This little boy is my S U N S H I N E.

How did I get so lucky?

Princess Annie of Dowshire

I thought M would be the reason for my return to blogging...instead it is Annie.

Today, in the yard she loved, under the tree she most enjoyed, Robert and I said goodbye to Annie. At 13 3/4 she had lived a long, full life. Watching her deteriorate over the past year was rough and it was Robert who finally said: "she was too good a dog to let suffer, she deserved better".

God speed Princess Sparkle, Annie Bear, sweet old girl. I am so glad you stayed around long enough to meet M. You two would have had great adventures together...I know we sure did. Have fun chasing the sparkle light and the birds with Zoe, Patches and all the great pets we have loved and lost.  xo

dogs and birds

What happens when you find this

and this

and you have two very birdy bird dogs like this?

I get a lot of exercise wrangling blue and annie away from these

(Pictures are from May...not sure why this post shows in January)

cabin progress, in photos

Huge progress! Nearly all of the footings for the back deck are in place including one in a 48 inch deep hole (I have many bruises from that one to prove I helped get it to the correct depth). This weekend we are pouring the last of the footings and placing some of the beams. I know Robert's dad can't wait to move onto the wood work, his specialty. Digging holes in the rockiest ground on earth is slow & painful. Still, more to come...

bird dogs

A rogue chicken/roster (robert and I disagree about which it was), after spending most of the night on the other side of the fence, ventured into the yard last night. The dogs went crazy for it before it was in our yard & garden...they were nearly impossible to contain when it was in their space.

**Also, pardon our weeds! Spending every free day & minute at the cabin working on the deck is limiting the amount of weed-pulling time we have put into the garden. Soon, very soon, we will get back to weeding regularly. And, yes, you will notice that the neighbor does indeed have one single weed/plant that he cultivates in his dirt back yard. But, he doesn't mind when our vines with pumpkins & melons venture into his dirt, so what can we say?

July 2010

Deck destruction and reconstruction work at the cabin keep us pretty busy. The Sunday after our fantastic get-together in June, we started by taking out the gigantic root ball located just off the deck.

Next we removed all the wood and support for the actual deck so we could began extraction of the cement footers.

More to come.

Pool is Open

It's official - summer is here. With the annual opening of the backyard pool over Memorial Day weekend, we kick off summer in grand fashion. Blue L O V E S his pool like any lab would...swims in it, lays down in it, digs in it, blows bubbles in it...and Annie, well Annie is just happy for a bigger, second water dish so she will not be thirsty when I make her stay outside. Now, it is garden time!

Merry Christmas!

from all of us to all of you, wishing you a merry christmas

other patch visitors

Morgan, Joslyn, Kyra (behind) Jace, Tristin

Jentry & Jancen

pumpkin patch

We only had a couple of takers on our "come pick as many pumpkins as you like from our patch" last weekend. Lily & Ava were the first. This is my favorite part of planting pumpkins!

September

How did it get to be the 29th?

I love this month for so many reasons. It is my birthday month and I love my birthday. School starts. Temperatures cool. Leaves turn. Garden giveth and giveth and giveth. Homemade salsa. Corn on the cob from the patch. Jessica's birthday. Swamp cooler comes out of the window and is stored until next summer. Peaches! The mountains flame (color, not real fire). Fishing. Farmers Market on campus - mint limeade and gelato.

My camera has an issue so I have taken very few pictures which is usually what I use to post here...snapshots of what is happening that remind me of a story or an anecdote. Silly camera. Saving up for another but until then I will try posts without many photos.

Patience, please.

big windows

Big windows are beautiful, but there is a draw back: birds don't know that they are windows. This is the front room window at Robert's parents home...poor birdie.

more garden goodies

more squash (for scale, that bowl

to the left of the zukes is the bowl

in the photo below with all our bounty)

Blue picked himself the cucumber (yep that is one cuke)...

never met a dog who loves veggies more.

We also harvested green beens, edamame and

inside-out (a.k.a. watermelon as they are pink

on the inside & white on the out) radishes.

watermelon radish

inside the watermelon radish - they are super spicy hot!

visit to the cabin

This is how Blue spent most of his day...
watching the squirrels scurry from the bird feeder to the tree,
then chasing after them.

Then he did this a bit too...resting from the running.

Happy Annie.

Re-route of the water fall...

Pat & Dixie have been busy!

garden!

summer bathing

Oh does she hate baths.

You may not be able to tell but Blue is

licking the soap off of Annie...he is always helping!

Love the soap on Blue's nose.

Annie laughing as Blue gets his bath...

little does she know that she is next.

Bathing Blue.