Schoonover Farm Blog

She is three years old today.  Here she is at exactly one month old on Tom’s birthday.

We have managed to keep her alive for almost 3 years (not exactly because we didn’t get her until she was almost 2 months old).  Here she is meeting Steve that day.

She has been quite a challenge, more so than any beagle we have had (although my childhood beagle Thor was a challenge too).

She got to see her favorite person today.  Tom and her went to a drive-in restaurant for lunch, and unexpectedly Tom’s son Thomas parked two spaces down.  Ryeleigh recognized him immediately and was thrilled.

I got her a Mr. Bill toy as this is her favorite.  The last time I bought her one it lasted about 5 minutes  Fortunately she is not as destructive as she used to be so this one is surviving so far.  She somehow detected it on the dining room table inside of a plastic bag.  It’s been at least 1 year since I got her one so it is amazing that she seemingly recognized the scent of it.  Anyway I had to give it to her early, and she is enjoying it.

I made her a venison burger for her birthday.  We briefly sang, and I blew out the candle for her.  She then scarfed it.

Happy birthday Ryeleigh!!!

Tom had spent quite a bit of time and energy fixing the fence between the back of our orchard and the neighbors’ blackberry patch.  But then the beagle dug out from the front of the orchard at the corner.  Tom and the neighbor had to catch her.  Tom was quite upset.  He wanted to get rid of the dogs.  I asked about Steve, and he said Steve could stay as he was a good dog.  I think he was frustrated and scared about her getting hit on our busy road like previous pets (Vanna, Samish, Shiloh).  He has also put all the important projects on hold upgrading the fencing.

But the next day he started making plans to upgrade the front fence of the orchard.  He bought a new hedge trimmer (our old one is pathetic) and fencing and hog panels.  In the meantime Ryeleigh managed to escape one more time from the front corner, and Tom and I had to retrieve her.  She just can’t help it when she sees a rabbit, and there appear to be plenty living in the neighbor’s blackberry brambles.

Yesterday Tom got the front fence of the orchard finished.  Here is part of it.

And today, for good measure, he placed panels along our front fence in front of our house.

Now, hopefully, our fencing is beagle proof.  I can return the invisible fence I bought as a back up plan to try to keep her safe.  And maybe, just maybe, we can focus on some of the other projects that are needed here on the farm.

In farm news, Summertime is starting to get little horns.  They are awfully cute.

And the starlings have reappeared.  They are hanging out in the trees nearby.  So far they haven’t flocked en masse into the barn, but I have replaced the netting to try to keep them out.

I have also been focused on Christmas prep.  I assembled my liquid Advent tree.

And I decorated our Christmas tree.  I am quite happy with it.