Little things

Jason had another burst of creativity and built us two new benches...he used a pattern but not a kit. I was impressed and they are quite comfortable!And after all this DIY, we opted for some DIBPS. (Do it by paying someone) and had the house interior painted.
Before:After:(it is a little on the blue side b/c I had my WB set wrong)We had a summer party last weekend and I didn't take a single photo. But you can find some on Gyeong's blog. We did keep our friends' 6 month old lab puppy for a day. That was plenty. She was cute as a button but way too much energy for my group.We tried wearing her out.But she still insisted on pestering our old dogs.Luckily, it was only for a day. Dana and Cali had to seek solace with each other. Then we had a foster for an afternoon..short timer. Her name is Peppermint and she was very sweet. And as usual, Henry was smitten.
And we had quite the full house this week for dinner when some great friends from college stopped by. One was moving up north and stopped by on their way through..she has four children. There are two others within driving distance, so they came as well. So combined we had 6 kids under the age of 7. There is nothing wrong with this but it is just very different in our household. But they were all great and it was awesome to see Cheri, Jan and Gina. Cheri had her two dogs with her as well. So we had Jack and Jill too. They were great as well and settled right in.
All in all it has been a pretty crazy few weeks..a bunch of little things that add up to lots of fun and craziness. that is my kind of life!

More of the same

We had another few weeks of DIY and wine festivals. Story of our spring! We decided to put a back splash in the kitchen.
Before:After:and now the after photo becomes the before as we are getting the whole house painted this week. I think Jason did a pretty good job!
Amy seemed unimpressed.Beau showed a similar disrespect of our DIY ventures when he came for a visit.While Jason was tiling, i enjoyed some nature and watched the hummingbirds on my new feeder.
then we went to Cooper Vineyards for their annual SPCA wine festival. We always pack a picnic and spend the day enjoying the dogs and music. We brought Shiloh, Cali and Dana (who has moved over to Bob's blanket to oust Doc from his bed in this photo) and left henry at home as he recently had another lump removed (benign) but is still recovering.we had gelato
And drew a crowd like normalAll of this laying around and being loved on wore everyone out. Cali drooled on Kristen's toes before finally passing out completely.Jaimie and Dana couldn't handle the fun any longer..
As the temperature rises, the outdoor fun slows down. But we still have a few more fun events to attend!

Blazin' through the vines

We attended the first annual Grapehounds Virginia ..I know..Shocker! It was a GREAT event! it started at Tarara winery and there were tons of great vendors.Kristen and I had to volunteer for a little bit so the boys relaxed in the shade.Then it was time for wine tasting!! Tarara set up a really nice outdoor tasting area. We had some lunch and wine here and headed out to hit the wine trail! Next, North Gate winery which is owned by greyhound adopters!
This is when everyone stopped to smell the roses.Then we are off to Three Fox Vineyard. This is an absolutely gorgeous vineyard and the wine was awesome as well. We pause to enjoy the wonderful view.
And our last stop of the day was Barrel Oak winery. This is a very dog friendly winery that is set in a gorgeous location.Of course, we draw a crowd but the dogs are done. We can only coax Stanley and Cali in to the tasting room by this time. But the winery is so dog friendly, they have 'leash holders' at the bar!
Kristen takes the opportunity to educate the young.And Stanley gains a friendThis was a great event. We are now very excited about Grapehounds New York in July!
I have a foster for a bit. His name is Jawa Blaze and we call him Blaze (mostly Blazin' Raizen). he is a big, goofy, happy boy. and he has the BEST ears! He reminds me a lot of Booyah on "Ridlon Tails"And we are watching Amy for the week. She loves to run in the yard.
I was trying to get a good shot of Blaze and caught this..Oh..and R.I.P. Windows 7 Disk..and no, I had not installed it yet.

Pooches and Porches

BREAKING NEWS..my mission is complete...Henry has a pooch. I am proud of his pooch. makes me warm and fuzzy.
He is excited about it too.Now back to regularly scheduled programming. A few weeks ago, we watched a lot of dogs. We had Amy, Dolly, Diego and Smokey for a long weekend. Dolly, Amy and Cali are queen bees and Dante is king. Dante has an agreement with most queen bees. No such arrangement had ever been made with Dolly. Finally, after a few days..they got the documents signed and notarized. Thank you, Dolly, for not eating him.Diego=cuteThis weekend, my parents came to visit. They brought the fluff ball who is cute as well.
We decided to skirt off the deck. So we used the 'free labor' opportunity and put my dad to work! Jason and he worked all day to get it finished up.
Before:During:

After:
Cali surveys the land with her still favorite pink poodle. It was crazy windy this weekend. Dante was hanging in the sunshine and with the help of the wind..struck a 'sexy' pose!
And thanks to Life with Dogs, I found this perfect youtube video. I think it describes many aspects of our lives.