TGIF

Its Friday once again and like most of you, I'm glad to see the end of the week.  We had a couple of rainy days this week which is no fun with a 7.5 mos. old puppy; a high energy one at that.  She is always on the go; she is a "why walk when you can run?" sort of girl.  So keeping her occupied can be a challenge on a rainy day.  With the rain I've been trying to finish my book PBJ & me.  I will do that today; it has been an adventure writing it, like living the original all over.  I will wrap it up today and then ship the last part to my editor.  From there I will reread the entire thing and then it's off to the printer and will be available for whomever would like to read it.  I'm very excited to be so close to finishing because I've got more books to write.

Wednesday it was pouring; the idea of bringing the dogs to the beach was not a great one.  Just imagine two giant sponges.  So we did indoor games.  Elsa played with her Kyjen toy for a bit then when she was done with that she pestered Luke until he gave in a played.  They played for a good hour, amazing to see him at 11.5 years old playing like this.  I really wanted to get to my book so I went on a hunt to find the KONG  I have several versions around the house but was looking for the original.  This thing has been in our home for years and years.  I can't even remember when I bought it; it might have been way back when with Mandy, my airedale.

So I got the Kong, dug through my homemade cookies to find the exact one.  I took the perfect sized cookie, squeezed the Kong as hard as I could and jammed the cookie inside.  A tiny piece was sticking out of the large end, just enough to entice.  I threw it onto the dog bed for Elsa and that was that.  I was amazed how long that thing occupied her for.  She was at it for at least an hour until her eyes slowly started to shut.  Of course they weren't shut for long, the moment I make a move she's awake and following me.  "What are we doing now Mom?"

The rain was still coming down yesterday and with the grass as soggy as grass can be, chuck it games were out of the question.  I sat looking at the dogs looking at me.  They followed me upstairs, downstairs, into the kitchen and back to the computer.  They wanted to go somewhere.  The beach?  Really?  It was cold and raining, not pouring like the day before but more like drizzle.  They gave me those eyes and I folded.  "Do you want to go to the beach?" I asked them.  Immediately they both ran to the steps that lead down to the front door; standing in anticipation and looking back at me.  

I'm glad they talked me into it because it was one of our best beach trips ever.  It was cold with a constant drizzle, the wind had kicked up which meant not many had ventured to the beach.  When we arrived there were three dogs on the beach; two other 7 mos. olds and a older lab.  The dogs had a blast and seeing Elsa run with the other two puppies was like seeing the sun come out.  She ran with an Italian Spinone and a Boxer/Poodle mix (first I've seen).

Luke wandered around, he watched the young ones playing and joined in a couple of times.  They played hard for a good half hour, Elsa even got rolled several times playing so hard with the other pups.  Then Luke caught sight of a PWD down the beach and wandered down to say hi.  Elsa and I said our good byes to the young ones and went to join Luke.  The Portuguese Water Dog was doing some retrieving practice and as Elsa ran up she jammed on her brakes; not sure if this all black dog was friendly.  She is very good at reading other dogs and never runs in before making sure.

She was a nice PWD but not into playing so we chatted a bit with the owners and then set off to the parking lot.  I knew that Elsa would be completely crashed later on.  We got home, blew all the sand out of their coats with my forced air dryer (which I could not live without now) and had breakfast.  That was that, two sleeping dogs for hours while I worked on my book.  Glad they hauled me out to the beach.