March 9, 2016 Returning to normality

The weather today is horribly rainy, so I am taking the day off of my regular work to avoid the mud and deliver the puppies. The kind of day where wet cheeks can be expected. We deliver our first flight of puppies to the Critter Cabana in Wilsonville today. Bittersweet. But this is also our standing in the light at the end of the tunnel and so a time for planning and organization.

We need to get more things started and this good fortune allows a few new projects. We have the money to get the trash off of the Farm, with loads of dumpsters and tractor day #4. We hope to do this the first dry week of Spring along with a big bunch of burning. We will also begin renovating our home in North Plains by building closet and office into the entry way. The layout of the house is a bit sucky where you go through the front door and this closet/office thing was planned a long time ago to add value to the house. Now that we are getting the house ready to sell we need to get this done.

Our breeding plan might go forward sooner than we had thought. Cinnamon was holding off on going into her breeding season while Carmen had babies, but this morning she was spotting blood, so another litter might be a few months away. We are getting better at breeding professionally, so this next litter might bring us to the point of adding another girl to our tangle of hounds. The Farm project's next big purchase, other than building permits, is a travel trailer to live in while we build the house. Once the house is built, the trailer is remodeled and becomes the new kennel, allowing us to begin taking boarders as soon as the grounds and fences are built. We are trying hard not to become a "puppy mill" as we go forward into the dog business. I heard a woman on the radio say that a "puppy mill" is a breeder who does this business for the money. I don't agree with that and can probably refute it on a great many reasonable grounds; but perception is everything in a political world, so we are being careful with our image and how the world might see us. Breeding is problematic, but in my opinion a good breeder might well be doing this for the money AND doing it for the betterment of the breed. Our hope is to breed a better pet. We are not interested in showing our dogs, though this might raise our puppy price and so may become a good idea in the future. So if showing dogs and losing money are the hallmarks of not operating a "puppy mill", then those who do shows and lose money are not good business people. We are trying to become farmers. Farmers exploit nature. So be it. The dog business plan was always the first step onto the farm and includes a dog hotel as an income stream as well as kennel - breeding - grooming - and hygiene rooms. The proceeds of this business then going to building the next phase of the Farm . . . The orchards.

 Today we take another tiny step toward the Farm.