It's field day weekend once again.... one of my favorite weekends of the summer. This year Rachel was visiting with Kass from Florida. Reagan is pretty happy that she is here.... the evening before, when Papa goes to the banquet hosted by the Redshirts... we usually do a night at the beach. Since the beetle was already in town and the night was such a perfect summer night.... it was top down and headed to the beach.....
Reagan loves riding in the beetle this year. Both the grands love this little car and I am so happy we have it. Here he tells Rachel how it is to ride in the car and the fact that you can't "throw anything out of it".....
We had a grand time eating ice cream, running on the beach and just loving the seaside in the summer But when we go back, Daddy had arrived with two big surprises... a new lawn tractor (not their's .. a customers and will be delivered later)... Reagan loves tractors, so of course he had to try it out....
and a new slide.... Nate is building a swing set for Reagan and this slide is going to be a part of it...
after a very busy night, it's time for bed... one little lion needs to rest up for a busy day tomorrow.....
And it's time for a parade.....
"baby" Alana... (Diana's little girl).. is attending her firemen's muster parade.....
Waiting to hear the sirens and see the big red trucks!!!!
and they finally round the corner, and it all begins...
to the delight of one little boy.......
Some years the turn out seems kind of small, but I thought this year's parade had a good attendance. It does seem to be a tradition that is fading.. when I was a little girl, it seemed that the streets were line with folks, and the trucks loaded with kids getting a ride...
those days are gone, but there is still enough interest to make it fun.
Dee-dee, Alana and Diana....... (three generations)
Nate brought ear protection for both Reagan and Alana... Reagan didn't wear his, but Alana appreciated them. Those big red trucks can be kind of loud.....
After the parade we head down to the "field" for a bite to eat and the games. It's old home week and we have the chance to meet up with all our friends. Everyone asked "where my puppy was"... I usually have a service puppy with me at field day time... but not this year. Joey was returned last month and neads hasn't sent us another one yet....
Good looking trophies......
Redshirts on the line and ready to run.....
After the day, we had to run back to the farm and tend to the animals... and then it was back again for the lobsterbake. That's the trouble with not living in town anymore... the driving back and forth. But, it's the way it works for now....
Nice picture of Ed, Jeff and Jeff's brother.. visiting from Michigan.. (and we'll be going there to visit them next summer)....
and me, with Brenda, Monica and Monica's daughter.. about to enjoy a wonderful lobster feed. And the 2015 Firemen's Muster comes to a close with memories that will be fondly remembered.
My little class continues to broaden their horizons... and I am always looking for places that are dog friendly, where we can hold our little class... One of these places, is Lowe's... (and we are truly grateful).. so, here we are for this week's lesson.
And if a store is kind enough to allow dogs... then I feel we need to have dogs that know how to behave. Being in a public place like this is a privilege... and anyone that chooses to bring a dog here, needs to have some excellent obedience skills...
Even though the door opens right away.. Sonya has asked Daisy to wait before going threw....
We start out with calm and focusing work. Making certain that the dogs can listen while there is much going on around them. Livy was being handled by Kathleen tonight for me... as you can see her attention was elsewhere.....
Kathleen and Brutus are doing a nice calm walk.....minding their own... and "no lifting of legs"... which can be tempting for our boy dogs!!!!
Sonya and Daisy......
MaryLou and Storm....
Martha and Glory......
Group sit stays while the owners "shop" (not really, but they can move away from the dogs...)
and then onto downs... Cam must be wondering at being 12, why she still has to train.... but one should never stop their training....
Glory and Livy are doing some nice solid work...
Since we did not come upon any other dogs tonight (especially any nasty ones like we did in Portsmouth)... we just practice this exercise with each other. Which sometimes can be harder since all these dogs are friends and like to play together....
and we also practice a meet and greet... we use what we have... and if it's isn't there, we make it up....
Tonight's "treat" took us to a local ice cream shop.. a good practice for waiting nicely in line.. and then being able to "handle your dog and food" at the same time....
Everyone waited so nicely.....
and another evening ends with success... tired dogs, that have earned a good rest..
So ... I have come to discover that yet, another saying is true.... "the things that you are stressing and worrying about today... probably won't seem that big a year or so from now"..... well... "a year ago"... my dear Ed and crew were "rushing" to get the last minute details done on Protection 2. With the big parade almost just hours away, they were all working hard.... and I was really wondering if they were even going to make the dead line...
They did..... and perhaps with hours to spare (though not many!!!) and Protection 2 was in the parade in all her new "finesse" and everything was well. Now, here we are.... a year later, and we're looking at rolling her out of storage because this year's parade is just days away......
What is it with these summer projects of ours anyways??? I asked Ed "what are we going to tackle next summer"... to which he replies... "relaxing"....
but some summer projects are just simply exciting (to me anyways...)
and soon, it's good bye to this walkway, if you can call it that... that leads up to the front door. Actually this has been a dreaming project for a few years... we were hoping to get it done before Sadie's wedding.... didn't happen. Then last year.... didn't happen...
and we were planning on doing it ourselves... we have done walkways before... but I got another idea, and with what I am hoping for... we decided that a bit of professional help might be the better route in this case....
A few weeks is going to make a HUGE difference here!!!!!
Besides... we are still working on the deck... and even though this project is going well... it's going long!!! way long!!!! Now that we have it figured out, the pace has picked up a bit, but there's a lot to it...
We put in a bit of time each weekend. But our biggest "block" if you will, is simply the weather. Some weekends we get in a day, and the next it's raining... OR... it's hot... way hot!!! and not just too hot in work in, but the materials themselves are to hot to handle....
so, we try to get onto it earlier in the morning, and then later in the day. It's coming... but not fast enough....
I can't wait to see railings, and parties from this view.... and yet, next summer, when those things are happening, I will look back at these photos and think... "was it all that much to fuss about??"
After a good long day last Sunday, this is where we ended... both of us hoping that we would completely finish the decking, but honestly... we were just too tired to even think... and it was beginning to get dark and buggy.... so....
enough for now, and we'll just have to get back to it next week....
I have to say, that when i got up Monday morning, and this was my view... it was nearly thrilling.... and this was the first time that I had ever opened these doors. I'm still not comfortable walking out there, and scared to death to have one of the dogs go out... but the deck is there...
and the professionals for the walkway... began moving in on Monday morning..... so this is really happening as well....
Materials began to arrive.....
heavy equipment showed up on the front lawn....
and on this one... Ed and I have the great pleasure of "sitting back" and watching it all unfold before our eyes....
summer projects.... yeah maybe "relaxing" next summer might be a good one to try!!!!
