New puppy, kittens, and rattlesnakes

The new puppy we inherited over 4th of July is so adorable and the kids love him. He is going to be so big, but hopefully not to overbearing. Here are some cute pictures of him.

We have discovered that rattlesnakes like our place. People have told us that with all the destruction and construction we have done around the ranch that we have disturbed the dens and probably will see lots of rattlesnakes. Tim and Kreek have killed 6 so far and we are still counting. When we lived at our other ranch we always had lots of cats around and we never saw a rattlesnake near the house. When we moved here we brought 2 with us (that was all we could catch). Tim ran over one of them and the other we think was killed by a raccoon. So we were on the hunt for cats. We got three kittens from Neva (which have all been killed by some animal or Tim with the pickup again oops) and three kittens from Lanora Watts (two are still with us for now). We are trying to get them big enough to keep the snakes away, but the kids are spoiling them rotten. Who knows if they will or not?

A few Sundays ago we were in Sheffield all day at church and got in late that night. I went to feed the dogs and discovered out our border collie, Gringo, looked like this.

He had been bitten by a rattlesnake somewhere on the mouth. I am sure he was protecting a curious puppy. After a few days of swelling, blood and lots of drool he was back to normal.

Sharon and I got back from our recent trip (more on that later) at 1:00 am. Tim was in Iraan doing a little work so we carried the kids into the house. I went out to feed the animals and was filling up the cats water. I turned around and heard the rattlesnake about 3 feet away from me. I am deathly afraid of snakes and I ran so fast into the house. I yelled, "Sharon, RATTLESNAKE!!" Her and Kreek came running with guns. Between the both of them it was dead in no time. Kreek had to cut the rattles off and it had 13 and a button. I hope to never get that close again to one.