Beating The Heat...

...with a haircut!  Well, it's more than just a haircut.  Daddy dropped me off at the Groomer the other day and I had a lovely bath and pampering. As you can see from my "before" photo, I needed it!  Here's my "after" photo.

As you can see, I was very happy afterwards.  I've been able to enjoy a little time outside a lot more with all that extra hair off.  But not much, though.  Daddy and Aunt Pat won't let me stay outside for too long since it's been so hot.  And, we haven't been able to go for as many walkies as usual.  I make sure I get into the shade...once I've had some time sunning myself.  But, Aunt Pat will shoo me into the house, or else sprinkle me with water from the hose if she thinks I need to cool off.  Killjoy. 

Blessed!

I hope everyone is staying cool on this hot, hot day!  This heat is supposed to last all week.  So,  since we can't go walkies as much, I forced, err, I persuaded Aunt Pat to catch everyone up on some of the happenings around here.  You'll be seeing more frequent posts this week.  Anyway, as you can see from the above photo, I have some new jewelry.  No, I'm not talking about the yellow ID tag.  I've had that for years.  I'm talking about the cross!  About three weeks ago, Daddy took me to a church and I was blessed!  Aunt Pat was going to go with us, but she didn't feel well.  After a nice car ride, Daddy and I went into a large field at the back of a church.  I got to meet other dogs, cats, falcons, and turtles!  I had a good sniff of a small turtle, but I was a little leery of the bigger one.  I wasn't sure how friendly it really was.

Anyway, it was a really nice service.  There were hymns, readings from the Bible, and then the Pastor gave each of us a blessing, and the cross.  Once we got home, Aunt  Pat gave me a nice treat for being such a good girl.    

Just When Aunt Pat Thought It Was Safe...

...to have a garden, I prove that yes, dogs can remember things.  Every summer, Aunt Pat plants vegetables in the back yard.  In the past, she showed us what she grew, and gave us samples.  Well, Heidi and I were hooked after that.  Heidi showed me how to pick the beans off the plants...and pull the plants out of the ground if they weren't producing, as well as dig up carrots.  This season, Aunt Pat hoped that without Heidi around to instigate...as she called it, (like our sampling/pulling up the beans and plants was a bad thing?)she finally would have some beans and carrots for her and Daddy to enjoy.

Aunt Pat and Daddy will have some beans, but I didn't forget a thing!  It's my job to inspect everything around here to make sure it's nothing but the best for my family.  That includes sniffing out any problem plants in the garden...  

 And then pulling them out and eating them.  Heck, everyone needs a little more fiber in their diet, right?  Aunt Pat isn't too happy when I have bean leaves stuck on the side of my face. 

 Don't worry, I've left Aunt Pat with a few plants...for now.  Aunt Pat put tomato cages around a couple of her plants.  She said it was to protect them.  But, I know it wasn't from me.  For now, I keep checking the strawberries.  The ones we had earlier in the spring were much better. Probably because of all the rain we had.  The ones we have now are a little small, but I'll keep checking. The carrots are starting to come up, and our lettuce and tomatoes are growing nicely.  I don't sample the lettuce or the tomatoes or the basil.  There are some things even I don't particularly care for.     
   

Another Lovely Gift

We hope you're all having a lovely holiday weekend celebrating our hard fought independence.  I've been quite busy helping Aunt Pat in the garden, taking Daddy for walkies, and meeting so many new dogs and people in the neighborhood. 

 

Daddy came home from getting his and Aunt Pat's dinner recently with a package for Aunt Pat.  His artist friend that did the drawing of all of us from the Christmas photo did a drawing from one of Aunt Pat's favorite photos of Heidi. Heidi and Aunt Pat were very close, and Daddy knew how much she misses her.  We all miss Heidi, it's just been a little harder for Aunt Pat.  Plus, Aunt Pat hasn't been feeling that great lately, and not spending much time at the computer because of the migraines.  Anyway, when this photo was taken, they had just gotten a new dog bed and she was playing with the toy that came with it. 

You can see that the artist made some adjustments in the drawing.  He added the rainbow in the background for the Rainbow Bridge, along with the sun and the clouds she's resting on.  We all got rather emotional about it.  It's now hanging in the front bedroom/home office where Aunt Pat has her computer.