YAAAY! A New CAMERA and PUPPIES!

Finally, finally I have a camera!

And this one I'm pretty excited about, that is if I can learn to use it. It is a Fuji Finepix S1800. It's no fancy, expensive one but I am thrilled with it.

I checked reviews and compared prices til I was seeing double but this one seemed to be the best for me. It's got all kinds of features that I have no idea how to use but I am determined to learn.

It's 12 mega pixel and has a macro function so I tried a closeup of this Honeybee on a Moonflower and then cropped it for a closeup.

I think it looks pretty clear, you can even see the shadow of his little antennas. I'm going to try to crop it closer and see what it looks like...

It still looks pretty clear. Awesome!

I am so excited to play with this camera!

Here's a picture of Husband taking the son out for his first tractor driving lesson. The son is not too excited and he did not enjoy it much. Maybe once he learns he'll enjoy it more... hoping.

Finally the canning season is winding down, when it's apples you know the end is near. I used all of our own apples to make apple butter so off we went to the local orchard to get a bushel of seconds for apple sauce and apple pie filling. Actually I should be making the pie filling and not sitting here typing right now but you know...

Cut them up and cooked them til soft.

Ran them through my wonderful Kitchen Aid Mixer attachment.

Set it on the stove to keep hot...

And filled up the jars and processed. This will be so good all winter.


I also have been experimenting with an apple crisp dessert that will work with a jar of my pie filling. I made this jar last year and this is what I will be making as soon as I get done with this post.

I think I have gotten it perfect!

I want to be able to just empty a jar of the filling and then have a quick apple crisp topping when I need a fast dessert. This was almost perfect but I have to maybe double the topping so it's crunchier around the edges but the flavor was yummy.

And now for some great news......


WE HAVE PUPPIES!

Here's the proud daddy, looking all leisurely cause he didn't do all the work.

Awwww, could you just die?

Shelties normally have three to six puppies, she had EIGHT. Poor thing. The first one was born in the wee hours of the night and I was not there to help her and she must have been so scared that I think she hid from it and it died.

But the second one woke me up crying so I was able to calm her down and help and the rest went pretty well. After each one I kept thinking... oh good, she must be done but ooooh no they kept on coming.

They all have really cute markings. One of the boys has a little white heart shape on it's head. So cute. The other two boys have perfect white collars and the four girls all have a little white that goes up a little on the back of their head, just like their momma.

Their eyes will open in a couple days and then I'm sure all hell will break loose.

But for now they are little angels that sleep all the time.

Although one morning at about 4am I heard a puppy crying and I couldn't find it anywhere. I finally figured out that it had crawled into the hem of a pillow that was exactly the same size as him. There was no way to get him out cause he wouldn't go backwards so I had to cut the pillow open. Crazy.

No words needed.

Mamma below is thinking....

GET ME OUTTA HERE!!!

More pictures to come as they grow!

Til next time, Beth