Boundless Joy

If you are a dog owner you have probably noticed that your furry friend loves nothing more than running around wild and untethered, romping with their brethren, getting down to their true roots of being one within a pack.

The best place for our dogs to get this enjoyment?  The dog park!

Unless, of course, you live on multiple acres and have a whole crapload of dogs, then you can just stay home.

A couple of weeks ago I went along with the fam to the dog park Jimmy and Strudel love.  It's nothing fancy... just a large pond in the middle and then grass surrounding it in an oval.  Lots of room for the dogs to stretch their legs and the more aquatically inclined can get their swim on.

Look at the beautiful pit bull puppy.  Aw, they are so cute and innocent looking at this age!

(Please click the photos to enlarge.  It really pisses me off how small the "large" setting is, and how huge the "extra large" setting is.)

I tried my camera's continuous photo setting for the first time and holy crap, I didn't realize it takes a picture like every millisecond!  I had to delete no less than 200 pictures when I got home.  But, it was pretty neat to find this series of pictures, showing Strudel shaking off the water.

I was mesmerized by this one black lab named Duke.  I don't think I've ever seen a dog more in love with the water, or with as much stamina.  For a full hour he did nothing but swim out to get the tennis ball and bring it back to his human.  So well trained and gorgeous.

Mikayla got this quick clip of him.  Look at how intent he is on his human and the ball.  The other dogs are running all over the place and he doesn't even give them a glance.







Gotta love that belly flop!

Strudel has such a great time running with the other dogs. In fact, she tends to run herself into exhaustion, and once in a while she just has to plop her furry ass down and take a breather. Let the other dogs sniff her while she stretches out. It doesn't matter to her that she's stretching out in muddy water, or that it is absolutely frigid.






She reminds me of a gator the way she pulls herself along while still lying down. But then... she's off again!

Remember what she looks like after a romp in the park when Daddy has been too lazy to give her a bath?

Well, when Mommy is there she makes sure we make use the accommodations.  And don't let the picture fool you.  I basically took over from there.  Jimmy is too squeamish to clean Strudel's girly parts.

That water too is completely freezing, but at least it's clean and when she comes home and dries off she looks more like this.

And yes, she does have a leash on while in the house.  It's rarely off of her lately because with it on, when she takes something she's not supposed to, sometimes we get lucky and as she's running away we step on the leash and she's stopped in her tracks.  More times than not though, I'm made to chase her round and round in a circle trying to get whatever it is she's grabbed.  There have been some close calls when I've stuck out my leg to step on the leash and have nearly landed myself in a fat lady split.  

I'll leave you with that delightful imagery. 

Pssst! If you love me, you might love my stupid sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!

Remember Me? The Fanatic Farmer?

While farming certainly has me in its grips, I’ve also had a bit of other stuff going on here, though nothing exciting, unfortunately. Let’s see what I can find to tell you.

Well, Madison started swimming lessons last week. She’s just doing two 4-day weeks and really, I think that may be all she needs. She’s only had 3 lessons so far and already she’s getting really good at the strokes the instructor taught her. She knew how to doggy paddle and float already, but it was time to get her learning how to actually swim.

Here are a couple of pics of her at the pool up at our amenities center.

I took a short video on her first day of lessons so Jimmy could see how well she was already doing.

Also snapped some pics of our amenity center to show how nice it is. This is the view of the clubhouse from where I was sitting.

Under the pergola is where the kiddie pool is.

View from the other side of the pool, looking past to the golf course.

A special treat was in store for the girls this past week because my in-laws took them for a 2-night stay on St. Simons island in GA. They picked them up on Thursday and for the next two days they boogie board-ed in the surf, swam in the hotel pool, shopped, ate at cool country restaurants and just had a great time with Mom-Mom and Pa. They both came back tanned and not burned, which is always a good thing!

But before they left cool mom (that's me) got out the pink hair dye and put streaks in their hair. I didn’t get any pictures of Mikayla but here’s Madison.

Unfortunately, with all the swimming they did the dye didn’t last long. Guess I’ll have to go buy something a bit more permanent so my girls can be hip and trendy.

Last week also turned out to be the week of the falling teeth, as both Madison and Mikayla each lost two teeth within 3 days. The Tooth Fairy really had to hustle let me tell you. Well, not for Mikayla as she’s past that age.

Yep, I see a lot of cosmetic dentistry in Madison’s immediate future. She’s really got the funkiest tooth arrangement. And you see that one small, pointed tooth on top? That’s an adult tooth! It came in in the shape of an upside-down candy corn and will definitely need to be capped. We affectionately call it her snaggletooth.

Last week we brought Strudel to a dog park for the very first time. I hated the place. It was dirty and muddy and not at all what I had hoped for. There were also only two dogs there for her to play with and they were both huge! One, a white pitbull (and oh how I hate those dogs) thought it was super fun to tackle Strudel Doo and put her head in his mouth like a furry squeak toy.





Then, when this beast was too hot and tired to eat my puppy anymore, he decided to lay down in a mud puddle. I thought it was rather cute, but his owner? Not so much. So, great guy that he was, he started smacking the poor thing with its leash and yelling at him to get out of the puddle. See how I got a shot of the leash going at the dog? I was PISSED and really wanted to say something. Nothing like taking a known aggressive breed of dog and disciplining in an aggressive way. Idiot.

The other dog there was a ginormous chocolate lab named Cooper. Now, as soon as I laid eyes on him I knew there was something not quite right with him. Sure, labs can get big and boxy but I have never seen one as tall as Cooper. When I asked his human about it he told me that the vet (same as mine) said it looks like Cooper got an extra Y chromosome and that’s why he’s so huge. Thank goodness he was sweet.

By the time we left Strudel was panting like crazy and covered in mud. Because she was so dirty Jimmy made her sit way in the back of the truck, where she commenced to give us doleful, pitiful looks. But dang, look at how cute she is! Could her tongue be any bigger?

By the way, Strudel has a new passion. Dogsters peanut butter ice cream for pups. Oh how she loves it!

So there. Now that you’re totally bored out of your mind my work is done and I can go forth and farm some more. I happen to be in good company though. Krista, from Grand Pooba; Sister Jill, from Jill’s Believe it or Not; BJ, from Sweet Nothings; (if you can believe it!) Terrie from Terrie’s Little Piece of Serenity; Cathy from As the World Flops; Ginger, from The Gingerbread Shed; Michele, from Country Vintage ; Rachelle, from Joey’s Walk; Becky, from Beckie’s Blurbs; Jill, from Jill Jill Bo Bill; and, drum roll please… Miss Crumpet herself, from the Blah Blah Blah Blog. They’re all farmers! We all wear the same overalls and we all spend way too much time plowing, planting, harvesting, and planting trees and flowers.

So here’s my question: Which of you are next?

So! The next time you dare to call me insane for my farming addiction, just keep in mind that I’m in very good company.

I'm a ho with a hoe and I'm damn proud of it! So much so that I took a screen shot of what my farm currently looks like. That's right. I rock the farm world!





Pssst! If you love me, you might love my sister more. Go visit her at Jill's Believe it or Not, and tell her I sent you!