Christmas In Farrr North Idaho

 This wreath was a gift and came from The Wreath Farm.

 Hootie in his Christmas sweater he got from Jessica and David. 

Oh, and his snowman headband. He he.

 This is the manger from when I was a little kid in Pennsylvania.
 Joyeux Noël, Emmanuel!  That means Merry Christmas, God With Us!

 Patrick played ball with the dogs after our first big snow this week.

 This measurement was taken after we had shoveled the deck a few times!

Patrick has a hat that matches mine. They were gifts from Jessica & David.

 Our deck.

 The river.

 Baby Rocket Dog on our night time walk.

The cabin from a distance.

 These 2 photos are of Patrick clearing the snow off of our deck roof.

There were areas that had 4 feet of snow!

 He had a rope around his waist in case he started to fall.  

That didn't happen, thank goodness.

I want to wish all my friends in the blogisphere a 

Very Blessed Christmas!!

lots of love,

Cassie

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ Shadow Dogs

Hootie, our Welsh Terrier, is playing with his little, squeaky ball while Miss Baby Rocket Dog, our Airedale Terrier,  lurks close by.  Baby is waiting for the right moment to steal his ball from him.  Watch out Hootie!!

To join us for Shadow Shot Sunday, or just to see what or who else is lurking in the shadows, go on over to ShadowShotSunday2.blogspot.com.  Blessings to all who pass this way, and Happy St. Patrick's Day!
love,
Cassie

Shadow Shot Sunday #198 ~ Hootie

A pensive Hootie in the shadows. 

He loves our neighbor Jeanne and longs for her when she is gone!

For more Shadow Shot Sunday 2 photos, go visit  http://shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com/.  Our hostess this week is Magical Mystical Teacher and to get a glimpse of her fab Shadow Shots, and usually some great haiku, just click here.

Blessings to all who pass this way.  Life is short.  Make sure to let those you love know how important they are to you.

love, Cassie 

Shadow Shot Sunday #196

 

The top shadowy visage is our Airedale, Baby Rocket Dog, trying to get me to toss her ball for her while I was on the computer.  The next 3 shots I took while our Welsh Terrier, Hootie, was at his beginners agility class with Sun Dog Training & Behavior.  The course has some very large China Berry trees around the perimeter.  The third shot is where China Berry and Bamboo converge.  It is quite pleasant looking up while at agility class, but usually I'm busy either running Hootie or watching the other dogs learn to do the course.  If you double click on the last photo you get a better view of the berries.  They are very hard and Patrick told me that when he was a kid they used to use them with their sling shots.  Ouch!  To view more Shadow Shots from around the world, you can go over to http://shadowshotsunday2.blogspot.com/ or just click HERE.  Thanks to Rose, our hostess this week!

Hootie insisted that I include him in my SSS too, so here he is doing a good sit.  Blessings to all who pass this way.

love, Cassie

COLOR ~ Week 3 ~ Yellow

These were the first yellow Calla Lilies I have ever seen. I got them at our local Safeway store.

Yesterday Patrick, Jessica, David and I went to visit the game preserve. Jessica's yellow/mustard colored sweater really stood out. I took a lot of pictures there and might just regale you with them later!

These flowers were a gift a few weeks ago from my friend Shelly. She knew I was feeling a bit "blue" so thought some yellow would cheer me up!

Aw come on, you didn't really think I'd do a post without one pooch picture, did you?!

You've probably guessed, today is Color Monday and our color is yellow!

To join in, or just see the other entries in Color Monday, please follow the rainbow on over to Jen's blog! She's our hostess and has all the other participants listed there.

Shadow Shot Sunday ~ #117 ~ In The Window

How much is that doggy in the window? Priceless. Our daughter & son-in-law have been here a few days and were pampering Hootie with their attention. Glad I snuck up on them and got these Shadow Shots.

Hope you get over to Tracy's to see more Shadow Shots too. Just click HERE and you'll be there! Happy Shadow Shot Sunday!

love, Cassie

Friday Foto ~ Alone

Oh no. Is poor little Hootie all alone?

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Fooled you!

It's Friday, time for Friday Foto.

Please visit the Friday Foto blog to check out the other posts.

Hootie Lounging In Bay Window AND Our Newest Project??

The reason I have 3 photos of Hootie in our bay window is because I want to show off the cover I made for the window seat. (Also, isn't he cute??) I have a sewing machine that we bought at a yard sale 3 years ago, and supposedly it's a good one. Only thing is I took it in to be adjusted ($$$!!) and it was good for a few items I sewed, then I messed around with the tension and screwed it up again. Phooey. So, this window seat cover is all hand sewn. I really liked the pattern of the upholstery material. So back-woodsy. My fingers are sore from pushing the needle through, but I'm quite pleased with the results. The new project I mention in the title of this post is the deck. What a mess it has become. The heavy winter snow the past few years have eaten all the stain off of it. We might try a different path to fix it this summer. Maybe a weathered look...

Tomorrow is my 4th Kootenai River Run. I'm not in near as good shape as I have been previously. I'll let you know how that goes. My buddy Candace will be joining me, and I think another gal, Linda and they are both fit. Sooooo we'll see. The weather forecaster said it's going to rain in the mountains so I'm not sure what kind of weather we'll have. I don't want to melt in the rain!

Bye for now. May the Lord bless and keep all my blog buddies.

love, Cassie

A to Z Mondays ~ The Letter V

First of all, my favorite V is my granddaughter, Viola Avery. Viola is Teddy’s daughter and lives in a small town in Arizona with her folks and younger brother, Leslie Andrew. I don’t have a photo of Viola on my digital camera so you just have to take my word for it that she is adorable!! She is a sweetie too. I hadn’t heard her voice in a very long time, and was surprised by her on Mother’s Day with a telephone call. Viola is 12 years old now, and sounded so grown up. I miss my grandkids. If you are a praying person, please pray that my grandkids know how much I love them and that their mom’s heart will soften towards me. Thanks.

Secondly, my next V word is Violetta the Garden Fairy. Here is a picture of Violetta in my tiny little garden: Third V word: Vicious, Villainous, criminal Dog --- Beware!!! This dog can not be trusted. He is now wanted for bunny-slaughter.

[Since these photos vere taken the Villainous Dog has been Vindicated. Seems he just vanted to play vith the bunny, not hurt him.]

For more V words on A to Z Mondays check out buddy Jen's blog!

love, Cassie

A to Z Mondays ~ The Letter U

Uncommonly handsome man with Undeniably happy, Unusually beautiful pooches!

There is no photo to go with this one, but wanted to pass along a funny story...At least Patrick, Jessica & I laughed about it. When we took Jessica to Issaquah, Washington for her freshman year in college the three of us trooped over to Pier One Imports to look for an area rug for her dorm room floor. She has allergies, so we always made sure to check the content labels before buying anything like that for her. She saw a pretty rug she liked and here is what the label read:

100% Undetermined Fiber.

Not only did it have a little undetermined material in it, they were unsure of 100% of it!! Ha! We then made suggestions as to what it could be...rodent fur perhaps? (BTW, we didn't purchase that one!)

Happy A to Z Monday to ya'all!! Why not go on over to see more A to Z's at Jen's?!

Blessings & love, Cassie

More About Me...

This is Hootie and me at his last puppy class before he graduated. There are pics of him with the mortar board on in the dogs blog, HERE. If you look closely in this picture you can see the remains of the shiner I gave myself last Saturday. The orb of my left eye still hurts when I open & close it. Oh brother.

New subject. While reading Dawn's blog (I get ideas from her!) I was inspired to tell you about what a goofy little kid I was. For one thing, though I had an older sister, Harley, I always played by myself. (She didn't like me.) I was kind of an odd child, as I liked to sit behind or under furniture to play. I also spoke in rhyme. This was around 1953 I guess, my folks got brand new living room furniture. Thick upholstery with satin tassels surrounding the bottom on each chair and the sofa. Well, apparently I wasn't being watched very closely, because I got hold of my mother's sewing scissors and cut the tassels off of one of the chairs. Luckily, as I said, I hid behind the chair, so I only cut off the back tassels. I don't remember getting a spanking for this but do remember the chair being moved to a corner position. Around that same time I also cut one side of my very long hair to within 3 inches of the roots...Mommy had to cut the other side to even it off and in the pictures from that time I looked like George Washington! I was around 3 years old, but still remember crying and feeling embarrassed as Mom cut the other side off. I guess I was way before my time, cause I've seen the avant-garde lop sided hairstyles in fashion mags now a days. he he. No pictures for this story. They're in a book back in PA.

Now wasn't that fascinating? ha! Blessings to all my friends who read this today. Have a good weekend.

love,Cassie

A to Z Mondays ~ The Letters H & I

Playing catch up since I missed last weeks A to Z. My letter "H" could of course be none other than:

HOOTIE BOY!

My Letter "I" is Independence. The condition of being politically free: autonomy, freedom, independency, liberty, self-government, sovereignty. I think of Independence as being represented by our U.S. flag:

If you click on this word flag you can learn lots of interesting facts about one of the United States most honored symbols of Independence.

For more A to Z Mondays get on over to Jen's blog! Have a happy Monday all & count your blessings! love, Cassie

Hootie Gets A Bath

First of all, this is not a paid advertisement. It might sound like one because I might rave as I tell you all about the coolest animal bathing system. I purchased the HydroSurge RapidBath last summer at a silent auction but never hooked it up to our shower in Idaho. Patrick took it to Phoenix & tonight he hooked it up in the guest bathroom. It is an extremely convenient method of giving a dog a bath. I used it for the first time tonight for bathing Hootie. The liquid soap packet snaps into an ergonomic handle that is attached to an 8ft. Hose. (The shape of the handle was very easy on my arthritic hands.) It literally only took three (3!!) minutes to suds him up and rinse him off. The handle has 3 settings: wash, rinse, light rinse. It was SO easy. It took me longer to sanitize the bathtub and clean up the bathroom than it did for the bath. I used the hypo allergenic shampoo this time (I purchased a variety pack of soap) because since he has been going to the dog park he has been itching. I think he may be allergic to the rye grass. I know I am. Anyway, Mr. Hootie is so fluffy and smells so good…at least for a little while. I am really impressed with this item and highly recommend it. If anyone wants more info on this here is the website: http://www.jardenstore.com/index.aspx?bid=44 . BTW I used the rinse setting while washing my own hair tonight and it was better than our old shower attachment! Extra bonus!

Here is clean Hootie snoozing after a hard day of play. He has somehow snuck his way onto our bed. Oh well, he is nice and clean. He had a nice brushing after his hair dried. He likes to get groomed.

Had to throw a picture of Baby Rocket Dog in here too, even though she is still a dirty girl. When I took the pic of Hootie she covered her eyes. Awwwwww.