Red Robin

The warmer weather have brought the birds back.  Walking the dog to their chirping.

What I have learned about Golden Retrievers

I grew up with German Shepherds (and still love the breed).  Moving to Seattle, we decided to get a golden.  Personality-wise, they are quite different.  We have learned some things as Binks has grown older. 
One:  They have huge tongues.

Somehow, that tongue never seems to fit in his mouth. 

Two: Learn to brace.

They will use you as cover when chasing each other.  Binks especially doesn’t quite get the concept of momentum yet and can’t turn quite as fast as his smaller friend.  So we keep our feet apart and knees bent, they might just come sliding into you.

Three: they love chasing balls or sticks or even better, each other.

Four: Goldens have a unique way of playing with other goldens, different to how they play with other breeds.

They will wrestle each other mercilessly.  They also like to tease, holding a ball or a stick just out of reach, taunting the other to get it.

Five:  They can entertain themselves really well.

They will hold a ball on a slope, let it go to roll down, then pounce.  They sometimes even throw it up in the air and try to catch it (that goes for sticks and even gloves too).

We are having great fun with our puppy.  Being able to socialise with other pups in the neighbourhood makes it even more special.

Megan and Co

This neighbourhood has lots of golden retrievers.  On walks, we regularly get to meet up with them.  Megan is a gorgeous girl 15 years old, still going for walks every day. 

She was sad for a while when her sister passed away, but is really cheerful since her ‘sister’ Bailey joined her.  Bailey has boundless energy (as in she doesn’t run, she bounds and bounces everywhere!).    She and Binks, our dog, would chase each other all day if they could.

During play, Binks will go check on Megan regularly.  She is really patient and sweet.  She will sit by you all day if you give her a scratch behind the ears!

Halloween Pumpkins

Our neighbours have been great, showing us around and introducing us to the US holidays.  For Halloween, they took us to a pumpkin farm where we could pick our own pumpkins for Halloween.  The younger two came with me, choosing their own pumpkins.

 

It was a beautiful day with blue skies and spots of clouds. The kids had a ball.

 

 

Walking the dog in the cold

Every now and then everything goes white with frost.  Somehow the colder it gets, the more energy our puppy has!  Must be a Golden Retriever thing since Binks’ best friend, Bailey also gets friskier!

 

The sun is starting to come up before 8, creating beautiful morning light.  It is nice to not walk in the dark anymore!

 

 

 

The Road to Yelm

We found a great butcher, but they are a few hours away.  I took some photos through the window as we were driving. (Hubby isn’t so patient any more with stopping so I can get a shot.  I would triple our time!)

I kept reading this sign as Military Vehicle X-Wing.  Funny how the mind works

Things had been chaos here over Christmas with the builders rushing against time to try to finish the house.  We were promised everything would be done by Thanksgiving.  After losing my temper, they finished painting the inside of the house two days before Christmas.  It is amazing to have space again.  The quiet will come much later as they are still hammering on the outside of the house and repairing the neighbour’s place.

Amazon Post Holiday Party 2015

We got to go out a bit.  Lately we had been trapped home with all the construction happening (inside is done!  Yay!).  Two live bands played, the first was Walk the Moon, a band from Ohio.  They had so much energy on stage, really great fun to watch!  The crowd was jumping.

One of their new songs is called Shut Up and Dance, you should check it out.

I have been dropping hints at hubby to get me their album for our anniversary