Saturday evening I received a note from my friend, "St. Katherine" Berkley, asking if I wanted to join her and another friend, Diane Maurer, for a puppy party at the Ginter Wildlife Management area near Rapid Lightning Creek.
We were busy helping Willie and Debbie host Miss Idaho for the weekend, I told her, wishing I could do both. Later, I decided we could blend our fun responsibility with some puppy fun.
Eventually, we all got on the same page, and eventually, puppies, bigger doggies, friends, Young Loves and royalty gathered at the huge open meadow in the management area.
I've never attended a puppy party before, but the event did bring back a lot of memories of so many of my friends, like Kathy, whom I've met because of kids.
Kathy, also a retired teacher, and I first met when our sons Chad and Willie (one day apart in age and big boys) played on the same sixth-grade basketball team.
We've been friends ever since, and now that friendship has entered a new dimension: puppy moms.
I don't know which is worse----puppy moms or people moms---when it comes to admiring the innocence coupled with occasional rascallion behavior. Not that either of our sons were EVER rascals, mind you!
Diane and I are neighbors, fellow horse lovers and geocaching fanatics. Diane carries a GPS while I try to outwit Bill and find the cache before Bill finds it with his GPS.
Diane and Kathy had never met in person until yesterday afternoon. And, the pups are responsible because now they are related by DOG.
Their Australian Shepherd/Border Collie crosses are sisters from a litter of 10-11. We've since learned that at least one more of that batch lives in the neighborhood AND that the many of the Western Pleasure Guest Ranch pups are related.
Foster again was the new kid on the block, meeting the little ladies for the first time. During the puppy party we witnessed a little sibling rivalry aka aggression as one sister stood on top of the other and the growling began.
They had to be separated. Another time Foster lit in to one of the ladies. I never did tell him that it was I who had stepped on the leash.
But those ladies loved that leash, and they led foster around individually and as a team.
After our fun gathering, we moved on with our Miss Idaho hosting fun. We took Gen to the hill above the Hope cemetery so she could get a good glimpse of the majesty of Lake Pend Oreille.
And, later, of course, she was thrilled to drive the 4-wheeler down to the Lodgepole pasture where Bill proudly inducted her into the Lodgepole Society. First royalty ever to join!
Today's wet, wet Monday is a bit bittersweet. Soon, Debbie and Gen will be coming to drop off the dogs.
Within ten minutes of each other, the two will fly out of Spokane Airport this afternoon, with Gen bound for her home in Boise and Debbie, taking the first leg of her journey to London.
This time tomorrow morning she'll be there, and we're wishing her the best trip ever.
It's been a fun run with puppies, queens and friends----thanks to all for the memories!
1 comment:
Waiting for your blog this morning was like waiting for the newspaper to come out the day after a good game :-)
It was such fun: do-it-again fun. So nice to meet Diane and Gen and see the rest of the fam. Let's do it again!
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