Visiting San Isabel, Colorado Dec. 2011

My beautiful daughter
Alyssa and  I



Bishop's Castle
San Isabel National Forest
Absolutely gorgeous inside and out



Raven playing with the boys in the snow....Buster is in mid shake..... They always wear their coats!



This is a view of our home in San Isabel, Colorado during December of 2011.  We had 6 ft. of snow in 3 days during our 10 day Christmas vacation.  The dogs had fun playing in the snow, but our grown kids were a bit bored after the 3rd day.  It is beautiful and serene an we are excited about our move in May of 2013.

We will be moving to San Isabel, Colorado in May 2013 after much thought and prayer. We have looked for over 3 years for a home in this quaint, quiet beautiful little township in the San Isabel National Forest and have bought a beautiful home in the mountains. Our daughter has graduated high school and will be going onto further her education in the Fort Worth area staying close to the friendships she has formed and her full time job with First Convenience Bank. She has visited San Isabel and while she found it beautiful she didn't care for the large amount of snow we get there. She said she will visit in the summers!! Our son is in his Jr year in high school and is very active in his school drama program as well as developing his great bass playing with a metal band. He will live with his mom and visit us often. Lane loves the fishing on the lake with his dad.

Lake Isabel, CO....the future home of Crowned Schnauzers

Raven overlooking Lake Isabel, CO
which will be her future home
Raven is almost 2 yrs at this point



Nov 29, 2011
snow around Lake Isabel, CO

Harle-Master of Thunder
running around Lake Isabel, CO
Harle was born Feb. 15, 2011



Harle-Master of Thunder
He was 11 mo at the time

Ravens last rat

Well folks it has been awhile since I have posted. We have been a bit busy with the human agenda. I wanted to share with you what Raven shared with me. She actually snuck it in the house after her last "outside" call of the night. This was in June I believe. She ran straight to her kennel in the play room. I thought, "awh..she is trained so well..." The light was off so I did not see the friend she brought in with her.

The next morning I thought I smelled an ODD smell and let her out first to go potty quickly....

She ran out quickly all right with a dead rat in her mouth. She had "mouthed" it all night, but never bit through the skin. We dont use poisons so I was not worried, but she sure stunk.

I praised her and told her I was VERY PROUD of her for being good ratter. We have seen no rats since and with Ravens help she directed us to the nests unders our tool shed.

2nd Rat

Raven caught her 2nd rat the morning that Bart was to arrive. Maybe it was her welcome gift...
We will never know because we disposed of it. NO WORRIES...we do not use any type of rat poison and we always take them away from the dogs.
This one was bigger than the 1st.

We have a visitor

We are so happy to have Ravens brother Bart (Sheriff Bart) visiting us.
His mom had to take care of a family member out of town and we are blessed to have him stay with us for a week.
He and Raven were not sure of each other at first, but after about an hour they where chasing one another all around the yard. Bart was chased by Buster and Maggie as well. He definately fell into his strong breeding and took to his training that I do with Raven.
He is very smart and learned hand signals by the 2nd day and was jumping our hurdles by day 4.
He and Raven are playing what I call "puppy wars". They will do the chase and then tackle one another, tumble and roll and all the while biting and growling as if they are killing each other.
This whole act is role playing which is what they would be doing if they where growing up in the "wild" and having to learn survival techniques. They are learning what would be "take down" methods for the prey they would be hunting for food and how strongly they can and can not use their teeth. Some people see this and worry that they are hurting one another, but they know their own limits---or learn them very quickly.

Ravens 1st RAT

Raven killed her 1st rat at 9 weeks. What a champion. I was so proud of her. She has an incredible nose and can find any treat you try to hide. I have decided to train her for EarthDog as well as agilty.

We will be picking up Raven this weekend March 14th...
We are all so excited. John has bought her two new collars for her to grow into.
They are Pink Harley Davidson collars. All our dogs wear HD.
John went a little toy crazy with new toys too.
We have been prepping Buster and Maggie for their new siblings arrival.
Our kids are very ready as well.

Raven of Armani...Queen of Ashes 7 weeks old

Ravens 1st haircut!!! Getting Ready to come home!

Ravens Valentines Day pic

This is Ravens little Valetines Day picture! Isn't she gorgeous.

Raven is starting to eat mushy food...YEA! What a big girl she is.
We are getting everything ready for her arrival on March 13th. She is getting her own little play yard and her special potty area as well. New toys, new bed. SO EXCITING!

Visiting Raven in Taylor

We went to visit our newest addition to our home...at only 24 days old, she is the real beginning of CROWNED SCHNAUZERS. She is RAVEN OF ARMANI...QUEEN OF ASHES.
She is a SOLID Black AKC MINI SCHNAUZER out of Armani's Chocolate Thunder and Tessa Rhea of Valrhona (out of Madame Valrhona-retired) from Schnauzers of Taylor, bred by Donna Irizarry. Tessa is owned by Scott & Karen Brown.
This gorgeous girl is coal black and has the shiniest softest fur. She will come home on March 13th...WELCOME baby girl RAVEN :)

Raven with her litter mates. She is the one looking at you.

IN THE BEGINNING -Raven at just a few days old.

Beautiful babies only hours old...with mom Tessa