So, here we are, another month. But today is a very special day... it's Kassy's birthday!!! I have always had the wonderful blessing of being with our girl for every one of her birthdays, nothing doing today... I had to go down and spend some time with her.....She's a beautiful wife and Mom.... and I (we) are just so proud of her....
We had a nice lunch together, and just some time to sit and talk... until the bus rolled down the street. Then we had to take the time and check that out.. and all the little kids getting off that big yellow bus. (very exciting!!!)
Snack time....
And a happy birthday "selfie" (as they call these photos...)
It was a wet fall day, but nothing dampens these spirits, and it's been such a pretty fall. I think October is one of my favorite months.. and really, from now until around the middle of January, I love this time of year. (I could do without the "real winter" months, and the hot summer months.. if truth be told!!!) It's going to be a busy time of year, but I plan to enjoy every moment possible!!!
One thing I haven't talked much about are the morning walks. I meet up with a friend and neighbor almost every morning, and we leash up the dogs and take a nice walk to start the day.... here is Livy, Tazzy and Cam.. all hiking along....
Livy, Hunter and Trevor... the boys are 13 this year, and I have to say, they can keep up with the younger ones.. though by the end of the walk, they seem happy to head for home... (have breakfast and usually snooze the rest of the morning!!)
Didn't get a very good picture of Susanne... but that's her girl Phoebe trekking along with the cockers....
We have a few different routes that we like to take, but the fair ground has been one of our favorites. There is a "track" and four times around makes a two mile walk. Often we're not the only ones that are out there... but it's fun and a good way to get the day started.
This is another friend, Kathleen and her boy Brutus. I have convinced Kathleen that she should give obedience showing a try... and being the good sport that she is... she's going to. Right now, we're all taking a rally class with Diane..... learning all the different signs and then running the courses....
Kathleen and Brutus are making good progress, and I think they will have their first title by the spring.....
Livy is doing a good job too. She gets a little confused, because she is also doing confirmation with Karen,and sometimes does her little show dog thing... but over all, she is coming along...
It's so nice to have an obedience dog once again. It's been a long time. Moxie was my last "real" obedience dog... I did show Cam a few times, but it really wasn't her thing. Livy seems to really like it, so I have high hopes for her....
Caught this great photo of my other little gal, enjoying the warm and light of an afternoon sun. Wish I had more time to spend like this, but it seems there is always something going on!!!!!
And here we are again.. check in day at neads...Right now, Danny is the only Maine boy, so we had a nice time traveling down with the gals, and taking time to fill Dave in on Danny's progress. He's doing very well, super laid back, easy going and seems to enjoy all there is about life.
NEADS is expanding... they own a few of the properties around their current campus, and are in the process of building a new client house. When clients are matched with their dogs, they have to spend two weeks at the NEADS campus to do their team training. While they do have a nice house for them now, this one is being built especially for the clients, and I dare say, will make "living" here those two weeks even easier.
This is probably the least favorite of our check ins... Dave likes to see how the dogs handle scary things, and what is scarier than those horrid Halloween stores. Believe me.. this is NOT one of the stores I would normally choose to be in. I don't enjoy being scared, and I find some of this Halloween stuff down right gruesome. But I suppose if the puppies can handle it for a little bit, I can too...
Danny, just as I knew he would... was a pro. He figured out right away that this stuff is all fake... since dogs don't see things the way we do.. he never worried about all the zombies, and other such creatures. I wasn't too thrilled when they screamed at us, or worse yet.. jumped out at us.. but Danny wasn't one bit bothered.
Dave tested him with masks of all sorts, and things that "glowed".. and Danny thought each thing was just one big toy to play with. Needless to say, Dave is very pleased with his "solid" reactions... I fear that many Halloween stores have done good dogs in.
It may seem kind of mean to subject the dogs to this sort of thing... but making sure that they are steady and ready to handle whatever comes their way is a huge part of the training. Danny my boy, you're looking good!!!!!
AND... I am taking a bit of bragging time here... I have two "calendar girls!!" Last year, it was Ginger who made the cover of the NEADS calendar.. and this year (2015) it's Miss Rylie!!! (In fact many of the photos are ones that I have taken!!!)...I know that I'm "a bit" of a picture nut... but it's cool to see them!!! (and you can order them on their website!!!)
So, with September coming to a close, fall is in full swing. The apple orchards all around the farm are busy, it's a great apple year. The weather has been nothing short of amazing, and I find myself outside as much as I possible can be!!!!
Open for business!!!!!
Reagan, Kass and Sadie came up for a visit.. we went to lunch at our local little place, and then went onto the orchard to get some apples.
Though, one little chap was far more impressed with the tractors of the orchard than the wonder apples. So while Kass and Sadie did some pumpkin shopping and looked over the apples and other such things, Reagan and I spent time exploring farm equipment.....
His Mom finally convinced him to pick up his own little pumpkin... which was hard when you want to take them all home..... but, after much searching, he did come up with the perfect one....
Back on our own farm, we found an escapee once again. Miss Mocha has decided that her pasture area is just not enough and has been booking it under the fence. She never really "goes" anywhere, but it isn't safe to have her loose... so, we'll need to find a way to keep her contained.....
And we need to prepare these little ones for horsemanship....
Abbie loves helping out in the barn and has no fear (which is good and bad) of any of the horses. Fortunately, all our horses are really good with kids, and despite his huge size, I dare say Duke is probably the best.
With the warmish weather, the bugs are still a bit of a bother, so Abbie though Duke would appreciate a bit of fly spray.
After the horses are all taken care of.... she's off on her four wheeler. (I have a feeling that in just a few years, her Papa will think she has out grown this one... and will "need another!!")
And speaking of fall, and all the fall things that we do around here. This is another (on going) project. Filling that woodshed so we have a nice warm house over the winter. Actually, I enjoy stacking the wood. I do it in stages so it isn't so overwhelming....
and find great satisfaction when our woodshed begins to look like this. Planning on 11 cord this year, and we'll see how long we can go without firing up the big furnace!!!!!
Abbie "fetching her ponies".....
Out for a little walk......
thanks to Miss Escape Artists.. the round pen will be used as a pasture spot for a while. (which is probably what she had in mind the whole time)...
So, as another month comes to an end... and the farm goes along on these fine fall days.. I have to admit, that I (sadly) do not spend as much time as I would like (or used to) with my little blog here. But since I do enjoy looking over the stories myself, I will try and spend a little more time, keeping it up to date... (especially the photos)... and will just try and fill it in when I take the moments to do so.....
Not too far from the farm is a wonderful trolley museum. I used to take the girls there a fair amount when they were small. It was great fun, you could ride all the trolley that you wanted, and there were many different ones to choose from. As the girls got older, we didn't go so much, and to be honest, I sort of "forgot" about the museum as time has gone on.
Lately though, I have heard threw my dog students, that the trolley museum is "dog friendly" and even though Dan is "allowed" any where as a service dog in training, it's nice to go to these "dog friendly" places as well. I was also told that for a few weekends in October, the trolley museum was hosting a pumpkin-fest... and so I thought, why not get the "grands" and take Danny and head on over to see what this event is all about. Sadly, we couldn't come up with a weekend that both grands could come... (Abbie has a busy schedule these days)... so it ended up just being Reagan, Kas, Nate.. Ed and myself.. and of course, Danny boy...
It was a nice fall day.. we bought our tickets... (grabbed some lunch from a wonderful food vendor that was there).. picked out a trolley and hopped aboard. The ticket man came around and "punched" the tickets and we were off....
Riding the trolley is so much fun, it's much different from a train and makes the most wonder sound and slight rocking movement. I had forgotten how much fun this is!!! (and need to make a point of going there with every service puppy I have...)
Danny was such a good boy. He climbed right on, and settled in and seem to truly enjoy the ride. The other folks on the trolley hardly knew he was there... but then again, there were many excited children, riding the trolley and heading out to the pumpkin patch.. where they were going to find the perfect pumpkin.
There were a number of folks there, but it wasn't too crowded. (good for us...) but I do hope for the trolley folks this event "gets out there". Because its such a nice thing, and I think families need to do more of "things like this"....They had some games the children could do.. face painting and the like...
And the most amazing patch of pumpkins!!! Really nice ones... of all shapes and sizes. Each person who has a ticket could pick one pumpkin... so Reagan had lots of choices to make... (which he took very seriously)...
"what do think of all of this Mr. Danny Boy??"
Looks like we have found the one that is "just right".... Reagan had a very good time, racing about... checking out all the pumpkins.. and getting that perfect one....
We all decided that we would take a different trolley for the ride back. Our first one had been a closed car, so we opted for an "open car" for the return ride. We sat at the platform and watch a few trolleys go by until "just the right" one showed up. Danny seemed to like the trolleys.....
I kind of wondered how the open car would be. It has no sides... you just climb on and slide into the seat. We took the middle (just in case).. but true to form, ol Danny dog found his spot and settled right down....
The trolley line makes a big loop, taking you out threw the woods and by some very pretty spots. At the end of the line, they all gather together and then chug back to the station.. here were the trolleys that were ahead of us....
Back at the station.... Danny had to climb down the steps, but as you can see the open cars are "really open"....
The little station is really nice. It has all kinds of displays of the trolleys of the old days... and (of course) a gift shop with trains of all kinds. Reagan so enjoyed this train table with all sorts of things to play with... he was happy to show Danny all of the items and the two of them had a great together. (Leaving was another matter).....
So fall is well in hand... and will speed by too quickly I am sure. But in the meantime.... I am going to enjoy each and every moment....
