Celebrating Liam, et. al.

Have loved this young man since the first day I laid eyes on him at his puppy home in Hunters, Wash., last November. 

Liam is 1 today.  

For several weeks, I've been thinking that when this day came, I'd get out the calculator and figure out how much the young pup has cost us in his initial fee, his vet bills, the furniture he has eaten, the fencing materials he has required, the two loads of pea gravel which still don't do much good for the daily mine fields he digs in the dog run, the toys, etc.

I know it's in the thousands, and that doesn't even consider the stress level Bill and I have maintained on a daily basis since he joined our family.

All that said, the the word "priceless" comes to mind.  

It's just like I was saying about gardening in a post the other day. If we judged such treasures for our soul in dollars and cents, we should refrain.

It's love, and that's all there is to it.  What the world needs is love, and, in my mind, the family love for our Liam and all our other dogs runs so deep, it's immeasurable. 

Happy Birthday, Liam. We love you very much. 

And, now on to other things on this quiet, drizzly morning.  Heck, the horses didn't even have to go to pasture.  I told 'em they could stay in the barn to eat their breakfast, and I'd put them out later. 

Yesterday, the rain stopped long enough for me to take the dogs out for play time in their field.  As they romped around, I walked around and discovered some interesting and artistic growths (pictured below) around our harrow.  

I don't think they were there the day before, and I'm thinking maybe the rain induced them to show their interesting faces. 

After dog play and snapping some photos of our wet, wet maple tree and its droppings, it was off to school to talk to my sister's yearbook class.  

These days, school classes are 90 minutes long in comparison to the 55 we knew during my teaching career.  

I hated to talk that whole time, and the kids did help me out with some questioning practice, but still it was a bit grueling, to say the least.   Thankfully, the students were great and didn't even look too drowsy as the minutes passed. 

Later, when I arrived home, the sun had come to stay, and while waiting for the Dr. Grace, our veterinarian, to come and give Lily a shot, I took the dogs back out to play and took a few more photos. 

Today is hair zap day.  It will be nice to kick back and take it easy on this rainy day and enjoy a little self indulgence while visiting with Sally at the beauty parlor.  

Tomorrow we may go to Kraziness in the Kennel and get ourselves all revved up for another season of the ZAGS.  Can't believe it's almost here.  The fall is moving on quickly, and we're enjoying every minute. 

Happy Friday.  Go CUBS!  We really want to say that we saw a World Series team in person.