The Year is Flying Away

2014 is flying away from us, friends. 

It's nearly fall, less than 30 days now. 

Soon, Christmas will be just around the bend... 133 days! 

Here's Billy, this morning, the only male in the litter of English Pointers I 

have had the privilege of taking care of this summer... 

Billy won First in Show at his first puppy match last night! 

Today, he is enroute to Minnesota, where he will 

be boarding with his owner's sister while she moves

the kennel and her belongings to Michigan and her 

new job. 

I got to say goodbye this morning. 

Here's Billy and Shandy, the lemon-headed girl. 

We didn't keep them out in the hot sun for very long, believe me. 

Sandy wouldn't hold still for her picture. 

And little Austin... cone off her head, and cast off her leg!  She has to be kept separate and

quieter from the other puppies until her leg is completely healed.  

These sweet little puppies, their mother Uno... their cousin Mia... helped me to 

cope with the sudden loss of our beloved Abby at the end of May.  

How I'll miss them, but I hope one day to see them in the show ring at 

Westminster... I can say "I knew them when!". 

It is beastly hot here again today... 101 at one point when I went to do an errand... 

and can you believe this?  The ball fields at Basehor's "Field of Dreams" (it's real name!) were 

packed with a football tournament!  There were numerous tents set up on the sidelines, and 

I know that the parents and coaches had to be taking extra care in this intense heat. 

This is the corner by our front door.  It is horrid to cut... the big mower 

doesn't fit in very well, and the small mower doesn't work well, either. 

It is also full of toads, many toads. 

See those bushes on the side?  On the right side? 

They never recovered from the butchering they got before we moved in, they 

are all dead in the front bottom.  

We have an upcoming project we can't wait to show you.... it involves a

local nursery and some work to be done in this corner that 

will make this part of the yard beautiful, and much easier to care for. 

It will also fix this:  the steep terrace by the side patio... and the leaking into the basement when it rains. 

Work will start in mid-September. 

And now, I'm off to church so I can sleep in like all the other old folks tomorrow morning! 

An Afternoon at the Fair

I made a quick visit to our favorite feed store this morning, 

Valley Feeds in Bonner Springs, Kansas.  I have not been 

seeing my friends at Valley much, since we no longer have farm animals. 

Yes, I miss them.  

Valley makes a wonderful birdseed mix called "Back Yard Blend"... and 

I love it.  I decided it was time to start buying the good stuff for my new 

bird friends here ... so I went over to Valley to get 

some. 

Here is Marcia, longtime clerk at Valley, with her new little friend, Roscoe. 

Marcia recently lost her 15 year old Jack Russell, Rusty, who came to work with her 

daily.  Her heart was empty, and Roscoe has filled it.  He is a ten week old Cairn terrier. 

He was a DOLL, I began to pet him and he rolled over and let me scratch his tummy. 

As I left Valley to stop at Walmart for something... I got a phone call. 

I was so glad to get it, because look what I got to do! 

Yep, I forgot all about Walmart, and went walking with Sandy and Shandy at Basehor City Park. 

And here's their real "mom", my friend Valerie, their breeder.  She has had a show kennel 

of champion English Pointers for many years. 

Sandy, Shandy and big boy Billy are all destined for the show ring. 

Little Austin will be going to a pet home. 

I walked Shandy, and Valerie, Sandy... and we had such a good time getting the puppies used to being out on their leads. 

Then we dropped the puppies off, and went across the highway to the Wyandotte County Fair, which is ending tonight. 

We had had clouds all day, and a few droplets of rain... of course, the clouds dissipated and it got up to 96 degrees while we were there. 

We saw some great vegetables. 

Some preserves. 

Gorgeous honey! 

I thought the market baskets were cool! 

Valerie and I fell in love with this beautiful, beautiful quilt... and we each bought raffle tickets for it. 

I have never seen anything like this play area before.  It consisted of three huge plastic balls in this pool of 

water.  The kids step into the ball through the zipper openings... are zipped in, and can 

make the balls roll across the pool.  It looked like fun! 

This mini was in a little tent by himself next to the petting zoo... advertised as the smallest horse in the world.  Valerie bit, and took a picture for me.  She came out laughing. 

He looks like he's in decent shape, though, doesn't he? 

Because it was the last day of the fair, there were almost no livestock left. 

There were a few chickens. 

(like this Turken) 

When I was a little girl, Wyandotte County still had a huge agrarian base, and the fair was huge. 

Now... not so much. 

Western Wyandotte County has become very developed, with the NASCAR track, the 

Legends shopping center, a huge string of restaurants and adjacent strip malls... the 

Schlitterbahn Water Park (home of the Veruckt water slide)... and 

now, announced this week... a huge soccer complex that will house the Soccer National Team. 

Valerie did not know about Polish chickens (there are three in the cage) and was amazed at them. 

And you knew I was going to be looking at the goats. 

We ended the visit by sitting in the gospel tent for a few minutes and listening to this excellent band. 

I bought a gyro on the way out, so Valerie took me to her house, and I got into the car and came home... 

and had to admit to Keith that I had had a mishap with my Galaxy S4 phone he gave me for my birthday last summer... and had dropped it in ... er... water.  Even though it was immersed for only 3 or 4 seconds... I could not get the back off to take the battery out... and it is dead now.  

We have insurance on it, and I can replace it... but I had precious memories in there in my picture gallery. 

I had sent some pictures over to email just this week, thank heavens. 

I hope we go to walk Austin and Billy tomorrow... it was a lot of fun, and gives me puppy time, which I always like!  

When we left, lots of cars were coming into the fair for the carnival, and for the car races that 

will run tonight.  The fair no longer presents a rodeo... they fell out of popularity some years ago, 

but, in the old days, I saw Garth Brooks twice at the fair!  A little county fair!