A dog's mind

As most of you know we have had Jenny with us the last week and I have commented that she is definitely showing her age of 14. Well, yesterday Wood's grandson, Knox, came over for a visit and I don't know what passed between the two of them but they instantly became the best of friends. Jenny was racing him around the yard and they both almost tripped over each other flying around the deck in the back and leaping off onto the grass. They explored the hill and actually raced (!) up and down the driveway. You should have seen that old woman dog haul her hinie up that hill! So I was thinking.... I wonder what goes on in the mind of a dog... and I wonder how much her actions and activities are really subject to our preconceived notions of what an old dog should be like. I mean she has actually looked at us expectantly when she wanted to jump up in the chair we have set up for her to sleep in like she wanted us to pick her up and tuck her in!!!! Boy was she playing us for every little bit of extra attention and help she could. Knox had no idea that she doesn't see well and can't really hear and when we told him so, he said "I'm going to have to talk to Bryan about that". So much for my credibility :-)

Isaiah's bday day 3

Isaiah climbed up on this turtle all by himself and thought he was king of the world!!! He just took off once he was inside this playground enclosure and explored and climbed with confidence. The only thing he needed help with was climbing out of a boat. He loved turning this wheel faster and faster and faster. On a not so cool note, I started feeling sick on the plane on the way home and have had a bad cold perhaps turning into bronchitis ever since. Sure hope I didn't give it to the Budds. We have Jenny this week and you can definitely tell she is old now. She doesn't run all the way up the hill like she was want to do just a couple of months ago, and she can't seem to hear at all unless I clap or knock on the door, whistling and calling her name just doesn't get any response. The good news....after getting enough hair off of her the last couple of days to knit sweaters for the entire family, she seems to be shedding less. But then again maybe it is the cold snap we are having and the snow (!) we got last night that is making her hold on to it a little more tightly. She sleeps a fair amount and after noticing that she was eyeing her blanket bed that we had left in the garage because she NEVER sleeps on it when she is here, I brought it in early Friday morning and she spent the entire day sleeping on it! Such a fickle woman she is :-). Ever the man's dog, she was quite delighted to see Wood roll back into town late last night and I am sure will not leave his side for the next week. :-) An event that will delight him to no end. He oh so wants our own dog. Played a trick on Wood last night. He ordered some really fancy new leather cases for our new BB's and I was pretty sure that was what was in the box that arrived yesterday afternoon. So I carefully opened the bottom of the box, took one of them out of its individual box and tried it out on my BB ... oh so gorgeous. Then I placed the empty cellophane sealed neatly back in the box that that case came in and tucked it back in the box, put the mostly empty box back in the shipping box with the other unopened BB box and resealed the bottom. Wood arrived from the airport about midnight and I knew he would see the box I had blatantly placed on the counter next to his mail. He climbs into bed and talks of his day and then after about 15 minutes asks if the box on the counter could be our new cases. I say I don't know but I think so why doesn't he bring it in here and open it up. Well he doesn't bring it in to the bedroom but opens it up in the living room and then starts yelling that he can't believe they packed an empty box ( you have to understand that a day spent traveling home does not usually put either of us in the most patient and understanding of moods). He returns to the bedroom shows me the new case and offers it to me, gentleman that he is, admiring its beauty and disgustingly says he guess he will have to call the company first thing in the morning (you also have to realize that we have been waiting for these cases for two weeks and Wood is Mr. Gadget, especially Mr. Leather gadget himself, so giving up the case for a possible two more weeks was a huge sacrifice, yet done without even a blink of an eye). Okay you know I can't keep a secret for very long so had to tell him my case was very neatly holding my BB and took it out of my purse to show him. Chuckling he said , well don't you think you're pretty smart getting me like that... hmmm payback will be fun. Oh oh, I think I have opened a can of worms. :-)

Isaiah's bday day 2

As Sarah mentioned we went to OMSI on Sunday. We all loved it! Isaiah was the collector of balls at this table. See he has all three next to him. Ellen and I had a great time playing at this getting water to the community exhibit. This hooded Cameleon and I had quite a nice chat Ellen loves computers and kept running to each new one to try out the task at hand Sally and Lightning McQueen accompanied Isaiah most of the weekend. He discovered this dinosaur that was shining on the floor and had a wonderful time dancing with it and exploring.

Isaiah's 2nd bday

I received a wonderful greeting at the airport. The kids are always excited to get the luggage... a feeling I try desperately to emulate... The cars were a real hit with Isaiah! I just loved watching how carefully he would line them up. There were two in either his hands or his pockets most of the time. Notice Mater in his pocket. Got him some cargo shorts with lots of pockets for the cars. A little too big and too cold to wear right now, but I have a feeling they will come in handy in a couple of months. Dave and Isaiah had a great time discussing the line up. Dave built a great track with the present from Lulu and Pasta and Isaiah had the best time lining up his trains and cars and very carefully pushing them around. No crashing please!!!! Such a look on his face when someone actually had the nerve to either move his carefully aligned cars or heaven forbid CRASH them. Well actually he and Ellen got into a little crashing, but mostly it was the very intent lining them up and pushing them either through the tunnels or over the bridges. The cake really was good, I was amazed at the professional like results! But I think you can tell that his hands and face have already been wiped off once and we still see a somewhat gray like track still remaining. Didn't stick around long though, everyone was clean and stain free by the time they left the kitchen.

Wood's wonderful week

Wood was reunited with a long lost best buddy from his Airforce days and they both got tattoos. It was like time had never past for these two pals separated for 30 years. Such reminiscing. Wood, Brian and Allison at Amicolola falls. I got to see a water snake :-) And some gorgeous periwinkles!

Finally the trail is OPEN!!!

Finally the long awaited reopening of my favorite trail. It is about 4 miles of gravel and supposed to be a mountain bike trail, but there are plenty of hikers and joggers out there as well. It isn't as hilly as the trails on the other side of the road but it sure does seem a lot longer than 4 miles! Most of the trail skirts the lake so it is really gorgeous. The trail was closed so the Army corps of engineers could rape... excuse me I mean harvest, the trees so it could be reforested with longleaf pine for ecosystem management. Sounds good and the pictures of the future are promising and I am all about reforestation but in the mean time my wonderful lake and forest looks very sorry indeed. While wandering on the trail we noticed this little pine tree leanto that someone had built looks like to live in for a while. Kind of Gilligan's Island looking if you ask me. Ok... it is really hard to see but a third of the way from the bottom and just left of center is the very first tiger swallow tail of the year. I was soooooooo excited to see him and just waited and waited for him to quit fluttering around and land somewhere. the view that the houses from the other side of Waterside have. If the land wasn't so expensive and you didn't have to build a house that is twice as big as what I want.... I'd be over there in a minute. I LOVE my lake and forest. I get so excited every time we cross the bridge from our house to the state park because I know there are just so many new things to see (and yes, we do talk about how high the lake is and if it is back up to normal yet... I am forever monitoring water height). Today there were more trees bursting forth with leaves, the dogwoods were starting to bloom and whatever the lilac trees are were all over the place. I took several deep deep breathes of spring and beauty. I LOVE spring green. Hmm one little snag ... it was 80+ degrees today... about 20 degrees above normal. Sure hope we aren't skipping spring for summer. The goldfinches seem to have hit the road. Last year they hung around until June. I miss them but don't think I will miss too much spending $50 every other week on bird seed (almost as bad as owning and feeding a great Dane).