Measurements

                Just for fun!      



                           TALL                                 TAIL TO SNOUT

DAISY             25 inches                                      52 inches

HOPS               21 inches                                      45 inches

AHI                  12 inches                                      26 inches

Funny Story

Hops went to get onto the boat this weekend and misjudged the jump...she landed in the drink!  Drew and Amanda had her and were shocked when she went in, went all the way under water and slipped out of her collar.  Must be the pregnancy.

First Boat Day - Summer 2016

We got the boat in the water in the morning and then went out later in the day to fish.  One bluegill caught!  Daisy got to go today and even jumped off the boat after a bass bait.  Just a couple hours being out there was enough for her.  We were so happy that she recovered enough from her illness to make another trip to the cabin and on the boat.

First snack bag of the season!

Woods Creek

The official start of summer (Memorial Day Weekend) started with a hike out to Woods Meadow to fish Woods Creek.  We caught a total of 6 fish all day but got lots of bites.  I was ok with not catching any fish because I just like to be wandering around in the mountains. 

This is an old car along the road on the hike in.

Jim, Drew, Amanda

You can see how small the creeks are that we are fishing....and how we sneak up on the fish.

Ahi LOVED the meadows.  Here she is in the middle of a meadow by herself digging after a critter!  She was so brave.

Jim working on a hook.  Hops waiting

Hops watching Jim and Amanda

We found this picnic table up at Upper Woods Meadow.  Finding it was enough make us stop for lunch.  Jim and I talked about backpacking in for a nite - what a beautiful spot!

G working on sit - stay command with Hops

Ahi took a nap during lunch

Hops watching for fish.  She LOVES to watch us fish.

This was the day after we found out that Hops was pregnant.  She had a full day of hiking while growing her babies in her belly!  Poor Daisy Mae was still recovering from almost dying this week, so she stayed home at the cabin.

She dropped as soon as we got back to the truck!

On our way home we made a quick ride out the Lake Eleanor Trailhead and then stopped at Cherry for a quick fish and swim (for Hops).

Little Mama

The tests are in....Hops is pregnant!  

There are 5 heartbeats that they could see (maybe more)!  

Due date around July 1.

Woo Hoo!

Daisy Mae Update

It is a miracle!  Daisy is feeling way better...in fact you can almost watch her get better!  She is begging for food and for pets.  I even took her for a walk this morning.  We only went four houses down and back but that was ok.

Farewell Large Marge

Marge on the right, a piece of regular fat (AKA her baby) on the left

A couple months ago, I noticed a lump on my clavicle.  After (1) a few days of worry because the location of the lump could have meant something very bad; (2) three doctors opinions and (3) an ultrasound, it was determined that I had a lipoma, which is a fatty tumor. 

The docs said ignore it unless it does something weird like grows really fast or starts to hurt.  That sounded like a good plan to me.

Until... 3 weeks later I looked at it and it had about doubled in size!  That's when we started calling her "Large Marge"!

I contacted my doc, who then sent me to a surgeon.  I met with the surgeon, who seemed downright giddy at the opportunity to remove Marge.

Today was the big day to say goodbye to Marge.  It was a quick procedure to cut out Marge under local anesthetic.  I got a bunch of layers of stitches and Marge was sent out to a lab to be checked out.  Luckily no one seemed concerned as Marge was a "classic lipoma".

You can see in the pic that there is a little piece of fat off to the side.  The surgeon was not sure if that was part of the lipoma or not so to be safe, he took it out.  The surgeon called her Marge thru the whole procedure.  He even gave a summary at the end saying "that Marge is gone and behaved well during the procedure"!

Goodbye to Marge...it was nice knowing you.

Daisy Mae

Daisy Mae has been really sick with an intestinal issue and today I thought it was the end.  I had her at the vet in the morning and she stayed about an hour while they took blood, did an xray, gave her subq fluids and gave her some meds.  For about 6 hours after she came home from the vet, I thought she was dying.  She was shivering, panting and could barely stand up.

Finally around 5 pm, she turned the corner a little and took a couple pieces of chicken with some medicine in them.  Then she wanted to lay in the front window.  Then the shaking decreased.  Then she got down off the window when I fed the other dogs to see what was happening.  She tried to eat a little but I don't think much more than a teaspoon when in her mouth.  Then....she went over to Jim sitting on the couch and begged for pizza!  I quick made her some boiled turkey and rice and she ate a little!  But then the shaking started again....

I sure am hoping tomorrow is better!  I love that sweet old girlie so much.

She was laying in the bushes when she was not feeling well

Mother's Day for Dogs

Hops in the green handkerchief

On the Sunday after Mother's Day, my friend Ann and her puppy raiser friends, Sue and Michelle, hosted a Mother's Day party for moms of dogs.  It was so FUN!

Getting treats after sitting for a pic

There were 14 dogs - all of them were CCI dogs except for Hops and 13 week old chocolate lab, Lucy.  Hops was such a good dog and held her own against the highly trained dogs with her good behavior.

We did an art project where we painted the dogs paws and put paw prints on mason jars!  The pic above is working dog Ohana doing her paws!

Lucy

Red River Gorge

On our last day in Kentucky we went hiking at the Red River Gorge in the Daniel Boone National Forest.   I was giddy about being in a National Forest in another state.

Shelltowee Trail Marker

We ran into the Shelltowee Trail which is a 319 mile backpacking/hiking trail thru Kentucky and Tennessee. Shelltowee is the name that the Cherokee Chief gave Daniel Boone.  It means Big Turtle. Maybe some day I can backpack part of it.

Red River

The gorge has all these natural bridges that you can walk around, over and through.  We hiked about 5 miles total down about 5 different trails.

This was a homestead from the mid 1800's.  

These instruments are dulcimers.  Grace quickly learned to play Twinkle Twinkle Little Star.

Mother's Day in Kentucky

"consort of" means husband survived the wife

We had a wonderful Mother's Day in Kentucky.  Grace and I took a walk in the morning to take pictures and wandered into an old cemetery - which I love to do.  There were people who were in the Revolutionary War buried there - which you don't see in California.  I loved the history!

Then we went home and Pat taught us how to make Derby Pie.  I had remembered eating it a long, long time ago and remembered it was yummy but I didn't even know what was in it!  Turns out it is pecans, chocolate and bourbon!  AND DELISH!

Next up was dinner with the whole family.  Jen and Jess headed over with baby Amaya - our second time seeing our sweet new family member.  And Matt had come earlier in the day so we got to play a few rousing games of Wizard and Nibs!

The highlight of the day was a tie between:

• The Derby Pie
• Seeing Baby Amaya
• This ridiculous sign!