Santa Photos

OK - seems there is a password that is locking up my photo files. Hmmmm! Will get it soon & post the photos.

Sorry folks. Thought I had it.

Joni

2009 Flyball at the Fair

I finally got hold of some photos from our tournament at the Marion Co Fair. This was Mav's team "Slip-N-Slide": Tank & Jetta (JRs), Cocoa the Lab, Lucy the BC. Izzy the American Staffie, was on the other team but she has such a pretty box turn.

We also got a photo of the Judge!

Dog Days of Summer

I just wanted to post a note in case anyone follows this blog (photos to follow). It's gotten hot!!! OMG! It was 102 in the shade yesterday, with a high of 105 predicted for today. I'm hot & the dogs are hot. Their 1 bright side of the day is that I've learned to make frozen yogurt for them. We used to get already made Frosty Paws from the grocery store. But, these frozen treats are so much easier to make. We take yogurt, banana, a dolip of honey & peanut butter....blend these all together & voila! Frozen, they make a frosty treat for the pups! And it isn't as much mess on the carpet as frozen peanut butter bones. Maybe I should try a blueberry flavor one for Trix? The mess factor goes up....but she is still stealing blueberries from the bushes.

We are getting ready for the installation of a vent window in our office over the garage. There is no cross ventilation (on those good days when we can open the windows). The installers have to take 3 pieces of vinyl siding off the house. This will make me nervous until it gets put back on. I am hoping not to have to replace the entire face of the garage with siding!

The other project is getting the carpets cleaned through out the house. Seems minor to some folks, but I pull everything out of all the rooms effected. Then neaten & toss out stuff as it goes back into the rooms. I need to paint one of the upstairs bedrooms & turn it into a 2nd guest room. I'll like it much better that way. I'll have to turn Newman's room more into a storage room, and hang the flyball ribbons in there.

Whew! I'm hot thinking of it.....gotta cool off!

Civil War Reinactment

On July 4th I talked Mike into going to a Civil War Reinactment. Who ever heard of either the north or south fighting in Oregon!?! It was a VERY hot day & we were disappointed to learn that we missed the actual reinactment. Evidently, they were reinacting the battle of Gettysburg, complete with calvary. We watched the soldiers march out of the grounds. There was a demo of how the cannons were loaded & fired.

We wandered around camp a little. I was amazed that the camp was so well outfitted. There were tables, chairs, lamps, baskets, china cubboards, chairs & even beds in the tents. The ladies wore their period costumes.

As I said, it was very hot, so we didn't linger. Just looking at the hot horses, hot tents, hot ladies dresses made me feel even hotter. But, the weather did seem very much like the Pennsylvania 4th of July that I remembered.

Baking Cookies

The week before our flyball tournament a friend of mine & I baked dog cookies, to use as prizes. She brought her 2 dogs over & all 4 dogs had a good time playing around. The whole day was too much for Mav, so her went into the bedroom & slept for much of the time. Puppies......!!!

The red, white & blue cookies turned out very well & looked pretty.

I caught photos of Reuben, smooth coat collie, and Trix wrestling in the living room. Riley was there & so happy to have strange stuffed toys to play with. Trix, as ever, was very hospitable. Zip was so happy to have company. She was torn between sneaking cookies off the cooling tray & playing with her friends.

Later, as I crashed on the couch, I was approached by a little cuddle puppy. It seemed that her way of crashing was to lay upside down on my chest, with legs in the air (unsolicited). She's crazy!

Did I mention how much Zip loves the sprinkler? She loves to play with it on a hot day. She comes away completely soaked. She seems to be always surprised when the spray goes in the opposite direction.

I also have a blueberry thief in my yard.....hmmmmm, wonder who it could be? I caught Trix later that evening ripping leaves off & gulping down berries (green & blue ones). The blueberries that are ripe are huge, some are as big as my thumb.

Yard Play

Now that we have a nice "big" yard to play in, we are taking advantage of it.

Ball playing takes place several times a day, and the trees provide a cool, shady place to rest afterwards (yes, there are dogs under that tree.

We have a little elm tree that is shaped like an umbrella right in the middle of the runway.

Trix, Zip & Mav sit in the shade.

There are flowers along the long side of the fence. The nasturtiums are starting to bloom, so there is color now. The poppy is spent, but the delphinium is still blooming.

I have little tomatoes on the Roma & the Early Girl. Hopefully, Trix won't eat them! She likes to nibble on the flower leaves (heck, she rips them off!)

Newman likes hanging out around the porch too. He "treed" 2 snakes the other day. (gross!) I tried to put them in a bucket to relocate them, but they wiggled away.

The fuscia basket on the front porch, that I put together, is starting to bloom. I have stawberries & blueberries growing. The clematis has gotten really big & is starting to bloom. There are little balsams under the camilia, which is growing like a weed!

Iris Farm - Last Visit

Wow! Can't believe another week has gone by. So much has happened this past week. First, I got a part-time job. That will be a big change for the pups.

Second, we are now watering the fairgrounds so that we will have a green spot to run on for the flyball tournament. Third, we came in 6th on Saturday and 2nd on Sunday, at our tournament in British Columbia. Since it was really hazy, none of the mountain photos turned out. Guess I'll have to wait until the fall for some good shots. The only mountain that I saw, of the seven, was Mt. Baker.

Fourth, we went for our last visit of the year to the Iris Farm. The fur kids & I have loved traveling to different places over the last 6 months. I'm going to miss going on long jaunts with them. We'll still have the weekends tho'. So we commemorated our last outing with watering the fairgrounds & going to the Iris farm. We had missed out on the peak blooming, but what we saw was still gorgeous. I particularly loved the iris with pink centers and purple outer petals.