Helping Rake the Leaves

Mom taught Dog Dad the sheet method of raking leaves before they got married. She thought it was just something everyone did. Dog Dad's family had never heard of it. It was a big deal. For those of you who don't know about the sheet or tarp method of leave raking it is pretty simple. You spread a sheet or tarp flat in front of your leave pile and rake the leaves on to the sheet/tarp and then bundle the sheet/tarp up and dump the leaves where you are composting them. Prior to this his family used to scoop them up and dump them into wheel barrels, etc. Dog Mom says she had never known another way of raking leaves. She had a yard full of trees as a kid and some of her earliest fall memories included toddling around falling into the leave piles as her brothers were trying to get them onto the old sheets her Mom saved just for fall raking. Needless to say this was a huge time saving device that Dog Dad has continued to use with our supervision since he now has his own home.

Now mind you for those of you who bag your leaves this method is not nearly as helpful although it can help contain your leaves it will not magically get them into those paper bags needed to transport them to your place of disposal. This only works when you need to move them from one place in your yard to another. However, it will move a considerable more amount of leaves than your average pick up and put in the wheel barrel method. You can see us supervising the balled up sheet here. We wouldn't want it to get away from us now would we?

Now you will notice I am doing my proper job supervising. However, for some reason both Dog Dad and Mom can't understand Annie has this rather bizare fascination with items one uses to perform work both inside and out. She seems to think they are there for her to fight, play with, debate no one has quite figured out what the motivation is but she does it every time to great enjoyment. You see here she's challenging the rake and having a grand time doing it. She also challenges brooms, mops, etc. She will follow Dog Dad until she is exhausted while he mows the lawn. I can't say I understand the motivation, but it seems to give her great pleasure.

Blogville Christmas Card Exchange

We have been fortunate many years that people have emailed us to remind us to register. Last year sadly we missed the deadline and were quite sad. Mom has been haunting her reading list since Halloween as to not miss the deadline this year so she thought she would help others by providing the information here, too in case you missed the original post.

Friday Flowers

Annie Nap Time

Don't you think you should be able to nap without people taking pictures? Mom is obsessed with napping pictures. She thinks I'm adorable when I nap. Is that a reason to disturb my nap time?

Friday Flowers

Enjoying the Shade

The weather has been crazy lately. Every time we get some wonderfully cool fall weather then the temps jump back up into the 80's or it rains. A very strange fall indeed. Mom caught this picture when I was enjoying one of the fall days hanging out in the shade. When the weather cools off I like spending more time in the backyard. Annie and I will patrol the yard for intruders and then we settle down for a nice relaxing rest.

Wordless Wednesday: Exploring

Annie doing her part to spread the seeds

Mom and Dog Dad would very much like to know where this plant hides. I won't tell them because I'm doing very important work spreading seeds. Mom keeps telling me that when she brushes me out and the seeds end up in the trash it isn't helping the plant at all, but I know what the plant tells me when it begs me to come over and rub up to it. It needs my help.

Friday Flowers: Crocus

Well we missed posting some of the most beautiful flowers of summer but we dragged Mom out to get some Friday flower pics for us. Enjoy.

The Lost Cookie

No task is too much when it comes to retrieving the lost cookie. I've avoided the rocking chair before this. Let's be honest tails and rockers don't mix. However, I wasn't going to let this cookie go.

Tail Hug

Mom really doesn't buy private moments. Katy and I, Annie, were hanging out when I admit I got startled and my tail flew out and landed on top of Katy. No, its never happened before and I hope it doesn't happen again because Mom couldn't wait to get out the phone to snap a picture. Hey it's a tail it does odd stuff from time to time. It should remain private.

We finally dragged Mom back to the computer to reconnect with people. We hope to see her get more consistent.

Happy Easter

Happy Easter everyone!!

We went to visit the big guy last weekend and got a picture with him. Hope all of you have a great day with your families.

Friday Flowers:Crocus

With all the cold, ice, and even snow we've had recently, Mom was surprised to find these out during one of her daily yard clean up sessions. It is one of the wonderful things about perenniel gardens you just don't know when something will pop up and surprise you. The crocus have come up in snow before, reappeared in the fall, but she's never seen them in the middle of winter when it's this cold. It was a unique occurrence for our yard at least she thought she'd share.

Happy Valentine's Day

Happy Valentine's Day!!!

We hope you have a day filled with lots of positive attention (trust us you don't want to get noticed for the other stuff), love, treats, and play time.

Sheltie Homeschool Update

We are amazed at how much we are learning each day. We have finally completed the last book of Tales from the Odyssey and aren't we all glad the monsters are behind us. Mom has started reading Greek Mythology so there are still monsters.

I've taken a great interest in Mom's role in helping out with homeschooling as you can tell by this picture. I help her keep organized and I comfort her when things get scary by crawling under her computer table so she can easily reach down to pet me. I know, but we all have to make sacrifices for the kids right? I mean how is Mom to deal with listening to the middle one read a scary story about Ninjas? I was under that table for a good 10 minutes getting a rub down I tell you. Katy hinted I might be scared but I tell you I was there for Mom.

Katy and I do enjoy listening to all the stories, especially when the middle boy reads. He seems quite pleased when Mom tells him we are ready to hear him read. Although he does seem disturbed if we interrupt for a bit of barking. Hey sometimes it gets scary. What's a girl to do?

Super Bowl Cookies

Mom was supposed to post this last week but better late than never. We had a wonderful time watching the Patriots win. Dog Dad even got us special pregame football cookies to participate in the fun.

Part of our job is to help destress everyone during the game and we worked harder during this game than most. We got tons of extra pats as this was a tough game. That being said who complains about extra attention really?

Thankful Thursday: Homeschool Participation

We've always been a fan of hearing stories. We've eagerly listened to Mom's audio books for years. However, since September we've been listening to Mom read aloud and listen to kids reading to her through Skype as Mom is helping a family member with homeschooling. We are finding the experience really interesting.

Our first job every morning is to make sure Mom isn't late for school. We accomplish this by poking and barking to make sure she gets downstairs and gets us outside so we can settle down to listen. We then settle into our favorite comfy places to listen.

We won't lie there have been some scary moments. The youngest one is having Mary Pope Osborne's two volume Odyssey read to him and we echoed him when he complained it's going to take forever for this guy to make it home after all there are two books. Smart kid it just means there are lots more scary monsters coming. Katy and I will be snuggling close during those readings.

We love the poetry recitations. The older one has been reading Magic Tree House series to us so we've visited Dinosaurs, Knights and now Mummies. Next week we are off to learn about Ninjas. We are reaching the point we can actually solve some of the Encyclopedia Brown stories before Mom reads the answers. Sadly she doesn't seem to understand that our barks are our attempts to tell her the solutions. We know who did it Mom.

We are thankful for our education and this time, even by distance with the little sheep. We do so enjoy reading time.

Wordless Wednesday: Sharing a Private Moment

These days Katy and I can't even cuddle without Mom thinking she has to catch a picture. She thought I'd just sit quietly but I gave her the dirty look.

First Grooming of the Year

Hi everyone. It has been a great start to the New Year. This was our first grooming of the year. We had a great time checking in and gossiping with all our friends. What happens at the spa stays at the spa.

I needed a nap when I got home. It was exhausting.