Blog design woes

I am so frustrated!  I cannot get this blog to look the way I want it to, without spending hours  fiddling with it, I never should have touched anything to begin with!!  I haven't even had time to post let alone tinker with this!!  ARGGHH!!

Please excuse the dust

I am doing a bit of remodelling around here, and I am just experimenting to see what I like.  If anyone has any links to free primitive blog designs etc, I would love to see them!  I think I am going to get my daughter to design something for me, it would be a good experience for her.

We now return to your regular scheduled programming

My goodness!!!  May 18th was the last day I posted and this summer is whizzing by.  The sun sets so much earlier, leaving me scrambling to get my outdoor chores done.  It is nice and hot during the day, but as soon as the sun starts to set, it gets quite chilly.  The water at the beach is warm enough that is doesn't hurt to get your big toe in.  I love fall, but I am NOT ready for it yet!!!  In my brain, it should only be May.  But alas...it is almost September.  And I am protesting that!  So, I am going to get back into blogging again.  I don't have photos currently as I am not on my usual computer, but this week, there will be new photos up when I get a spare minute.  There may even be some changes to the look of my blog, if I can do so without blowing it up!

Lessons learned while delivering papers

I apologize for no breaks in between paragraphs, Blogger is not letting me fix that! 

This week I have been really grumpy and complained a lot.  Everything at the moment seems so big.  The biggest issue is our son Jeremy, who has a raging dental infection.  He has been in agony for a week now, with little relief.  He has a root canal that was done 5 years ago which is sound, but the dentist ( in Ontario) did not get all the infection out.  He is going to a specialist tomorrow to get it redone, which is going to cost us over $1100.00 which we do not have.  Where God guides, He provides though, right?

Jeremy has a paper route and we usually do it together, but, I didn't want him walking all over the place lugging the papers and flyers today when he is so unwell -  we have roughly 400 -   So what did I do?  I said I would do them for him on my own.  ( and I did actually say that without grumbling!) And I will tell you this...I am not ever going to suggest that again.  Mike ( my dh) helped me out with the driving bits and walked one route.  I did the rest.  It is true...I am insane.  I could have done some today and some tomorrow.  But noooo, not me.  I am stubborn, and I was doing it all today.

First of all, I forgot my lunch and had to come back home.  Then, when I got to the spot I usually start, which is in a tiny neighbourhood with teeny weeny lanes, a hydro truck was blocking the lane, so I had to drive around, and then around again, as someone was pulling out of another lane.   I grumbled.  I got that part done, grumbled at Mike, and then started another street before grabbing my lunch.  Off I went again, to be greeted at the end of a street by a nasty dog and two people yelling at me that they did not want the flyers.  Well, when someone is snotty with me...they sometimes get a whole lot of snotty right back.  I bit my lip and carried on, seething inside and by this time, my hips were aching really badly.  That is partly due to my karate training...if the sensei could barely walk because she had done her hips in by doing karate, I really should  have paid closer attention to that!  I got back to the van,  and called Mike complaining  about these grumpy people, people who live in huge homes with 5000 stairs, dandelions, weather, the van, I was tired, pot holes, dentists, you name it.  I must tell you, some people can be so incredibly rude and nasty who do not want to get the papers. Today it got to me. How dare those people grumble at me when I had done nothing wrong!

Then I stopped and thought about my own attitude and how I was doing to God what these people did to me, and I was grumbling constantly about this stuff instead of making the best of it and letting my light shine. And being thankful and content for all the things that God has entrusted to me.  I did pray this morning that God would show me the joy in some of the stuff we are dealing with.  So what better spot to start than these papers!  Darn it, I was going to be joyful and content!

So, I apologized for my attitude, prayed for those people, and started fresh.  A rather strange man appeared out of nowhere and asked me how to get a paper route. Wow, that was not the right time to ask me that, but I gave him a paper and a number to call and nearly gave him my paper bag as well!  That picked me up.  Then, an elderly man drove by me and honked and waved, and smiled at me.  I noticed the flowers, and heard the bees buzzing around them, and I was getting hot, but a breeze came up.

  I got to one house where a man was working outside and asked if he wanted the paper, as he tended to let them pile up at times.  He was so nice, and I told him that some people really prefer to yell at me about the papers, and he said, "I would never yell at you!"  If my legs hadn't hurt so bad, I would have skipped and hopped the rest of the route!  God and I joked around about things and laughed.  Yes, I totally think God loves to laugh with us, and He and I did some of that today!

I made faces at all the dogs that stood at their windows barking at me, and laughed. Which was all well and good when they were chihuahuas and poodles. I don't think the doberman was thrilled.  I did find I could still run after all.

I picked violets, and marvelled at one I saw growing in the crack of the pavement.  That was just like me, God told me.  Something beautiful and delicate, yet managing to blossom and grow in a seemingly impossible and difficult spot.

  And don't hate me for this, but one thing I got a huge kick out of was, lobbing the papers onto porches when the people's cats are sitting there. Of course, I don't hit them, I just like to see them take off like a shot! 

 Mike called to encourage me at one point, I just got back to the van after running out of papers part way through.  I had lapsed back into "How can you be so happy when my legs are falling off, I have blisters, I can't breathe, my head hurts and I am now sunburned?" I wanted to hear, "You poor baby".  I  almost missed it when he told me what a great mom I am, and how much he loves me - almost missed the blessing God was giving me.

At my last street, I got it together again.  Until I saw that hydro truck had taken the spot I usually parked at.  If you have ever seen Mr. Bean, it was almost like that blue truck with 3 wheels that kept tormenting Mr. Bean everywhere he went. I don't know how many people saw me waddling and limping down the road at this point, though I almost fell down the steps at a house in front of an elderly woman! 

I did learn lessons today, I was blessed today, God showed me that I need to be thankful  and content with  what I have and that He will walk with me, and I just need to be quiet and listen to Him before I get all worked up and make things harder.  This of course, is something I really struggle with and need to always work on.  I am so thankful that God is here to walk it out with me!

Day Trip

23 days of rain.  I just checked the weather...rain everyday until next Friday!!!!  ARGHHHHH!!  We have had 2 coudy but dry days...I went outside to trim the brush, and got eaten alive by black flies.  Will I ever be able to go outside again?  Soon it will be horse flies and June bugs, oh those things are gross!  But I will take them over torrents of rain!  This rain does not help anxiety and depression.

We fit in a little day trip last weekend, here are some highlights........photos courtesy of my son Jeremy....


Meet Sue, the world's most complete T-Rex skeleton.  She was on loan to the Museum of Natural history here in Halifax, and arrived from Kuwait, now she is going to Atlanta.  I think she was happy to see us, but she sure looked hungry!

Look at those tiny arms, really good for nothing but hanging your hat on!

Devin and I with the moose.  I love moose!!! 

Almost as much as I love ravens!  I know there is a nest around my house somewhere and I would love to have a raven for a pet!

This is one huge lobster dinner!

Octopus for sale at Pete's Frootique... uhh, no thanks...

Shopping with Robyn...did you see I am wearing a pair of Chuck Tayler high tops??  My girlie bought them for me for Mother's Day!  I even wear them out in public with a skirt!!  It is so much fun to embarrasss my kids!

Looking to the Navy dockyards in Halifax from Dartmouth on a gloomy day.

2 container ships approaching... sorry for the blurriness, it was quite misty and foggy!

There's the tug boat in the middle.

Jackpot!! Jeremy found a clay marble and a glass one, once used as ballast in ships.

More posts to come soon!

Waterlogged

Rain.  3 weeks of rain.  One and a half days of sun.  Another week of rain to come.  We live in a bit of a valley, so the water is pooling up.  We do not have eavestrough, but have french drains everywhere.  I am starting to grow webbed feet and gills. Blub, blub, blub.....

Nest swap

I was supposed to do this yesterday...but by the time I got a chance to do it, my son sat down here to watch the Penguins play in the playoffs, so that was the end of that!

Many thanks to Carrie and Monica for hosting yet another wonderful swap!  The theme was "Nest" and my partner was Kim, she lives in Texas.  She is an amazing and inspiring and incredibly amazing woman, and  I am so glad to have made a new friend!  I totally forgot to get photos of what I sent her, which is likely okay, since she has not opened her box yet, so you will have to pop on by her blog to find out.

The box arrived on a dismal, dreary day when I needed some cheering up, I was so happy to see my mailman at the door!!  Please ignore my mess...I am getting ready for a church yard sale!

Look at all this, she spoiled me rotten!! I couldn't fit everything into teh picture!  So here we have:

*A little rabbit that I am going to poke into my raised veggie beds

*a wonderful smelling lavender sachet,oh it just smells heavenly!  I also got some lavender body wash and lotion and a scrubby, which I must hide from my daughter.

*Oops, you can't see it from here, but a DVD of The Secret Garden which I LOVE, it is the newer version and it is one of my favourite movies, which up unitl now, I had to wait to sign out from the library.  Did I say I LOVE it??

*a box of notecards with birds on them, they are really cute!

*a ceramic crock with butterscotch candies in it, yummy!

*A teeny tiny nest candle holder, with a tiny bird candle in it, it is so cute!  It is in the middle of the photo.

* A metal sign that says "Water your spirit with faith" how true that is!

*gardening gloves which came at the perfect time, as I had a huge cut in mine from cutting down wild roses, yeeeouch!

*doilies, I really like doilies!!

And then there was this box...this is the most perfect thoughtful thing EVER.  I collect seaglass, and have literally saved huge buckets full.  I have my very favourites stashed in corners, but now they can have their own home where I can look at them and imagine what they might have been from all I want!

Inside the box, was this wonderful ceramic bird wind chime, which also has butterflies flitting around it.  One butterfly did not survive the trip, but I can fix it easily.

Here are my favourite pieces of sea glass in their new home!! I even have some sea glass marbles in there, as well as some children's tea set pieces, which are from the Halifax explosion. 

Thank you so much Kim!!!  I just love everything you sent and appreciate you so much!  Thanks again Monica and Carrie for organizing such a great swap!

Randomness

First of all, I wonder how many blog posts I have entitled randomness?  Time to get out the thesaurus and find another word for it!

1.  I bought myself some of these the other day, since spring cleaning is here, and they are INCREDIBLE!  One Skoy cloth is the equivalent of 15 rolls of toilet paper in the average home, and absorbs 15 times its own weight!  They are 100% biodegradable, and you can pop them into the microwave ( only when they are WET!) for a couple of minutes to sanitize them.  They can be used over and over again, and they are AWESOME!!!!!  The company was started by two moms, who are very smart cookies, and have made such a cool product.  Can you tell I like them??

2.  My dh is off for a couple of days, and we went to the mall today, and I saw something I have wanted since I was a kid but never allowed to have, because, well, girls didn't wear them!!  High top Converse sneakers!!  Take a look at some of these beauties.....  I am hinting heavily at my children to buy me some for Mother's Day, or maybe even tomorrow.  IF ANYONE FROM CONVERSE IS READING THIS.....PLEASE HAVE MERCY ON ME AND SEND ME A PAIR OF HIGH TOPS!!!  I will love you forever!!

3.  I got the Michael Jackson Experience game for the Wii for Christmas, and I love it!  I can even do the dances without the Wii now, which is highly embarrassing for my kids when we are out and a Michael Jackson song comes on!

4.  While out at the mall today, I felt the beginnings of a panic attack starting, and it was horrible, but I got through it, lots of breathing and redirecting my brain.  We were sitting in the food court, and there was a lot of people talking in the background, and it was hot, and I got all weak and woozy and scared, but thankfully it passed.  My daughter and I suffocated ourselves in Bath and Body Works, I tried on every perfume there was and that didn't do much for my woozy head!!  Or the noggins of those around us!

5.  Robyn wanted to find some classic movies, and we went into HMV.  We didn't stay long, they were playing some sort of death metal, acid "someone got stuck in a garbage truck and can't get him out" sounding "music".  I was disgusted to be honest.  I saw the whole series of  "Leave It To Beaver" on sale...love that show!!

6.  I am taking part in a swap and just sent my box off today ( more details to follow).  My partner, Kim, just started a blog ( called Becoming a Pearl) and I love it!  I also love how she came up with the name for her blog...really cool!!

My dh is just barbecuing some burgers for us, spring must definitely be here!  Hope you are all well...and thanks for the support!  And if you have any Converse laying around collecting dust, I would gladly adopt them!!

Back in the saddle

I don't have a lot of time at the moment to blog....but will be back at it on a more regular basis. I have lots to write about but will be pacing myself and writing what is on my heart, good or bad.  I hope mostly good! For now, here are some photos from the past few days.  Today is icky weather wise...we are having a nor' easter and I was very blessed to NOT have to drive on the suspension bridge over Halifax harbour today to take Devin to swimming lessons!  The past week has been gloriously sunny and springy!  Today it is windy, rainy, peppered with hail and YUCK!!

My oldest son wanted a paper route, so we chose one in one of the prettiest areas of the city.  It has 400 papers!  GULP!!  It is great exercise and has some really pretty homes. 

Devin is looking at the remains of an old school in the little village of Jollimore - the prettiest area in the city as far as I am concerned!

Devin loves this house, though it is quite a hill to get down.  The driveway is a little bridge and he thinks it is cool.

Do you see Devin going up the stairs there?  People like to build their homes on cliffs here!  We don't have to walk up all these stairs, we can throw it in the driveway.  But Devin enjoys the stairs! And I think it is nicer to be tidy and take it to the porch.

Whew, the poor mailman gets to do this everyday, he must have legs of steel!

See that beach?  That is where we hold church baptisms.  The water is icy cold, and there were seals swimming behind the pastor the last time we did this!  It is a private beach owned by a friend of a friend.

Devin and I waiting for our ship to come in!

And here it comes!

Jeremy is not that much taller than me!!  He cheated by standing on a big rock!

Ahhh, sunshine!

I love old sheds!  I would love to take a peek in this one!

One of my favourite things to do...find an empty crab shell......

And then crunch it under your foot, ahh, that satisfying crunch!  It is even better when they are really big!

Some blue willow sea pottery...

 We found this very old cemetery...I love hiking through old cemeteries, there is so much history.  This was a very unique one.  Most of the graves were from 1850 and earlier!  The cross looked like it was glass in laid into the stone.

The only bright spot

The sky is still a faint line of blue on the horizon and it is 6:30 PM!  And that is the only bright spot I can see.  I am really struggling with panic and anxiety right now.  Every part of me is aching, I can't eat, I can't sleep, I don't want to go anywhere. I hate taking Ativan because it makes me so spacey.  I feel empty aside from overwhelming fear that is gripping every part of me.  My poor darling husband is working constantly right now, I rely on him too much to help me through these episodes.  I don't rely enough on the One who can free me from this, if I would only let Him.  I feel like the world is a very dark place right now.  I spent the day doing school planning, but I am second guessing myself if I will even be able to do it.  I have two reluctant learners in this house, and one other who needs to be finishing things off, but has been working full time, so that experience is good.  If I could just motivate these two boys, it would be so helpful,  but maybe it is me who needs to be motivated.  Maybe a dose of spring is in order. I love home schooling, but right now, it jsut seems, well, hard.

Right now I feel like I will never feel better again.  I hate this.  I just want to be me again and be free. Yet, I know the answer is right at my fingertips, and that is clinging to God's hand and giving it all to Him.  Why does something that is really so easy, have to be so hard??

On the wings of an eagle

We were fortunate enough this year to be able to travel up to a small village (well, actually, I am not sure if it is a village, it is more of a "blink - and - you'll - miss - it" kind of place) called Sheffield Mills to watch the bald eagles congregate and be fed.  This event takes place each winter, and attracts eagles ( and people!) from all over Nova Scotia.  Being close to one eagle is amazing, but  close to over 70 of them...is breath taking!

We arrived and there were many eagles in the trees.  We had missed the first two feedings, so we weren't really sure what to expect.  We had missed the feedings the last time we went a few years ago, and didn't see much of anything.

Today was our lucky day!  Along came the farmer with another meal of delectable, fresh, crunchy chicken carcasses.  He drove up in a van..I hope it didn't belong to his wife, what a not so pleasant surprise THAT would be, feathers and, well, chicken parts everywhere!

We parked on a nearby sideroad and saw these eagle buddies chowing down on some chicken.



Here are just a few congregating and waiting for bits of chicken. We saw some really grumpy, hungry eagles fighting for their share. We had left to go and search out another spot, which didn't exist as per the map directions, and so we missed the best action.

Lots of other eagle lovers!

A group of eagles is a parliament of eagles, sounds pretty official and special doesn't it?  I bet these eagles do more than many of the people who actually serve in our Canadian parliament...

Devin got a bit bored with just watching eagles in the trees, he was VERY excited to see them having lunch!  This was in a very brief moment of sunshine that passed our way.

That poor chicken!

Eagle take out...he swooped in and whisked this chicken off into the trees, where most adult eagles prefer to eat.

Majestic! 

Staring contest ( he won)

Juvenile bald eagle.  They are enormous and much larger than the adults!

 Here is more information on this annual event.  Thanks to my daughter Robyn for letting me use some of her photos taken with her new camera!



Recontemplating! I made up my own word!

I wanted to say ( and have for several days!) thank you for the words of encouragement and advice on my last post.  This week has been difficult, on various levels. My anxiety levels have been through the roof at times. And sometimes the to do list seems so long and overwhelming.  Blogging is something I have enjoyed doing for me, not to impress people or get followers, but just because I enjoy writing and recording memories.  Lately, it has become one of the things I want to do, but don't take the time for, and I have a lot I went to share and write.  Which then overwhelms me, and trust me, that doesn't take much!

So...I am going to keep on keeping on, purely because I enjoy it.  I would very much like to write more on my struggle with panic and anxiety, in hopes it will encourage and help someone else, and yes, also for those times "I" need more support and encouragement.  We are all here to lift each other up, and should do so!  I know my dh loves it when I write something here, and when I add photos of our house, he finds it helpful, since I move the stuff around in here so much, he can come and see where I have stuffed things and tweaked things and see the before and after.  He sort of gets a preview before he comes home from work!

Thank you all for sharing your thoughts with me, adn for giving me some thing to think about.  I may not post every day, but I have a new attitude about it, and look forward to sharing more!

Contemplating

I am contemplating closing this blog.  I have had several rough days of dealing with Generalized Anxiety Disorder, and several issues with fighting and arguments in our family.  I don't feel I have anything mind boggling or exciting to share or say, because right now I am feeling really sad and depressed, of course those are things that are not from God, and I shouldn't be, but there it is.  Perhaps I could write about it here, but perhaps I also need to be more in the real world and not on here.  It seems like the only thing this blog is good for is attracting spammers. I seem to be blocking those a lot! I am not out to get the most followers though I sure appreciate those who do follow me, thanks!  Sure, I can easily pretend I am happy and the world is alive with flowers and chirping birds, and who would ever know?  But I am a person who is transparent and wears her heart on her sleeve, and am not phony.  I am happy, but tremendously sad at the same time.  If that makes sense.  Wearing your heart on your sleeve means it gets brushed off a few times, and you would think I would be tougher from it, but I am not. Each day is a fight for me to stay on top of the feelings that would otherwise pull me down into the muck and mire.  Today's fight wasn't strong enough, and getting back up is hard.  The truth is I am tired, right to the core.  I need some rest and some sunshine.  I need peace and to know I am on the right track. So far, I feel empty, I feel alone, I feel disorganized, and overwhelmed.  Yet all I need to do is reach out to Jesus and He will set my feet upon a rock and stand with me.  I have been praying about this blog.  I just never seem to be able to get time to blog regularly.  Sometimes I find it is a thing I "have" to do, when it is supposed to be something that I enjoy.  And I do enjoy it, perhaps I am putting the pressure on myself. 
Sigh...I guess I will wait and see what God directs me to do.

The Road to Yesterday is history!

Oh my, I just could not get into "The Road to Yesterday".  I read a few chapters, each one essentially a short story, but I found it really hard to get into or to connect with anyone in the stories.  Perhaps it is because things are a bit rough right now in terms of my anxiety  issues acting up, and I need to be reading something lighter.  Every day is a struggle right now, and a fight to hold on to God's hand and not let go and try to wade through things on my own. And trust me, walking it on your own without tightly clutching God's hand in yours does not work!  It has to be Him and me...not ME and Him.  So, I know the reading challenge is over in a  couple of days, but I intend to continue on with Anne's many adventures and work through the series that way, and get back to some of that light hearted, "sighing with contentment" reading I enjoyed with Anne of Green Gables.  I have much more I could say, but am really just needing a soak in a bubbly tub, cuddles with my kids,a good rest and to be scooped up and dusted off by my Saviour. 

Anne can be a little too personal!

I have finished reading Anne of Green Gables, and enjoyed it very much!  The past couple of weeks have been difficult as I have been helping a very dear friend after the death of her mother.  It did not leave a great deal of time for reading, and when I did read, of course, it was highly sad and depressing.  I was chugging along just fine, I really love how descriptive L.M. Montgomery is, I could many times picture myself standing there looking right at Green Gables in their own yard!  And then things got almost too sad to read.

Of course, once Matthew dies it is heart breakingly sad.  I had trouble reading through that part, and even considered skipping it, since I saw it in the movie.  But no...I carried on and got through it.

The part that hit me hardest was this....

'"Why Anne, how you've grown!!" she said, almost unbelievingly.  A sigh followed on the words. Marilla felt a queer regret over Anne's inches.  The child she had learned to love had vanished somehow and here was this tall, serious-eyed girl of fifteen, with the thoughtful brows and the proudly poised, little head in her place. Marilla loved the girl as much as she had loved the child, but she was conscious of a queer sorrowful sense of loss.'

Ugh!!  I could have written that!  Our daughter Robyn is 18 now, all but finished home school - odds and ends to tie together, school choices to be considered  and a lot of stress for Robyn as she makes up her mind on what she wants to do (thankfully we decided to let her take her time and see where God leads her and what He wants her to do ).  She has a job 3 days a week, only down the road.  But my goodness...I miss her.  I feel like she has grown so fast, and that it won't be long before she is married and has her own family to manage.  Those 3 days she is not home are long, long days.  Don't get my wrong, I adore spending the days with our two boys.  Maybe it is just letting go of those strings and giving her a nudge towards those first steps away from the nest that I am finding so hard.  Gosh, I am weepy just writing this!  Just this week I was really watching Devin and he is shooting up and changing before my eyes. Jeremy is 16 and wanting to drive..I think it was only yesterday I bought him his first Hotwheels car!

 I have decided I don't really care for change.

I was blubbering away to my doctor about this, and he said that the nice thing about your kids growing up is that now they will actually want to tell you things, they want to share their thoughts and ideas with you, and they want to have you as a part of their life. They choose you to be a part!  I am so glad!  I personally want all my kids to live here in the house forever -  though I can't convince my dh of that!

Even reading Anne, I felt very sad that Anne was growing up, and didn't see things the same way as she did when she first arrived at Green Gables.  I wanted her to stay little forever, as I enjoyed her imagination so much.  Sigh... perhaps I miss those carefree days of my own childhood too!

I really enjoyed reading this book, and after reading it, I think Kevin Sullivan chose the most perfect actors to portray the roles in the movies, I could not imagine anyone else to play Anne or Marilla especially.  And the movie is so true to the book, I was really impressed by that. 

I have just started reading "The Road to Yesterday" and likely, I should have just gone in sequence.  I am finding this book to be very different and darker than Anne of Green Gables, and I am having trouble getting into it.  I am hoping I can get it finished by next week, fingers crossed!

How about coming along on a walk?

Lots of pictures in this post today!  On Thursday we took advantage of the sunshine and took a ramble at Crystal Crescent Beach, about a 5 to 7 minute drive from our home.  We have to walk into the beach at this time of year, as the park is closed for the winter. ( It is a provincial park..with free entry, how cool is that?)

And what lies beyond this hill?

Ahh, the sea!!  And it is in a calm mood today, thankfully!

Sambro Island lighthouse, the oldest operating lighthouse in North America.  We can also see it from the end of our driveway.

And there are treasures today!  We don't often find sea glass on this beach, but with all the storms lately, some is bound to wash up with the driftwood and the old lobster traps.

A heart shaped piece!  If only it were red!  Checking out Jeremy's new camera features.

I could sit and watch waves all day.

A real treasure..blue seaglass!

The remnants of when the ocean wasn't so friendly and calm.  Just last week we walked across this boardwalk when it was in one piece!  That huge long dark piece of wood washed up from a wharf somewhere.

Me in all my matching finery, and my carrotty Anne hair.  It may have been sunny but it was cold! When you are walking by the ocean in the winter, it doesn't much matter if your clothes match, but how warm you dress!

I often walk this trail and imagine characters from Anne of Green Gables or Road to Avonlea walking here, in  long, billowy dresses.  Me walking along it in a lumberjack coat sort of ruins the effect! 

The view from the trail..heavenly and breath taking especially in the summer when the water is turqouise.

The long lonely boardwalk. 

Meet Clydesdale, a 150 pound bloodhound who often walks here with his owner.  He quickly became great friends with us, and was the biggest mush ever.  I am partial to bloodhounds...our dog has blood hound in her too! 

He's making sure we are still following him!

There you go, back safe and sound!