Good bye, Sweet Xena~

This past weekend was a sad, sad time for our family. 

Our Xena quietly passed on to doggie heaven. 

She was 8 1/2 years old and died from kidney failure.

Thank you, sweet girl, for being the best dog ever.

Here are some photos of our girl over the years...

She was only 1/4 lab, but everyone thought she was a lab puppy because she was not very big.
I wanted to name her Petunia Lucille, but Paul did not want to have to call such a sissy name so we ended up with Xena Lucille.
She was a total girly dog, Petunia would have fit her much better, so Xena (the warrior princess), turned out to be an ironic name, which I suppose fits our sarcastic family well...

When she wanted food treats she would say "I love you", only it sounded like ry rov rou.

When she barked it hurt her own ears and she would shake her head. So it went, BARK!, shake shake shake, BARK! shake shake shake. It was funny.

She loved her wubbies (stuffed critters) but she hated to play fetch. 

She would bring her wubbie to you to show you, 

but if you threw it, she gave you a look like, Why did you do THAT?!

She LOVED to hunt for moles and bunnies and rodents 

and was forever digging holes looking for them.

She also loved to roam away and visit the neighbors... it was my job to make sure she was always nearby, which entailed calling her every so often to keep her close.

 I am still looking for her everywhere.

It will take a while to break that habit.

Goodbye to my girl.

The Peculiar, Magical, HUGE ant hill in our forest.

We have this huge ant hill in our forest.

I think it is fabulous.

I took a photo with Paul in it to show the size.

 I also took a video. You can hear our rooster crowing in the back ground.

We are pretty sure they are Thatching Ants. (link for more info).

They are so fascinating!

Summer Life~ Family Visits

Summer is my favorite time of year. The weather, the flowers, the garden, and family visits.

 My favorite flowers so far this year are my neon-coral geraniums. Delicious!

My girls. 

Eve.

Ann.

 Our entire family still lives in PA (we are in WA), so summer brings a lot of family visits.

First visit was my Dad and brother Jack.

 Visits bring many road trips to local sites, which means a ton of car knitting time!

Our animals are growing fast, and we have fallen into a nice summer routine of feedings and scratches.

My mom and step-dad are here now for a long visit, we have been doing a lot of this...

I always have a mega ton of ideas in my head, this one will not leave me alone. So here is Chad, a sewing pattern I have in the workings. He is still in the prototype/note/sketch stages. I love this part, making variations, figuring out the best way to communicate it onto paper....

My wheel has also been bewitching me lately. Again. I used to spend time with her the better part of every day, so spinning again feels like a warm hug, like going home after a long, long trip.

Off to clean a bit... today is a swimming day, we have invited our friends to come and enjoy our pond...

Wishing you a relaxing Sunday.

xo

reenie