Do you remember I have a simply simple brain?

I do. I am simple. There is really nothing complicated about my life. I have always been that way. Clear and concise, I have always known who I am, what I want, what I like doing. When I was ten I knew that. Animals. It is all about the animals. I have surrounded myself with animals. As a kid there was a point I had so many, it was a zoo!!
Parakeet
Gerbils
Turtles
Guinea pigs
Mice
Pony
Horse
Dogs
Cats
Fish
Goats
Rabbits
Chickens
Um, maybe not ALL at ONCE, but maybe? I can't remember. We had a lot. My parents indulged me my animal Kingdom!
As an adult, I have more self control, but I still surround my life with animals. It's all about the animals. That's it, that's all, that's who I am. I read animal books. I wear socks with animals on them. I have hats with animals on them. I have earrings with animals on them. I squirrel away my money for vet bills for my animals.
When I went to school I did four years for a two year associates degree. Why? I had a terrible history and "liberal arts" program in high school. But, a wonderful science program. Or at least, that's how I saw it. LOVED my science classes, hated most of the others. I wanted to take some liberal arts, but I was TOTALLY sure I wanted that Vet Tech associates degree. I knew things about myself. I knew that's what I wanted. I knew it for years. There was no question what I was doing with my life. Never. So, I did four years for a two year degree. I do not consider myself very smart. In fact, perhaps less than average smart. Science I get, everything else, not so much. I am not good at English or Math. I was an average student, who could struggle at times. I have some smarts, but I am simple.
So, when my mom sent me this Mensa quiz I thought I would do really poorly. I did do poorly, but not as poorly as I thought I would. And had I not rushed I might have done less poorly. I only took 18 minutes.
Try this test and let me know how you do. I got 21 right. You have half an hour and I am pretty sure you can go back and check each question. I wish I had done that. The test just keeps going and starts again, unless you click "score" or whatever the finish button is.
Try it, it's pretty fun, really! I missed the typing question and that makes me mad. That one seems pretty easy. And I missed the box question, which also makes me mad, since I returned to it after and STILL can't figure it out. I think I am right, but what do I know???? I am simple.

http://www.mensa.org/workout.php

ACK, my newsletter! Not my favorite activity.

I know there are people out there who love this stuff. Editing photos, copying and pasting, resizing, capturing, and getting it all to work in a template. Me??? I would rather be mowing my lawn or shoveling manure or picking up dog shit. Really, I'd rather be doing THAT!! But, living with a media marketing guy during a slow economy and there is no way I can let this stuff go. I have to keep my "image" out there and the newsletter does that. Funny how every one I send out brings me some sort of work. It's like people forget they need me, then get the reminder and contact me? HUH?

Whatevah........of all the social media marketing and self promotion I do the newsletter seems like the most effective. But, damn - it - ALL it is time consuming and frustrating to me. I am sure if I were some computer geek, it would take 1/8 of the time and be like eating cake, but I am not a computer geek. Geek? Yes. I. am. Computer geek? No. I. am. not.

I wish I could geek my way to figure out how to edit videos. THAT I would enjoy!!!

And really, this fretting about my newsletter I feel small. I mean, there are immigration laws in Arizona and gigantic oil slicks along the gulf of Mexico and I worry about editing videos and adding text to photos? I am small........

"Can't buy me loooo-----ove!" Really, I think I can!!

Three dogs to the vet for their yearly heartworm/lyme tests. Roscoe needed a rabies shot, three stool samples, exams, heartworm prevention, more Cosequin and medication for lyme/anaplasmosis. Um...........$$$$$ later I bought my love and brought it home! Three little love bugs!

Colby had a positive test for lyme. We are going to treat and do the C6 in six months. Since she had it SO bad four years ago and it took us TWO years to get her score down, we opted to treat this time again. She handles the doxy just fine. Roscoe - again positive for anaplasmosis. These damn ticks! He also handles the doxy just fine.
Spur - THANK DOG he was clean! Negative on all accounts! Phew! Remember last year when he tested positive for anaplasmosis??? 5 days into the doxy he developed pancreatitis and was hospitalized. We know it was the doxy because once he recovered we tried the doxy again and 5 days later, bad diarrhea. I caught it soon enough that time he didn't need to be hospitalized, but it's a concern now with ANY medication with that sensitive buggar.
Stool samples negative, good. They eat and drink all kinds of CRAP and I take them off the Interceptor over the winter, so who knows what they might have picked up. We start the Interceptor up again now.

Oi - now I need to get Mr. Zeus in for a check up. Old man has gotten really thin and kind of picky about his food. Teeth/mouth look fine. He's OLD. Time to check his blood and see how he's doing internally. $$$$

I wouldn't have it any other way. What? Fancy shoes, color my hair, new clothes instead of consignment shop clothes, two week vacations in the tropics, monthly pedicures (OH, the dreams I have!!!), an Iphone, ..........no, I have none of those things - I have dogs and cats who love me.

Ugh, next week? Horse vet here. $$$$ Glad I just finished school vacation week. That's a banner week for a pet sitter. Didn't bother to bank those checks. Cashed and stored for easy access to hand over to the vets.

I buy me looooooo-ove!!! Yes I do!!!

Walked the dogs, cleaned up the garden, rode my silly horse, walked the dogs, mowed the lawn, vacuumed the office and THEN made a list!

And the dumbest thing? I couldn't check anything OFF the list! I remember the day on Facebook my friend said she washed windows, then went riding. And I had gone riding and THEN washed windows.

Perhaps I should take the plank off the rock wall? I am not using it at the moment and it does kind of ruin the look, don't you think? Or is a yellow and blue painted plank considered garden ornament? Adding "texture" and depth? Nah, it needs to be put away. I used my whole compost bin on these perenials. The moles had removed so much soil during their excavation last winter. They had not been in this garden before and that makes me unhappy. Between them and then Colby who excavates trying to kill them, I lost a lot of soil!!! Veggie garden will have to settle with manure/compost. See it in the background? Freshly turned and scooped up and ready access. Some of it is nicely "seasoned" at the back.

Hmmm, the bare areas should be filled with beautiful tulips! Damn moles!!! >:/

Still can't find my third rusty lizard!! I think it got swallowed by the rocks.

:(

Spring fever!!!

Look at the GRASS!! I think I have mowed five times already. The ground hogs are busy, which means the Japanese Knotweed crunches under their busy feet as they scurry back and forth filling up on fresh, spring greens. Why is that worth mentioning? Because it gets the horses all worked up!! The horses, all 900-1200lbs of them, get all worried about a scurrying little ground hog. WHAT THE????? Then, once they get going I think Jewel is feeling so good lately she gets so full of herself. She forgets the ground hog and just enjoys a good RACE!!!
Spur can not contain himself..............He joins in.........thankfully, in the safety of his yard...........

What's he sayin'?..........
The herding blood runs deep. He may be a Paussie, but the aussie herding blood is deep.............would a papillon do this?...........

Those words are probably not nice words?...............

Roscoe has no interest in herding, but he comes running to see what the commotion is about. Who knows, there may be cookies being passed out...........
Love the feet completely off the ground. Wish the Honeysuckle bush wasn't in the way.........Where's that ground hog???........
Poor Precious hasn't a clue what all the commotion is about. She's just running because Jewel is. She'd rather be eating, but she is a "follower". There isn't a take charge bone in her body. She does what the group does and if it means run.........well.......darn it, she runs.........Jewel - "Hey, watchalookinat????"Notice the flared nostrils? She snorts and blows and lets the world know she is there, protecting her pasture from the Horrible Hogs. How much can a ground hog eat? More than Jewel is happy about!! The Horrible Hogs take over and she doesn't like it. She doesn't like the noise they make, she doesn't like the strange way they waddle their fat bodies back to their holes. I mean, really, Horrible Hogs don't move well. They are not exactly fluid in motion. Not like Jewel!

The Maxwell's don't call them ground hogs. They are Woodchucks. And you don't say that word in the presence of George, the border terrier. Nope, you can't even spell woodchuck. Ground hog? George doesn't know because the Maxwell's don't call them hogs. They are chucks. Chucks take over George's word. Hogs take over Jewel's world. It's all the same, only different.

Maybe we should start calling them Wood Hogs, or Ground Chucks? Hog Wood. Hog Chucks?

You know we also have Wood Cocks around here that I also call Timberdoodles. Just sayin'...................

Love baseball? This is incredible!!

http://www.wimp.com/lovebaseball/

ACK, I need a break from my regularly scheduled program!

OK, well maybe it isn't exactly regular, now is it??? School vacation week and my schedule is anything but regular. BUSY as a one armed paper hanger. Although, does that really make sense? I can't think a one armed paper hanger is any busier, they just have a tougher job, right? My work this week isn't any tougher, just busier. FULL days of walking dogs, scooping litter, visiting kitties. Making hay while the sun shines!! I'll try to get back to more regular posts. Today is NUTS, tomorrow a little easier and Sunday just ONE visit!!! Sunday? My house will get some cleaning. My gardens some digging. My fence some repair. I am a bit behind on that stuff right now. Sigh........

So, to hold you until then, here is a compilation of Miss Sophia, bichon with wings, doing her three agility runs at the BARK trial last weekend. Hahahahaha, LAST run she qualified. I guess Kirby needs to completely wear her out over three days of dog show to handle her, LOL!! That little white fluff ball can ROCKET, man!!!! RUN, KIRBY, RUN!!!! This was her first trial ever and she only entered jumpers to keep it easy for her. I think they did AWESOME!! How many bichons do you see doing agility? And doing it THIS well? Um, none!!!

Miss Sophia has WINGS!

This little bichon can freakin' FLY!! We roomed with her during BARK camp last year. She and Spur got along great, each humping each other in turn, then Sophia telling him she wasn't in the mood - in NO uncertain terms. Fun time, though, rooming with a pretty little city dog. They live in a high rise in NYC! That is after Kirby had to call the front desk about the tweens partying up and down the hall. Red Roof gave us our money back.
Miss Sophia - she is AWESOME! How often does one see a fluffly, pimped out, fancy lap dog doing agility with THIS much drive. As Team Small Dog says..........if you like those low to the ground, barrett needing, fluffy little dogs..........like a riled up ball of - yarn........Miss Sophia!!! That little riled up ball of yarn can move, Muffin Heads.......this was her first time in the ring. We are impatiently waiting for the other two videos.

We have a ROCK STAR in our midst!

The SPURMINATOR ROCKED!!!!! He went 7 for 8, and his last NQ run was his BEST!! LOL! He was ON FIRE!!! He got better and better and faster and more confident each run. He was STRAINING to get into the building!!! He LOVED it there, he LOVED the energy, he LOVED the whole trial scene!!! He was ready, there is no doubt, he was ready. And, yes, I have some videos. Wish I had more, but in the Starters ring there are very few people and few I knew. I supposed I could do what some folks do and just shove my camera in their hands to film us. Maybe I will do that next time, it happens to me, I filmed several folks I didn't know over the two days. It's like that old trial rule........any unoccupied chair is yours until the owner comes along and anyone standing around looking bored is a potential filmer! It's a rule! :D

Anyway, this was his gamble on Saturday. He also got the gamble on Sunday, so this was his starter's gamble title. On to advanced gamblers now!! In this gamble I tried to practice what was going to be the course in his standard, which was A-frame, jump, dog walk....NOT the off tunnel, but little guy was going too fast and LOVES his tunnels. Tunnels are so low stress. Dog walks = stress. So, into the tunnel he went, but LOOK how happy he was!!! YAY!

OK, for some reason youtube is doing maintenance and will be up and running "soon", so for now this is all you get! Be cool, four more videos to come!

Oh and Roscoe? We sucked. I have to say we just sucked. And it happens that way with him. I don't know why, because each time I felt like we were "on" at the start and I have been working on doing better start line behavior. He looked pretty good at the start line, each time. Happy, silly, whining, ready to GO. Then we just fell apart. And when he starts to slow, I know it's happening, he's melting........he's worrying.....he and I fall apart. I am not good after that. I just mentally can't hang on and it's like a rock falling down a steep hill, it gains momentum. I melt, he melts, we become a mix match of stress and worry and he might finish up OK, but just OK. I give him his cookies anyway, because it makes me feel better and I KNOW it makes him feel better, but ultimately it sucks. All our hard work and we just can't hang on in the ring. ACK! He did get a jumper's Q and the Master's Gamble yesterday, which was really hard and really fun for him to get......wooohoooooo.......it was freakin' cool! Very hard gamble that many people could not get. Tiny 12" Roscoe did it with ease, good little man! Wish I had THAT run on film, darn it. I didn't bother filming him because we were so out of sorts and I don't like watching "out of sorts", but I shouldn't be that way, I should think more positively, give off better vibes to him, have better mojo.........what ever. It is what it is and it is hard to change my ways. I started to wonder if he was simply not happy with sharing the spot light with Spur Man? I am SURE that is part of it. I mean, he knows I am on cloud nine about Spur. He knows Spur is taking over the spot light. There isn't anything I can do about that, except recognize it, try to tell him he is as brilliant and awesome and my littlest Rock Star. I will try like heck to help him out. I know he doesn't like to share, but it is what it is. It was tough because several times my runs were at the SAME time, so I had to run one and run over and run the other right away. That is never good for me or the dogs. Plus, it was raining off and on and Roscoe hates dealing with the rain. He was cold, he's always cold. I kept running the truck, keeping it as warm as could be, but his legs and feet get wet in the wet grass and he gets cold. That is never good for him, even though inside it was dry. Still, once he gets wet the cold stays with him. Not his best trail, but he still managed to pull it together for that gamble, last run of the day yesterday. Good little gamble dog!!!!

OOoooh, I may have figured out how to capture the embed for the videos even though youtube is down.......This is the standard after the gamble. I just wasn't clear enough, dumb ass I am and he STILL took the off tunnel. He almost fell off the teeter, and I made NO big deal he missed that one jump on the closing. He was FLYING!!! I think the missed weave entry was the yellow cone. He just focused on it!! The white walls sort of blurred the weaves as he came over that jump and the yellow cone "spoke" to him. Watch his FREAKIN' AWESOME A-frame!!! Certainly his fastest in a trial! His dog walk contact got more and more "bouncy" as he got faster, but you will see his most AWESOME dog walk in his Friday's standard.


Friday's standard. You can see, not as fast, he improved each run and got more confident with each run! But, what an AWESOME dog walk!!!! WOW! Going so fast he almost over shot the weaves, but good little weaver hung on and nailed them!!! I can not BE more proud!!! -


Friday's jumpers I decided to practice two back crosses. Not our strongest move. We did fine. Back crossed jump before first tunnel and back crossed last tunnel. Good little Rock STAR!!! -


The facility is really nice. The grounds, um....not so much. Although, with a short hike down a very steep embankment, there is a lovely huge field to play with the dogs. And a pond, with a mean swan, but the pond has a "no" sign. No swimming, no boating, no fishing. It looks to be part of a small ice cream stand or vegetable stand that was closed now.
The drive sucked. Big time sucked. Less than three hours, but there is no easy way to get there. Going down was OK even with rush hour traffic around 495, but coming back my GPS took me about 12 miles through crappy little towns that gave me a headache. I don't know if another way would have been faster. Easy, probably. Plus, it was raining and that's always harder to drive in. And I didn't have a partner to drive with, so it was a long drive home. Got home just after 8 and we were all relieved to get out of the car! Phew!

Colby - she ran her pairs run well and looked great! She didn't have to do a teeter, which was awesome. The field turf and lighting was fine for her, yay!!! Jones had one little bobble/refusal, so we didn't q, but I am so happy she ran well and she seemed happy to do half a course. We will keep trying for that MAD. I want it with Jones. It means more to me, so if we keep trying and never get it, so be it. She was happy doing half a course, so I am going to keep doing that for a while. I sure miss running her! She's so smooth and easy. No worries, other than teeter and her sight, but really she is so smooth and easy to run. We are a team.

There was one major bummer about the event. Saturday morning I get a call that my dad's horse, Bob, was found dead in his paddock. Blood everywhere from his mouth, they think some sort of aneurysm? Freak thing. The vet had been there for spring check just a week before and they were all fine. Bob was only 7, one of his young Fjords he used on the farm. It's a total bummer. My dad is not a "spring chicken" and now only has the one other youngster for working the farm. It's a huge loss. It made me tired and sad for my dad. He sounded really tired. He had just finished burying him when I spoke with him. He said the hardest was letting Tim "pay his last respects". Tim was Bob's partner. They were a team. Very sad. This photo was taken a few years ago -

Running contacts, could we be on to something?

I dunno, but he is looking better. Does anyone know how to put youtube videos in slow motion? I probably have to edit it before putting on youtube? How, damn it, how????

These look to be 2 1/2 - 3 second dog walks? Not too bad! What was Dylan the rat terrier's, like 1.3 seconds or something unworldly like that? And 7 out of 8 are really good hits! THAT'S AWESOME!



There are 8 new videos of his contacts. One it looks like a miss, but I THINK perhaps just front toes hit? Definitely a miss on the hit-it board. Sound is down so I can't hear the beep on youtube, but when I watch on my little flip I can hear the beep. I think we are getting there. It has been slow and long and hard work. He isn't this fast on a strange dog walk, so now I need to do dog walk parties!!! Oi! I do think he will get faster and faster on strange dog walks, but it is going to take a lot of time and experience. My legs are feeling it, that's for sure. Ran 18 dog walks the other day!! Over several sessions, but STILL, some sore muscles!

Here is the link to the others -
http://www.youtube.com/user/roscoespur

The weather is SO nice, and I am SO busy!

It is hard to find time to post here when I am enjoying long walks with the dogs while the weather is SO perfect. Cool and fresh and bug free. Well, other than those nasty ticks, but not buzzing, biting, obnoxious black flies or mosquitoes, yet. It's lovely out these days! Colby has been hunting the chippie that lives in the old apple tree that blew over in the last wind storm. We figure it must still live there, even though the tree blew over. Plenty of places for it to hole up and hide. She loves that tree!

We enjoy watching the farm get ready. This patch may be "our" ever-bearing strawberries again! It was like we had our own private patch! It was AWESOME! This field (white remay covering) will be "our" lettuce!
We made some new "friends" over at Red Neck City. Rumor is that Mrs. Red Neck wanted some livestock that wasn't going to be put in the freezer. We already came across their poo on the path. I said to Rich it didn't look like deer poo, it looked like sheep or goat. Sure enough, two goats arrived and they take them out for walks!!!! We need to learn their names. LOVE goats!!!!

Yay, the grass is really getting green now.........

The weather has been spectacular! Not your typical mud season. Sadly, last week I had a tire blow out on my scooter. Darn it all! They only have 6500 miles on them. They did look a little worn, but I didn't think they were THAT worn. ?????
I was going past the golf course and BANG, I thought a golf ball hit me. Nope, pull over and realise I had a blow out. Which means a trip to Reynolds for a new tire. Who knows when that will happen. :(

Leta is enjoying the good weather and exploring more. She never stays still, so capturing photos isn't easy........

We have two days of BARK agility coming up. I leave tomorrow afternoon and return Saturday late. Spur's first "official" trial. I say that because he has done some runs before, but this time he is doing all four runs each day. A real show dog this time!! I kind of considered the other runs just practice. I still feel that way, since he is SO green and still such a project, but we have signed up for all four runs each day. The Spurminator will ROCK!

Colby and Mr. Jones are doing one pairs run in hopes of getting her MAD. We have no expectations, I know she could totally refuse her teeter or do some other silly mistake and so could Mr. Jones, but she should be able to handle half a course and getting her MAD would be nice. Why? Beats me, but us humans seem to like these titles, so we are going for it.

We are interested to see how this new facility is. It's much too far for my liking, nearly three hours, so it means night before hotel room stays, which I prefer not to do. I have two thoughts.........One - I hope it's worth it and lovely. Two - I hope it's not so nice and we won't want to go back so we won't be tempted to spent the extra money on hotel rooms. It's just sad that we lost the lovely place in East Hampstead NH that was SO close and SO awesome.

So, if I don't get on here to post again for a while, that's why. Today is FULL with work I had to jam into so I could take Friday off. The dogs need pedicures and we need to pack, print out directions and the trial catalog, get things in order at home. And it's another AWESOME day, so outside we will be, exploring, gardening, preparing soil, brushing dead winter fur off sweet Jewel and NOT sitting at the computer!! :D

Trial report and this morning's vet visit that didn't happen.

AKC trial yesterday. Roscoe ran great to finish his FAST novice title, then ran just OK in standard and OK in jumpers for a double Q. I mis-managed his startline in standard. I had a plan. I discussed it at class, I swore I would implement it and did I? Noooooooo..........I was a flapping, weirdo, idiot and he doesn't like that. My plan? I am figuring out that he really kind of LIKES to be out waiting on the start line. He gets all squeaky, growly, uptight and reved up? My little aggression case feeds off that waiting, that situation IN the ring where there is nothing going on. Why? Beats the heck out of me, but I have come to notice he LOVES to run pairs second. He likes it in class when we stop mid-course, chat about what was wrong or what we should try next, then start again, so I decided to use that. Did I? NO, damn IT!!

Jumpers, yes, I REMEMBERED thank YOU GOD! He got all squeaky, whiny, worked up and took OFF, yay, my little crazy man was with me this time. Then he comes out of the second tunnel and I thought at first he was lame, but I think what happened was a burp or what we call in training......a "re-treat". He burped up a treat that hadn't quite settled and swallowed it again. All that without stopping his forward motion, so no refusal, but he barely made it over the next jump then ran fine and finished well!

Ran Douce, the shih tzu. He ROCKED!! I think he would have placed in standard except that we were going to fast to the table and he slid off. He just couldn't STICK it. Nails gripped, muscles tensed, but off he went over the other side. Darn IT!! He ran great, though, on the rest of the course, looking really awesome. Then he got his first Ex. Jumpers Q. Good little shih tzu!!

Stella - poor little girlie at the end of the day ran jumpers, barely. She had a bit of a melt down, but managed to keep it together for her course, barely. Poor little thing. Good for her for keeping it together, indoors, with metal chairs banging, she managed.

This morning all three dogs were off to the vet for heartworm tests and Roscoe's rabies shot. Bring my obnoxious, barking, worried, barking, crazy, BARKING, nutty dogs into the clinic this morning. Not an easy feat, but in we come, BARKING, and make our way into the exam room - BARKING!

And then there is Colby, sweet as pie, quiet and perfect, just wanting to be patted……… The boys, BARKING!

Finally get them settled and wait for Lynda……..in walks Stacy, the other vet. WTF????? This is for routine vet care and I am NOT paying for her unless I ABSOLUTELY have to and I KNOW I called and said……..”I need to make an appointment with DR. BOND”. Damn IT!

Stacy tells me Lynda isn’t in on Monday’s. Well, sucks for them (and me and my BARKING dogs!)……….I have to tell her I made the appointment for Lynda and I want Lynda, sorry. So sorry, I am sorry, I am sorry I disrupted the office and hauled my dogs in, making them crazy and barky and worried and I am sorry I don't want YOU! I am sorry, I see Lynda, get it?? I hated that and didn't want to come off as rude, I don’t dislike Stacy, personally, she is always pleasant to me, but I don’t want her as my vet. Not for routine stuff and because Lynda is all we have now that sweet assistant Shelby is gone. Shelby and I could take Roscoe's blood. She understood him. She was good. Lynda and I can do it, too, so I need Lynda. I need someone familiar with Roscoe. Lynda and I go way back. I used to work for her, she knows me, she KNOWS my dogs. She understands them and all we have been through. I see her and only her and it is ON MY RECORDS! Hellooooo????? Unless it is some emergency and I have no choice, I see LYNDA! Stacy was very nice and I am sure she understood, or, she looked like she did (or was that relief on her face?). Not that I care THAT much, because it's just the way it is. I see Lynda, only, ever and it has always been that way.

Haul my BARKING dogs out after making a new appointment for next week with LYNDA! Oh - MY - GOD!

I bet Stacy was breathing a sigh of relief as we headed out the door........

Ooooooh, my favorite agility person has a new website!!!!

http://silvia.trkman.net/lolabu/

Way to go Silvia!!! It is, after all, her fault I am committed to Spur's running contacts!

I need to get some new videos. We have a bit more speed now than what you see in this video taken about a month ago. I am pretty happy with things so far, though. I wish we had more speed, but until he fully understands his job, even at full speed, I have to settle for the little increases we are getting. Any time I try for more speed I get an increase in launches. He does understand the hit-it board, I do believe, finally. He knows his job. Phew!



We have the BARK trial coming up next weekend, two days. I am excited, I feel like he is ready for trialing. Before I felt like it was more just practice, just experience, now I kind of feel like he is ready! It's a good feeling! I am seeing more and more confidence, more speed, less time looking like a wilted flower when he knocks a bar. He knocked one last night and recovered quite well!

I now have my teeter in my yard and he does it every day just before our walks. He runs to it now, it's that rewarding! YAY!

This just makes me want to spit!!

Ick! Nothin' like a mouth full of sod to start the day!!!

Zeus, he always wants to come with us. Rich, he's always on the cell phone!

Zeus - he started following Rich, who was late joining us..........Can you see him in on the side of this photo? Stopped in his tracts when he saw I was approaching with the "pack of wolves". Aw......poor guy thought he had Rich all to himself and was off on a nice adventure, just the guys. (Rich can't just enjoy a nice spring walk without that cell phone attached to his head? What is it with that habit??? It's like picking your nose or something? Just can't stop doing it?) -The first "wolf" approaches..............

Poor Zeus, his adventure cut short.

May flowers already?

Yup!! Kathy pointed them out to me. We don't usually see them until the first of May. Saweeeeeeeeet.................

A volunteer Johnny Jump Up. OK, seriously, what JJU isn't a volunteer? :P I don't think I ever BOUGHT any JJU's. They start to take over the garden, but that's A-OK with me, I LOVE them!! They bloom for months and months, even making nice potted flowers, especially when mixed in with others. This little one is in the middle of my yard, just popping out of the grass, hard soul!! If I didn't have a million other things to get done I would pot this little one right now and stick it on the step. I saw a house with window boxes full of pansies yesterday. Wow! Talk about motivated! I have too many windows to wash, dogs to walk/train and my little Jewel to ride, plantings will wait -

I saw Bill B. the strawberry man yesterday. He said the berries wintered over OK. Some loses, but they are coming along. He was starting to uncover them from the straw, glad he can finally get into the wet fields. We are hopefully we can have some of the ever bearing ones again this year. That was SO nice last year. Strawberries all season long!

What a day yesterday!!!

We were tired from Roscoe's upset night before. But, that didn't stop us from having a FABULOUS day! Our first farm walk produced copious amounts of Roscoe poo. Poor buggar! I am SURE he felt SO much better and I am very glad we stayed home so he could move all that along, instead of being cooped up at an indoor agility trial. He still isn't quite right, digestively. When is he "right" in any way??? Crazy little mental case! Digestively he is usually pretty cool. Down right steel stomach sometimes, but it wasn't his stomach it was his GI track. He isn't a big drinker, probably got a little dehydrated and then just slowed down and plugged up. Hopefully, we are back on track.

We had a great day gardening and exploring the woods and fields. Even a trip to the stream to cool off!!! They got hot doing some agility before our outing.........It was HOT yesterday...........MinPin butts in the stream!!! -

Spur was all energized by the water..........

Then we met up with George and they raced around the farm............

Nailed!!!! -
George got hot and did his hippo impersonation in the mud -

Then George caught scent of something. Or....George just decided he'd had enough of The Spurminator and he was GONE........bye, bye George........

We found him, bad terrier, after a trek through the thickets behind the houses next to the fields. He's a BAD terrier! It was sure nice he had his blaze orange on. He stood out clearly in the brown thickets and dead leaves.

Came back and did some garden clean up! Lookin' good..........

It was a lovely day!