Meet the Dogs

A huge part of our life out here in the country are the dogs. We currently have four dogs...Hoopty, our 12 year old Basset Hound, Sebastian, "The Six-Million Dollar Dog" who is our three-legged 14 year old Golden Retriver-Bull Mastiff mix (you can read more about him in the Septic Tank and Storm post), Roscoe, our 11 year old little black and white part Basset mix, and Shadow, our 8 year old Golden Retriver-Chow mix.

Hoopty and Shadow are house dogs and stay in our utility room at night and when the temperature is too extreme for them to stay outside during the day. We let them come in the living area where they have beds to lie in beside the fireplace but they don't really have a free run of the house. We have trained them to stay in the utility room with the door open which opens up to the kitchen and the living area is right around the corner so they are very much a part of everything in the house.

We have all the dogs mainly because of my daughter, Jenna. She just loves animals (she is a vet tech) and while she was younger we had a menagerie. We had dogs, cats, goats, sheep, pigs, and rabbits. So we have many funny animal stories!

JR came home one time many years ago when Jenna was probably about 9 years old with two rabbits. My first question was "Surely these bunnies are not male and female?" After reassuring me that of course they weren't...how surprised was I to get the call at work that we had 8 baby rabbits!

When we moved out here to our place JR volunteered to bring our neighbors old white cat..."Mama". She had not been spayed but our neighbors said they had her for years outside and she was too old to have babies. NOT TRUE...!!! We moved her to the country and that old cat had babies every six months or so for years. She was wild and we could never get her to the vet. So we were always looking for homes for kittens. But we always kept a supply of cats around that certainly kept all the little varmits far from our home.

The only trouble was that all the kittens were always black and white. Very pretty cats but one night I was out feeding them and reached down to pour out their food and there was the cutest little skunk that came up to eat with them. He wasn't afraid of me...he was just there to eat. I like animals as much as Jenna and it was hard to explain to JR about our little skunk.

Shortly after JR had his bypass surgery and was home to recuperate he started walking to follow his doctors orders of plenty of excercise. I walked outside and glanced up at the road to see JR walking on the road behind him were the animals....four dogs...at least a dozen cats...2 goats...and a pot-bellied pig! All in a straight line like an animal parade! I was hysterical to say the least and he had no idea the animals were with him!

Life is a little calmer now without all the animals...we just have a house full of geriatric dogs!

Wedding Cakes

This past weekend I made cakes and floral arrangements for a small wedding which is always a stressful experience to say the least. My friend, June, who usually ends up helping me when I need her came over on Friday evening and helped me decorate the cakes.

I make the layers a day or so ahead of the wedding so that I can stick them in the freezer as they are much easier to handle while assembling and decorating. We worked for several hours icing the wedding cake which was a round 2 tier cake. The bride had requested the icing be a light chocolate that looked like leather as the wedding was to have a western theme and to be decorated with wild flowers. The grooms cake was a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting.

On Saturday morning I got up early and went to June's house where we picked fresh flowers from her lovely garden to decorate the cake. It was quite an experience with her two rowdy chocolate Labs running and playing while we were trying to gather flowers and avoid being knocked down by their shenanigans!

June and I worked for a couple more hours putting the flowers on the cake and making the bridal bouquet. Then it was off to Roanoke to deliver the cakes.

We made the delivery and then went by June's brother's house in Roanoke just to say hello. Spotting Fish City Grill in Southlake we stopped to have our favorite Oyster Nachos for a bite of lunch. I had to go to Sam's in Grapevine to get food for next week lunches and we decided to stop by a little cabin the city of Southlake has built in a park off of White Chapel Road. June's hubby, Bill, restores historic log cabins and is building this one for Southlake. It is a work in progress but is going to be a lovely addition to the park.

We finally made it home about 6:00 P.M. It's really funny how you can make a whole day of something that seems so simple. Just putting wildflowers on a cake and delivering it for the wedding...and we managed to make a whole day of laughing and visiting.