It's always amazing what "magic" Karen can do with her grooming skills... Olivia is not looking much like a "farm dog" just now!!!! Karen has found a couple of shows at the end of the month that she wants to enter Livy in, so we are beginning to prepare and "working on a show coat".....
I can't even begin to say how much in love with this puppy I am.... she is proving to be "everything and more" in what I like for a dog. She is sweet and sassy, bright and eager to please and I am just having so much fun with her. Karen will be handling her in all the breed classes and I will be doing the obedience side, there is no doubt in my mind this little gal can, will and wants to do it all.......
I am a little "worry" about keeping up all that coat, which for the breed ring with cockers is very important... but I'm going to try... to own a champion has always been on my "bucket list" and we'll just have to see how we do.....
Had a nice surprise the other morning.... two mother turkeys showed up on the farm with about 25 babies. They were so fun to watch and stuck around for the longest time probably looking for bugs and other little things in the field. Usually the guinea hens have a way of driving them off, but either there were too many of them this time or the guineas didn't care....
And cousin Ted is here for a visit too!!! He is my Mom's first cousin.. with his Mom Regina being a sister to my Mom's Dad, Paul. Both are long gone now, but it's nice to see the next generation staying in touch. Ted lives in Texas, so it's quite the trip for him to come and see us. So many great stories to share from both the past and the present....
And visits like this just never seem to last long enough.
It's that "berry" time of year again... blueberries that is.... strawberries in June, and blueberries in August. We have some very nice berry farms close to us, and it's just a matter of choosing which one you want to visit.
Abbie wasn't able to join us today, she was visiting with her Dad... but this little "grand".. certainly had a grand time. And if he wasn't "running off".. he was stealing in the buckets..... such fun to take him along and watch the joy on his face as a big handful of berries went into his mouth.....
The commercial berries (also called high bush) are much bigger than the wild native berries. I prefer the wild berries, but these are certainly easier to pick and your bucket fills much quicker. Besides, come next winter when the winds are howling.. these will taste just as good as muffins or pancakes with a hot cup of coffee.....
Being a warm day, we picked pretty quickly and ended the morning with a nice lunch out and ice cream... then it's home to do the "real work"... making sure the berries are "clean" and getting them into the freezer to wait.......
So... the summer is just zooming by, and because I am taking every moment to enjoy it, I fear that my little blog has taken a back seat. I want to keep it up, I have for all this time, and I even like looking over the "past", but somehow sitting and getting everything down is just not a top priority some days. Anyways... we made a check on the bees, both hives are doing very well and I think we should get a pretty good honey crop from our older hive this year.... this is honey, still uncapped but waiting to be finished off...
And this frame has a pretty good amount of capped honey...course we have to be certain that we leave enough for the girls to get threw the winter... but I know this year I'll be feeding them again as well......by the end of the summer, we'll know what we can take and what we need to leave....
Kassy and Nate had a road race to run. Since I used to work every Saturday, I have never had the chance to go and support her at a race.. so, we packed up Danny and went to watch this one. There was a pretty good crowd, it was done as a fund raiser, so lots of families.....
and pretty much as I figured... Danny took everything in stride. He has to be the most laid back service puppy that I have worked with. Personally, I don't see his future as a working service dog... I have an idea that he is going to do the same work that sister Rylie is doing... but that's ok... there's plenty of spots open in the social side of things!!!! I have no doubt he'll end up with a job....
Every August at our local fair group.. they have a "beetle bug" car show. When I saw the signs going up advertising it.. I told Ed that I wanted to take our little beetle down to it. And so, we did......
There were all sorts of VW's... for some reason, I thought our little car might be one of the "rarer" ones... since 1979 was the last year the beetle was made in the states (our's is 78).. but that was hardly true. In fact, our little bug was possibly in the biggest class they had. You could stay and have the car judged.. but our little bug is not a show car... it's an "ice cream car".. so we only stayed a little while, checked out the other cars.. and then we were off.....
to a lobster bake!!!! Which actually has turned out to be another "sort of tradition"... Lee (who is the New York puppy raiser for neads) comes out each summer and stays at the beach house. When she comes, we all like to get together, have some "bugs" and a chance to sit and visit. It's been a fun event and I look forward to it. The lobsters were really yummy (they always are).. and the people and puppies have such a good time....
I asked Kass to pop by with Reagan (so I could show him off)... Moxie dog was quite taken with him......
The whole weekend went by so quickly, and it's just begun, because other "annual" events are right on our heels, and then we'll be looking at the fall...
One thing for certain... I am enjoying each and every moment... perhaps (finally) in my older/wiser years... I know that each day is a gift!!!!! enjoy!!!
What a fun day we had today!!! Linda K... one of our puppy raisers, invited us all to come to her local library and help her with the children's program... naturally about.. service dogs!!! I packed up Danny, Camille and Livy (who are not service dogs, but do qualify as therapy dogs) and we headed out.
Linda S. and Rick joined us with Moxie and Otis and all of us arrived to the greetings of a pretty big crowd. The little library was packed. Course the dogs thought all of this was just great.....
Linda wisely opened the program with meets and greets.... the kids do so much better at listening once they have had their hands on the puppies. And I think the puppies do better too, once they can greet all the folks.....
Camille and Livy wormed their way right in as well. After everyone had some time to get to know each other, Linda went into the program side of things. She had a great presentation and then we did question and answer after. People were really interested in the dogs and their work and it was fun to answer some pretty interesting questions....
A bit more visiting afterwards (Livy never seems to get enough attention...)
Or Danny for that matter... but next stop.. Linda's house for some yummy lobster roll....
She also took us on a little tour of the island. I have been to many of the islands around here but never this one. And though I have lived by the ocean for my whole life... I have to say, I never get tired of it's beauty or forget how blessed I am.....
Ed and I are going to have to come back some Sunday and visit again.. there is much to see here.
This is a bronze statue of a lobsterman, in memory of those who have been lost at sea doing this type of work......
Perfect spot for a photo shoot .. Camille, Danny, Moxie, Livy and Otis......
Danny asking Livy... "how long do we have to be good and do this stuff..."
One of the things about our coast line, is all the natural "things" we have. Places that have been carved out by the ocean into all kinds of cool things... this one being "the Giant Staircase"... it was a pretty walk out to it....and I was excited to see it...
But when we arrived, and I saw this.. well, it's about as close as I chose to go. IF I had gone in closer (over that edge) there are rocks lined up as neat as can be... just like a staircase.. and all made by the ocean. Since I am not a fan of heights or the possibly that the ocean would come up and snatch me away... this is all I can show you... because I was not getting any closer.
So, another day of "perfection".. good friends, dogs, food, fun and even touring some parts of the state that I haven't seen..... amazing!!!!
In keeping with our "new" tradition of taking the grands each summer to Storyland.... Today was our adventure!!! It was a perfect summer day.. Ed is feeling very good after his surgery this past week.... so, we packed it up and headed out. First stop.. breakfast!!! at one of our favorite places, The Miss Wakefield. I was hoping to get a shot of both Abbie and Reagan with Mr. Moose... but Reagan would have nothing to do with him. As you can tell by the look on Abbie's face... excitement is in the air!!!!
She even picked up one of the brochures from the "tourist rack" to plan her day as we drove along!!!! This year she is "big enough" to do it all, and I dare say, Papa and I will be "running".....
Now, one of the first things you MUST do upon arrival.. is have your photo taken in the photo frame!!! Some day, I am going to take the time, and see if I can find ALL the photos of the "frame"... that is ... the ones of when I was little and went.. and then when our girls were little and went... and now of course... the GRANDS!!!!
My usual rule is NO PARENTS!!! because, really, how can you properly spoil the grands if the parents are there watching. But since this is Reagan's "real" first year and (sadly) there will be some things he can't do just yet... it was better to have "the parents" come along. But, in the years ahead.... we'll have to think about the "no parents" rule again.....
and of course, we must have our photo with the "grands"......
The day was filled with lots of rides... my fav.. the carousel.. we must always ride it, at least twice!!!
Abbie and I were racing... she is very certain that her horse won..... and if you notice, we picked horses that "matched" us!!!!
I will say, have some parents along this year actually turned out to be a very good idea. Because I didn't have to ride every ride, and Nate was such a good sport about going on all the "scary" rides with Abbie....
Abbie was pretty excited, because really... this year there wasn't anything that she couldn't go on. And she felt quite grown up that she could go and Reagan couldn't on some...
I love how Storyland has worked so hard to stay with the "modern" and yet keep their eye on the family. There were plenty of rides that Reagan could do.. and since this little boy is all about tractors... well, you know this had to be done!!! He could even "drive" it by himself... course getting him off the ride was another story!!!!
The day was warm enough that even the water rides were on the list.. so while Reagan and I watched, the family hit the water rapids......
The day went really well... just as one little boy was running out of steam.. Abbie had pretty much done all the rides and was ready to do a bit of shopping and head for home. So dear Storyland, you have done this family well... generation number three has come to visit....
and as the Flagg family headed for home.. Abbie, Baby and Papa hopped in the beetle and headed our for ice cream!!!!!!
Today finds Ed and I at the Lahey Clinic. Ed's heart has been "acting" up again for the past few months and his doctor thought it might be time to do another ablation on his heart. He had this done about three years ago, and we were told then, that sometimes they have to be "tuned up" after a bit... well.. his needed to. I remember when it was done the first time, I was totally freaked out about the whole idea. But, really, it was pretty "simple" and Ed felt soooo much better afterwards. Today, it felt "almost" routine.
Ed went down last night and stayed over, and early this am I was on the road to be there while it was done. He was in good spirits when I caught up with him and we stayed together until it was time for him to go in.
While I waited, I remember that Pastor Jane and Ginger were not that far from the clinic. I wished I had contacted them and "scheduled" a visit... so on a whim, I emailed Pastor Jane and just told her that Ed and I were here. Just a few minutes later, I received a note back from her... saying that she was on her way over to visit.
Now, Lahey is a big place, and I wasn't even sure how we could find each other, but I went down to the lobby and heard that little "Ginger whine".. and sure enough there they were. Ginger was so excited to see me (she has never forgotten me!!) and their visit made the time go by so fast!!!!
Course, Ginger also did a lot of visiting with everyone else.... all who came threw the lobby had to stop and talk... which meant, Pastor Jane and I didn't get much of a chance to chat!!!
Before I knew it, I was being paged that Ed was out of surgery and all was well.
He stayed overnight and I will go back tomorrow and bring him home. He's feeling better already, and so am I.....
My "poor little blog"... I feel like I have been so busy this summer, that this is one of things that gets pushed aside. But, I love keeping it, and often find myself going back over the "stories" that I have written. So, since I haven't had a minute to write... here's a picture story just to catch me up.
I LOVE this photo of Ed and Reagan... I love seeing Ed in his uniform... I think he always looks good......
But, sadly, the uniform came out for a not good reason. We said "goodbye" to a friend and fellow fire fighter this week... Brian Starkey. Brain was only 44 years old.. and poor health took him away much too soon. In honor of their friend.. the fire fighters decided to give Brian a full farewell service... and as hard as these things are to watch.. it is such a tribute of love from them all.....
The town was brought to a complete halt when the procession came threw. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised that many of the tourist waited quietly and patiently as it came threw...... (tourist don't have a great reputation in town....)
One never enjoys something like this. Brain left his wife Bonnie, three grown children and three grandbabies... so very sad. I didn't get any photos, but I did bring Danny along with me, and I have to say that I really feel he brought comfort to many of the people who petted and asked how my puppy raising "thing" was going.......
It has been - so far - a beautiful summer. We headed down to the beach one evening and saw this beautiful full moon. I guess the moon this month and next are going to be amazing due to their position in the sky..... I'll be watching for them!!!
Course you can go to the beach without some ice cream and a walk along..... Reagan loves walking along the beach.. and that's Diana and Patrick there with Kass... they will have a little on with them next year.... Diana is having a little girl in December!!!!
Speaking of "little"... we have six new keets (guinea hens).... a friend of mine had ordered a batch but didn't need all those babies, so I split the order with her.....
They're so cute, and Abbie loves to play with them. We'll keep them "inside" for about six weeks... then move them to the outside pen. They might get a bit of free range before the cold weather sets in, but if not... I'll have a nice batch to add to the flock next spring. Have to say, they do a great job of bug control here on the farm..... even if they are a bit loud!!!!
The bees are doing very well.... and both hives are as busy as can be. I know for certain we'll get some honey out of the second year hive, and perhaps a little from this years. I try not to "bother" them too much, but I so enjoy going into those hives and seeing what they are up to..... This is a nice frame of honey in the works....
and the other morning, I looked out and saw two "mother turkeys" and their brood. I think I counted around 25 chicks between the two of them. They hung around the farm for a few days, and then - I guess - headed to parts unknown.. but they sure were fun to watch.
From here, summer just look busier and busier....fall will drop in on us before we know.. but I am using up every moment I can.......
