Pip's Book

Pip was abandoned at a pet store in September of 2001.  He was one of the lucky ones, and was rescued by a wonderful family.  He then went on to write his own blog, with the help of his assistant, of course.  

I loved reading Pip's blog.  He was fun.  He was adventurous.   He loved cheeseburgers.  And he was the most adorable little guy!  He was so cute ~ he reminded me of one of those Russ stuffed animals.  

Anyhow.  After a full and happy life with his rescue family, Pip left this world last year for the Rainbow Bridge.  He left behind a legacy of love ~ one that his assistant shared in a book named "Keeping It Real: Life Lessons of a Confessed Couch Potato."  

It was a quick and heartfelt read...  and I knew as soon as I looked at it that it was going to be loved by a certain someone...  and ...  well, I was right.  

She found the book sitting on her toy box and must have fell in love with Pip, because when I came out of the room I caught her kissing the pictures inside.

Pip's blog & book is available HERE through Amazon and you can now get the Kindle version.

A sweet book honoring the life of a sweet dog!

Me ~n~ my girl Gracie

WHERE WERE WE?

Clue # 1:  If you are addicted to chocolate

it would be best to stay away from this place.  

Clue #2:  Gary learned a thing or two about how to make chocolate.

Clue # 3:  Factory workers (back in the day) had a separate entrance for men and women.  

Clue #4:  Factory workers used to sit in chairs like these....

On an assembly line to package the chocolate....

Clue #5:  When the female workers came in to the factory...  they may have been dressed like this:

But then they put on their aprons, ready for a hard day in the factory looking more like this:

Clue #6: Cocoa beans were roasted in a machine like this one (mmmmm.. I can smell the chocolate!!)

Clue #7:  Roller coasters galore!!!!

Clue # 8:  Every where you go...  people are handing out these:

Clue #8: Streets are made of chocolate.  Well.  Kinda.

If you guessed Hershey, Pennsylvania you guessed right!

And now....

If we can just get this tub home, we can cut our grocery bill in half by making our own...

Game Day

The heat is on.   And so is the game. 

Temps rose to 94 today.  A little warm for my comfort.  We went to watch our grandson Jake play ball.  Is he cute or what?!?

Jake getting some pointers from his dad

Bro Jasper hanging out in the shade

Watch out for #3!  Go get 'em Jake!

Perfect!

What an awesome weekend we had!

Our town's Heritage Day's,  falls on the second weekend in June each year.  

Usually it is unbearably hot...

But this year,  

Perfect!!!

Five years ago we took Rissi to Heritage Day's and she enjoyed an ice cream.

This year we took her with us again.  And she enjoyed an ice cream.

Where have the years gone?

Rissi and Gary at Heritage Days 5 years ago

Five years later

  Gary and I were taking pictures, and suddenly Rissi says "here, give me the camera and let me take a picture of you guys..."

And that's when I realized just how grown up my little baby granddaughter has become.

It makes me sad to know this.  Years pass by way too quickly.

 It was a beautiful weekend.  A perfect weekend.

The Perfect Day

Today was a perfect spring day. 

 The temperature, seventy-five. 

A soft breeze blew the flowers ever so gently...

There was lots of sunshine...

And plenty of Summer smiles....

The kind of day you just want to fold up and put away inside a drawer for later...  

Can you imagine that... 

  You wake up one day and peer outside to a cold, gray and dreary world.  Everything is going wrong.  Your head hurts and your in a bad mood.  Your stress level has risen to an all time high but wait...

You open that drawer and pull out that perfect spring day.

And there is  Summer climbing up the slide backwards in the warm sun.  You feel the warm breeze and you are calmed by the greenery and beautiful flowers.  Life is good.  

Agree, Gracie?

If every day could be a perfect day for a walk, this would be good.  Can you put those days away for me while your at it mom?  Days that are good for walks.  No rain, please.  Not too hot either. Just nice walk days.   Thanks.  

Today In A Word: Chaotic

Yesterday the Bug Boys were here.  They drilled holes all around our house, then this morning came back and finished their task of 'termite prevention'.  

This morning Summer was here to hang out with me while her mommy attended Field Day at school with Rissi.

It was hot.  So I decided I would try out my new snow cone machine.  

Disaster.

I ended up transferring the ice to my Ninja instead.  Snow Cone machine =JUNK.  Ninja = AWESOME

Every time I looked out a window, I was face to face with one of the Bug Boys....

Though all the blinds and drapes were closed (Mad Dog prevention) Gracie found it amusing to tear through the house at breakneck speed barking non stop for 3 consecutive hours, sniffing under doors, and listening in between barks for any sign of strange talk from outside,  until the Bug Boys were gone.

 Meanwhile, I tried to amuse the little one with Sponge Bob Squarepants and snow cones.  

 Gary was next door in the office doing a hearing test, so    another of my morning tasks was to answer the phone and watch the camera/monitor so I would know to run next door if I would see a car pull up to the office so I could take care of whoever it was without interrupting the hearing test.  

 When someone came I would scoop up the little one, run to the door with Gracie lunging at my heels to get out and get at those Bug Boys, shoo her back inside, dodge the Bug Boys who were working around the house, and...  well... you get the picture.

 Chaos finally ended, and the Bug Boys wrapped things up and were on their way.  Gracie fell asleep.

The girls met Anvil and enjoyed picking flowers.

And another quiet chaotic spring day was behind me.