Fine day for a romp...

The sun was shining, the temperature climbed to 80 degrees and it was absolutely lovely. A fine day to take the dogs for a romp in through the trees at the archery club. So we loaded up the hounds, stopped by Martino's deli where I had pre-ordered subs (inspired by my sister "C") so we could have a picnic supper on the deck of the old clubhouse. Everyone must have had the same idea as we coincidently ran into our friend and neighbor as well as archery club member, who made a drive-thru at McD's!

Denny Z and hubby solving all the problems of the world.

HoneyDew "checking" for crumbs!

I have to say, I was mighty proud of Sampson today. As we were walking through the trees, his sensitive nose caught a fascinating scent on the breeze. I looked to where his nose was pointing a saw a deer frozen, staring at us as we were walking the trail. Sampson started that way to give chase and see what this new interesting animal was, but as I told him sharply NO! LEAVE IT! UH UN UH!, he turned looked at me and trotted back to my side! Whew!

Sampson posing for a picture.

Sampson thinks the old bridge is fun to run back and forth across as his nails make nice clickity click sounds across the way, Miss Mary we will be calling to schedule another pawdicure appointment!

As usual HoneyDew would like to take the path less traveled.

If only trees could talk! I wonder what this old sentinal would have to say? Look at all the character, it reminds me of an old retired army general, battle scars and all.

Almost done. HoneyDew says, "What do you mean almost?"

In other doggy news, we welcome another member to our extended doggy family, introducing Starsky, my sister Rachel's Beagle mix puppy...

We can't wait to meet you in person, little guy! Welcome to the family!

Happy DOT's you'all,

Tina, HoneyDew and Sampson too!

Some people...

...never grow up!

And look! It's catching...

...as dear Hubby joins in the fun! He finally took a break from cleaning the leaves out of the back drainage ditch, you can see him at it, way in the background of the first picture, while I took a break from...

We are LOVING the spring weather!

A romp in the woods...and a birthday suprise!

The woods for Bassets, can be a real obstacle course, who needs agility classes when we have this?

Up, over, or under, and around logs...

Streams to ford across....or not!!!!

Help MOM, I am slipping!!!! What are you laughing at???? It's really not that funny!!!

And then home again to snore, snore, snore.

In other news, I received a birthday gift from my brother who has gotten the artistic gene, no pun intended! Isn't he talented...

Me with my two pals! Now I will always have them with me! Thank you very much Gene! Love you lots!

Happy DOT's!

Herb Class-Session I

Today I had the opportunity to attend an herb class at the Old Emlenton Mill in the quaint little town of Emlenton, PA. Here is a picture of the town today...

(picture by Ruhrfisch, and used with permission)

and the mill today...

(front)

(side)

 please click on the links for additional information and historical pictures of the town and Mill.
I love the old victorian houses that line the hills around the Allegheny River. As the class is a 4 part series, I hope to get some pictures of them in my next visit through.

The class itself was sponsored by AmeriCorps and instructed by Kathy Deible of  The Herb Shed in Knox, PA.

Kathy was a delightful speaker and very interested in what we all were interested in taking away from the class information wise. She brought lots of informative handouts, cuttings and seeds. The next few sessions will be more hands on in the use of herbs.

We started dill and chive seeds, and a cutting of citronela geranium. I will show some pictures of their growth later, should I get lucky and they do indeed grow!

As you can see we were all interested in the topic and were taking a number of notes!

You may have noticed in the first picture one of the signs on the Old Mill was one for antigues. Well Kathie Z and I are forever finding little places like this that we obviously can't pass up, tee hee, and this is what I found...

I love the tatting and embroidery work on this set of pillow cases and I really did hear them say: "You simply must take us home, we go so well with your grandmother's quilt!" Ok, so maybe that part was really just me, lol!

The day inspired me to get out and work in my herb and flower beds, get the old cut away and see what if anything is coming up... maybe tomorrow...

Nothing like sunshine...

warm temperatures and the lack of electricity to encourage one to get outside and enjoy the day. We were notified by Penelec that our electricity would be out from 9AM to 2 PM today due to upgrades. Since I couldn't really do anything in the house and because it was so nice out, I loaded up my two best pals and took my camera too.

An old covered bridge.

Look at all the green!

Someone else taking advantage of the nice weather.

Old Caboose number one...

number two...

as it appeared this caboose had been or could possibly still be occupied as evidenced by the remains of the snakeskin on the floor, (rattlesnake or blacksnake still equates to BIG snake) glad to have missed you, I am gone!

Signs of spring!

The pups wrestling and playing chase in the sunshine.

Sampson was still barking in this one but click on the photo to see the slobber wrapped up over his nose!

HoneyDews typical response when she is not ready to go home, selective hearing and passive aggressive "see if you can move me from here" stance. Click on the picture and you can see her waayyyyy back there.

I made it home in time to make pizza from scratch for dinner. This one is a "natural" pizza... no tomato sauce but rather the dough brushed with olive oil, then layered with fresh sliced vine ripened tomatoes, italian seasonings, chopped cauliflower, diced onions, sliced black olives, mushrooms, Mozzarella cheese, and on hubbys' half sausage. It was delicious and very filling. One slice filled me up!

If you would like to see additional photos of the covered bridge and abandoned cabooses please go here.

A puppy playdate...

HoneyDew and Sampson are two of the most social pups I have ever met. They love to meet people and absolutely love getting together with other dogs.

Last week they were invited over to play with their friends Rex (a mixed breed who has the most beautiful ears and a plume of a tail),

Wolfe (a Yorkie)

and a new friend Lily (a beagle).

While we all had a wonderful time, HoneyDew and I think that Sampson is smitten with Lily because where ever Lily went Sampson was sure to follow:

Treat time...

Did someone say treat? I don't have to get up for it do I?

Of course not Dew, Auntie Birta will bring it to you!

They were in and out of the house all day and finally wore themselves out...

Can you find all the pups?

My apologies for the quality of the pics as five dogs in a house makes for fast moving targets and lots of blurs!

Happy DOT!

Out in the Snow again...

Everyone was stir crazy today after another week of being indoors other then runs to the chicken coop or the occasional run into town. You know you are a basset slave when the dogs whine when they get close to McDonalds and so you pull in, buy them a hamburger and nothing for yourself!

So today, hubby and I decided to go to Oil Creek to get some snow pictures (like I haven't taken enough this winter!) and get the pups out for an off lead run.

Normally the park's parking lot is plowed and sometimes there is at least one trail that has had some traffic in which the snow has been packed down. Today, that was not the case so the pups were going to have to wait a little longer for their run.

I spotted this so my hubby pulled over and let me jump out and snap some pics off the bridge while he pulled on up off the road.

Yes the snow was still coming down so it was really hard to get a clear picture, but I was happy none the less.

Love the naked trunks of the Sycamore Trees in the winter.

Oil Creek didn't freeze completely this year but you can still see the ice build up along the edges.

The water is so clear you can actually see the fish. Probably why the Eagle was hanging about!

We decided to take the dogs to the archery club and let them run there;

HoneyDew was so excited she decided to take a short cut...big mistake!

Sampson was running so fast he almost looked like his feet weren't touching the ground.

HoneyDew considered another off road experience but quickly changed her mind!

Sampson is impatiently waiting for hubby to get off the path...

...just enough room and gone!

One last shot of the winter wonderland for today. Winter you are pretty, but I won't miss you when you are gone!