First frost & Teddy's first job.

This week we had our first frost. It got down to 30 degrees F. That same morning we also woke to cows on the lawn.

Dandylyons was one of three cows who dropped in for a visit. It was a perfect opportunity for Teddy to start her herd dog training. Brad took Teddy with him to get them in while I tried to keep out of sight so as not to distract her. I was so impressed with her natural abilities as she kept close to Brad and watched him for directions. She walked quietly right behind the cows as Brad moved them along. It's too bad our really tame cows totally ignored her and she didn't get to actually get them to move away from her. Our Airedales had to be kept away from any cattle herding because they would run around barking with sheer exuberance while creating havoc.

Later on the rest of the herd showed up. They had all been on an unauthorized adventure on the bluff and it's the reason Wildairo has not been let out with them. He's still in the corrals and I'm trying to get him domesticated again.

Teddy is a super little dog and I'd wished I'd taken some pictures of her working the cattle. She is just a pup still and gets easily distracted by things such as our cat Muffin who was trying her hand at cow herding as well and needed to be chased.......and then there's the cow poo.......Teddy has never seen a cow pie that wasn't worth investigating.

I took these first four pictures with my new phone. As you can see the light frost didn't do much damage. I started Four 0'Clocks (Miribilis Jalapa) seeds indoors and grew dozens of plants. I planted them out pretty much everywhere. I didn't know what Four 0'Clocks were and I have been really pleased with them. Some of them grew more than 3 feet tall!

Rock garden with Strawberries and Cream Ribbon Grass, Peace Rose, Petunias, Sweet Alyssum, Chrysanthemums and violas. The water is not turned on because of the ducks playing there all the time and making a mess.

More four 0'clocks. They are very interesting because more than one flower color can grow on one plant and they also close up in the heat of the day. They have a nice light fragrance as well.

Brad drilled holes in basalt rocks and I put some potting soil in the holes and sprinkled in viola seeds. It's so pretty.

Swathing the meadow.

Here's William cutting the new stand of alfalfa with oats as a cover crop. Brad and William seeded this in July and it grew pretty heavy.

So heavy in fact that the swather got plugged up a few times.

Teddy was only allowed to play around the swather when it wasn't running. Dogs love windrows!

Wildairo ignored me when I was standing at his fence with carrots and a muffin. He was pining for his comfort cow and wouldn't even look at me...... so Echo got his carrots as well as his own. Brad ate the muffin.

I don't let Echo bite into carrots or apples when I'm holding them. I give him bite size chunks. So here he is licking the carrots.....such a good boy. (Well he would have bit them after awhile if I let him).

Taking pictures of dogs.

Today I had a photo shoot with the dogs.

Here is Teddy swimming.

I had William put her in on one side while I called her...then I quickly snapped the picture and handed the camera to Brad so she wouldn't get it wet when I helped her out of the pool. She is a very good and fast swimmer. Blondie splashes too much and Bobby can't swim. Bobby tries to climb out of water and gets vertical and sinks, so we keep her away from deep water.

I wanted all three dogs to pose for pictures and it was difficult to get all three dogs posing nicely at the same time.

Here Bobby is distracted by a bug.

Teddy wanders off and the other two dogs smile nicely.

Bobby keeps her eye on a hawk.

Would have been a nice picture but Blondie blinks.

Squirrel?

Oh well.

Wildairo and Teddy.

But first a nice sunset.

I took that picture out of the car window as we drove home from Spokane the other day.

I put Teddy on a little table in the barn and called Wildairo in. I thought Teddy couldn't do much mischief up high.

But she gave Wildairo a playful nip.

Poor Wildairo, he's locked in while the cattle are out and about and misses Dandylyons a lot. I get the chance to re-bond with him anyway while he's desperate for a friend. He wants nothing to do with me when he's with his best gal.

They made friends over a bran muffin.

Full moon tonight....... but I took this last night.

It's been very hot here. It got up to about 100 degrees F over the weekend. I hope it stays hot for awhile longer so Brad and William can get the hay up.

Teddy at four months.

Teddy is a lovely little dog and we are enjoying her so much.

She has been walking right passed rabbits on her walk without noticing them. The other evening I walked her up to one until she spotted it. This picture is of Teddy's very first bunny chase.....now she looks for them.

Echo really likes her. I was about to take a picture of her meeting Wildairo for the first time but she crawled through the gate and was about to bite his nose. Wildairo is not as easy going as Echo and so I had to intervene and missed the shot.

Here she is meeting Dandylyons. (Cell phone pic). Teddy's eyes got huge....Dandylyons eyes are always huge.

Teddy was a bit frightened of Dandylyons and tried to push her away.

Here's Ted doing her stalking walk around the garden. She does this funny grin sometimes. She wrinkles up the side of her mouth and it's so cute.

I took her for a little walk and she loved it. Blondie and Bobby came as well. Bobby ran off after bunnies and Blondie kept close to me.

What really makes her happy is .................................................

shopping!

I put her in the shopping cart to see if she would still sit in one and of course she did. We passed a Jack Russell being pushed in his cart.... another shopaholic dog. She walks around the dog friendly stores on her leash. Sometimes she's naughty and plays leash tug and recently she has tried a bit shop lifting, so she has to be watched closely. She has come with us on all our trips around Eastern Washington and is comfortable going into all kinds of places now, but she doesn't like people walking right up to her and tries to hide behind me. If we are talking to someone and they talk to her she'll wag her little bob tail and go up to them. The other day in the Spokane Home Depot, three people who worked there came up to her with dog biscuits and she was so shy of them she wouldn't take the biscuits. I'm so pleased there are so many dog friendly businesses. Even our bank has dog biscuits on hand.

Bobby became ill and had to go the vets. She was panting and acting disorientated. I was worried it was her heart. The vet said she had heat stroke, which puzzled me at first because we have lots of shady places outside and she is inside the air conditioned house most of the time. Then I remembered she'd dug a hole in my flower bed and had sat in it even though it was right in the hot sun. She can even open the back door herself to come in so I don't know why she decided to bake herself that day. She sometimes acts weird and I'm wondering if it's to do with her age or brain full of porcupine quills. The vet said she is in terrible condition for only 9 years old. She has joint pain and very smelly breath. She started having bad joints when she was only three years old. Anyway she's doing better and goes out on patrol (in the cooler parts of the day) barking none stop at large birds and air force C-17 cargo planes to keep them from landing here and making off with the chickens.

Last week Teddy had a lovely visit with her new friends, Molly who's a border collie mix and Daisy a boxer. Molly played rough with her and even though at first Ted was a bit worried, she realized she was getting what she usually dishes out to other pets and she really enjoyed herself.

The excitement of shopping wears her out.