More Friends

Oscar chewing on the tennis ball

Gracie with her favorite toy, a stick

Schox and Gracie

This is Schox

Isn't Schox just adorable? His owner was told that he was a boxer/schnauzer mix. I don't think so. Yes to the Schnauzer, absolutely no to the boxer part. We're thinking a schnauzer and a Westie were romantic. He's the right size. This pup is only 8 months old, and is so sweet. Great disposition.

Gracie found a stick to chew on. One of her favorite things in the world. My little girl loves to chew on wood, grasses, plants, shrubs, the deck, etc. Schox wanted her to either play or share the stick. Uh huh. Not into sharing there, Schox. Sorry.

The photo of Oscar, the Australian Shepherd, is just so typical of the breed. Oscar is a rescue, about 3 years old, and his owners have had him not quite a year yet. He's a great dog, and we were comparing notes on what Aussies do. They love to chew on balls also, and tilt their heads to the side to gnaw with the side teeth. They are also big into holding stuff with their paws.

I bought each dog a Kong last winter, at the suggestion of the dog trainer. This is made of hard rubber, and is hollow in the center. You can fill them with peanut butter, cheese, broth, whatever, and freeze it. When you need a special treat or reward, you pull the frozen Kong out of the freezer. I use peanut butter, and let me tell you, it occupies the dogs for almost an hour. Gracie knew right from the start to hold the Kong with her paws, for better leverage, so she could stick her tongue down in the center to get all of the peanut butter. Poor Sarge, having never had any toys or treats, rolled that sucker all over the wooden floor, trying to lick it at the same time. He then watched his sister, and figured out what to do. Sarge is now a master at using his paws to hold objects.

Ya gotta love it!
Linda

Dog Park Friends

Oscar, full size Australian Shepherd

Maggie, the Chow

These are just two of the "regulars" from the dog park that play with Gracie and Sarge. Although there are over 400 members, it seems the weather this year drastically affected attendance. We have yet to build back up to our previous numbers.

There are pros and cons to using a dog park.  Yes, there can be dog fights and it has happened. The owners that attend all the time are very good at pulling the herd apart. I truly feel that the pros are worth the effort: lots of flat out running in a large area, socialization, and fresh air. My dogs love it. As soon as I start down the normal route to get to the park they begin to dance in the back seat of the car. Gracie in particular is always excited. She loves to chase and be chased. And to tell you the truth, this is one of the cheapest forms of entertainment available. We have seen it all! Dogs can be such little con artists sometimes.

Thanks for stopping by. Have a great day.
Linda

The Dog park

Mom wants us to look at her.

Don't look. I won't.

I am not looking!

No matter what noises I made, no matter how sweet I spoke to my dogs, they ignored me. They KNEW I had the camera in my hands.

The dog park was relatively quiet last night. The heat started to build back up around 4pm and I think that kept people away. We are looking forward to autumn, to sunny days and cool nights, to needing a light jacket at the park.

Stay comfortable. Do something nice for yourself today.
Linda

Tricky Tricky...

Maya Road canvas banner

I made this yesterday to take to the scrapbook store and hang up. The banner part is made of canvas. I spray painted the canvas with Tattered Angels Glimmer Mist.  After letting it dry overnight, I ironed it between two pieces of an old pillowcase. Putting any type of moisture on the canvas seems to make it curl and it didn't want to lay flat.

The green scalloped circles were cut using a Spellbinders die and the edges were inked with black Cat's Eye.

All of the images were cut on the Cricut, using a limited edition Halloween cartridge. Just love the detail you get. My goodness, look at that witch. The lettering was also cut using this cartridge. The ribbon came from my stash. Boy, do I have a stash of ribbon.

Actually, I have a stash of everything! What scrapbooker doesn't.

So my babies were home alone today while I worked. To reward them for being so good (they really were), we're heading to the dog park. They love this cooler weather. All the dogs seem to be more playful since the 90's disappeared for a week. 

Have a great weekend. Enjoy yourselves.
Linda

Sheep Herding

My friend, Alex, had taken her blue heeler, Tilly, to a farm about 40 minutes from here to be evaluated as a sheep herder. With real sheep. I was immediately intrigued. The dog trainer that I had last winter had recommended that Gracie be trained either in herding or agility. So this morning I took Gracie for her evaluation.

And forgot my camera! Arrgghhhh!

But it would have been difficult to take photos of Gracie herding anyway, because I was in the pen with her. I do promise pictures next week, because we are going back. Gracie was not real sure what we wanted her to do. She did chase the sheep, but then she would become distracted. OH, look, mom, sheep poop. I must sniff that!

To back up a bit, you are in the penned area with 6 to 8 sheep, the trainer, and your dog. You are basically moving the sheep and the dog is let loose to herd them. New dogs have a problem when the sheep go into a corner, or stay against the fence. The trainer let one of her dogs, Wizard, loose to move the sheep away from the fence. Once Gracie saw what Wizard was doing, she followed his lead. It was amazing. We finished on a very high note, with lots of praise. And, yes, we are going to return. Plus next week, I am bringing Sarge along as well. My little, anxious, nervous Sheltie. He may surprise us all.

Gracie is exhausted. This is a very good thing. We had a great day.

Green, green grass, where art thou?

Gracie and Sarge in the backyard June 2010

Look at that grass. Notice how dark green it is? How healthy it appears? My yard today looks nothing like that. It is a nice, crunchy brown. The only green is the ring around the plants that I am desperately trying to save by watering.

Mother Nature is just so weird. Going into the month of July, we were up several inches in rainfall for the year. For August, this area is down over 2 inches. Combined with the intense heat of this summer, it has taken a toll on the landscape.

This is the first of a series of photos I took of Gracie sniffing Sarge's face, ears, and chest. I don't know what he came up against or rolled in that day, but he must have smelled mighty fine to his sister. Poor Sarge finally just walked away from her. They are so good together, and I know I am very fortunate in finding two diverse personalities that work. The play can get rough, but neither ever whimpers and blood has never been drawn. Sarge will raise his lip on occasion, but that is as far as it goes. Sweethearts.

Gracie

Gracie June 2010

Tonight we spent over 2 hours at the dog park. My puppy is growing up. She is listening to me, and will come from a distance if she sees or hears me. This is such an improvement.

Last summer, when she was 7 and 8 months old, she had a reputation as "the mouth". She barked at everything and everyone, trying to herd the dogs, the humans, you name it. The bark is still there at times, but more controlled. We are almost to the point where I can pull her out of the herd 100% of the time. THAT is a very good feeling.  It has taken a great deal of work, but has been worth every minute.

Life is good.

Early Morning Mist

Brown County State Park in Indiana

This was taken from one of the viewpoints inside Brown County park in late July of this year. I love the contrast in greens. I am also constantly surprised at the change in landscape within this state. Growing up in Illinois, I was so used to flatness. Miles upon miles of cornfields with no hills, valleys, "hollers", whatsoever.

A few years back, Pat and I decided to spend a weekend in St Louis taking pictures. We wanted to see the Missouri Botanical Gardens and the St Louis Zoo. So Pat took the train to Effingham, IL., and I picked her up. I was living in Marshall, IL. at the time, which is a small town 14 miles southwest of Terre Haute, IN. We drove to St Louis, did our tourist thing, and set out to reverse the drive on Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, my navigator (Pat) wasn't paying close attention and neither was the driver. We missed the ramp for I70, talking and not realizing this fact, and proceeded northeast on I55. The sameness of the land lulled us into a false sense of security. I should also add that we did the drive over to St Louis after nightfall. When we crossed over a big lake, Pat looked puzzled and said "I don't remember a lake on Friday, do you?" No, I replied, we're in Springfield! This is Lake Springfield.

Pat turned to me and asked if it was anywhere near Effingham? No, Pat, it isn't. I have always prided myself on my sense of direction, but this time the scenery didn't help. I had to get her to a train station, or drive her home to the suburbs of Chicago. I drove like the proverbial bat so she could make the train in Champaign, IL. Then I had a 2 hour drive back home to Marshall. Long, long weekend, but one we often chuckle about. You better believe we are more careful now when dealing with intersecting expressways.

Thanks for stopping by, and enjoy the day.
Linda

Sarge

Sarge is almost 5 years old. He has only been with us for less than a year. Fits nicely with our little family. Gracie enjoys having the company of another dog, even though he doesn't play with her as often as she would like.

Rain at last!

It's raining this morning. Not hard, not a lot, but we'll take whatever we can get. Strange, strange weather this year. I don't remember a summer with such intense heat and humidity like we've had in many years.


Gracie is out in the yard, with the light rain falling, sniffing everything, just enjoying getting a little damp. Sarge is pacing the deck, wanting back in the house. My poor little hyper anxious Sheltie.

These are luggage tags, out of chipboard, from Maya Road. I painted them with Folk Art paint, distressed the edges with ink, then cut various scrap papers and adhered. The vintage image on the front of the Thinking of You tag is from Creative Secrets. The vintage images on the backs of both tags is from Graphic 45 papers. These are fun to do, and would make a great little "thinking of you" type present. Have a great weekend. Linda

back of Journey tag

back of Thinking of You

Thinking of You tag

Journey tag

Altered Cigar Box

With the lid open

This is the back (cat) and a side

The other side

Gold paper is on the lid

This is a wooden cigar box. I primed it with a product called Gesso, then painted it black. On all four sides, I sponged painted Folk Art Foliage Green paint, 2 or 3 coats, then added die cuts from a Cricut cartridge. The bat, spider web and cat were all sized at 3 inches, the spider at 2 inches, the pumpkin at 1 1/2 inches. The top, lid, of the box has a gold cardstock as the base, with 2 Halloween images from Creative Secrets. For Graphic 45 papers and Creative Secrets, you can shop here.www.allyscraps.com
Thanks for stopping by.
Linda

Handmade Cards

Inside of the Alice card

Alice dreaming. The figure is on pop up adhesive, along with the flower

Mad Hatter wandering

Inside of the above card.

I have been scrapbooking for years, but recently ventured into making greeting cards. The freedom to do whatever you want with the paper, ink and stamps is wonderful. I thought you might enjoy seeing a few.

Both cards used the Halloween in Wonderland paper from Graphics 45, one of my favorite companies. I cut Alice out of a sheet and placed her on pop up adhesive. The flower is on pop up as well. Not really Halloween cards. But I loved the colors and vintage feel to the papers, so this is what came about one afternoon.

Tomorrow I'll post an altered cigar box. Kind of cute.
Thanks for stopping by.
Linda

More photos from IMA

 This is a shot of the back side of the Eli Lilly house, on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. (IMA)

 Part of the terrace in the rear of the home.

 View of the front of the Lilly house.

 One of the many statues featured in the historical gardens on the grounds. Of course, I had to take a shot of this due to the dog.

Close up of the dog.

When Pat and I visited Savannah, GA a few years back, I remember seeing similar statues at the cemetery.

I'm getting in the mood to go out and take pictures again. Isn't it amazing how your attitude can change with an improvement in the weather? Even Gracie and Sarge are more energetic this week.

Have a good, productive day. Thanks for stopping by!
Linda

Mother Nature

This certainly has been a year of weather extremes. Today it is 84 degrees, which is normal for this part of Indiana. I love to get out and take photographs in the spring, summer, and fall. But due to the heat and humidity, I haven't been out as much this year as I have in previous years. But here are a few images I thought you might like. The first is a trail at Brown County State Park, south of Indianapolis. This is a beautiful park and I do recommend it if you are ever visiting central Indiana.  There was a small lake along this trail, and the wind had died completely. The reflections of the trees and clouds are perfect in the water, not a ripple to disturb them.

The third photograph is a flower, and yeah, I know I should know what flower this is. It's white and real purty....hydrangea, maybe? Anyway, I liked how the light was playing on the bloom, giving it a lot of depth. This was taken on the grounds of the Indianapolis Museum of Art. All photos are from late June of this year.

Thanks for stopping by.
Linda

Walking a 5K

My friend Vicky asked me last week if I'd like to walk a 5k run/walk on Saturday. This was to benefit a 33 year old Indianapolis woman who is dying from breast cancer. Her name is Jill Goode O'Neill. With a third friend, Karen, we preregistered on the net and met at Avon Townhall Park on Saturday morning. The race started at 8am. Although it was warm and muggy, the sky was overcast and we really weren't all that uncomfortable during the walk.

It had been years since I'd done a 5k and I really didn't know what to expect. But we talked about life as we walked, the time flew by, and we finished in 51 minutes. Not bad for an old broad. Karen and Vicky are younger than me, but we all felt great at the end.

What was really gratifying was seeing the support for Jill Goode O'Neill. 220 people registered, 202 finished the race. We were thanked repeatedly for coming out in support. There was very much a sense of community at the park. And I think that every woman there knew that it could very well be them in a fight with this disease.

I am so glad I moved to this area 18 months ago. It is home now, and it feels like it.
Linda

It's just too hot

I just read that we have had 21 days of temperatures in the 90's this summer. The record, for the Indianapolis area, is 58 days of 90's temps in 1983. Does that make me feel better? No, actually, it doesn't. But, just in case it might make someone else more comfortable, I'm passing that tidbit along.

This photo of Sarge, the Sheltie, and Gracie, the Australian Shepherd, was taken in June in my backyard. This is typical play for the dogs. They have never connected to cause serious pain. Gracie will, on occasion, pull her brother's tail. He, to retaliate, will chew on her neck and ears. Gracie doesn't have a tail, and no, I didn't "bob" it. She was born without one. But with the hot weather, they haven't been playing as much. Understandable. We also have not been walking as much as normal. Normal is usually every day, but when it is uncomfortable by 8am, we stay home.

Whatever you do this weekend, be careful and stay cool.
Linda

Dog Days of August

Time for the dogs to have a play date. They are just so spoiled. When the weather is too blazing hot,  I take them to Paws-ability for 5 hours of doggie day care. I know, I know. Spoiled. But it's air conditioned, they love to play with all of the other guys, and it wears them out. Most important part, it wears their collective butts out!


In case you would like to see more photos of dogs, (I have a few....) you can also go to my photography site with Shutterfly.


Stay cool. Kind of makes me wonder what September is going to be like. I am so looking forward to cool nights.
Linda

The things a mom does...

Saturday night I let the dogs out into the backyard. Gracie immediately makes a mad dash towards the black vinyl chain link fence, jumps up and grabs something. It's after 8pm, and the light is starting to dim a bit. So I'm not real sure what she has. I called her over and told her to "drop it", which she politely did. Out of her mouth comes a cicada. You know. One of those LARGE insects, with wings, and a crunchy body, and she had it in her mouth, people! Before I can do something with the cicada, Gracie has once again decided this is something to play with because it's making noise, and it moves, and boy, are we having fun. She again puts this thing in her mouth, and looks up at me. A wing is sticking out one side.

At this point, I'm all OH YUCK!, but being a good dog mom, I tell her to drop it. No, we're having fun here mom, except the bug is trying to buzz in her mouth and she's looking a little concerned. So I pry open my dog's mouth, and grab the insect by it's wing, and it went straight to insect heaven. Over the fence. Dead.

Sarge stood, watching this entire episode, and trotted away. He is far too elegant to get involved with insects. He is above that.

Having Issues

I wanted everyone to remember what winter is like! Gracie and Sarge at the local dog park in February, 2010.

I changed the banner photo last night, it didn't shrink to fit properly, so you have Gracie's nose and Sarge out of focus in the background. That will be fixed.

Another blistering hot week is forecast for the Midwest. Getting kind of sick of this weather. But should you want to venture outdoors, I can recommend two places that my friend Pat and I hit last week: the Indianapolis Museum of Art is at the corner of 38th street and Michigan Road in Indianapolis. No charge for parking, or for walking the grounds that include formal and historical gardens. Beautiful. Bring your cameras, for there is a great deal to photograph.

The second place(s) is one of my favorites: Nashville, Indiana. It is a small town with loads of shops and resident artists. Pat found some great jewelry, and we had a very good meal at Hob Nob Hill restaurant. While in the area, go to the Brown County State Park. Lots of trails for hiking, or just take a slow drive around the park. I plan on returning this autumn, with my camera and the dogs. 


Have a wonderful weekend. Turn on the air conditioning again....yet.....never ending, isn't it?
Linda

And so it begins....

I am suppose to be retired. You all know what that means. People assume you have absolutely nothing to do with yourself. Retired women sit in front of the tv or computer all day long, sipping sweetened ice tea, eating gourmet cookies they have whipped up because they have nothing else to do. Uh huh. Since becoming officially retired, I have acquired 2 part time jobs: one at a scrapbook store that helps support my habit of buying everything under the sun concerned with scrapbooking, and the other as an aquatic exercise instructor. The second helps with the daily stress of living. The first just encourages me to go off on creative tangents, half-finished projects littering the room I laughingly call "my scrap room".

And then there are the dogs. I love my dogs. They love me. But there are days.....we all have those days. The photo at the top of the blog is my Australian Shepherd. Her name is Gracie. I also have a Sheltie. His name is Sarge, and he was already named when I got him. They are adorable, loving, friendly, kissable, and they shed. Oh, do they shed. In fact, this is shedding season at our house. The vacuum runs at least every other day, and Sarge likes to attack. Every single time. He is an anxious little dog who chews his nails and paces. Gracie laughs at him.


Life is good.