The Labor Day Weekend

Labor Day weekend was one of the best weekends Ken and I have had at the house. The weather was beautiful and it was cool. Ken work in our woods clearing out some more of the underbrush we wanted to do away with, although most of it will stay so the deer have a place to hide. Clearing out some of the underbrush is a heathly thing for the woods. While walking with Ikon and Seuss at the back end of our woods, I found these berries. They are very pretty even though I do not know what kind they are. I am sure the birds, squirrels and deer will enjoy them!

Below is the path in our woods that the deer travel, this is looking towards the back of our property, way down there.

In this picture you are looking down the path in the opposite direction. To the right over a fence is a small creek and more woods. Sometimes when there is very heavy rain the water will turn this path into a small creek, but it drains right off. It is very peaceful and the deer just love it. I even found out we have a turtle living in our woods, not a snapping turtle but a turtle. I hope to get a picture of it one day.

On Monday, Ken and I went out to Hempstead where our herding club gets together. We had some herding tests and so Trouble and Angelus came out with us to see if they would like to herd sheep. Below is Trouble and yes he will start his herding lessons at the end of the month. If all goes well he should be ready to show at our spring herding trial in March 2011.

Another picture of Trouble and Joy, who is not only an AKC Herding Judge but the President of our club.

Below are some of the folks who came to have their dogs tested. Sitting is our friend John, his shepherd and his step sister. We got John to join the herding club. :-)

The picture below shows Socks being pushed away from the table where we were setting up food for the lunch.

Nothing could keep Socks away from the table!! Thank goodness the food was not on the table yet.

I call this picture, "If I stare at the ball long enough...." LOL This is Lite who belongs to Joy, she is an awesome herder and ball freak!

Below is my Angelus who said he did not want to herd. Joy and I are still going to work with him, sometimes it takes a few times before the instinct kicks in.

This is John's dog, he is just a year old and has great instinct. He will start herding lessons with Trouble.

Yes even Standard Schnauzer can do herding. They were bred as farm dogs so the AKC has allowed them to compete for herding titles even though they are not in the Herding Class.

This is a new addition in the AKC, the Finnish Lapphund. The dog was bred in Lapland and was used to herd reindeer. They are great sheep herders. This pup is only 8 months. You can find more info on the Finnish Lapphund at the AKC website.

She was really enjoying herself.

Joy talking to the newcomers about herding and lessons. I think we got 4 new club members today!

And finally here is Ken fixing a panel we use in herding trials. We have a trial coming up Halloween weeken.

Family Visit

I have not done so well with my getting back to blogging, I need to do better. I am letting too much time pass by between blogs and there is so much to blog about! This past Saturday, 8/21/10, Mom and Dad along with my brother Jimmy, Kathy, Tyler and Kathy's mom, Kathy came over and delivered a dresser Dad had made for his and Mom's bedroom at our house. I will have to post a photo of the dresser later, but it is really nice! We sat around and talked, Tyler played out side some and Ken and I cook a great early dinner. I made a salad and zucchini corn fritters(recipe for fritters down below) while Ken fried some beautiful jumbo shrimp fresh from the shrimp boat. Everything turned out great and we sucked down the shrimp and fritters as if we were starving!! I always love having the family come and visit and hopefully Mom and Dad will come back soon and stay with us so Mom and I can go back to the tea house we love so much. Of course there will also be some antique shopping done also.
Here is master chef Ken cooking the shrimp.

My beautiful zucchini corn fritters. They tasted as good as they looked. Yummm

Kathy, Kathy's mom on the front porch.

This is Tyler who said he was making small holes for ants. Not sure why, we certainly don't need anymore ants.

Here we have my brother Jimmy and Kathy along with Tyler in our livingroom. I think Jimmy and Tyler were watching Sponge Bob Squarepants or something along those lines. :-)

And last but not least, my parents enjoying the afternoon on our front porch. Looks like Mom was frowning. Probably did not want her picture taken again!

Recipe for those great Zucchini Corn Fritters:

1 chopped small to medium white onion

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup corn meal

1 tablespoon baking power

1/2 teaspoon cumin

1/2 cup of Splenda (you can use sugar, but trust me the splenda is great!)

1/2 teaspoon salt

fresh ground black pepper (to taste)

2 eggs, beaten

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter, melted (I use Smart Balance)

2 cups grated zucchini

1 1/2 cups fresh corn, kernels cut from cob
1 cup finely shredded cheddar cheese

oil for frying

Directions:

1. In a large bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cumin, splenda, salt and pepper.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and butter. Whisk wet ingredients into dry ingredients. Stir in zuchini, corn and cheese; mix well.

3. Warm oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat. Drop batter by the tablespoonful in hot oil. Fry until crisp and brown, turning once with tongs. Remove to paper towels.

Be sure and try this recipe, these fritters are better than hushpuppies and they go great when just having a salad for supper.

What I did on my Summer Break

Well, as you can tell I did not do any blogging. We just got so busy with things we were trying to get done during my 7 weeks off. Ken was mostly studying for his Real Estate licence, while I took care of our dogs, the house and stuff outside. I was also walking 3 miles every morning, which now moves to the afternoon since today I am back at work. In 7 weeks, I have lost 14.6 pounds even though to me you can't tell. But the scales say I have and I am hoping for at least a pound a week. We also finished clearing out the house in Houston and have people in getting it ready to put on the market. We had a new front and back door put on, they are painting the inside of the house, including the cabinets in the kitchen. We are replacing a window in the back bedroom, the floors have been sanded and will get a new stain, the carpet is being replaced in the den/bedroom and a new floor will be put down in the kitchen. Wish we could do a few more things like put in central air and heat, replace the almost 20 yr old roof and fix the drainage line from the washer to the city line, but we just don't have enough money to do that. As it is what we are doing has cost us 6500 dollars so far and we still want to put a nice screen door on the back and replace one of the ceiling fans. We are going to have the house appraised and then price it fairly. I have some photos of the work being done and I will post those maybe tomorrow.

Dad and Mom's Visit Part 2

I guess I am calling this blog Dad and Mom part 2 because dad's birthday blog was probably part one. I did not want to blog while they, my parents( Hi Mom), were here because we just were so busy and having so much fun. After they left, two weeks ago, I have been going through all the photos I had taken and picking out the ones I wanted on the blog. The photo below is my brother and his son on Tyler's little jeep. Tyler had driven his jeep from the front of our house to the side where the deck was to deliver some fresh corn on a cob for our Saturday feast. Jimmy decided to sit on his son's jeep for this photo.


This is Tyler driving through our woods in his jeep.

Here is Tyler watching one of his movies along with my mother drinking her tea and Kathy on the left and her mom Kathy on the right. I took this photo while I was making a great salad in the kitchen.

Here is Dad and Mom, my brother Jimmy and Kathy and Kathy getting ready to eat. Oops, Tyler is at the end of the table.

Here is Dad looking at a wallet, one of the gifts he was given for his father's day/birthday gift on Saturday.

Dad reading a card with Mom and Kathy in the background.

Here is my husband, Ken reading his Father's Card from our German Shepherds. They are so amazing, they got him a card and a gift for father's day!

Dad reading a Father's Day card from me.

Dad blowing out the candles on his second birthday cake. He had his first birthday cake slice the day before.

Here is the cake with the candles.

Ken looking at the pocket watch the dogs gave him for father's day.

Of course the parties for my Dad took place on Friday and then again on Saturday when Jimmy and family came. It was sad that Patricia, my sister, her husband and nephew Robert John could not be here. On Sunday, which was Father's Day, we had a great supper of beans, cornbread, fresh tomatoes, onions, etc. for supper.

The above is my Mom's wonderful cornbread. I have the recipe and it is great!!

Here above are the fresh vegtables from our little garden. We also had Navy beans that we cooked with sausage. Dad said it was a great Father's Day dinner.

I still have to blog about the great Tea house Mom and I went to twice while they were here, so keep posted.

Happy 78th Birthday!!!

Today is my Dad's 78th birthday. What a life he has led, from the back woods of Louisiana growing up, to joining the Air Force and meeting his future wife, my mom at a dance in Delaware. He and my mom went on to raise three children, me their first born, Patricia (second) and Jimmy. As with most military kids we did so much traveling from place to place. In one way we kids were world wise and in another we would have loved to have grown up in one town. My dad is a hero even though he would say no, but he is. He was awarded 2 Bronze Stars and other honors along with serving our country for 30 years, retiring at the highest rank (in the Air Force) an enlisteted man can achieve, Chief Master Sergeant. All in all I am so happy with who I have become, because of who my Father and Mother are. Mom and dad drove down here yesterday and today Mom and I went out to get some fun things and gifts for Dad. I hope he really enjoyed what we did for him today. Tomorrow Jimmy, along with his wife Kathy and grandson, Tyler and Kathy's mother are coming over for an early Father's Day get together.

Dad's first birthday gift from CH Magic

Here is Dad and Magic who gave him a birthday gift.

Dad blowing out his little slice of strawberry cheesccake.

Dad reading a birthday card while dringking hot green tea.

Silly dad, showing Ken and I how he begs my Mom into helping him put one sock on. LOL

Here Dad is showing that he got some batteries for his birthday. Wonder what the batteries are for??

Now Dad knows what the batteries are for. He is going to learn how to take photos.

After the gift giving, a storm blew through and it produced a beautiful rainbow.

Even God was saying Happy Birthnday, John.

My dad, John C Burgess Jr. I love you so much!!!

Boy am I behind!

Lots of stuff has gone on, but really no time to post a blog until now. Last week was hectic at work since I was going on vacation which started yesterday. I do not have to go back to work until August 2nd, yahooooo!!!! There is a lot of stuff that I want to do here at the house, which I could not do when we first moved in since I was under going two different foot surgeries. It is going to be a working vacation, but I am going to love every minute of it.

Below are some photos of the Puppy Match that the German Shepherd Dog Club of Houston put on here at our house. This was our annual picnic and Ken and I offered to host it. Everyone just loved the place and there was so much shade for the dogs. We had Mo Murkland come down from Dallas to judge our match. Mo has been in dogs since god was a boy. :-)


Here is Troy and Vicki taking entries for the match. Holding matches are great ways of training dogs for the show ring. Our club holds 2 matches, one at the yearly picnic and the other after our specialty show in December.
We had some yummy ribs along with sausage, pasta salad, fruit salad, potato salad, etc. waiting for us when the match was finished.

Here is Mo with her choice for Best Puppy in match. Her name is Knights Gambit Hush.

Hush is playing Peak a Boo with everyone.

Below is Ken with our Angelus formally known as Asking For Trouble v Riata. He went Best Opposite Sex in Match. He has had no training and we are going to have to change that. I never expected him to be mature enough to show until he was around 3, but I was wrong. So as soon as his sister Evil Evie (Trouble in Paradise v Riata) finishes her championship, hopefully in a couple months, Angelus will hit the show ring and we will see what he can do.

Another picture of Mo judging

Ken, Mo and Angelus

I finally got the plants planted along one side of the deck. I was hoping they would be fine until we were able to spray the deck at the end of June, but they wanted in the ground. I have enough room between them and the deck that we will be able to spray without hurting them. Still looking for plants to go along the front side of the deck. Really need to find plants that the deer won't eat, although I don't think they will come this close to the house. Besides, I keep them very well fed with all the corn I put out!

My friend Ann Schultz in Michigan sent me these baskets last year as a house warming present. With winter coming, I decided to wait for warmer weather to find plants I wanted to put in them. This plant attracts butterflies and supposedly the deer won't eat it. Be kind of hard for them to eat it without a step ladder.

I think the baskets need to hang down a little lower. Ken said we will get a couple links of chain to make that happen.

Yesterday I was out cleaning the kennels and found a visitor. Well, maybe not a visitor, I think he has made a home in Angelu's kennel run.

Yup, it is a frog. He has made a home for himself between the kennel walls and the wood. I have to be sure I don't use any cleaning supplies that will hurt him in that run.

Here is the queen of all she surveys, CH San Jo's Ikon. She was taking a break from running and jumping and playing with Angelus while I was planting my plants along the deck.

And speaking of Angelus, he was taking his break on the front porch.

And finally, this is Made You Laugh of Edan. She is 18 months old and is thinking about becoming a Texan. My friend Ann who bred her thinks she should come down here and show with us. She is a beauty, but there is a lot to consider. Her sire is AOE Select Excellent CH Mechanical Bull of Edan ROM, TC, RN (which makes her a half sister to our CH Ikon and a half aunt to Evil Evie) out of No Laughing Matter of Edan ROM. Her sire Gilley can be seen at: http://www.edangsd.com/Gilley.html and dam Mattie can be seen at: http://www.edangsd.com/NoLaughingMatterofEdan.html

If she come it won't be until sometime in August. I want Evie finished first. It really is to expensive to show 2 dogs at the same time. Keep you posted!