My Kind of Flowers...

Hubby always tries to pick interesting places to go when we are on vacation. He surprised me on this vacation with stops at two places -- Vermont Daylilies and teatime at Perennial Pleasures!

Vermont Daylilies was beautiful and incredibly overwhelming. They had so many different daylilies and I tried to take pictures of the ones we liked the most in hopes that we could order when we got home. After our stop at Vermont Daylilies, we went to Perennial Pleasures where we had afternoon tea! We even ate cucumber sandwiches. There is also a nursery and garden there so we walked around and admired all the phlox that was blooming in time for their Phlox Festival.

I have to admit that despite all the pretty flowers we saw, these are the ones that caught my eye. I saw them at Green Mountain Fibers and Yarn

Aren't they pretty?

Vermont Signage

On our way to one of the hiking trail heads, we drove through some road construction. The sign made me laugh so I had to take a picture of it. I especially liked the smiley face.

There are always signs along hiking trails but usually they just tell you things like which trail to take and how long it is to the destination. This particular trail had more helpful signs like Best Way In and Out. It reminded me of my favorite ski sign -- Easier Way.

But despite the helpful "Best Way" signs, we had a really hard time finding the Devil's Den. We found the sign but the actual den was not easy to find. And once we did find it, it was tinier than we thought -- once upon a time it was a smuggler's cave and now it is just the "Devil's Den" with no big screen tv or comfy recliner.

Safety First

It is a 6+ hour car ride to Vermont. Last year, both Harley and Ava sat all the way in the back of our Rav4 and we jammed all our packing into the backseat. This year we decided to put all our stuff in the back, Harley in the backseat and Quail at my feet.

I always worry when Harley rides in the backseat because if we come to a sudden stop, he could slam into the back of the front seats or even worse, fly between the two front seats and through the windshield. So I bought him a doggie seat belt.

It latches into the seat belt so when the seat belt locks, he stays put since he has a harness on and the harness is attached to the seat belt. There is enough give for him to be able to stand up, lie down and turn around if he wants to. He's not the type to pace back and forth in the backseat while the car is moving probably because we never let him do it as a pup. Actually, none of our dogs have ever been allowed to roam around the car while the car is in motion because they were raised to ride in cars as guide dogs.

At first Harley was not happy with the harness. I don't think it's because of the lack of freedom but more that he had to wear something that he wasn't used to. When we first put it on him, he wouldn't look at us. He gradually got used to it and now he is just okay with it. Maybe one day he will realize that the harness means a car ride and he won't mind at all.

Quail's spot in the car ride to Vermont was at my feet on the passenger side floor. This is where the Seeing Eye wants their dogs to sit. It's actually pretty safe because if we come to a sudden stop, there really isn't anywhere for her to go. In an accident, a dog sitting on the front passenger seat will probably either fly through the windshield or be killed when the airbag goes off.

People always ask me how our dogs can fit in that spot when I am sitting there. Quail is on the small side at only 50 pounds but even Harley can sit there with me and he is 75 pounds. If hubby was sitting in the passenger seat, it would be tight with a dog at his feet but it is still doable.

Vermont Mud Facials

You would think that August would be a slow month but it is always one of my busiest. We were in Vermont at the end of July and when we came back, I had my Summertime Crop Til You Drop to plan for plus the Middlesex County Fair to go to. Then I had a week to catch up before my sister and her family came to stay for a week.

I'm backtracking a few weeks to when we were in Vermont with this adorable picture of Quail -- since she's a girl, she's very concerned with her looks. She thinks mud facials are great for her skin and fur. What do you think?

I watched her as she sniffed out the huge puddle of mud and then she slowly dunked her head in to above her eyebrows before looking back at me so I could take a picture. Then she went up to show Ed -- I wasn't going to go near her until she shook all that mud off! EW!!!

Dieting ain't easy

No, I am not on a food diet (although I do watch what I eat). I am trying to be very good and stick to a yarn diet because my yarn closet (which I have to admit is a decent size) is rapidly reaching FULL! There is a lot of yarn in there and if you are on ravelry.com, you can check out my stash.

However, yarn that is gifted does not count and when I woke up on Friday morning I found yarn in my crop room from the local bday elf (aka hubby).

Now I'm off to knit :-)

Earning her milk bones...

Our Seeing Eye puppy club does fundraising to help support the different trips the club goes on throughout the year. During the Middlesex County Fair, we have a booth out every night and this year we are selling tattoos (the kind that come off) of Seeing Eye puppies -- really, what else would you expect?

Quail did her share. She's been at the fair every night this week, sometimes with us and sometimes with another puppyraiser. Last night and tonight, someone else took her to the fair so she could put on her "Please buy a tattoo for a $1 because I'm so cute" face. I went to the fair late last night to pick her up and by the time 10 o'clock rolled around, she was asleep while people were petting her.

The fair plus the heat make her very tired which also means very well behaved!

She's even tired during the day at home! I could definitely get used to this :-)

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello

We were a 2 dog family for one hour on December 6, 2006. So far, it's the only time where we received a puppy the same day a puppy left.

Anita was a tiny little thing -- I always forget how small they are when they arrive. She was also our first girl -- I had requested a little yellow girl and I got one! Our Seeing Eye Puppy Coordinator was nice enough to stay for about an hour and chat with us so we could have both Harley and Anita at the same time.

Harley was very curious about Anita and Anita was a little nervous so she hid behind hubby's work bag.

And yes, even though we now had a new puppy to cuddle and love, we still cried when Harley left. He was gone for 2 years and 2 days before he was returned to us and we were so happy to get him back.

So this post ends the walk down memory lane for Puppy Harley. Maybe I'll do another "oh, remember when" on his tenth birthday :-)

So Handsome...

He really did grow up and become a very handsome dog...even in his teen puppy months :-)

Studly from the Start

I guess Harley was always a stud puppy which is why he was perfect for the breeding program at the Seeing Eye :-)

Harley's getting a kiss from Chloe, a cute little pug that belongs to one of my friends. Harley was just a tiny bit bigger than her at the time.

Over Harley's first Christmas, we had another Seeing Eye puppy over for a few weeks. Her name was Elke and the two of them got along great. It was so cute to see them cuddling together.

We heard that up at the Seeing Eye Breeding Center, he was often found cuddling with Bridget, his kennelmate.

Baby it's cold outside...

Okay, it isn't cold outside at all but at least it is cooler than it has been. And it is perfect timing to show off pictures of puppy Harley playing in the snow! People would see the photo of Harley sitting next to the snowman and ask how I got him to sit with the snowman -- well, he does know his Seeing Eye commands -- Sit and Rest.

The picture of Harley with the snowman was taken December 2005 and the other two pictures were taken in February 2006 -- look how much he grew in just those few months!

We had a lot of snow when we had Harley as a pup. He had a grand time running around and basically playing by himself. He had a set of bright colored keys that he would toss around and then hunt for. We also played fetch with snowballs which is always fun when the snowball disintegrates on impact but one actually stayed intact and Harley fetched it for me. He was such a fun puppy but of course, they all are!