Holiday!

. . . But let us never forget those brave Americans who gave their lives that we might live in freedom.


A Do-It-Yourself Dalmatian kit

So much accomplished already this weekend, but my To Do list is still way too long.  Yard is looking terrific, tomatoes & herbs are planted, lilies & rhubard transplanted, lattice fence covering the new chainlink (looks a lot less institutional), a wood strip added to the new privacy fence gate so it really IS a privacy fence, deck in cleaned, kitchen & family room swept (oh my, the hair!) & scrubbed (on hands & knees) but so much left to do.   With most of my weekends at home in the forseeable future, I have no excuse for not getting caught up!

Immediate project is what to do with the dog yard.  I made it larger, including what was previously part of a flower bed, but now I have to figure out how to keep Josie from digging holes.  Really don't want to bring in another load of rock, and not sure if the existing rock will cover all the mud-to-be.

Not a perfect weekend for a picnic, but we decided yesterday would be the most suitable and it was.  Wonderful chicken kabobs from Whole Foods - a one day sale at $3.99 a pound - that's $6.00 off the regular price.  They were excellent!  It was a good excuse to make my always-good 4-7 Bean Salad (depends on what I have on hand), and my mother made her excellent potato salad.  Why do we all prefer potato salad like our mothers made?

Have been fielding puppy inquiries this past week.  It's nice to have pups on the way!  Rosie quite sure that Reebok is pregnant - I was sure within a few days of breeding her.  She'll be back in two weeks and we're expecting pups in July.  Penny's hip x-rays were good, so she'll have her CHIC number soon, and the dog we want to use had a sperm count done (he is an older dog) and everything looked good.  So, Reebok & Penny will hopefully have pups about a month apart, Reebok here, Penny at my daughter Jess's.  All four parents breed ring champions with their CHIC (health testing) numbers and wonderful personalities.  Am guessing Reebok is not liver factored (she could be, but I bet she's not) so her pups will probably be all blacks.  Liver Penny is being bred to liver-factored Cruise, so she should have pups in both colors.

Hopefully things will fall into place for Lucy to be bred this winter or next spring - have two reservations on her litter, plus her family wants to keep a boy.  After so many years with so few pups, we're really rockin' now!