Music on the Homestead

I loved re-reading the "Little House of the Prairie" books which I assigned to Tween for literature requirements. It reminded me that in the evenings, when chores were done, Pa would often pick up his fiddle, and play till the girls fell asleep. Aw, bliss.

We are somewhat a musical family. Well, two out of three! I was quite the accomplished musician when I was young. I played the flute in high school, took piano lessons for 13 years and accompanied friends, and sang mezzo-soprano for packed houses. I even performed in dinner theater for a while!

My Tween was destined to be musical, and he does love beats and sounds. And Hubby loves to listen, but couldn't carry a tune in a bucket if his life depended on it.

We have an assortment of musical instruments: an electronic keyboard (yes, we'd prefer a good ole piano), drums, recorders (kinda like a flute), maracas, tamborines, and more. From time to time, for family fun time, we get out the karaoke machine and jam along with our instruments. Who cares what we sound like, right? We're having fun.

Do you have any musical instruments on your homestead? Remember, it's not the quality of the music - it's the fun!

Helper Animals

With the intention of needing a guard dog on our soon-to-be-found homestead, we bought a 10 week old puppy in the middle of February 2009 (see picture to the right - that was the day after we brought him home).

He's now almost 5 months old, and weighs over 50 pounds. This dog is 1/4 Dalmation, 1/4 Rottweiler, and 1/2 Alaskan Malamute. We call him our horse puppy!

As you may know, Alaskan Malamutes LOVE winter and cold weather, and practically live to pull sleds and wagons.

We have already bought a dog-pack (similar to the pic to the right on the yellow lab) and are slowly acclimating him to the pack. He will not only carry his own food and probably water, but also supplies for when we camp, or maybe even gardening supplies. He will also be trained to pull a load, like a wagon full of harvested produce, or even pull a sled with the Tween inside.

It's almost time to step up his training. But meanwhile, have YOU decided if you need a helper animals for your homestead?