(Don't look at my wrinkled tablecloth, Pete put it on when he saw it sitting there, I had just washed it)

Birthday started with this

and this.........(my favorite cake from Market of Choice, Pete asked for the chocolate covered strawberries on top)

Actually we ate the cake after dinner, when I got home we loaded into the car and went to "Standing Stone" for dinner, then went home and had cake!

Baby boy..............

And then the party continued on Monday evening with these gals.  Dinner at "Sesame", one of my favorite places in Ashland.

Very blessed to have such a great family and friends!

Guess who has a birthday...............me!

Happy to be alive and healthy!

Father's Day..........

Started with breakfast (he prefered at the table), I made buttermilk, pecan pancakes with a fruit salad, coffee, etc. 

I baked chocolate cream cheese cupcakes for later (not as great as I thought they would be, but good) and I made potatoes for the dinner potatoe salad.

One thing Pete wanted was a family outing and one place we (he) hadn't been to and wanted to go to was Applegate Lake, out in Ruch.  So we had a nice Sunday drive to the lake, let little miss out to swim a bit and explored the area. On the way back we found this great, old Covered bridge!  

 Back home to make dinner: babyback ribs and potatoe salad.  After time to relax!

Oh, and Pete's favorite gift............Rocky's report card!

The shade garden is coming along quite nicely.  We put a cheap little fencing around some of the planters where we've planted (small) stuff, so that Annie doesn't step on any of it. 

The Foxglove looks like it will really take off so I might have to be shifting things around. 

Early birthday gift from the "Vegas babes".  Dear Eileen is now working at Zappos.com and told me to make a "wish list".  Sooooo, this is what I got!  A Dooney, canvas bag.  I really love the inside too!!!!

 I received it just before leaving to work on Friday and emptied out my purse and stuffed this one!

Love it girls!!!!

A very Happy Father's Day to all you dad's out there, especially the big guy in my house and my dear uncle and godfather, who I miss so much.....

Happy Birthday to GF Kristi, and many more!

Are you tired of seeing me yet?

Mom can't stop kissing me and taking pictures.  I think she likes me.  All I know is that I don't want to leave this place because I'm in puppy heaven!

Mom, takes me (or I take mom) on a mile walk, well, pretty much she's walking on the path and I'm flying (literally) back and forth through the fields chasing birds, squirrels, whatever is hiding in the drifts of brush.  I never could have imagined all the things I would see and do. 

After the walk, mom gives me my breakfast and a vitamin (whatever that is) and makes herself a latte (whatever that is).  If it's warm out, she has her coffee on the porch and then I have some play time on the porch! 

After that she gets on this machine that makes her walk again (humans are strange), I can't figure out how to get on the machine with her so I keep bringing her my toys so that we can play but I think it's mom time, so I go lay down and wait until she's done.  Sometimes I'll hear Dad or brother, Rocky moving around and I'll go see what they are doing.  After, mom hops into the shower and I get to lick the water that's splashing on the bottom of the shower door.  If Dad doesn't call me to go out with him, I just hang around and watch mom get ready for work.  Wish she didn't have to go so we can play more. 

One thing I did figure out is that a couple of days during the week she's home all day and gets to spend it with me!!!!!

Right now I'm outside with dad while dad is mowing and riding a big contraption that's knocking down those great drifts of brush!  Hey, how are the critters going to play hide and seek with me!  I better go chat with dad about that................woof!

Annie's new collar arrived and yes, it's hot pink!  Finally a girl and a different color. 

Shadow had the same collar that Santa brought him one year in red. 

I purchased these from Petco.com and hit a great sale with free shipping, I think the collar (embroidered) was something like $11.00. 

It's a little big on Ms. Skinny-Minnie but I know she'll grow into it. 

I received her medical records on Friday and as of May 21st she was only 45 lbs.! Oh, and her birthday is July 22nd!

So much planting.........but I'm almost done!  Just keep coming up with more stuff.  At first I was hesitant in what to put in some of the planters, because of the deer, then I went to my neighbor's home and saw what works.  Yes, off I went on Saturday for more plants (and probably back again this weekend, for the last of it). 

On Sunday, Pete and I stopped at Home Depot (he: for the wood shed roofing, me: a pot to put the New Zealand Sundowner Flax in).  Then we stopped at Walmart to get some cheap little fencing (you know the kind that's about 10 feet long comes in white, wire), just want to make sure Annie doesn't step on the new little stuff.  Oh, and while we were there I bought petunias to fill the 2 hanging planters when you drive up.

This year I planted fuchsias in the 2 hanging pots but it was getting too sunny and hot for them so I transplanted the 2 into 1 (to make it look fuller) and put that pot on the porch.  After that Pete said, now what are you going to put there?  I said nothing.  Well, after looking at the spots it looked really empty, oh, well 2 more things to plant! 

Of course I don't have photos of neither of those pots.

These are a couple that were already started. 

The Azalea in the pot with the lobelia is not doing that well, probably need to move this one too.

That tall stuff in the middle of those petunias is a flax that will bloom purple and mauve flowers.

Oooou fun, but what am I supposed to do with that stick?

Okay, dad I like that, again!

Ooooou, these waves are fun!

Faster than a speeding bullet!

I am Annie, water retriever!

Sunday morning we got up, had a light breakfast and ran over to Emigrant Lake to see if Annie was a swimmer.  It didn't take her long to figure out how to fetch and to really get in the water.

Poor Shadow, was never really into the water.  He liked soaking his feet in an occasional creek or two, but that was about it. 

At one point she was running so fast Pete said he thought she was going to catch fire - lol! 

On a sad note.......when we tried to get her into the truck she didn't want to get in, she didn't want to go anywhere.  I felt so sad for her, I think she thought we were going to transport her to some other home.  Poor little thing, for 3 weeks she was transported around a few times. 

We are going to start taking her on small trips, grocery store, etc. so that she'll know that she is returning home.  My heart was aching for her...........

Happy Opening!

Today is the official opening of the Elizabethan (outdoor) Theater at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.  We are officially in full bloom now.  The Green Shows have started (free show before the theater performances) and everyone is officially working now (lots of Seasonal employees).  

This is a big day here! 

The Season officially starts in February, but only opens up with 4 plays.  Plays are added on and with the opening of the outdoor theater, the Shakespearean plays are officially on, 3 to be exact.  Each season runs 4 Shakespearean plays, the rest are new works, and other plays.  This year the Season ends October 31st.  

Now, it will be really crazy, can't say it hasn't been already since 2 weeks ago we were at 100%! I have not seen that since I've been working there (2006).  Hard to believe there is still an economic crisis out there.  

(another little secret.........I'm getting a 3% raise and it's retroactive to November, it will be in next week's pay stub!)  

Photos of Annie's first day at "Casa La Pierre".

Lucky!

I really need to shout this out. We have found the best puppy!   She is such a lovey, dovey, sweetie.  She is house broken, knows many commands, is not bouncing off the walls (for her age), and has good manners.  We need to work with the leash and we're working with her staying out of the dining room during meals, but she is picking that up easily.

We thought that we would be leashing her for quite a while but we've been able to walk her (on the property)and let her run around, she will run right back to us when called.  Of course she's a puppy and loves to play! Lots of toys and chews everywhere. 

She's a skinny little thing.  She has feathers on her hind quarters and a little on her front legs and her tail is quite bushy, but she does need to fill in a little and she will, it takes a while.

She loves to eat and when she hears any kind of bag starts running to you, thinking she's getting something.

I just know that Shadow would have loved her!  Of course he would have gotten her in trouble by taking her to some of his "spots".

This morning she and I took a little hike and coming back up the neighboring road she was pooping out and kept stopping and sitting, so funny, I was worried because I was so pooped out (it was a steep road).  We finally found a way to get back on the property and she flew to the porch, knowing where she was. It is so much fun to watch her prancing in and out of all the tall stuff that is everywhere right now.

Lizzie seems to be taking to her as much as she will at this time.  You see Lizzie does not like dogs that "bounce" off the walls, and she's not seeing that with Annie in the house, so I guess she's thinking she's not that bad.  Annie is cautious of Lizzie, and with good reason.  The 3 of us actually spent some time this morning in the same rooms! 

I'll post some photos tomorrow, need to get home and see my puppy!

Pete and I are leaving bright and early to meet Joy Samuelson in Eugene, who is fostering this sweet 10 month old Golden Retriever named "Annie", who will be our forever pet. 

The Rescue I volunteer for has agreed to let me adopt her, although we have no fencing.  Pete has made some "gates" for our porch, until she is trained and gets used to us.  We will walk her on a leash, but she can run around on the porch (since there's plenty of that) and we can toss the ball there and when we're hanging out (tis the season) we won't have to worry about her getting away. 

It's been a long time since we've had a puppy: Frosty and Shadow were around 18 months old when we got them.  Tedi (our first child) was a puppy, but that was 1985! 

I ordered a PINK collar with her name and our phone# and I went to Petsmart to buy some "hard" toys for the little princess. 

Sure hope the Queen (Lizzie) approves.........

We all are very excited!

For you scrapbookers, Ranger Products now has a blog!   www.blog.rangerink.com 

Retreat Weekend - woohoo!  My bags are packed and I'm ready to go.  Started work today at 10am so that I can leave at 3pm, pick-up Melissa and head over to the Farmhouse where we have our retreats, just one town over.

A few of these gals are regulars at the retreats and will be there.

Since I still don't have a new vehicle, I had to use Pete's truck.  Pete loaded my things and asked how Melissa would be able to fit her things - lol (he has a 4 door Ford). 

Put together 2 batches of "spinach, pesto lasagna for tonight (Anita and I have dinner duty and then we're done for the weekend). 

That, a green salad, some great rustic bread and Costco's "All American Chocolate Cake" (we didn't have time to bake).  The cake is so huge it should last all weekend. 

It will be a fun weekend!

This weekend we finally put the marker on Shadow's grave.  I forgot to take a photo of where it is (coming soon).  For the past couple of weekends after we've finished all our chores, it would be raining and there went another weekend, that we didn't get it done!  Pete put some landscaping material under the rocks to keep the weeds off.  Looks like it's a little off to the side, need to have him straighten it out.

I used one of Shadow's last photos, it was such a great shot of him, of course he was my favorite subject and I so miss him.......