Shadow Shot Sunday #145 ~ Papago Park, Phoenix, Arizona

Once again BabyRocketDog & Hootie get to go hunting for shadows with Pat and me.

Look closer...there are people standing in these red rock shadows! I should have moved closer for this shot of my guy and pooches. Now this little fellow could cause some pain. Ouch! The creosote bush casts a fine shadow & smells good too.

These were some of the thinnest bench seats I've ever seen.

No fatties allowed apparently. Okay, we'll move our big butts on!

As we finished up our hike I liked the view of Patrick and the pooches

heading back toward the Phoenix skyline.

All these photos were taken a few days before my camera died on me last Sunday. We attended the PetSmart Petwalk in Tempe, AZ to join our Dales & Friends group. While on the last 1/2 mile of our walk the skies opened up and we were saturated with rain. My camera took it's final photos that day, before drowning. Not sure if I have any other Shadow Shots in my archives now, so will probably have to use Patrick's Nikon, which I don't like much. Phooey.

For more Shadow Shots please go visit our hostess, Tracy at Hey Harriet. For the new Pet Pride meme, just go HERE. Here's wishing all who pass this way a blessed weekend.

love, Cassie

Shadow Shot Sunday #129

The sun shone brightly whilst we were dog walking at Dover Bay. For more Shadow Shots please check out Tracy's blog HERE!

Shadow Shot Sunday #18 ~ Obedience Class Shadows

If you haven't guessed by now, I LoVe my pooches. Hootie, the Welsh Terrier, attended a 6 lesson obedience class conducted by trainer, Mikkel Becker Shannon. Class ended last Thursday and I was quite pleased with Hootie's progress. Here are some of Hootie's obedience classmates in shadow. If you are interested in more Shadow Shots take your dogs on over to see Tracy at Hey Harriet!

Merry Christmas Day!

Patrick drove me down to the visitors center to post this. He's out walking Hootie now while I try to get this done with Baby Rocket Dog breathing down my neck! We had a lovely Christmas. Went to 11pm Christmas Eve service with our friend Marilyn, and got home around 1230a.m."ish". The service was different from any candlelight services I have ever attended. Our pastor is a real evangelist and explained why we all need a saviour and why God had to send His only Son. Quite powerful. Four people asked to have Christ as their Lord and Saviour. Wow!! I do wish we had sung a few more Christmas carols though. We made up for it at home though, as I've played Christmas cd's for the past 2 weeks.

Had a leisurely brunch of (blog friend Carolyn's) Savory Incredible Pie, bagels and our homemade huckleberry jam. Yum. After I cleaned up the dishes I lite the final candle on our Advent wreath and Patrick read from God's Word. I'm glad I took some photos of him reading. Doesn't he look handsome?

After that, we played a lo00nnng game of Scrabble and Patrick creamed me. 229 to ... not even gonna tell you my score. The fire roared and I'm thinking we better head back home now to get warmed up again. It's about 20 degrees F. right now.

Merry Christmas to all my friends, old and new. Jesus is the reason for the season. What an awesome God we have!!

love, Cassie

Odds 'n Ends...

Seemingly innocent little angels, right? Pictures #2 & #3 are of a once whole, and quite whimsical fish. I made the mistake of leaving the pooches at home alone the other day and came home to find my fish (which was ON the table) laying on the floor in the chewed up state you see him in. I wish I had a before photo, 'cause he was really adorable. I kept candies in him on the table. Oddly, the candies were still in tact scattered on the table. Do you suppose some ghost dogs came in and did that damage? I can't imagine that my little darlings would do such a thing. Hmmmmm.

The "flower pot" with the geranium in it was once a sugar bowl. My buddy Maria sent me the sugar bowl and it had the sweetest lid. An acorn was the handle. Well, I dropped the lid about a month ago and was heart broken. Pat drilled a hole in the bottom of the bowl for me and now I have a nice little planter. He's going to figure out a way to resurrect the acorn for me too. Clever man.

Okay, I gotta go now, but not before I put out a special prayer request to my friends out there. Tomorrow night at 7pm Ricky Skaggs will be performing a free concert in Bonners Ferry...it's a gift to the community from Mtn. Springs Church, a new church here. (I'm going to help at the information booth.) Anyway, the weather report calls for rain & the concert is outdoors. Could you all pray that it is clear for the concert?? Thanks in advance.

love, Cassie

ps-As of 245pm Friday no stormy weather!! A few gray clouds. Keep on prayin'!!

Z Back to A Monday ~ The Letter W

Wow, too many W words to name them all!

Walking Sticks - My father always used to use a walking stick when he would survey his land. The stick pictured on the left is made of sassafras wood and was a stick I purchased for Daddy a few years before he died. After he was gone my mother thoughtfully gave it to me. I love it. The stick on the right, which I just bought for Patrick a few weeks ago, is probably pine. It was made by Nathanial, a young man whose father makes his living building log furniture. (His dad built our loft bathroom cabinet.)

Wanderlust - This is what my pooches get every once in awhile, just when I begin to trust the little stinkers to stay around the cabin. Yes, those adorable dogs will run off and totally ignore my calling them. Maybe they’ll even turn around and glance at me before heading into the woods like 2 whippets. This causes me to get very upset as you might guess. We are going to have to invest in an underground fence I’m afraid. :>(

Way Up North - One of my favorite blogs! Rev. Paul writes this one and I wish I could get over there to read it more often. He has a really diverse bunch of posts ranging from the weather reports in Anchorage to updates on volcanic activity of Mt. Redoubt to patriotic themes and jokes!

Woven Broom - The very looooong broom laying on our hearth is from the North Woven Broom, a shop in Crawford Bay, B.C. Canada. It’s for getting cobwebs in high places! I’ll do a post devoted to this very cool shop at a later date. (They made the Harry Potter brooms!!)

Whitefish, Montana - One of my favorite places. Years ago we used to spend our summers up on the Big Mountain at Whitefish. That is when we cultivated our love for the farrr north country in the Pacific Northwest.

Wonderful Guy - Yup, that's my Patrick! His big ole Patrick head is plastered on the side of the United Blood Services of AZ bus, 'cause he's a hero. Now his head really does need its own weather system. hehehe.

Wave - Bye bye for now! Please check out Jen’s blog for more Z to A players.

love, Cassie aka: Waskle Wabbit

Friday With Cassie & Patrick & Friends

Here I am with C2 & her 9 year old daughter M2. M1 drove them up to Mesa to the Bass Pro Shop from Tucson. And Patrick drove the dogs and me(C1) to the Bass Pro Shop and we all met up. It was so good to see them again. M2 has grown so much. We figured it's been a whole year since we last saw each other. We talk on the phone at least 2-3 times per week, so I didn't realize it was that long since we were last face to face. It was a short visit, but at least we got to connect for a bit. It was also the first time Pat & I had been to a Bass Pro Shop...and WOW!! What a cool place it is. It's similar to Cabella's, but I think even nicer. They had a real stream and a water fall(Betsy!) and of course tons of taxidermy, wild animals. In the Valley of the Sun it was like an oasis in the middle of the desert. Only thing is, they have a restaurant there, so we couldn't bring the dogs inside. The two husbands went inside while we stayed out with the dogs, then Patrick stayed out with them while we all went in. The dogs were just happy to be with us, though I think they would have loved the stuffed animals! After we left Bass we headed toward Gilbert to take the pooches to the Cosmo Dog Park. You can see videos and pics of us at the dog park on the pooches blog. It took us about 45 minutes to get there because the traffic looked like this: Here is an example of the "road work" our hard earned tax $$ pays for: When we arrived back home after the dog park there was a package waiting for me from Our Name Is Mud! There was a "dog hair" mug and bowl and also a blue dog of happiness ring holder. All so fabulous I was blown away! (More photos on the dogs blog:<) Thanks so much Lorrie!! Below is a picture of the hand ring holder I had been using;and just under that is a picture of my brand new blue dog ring holder.

Isn't he cute?? He adds needed color to my earth tone bathroom decor!

Hope you guys are all having a great weekend! May God bless you and keep you. love, Cassie

Our Evening Stroll In Phoenix & Other Odds 'n Ends

Well, the Give Away over on Baby Rocket Dog & Hootie's blog is over now. After Patrick drew the winners names we took the dogs for a nice long walk along the canal banks, through a local neighborhood and back along the canal again. It rained here Sunday & Monday off and on and again Tuesday for a little bit, so the dog parks are all pretty wet. The pups were getting quite rambunctious being cooped up for that long, so we thought a nice, long walk was in order. These are a few pictures from our evening stroll. (More pics can be seen on the dog's blog .)

I was so excited today when some beautiful, bone china mugs I purchased online a week or so ago arrived in the mail. I was on the website for Finni, a gorgeous Aireboy from the UK when I read about this artist, Annie Curran and her art. If anyone is interested in checking out her website it is: Here are the 2 mugs I purchased. The detail is fabulous. See the little guy inside? The handles are the backs of Airedales! I am so pleased with them.

My buddy, Sister Maria, sent me the following yesterday and I found it quite intriguing. "This is a photo from the 2009 Inauguration, In which you can see IN FOCUS the face of each individual in the crowd !!! You can scan and zoom to any section of the crowd. . . wait a few seconds. . . and the focus adjusts. The picture was taken with a robotic camera at 1,474 megapixel. (295 times the standard5 megapixel camera). Makes you wonder who's watching us right now !!!!!!!!" http://gigapan.org/viewGigapanFullscreen.php?auth=033ef14483ee899496648c2b4b06233c

Well, I guess that about wraps it up for me. Another sleepless night. Maybe I'll catch a few winks now. God bless all who reads this. love, Cassie

It's Baby's Birthday!

Hey Mom, Get up!! Today is a VERY special day. February 1st. It's my birthday! I'm a big girl now! (Please note my feet are still on the floor!)Okay, I'll lay my head down next to brother here. Since it's my birthday can I put my whole body on your bed? No huh? All righty,at least 2/3 of my body will be comfy.

Wow, my own frozen, carrot cup cake. You shouldn't have. Oh yes, you should have. Where did you put the icing Mom? Mom? Hmmmm, thought so.

As I slowly ingest my birthday cake, Hootie is singing in that weird Welshie key, "Happy Birthday dear Baaaa-bbbbeeee" and reminding me to finish up or I might have to share.

Yes, today is my (Baby Rocket Dog's) 2nd Birthday and Daddy is getting ready to take the kids to the dog park for a romp. See the gleam of excitement in my eye? Happy Birthday to ME!!

Note from Cassie: This post was taken over by one of the rulers of the roost today.

Dog Day Afternoon

Sunday, Jan.25th, Patrick,Baby Rocket Dog, Hootie and I went to our first family meetup with Dales and Friends at Tempe Town Lake. There was a PetSmart Charities extravaganza going on for homeless dogs with 2 races: a 5K and a 1 mile. Lots of various dog rescue organizations were there and also many boothes with cool give-aways. Our pooches ate too many treats while there. Little Hootie got an upset stomach when we got home. Anyway, back to the meetup. Baby (& Hootie) got to meet Airedales Lucy & Charlie and Dudley & Lotta. Dudley was an Oorang Dale and was very large. Lotta was originally from Russia! Both were adopted from Airedale rescues. They were all very well behaved. Baby was kind of shy when we got to the Lake because there were a zillion different types of dogs there. I think it overwhelmed her. Hootie was Mr. Sociable, not at all rattled by the vast numbers of dogs. He just wanted to play with everyone. (And jump up, but we're working on that.) Hootie even got to meet another Welsh Terrier...He thought she was pretty! We also met a couple with two Lakeland Terriers and these were the first we had ever seen in person. They were so cute. Much smaller than Hootie who tips the scales at 22#. Patrick is the one holding both our dogs while I took the photos.