled down (yes, just barely able to close), we were all exhausted and said sad goodbyes.

So this morning our little caravan pulled out. Mike is driving the F250 with 7 dogs and pulling the Open Range. I follow, driving the 26' Penske truck pulling the Miata on a carrier. In a crate on the seat next to me are 5 of the 8 week old Tweed babies. We will drop to 4 pups when we connect with one puppy owner in the Mass. Berkshires today and then down to 3 tomorrow as we exit New York and hand off the stud dog owners' puppy to him. Once we arrive at the house in Kansas we drop to just our 2 pups as the last owner drives down from Montana.

We are planning to split the 25 hour drive into 3 days, arriving at the house on Friday evening. So if you happen to be at a highway travel plaza between Maine and Kansas this week and see someone walking a whole mess of bird dogs, stop by and say hello!











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Which one to keep?

I am in puppy heaven. Tweed's puppies turn 5 weeks old tomorrow.  Between 4 - 5 weeks is my very favorite age for pups.  They are old enough to be mini-dogs yet are still soft and fuzzy babies.  I am keeping a female but am still undecided on which one.  I usually don't have such a hard time choosing, but the two orange girls are twins and the blue half-mask girl is also adorable.  I might have to close my eyes and just pick one up!  Except for pups who have a large color patch like the girl in the first pic, English Setters are born all white with pink noses and eye lids.  In these pics you can see the pigmentation coming in as well as their freckles.

                                                             Thank yoooouuuuu for looking!

Home, Home on the Range

I wish the computer had little musical notes to add to the title of this post so it would make sense to others and not just in my own little head.  But anyway, it looks like Firelight has a home base!  We love both Kansas and New England and shopped for homes in both but in the end, Kansas won out.  We flirted with a number of lovely properties both east and west but kept reminding ourselves of our priorities: very rural and private; strong wild bird numbers out the front door; price that would allow us to keep our present lifestyle; and easy and low cost upkeep that would not tie us down so we can still load up the Open Range and hit the road.  Well, here is the one house we found that meets all of that criteria and more:

 It is located on the far edge of a tiny town called Netawaka, Kansas and is located at the end of a long drive off of a dirt road.  There is one other house on the road but then no others for a couple of miles, just hundreds and hundreds of acres of farming and habitat.  There are good numbers of quail, pheasant, turkey and deer all around.   The drought has lowered the nice pond to about 1/3 of its normal size but it is still deep enough to hold fish and for the dogs to go swimming.

Interestingly, it is a berm house, or earth contact as they are called here in New England.  This style home is pretty common in the midwest since they are great for ducking out of the winds plus there you do not have to deal with rock - you can simply dig into a hillside.  They are very energy efficient and good models of living "green.".  The electric and heating costs of a home like this are significantly lower and maintenance is also lessened.  Yet the inside of a berm home is indistinguishable from any other home with windows on both front and back and normal ceiling heights.  The center of this home is a cathedral ceiling great room that will be perfect for our casual, companionable lifestyle.   (note: that tall tower is actually the TV antenna for the house and no, the house did not come with it's own Brit, that is Dee :-)   )

Despite the remoteness of this house it is only a 45 minute drive to Topeka and a couple of hours to the major cities and airports in Kansas City, Omaha (NE), and St Joseph (MO).   A real bonus is that it is centered between where Mike's son and daughter and grandson live which will makes him very happy.   We think that all of us, including the pack, will be happy there but importantly we will also still be able to hitch up the OR and spend time anywhere we want.  There will always be friends to visit, new areas to hunt and baby puppies to deliver to their new homes.

Mike is out in Kansas right now trying to close the purchase of the house.  Once that happens he will be fencing in 3-4 acres for the dogs to just run and play instead of being kenneled or shut up in the house.  He will head back here to the cabin in Maine just about as Tweed's puppies will be heading to their homes.  Sometime in April we will be loading up the whole gang and headed......home!

Full House

Tweed had her puppies!  In the wee hours of Wednesday morning she graced us with a healthy litter of 8; 3 females and 5 males.  Everyone is doing very well and filling out their little bellies nicely.  There is an interesting mix of colors; beltons, orange eye patches, a half mask and one that has a patch on the base of his tail.  My friend Andrea came and stayed all night long to experience her first puppy whelping.  She was great company, even as we both nodded off a bit in our chairs during the long hours waiting for Tweed to begin the action.

The round disc is a heated whelping nest that maintains a constant temperature for the puppies with no risk of burning like a heating pad can.  Tweed however feels that it is for her comfort and she usually lays on it and the pups have to take what little space is left over.

                      I'm not sure if pups at this age are really cute or if they simply resemble white gerbils.

Meanwhile our little 9 week old tri belton that we purchased is settling in nicely.  Our goal for her is not only to join our hunting pack but also to be able to breed her to a couple of the nice males I have out there from my prior breedings.  Her name is Roxie and she hails from Minnesota.  Wonderful friends of ours from NH flew her back with them after visiting with their son out that way.

                                                                     Roxie being good

                                                                  Not being so good

                                                        Giving Dee some puppy trouble

                                                             It's all so exhausting you know

101 spotted dogs

Well, maybe not 101, but next week this little cabin is going to be pretty full of spotted-dog puppies. More formally known as English Setters. And actually, they are born snow white and their spots don't come in for several weeks and until they are adults. But we will be busy with a bunch of little cuties.

We had bred Tweed back in December, doing a repeat of a breeding that produced some awfully nice pups. We had planned to keep 1 or 2 for ourselves for possible breeding in the future but also to make sure we have enough dogs in the fall to be able to rotate dogs and keep everyone in top shape. From the beginning we thought that Tweed looked and acted like the breeding did take. But about 3 - 4 weeks into the pregnancy her appetite died back and her 'waist' looked small and trim. After a week or so Mike and I admitted to one another that we each felt that she was not pregnant after all. Perhaps she had resorbed the litter or perhaps had not been pregnant in the first place.

We were so disappointed but decided that this would be an ideal time to bring in that fresh blood via a female from another breeder, to later be bred to one of the nice males I have out there. So for the first time in over 20 years I bought a puppy. She is a tri-color belton and her pedigree is a lovely blend of old and new. She is about 7 weeks old now and will arrive next Monday as a carry-on passenger with friends as they fly back to NH after visiting with their son.

But meanwhile, Tweed has pleasantly surprised us by ballooning out and leaving no doubt now that she is indeed pregnant. I guess we fell for the ole mid-semester doubting, we are both experienced with breeding but she fooled us. So a day or 2 after the new puppy arrives Tweed will be having her own puppies! Momma meets all of their needs for the first month or so anyway so we will be able to focus on the new puppy to help her settle in.

So, our little pack sure is going to grow quickly next week! This is the pic that made us decide on the new pup. She is the one on the left. Do you think she looks like a Roxie?



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Well...thanks anyway.

It looks like the hunting lodge in Vermont is a no-go.  Upon close inspection we discovered that the property had some significant structural and systems defects and Fannie Mae wasn't motivated enough to sell it to meet us even halfway on repairs.  So we did some quick soul searching and agreed with each other that although the house and lodge would have been cool, neither of us wants to be burdened with a house that would suck time and money away from our traveling and hunting.  We are at the age where we know what we want and how we want to live and we are going to do our best to stay true to our goals.  So, it would have been great, but we have to say, "thanks, but no thanks" to that property.

We are experiencing a pretty good cold spell this week here at the cabin and the forecast is calling for somewhere between 3 - 12" of snow in the next 24 hours.  I think that 3 - 12 is a pretty wide range, nothing like covering all of your bases with that forecast, huh?  Tweed's belly is growing by the day and we are getting excited that puppies are less than 3 weeks away.  It will be a test of our resourcefulness to raise a litter here at the small cabin that is already busy with our 6 adult dogs but we are really looking forward to having the time to enjoy them every day.

This old Home Atlantic wood stove is the sole source of heat here at the cabin. It was manufactured not far away on the coast of Maine and as you can see is very popular with our dogs.  I hope all of you are staying this warm and happy this winter.

What's next?

Since Christmas we have been settled in, and snowed in, back at the cabin in Maine. We have stayed busy by exercising the dogs and even some good old fashioned sledding down the driveway.






But we have also been busy with our next project as well. We are in the process of buying a place on the Vermont/Canada border where we would live but also operate as lodging for hunters and snowmobilers. It is in an area known for good numbers of both ruffed grouse and moose yet there is little lodging available in the area during bird season. It is currently owned by Fannie Mae and in need of repairs, some of which must be done prior to closing, so we are doing the red tape shuffle with the government as our awkward partner. Hopefully we can successfully muddle through the process and get to work on it this winter.
The views are lovely, looking over the valley and into Canada.


We think we can make it very cozy.



Meanwhile Mike is already making plans and wishes for our 2013 bird season. If all goes well, we anticipate being at the lodge and grouse hunting in Vt until late November. Once the snow flies we will head to KS for bird hunting and some deer to fill the freezer back up. This state has also been showing up on Mike's computer a lot.....


...several species of game birds there are calling us, including chukar which would be a first for both of us. Stay tuned. The Open Range awaits






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