Sneezy, Itchy, Watery Eyes!

Now I know why I enjoy fall so much. It's allergy season again!

It was another busy weekend again. It always seems like when summer rolls around that with more daylight hours we find more that needs to be done.

We had a busy day Saturday at church as everyone that could came and painted fences, went through a few things, repainted a Sunday School classroom and did a lot of organizing.


This afternoon I mowed the lawn and finished up planting a few more flowers and bushes. Just as I was finishing and the sun was sinking low the phone rings and low and behold it's Danny needing help. Good thing for cell phones or he would have been walking.



He was trying to put some more dirt on the dam of the back pond and just about slid in. With the recent rains we have had the pond is full and the dam needed some reinforcing. With a little help from yours truly we had him back on solid ground in no time.



I've been doing some painting outside just giving the lawn furniture a touch of paint and thought it would be nice to have a little birdbath. It was super simple and if you have a clay pot and saucer you can make one, too.

All you need is a
Clay pot
Clay saucer
Acrylic paint
foam brush
glue (I used gorilla glue)
clear spray





Paint your pot and saucer ( I left the portion I was going to glue together unpainted). Glue the saucer on top of upside down clay pot. Place a heavy object on top for a couple of hours while glue dries. Spray with clear spray let dry.




Now I have a simple little birdbath that all the lil' birds can enjoy!

I found a moment and updated my LPS shop seems like the 1st and the 15th comes around so fast.

Happy Trails....Ginger

What a great day

We don't often get to show a video but we thought we would make one today because dad says he loves watching my coat bounce when I run. I think dad was out in the sun to long BOL. Oh, this is Mrs Robin. She has built her nest in the corner where the pipe comes down from the gutter against the side of the house and it is hidden behind the tree, but she likes to chirp loudly when even mom or dad goes outside. Mom heard some little cheeping today so she thinks her eggs may have hatched.

Morning at the lake

We are expecting 90 degree temperatures this weekend so mom said if we wanted to go for a walk, we needed to go early before it got too hot. "IF" we wanted to go for a walk pppppllllleeeeaaassseeee mom - when would I ever turn down a walk, it could be a 100 degrees and I would still want to go for a walk. Anyway, we got to the lake and can you believe my mom actually asked me to wait in the car while she took a photo.......but then I was out and off down the road following all those wonderful smells. Mom says I seem to forget I am a herding dog and that watching me with my nose to the ground I act more like a blood hound. Those poor hoomans just don't know what they are missing by not being able to smell what we can smell. Hmmmmm skunk crossed by, possum, raccoon, dogs, cats (there be some homeless cats living out at the lake) and ducks and geese and then around that barbecue pits there was cooking smells!!!!












Well we continued walking and I sniffed and sniffed. We got to see people fishing and people camping and then we came across a lot of small people out hiking. Dad said they were scouts.....hmm they looked just like little people to me. I am never sure what to make of little people as I have never had much to do with them. BOL - while dad wasn't looking I also found a dead fish and managed to get a quick roll on it. Ah the pungent perfume of Ode Da Crappie!!! Crappies is what they call the small fish in the lake. Mom gets a bit annoyed that the fishermen just throw these fish on the grass if they don't want them rather then putting them back in the lake. I don't mind at all though as they smell very good when they are all dried up. Here I am laughing at the dad cause I saw the fish first and got to roll on it. Unfortunately he pulled me away before any of the smell really stuck to me.












The other thing that is unusual out at the lake is that they have area to keep they humongous big horse dogs. Although we didn't see any today I did hear them. They make some loud kind of whinnying noises. Here I am listening to them. Then the mom was being silly and she started to walk away back to car....I watched her for awhile and then suddenly I though she was going to leave without me and dad so I came racing after her. But she was just being silly and was hiding behind a tree. Mom's can be so silly sometimes.

Lookie, Lookie What I Found!!!

Can you make out what I have in my mouth? Read on for the story...

Baby Rocket Dog and I are having a blast now that we are back in North Idaho. All we have to do is stand at the door and Mommy lets us outside to run around. What could be better?

I must tell you about this strange little thing I found in the woods on Monday. I was so proud of myself, having made this most excellent find. I came out of the woods to show it to my mom and daddy and Mommy said, "Hootie has something in his mouth!" Well, this is not unusual for me, as I have been very busy unearthing rawhide chews that Baby & I hid in the woods last year. Mom & Daddy always take them away from me. Something about them being black, slimy and moldy (just the way I like 'em!) and then they throw them in the trash!! Can you imagine? Anyway, back to my story. Mommy ran into the cabin to get her camera and started calling me to come to her and of course I wouldn't, cause I figured this was yet another thingy she would take away from me. Here's the video for you to see for yourself. (You might wish to turn down the volume, as she is screeching like a banshee at me.)

Great find huh? They tricked me into getting in the car, so I dropped the bun-bun on the seat and Dad grabbed me & Mommy got the bunny. Well, I got to go for a ride in the car with the snowshoe bunny over to one of the folk's friends house. This Jim guy is what my mom calls "nature man" and she knew he'd know what to do with the bunny. (NOW, I knew what to do with him, but they didn't quite like my idea.) Jim and his wife have 2 little bipeds and they said they'll take good care of the bunny so he can fend for himself and then they'll let him go in their woods. I wanted to play with him some more, but the folks figured he'd be better off a few miles away from me. Go figure. Meanwhile, BabyRD was the perfect angel, not getting into any trouble. PPffffffffttttt!!

I think Aggie will be proud of what a fine earth dog I am... and I haven't even been trained!! Well, I better go see what kind of mischief awaits me now.

Welshie Smooches, Hootie

ps-Baby will tell you about the Memorial Day parade and our friend, Rachel the chocolate Lab at a later date.

My Primitive Sampler *~H is for Home~*

My primitive sampler can be done in redwork, needle punch, rug hooking, or any of your favorite forms of art. A free little doodle from me to you!

Happy Trails....Ginger

Wordless Wednesday

A Lil' PuP named "DAISY"

Our newest lil' addition here on the farm is "Daisy" a mix of Great Pyrenese and Border Collie and she is one roly poly lil' pup. We picked her up over at my Mom and Dad's this evening. Mom and Dad kept two of her brothers. I'm sure Sloan is going to enjoy having a pup to play with.



We had a very busy weekend around the farm planting shade trees and having Sloan over on Saturday. He enjoyed playing in the little swimming pool and with the help of his PaPa they soaked me with the waterhose. Boys will be boys no matter what age!



Sloan loves tractors and he had his first ride in the big green tractor. He loved every minute of it.





The weather has been so nice that I've been trying to catch up on the gardening and flowerbeds and I got a bit burnt, oh well more freckles!

For those doing the primitive sampler I'll have another doodle tomorrow!

Happy Trails....Ginger

Some More Adventures in Dad's Park

Okay, so off we go again on our adventure in my Dad's park. He isn't visiting his park this week though as he is in a place called Memphis until tomorrow and then a place Miami for the rest of week. I wish my Dad didn't have to travel so much. He says it lets him buy me things like my doggie door and deck but I think I would rather not have them if it meant he could stay home. He just shakes his head and says a "Dad's got to do what a Dad's got to do".

Anyway, off we went down the path under the nice shady trees and you know what we saw? Geese !!! Mom said these are Canadian geese and it was funny, they just sat on the path while all the people walked by but as soon as I came along they all started honking loudly and went into the water. Dad says the geese thought I was a wolf. How dumb are those geese.....do I look a wolf to you???? Mom likes the geese and thinks they are very pretty but she sure doesn't like their poop. They make the biggest ever poops all over the paths and neither mom or dad would let me near it which I though was a bit mean. I just wanted to sniff and maybe roll on a couple of them.

Now as you can in this photo, the geese had babies too. There was four little geese puppies with this group. These types of geese breed very fast and often have between 4 and 10 puppies. Mom says they eat grass (yuk!!!) and because so much of America now has grassed parks and lawns and golf courses the numbers of these geese have just gone crazy. There was lots of others kinds of geese at the park too, white ones and ones with orange beaks and lots of ducks too. In fact a bit further along we saw these two duck puppies and it was odd because the momma duck was white and the daddy duck was a Muscovy. I wonder if my mom's head hurts carrying around all this information she has there - she seems to know to lots of little bits about everything.

The ducks also thought I was wolf and quacked loudly and even flapped their wings at me - so I BARKED at them and then scurried away. Next we went around the other side of the lake where the weir is.

There was lots of steps to go up and dad was surprised how quickly I hippitty hopped up them. At home our basement steps are very narrow and steep so I go up those very slowly one at a time - mom says I look like a little old man. But these were big wide steps and I BOUNCED up them. There was lots and lots of little birds flying around like crazy near this weir thing. I was a bit worried they were going to attack us, but mom said they were swallows and they just catching little insects above the water. I kept my eye on them all the same. We all know Omaha has strange critters and I didn't want to add dive bombing kamikaze swallows to the list.

Now one of the things mom had been looking for on the lake was these things called 'swans'. She said there are two that live there all the time (they go to live at the zoo in winter when the lake freezes over) For some reason my mom seems to really like these swan things. Anyway, we eventually found Mr Swan, he was on his little island preening himself and I must say, he was one big Swan Dog!!!! The swans must keep the geese away from them as there non around their side of the lake. Mom looked and looked and was getting very worried when she didn't see Mrs Swan anywhere. She said swans mate for life and that this pair are quite old and she wondered what would happen to Mr Swan is Mrs Swan had gone over the rainbow bridge. But then, as we rounded the corner there she was and she was sitting on a huge nest she had built!!!! Mom was so happy - she is a bit soppy like that and was even happier when Mrs Swan let her get a picture. Mom didn't get close though, she took a photo using something called the zoom lens as she said Mrs Swan has to stay on her puppy eggs to keep them warm until they hatch. I asked mom if I hatched like that and she said no....I was just about to ask her how I came about when she said "look Reilly - a squirrel" and of coarse I forgot all about the question.

Memorial Day and Pee-Mail Winners

We nearly forgot to announce the winners of our great Pee-Mail Photo Challenge. We had some awesome photos and the dedication to sniff out those messages was amazing.

Okay so now the winners are - CONGRATULATIONS !!!!!!

The most funny - Maggie and Mitch
The most dedication to finding all the best places - Katie and also Mason Dixie
The best fire hydrants - Essex and Deacon
The best overseas pee-mail Josh and Jess and Ludo.

If you guys would like to send me you postal addresses I will get your prizes in the mail in two shakes of a bushy tail. You can email me at cowspotdog@mail.com

________________________________________________________

Now, as if I haven't had the best weekend ever already, this morning the mom, dad and I went to where dad works in Omaha which is called "the campus". It is very pretty, surrounded by big shady trees and there is a lake with lots of ducks and geese and swans and some of the BIGGEST fish ever!!!!! We have so many photos to share but we are going to have to spread them out over a few days.

Here is a picture of me in front of the building where my dad works when he is in town. And then here is dad and I as we walk down to the lake that is just behind the building he works in. Isn't it























the coolest that my dad has his own park to walk in whenever he wants to. We walked right around the outside of the lake until we came to the War Memorial and dad was not happy that they not lowered the flags to half mast. These is a wonderful bronze sculpture called 'homecoming'. We stopped and gave silent thanks to all the brave men and women (and doggies too) to have fought to keep us all safe. And then lastly you can see a picture of downtown Omaha. Normally my mom doesn't like to go down town as she doesn't like the traffic but it was almost empty today because of the holiday and is was just perfect. We also met some very nice people who said I was very 'regal' looking. I am not sure what they meant but I guess the bath I had yesterday must have impressed them - it sure didn't impress me !!!!

Now I know some of think I exaggerate occasionally - but check out this guy! Mom says this is a cat fish and it was about four foot long - there was no way I was going to chase this kitty-fish!!!! And there was lots of them of the lake this size!!

Dogervising my new deck

Phew.....have I had the busiest weekend. It all began on Friday when the Fed-Ex man came to the door with this huge huge parcel - for me!!!! It was a patio dog door panel that my dad had bought just for me. He loves me soooo much!!! Well of coarse then we realized it had like a 6 inch rise on it which meant stepping over that and then down to the first step outside our back door would have been over a one foot drop. After much discussion dad and I (okay mom had a few words to say too) decided we needed to build a little deck and new steps. So off they went to the hardware store to buy all the things we needed and then we got started. Now it has been very hot this weekend - in the high 80's so I had to do quite a bit of dogervising from inside - just barking instructions from my new dog door and watching to make sure everything was going to the specifications I had told dad.











Eventually though, I just had to come out for a closer inspection. Now I have never used a dog door before and it did take me a few go's to get the knack of it, but once mom showed me how to use my head to push it open and not my paw, it was very easy and now of coarse I am going in and out like it has been there forever. So here I am on the new deck and I no longer have to step down when I come out the door, which is very good as the old ones were very narrow. Of coarse dad had all his tools up here and I had double check he was doing everything right and measuring everything perfectly. I had, after all - worked VERY hard on making the plans for this new deck and steps. Then I thought I had better remind dad about being careful with that circular saw thing....it makes very strange noises and mom told I had to stay back while dad was using it as it was very dangerous.












I was a bit concerned about why dad would be be using something if it dangerous but he said it was okay and that he would be careful. I still gave him the the big safety lecture anyway. He then asked me if I thought the pole he was holding looked straight and I checked and said "yes dad ...it does". Dogervising is very serious work you know. Then dad asked me if I could find one of the big nail he had dropped....I looked around and saw it straight away. I turned and asked dad...."is this the one dad?" It was and he was very happy I found it for him and told me he didn't know what he would do without my help!!! We worked on into the afternoon and got half the railing done.....then it just got too hot as the sun started coming around this side of the house. We just have to put the railing on the bottom half next to the steps tomorrow and my new deck will be done. I think it is is looking pretty dogtastic already but dad wouldn't have been able to do it without me.

A Treasure Came Today!

I received the most wonderful gift in the mail today. It is a wedding fraktur handmade and designed by Debbie St. Germain of Woolen Sails. Debbie offered one of two patterns on the USAPRIM group on eBay to the members to do up as a needle punch or hooked piece and then she offered a prize once the challenge was finished. Now that's what I call winning twice...once with the patterns and second with this beautiful fraktur. The detail is so amazing and the frame is a rustic painted wood and looks beautiful on my barn red wall.

I hope to have this wonderful treasure passed down through the generations. If you get a chance be sure and stop over at her blog and see the many different types of handmade works of art she does. She does so many wonderful things.



Big Hugs to you Debbie. I just love the wedding fraktur!

Happy Trails...Ginger

Critters We Saw On Our Trip From Arizona To Idaho

Our Mom likes to say something is "cool as a moose". This fellow was upsome cool!!

We saw all kinds of critters on our journey from Arizona to North Idaho. Mommy actually got a few good photos of them along the way too. The Bull Moose in the pics is just getting his new antlers. They shed them in the Spring and start a whole new set. Who knows how large they will grow?! The Big Horn Sheep were right along side of the road and seemed quite unaffected by our barking at them. We are not very well behaved when we see new animals...we love to bark to let them know we see them. Both the moose and sheep were in Montana. The American Bison, also known as Buffalo, were in Wyoming. There are Bison here in N.Idaho too, at a ranch near the Canadian border. Maybe we'll get to bark at them sometime soon.

Now, for the surprise we got in Colorado. Mary's husband Jim bagged this 4 point buck (his name is Ralph) a few years ago and they decided to give it to us for our cabin!! Wasn't that a wonderful gift?? We are already used to Ralph hanging on the living room wall, so don't even bark at him. We save our barks for the live deer and moose that visit outside.

We will be here at our cabin at least until the end of November, so we'll post more photos as time goes by. Hope you have enjoyed the view!

Smooches from pooches,

Baby Rocket Dog & Hootie

We Were There, Now We Are Here!!

These are photos of Cousin Mary, her girl (bi-ped) Kayla, their llamas and their dog Loki. They live in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado(that's the photo of the snowy mountains). Loki is sick with inoperable cancer in his shoulder. He was such a nice calm boy you couldn't even tell he was sick, accept for his weight loss. His sister was very sweet too, but mommy didn't get any photos of her. Cousin Mare spins yarn out of their llama's fiber and she makes very cool things with it. She also has a business where she sells the fiber on line. The family take all three of their llamas hiking and they carry camping gear on their backs. They also win lots of awards at various shows that the family takes them to. We all (Mommy, Dad, Hootie & me) slept in Mary's son, Cody's room and he had lots of blue ribbons on his wall that their llamas had won. Cody's room was SO COOL!! He had a real goose hanging on his ceiling and his bed spread was made of camouflage material! He is a sophomore at University of Wyoming. The girl, Kayla, will be going there next year too. Good that her big brother is there, because she is very pretty and he can protect her!

Now, I gotta tell you about Hootie and the llamas. He seemed fine with them at first, but then I barked (just a friendly "hello" bark, mind you) and Hootie went wacko. Mommy put me inside and thought little Hootie would calm down, but he did not. Those llamas were as cool as cucumbers. Hootie's barking only made them act more regal. They stared at him like he was some kind of crazy nut!! ha ha. He was some kind of crazy nut!! In fact Hoot's barking made all the neighborhood dogs start to bark and it was about 7am on Sunday morning. Do you think the neighbors were glad to see us get out of Dodge??

It was a fun visit with Cousin Mary and Kayla. Maybe next time we'll get to see Cody and Cousin Jim and their hunting dog too. Oh, and Mary and Jim gave us a really neat surprise to take home to the cabin with us, but Mommy hasn't taken a photo of it yet, so we'll save that for our next post. Also there are a few photos of us at the hotel in Montana and us in the car. AND some really cool critters we saw along the way between Montana and the panhandle of Idaho.

Mom said if you want us to send you a picture postcard drop us a line with your mailing address at her email address: cassiejo@juno.com .Put "postcard" as the subject.We found out that it's fun to send post cards to our buddies. A new hobby!

Lots more later friends, Baby Rocket Dog

Here is an added Hootie and the Llamas bonus feature: