Do you ever forget where you put stuff?

Halloween is just a couple weeks away.  My dear friend Needled Mom sent me a pattern for candy bags for Miss T and D and I finished them this weekend.  It's a nice pattern that works up really quickly and you could put any number of combinations of colors and patterns. I put their names on with my embroidery machine but covered them up for in this shot.  Thank you NM for sending me the pattern!

I have been trying to organize my sewing room.  After the big make over a few years ago I have kind of let things slide a bit........ahem........quite a bit.  I have found all kinds of goodies that I forgot that I had so have a slew of projects to work on.  I discovered that I had already bought the sashing, border and back fabric for the quilt that I am making Miss T for Christmas........so now I have two sets of fabrics to pick from........  I normally make a new Christmas wall hanging each year for my DIL and grand kids so must get going on that.  I found a kit with all the different fabrics but the directions and picture of the project is not there....... I am hopeless.


We had another hay ride last night with the Sparkies from our Awana group at church.  I was expecting twenty and about 35 arrived! PLUS the person that was supposed to bring the dessert FORGOT so I was trying to find something in my kitchen and Mom's kitchen to give them.  I had some little bags of M & M's so those were the dessert instead of going into the Halloween bags!  Most of the parents came too which was nice plus a couple of neighbors were walking by so we invited them to go to.

This young man was in a cast so we thought it better that he go in the Rhino and not in the hay.   :o(

It was a good ride and the kids saw some deer which was really exciting especially for those that had never seen one before.  Some of the adults saw a ten point buck!  Now Val, I know you are drooling!  heehee! 


We always have a big bonfire.

After seeing the horses and filling up on hotdogs and punch the kids and parents headed home.  Next week we have the 9 and 10 year olds and will probably have around 40 and then that will be that for this year and the boys will move up to the stable.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa, I don't want them to leave for the winter!!  It's only about 5 miles away but it's not like I can look out my window at any time and see them or walk out and take them a carrot.  Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!


Mom had a birthday last week and turned 86 years young!  Everyone came in to see her plus she got a lot of phone calls and birthday cards.  Cards are still coming in and she really enjoys them.  I think she looks younger then her age don't you?  I gave her a new perm today so she is all spiffed up to head back to Florida in a few weeks.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!

I usually have a buddy when I am down in my sewing room.  This time it was Munchie.  See this pile of fabric, it's all put away now and my cutting table is clear! Yay!

Now she is out on the sun porch as I was out there watching tv.

This is Noodles, I can tell by the foot hanging down, he has some white on him.

They are great company and I enjoy them very much except when they catch a bird.  I keep telling them that I am going to put a cowbell on them so they can't sneak up on the poor unsuspecting birds!


Well I must get back down in the sewing room and hunt for the missing pattern.  I won't rest until I find it, it seems like I spend half my time looking for something.  Anybody else out there lose things???  :o)

Who let the dogs out!!!!---Paws On Parade 2010

Paws On Parade is over for another year and was a huge success!  We raised over $40,000 with more trickling in!  This was $8,000 more then last year which is a 25% increase which is no small feat considering the economic climate.  Lots of people were involved in this event to make it go smoothly and lots of fun!  I had my own walkie-talkie so felt pretty important! :0)


My family is extremely supportive of this event and always help out in any way they can.

Funsize helped out in Registration again this year.  It was freezing cold!

This is my best friend Ann and her wonderful dog Greta.  We don't have a dog so Mr. D and Cousin K walked Greta.

This is my DIL, she brought me hot chocolate and gloves for which I will forever be thankful!  Did I say it was cold?

This is D playing with one of the dogs that was up for adoption.  That is Miss T back to the camera and her little friend Katie.

There were big dogs.

And little dogs.

Long, short dogs.

And dogs driving by in cars that wished they were in on the action!

There were dogs with short legs.

And dogs being walked by me with my black and white snowmobile coat on and gloves.  Did I mention it was cold?   This little Jack Russell was up for adoption too.

There were dogs that were bored silly.

And dogs in costume along with their owners.

And of course dogs that were cold so they had a blanket tied around them.  I guess I did mention it was cold didn't I?

I loved watching the dogs participating in Fly Ball.

They just LOVE it!

Thanks to Son for taking all these pictures for me plus many more.  


It was a great day.  Just think of all the help we can give our furry friends with that amount of money!!!!  It will go a long way paying for medical care, food, toys and pay for the wonderful staff that we have.  They go the extra mile with the animals that come through our doors.  Unwanted pets that people have just written off are trained and brought back to good health by our staff.  They work with them constantly, teaching them the basics that make them good pets and then work very hard to match them to the right family. Also our foster families make a huge difference in so many lives.  They take these pets into their home until they are adopted out, the dogs especially do so much better in a home situation then in a kennel.  I met one lady Saturday that has four dogs but still makes time to foster others and take them home for the night to give them time out of the kennel.  We have a program called Dogs Day Out where approved people can take a dog out for the day to play and hike or just be cuddled and loved.   If you ever think you want to do some volunteer work please look at your own Humane Society, they are always looking for dog walkers.  It's good for the dog and good for you!!!

Hay rides and wildlife

We had our first hayride of the season last evening.  The Sparkies youth group came over for a field trip, next Sunday night will be the Cubbies and the following week will be the Truth and Training group.  We do this each fall and the children never seem to tire of seeing the horses and taking the hayride through the woods.  We were very fortunate this year as there were numerous deer sightings which thrilled the kids to pieces!


We had 30 last night and I was ready with a new hot dog and roll steamer which made it so much easier then cooking the dogs on the griddle.  We also had cookies that Miss T, Mr. D and I made in the afternoon plus chips, drinks and other goodies.  No one went away hungry, not even the raccoons who were the recipients of the leftover hot dogs and rolls!


Everyone fit on in one trip so it gave us more time to pat the horses and run around the yard jumping and leaping.  The kids, not the horses!  :O) 

We don't use the horses to pull the hay wagon, the Hubs does the honors.  We would love to have a draft horse at some point to pull the wagon and sleigh. 

We have had lots of wildlife out back this fall, more then usual.  One neighbor saw a moose last week, I've seen the albino deer, my yard man saw a bobcat and there are several does that still have this years fawns with them that we see very often.  We also see our lazy horses taking a sunbath on a sunny afternoon:

They heard me coming so started to get up!

We had our Paws On Parade on Saturday.  It was a sunny albeit blustery day and I finally sent the Hubs home for my snowmobile jacket to wear!  We were right on the rivers edge so it's always windier there too.  I don't have the pictures yet from Son's camera but I just had to share with you that we raised $40,000!!!!!!!


Isn't that amazing?!!  We have been working on it for months and when all was said and done that is what we ended up with.  Also one of the area vets pledged a day at the clinic doing spays and neuters for each $1000 that his team raised and they raised $10,000 so we get TEN days of free services!!!  The Kindred Spirits Team ROCKS!  Dr. Mark Hanks does more for us than anyone could imagine and a HUGE THANK YOU  to him and his team!!  


I will post the pictures as soon as I get them.  :o)


Happy Thanksgiving to all our Canadian friends.  Seeing pictures of all of that wonderful food on Pea's blog has made me very hungry for pumpkin pie and turkey!

This is what blogging is all about!

Guess who arrived this morning?!  Dawn, DC and Kev from Call Me Grandma Dawn! I have been looking forward to this visit for quite some time!  It was the most perfect day with the sun shining brightly and not freezing cold or raining.

I got a few pictures but forgot to have DC take one of Dawn and me together when he took one with his camera.  I'll have to ask for a copy of that one!  We hung out here for a while, Dad wanted to take the men on a ride through the carriage roads so Dawn and I went along in the.......ahem........poop cart that we use to haul the horse 'dressing' off in.  There wasn't room in the Rhino for us but we are hardy women and we made do with what we had.  :o)

                                           Kev, DC and Dad.

The leaves are on the Rhino are from the church block party that we had on Saturday.  The Hubs used it to chauffeur people from the church to the family center where the party was held.



                            Dawn with Kipper and Lil' Bud.

                               Kev feeding Kip some treats.

Last night we got to have dinner together and had a wonderful time.  It was raining cats and dogs so the beautiful view from the restaurant over the lake and all the fall foliage was not to be seen.  :o(  That is one reason I picked that restaurant because of the gorgeous view but maybe they can see it when they drive by today on their way north to Baxter State Park.

Dawn and I were celebrating because since we met last year we have lost a total of 72 pounds between us!!!!  42 for her and 30 for me!!  YAY!!  I still have a ways to go so am still chipping away at it but isn't that amazing?!! That's a whole 4th grader!!!

                                          Dawn, Kev and DC.

What a joy to get together and pick up like we live across the street from each other instead of halfway across the country!  This is what blogging is all about, meeting wonderful people and making friendships that will last forever!

Friday's Fall Decorating

It sure didn't feel like fall today if the way I was sweating is any indication.  Now that's a classy first statement isn't it?  Just keeping it real.  :o)   I have been cleaning out my flower beds, the annuals are pretty well gone by and it's time for them to go into the compost heap.  This wasn't the best summer for annuals as it was very hot and dry despite my gazillion waterings but the perennials have done well and the fall things are still in bloom.


My cone flowers have just about taken over my whole veggie garden patch so I decided they had to go.  I hate just throwing away something as pretty as they are so I dug them all up and planted them in the field in hopes that they will like it there and beautify that area.  Thankfully my yard man was available and he dug the holes and I planted them, the digging being the hardest part.


Tomorrow is supposed to rain so we won't get finished but I have many more things that I want transplanted. We have lived here over twenty years and things do tend to get crowded and overgrown and need a good clearing out at times.  Just like the clutter in our lives, I don't know about you but sometimes I feel like my time is taken up with so much clutter that really isn't all that important when there are things of more importance that I could be concentrating on.


Paws On Parade is coming up on October 9th and those of you that have hung in there with me over the last few years know that that's our biggest fundraiser at the Humane Society.  We have been working on it diligently but sometimes I wish I had taken even more time to scout out possible business sponsors and put up even more posters.  The money raised makes life better for so many unwanted pets; dogs, cats, rabbits, ferrets, birds and myriad other critters.  You name it, we get it!


Speaking more positively I will say we are ahead in number of walkers then we were last year at this time and contributions are up a bit.  Now I am going to vent.  Why do people tell me that they are going to make such and such donation and then don't?  Several new sponsors that I found gave me their word that they were going to give X number of dollars and I haven't heard from them since.  I would rather they be right up front about it like some were and just say we can't do anything this year, I can understand that and tell them so.  At our business we get inundated with requests and we can't give to them all but we don't tell them we will and then don't.  Okay, enough venting.


THEN there are the ones that I almost hate asking as I know the business climate isn't that great right now but they come up with a wonderful donation!  One in particular touched my heart and I almost cried when the check came in.  You can bet your bippy I will be sending people their way to give them more business.  

I finally got my fall decorating done, at least on the inside of the house.

I found this cute little runner at TJ Maxx.

I grew these in my garden, I just love Japanese Lanterns.

This is on the door that goes into Mom and Dad's apartment.

Have to pick up some more pumpkins for outside plus some mums today.  The nursery that held the fundraiser Art In The Garden, Sprague's Nursery, is presenting the check to us today so I will get them there. They said the press is going to be there, YIKES, what do I wear??