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.

Introduction

My husband and I, 3 dogs and the cat moved from PA to Oregon last September. It's been a long & lonely winter, but the sun is shining more and we will make the best of it.

Since most of my stories involve the dogs (my kids), here they are: Maverick, an 8-year old Belgian Tervuren, Zip a 6-year old Belgian Tervuren, and Trix, a 1-year old Border Collie.

The 4th member of my fur kids is Newman, the 18-year old barn kitty. Newman has been with me since I lived in Maryland. He moved to Florida with us, after 8 years he moved to Pennsylvania with us, and now he's traveled across the country to Oregon. Newman, named for Paul Newman, has more of a temperament of Seinfeld's Newman. Not sure why this is as he's been spoiled from day 1. But he loves his momma & we at least get along just fine. He's housebroken 6 dogs now & outlived three.