The Frick and Frack Show

Everyday, in fact several times a day, this is what my backyard looks like.  Our yard transforms from its normally quiet haven for birds, squirrels, and the occasional rabbit, into the puppy WWF, or as we like to call it, the Frick and Frack Show!  

The wrestling moves Mr. Quinn and Misty Belle engage in are in no way harmful, but they are far from gentle.  I have to constantly remind them to slow down and "be easy" with one another, but it mostly falls on deaf ears!

Sometimes their ninja like moves are hard to even capture with the camera, they move that quickly!  In the photo above Misty Belle is doing her best imitation of a scene from Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.  I'm pretty sure if I took a video of them I could set it to the soundtrack from a Kung Fu movie and it would fit quite nicely!!

Miss Kylee sometimes joins in, but mostly she stays out of the fray and I can't really blame her.  She looks on like the grandmotherly figure, and I'm betting if she could talk she would smile and say "kids these days!"

I can only imagine having these active dogs in some sort of apartment or even a small lot neighborhood setting, no wonder many of them end up in rescues across the country.  They need this crazy play time and they let you know if they don't get it throughout the day!  They could care less if it's sunny, rainy, snowy, hot or cold, they want to be outside and I always accompany them when they are out.  It's good for all of us, and I crack up whenever I watch them play because they are so full of energy and find joy in the simplest of things...even a stick shaped like a wishbone!

Oh, and if you are wondering where the term Frick and Frack comes from...click HERE...who knew?!

I'm glad you all enjoyed the bird photos from yesterday, I tried again today to get some more swan pictures, and I think I may have gotten some by George!

Have a wonderful weekend my friends!

Soap Opera or Sitcom

Some days I wonder if I'm living the story line of a drama filled soap opera, or if it's simply a badly scripted sitcom! :-)    I would tell you about the rest of my event filled weekend, but at this point I think you all would really begin to believe that I make this stuff up...oh how I wish!

Don't get me wrong though, I know things could be so much worse!  Look at poor A-M who is trying to pull her life back together after enduring major flooding in Australia, and she's just one of thousands trying to find their way after life has thrown them a curve ball.  And Anne from Fiona and Twig nearly had her house burn down this past weekend, so you see it can always be worse and at times when life seems like it's picking on you, you really do have to stand back and remember how lucky you are!

We all have our challenges to face day in and day out, times when our strength and resolve seem tested beyond the limits, but we somehow muddle through and come out alright in the end!

Today we continued to monitor Mr. Quinn for signs of any problems related to the skunk attack and so far so good, knock on wood.  The vet said to continue monitoring him for the rest of the week, but I'm hopeful he will come out of this none the worse for wear.

Some of you have commented and emailed me asking for the recipe to the magic potion we used on Quinn last night.  It's 1 Quart Hydrogen Peroxide (be sure it's a new bottle and hasn't expired), 3/4 cup Baking Soda, and 1 to 2 Tbs. of original Dawn Dish Detergent (I also read where you can substitute Ivory Dish Soap for Dawn).  You mix it all together (be sure NOT to put it in a sealed container because it creates a chemical reaction and can explode if housed in a sealed container), then put it on your pet, avoiding the eyes and mouth, let sit for approximately 5 minutes and then rinse thoroughly with tepid water.

That's what we did, and aside from some of Mr. Quinn's fur around his ears getting slightly bleached to a lovely shade of copper, the solution worked like a champ!  Phew!

Today was spent doing very little in between napping, and it will be a short night tonight as I'm hitting the hay just as soon as I hit the send button on this post.  I did want to at least update you all and thank each of you for your concern and kind words of commiseration! 

In addition to having a sick puppy last night, Mr. Tide woke up in the middle of the night sick as could be from what we think was the smell of the skunk!  He was the one who stayed outside with Mr. Quinn for almost 2 hours while I traveled back and forth to the store last night.  And he also helped hold Quinnie while I bathed him, so he really got more than his fair share of exposure to the skunk oil!  He's still not feeling well tonight!

We were able to use an oil lamp to get rid of the scent in the house, I have to say that those Lampe Berger lamps really do cleanse the air, so I was lucky to have one for just such an occasion!  Thanks Grace for making sure I had one, sometimes things do work out the way they are supposed to!!!

You may be wondering why it seems as though I've posted the exact same photos as last night.  Some of them are very similar, and one is the same photo, just done in a different texture.  The above photos are ones I just sent off to have made into note cards, they will be minus the watermark of course.  It will be my first foray into selling my photos, and I'm hoping that when I receive them in the mail I will love how they look, otherwise I'll have a lot of extra note cards filling up my junk drawer!

With everything that's been going on, wow don't I sound like a broken record, I haven't been able to reply to every comment and email, but I hope to remedy that situation over the rest of this week, barring any further skunk incidents...let's hope I didn't just jinx myself!

I was lucky enough to win a few awards last week, so I'll be back soon to share them with you!  Have a wonderful week my friends!

Sick As A...

Thanks everyone for your wonderful comments about my 1 year blog anniversary, reading them has been better than a big bowl of chicken noodle soup!

And speaking of chicken noodle soup, I could use a whole vat of the stuff!  Both my son and I have come down with some sort of nasty virus, the kind you get after spreading yourself too thin during the holiday season.  The kind that sneaks up on you and makes you say things like "I feel sick as a dog," and makes you wish you owned a big red water bottle with its very own sweater!

Thankfully, these guys are not sick as dogs.  And also thankfully, Mr. Tide has been around to help out by doing EVERYTHING around here, including answering my work emails...I have to admit, he does make a pretty cute secretary!

For now I'll be snuggling up with these guys under warm blankets, drinking copious amounts of tea, and wondering how people can subsist on daytime television??!!!  Maybe tomorrow I'll feel good enough to fire up my laptop and catch up on what's been going on in the world...maybe.  For now I'm headed back to bed.

I hope all is well in your world, and that you stay healthy!

Out Of Pocket

Miss Kylee:  Ok, so here's the deal.  Yesterday our company left and that makes me sad because those other people who were here always give me extra belly rubs.

Misty Belle:  I agree Ky, those people who I think are Daddy's parents were nice and even held me sometimes.  And I was a good girl and only jumped on them some of the time...ok only when I knew my paws were really wet and snowy!!!

Mom says the creek is really frozen, more than it's ever been since they've lived here.  Bugs left his fishing stuff outside, I guess he's going ice fishing sometime soon.

Misty Belle:  This is the frozen stuff they keep talking about, it's called ice.  And I really liked trying to walk on it which kind of almost gave mom a heart attack, so a few days before Christmas they called in the fence guy and now I can't get to the water anymore.  Mom is happy about that, but I am NOT!

Over Christmas we had lots of yummy food, but it was really cold and snowy and the winds were ferocious!  We did get lots of great presents though, all of us dogs got treats and new toys, and the humans all got really cool stuff for me to try and chew on!

Mom and dad took us for lots of walks in the snow and that was fun, but very cold!

Miss Kylee:  It was cold Misty, and very windy, I agree.  But as you can see behind me, a lot of the snow has melted and the temperatures are rising.  By the end of the week it will be 50 degrees.!

Mr. Quinn:  Today mom is doing laundry and cleaning up the house...we shed a lot!  And she hasn't been doing anything on the computer, which has been nice because that means she's been spending a lot of time hanging out with us.

 And letting me do lots of this, which I love!  Snow is delicious!

Really...I hope it doesn't all melt too soon.  I like having my very own icy machine in the backyard...

Misty Belle:  I hope everyone out there had a great Christmas...we sure did, well except for one small problem.  It seems that mom and dad have developed a little bit of an addiction to the show Ugly Betty.  Angelfish brought home season 1 for us to watch and now mom and dad can't stop watching it!

Actually I don't really mind, I like it too, as long as I get my food I'm ok with them watching it.  So Angelfish could you PLEASE come home this weekend and bring season 2?!  If not I think mom and dad might start going through withdrawals...thanks a bunch!

Oh, and one more thing...

Mom's photos of the Ekster Barn Sale are featured in Romantic Country's story on the best barn sales across America.  She's super excited about how the spread turned out, and loves the whole Spring 2011 issue, the magazine is available in stores now!!

True Love

I love this picture of Mr. Tide and Misty Belle.  She was learning the "come" command when I took this, and just a few seconds after I snapped the picture she came bounding over to see me.

Can a puppy who has only lived with you for a little over a week be such a part of your family already?....in a word YES!

I wish you all a stress free week!!!

You Raise Me Up

The last few days have been rough here at LTHS.  Tears have been shed, bonds have been formed (some faster than others), and time marches on.

Thanks to Connie, Susan, Audrey, and Dianna, who listened to me sort everything out during my rambling phone calls, we have turned a corner. 

I know many of you know that Miss Kylee is ill with congestive heart failure, but I'm happy to report that she is doing much better thanks to some adjustments to her medications!

When I decided to end my blog I was overwhelmed with an older sick dog, and a new puppy who wasn't exactly welcomed into the pack at first by a certain Mr. Quinn.

I was in tears at the thought of having to take this sweet face back to the breeder.  It's amazing how one little puppy can steal your heart in such a short time.

And I think I was just overwhelmed in general by trying to keep too many plates spinning in the air.  When you do that, some are bound to come crashing down, and they did last weekend.

Your emails, offers of help, and prayers made all the difference for all of us.  I'm happy to report that everyone is now fine in this family of 4 plus 3 dogs, so Misty is here to stay!!!

I also realized some things over the past 5 days...I'm not superwoman.  I don't have a cape or cool gold bracelets and I can't be all things to all people.  I have to take care of my pets first and foremost right now, so blogging will be a sideline, not my life as it's been for the past 10 months.

I think that those of us who enjoy and take pride in our blogs (and I would have to say that that is 99.9% of those who do blog) sometimes find ourselves a little stressed and stretched.  We want to reply to each and every comment and feel guilty when we can't...even hunting to try and find someone's email address when we get the no-reply comment thing.

We put pressure on ourselves to craft, create, and produce quality posts...sometimes at the expense of ourselves.  We try diligently to visit other bloggers and comment on their wonderful posts, even when we don't necessarily have the time.

But this face needs me, and so do the other two furry faces in my family at the moment.  So I will try and undo the past almost 47 years of woman training.  The training that makes some of us put ourselves last and feel bad for not being able to be all things to all people.

I came to all of this because you all have raised me up over these past few days and reminded me that you won't be upset if I can't comment on every post you write, even if I do read them.  That you'll still be ok if I don't post as often...because you are me, you've been in my shoes, and you understand! 

Your wonderful emails and comments let me know this...so thank you to each of you for that wonderful support!!!

Mr. Tide is an amazing man, and when I shut down my blog he asked me why I was doing it.  I told him that I needed to concentrate on real life at the moment and although he knew it was true, he said "but you love doing your blog, so I think you should reconsider and just not post as much."

I was adamant that if I couldn't do it all the way, full force, and put everything I had into it then what was the point?!  Can you say "Type A" to the max?!

I mean the holidays are coming, there are things to be done and a lot on my plate right?!

And then I got a lovely package in the mail today.  I had been expecting it and was anxiously awaiting its arrival from Wales.  I had purchased these lovely handmade tags from my dear friend Sam's Etsy Shop!

Sam, who also has the wonderful blog The Nest,  had sent me an email letting me know that she had shipped these wonderful tags, which I can't wait to use on a special tree this year, and she also said there would be a little surprise coming as well.

An early Christmas present of sorts, and she told me that the surprise wouldn't be for me...so of course I was intrigued and couldn't wait for the package to arrive.

When I got home this afternoon there was the package waiting in my mailbox.  I raced inside to see what the surprise might be.  Inside were the lovely tags I had ordered and several packages wrapped in brown paper.  There was also a sweet handwritten letter from Sam telling me that when her children, Seth and Lily, had seen the pictures of Misty they wanted to send her something.

The note went on to say that they couldn't just send Misty something without sending something for Miss Kylee and Mr. Quinn. 

So there they were...three packages with darling handwritten tags from kind and caring children who had never met my dogs, or me!

There was a pig for Mr. Quinn, that actually sounds like a pig when you squeeze it!

And a duck for Miss Kylee, which sounds just like a duck!

The last package was for little Misty Belle.  It was a soft furry duck or maybe it's a goose, who cares which it is, all I know is it was the cutest, softest puppy toy I'd ever seen in my life!!!

It brought tears to my eyes and for the first time in 5 days I felt like everything was going to be ok...not just ok, but back to normal.

Some people may unfollow, or not comment, or even get mad when I can't reply or visit their blogs, but you know what, that's ok!  I have this face...

And this face to remind me that true friends are there no matter what, they truly do raise you up when you need it, and they are unconditional with their support and love.  It took two wonderfully generous children, (thank you Lily and Seth), who are miles away from me, and a deluge of support from wonderful blogging friends and my family to remind me of how very fortunate I am! 

I have also had some dear friends and fellow bloggers offer to guest post in order to keep the cobwebs at bay here on LTHS while I'm off tending the home fires...and I can't wait to see what wonderful things they'll create!

So if you're feeling a little stressed out, over taxed and guilty due to blogging...I highly recommend getting a puppy...it works wonders!  But if you aren't really up for the whole puppy thing, just learn to let some of it go, and wait to see who raises you up...it will amaze and surprise you, I promise!

Until whenever my friends...

Bull in a China Closet

So glad you all liked my little mason jars filled with twinkle lights from last year!  I have to give credit where credit is due though, my sister "M" is the one who inspired me to try it.  She puts a bowl full of lights on the mantle in her living room each year, and it really is lovely!

Today was a good day...I got things ticked off the "to do" list, including a story that was due, and I even made homemade beef stew for dinner!  And I never got out of my sweats...you gotta love a day like that!

Every time I got up to let the dogs out today, I would catch a flash of movement off to my left over near the field.  After seeing it several times, I finally paused long enough to look outside before heading out and saw this on the fence.  It was a small hawk who was happily hunting the large open field next to us and then coming back to feast on whatever he found while sitting on one of our fence posts.

Now, like any good blogger, or maybe a crazed photographer, I grabbed my camera and frantically attached my telephoto lens.  I wish I had a better telephoto lens (add it to my wish list of photography equipment) or maybe a steadier hand, but I was happy with how close I was able to get to this little fella since he was very far away!

The look on his face pretty much says it all though, I'm thinking his inner monologue was something like "what the heck is that, and why is it moving towards me?!"

So in the blink of an eye, off he flew to higher ground, and he even put his back to me as a kind of message...saying "hey I'm trying to make a livin' here...give a guy a break would ya and go back inside!"

Mr. Tide informed me when he got home that our little visitor was an American Kestrel Hawk.  It's one of the smallest hawks in North America and it really was beautiful!

Of course when I go outside I have a whole entourage.  And see the look on Miss Kylee's face?  That's the crazy look every Border Collie learns to use to scare the sheep and get them to move.  It's also quite effective at getting all wildlife to scatter when she comes outside!

Mr. Quinn isn't afraid of Kylee's "collie eye," but he still insists on coming out just to make sure that he scares away anything she misses!

Add in the fact that the cable guys were here burying cable and that means loud barking and more scattering of wildlife...are you getting the picture yet...think bulls in a china closet!

The other part of my entourage is this one.  Actually I told him to come outside to see the hawk so he doesn't really count as being an uninvited disruptor of nature!  He mostly walks quietly down to the dock and checks the fishing prospects.

After the two furry ones had scared away everything from herons to Larry the cable guy, I was left with these birds, who seemed oblivious to two very noisy humans and their dogs.

I even had to wander around to get a better shot of them, and they just continued to sit and sing.

These birds sat way high up in our dead tree and sang the most unusual songs.  I've never really heard anything like it, and I don't recall ever seeing this type of bird in our yard before, so maybe they stopped by on their migration elsewhere?!

If anyone is familiar with these unusual little birds I would love to hear what their name is, they really are perfect looking autumn birds with their black, brown, and gold coloring!

Tomorrow I'm off to a photo shoot...and I get to go out to lunch, looks like another good day!  I hope you have a wonderful Wednesday too!!