fatty

For some reason when he lays down he gets really fat.

some things never change

Last year:

This year:

Big Babies.

Shirley and Frank are Chesapeake Bay Retrievers.   They are hunting dogs.  So, loud noises and guns shouldn't bother them, right?

Wrong.

What do Shirley and Frank do when they here loud noises?



Head for the trailer and drool.  (As you can see in the picture of Frank above.)

125 wasn't enough

Even though we had almost 125 acres to hike on, what we call, Tildon Hill,  it wasn't enough.

My parents own another 79 acres in another town called Dansville and one afternoon Jeb, my dad and I decided to go for a hike there.  When I was younger, my family moved on this property and built a log cabin.  My parents still own the house and land, but rent out the house and surrounding area.

The closest thing to wildlife that we came across on this hike however was deer poop.  :( But,  once we got to the property line, we came across some cool old tree stumps that were put up probably over 100 years ago as property line markers.

Pretty awesome.

is three blogs too much?

I currently have three blogs. This one.

My blog about my life with my silly pets.

And then a private blog that only I can access.

I have thought about combining this one and my pet blog. But every time I get ready to type a post non-pet related, it just doesn't seem right.

My original goal/hope was to blog in one spot about my crazy pets and every day life.

Hm. What to do. What to do.

Vibram 5 fingers

In the spring Jeb and I purchased our very first pair of Vibram 5 Finger shoes. We Started using them to run and exercise in and we both have noticed a difference in our performance. We also have less aches and pains after working out!

On our trip last week we pretty much wore them all day every day. I even have a sweet tan line from them. They were awesome to hike with. Going down any slopes felt much better when wearing my 5fingers versus my Salomon hiking shoes. My feet felt as if they were one with the earth. Only down side? Any grass gets caught between your toes. :)

I am thinking that when fall hits I will need to purchase a pair that cover the tops of my feet. I don't want my feetsies to be frozen when I run. :)

camping trip

Our camping trip this year was a lot of fun. We did so many things. From fishing to hiking to riding ATV's. We had a blast. One thing we really enjoyed was going out on the canoe.

go fish

One of the many things we did while on vacation was go out on the canoe and fish.  There is something amazing about being on the water.  Watching ever ripple that is made.  Looking into the water and seeing fish swim below you.  It is almost a different world.

I was lucky enough to catch a fish on one of our adventures.  (Don't worry, we released him back into the water!)

Along with fish there was plenty of other wild life that we encountered.  I was able to snap a couple pictures of the deer that hung around as well as the garden snake:

In the summer deer  have an awesome orange-y red coat that makes them easier to spot.  As for this snake.  I think he had a nest right by our camp fire so for the first few days he pretty much hung around fairly close to us!

Almost ever morning we heard a woodpecker hard at work on a tree.  And the last day we were at camp we saw a hummingbird land on an apple tree branch.  Pretty cool.

vacations all I ever wanted

And it is what I got last week!

Last Saturday we headed up to upstate New York for our annual family camping trip.  We had so much fun.  So did Shirley and Frank.  I have lots of things I would like to share, starting with where we went.

In a little town called Arkport, New York, there is approximately 125 acres of this:

Well, not 125 acres of water.  This is just a part of it. :)

But, isn't it amazing?  I really think I could live here.  And of course the first thing Shirley did was head straight for the water.

We did tons of things the week we were here.  We rode ATV's, hiked, fished, and explored.  It was amazing.  We saw and heard tons of wild life, including a deer, woodpecker, hummingbird and a snake!

It was very hard to come home on Sunday.  I miss it already.

birthday schmirthday

Birthdays.

I used to enjoy birthdays.

Well, I guess I still do.

But, this year was not one of my better birthdays.

Major downers about this weekend/my birthday:

• I lost my wedding band (at least it was a simple band with no diamonds!)
• Our really nice tent got run over by an atv.
• We went out to dinner last night to celebrate and ended up waiting for over an hour at a japanese steakhouse for our cook to come out!
• This week is my brother pre-deployment leave :(

But, I guess this birthday wasn't horrible.

I was lucky enough to be surrounded by many loved ones. And for once in a long time, my whole family was together.

That probably outweighs all those downers.

back to the grind

As I was putting things away from our camping trip this weekend, I realized that I have neglected my home lately. Not in a cleanliness sort of way, but in a creative and decorative sort of way. As long as I have time this weekend, I may take on some painting of furniture projects that I wanted to accomplish months ago. Starting with a little hutch/cabinet in my kitchen. It is currently white...and I think that I want it to stay white. But it is in desperate need of a fresh coat of paint and possibly some stylish hardware.

Next on the list is a really ugly brown bookshelf I took from my work when they were going to throw it away.

Key words "throw away"...

...meaning it is pretty junky.

But, I think some wood putty, some sanding, a couple coats of primer and a lot of semi-gloss white paint might just do the trick.

I need some lighter things in my life.

Maybe some lighter furniture will help.

Anyway, today was my first day back to work in 11 days.

It wasn't as bad as I though it would be.

home sweet home

Home never felt so good. Jeb and I headed back from New York last night at 9:30 p.m. Why so late? Jeb was just ready to be home I guess. He drove the whole way. And we didn't hit any traffic. Took us 8 1/2 hours.

As soon as I get some pictures uploaded, I will post them.