Little Miss Sunshine, aka Sunny, with her birthday treat. See, we had a Doggy Birthday party yesterday. Margaret and Adrian's pup turned one, along with her sibling which belongs to a friend, so the friend (Zech), and his pup Winston were invited too. So we had Bunny, Ham, Winston, Suri, and Sunny, running around and playing. We got them a doggy pool, which kept them wet and happy. (Sorry I didn't get pics of Bunny, Ham, or Winston, but Winston looks like Suri. They are Boxadors)
Suri with her treat. Suri doesn't take any garbage from the other dogs. She is calm and people-oriented, and when they jump on her or try to get some play going, she just ignores them, and if that doesn't work, she gives them a little growl, lets them know she is NOT playing. She just doesn't get all crazy like that, but Sunny, oh she had fun with her doggy friends. They mostly stayed in the yard, and weren't any trouble. Ham, one of the one year olds, jumped right into the swimming pool while the boys were swimming. :)
Yesterday morning, I heard a knocking and thought one of the dogs was jumping up on the new door, so I hurried into the kitchen, and this is who was knocking:
A partridge! (also known as Ruffed Grouse). This poor bird was lost and confused, seeing it's reflection, perhaps, or just trying to come in and visit me. As I took pictures, Paul, who was outside, came up onto the deck with the dogs, just Suri and Sunny, as the dog party was hours away...and oh dear, those dogs saw that bird, and the chase was on. They hightailed it off the deck, dove into the thicket, and Sunny came out with that bird...I felt bad, because I told them, "Go get it!", not realizing that they would indeed, "Get it." When I saw it all dead, I was almost in tears, that bird was so cute and fuzzy. But Labrador Retrievers are good bird dogs, and they were pretty proud of themselves. So, Paul, not wanting to waste a good partridge, well, he had partridge breast for dinner. He really did.
It's hot hot hot here today, soaring into the nineties (like 34c), but also really humid. The humidity makes one simply melt into a pool of sweat. You cannot cool down. And we don't have air conditioning except for in our room, which we only turn on at night when it's really hot, but guess where I am right now...? Yes. I am sitting in bed with the a.c. cranking. I should be out going on my walk, but it's already so hot, I think I'll get my exercise in the pool today, instead.
We've been planning our camping trip, three days in tents. We have three campsites, and lots of the family is going. Two of the sites are right on the water (Cranberry Lake in the Adirondacks), so we're bringing the kayaks. I'm trying to meal plan and see if we have enough air mattresses. I have a nice one, shh, I bought it for $38 dollars, marked down, I couldn't decide, it seemed SO extravagant...then I thought, well, that's only a little over ten bucks a night to be comfy. It's a double high one, but...it has to be plugged in to inflate. Jon says we have an outlet in the minivan, so I'll be all set to keep the van running and plug it in, I hope it works. I hate to be the princess and the pea, but I'm a big girl, and ever since we decided to tent camp this year, I've been dreading the sleeping part.
Lydia is here, she spent the night, and is sleeping in Evelyn's room. Her mama has to report to work so early in the morning for a 12 hour shift, it's nice if Lyd spends the night, so she doesn't need to be awakened so early.
Samuel is coming on Friday night, for a week! He is in the Army Reserves, and has a week long training session next week...he is also starting college in a few weeks.
So we had quite the party yesterday. There were 24 of us here, plus the five doggies. We had pulled pork, nice fresh rolls which I didn't have, pasta salad which I only tasted, and watermelon. The watermelon was just right, oh so summery and juicy. We had lots of drinks in the cooler, mostly flavored seltzers and water, a few diet Cokes, and some regular Cokes, as a treat for the teenagers. It was indeed a celebration, not just dogs' birthdays, but just being outside, having the pool open, bare feet...
Summer needs to slow down. In a few weeks, Evelyn will be leaving for Switzerland, Kathryn starting college, Suzanne and Sonja will be going back to school, we'll start up our schooling again, and wah...everyone will be busy and gone and summer will be over. But for now, we are going to enjoy every minute. Today, we are all invited to our friend Karen's pool...she has a diving board,:), and it's so nice to go spend time with her...
2 comments:
Poor little bird, didn't deserve to die at the mouths of well
fed dogs. so sad.
I know, nature is a sad beast sometimes. They also stepped where a yellow jacket nest was in the ground, and got some horrible stings, but it did alert us to the nest so we could spray there. It was right near the raspberry bushes, I'm thankful none of us stepped on it.
Labs ARE bird dogs, by nature. I really thought they would go rummaging around the bushes and come out stumped, and was shocked when Sunny came out with the grouse. They're hunting dogs, as well as excellent family pets, bred to "retrieve", and she did that very gently, brought it to Paul, who was as surprised as I was. I think it was good that Paul at least didn't let it go completely to waste, and yeah, nature is a sad beast. (If we ever had chickens or a pig, we would name them and keep them forever, I know this.)
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