which came first??

We all know that famous question - which came first, the chicken or the egg. For me personally, I can easily answer that question... the chicken!!! My belief in God, and His wonderful creation tells me that He made the chicken and the egg followed. I also know that all things happen for a reason, and that each one of us are here by His design. Hopefully we fill our life plan, but that is our choice -if we fill it or not. I also know that people come into your life at the "perfect" time, and it amazes me over and over again when I learn about someone , who has seemed to be in the wings of my life, but never steps into my path until the time is meant to be. And if this blog is turning out to be another "sermon" well, so be it. But wait til you hear the story.

So, you all know our friends, Kelli and Rick. Well, Rick knows Marj and Joe. He met Marj at a therapy dog weekend that he was attending with his boxer Mindy. Marj attended the same weekend, training with her boxer Bob. And when Marj and Rick got to talking, turned out they knew many of the same folks. Marj keeps a blog as well, so Rick told her about my blog. When she popped on and saw "this horse" - a horse that she knew!!!!! She had been riding at the same stable where I had sent Tonka for training. She could hardly believe that this was the same one!!! She sent me a note and asked if it really was Tonka, and from there, we were blog friends!! I pop onto her blog (daily) and see what she is up to. We haven't really had the chance to chat much and always talked about getting together sometime soon.

Well, I sort of felt "soon" wasn't happening. So, I came up with a date and asked everyone to come and have dinner together... which we did last night. It was GREAT fun, and the more we all talked, the more we found that our lives have been running parallel all along. example --- Marj's hubby Joe, graduated from the same school that Ed and I did, but he really grew up in the same town that Rick did. When Marj moved out this way, she worked with many people that I knew and knew a huge number of the same people, the stories went back and forth all night long. Tonka was only one small piece of all the connections.

Now Marj works at a vet clinic which as offered to sponsor Otis, Rick's new NEADS puppy... and her boxer Bob, was a puppy that my good friend (Tina) dog's had had. It just goes on and on. When you actually try to wrap your brain around it, you can't... and you just have to give it up and call it... God's plan. And for me, adding new friends to my life is such a blessing...

So, for this one evening full of fun, and the promise of many other adventures to come... I am very grateful....and still slightly amazed.

graduation and summer things....

This past Friday, my little niece graduated from preschool, come fall, she is heading to kindergarten. The school that she went to, is the school where Kassy is a teacher. I smile when I think, wasn't it just last week that Kassy graduated from preschool?? and now here she is, a teacher at one. I know, you have all heard me say this before... "where does the time go??"

I brought Camille and Ginger along to the graduation, I'm always looking for those opportunities for Ginger. Naomi seemed quite pleased to see that Ginger had come to watch her graduate....

A "congratulation" hug..... it won't be long before those first pictures of "getting onto the school bus" will be taken!!!!

And summer has truly arrived when we begin to think about docks!!! It was our plan to get them in over the weekend, but with rainy weather on the way... Nate and Tom thought it might be better to do them earlier. So, they rushed out of work and came to get them done for us.

Ed and I are so grateful to have these two young guys willing to help out. I suppose we could wrestle the docks in, but it's so very nice not to "have to". The "boys" worked as quickly as they could, but the dark was closing in fast. Fortunately, because we had had such warm weather all last week, Nate said the lake wasn't too cold. But it did become too dark to work. They gave us a great start and now what is left to do, we can do ourselves.

The lake is beginning to have that "summer look".. the loons sing their songs

and lights twinkle around the shore.... summer has arrived, and I have plans to enjoy every moment...

horseman's NIGHTMARE!!!!

An imagine that strikes fear in the hearts of all horsemen... a barn fully involved.....

This happened in our "home town" just a few weeks ago. It was caused by a lightening strike. I know the folks that own this barn, and I can only imagine what they went thru when all of this was happening.

The "good" news, everyone is fine.. all horses, animals and humans. But after that.. the loss is incredible... hay, feed, tack.. income... never mind.. the dreams!!! They were planning on running summer camps for kids, had horses boarding... and the building... brand new, less than a year old.

It can and will be rebuilt... but, it serves as a good reminder that sometimes we can't be too careful, and we should all have a game plan in place..

what would you do if it were yours??? Now might be a good time to plan that all out....

here comes the hay

It's that time of year again... hay season!!! And for those of you who suffer with allergies, not such a good time of year. But for those of us who have been waiting all winter (and counting our hay bales all spring hoping we have enough) hay season can't come soon enough. Actually, I was getting kind of nervous back in March, thinking we might run out .. but, turns out we were OK and we are still 40 bales to the good even before getting our first new batch in.





The hay looks really good this year. A fairly wet spring, followed by lots of sunshine and dry air, made the hay spring to life. I told Father that I could hear it growing as we drove by. This year, I am going to put up as much as possible. Come those cold winter days.. hay in the loft is like money in the bank... and I want to be prepared and not "jumpy" like I was this past year. We have the room, we might as well use it.







Abbie was fascinated by it all. She loves tractors and things of that nature and was so good just watching them bale it up. (She's explaining it all to Tom!!!)

And this wonderful batch is headed right to our barn. It's just the first load of a few... but, it's time!!!!

beetle bug

I am SO hoping this weather is a sign of what summer is going to be all about. Because it has been perfect "beetle weather". So, when Kelli and Rick invited us to dinner on Sunday afternoon, and then a trip out for ice cream after - we knew it would be a good run for the beetle.








At least this year with Abbie, I don't have to worry about the "blinkie" going flying out the side!!! And she can truly appreciate riding in the little car.











I heard Sadie laughing and turned to see Abbie, throwing her hands over her head and yelling "wheeee" as we drove down the road. I guess it would be a bit like an amusement ride!!!!










After a wonderful supper with Kelli and Rick, we packed up again and went out for ice cream. Rick thought this would be a perfect "first outing" for Mr. Otis (Ginger was at home!!)











Otis acted like he has done this all his life. He curled up on the floor and was as quiet as could be. He got quite a few comments, and never bothered once with the ice cream or all the on lookers. Think he's off to a pretty good start if you ask me....

"cheese or rather - Ice cream!!!"

Coming home, it wasn't quite as warm as the ride out had been. But, as you can see... we are well prepared. Wrap up in a cozy quilt, and we're good to go.

It's Beetle time!!!!

ponies go to school

We have several pairs of barn swallows this year. It seems as they are all "fighting" for a spot in the barn - though with the size barn we have - I can't imagine that there isn't room for all. But it does seem that a couple will start one little nest, and then thinking the neighbors have a better spot, they will quit on that one and move to another. I love hearing their little sounds, and am very happy to have them as our guests - anything that likes to eat "bugs" is good with me.





Abbie loves to watch them fly in and out. She will go straight into the barn and look high up for them. Course in her world, they are "buca-buca's" (all birds are) and she will call them hoping they will come to her - like the chickens do. She even put some corn out for them - though they weren't that interested.








We have been having a good stretch of nice weather. Which has worked out well, because the ponies had an "appointment' at Kassy's preschool. Actually we were suppose to bring them a few weeks back, but it was during all that rain and yuck, and I told Kass I simply could not bring them in that weather and in "that condition". So, Sunday, with the warm bright weather, it was time for baths and getting spruced up to visit the kids.

Mocha has gone the past few years, and has always been a huge hit. At first, I was doing pony rides with her, but realized that some of those pre-schoolers are really too big to be riding her. So, last year, she went more as a petting pony....

This year, we have Kringle. Now, I honestly don't know much about his history, but we were told that he has been a child's pony for many many years. And that he has pretty much -- been there done that. His attitude around the barn says he has, but it wasn't until I saw him with the kids that I knew for sure. He was great with them, very gentle and friendly, and between him and Mocha the kids had a real treat.

We were able to do pony rides with everyone, and for some, it was the first time that they had ever really been around "horses".

Such a fun day and so nice to be able to do things like this and share our "babies" with others!!!!

puppies, puppies, puppies...

You all remember little Otis that we brought back with us from NEADS? And not having talked with Linda, (our Maine Chapter leader) we were just hoping that she had someone on her list of puppy raisers to take this little guy under their wing.

Linda did make some phone calls, and got a couple of "oh... I'm so sorry, it's just not a good time right now".. but it has all turned out to be just fine...

because.......






Rick and Kelli have decided that they will take Otis for his puppy raising year. So, we are very happy to announce that we have a new team in our chapter!!!


and don't they look good together???










"HI Rick - I promise that I will be the very best puppy that I can!!!"










Ahhhhh.... Ginger..so grown up in many ways, and still such a puppy herself. I can't believe how quickly our year together is going by....












Ginger has a new love... the cocker puppies. She has taken to them as though they were her own. Nothing pleases her more than to be out with them, and getting them to play with her.

She is the best babysitter!!!!

They are very cute, and doing very well. But even I must admit, having two extra babies in the house... does make for a lot of work.

well, I certainly can't complain that I am bored!!!

another day at NEADS

On Tuesday, Ginger and I were invited to a local high school.. to talk about service dogs and puppy raising and then to be the "meet and greet" dog in a Canine Good Citizenship test. By the way, Ginger earned her "CGC" a few weeks ago... I was pretty pleased about that.

My friend Julie was the CGC tester, and the group was a bunch of high school students who have been studying "small animal care" all year. Some of the dogs that went thru the test were their own dogs, and others were "borrowed" dogs.

In all honesty the dogs could have used more work, but Julie was able to pass a few of them. Overall though, the students did a nice job handling the dogs, and you could see that they a real love for them. It was a pleasure being a part of this, and I so wished something like this had been in place when I was in high school. I just might have become the veterinarian that I had always wanted to be.

But, I'm not a vet.. I am a puppy raiser, and Thursday found us back at NEADS for our monthly check in. You know, Leo and Ginger have only three more of these check-in's and it will be turn in time. Can you believe that??? The group waited nicely for Dave in the lobby.....

And after we chatted with him for a bit, it was off to the big city!!! The first for the pups!!!!

Ginger took it all in stride. She has been a bit on the sensitive side when it comes to loud noises, but she wasn't bothered at all this day. We walked the sidewalks, crossed very busy streets, and worked in the "famous" parking garage, and it's glass elevator. She did just fine....

Practicing "obedience" on the street... "T", Leo and Freedom....

From the street we moved into the hospital. Chester used to love to work here, and there are just so many great things to work with. Ginger's first encounter - didn't go so smoothly. As you enter the hospital (and this place is simply huge!!!) there is an entrance that is all "grates".. good idea for sandy shoes.. but idea for a golden who had no idea "what" was under her feet. The other dogs crossed it calmly.. Ginger and I spent the better part of 15 minutes walking over the grate and just getting her more used to the idea. The good thing is, she didn't "freak" out, but was certainly uncomfortable on them. Guess we will be looking for grates!!!!




Our next encounter was the glass elevators. Unlike the one in the parking garage, these are quick and quiet. "T" wasn't too happy on them, and when Ginger saw that, she thought he had a good idea. Again, she didn't "freak", but she wasn't "happy".... so, another "look for item"... quick, quiet and glass elevators!!!!!

The city streets certainly offer a different exposure for the dogs, and show us a different side of them as well. These are things that, as puppy raisers, we work to over come with them. Here Leo and Kathleen get some good advise from Dave....

When I told Ginger we were heading home, she didn't see too sad to say goodbye to the city... she really is a "small town gal"....

There is just one more little surprise to share. Dave had a puppy that he wanted to "send to Maine". We tried to reach Linda and be certain that we have some puppy raisers - but not reaching her, we made the "cooperate" decision to bring him along. We would like to see the group grow, and that means puppies... so we take them when they come...





"Hello Otis"... we'll find you a good family to grow up with.. and welcome to a future service puppy!!!!!