Falling leaves

The house is surrounded by trees that have leaves that want to stay on those branches for as long as they can. I must have raked what will be twenty huge leaf bags when bagged. But when I stretched and looked up, those tree branches held at least triple that amount or more. As for me, this is not fun but for the dogs...oh let those autumn games continue. We played jumped in the raked pile (I think I mentioned that one before as well as the lets toss the leaf up in the air and catch it) but we all played bite the rake, roll in the new pile and my all time favorite "Mom, please throw a rake full of leaves of in the air so I can try to catch them" - they are retrievers!

I love autumn but it is still damp and cold and cloudy. This is why I am out there today because the maritime weather station said we will be getting rain both Saturday and Sunday. Crisp autumn air is fun - cold, damp autumn air, not so much. Well, I am off to take a hot shower to warm up and then I will feed them, let them out again and then they will come in and pass out from all their autumn fun this afternoon. Have a great evening. God Bless and thank you for stopping by.

Crisp, cool air

My dogs love the autumn and winter temperatures. It brings new life to them, not that they needed this but they have more spring in their steps. In the backyard, they race around the boat in a circle at a speed one could not step into for fear of getting run over. There are new fall games (the winter ones will come). Leaves are thrown up into the air and re-caught with great delight. They think you rake piles just for them to run into and re-scatter the leaves everywhere. This is not one of my favorite games. I love how in tune dogs are to the change of seasons. Not just by the temperatures but by the new slate of activities!

I will not be able to add much more now. Have to celebrate Mom's birthday. They got her a card and flowers...only the best for Mom. Have a great evening everyone.
God Bless and thank you for stopping by.

Gloomy start

It still looks overcast here and trust me, that does not go unnoticed by the dogs. I open the door to let them out and they turn there heads around and look at me as if to say, "Oh no, more rain?", I wish they would understand that it is suppose to clear up but not sure they really understand that part. If I could go back in time for a job I would choose to be a weatherperson. It is the only job that I know of that they pay you that much money to be consistently wrong. Well off to the doctor's to have my hip checked and then back home to the dogs. Have a great day everyone and once again, thank you for stopping by.

PS Salty, Rosie, Bosun and Dory wish their mom a very Happy Birthday!

Rainy Days

With four dogs, rainy days are not my favorite. Four times the wet dog smell, four times the drying, four times the mud...YUCK! And to boot, last March on one of these illustrious rainy days my darling four charged into the kitchen from outside, proceeded to shake in harmony soaking everything in fifteen foot radius. I went to move out of the way, slipped on the rain-soaked floor and broke my hip...grrrrr. It is in these moments I think why four!

However, I try to remember how they love the water, love snow and are just having fun. When this doesn't work, I use the tried and true method of remembering God would never have given me more than I could handle (I did!).

Time to let the dogs out again in the rain for the after dinner romp. Have a great evening all and thank you so much for stopping by.

Mornings

There is nothing like waking up and remembering there are four adorable, furry and no longer little faces downstairs waiting for you to love them and feed them. (Not in that order!) I do not have children so this is as close as I will get to motherhood. I feel so needed and wanted and loved by them, it overwhelms me sometimes. I know there are people out there that will not understand this but that doesn't matter to me....I have four that do understand and they are the ones that count!

I come downstairs and they greet me with tails awaggin', lots of licks and that "oh boy, oh boy, food is coming! They love me unconditionally and without any bribes (have to admit I do keep a box of "lite" dog cookies within arm's reach). Unconditional love is a gift and I have it times four.
Many people thought my friend and I were nuts getting four dogs at once (have to admit there were fleeting moments that I thought we were nuts but they were fleeting) and it is not for the faint hearted. But you get use to it and the payback is tenfold.

I have to admit I always thought the job of motherhood (and I do mean the one with actual human children) was the most difficult job in the world. I still think mothers have the most difficult job in the world but in a very small way, I now understand what they mean by it is the most rewarding one, too.

Supper is in their bellies and I am free.

Now that I have customized this blog onto the real meat of it. Our dogs are Nordic Golden Retrievers, a breed not often heard of in the US. I had co-owned a dog with an elderly neighbor that we got a shelter and she turned out to be part Nordic. She was the most amazing and loving dog. When we knew we were going to lose her to cancer, my friend and I knew we would have to make sure our neighbor had some new playmates to ease the loss. We started out picking out two at the breeders and would up with four. Go figure. I still would recommend supporting your neighborhood shelter but because we wanted multiple dogs we were advised to use a breeder. Right or wrong we did. And now I would not change that for anything because, even though they can drive me crazy, I love all of them with my whole heart and I get love back from all four of theirs.

Being on the water is a very big part of both of our lives so it was most appropriate that we gave them seaworthy names. The are all related. They all have the same father (happy and busy fellow indeed) and then the eldest has one mother and the other three are from the same father.
Old Salty Dog is the oldest (we call him Salty), Compass Rose is next (we call her Rosie), then there is Bosun and Dory.

Well off to go outside and play with them. I will write more soon. Thanks for stopping by.

My first entry

It is here that I hope to learn how to blog and then share with all that view this the wonderous and joyful dogs that are in my life. My friend and I have four and at this point I call myself a puppy nanny. I will write more after I have had a chance to set everything up. Thank you for the visit and I hope you will come back and visit again soon.