Hello, my name is Diane Haskell. Thank you for visiting my Westie website. There is lots of information about the dogs and our facilities around this site but I thought I would tell you a bit about me. As you can probably tell looking around the site, taking photos and building websites are two of my hobbies.
I have been married to Randy since 1986 and we have two sons and a daughter ranging in age from ten to eighteen. We have a cattle farm but my husband has taken a part-time job driving a truck for an oilfield company to supplement the farm income during this time of low cattle prices.
People ask about my accent and wonder where I am from. My mother was Scottish, my father English/Irish and I was mostly raised in Wales before immigrating to Canada – so my accent is a bit of a mix. I was born in Wallasey which is the opposite side of the Mersey River from Liverpool in the United Kingdom; if you're old enough to remember the song by Gerry & The Pacemakers, "Ferry 'cross the Mersey" that is where you would have ended up had you took the sung about ferry. The Nisbet tartan shown on the website is from my mother's side of the family. Our family motto is "I Byde It" which means I stand by it. I like to think that I am continuing this family pledge with the lifetime bring back option I give with all my dogs sold.
My volunteer activities include working on the library board where I am the Chair; I occasionally coach a soccer team in our town's fun league. My children are involved in a lot of activities so that keeps me hopping, both in driving and doing volunteer activites for the clubs.
I joined Toastmasters in the fall of 2009 - to gain confidence in public speaking - the surprise was how much fun this group of people are; I look forward to the meetings.
We are a home schooling family until the kids reach grade 10. I do the bookwork for our farm and am the general farm “go-for”. My Mondays to Fridays are pretty full and structured.
Tea Parties every now and then I like I set out my Mum’s good china that we brought with us from Wales and set the table for an old fasioned chat.
The picture on the left shows one that had a herb theme. I buy books to give to my friends at these parties very reasonably from the same place I buy the dog books.
Mandala making, I started in May 2007 - they are quite addictive once you start. This one is 14" across and is in coloured pencils and markers. I call it Mandela's Mandala because it has an African look to it. It was the first one I made. If you are interested you can see more here. Diane's Mandalas
My Interests:
Writing:
just for fun!
Looking for a gift for someone
who has everything…
Why not consider buying a gift for
someone who has next to nothing
from the World Vision gift catalogue!
Gifts also make wonderful memorial tributes. Check out their fruit tree deal - for the cost of a floral arrangement you can buy 10 fruit trees for countries in Africa which will help with nutrition and also soil erosion. I think that 'hope' is a wonderful gift to give in memory of a loved one.
I have been a World Vison child sponsor for over twenty years; we currently have children in Bangladesh, Ethiopia and Senegal.
Human rights
Are close to my heart. I like to host a Write for Rights day each December 10th for Amnesty International - at home or in the library.
The Dogs!
We have five spayed/neutered dogs including a Beagle and a Yellow Lab- we love dogs in general - we don't only keep dogs that will pay for themselves with puppy sales. Our dogs range in age from our puppy Ruby up to Brinkly who is ten. Last fall, our dear, almost 16-year-old, Black Lab Ben died of old age.
You can read about my evolving breeding philosophy by clicking here.
Thank you for taking time out to have this cyber visit with me,
Diane
Have you ever thought about having your own website? I highly recommend Homestead because they have software that is easy to use, a wide range of features and they quickly answer questions if you get stuck or have a problem. I have been using them since shortly after I got my first computer in 2000 so that is nine years for me (on my third computer now) and I only have had positive experiences and ever increasing improvements offered by them. If you join up through my link I get a commission :-)
I put up a flag, take in "world peace" dove cookies, take in stationery and hope that people will come and write a letter or two.
I orgonised a World Vision stall at the 2008 Festival of Trees
Dunsbairn Westies is a gold member of PARS
In November 2009 I discovered the joy of micro-lending to hard working people around the world that have difficulty getting loans. They are supposed to pay back the money and Kiva has a 98% payback rate - then you can either keep your money or re-invest it to another entrepreneur. You don't make interest but the local lending company/charity does.
I think it is a great way to teach my daughter about geography, business plans and making the most out of limited options. It is fun reading the case files and deciding who you want to help. I am on "Team Canda" and "Crazy Canucks"
