This is our journal of what we pray is our sojourn of life (Hebrews 11:8-10) along the narrow way (Matthew 7:14), even the old paths (Jeremiah 6:16), submitting to the Bible as a light unto both (Psalms 119:105). It is our prayer that these documented moments in our earthly time benefit whom God might choose to edify, but ultimately that God glorifies Himself through them.

Category: Nessa

Goodbye Nessa

We had to say bye to our border collie Nessa this week. Earlier in the year, we had tumors removed from her mammaries, but a tumor started growing back. The vet wouldn’t operate again, so we tried some natural things for her, and the tumor seemed to start to dissipate, but she ended up with 3 swollen legs, and a fairly large swelling on her inside back leg. She recently seemed to turn a corner in a positive way, but a few days ago, she couldn’t lay down or sit anymore, and it seemed because of that she hadn’t slept in at least a couple of days, and she was falling asleep standing while we would hold her. She just seemed to take a turn for the worse, and seemed to be suffering, and it seemed basically an impossible quality of life. So, we made the difficult decision.

She had been a real trooper through it all, and it was crushing to have to put her down.

We will always have fond memories of her. In fact, she will always be remembered as having been part of the initial inspiration for the little song I put together, Jehovah Is His Name.

And then there are the memories of her with Brodey, who thankfully seems to be ok as of right now with Nessa missing, even though they had been together with each other for their entire lives…

Here’s when we got them back in 2009:

Brodey & Nessa, 2009

 

More Brodey & Nessa, 2009

In this video from 2010 from this blog post, she seemed to prove what I thought, which was Nessa kinda had a screw loose: 🙂 (The video has no thumbnail, but you should still be able to play it; or you can go to the blog post link.)

 




 

Here are brother and sister again, 2013 and 2017:

Brodey & Nessa, 2013

 

Brodey & Nessa, 2017

And here’s a final video from back in January, soon after Nessa’s surgery. We had a double cone on her to try to keep her from the stitches, and a “diaper” wrap to try to keep her from the open wound:


Goodbye Nessa bo-bessa….we’ll miss you lots….

Nessa Grave

 

Nessa Headstone

….and we thank the Lord for the gift that you were, and for the time He allowed us to have you!

Nessa, 2013

— David

Nessa Makes a Mess-a

We still haven’t been able to figure out what she’s trying to get at here; but Nessa, one of our Border Collies, loves mud puddles:


We’ve been trying to think of ways to harness this to our advantage here in agrarian-land. Maybe she’s a new kind of post hole digger. Or maybe we could put her over a bucket of dirty clothes that are soaking; and she could be a fancy, automated laundry agitator.

Anyone out there have any other suggestions? 🙂

— David

 

Animal Update

We thought it might be nice to post an animal update from around here at our homestead.

And so, here we go…..!

Brodey and Nessa

If you haven’t seen the introductory post on Brodey and Nessa, it might be nice to take a look at it before watching the following video so you can get some perspective on their growth:

Cattle

This was taken before the birth of the latest calves:

Chickens

Gary and Gigi

Goats

Pigs

We are grateful to the Lord for the provisions of these animals, and may we use them for His glory.

— David

 

A Tail of Two Puppies


When we attended the Homestead Heritage Craft Fair this last November, I had the opportunity to observe their sheepdog demonstration. Needless to say, I was impressed with their ability to round up animals. With our attempts at rounding up animals either gruelingly on foot or industrially with trucks, I thought that having sheepdog capabilities around the land would be of great benefit to all involved for all of the various animals we have to sometimes corral and/or separate. The Homestead Heritage folks had decided on Border Collies for their herding breed, and so I figured I would follow suit at some point.

Well, that some point came quicker than I had expected. Recently, an ad was placed in the local classifieds paper for registered border collie puppies. Even though they were pricey as registered dogs, I called, in case the owner had or could recommend non-registered ones which would cost less. When I talked with the owner and explained what I was looking for, it so happened she was moving and was willing to sell one or both of the remaining registered pups from the latest litter for 40% off. We thought that was just too good to pass up. At first I thought we’d only get one, but then reconsidered, given the deal she was offering, that the two dogs would have each other, and to allow us to potentially breed them; and so, we decided to get both the male and female she had left.

And here they are. We decided to give them Scottish names because Border Collies originate from the border area of England and Scotland, and we named them different sounding names to help them differentiate between themselves when being commanded. Please meet Brodey (pictured to the right above) and Nessa (pictured to the left above). They’re quite playful and friendly, and we look forward to being able to train them to be functional animal members of the community:



Here is a video of them just after arriving here on the land:


The Lord is gracious in granting us these animals, especially in the way He did; and we pray for guidance in training them.

— David