Barclay and Jack were playing hard the other evening, and what great expressions they get on their faces. They look so fierce! If you didn’t know they were playing you’d think they were trying to kill each other! It’s just great to see them playing, they are best buddies 🙂
Last year…
This year…Poor Barclay! He’s such a hot dog anyway, and he’s got a lot more fluff this year! He loves to sleep behind the toilet pressed up against the cool porcelain, or stretched out over a cooling vent!
Occasionally I see stray dogs, and usually I can’t help them. Mostly because it is inconvenient at that particular moment – I’m on my way somewhere I need to be, I already have a dog with me and don’t want to risk picking up a stray dog, or there’s no room for a strange bouncy dog in the car. And I always feel a little bad because if one of my dogs got lost I hope someone would help them get home. But today two stray dogs gave me no choice – they walked right into our store and behind the counter and made themselves at home!
I was sitting at the store and a cocker spaniel and a dachshund trotted in like they were just stopping by to have a look around. They came behind the counter and I offered them some water out of Barclay’s bowl, and they lapped it up while I put up the gate to keep them back there. Hey, we were on an adventure here! Let us go!
Only one of them had a collar, and I called the number and left a message. I looked up the address and it was a ways north of town, looks like they walked a couple miles! The cocker was a girl and the weiner dog was an unfixed boy, and he only had one thing on his mind so I had to keep telling him to cut that out! Dude, you’re in public!
They hung out here for a while, and seemed like very nice dogs, but after a while they started to get restless, so I called the local vet down the street. They looked up the number and said the dog had been a patient, but not for a long time. They suggested I try the other vet in town. So I called them and they said the same thing, but they also said that they are the humane society shelter for our town. So they suggested I call the cops (who get to act as animal control) and they will give them a ride over.
So I called the cops and gave them the info, and a little while later two nice officers showed up and they had already investigated it a bit and knew the dogs names (Jin Ju and Hershey) and where they lived, and were going to take them home. So a happy ending for all, and I finally had a chance to help out a couple of lost dogs (even if they didn’t seem to think they needed help, they looked like they were having a great time!)
Every year our friends with Airstream trailers get together for a campout at Trout Lake. There’s no lake at Trout Lake, but there is a mountain, and a river running behind the campground. It is our top secret hideaway. I think it is paradise, the most beautiful place on Earth! Fields of grass lead up to miles of national forest land and wilderness area, all the way to the slopes of Mt Adams.
23 trailers and motorhomes gathered at camp. We weren’t going to go, but friends sent pictures of what it looked like there (we’ve been several times, so we already knew it was beautiful!) and emailed us to get our butts in the car and get up there! It’s only two hours away, and a very relaxed and pleasant drive. So we closed the store early on Sunday and drove over in time for dinner.
No point roughing it, so we hooked up the airstream and took it along. It’s nice to have a comfy bed and your own bathroom.
Barclay waded around in the water. We left Alki and Jack at home. Neither enjoys car rides anymore, and they could keep each other company.
Folks gathered around the campfire after dinner and played music until well into the night.
Hank appointed himself guardian of the marshmallows.
Dave and Barclay went to bed earlier than I did. Barclay had been playing with all the other dogs and was pretty tapped out by dark! I stayed up til 1am laughing and telling stories around the campfire.
Early in the morning Barclay had burrowed under the covers and kept our feet warm.
In the morning we packed up and hit the road home in time to open the store on Monday. Can’t wait to go back again, there’s never enough time to spend relaxing with friends around the campfire. Glad we got to escape for a little bit.
Jack is finding it hard to adjust to the invaders in the pasture. I’m hoping he’ll get used to them soon, as you can hear below!
The turkeys survived their first day. Last night when I went to check on them before bed one was laying on it’s side and didn’t look good at all! I picked it up and saw it’s butt was ‘pasted up’ with dried poo. So I tucked it under my shirt and took it inside and washed the poop off with a warm wet tissue, then took it back out to the brooder. I didn’t think it would make it, but sure enough this morning everyone was walking around eating and drinking, and I couldn’t even tell which one was so miserable last night.
Today was the 4H llama area show, and afterwards I invited our club leader to bring the club llamas and drop them off in our pasture for a few weeks. We have lots of grass for them to eat, and her pasture is getting a little tired after being grazed all winter. So now we have six llamas, well four llamas and two alpacas actually. Jack went nuts when he saw them, baying and barking LOUD and non-stop like we’d been invaded! Barclay wanted to go play with them, but I wouldn’t let him. He doesn’t know not all llamas want to play with him like Houdini did, these llamas might just trample him!
Lastly, Mighty took a moment to pose for me in front of the spring flowers, and the orange sunset light seemed to make her glow! Pretty Kitty!
Barclay and Jack happily share the front window lookout post.
Barclay and Jack are still having a great time playing together. It’s great for us too, Barclay has been much better behaved with Jack to help wear him out. Jack seems to enjoy it and eggs it on. We end up with TWO happy, tired dogs!
Mighty, Barclay, and Jack in the backyardI took the boys for what I thought was an easy walk at the park yesterday, but after we got home Jack was miserable and uncomfortable, and just laid on the floor quivering for a while. He recovered and was normal this morning, though a bit subdued. He still wanted to play tug with Barclay out in the yard, and now they are all crashed for a nap. I was really worried about him last night. I think maybe he just got a bit too much of a workout. I forget that he does have a lot of weight to work off, and since he plays so hard with Barclay, he seems like he’s in good shape. So today I’m going to just let him rest and next week we’ll visit the vet for a checkup.
Steff Does Stuff! 