Happy 21st Benjamin!

Yep it's true, the baby boy is all grown up!

Ben spent the summer living in a tent completing an internship with the PA Game Commission, Forestry Department this year. He had a great time, thoroughly enjoying being out of doors 24/7...well except for in the thunder storms!

He spent his off duty time fishing, kayaking, hiking, reading, eating and sleeping. Not necessarily in that order or equal quanities. Some weekends he was able to come home to spend time with us and his sweetheart.

He heads back to his third year of college in a week. We sure are going to miss him. We are proud of you Ben! Happy Birthday!

Dogs on Thursday Post-Dusk Walk

Yes dusk walk, not duck walk, although when you are behind the pups and watch the basset waddle, if their tale was a little shorter....'nuff said ;-)

Seriously in the dog days of summer the hounds favorite time to walk is right before dark, still warm but not so blistering hot for them in their fur coats. And it's not all about the heat, no sirree! Right before dark is the best time to hunt!

Rabbits you say? No they leave that up to our cousin Miss MaggieMae! HoneyDew and Sampson our bonafide specialists in the cricket hunting arena! It is one of the funniest thing to watch. They will be walking along the road and suddenly the ears go forward and the pups bounce and pounce. HoneyDew will pick them up and carry them a few feet gingerly in her teeth, spit it out and bounce and pounce again!

Sampson hasn't quite perfected the maneuver yet as he sometimes ends up wearing one on top of his nose or on his head as they are mad to escape! Then you should see the movements and positions that I never knew a basset hound could get into to get the monster off his head!

And of course if the cricket chirps louder that just winds the pups up more. I know for a fact that HoneyDew actually ate at least one. I told her I better not find body parts in the house in the morning or no more dusk walks for her!

Of course I don't have any pictures as I only had the cell phone with me, as it was getting dark it didn't register a photo. I'll take my camera next time...it has video capabilities...then if I can just figure out how to get the video on here...

Now they are sleeping peacefully and looking all noncricketthreatening like...

Anyways Happy DOT's!

Dogs On Thursday Post

Well I know it's late but I am not going to miss posting for my favorite day! The pups are definitely worth blogging about!

I don't know about you, but one of my challenges is getting a collar, harness, etc. that my hounds cannot slip or chew off. For readers who are owners of other breeds and may not know, typically the neck of a basset is thicker then the head (actually the reverse would apply to them mentally, just kidding!)

Sampson he is great or maybe just a bit slow ;) but he hasn't figured out yet that if he really wants to he can slip that collar over those ears of his. And unfortunately he will chew a harness. It doesn't last a week. How to get him to stop this is beyond me.

Honey Dew of course figured out in her puppy hood how to slip her collar, which is why we went to harnesses. However, now she has discovered that if she moves her shoulders forward she can slip out of this too.

Luckily most of the time they are with me. This afternoon they were at home with my son and once again Dew was loose.

I don't like choke collars, because of the very name and it is not safe for them when they are on the run.

So if anyone has any suggestions out there that works for them, please feel free to leave a comment or two for me.

All Natural Stress Reliever...

A remnant from a by-gone era of when the trains were a common sight and sound through the hills and valleys in our area. Someone took this abandoned rail car and converted it to a cabin, although it must have been a while ago.

Now the old railway is part of the bike trail. Hubby and I decided that we were going to bike away the stress from our day. We loaded up the bikes, packed a snack of a couple of fresh"white" peaches and water, and away we went.

It was peaceful, quiet, the scents of the wild flowers and woods along the trail was wonderful. The river that runs along side was high and muddy but when we reached where Sandy Creek joins the river we stood on the bridge and watched large snapping turtles swim by, ducks, all kinds of fish, including one super huge catfish, and all kinds of birds.

I'm glad we were able to get out this evening as it already looks (despite the high temps this week) that summer is slipping away. Some of the leaves are already turning, blackberries are ripe for picking, and the sent of fall was in the air.

It was a wonderful evening ride and I recommend it to anyone. I'll bet we'll sleep tonight!

Look Mom, Ducks

Presenting Mr. and Mrs. Rick Jackman

August 5, 2009

Congratulations to Gwen and Rick!

My wedding wish for you:

May God bless and keep you. May your love grow stronger with each passing day. May each day be better, brighter, and happier then the day before. And some day, when you are old and gray, may you be filled with joy as you recount your memories and know that you have been blessed to have lived, loved, and laughed, together.

Random Pictures Of My Day

...At least the moments that I choose to dwell on!

First some yarn dyed with Queen Anne's Lace.

Flowers in a neighbors garden. Who says red, pink and purple don't go together?

Click on this one to really get the full effect! The flowers are gorgeous!

A single sunflower in all it's glory.

Zuchinni fresh from the garden.

And a Summer's night moon enjoyed from the front porch along with evening breezes. It almost looks like an eye looking back at us.

With an evening like this, it's off to sweet dream land for me. Have a good night, all!

Dogs on Thursday Post

The Many Faces of Dew...

Happy DOT's ya'll!

Good Morning!

A little reminder for the pups and I of our early morning walk that will cheer us all through the day in the office. Just thought we would share!

Dye Day

I had a great time on Saturday. Our monthly meeting of the Woolly Wonders Fiber guild met at members Dave and Patty's house for a day of dying our yarn, fleeces, or other items with natural dye derived from plants that are all around us everyday.

I tell you I have always admired what most people call weeds if they had a flower on them. But after Saturday I am looking at them in a whole new way. We had dye made from black walnut, queen anne's lace, jewel weed, sandalwood, yarrow, indigo, and some even made from female beetles (which I can't remember the name, but I was impressed!).

Here are some pics from the day. Let me apologize in advance for the quality as they were taken by cell phone. (Once again I forgot my camera, aaaarrrrrrggghhhhh.)



Dyeing pots.

This was a view from Dave and Patty's front porch.

Dave bringing out some more colors he had made up ahead of time.

Yarn and fibers soaking before dyeing.

Members enjoying lunch and the view during the break.

Yarns drying in the sun.

Look at all those different shades!


This is how mine turned out! The white up in the right corner, actually has a slight green tint to it. I think we had too much in the pot and the dye had been absorbed. I am going to re-do this yarn hopefully this week.

So much to absorb in a short period of time. In the meantime I am going to do some more research, it has definitely caught my interest!