Finally, Kayaking again...

Well, today we finally, finally got to go off kayaking again. BUT, there were storms brewing, and Mom checked the radar before we left and determined we had about two hours before they hit us.
Of course, she forgot a few key points. First of all, she and Julia didn't have lunch so they stopped at a local deli for sandwiches. It was one in the afternoon on Sunday, no less, so there were a ton of people there. It took FOREVER! Second, she forgot to calculate the difference between our house and the pond, which is 30 minutes WEST of our house...storms around here almost always come from the West! Finally, since we haven't been kayaking in forever, it took them MUCH longer to get the kayaks on the car. The racks weren't even ON the car, they had to put them up first, then find the kayak straps, and all that. It didn't help that one lifter is broken and wouldn't stay down so they had to wire it to the gas cap. All this took TIME!
When we got to the pond it was kinda cool and sort of misting. Not to worry, off we went. I went with Mom and Julia took Toto and Ali. She decided they needed to sit on the cowl like Barney does, so that took forever, too!
As soon as we made the turn at the first bend I knew we were in trouble. Suddenly, there were WAVES on our pond, and big, huge drops of ice cold rain. Mom checked her radar screen again...Oops, those storms were now right over our heads!!!
Of course, Mom still had her sleeveless shirt on, and she was FREEZING, now. COLD and WET! Toto was cold and wet, too since he had fallen into the pond from his perch on the cowl...THREE TIMES!!!!
Sooo, back to shore we went. We all climbed into the car and headed back home. We did make a stop at the ice cream place, but since all us dogs were wet Julia made us ride in the crate so we didn't get any ice cream!!! Does not seem fair, huh?
Of course, once we got home the storm had blown over and it was pretty warm and just cloudy. AND, I didn't even get any photos of ME cuz it was too dark and stormy. BOOO!
It reminded me of the weather when we go camping!!!! Which reminds me, just ONE MORE weekend to go by and then we are going!!!! We have decided it will be ME and Toto and maybe Harvey or maybe Ali. Julia is NOT going...something about a party she HAS to go to??? I can't wait for camping!!!

CAMPING!!!!!

Yesterday Skye came to visit with us, in fact, she even spent the whole night! Anyway, Skye was chatting with Mom about a camping trip. Mom agreed it would be a nice idea, especially since we didn't go ALL last year, except overnight in the lab pen, which certainly DOES NOT COUNT in my book!!!
Mom told Skye to pick a date, she did, and Mom immediately sat down at the computer and reserved a site for us. The date isn't until the LAST weekend in June, yet NONE of the nice sites we wanted were still available, we ended up with one up on a hill near some other ones. Oh well, it is also near the BEST pond in terms of tons of wildlife and I am sure Mom and Skye will get up early and let us see them!
I suggested we also ask Julia to go with us so Mom did. She isn't sure she wants to go, silly girl!! I will have to have a talk with her in person, I guess.
Meanwhile, I will surely have to be on my bestest behavior so I will be included!! Of course, Skye will want Toto, and Julia will probably want him, too! Maybe either Ali or Barney will go??? Fortunately, we have THREE kayaks so that won't be a problem, and our new tent is plenty big enough for all of them and us!
Stay tuned for more information!!!!

Finally, new photos!

Today Mom got out of work early. She had two choices...a dirty house OR a lovely, late Spring sunny, warm, breezy day. Fortunately for us, she chose the latter!!!
So, off we went down to the lab pen. We ran, we played, we rolled, we even ate some chickie poops AND some grass. Mom took lots of photos, and we posed for her. Surprisingly, Riley and/or Barney didn't even try to start something with me!!!
When we got back to the house Mom made another smart choice and worked in the gardens instead of cleaned the house. Good thing cuz now the whole sky is cloudy and they are saying THREE days of rain are coming our way. Wow!
Mom has/had a nice garden in front of the kennel. But, a few years ago someone brought her a whole truck load of cow manure for it. Without thinking, Mom spread it all over the garden. The Spring bulbs are absolutely beautiful, the poppies and lupine are nice, and it's all down hill from there!
Late Spring and suddenly tons and tons of witch grass sprout from all the hay seeds in the manure. Sadly, Mom never did get ahead of them so now the ground is like a whole web of grass roots. Last Summer Mom tried to spray some of that super weed killer stuff, you know, the one that "corrals" the weeds. Well, it killed her peonies, some rose bushes and lots of other flowering plants but the witch grass lives on!
This year she has a new plan... she is pulling up all that she can, and immediately planting lots and lots of annuals in place of the grass...hopefully they will choke out the witch grass roots???
Frankly, I think she is dreaming, but she is sure getting a ton of exercise, BOL!
Where do I fit into this plan, you ask?? MY job is to sit in Jenny's watch chair and cheer her on!!! Today she cheated...I spied Laurie out pulling weeds while Momsie was inside grooming dogs!! Oh well, they made enough room for THREE whole packages of flower seeds! Hopefully the rain coming will sprout them and not wash them all away and they will smother the witch grass and I can have some nice Summer photos posing with the posies!!!
Sadly, Mom is an old Vermont Farmer's daughter... she KNOWS the witch grass always wins!!!

Black Flies, Northern New England's Spring Curse!

"In the wetter parts of the northern latitudes of North America, including parts of Canada, New England, Minnesota, and the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, black fly populations swell from late April to July, becoming a nuisance to humans engaging in common outdoor activities, such as gardening, boating, camping, and backpacking." from Wikipedia.
They forgot to mention becoming a nuisance to any and all DOGS who must venture outside to do their duty!!! Trust me, these little blood suckers ARE more than a nuisance!!! I swear, each time Mom puts me outside I am in need of a blood transfusion when I get back into the house!!
To those of you who have never experienced these little beasts, I hope you never have to!!! They go for the soft, hairless parts of your body...the parts that REALLY hurt when bitten. After the immediate burning pain the itching begins and the bitten area swells and takes on a bulls eye appearance. This, as well as the itching, lasts for several days. If the pain and itching don't get you their incessant flying around your face and getting into your eyes and mouth will. There are literally thousands of them forming packs and flying into your face...I can't tell you how many I have swallowed. Good news, they DON'T bite the inside of your mouth OR the inside of your stomach, BOL!
A few positive facts about black flies. They bite mostly in the daytime so it IS safe to venture outside after dark, assuming you don't mind the mosquito bites that is! Better yet, as soon as it gets hotter and dryer, usually after few days in the upper 89's, they all die off and the outdoors is safe once more. If you are kayaking or canoeing it IS safe on the water as long as you don't get within ten or fifteen feet of shore. Of course, getting the kayaks on and off the car and into the water is a bear!!!
Black and dark colored dogs suffer the most bites due to their being warmer as their dark color absorbs the heat of the sun more than us lighter colored dogs, unlike ticks, who go for the white and light colors first. We all feel sorriest for the brindle Frenchies around here... those BLACK, erect ears are like magnets to the little buggers.
Right now we are enjoying the comforts of the INSIDE of the house. Poor Mom went down to the fishie pond to feed the fish after work and she ended up feeding the black flies as well! Now she has to stop helping me type this so she can scratch the many bites she has!!
I forgot to mention, ONLY the females bite...figures, huh????

Summer has left the building!!!

Yesterday morning it was HOT and very, very humid. Mom had to dig out all the AC's cuz our whole house was wet and yucky. But, if you don't like the weather in NH, just wait a minute and it will change.
Sure enough, as the day wore on the wind picked up and pretty soon it was down right cold outside.
Mom was mowing the lawn and she started with shorts and a sleeveless shirt and ended up with long pants, wool socks and a fleece jacket over a turtleneck! But, the sun was out and it was pretty, at least.
After supper last night Mom took us down into the lab pen. It was now CRISP and dry, and we all had a great time down there in the cool, Fall air. The lawn was freshly mowed, and Mom noted those chickies are really doing a GREAT job of fertilizing that lawn...it is really DARK green and lush!
This morning I was reluctant to hop out from under the covers... it was 56 INSIDE our house...first I thought Momsie had left the AC's on, but then I glanced outside and noticed how Fall like it was.
OMD, I must have slept thru the entire SUMMER!!!!!!!!!

It got BETTER!!!

Well, we didn't go camping because Mom pointed out that it is STILL only the first week of May and the nights get VERY cold. Instead, Julia stayed overnight so we could go out canoeing early today.
Yesterday we took the kayaks out again...Toto had to stay home cuz he was hurt, but I got to go and Julia took Barney. She wanted to take Quincy in the canoe but Mom convinced her it was better to wait until the water warms up a bit because he is likely to dump everyone into the water, BOL!! Julia seems to think he will remember how to be good from his trips last Fall. I wouldn't count on it, hehehe!
Today we did take the canoe. I like that better I think cuz we sit straighter up and I can see right into the water and even count the fishies we go by. Better yet, the canoe is so big that I can lie down anywhere and take a comfy nap if the spirit moves me. Mom has some nice kennel matts that she takes along for us to lie on.
We saw lots and lots of turtles today... not much else cuz it was too early in the day, but the turtles were nice. I want it to hurry up and stay light later at night so I can see some of the beavers!!! I like those guys!
Now I am resting in my bed, waiting for it to get dark enough to go to sleep. It was a LONG weekend!

Can it get any better????

Well, as you can see by our photos, we had a wonderful first kayaking trip last night. It was pretty warm, well, it was HOT, and even the water felt warmer than usual for May 1st. There wasn't much vegetation since they still haven't fixed the dam yet from the Hurricane, but at least most of the silt and mud got washed away during the Winter.
There were a TON of different birds and mammals there but Toto tells about them in his diary so I won't bother. That bear was a little scary, though. I told Mom I smelled him last year but she didn't listen. She did say she thought we were pretty darn safe out in the middle of a pond, BOL!
We went all the way around the pond, then we headed back to shore. Mom's friend was up there on his walk, so they had to chat about all the ducks and geese and ospreys and bears and bobcats, but finally after Julia caught some frog eggs for Mom's pond, we headed off to the ice cream cone place. I was SHOCKED...it was STILL CLOSED for the Winter!!!
Anyway, on the way home Momsie and Julia decided they would go camping this weekend. Since it IS still early they are going down in our lab pen again so that means us dogs can ALL go with them. I can't WAIT!!!
Hopefully, Jethro won't be attending with us because he can't seem to hold his poop... he pooped in the car going up to the pond and it was NASTY. I can't imagine trying to sleep in a closed up tent with that!!!
Hey, maybe Mom can bring his crate with us...that'll work, I'm sure!
Anyway, everyone help us by wishing for the nice, warm weather to stay all weekend so we can go CAMPING!!!!!! I can't wait...I LOVE Summer best of all!!!

Being called lazy worked!!!

Hmmm, me writing about Mom being too lazy to groom me AND take some new photos with the flowers certainly must have worked. First thing this morning she took me over to work and Tonya gave me a nice bath, then Mom gave me a groom...I am not calling it nice, BUT, I won't be too hot in the Summer weather we're having.
So, as promised, after work I agreed to go along with Momsie and pose with the posies. It was HARD work since the sun was setting and was in a direct line right to my eyes!!! I had to sit that way cuz the posies were all facing that sun.
Trust me, Mom took many, many more flower shots... she must have at least five or more different kinds of daffodils. IMO, you've seen one, you've seen them all, BOL! I did like some tiny yellow ones cuz they smelled REALLY nice, but that photo wasn't too good so...
After all the photos we stopped in the shed to get the kayaks cuz I AM GOING KAYAKING TOMORROW AFTER WORK!!!! It will be the first time this season, so we had to drag all the kayaks and the canoe up to the front yard. Since I was already down there with Mom, of course I had to ride along on the tractor while she pulled the first one up. It was a little scary, I actually though Mom had forgotten how to drive the tractor!!!
Fortunately, she put me in the house before she dragged the rest of them up. There was a bit of a panic when Mom couldn't find all the straps and stuff to tie the kayaks onto the car but finally she remembered where she put them. WHEW!
Now I gotta go rest up so I won't be tired when I GO OUT KAYAKING FOR THE FIRST TIME THIS SEASON TOMORROW AFTERNOON!!!!

My Mom is Lazy!!

Anybody notice my beautiful Spring flower photos?? I think not, mostly due to the fact that Momsie just renumbered last year's photos instead of took some fresh, new ones!! Why would she do this, you might ask?
Well, IMO, Mom did this because she is LAZY!!! She just didn't want to bother to take me down to the garden and take the photos. I am extremely well trained...she only has to tell me to stay once and I will sit there forever until she gets the perfect exposure.
It is kind of sad, since our Spring bulbs are the prettiest they have EVER been this year. There are MORE flowers than leaves on the daffodils, the Lenten roses are nearly TWO FEET tall, and those little used hyacinths are packed with flowers up and down EACH stalk, and some of them even have TWO stalks. In case you were wondering why I called them used it's because Mom forces them for Christmas flowers, then plants the bulbs out in the Spring. By the second year they are all back to PERFECT again!
And, that silly Scillia has spread its pretty blue flowers all thru BOTH the pond garden and the kennel garden. I love that stuff... blue flowers are my favorite and there are far too few blue flowers in nature, IMO.
Anyhow, I am sorry you have to look at USED photos... I will keep trying to get Mom to take me out for some new ones. She did mention that I need a fresh groom if I am going to show off the flowers... I must admit, I am pretty scruffy right now, BOL!

Diary Pick a day late!!!

Oops, I was a diary pick YESTERDAY, but I couldn't convince Mom to update my diary until today, imagine that!!! She said she was "busy". Is there ANYTHING more important than my news, I ask??
At any rate, I did enjoy my day and I especially enjoyed the gifts and well wishes from all my pals here on Dogster.
In fact, I was so happy I lorded it over the others. In fact, I was lording it over Barney and Riley so much yesterday morning that I found myself sitting inside with Toto for the rest of the day.
Toto, as you may know, has to stay inside now when the girls are outside because he seems to have a licking disease. I have NO diseases, but I was stuck inside anyway. Not fair!
Actually, it turned out okay, in spite of my complaining. The weather yesterday was pretty chilly and WINDY. It was nice and toasty in the house, especially in my toasty dog bed.
Now, today, I did manage to be left outside, which was FABULOUS! It got all the way up to 75 degrees, and there was a nice breeze to go along with those warmer temps. I was hoping Mom would drag the kayaks out, especially since today was her get out early day.
But, she said she had to clean the house since there were two dogs inside all day yesterday and they made a real mess. Something about chewed up pieces of toys all over the place.
I know NOTHING about that... would have gotten away with it, too, if it hadn't been for that piece of dog toy stuffing stuck in my teeth, BOL!!!