FUN!

Sahra and John traveled down from La Crosse this weekend with Lolli and Gwen and I had a blast!  It was basically just a relaxing weekend with just a trip into the local farmer's market.  The best parts of that trip were the blackberries and pecan caramel rolls along with a successful meet and greet of two of the rescue dogs.  Hope and Joy made their public debut at the marketplace and were a hit.  It always surprises me when the first person that sees them says "oh look, a Smooth Collie".  Alot of people don't know what they are or assume they are shaved down roughs.  Joy was hesitant at first but caught sight of a kid and drug Sahra over to say HI.  With every kid she met she relaxed just that much more.  Hope was the one I was concerned about especially with her limited eyesight.  Once again I am proven wrong by a dog.  Hope was the social butterfly and all but turned herself inside out to see the booths, the people, the kids and oh yea all those people.  She loves people and attention.  They made a fantastic impression, we got to tell the story of the nine rescued Collies and I gave out some business cards to people that may consider an adoption.  One especially wonderful lady who just lost her old dog was interested in becoming a foster home and I can't tell you how much rescue organizations of all breeds need more foster homes.  For breeders it's a great way to give back to the breed we love and from personal experience I can say that the dogs give me back so much more than I give them. 
We got to enjoy a few of the pecan rolls while watching the full first year of NCIS on DVDs.  Yep, a marathon of Mark Harmon and forensics interspersed with long walks, shaving poor Kit's testicles (it's to keep him cooler) running groups of dogs in the yards and kennels and oh yea eating.  I love it when Sahra visits.  She cooks.  Nuff said. 
We also celebrated Beijing's birthday that is on the 14th.  Three years old and celebrated with a candle in a meatloaf.  Yep, the dogs had a good time at the birthday.  You can see pictures on the Allstar Collies Facebook page.  We managed to shove Beijing, Gwen and Trace into party hats and onto kitchen chairs at the table. 
Oh and the garden is starting to produce!  We had zuchinni, onions and pea pods sauteed with our own meatloaf.  And today we put my fresh thyme in the swiss steak.  I see tomatoes getting ready to ripen and definitely more squash and peas to be picked tomorrow.  Oh and got to harvest some of my German Chamomille flowers to dry for the dogs. 
Until next time...