August .

Doug where have I been, congrats Gramps :)  Hope all is well with puppers and peoples  

Not too much happening here. We have the annual Firemen's Fair today, which means I'll have clamcakes for lunch :-) The tomatoes are ripening and are yummy and I need to make a batch of dilly beans. The dogs are all doing well. Rock visited "his peeps" yesterday for pet therapy work.

Minnesota is in a rain cycle I don't remember ever seeing. A couple of days nice, then a deluge. Repeat again and again. The gentle rain is about half an inch per hour. The lawn looks great, the garden is doing really great, the new highway is not progressing quickly.. Grape harvest was disappointing. Beautiful grapes, just not many. Wife has canned several batches of tomatoes and we have lots of new pickles.

I have been getting comments about Sky lately. A lot about how pretty he is, but more and more about how polite and well trained he is.

Lowes hardware is putting in doggy play equipment at our bug dog park. A tunnel, a table, V ramp, teeter board and maybe weave poles. A donation from Lowes. One of the volunteers said that Lowes was dog friendly. Nice to know on a hot summer day.

I used to take Shadow to Lowes quite often.  It was a perfect place for training.  Doug..I just received a huge download of Idog posts, from all the way back to March.  Not a problem but I am glad to see them, I was wondering why I never got any notices anymore.  Miss dog.com .  

Kate, what are "dilly beans"?  

Oh my while I was reading all my recent Idog downloads I see the Crysania dropped by and introduced Ben.  I always had a love for her Dalhia, if your out there .....congrats on Ben.

OMG!!  The forum is still here!!  I got around 150  notifications this morning!!  Thrilled!!!

Me, too Glenda -- Hi folks, yes I'm still around.  If anyone needs it my email is still callieatcritturs@yahoo.com.  

I got many notices as well and wondered what was up with that.

I hadn't seen any notifications in almost a year.  

Me too!  Hi guys surly have missed everyone :)

It's almost apple picking time.  The Honey Crisp trees are loaded.  A big branch broke under the weight.  The first one I ate today tasted like a Honey Crisp.  The second tasted like a green Honey Crisp.  With lots of rain, cool weather, and lots of sun, the grass is just thick.  I mow twice a week, and the mower still has to work hard to get through it.

Thanks to highway work, my closest WMA (the one with a clean creek) is now a twenty mile drive.  Used to be a mile and a half, but the new highway is a work in progress, the original detour plan involved the new unfinished bridge, and now it means driving all the way around the lake.  The Mankato dog park is a shorter drive, and Sky has a few friends there to play with..

It's good to see some familiar names again.  The place was getting lonely.

I had honestly crawled into my shell -- sciatica has had me more 'in' the wheelchair than out in the last  16 months.  2016 has thus far been even more difficult that 2015.  

I lost my Dad (at 91) last October.  My Mom (altho blind with macular degeneration) did unbelievably well alone (she totally feared to an unhealthy degree having to go to a nursing home).  She went to a dr. visit (for her eyes, of course) the beginning of May and the idiot dr. was renovating his offices -- Mom sat there in paint, glue, & sawdust fumes for 3 hours waiting for the dr.  That triggered a massive asthma attack that night, v-fib heart problems as result of the  "breathing treatments" to get the asthma to stop ... one thing led to another and another in and out and in and out of hospital and 3 weeks later she had a series of mini strokes (the dr. called it "a stroke that didn't end";)  and she passed at 90 on May 30.    

Soon as I got back to FL after that funeral they slapped *me* in the hospital again for another week to get iIV abx for cellulitis.  I'm an only child (read "executrix and everything else ) and living in Florida and trying to  do both estates .  That's just way way way too darned much "whining" than I like to do so I stick to my IMHA stuff  and I haven't been friendly for the most part..  

Luna, Tink and Charlie are doing fine (thank heavens).   After 4 years with us Charlie feels comfortable enough to say "no"  and be spaniel-style "stubborn" .  That doesn't mean he gets away with anything, BUT it's wondreful  to see him be unafraid  to be himself.    

Tink is still everbuddy's cuddle bunny.  Luna's 14 now and plays less, and likes her comfort -- so Tink and Charlie are typically spooned around each other .  

Doug the apples sound SO good.  (turst me - they just don't grow good apples down here in sand in Florida!)  In the 34 years I've lived in Florida I can honestly say this is the FIRST year when the  hot & humidity truly, really have been a p.i.t.a. (and every other part of my anatomy!)

I'm looking forward to November I think ... now If I can just light a fire under the idiot attorney in Jamestown, so I can settle the estate and sell the house maybe David and I could relax!!

I am so sorry for your losses Callie and I feel like a terrible friend for not checking on you more often.  I know how long it  takes to settle these things and how stressful it can be, hope you and David get some time to rest soon.  My mom had 3 years between her parents (my grandparents) but it seemed like forever before she was even able to grieve.  At least you have some knowledge of the law which helps you understand the "lingo".  

Give lots of hugs to Charlie Tink and Luna.    Hot Shot is around 11.  Started having some issues in the last month with getting up and down.  We have had some fronts moving in and out so Ron and  I have been having those same issues.  Too bad he cant tell me what feels good as we have tried a few things.   I did buy him some nonskid booties but they are too small....XL... :).  Will have to try another brand that I can measure his paw for the perfect fit.   Not sure what I can give him for relief but did give him some Valerian root last night and he slept better.

Glenda you will be please to hear that Garth is finally getting to pay attention ..well when he wants to anyway...   Trying some  sound and hand signals for sit and down.  Doing quite well but we have such a long way to go, I am just glad he is finally settling enough to listen.

Doug, I love honey crisp and pink lady apples.   Don't have them around here., although we do live in a part of Arkansas that was very famous and grew quickly because of the apple orchards in the early years.  

Sorry you were feeling so alone. Doug we will have to not let that happen anymore.

Callie: Sorry about your folks.  Lost mine a few years ago, and got to be executor.  A real no win job.

I was going to say if you ever just drive by and see the apples, stop and help yourself.  But with the new highway, you don't just drive by.  You plan.  You print a map.  You should call ahead.  The main highway . running east-West, is blocked off just outside of town at both ends.  The detour is 20 miles to go west, about 5 miles to go east.  Every time it rains, the construction process stops for a few days--and it rains every few days.

Fortunately with all the rain, we have a bumper crop of mosquitos also.  50 species of mosquitos in MN, and they all like my backyard after dark.

Announcing the birth of several hundred gold fish.  Our pond fish liked the plants we supplied this year, and we have a nice selection available right now.