a whole week???

It's hard to think that last week, I was "all a quiver" waiting to go and see Chester and meet Mike. Now, here it's "wednesday" again... it hasn't been a very interesting week.. actually after seeing Chester, the few days that followed felt a little like the ones after Christmas.. sort of that "let down" I sometimes get from the holidays. Back to the "same ol'-same ol".. work, house chores, barn chores.... you know.... Ginger and Leo look so big to me now.. they still get their puppy play time before class, but it's more of the big dog play and less and less they puppy play that they did as kids... Leo actually is "huge".. he's much bigger than his sister, and very handsome to boot. Sunday afternoon found us at the yearly flyball tourny. I always try to volunteer for the "pick up side of things" because our flyball team members are tired after a weekend of racing. I miss racing... Moxie was a good little flyball dog, and Trevor started out well... but now, I don't have dog that would really play. Maybe one, I'll do it again, but for now.. just supporting our team is good enough. These dogs sure are fast... my poor little camera can only catch "blobs" as they hit the box and race back again with the ball.... We brought Abbie with us... she loves dogs (as you all know) so I knew the excitement and the barking of the dogs wouldn't bother her. She actually watched the racing for quite a little while, and then moved on to see how many dogs she would be allowed to pet. After the racing was done and the picking up began, Abbie explored all the "things" about flyball... she was pretty excited to find this bucket filled with balls.... she likes to throw balls for the dogs at home, and I am sure she was thinking she could do it here.... We brought Ginger as well (and Camille of course)... I think Ginger would have enjoyed trying this game... racing and balls, perfect for goldens. Camille on the other hand, was happy to sit and get pats from the folks... One is never too young to learn how to roll up mats from dog events!!! (at least in our house!!!) Course... "one" might be too small to roll heavy mats!!! but it's worth a try just the same :) Are "service puppies" ... "real" dogs... well, judging from the mess I found in the back seat of my truck the other day.. I think that answer is "yes". Ginger and Leo were riding in the back seat... Kathleen and I traveling and chatting together.. and look what those two were up to. Ginger ..."MOM it was all Leo's fault!!!"

"Not me, I would never pull out a roll of paper towels from the training bag and rip them apart"...

Rainy day today, all the snow is gone, and it's beginning to have a "warmish" feel to the air. Peepers are beginning to sing, and yesterday... the barn swallows returned to the farm.... finally, can we welcome spring????