Tuesday, August 24, 2010

What you DON'T see......

Along with our horses, we have 4 dogs: Lexi, Spike, Chopper and Max, and they are family.

First, we have Lexi. Lexi was a shelter dog so we are not real sure about her lineage, but the first question we are always asked about her is if she is a "cur," so I guess we can just go with that. She has a very quiet and easy temperament and is extremely good-natured. She will "load up" and stay loaded until you tell her she can get out..... Well, unless she rides with you to the co-op, because they have lots of cats to keep the mice population under control, and Lexi likes to eat cats for breakfast, lunch and supper. During such times she doesn't stay "loaded up." Instead, she is sits at the door of the co-op with a string of drool that goes from her mouth to the concrete as she longingly stares through the glass at the big, fat, lazy kitties stretched out across the 50 pound sacks of horse feed. (Needless to say, this is the reason why we do not have any cats at our house and why we DO have lots of mouse traps.....) Lexi also loves her mama's biscuits and gravy :)

Here you see Lexi:


Next we have Spike. Spike was also a shelter dog. He is not long out of the puppy stage and he never strays far from home. He lacks the adventuring spirit of the other three dogs. He always runs with them......but only to the edge of the property....and then he is over it. He is a very simple, playful little fellow who loves to nervously eat up all the slobbery sweet feed dribble from his very precarious perch underneath the horses. He loves to play fetch, but only on the front end. He needs a little practice on the part where you actually bring it back - ha. And at the end of the day when the other dogs return from their follies chasing beavers and wrangling snakes along the creek (where they suffer multiple snakebites that have to be doctored), Spike accompanies them only from the edge of the woods, running triumphantly to the house with the other three, just like he has been with them all along and is finally returning from his courageous journeys....

Here you see Spike:


Next we have Chopper. Chopper is the only one of our dogs that was not a shelter dog. But he was the neighbor's dog. Now, we didn't take him from the neighbor, nor did the neighbor give him to us. The only way we knew his name was Chopper is because our daughter rides the school bus with his daughter, who informed our little one that the only reason Chopper was at our house was because our dogs were in heat......which obviously wasn't the case since all of our animals are "fixed" - except Chopper. The neighbor actually came and got Chopper several times. He tied him; he chained him. Chopper always came back. Having three dogs already, we didn't really see the need to have a fourth dog. So, when it became apparent that the neighbor had given up on trying to retrieve his faithful companion, we decided that we would let Papa's cousin have Chopper, who subsequently broke the log chain they hooked him to and was back on our doorstep the following morning. At that point we delcared Chopper an official part of the Pounders family and took him into the folds. He is a very cheerful sort of chap; a big-footed baby. He always has this worried look on his face and he LOVES to play ball.....tennis balls are his favorite :)


Here you see Chopper:


And finally, we have Max.

Max is some sort of Jack Russell mix. He is the smallest of all the dogs and probably does not break 12 pounds. He is missing part of an ear from an action-packed run-in with a groundhog. (Those things are MEAN!) He will ride on the 4 wheeler with the best of them and can be very loving and affectionate when he wants to be. He is very protective of us and for some reason seems to think that Spike is a threat to our safety. Or maybe he is just trying to toughen Spike up?! Regardless, whenever Spike tries to play with us, Max always jumps in as the Alpha Male in an effort to subdue our evil tormentor. Now that we have figured out what he is doing, we can just act like Spike is bothering us and Max comes to our rescue. I often feel sorry for poor, innocent Spike as we have many laughs at his expense. To his credit, Spike usually is completely oblivious to Max's heroism and usually just stands still until Max has backed down and then just goes on his merry way.

Max is the biggest dog on the hill. Or at least he thinks he is. Just ask him...... The UPS guy is terrified of him. He reminds me of a crochety old man. And, his teeth are all jacked up..... poor little Maxey.....

Alas, I would love to show you a picture of Max. However, whenever I try to catch a shot of him, he always seems to elude the camera. You see, he is a mighty beast who hunts creatures unknown in the vastness of the forest behind house. Max's adventures have almost reached legend status at this point and Max sightings are now talked about over supper tables all over the hillside.

So, instead of a picture of our beloved Max, I will show you this fabulous picture of Papa's plant that he has had for a VERY long time.


I am quite certain that he believed we couldn't see him.

~~Gena

Monday, August 23, 2010

GAME DAY!

Well, Game Day finally arrived! We played Weir and beat them 42-0. I didn't take the first picture of the band.....sorry Jacob :(

(Also, my hair looks freakishly black at the bottom in this photo. No worries.....it is all the insanely bright red that you see elsewhere...just strange lighting)

The band did a fantabulous job even if I did forget to take pictures. Oh well, they didn't dress out anyway because it was so hot.....

We did, however, manage to snap a few shots up in the stands as we sat in the sweltering heat eating our cheeseburgers with someone's else cheese on them (ahem....as in nacho "not yo" cheese). Sorry. Bad joke......


Hannah D cheesin'



Hannah's partner in crime :)


My mother came to watch the game and just as we were leaving, Papa's dad decided to go too....

Papa's Dad (Pop) and my mother (Nanny) watchin the grandchillens

Anyway. Game day was just as lovely as I had hoped it might be.

Good thing too.....last year's first game was rained out along with most all of the rest of them. This will be our banner year. I just know it.

~~Gena





Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Now What?

Now that the wedding madness is over......

Now that the garden madness is over......
(that was never actually there to begin with due to the relentless triple digits and lack of rain)

Now that the kids are back in school and everything is back to (semi) normal.....

Now what do I do?

Well, for starters I guess I could do this:



After I do this:

To all of this:

While visions of sugarplums dance in my head.....

The end result is a surprise for another post.

Happy Wednesday!

~~Gena




Tuesday, August 17, 2010

SCHOOL DAYS

I love the beginning of the school year and all of the excitement of the coming season.... Sweaty teenagers marching about barefoot in the soft grass with tubas and bass drums and trumpets and maces trying to find that "blue dot" sprayed on the ground in the 16 beats alloted for them to get there..... Sweaty teenagers doing flips and pyramids and the sound of smacking football helmets and the knowledge that we are fixing to get a break from this scorching heat and that fall is soon to follow......

Ah - the first day of school.... new school supplies, clothes, shoes. That means new teachers too. And homework. That means Friday nights are coming and I am beside myself. I can feel the excitement in the air! I can almost smell the intoxicating aroma of stadium food! When it comes to Friday nights, all of my food principles go out the window. On Friday nights I am a total meat hypocrite. A band nerd since the age of 10 and now the parent of a band nerd since the age of 11 AND the parent of an up and coming (peewee) cheerleader, I have grown up on stadium food....and I love it. I can't wait...

The children also get revved up about the beginning of the school year. They stay up all night the night before in anticipation of the "first day of school."

Alas, although I can hardly contain my excitement, theirs is very short-lived.

Ah, those lovely peaceful mornings...before anyone else wakes up and all is quiet and serene and I get to see my sleeping babies:


"Mornin!"

What I really want to say is ...."Hey come on! UP AND ATTEM!!! Don't you REALIZE what time of the year this is??? Don't you REALIZE that in just a few short days we will be in jalapeƱo nacho bliss in the midst of the roaring crowd of rabid fans?????? DON'T YOU REALIZE??????

I think I could just about dance and cavort about with last year's pompoms. And they would know that it is totally typical behavior for me :)

I wonder if they can sense how excited I am about our first football game this Friday night and about all of the games thereafter????? Do they realize that I am like Ralphie waiting for that Red Ryder at Christmastime? Do they share in my joy and excitement about the new school year? OF COURSE THEY DO! I am quite certain of it.

Just not first thing in the morning.

~~Gena