The nicest thing about being on vacation in the really hot days of August, is I get to take the dogs for an early walk while the morning is still semi-cool; then I have the afternoon and evening to myself. 🙂

The weatherman said it was going to be hot and humid this afternoon, with some weather moving in.  We hit the trail about 8:30 and walked for about 40 minutes.  The little streams in the area have dried up so there is nowhere to cool off.  As soon as we got home Sampson headed for the pool.

My plans for the afternoon including tackling my scrapbooking stuff, so I brought everything I could find into the room and began the sorting out process.  After a couple of trips to the Christmas Tree Shoppe, I felt I had the weapons needed to tackle the project.

Someone was so happy to have his mom home and wanted to be where I was, that I had to clear a spot on the futon for him.

Most of the stuff you see here has now been put away, but I still have a bit to do.  I hope to finish it off tomorrow. 🙂

Ah the dog days of August….

When you fall in love with a dog, I mean really fall in love; it changes your life.

You see things in a totally different way.  Suddenly life is not about how big your house is, what kind of car you drive or whether you carry a designer handbag.

Life becomes more about the simple things.  Spending time with loved ones, a quiet walk in the woods; a soft bed to snuggle on; a ride in the car with the windows down.

You worry less about whether you have prime rib in your fridge and more about having room for the raw food.

Your vacations become less about where you can jet off to and more about finding a place that accepts pets and how far the drive is.

Your free time becomes more about spending time with loved ones and less about shopping, going to the movies or going out to dinner.

Yes, falling in love with a dog changes your life.

Seven years ago, the dog who changed my life was born.

For all the smiles, wags, licks, walks and love I thank you.

Happy Birthday Sweet Boy, you have no idea what you’ve done for me.

This is a bloghop, you’re next!

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Follow-up – “Duck Duck Goose”:

It was brought to my attention by our friends at 2BrownDawgs, that Blue-Green Algae, often times found in lakes, ponds and streams; can be very harmful to our pets.  Here in the northeast many times we refer to this Algae as pond scum.

I believe most people would never knowingly expose their pets to something harmful, but if you didn’t know it was harmful how can you keep them safe?

Once I heard about Blue-Green Algae I went to my trusted internet source Snopes.  Guess what I found?

Nothing.  Nada.  Zip.  Squaduche.

So I went to my next source Google and found one heart-breaking article written by a man who had just had to euthanize his dog because the dog drank water (during swimming) that had been contaminated by Blue-Green Algae.   I tried to find this article again to link up to it, but couldn’t.  I googled “Dog died from Blue-Green Algae” and the search returned pages and pages of articles.

I did find a some state websites that listed Blue-Green Algae as a danger to both humans and animals.  Without going into great detail some of those states were Wisconsin, New York, and Vermont.

I had never heard of this before so many thanks goes to our friends at 2BrownDogs for bringing this to my attention.

Author’s Note – “Rugs Bugs and Sunsets“:

I did in fact run into some young people wearing my screen hat (LOL) but either they were too startled to say anything or they are so used to the weird things people wear these days that it didn’t shock them.

Author’s Note – “What’s Wrong With This Picture“:

Our friend Kristine over at Rescued Insanity had this to say, “If you want some advice on how to perfect the sit-stay, I am more than happy to offer it. But I despise unsolicited advice myself and will not force my annoying suggestions on you!”

Kristine, we would love to have your advice on the sit-stays!

I will throw this out there to all of you, anytime I write about a problem, behavior, trait, training, whatever regarding my dogs, I welcome your insights, thoughts and suggestions.  I can’t promise I will use them, but I am certainly interested in hearing what works for you.  😉