May Days

This week started with some beautiful sunny weather, the kind of weather that makes me want to ignore all responsibilities and just get outside with the dogs.  While I can't ignore all of my responsibilities, I can certainly make a point of making most of the time I do have to get out and enjoy these days.

So for my lunch on Monday, I decided the girls and I were going to take the short drive to Frances Park for a nice mid-day walk.  The park has a nice loop trail and a portion of it is nicely wooded.  I was happy to see that some of the Mayflowers were still flowering and I even saw Trillium, but it was clearly nearing the end of its blooming season.  There were also plenty of Wild Geranium and a few beautiful sections of Lily of the Valley.

We walked one full loop of the trail and on the second loop, we crossed over to the trail along the river across the road.  We saw a couple of families of geese happily swimming on the river.  

At the end of our walk, we stopped for the girls to take a good roll in the grass and to get a couple of pictures.  

I think Peaches was pretty happy about our mid-day adventure.  I can't believe she actually looked at the camera and looks happy!

Since we had gotten in a good walk earlier in the day, once my work day was over it gave us time for some other fun.  We did take a short walk around the neighborhood and then we spent some time outside and in the garage practicing some new tricks.  Peaches really loves all of the time I spend training Mina and the extra treats she gets for being a good big sister.  She's also getting in some good practice and has learned some new tricks over the last few months.  

Mina has learned all 5 new tricks that she needs to learn for her Novice Tricks title, and I'm hoping to spend the next week practicing them before we officially have her tested.  Then we'll move on to Intermediate Tricks.  I'm excited to see what Peaches learns during that training time too.  

Tuesday we headed out for a walk at another nearby park and the surrounding neighborhood.  It's nice to change up where we walk and have the girls practice their walking skills where there are lots of new things to smell.  We had a great walk, but I never got any pictures of the girls.  The only picture I got that evening was this one of a sign on the side of a house...it made me chuckle.

The girls got another mid-day walk around the neighborhood on my lunch on Wednesday since I needed to head to Mason for Dog Walking Club right after work.

We had a really nice walk with a really great group of dogs.  The weather was beautiful and all of the dogs were very happy to be out of the shelter and getting a some time with our volunteers.  I love Wednesday nights!

On Thursday we headed to campus for our evening walk.  It was another beautiful day to be out for a walk and I was happy to see that many of the flowering trees were still in bloom.  It won't be long before the blooms are gone, so I have to enjoy them while they last.  The girls had a great time on our walk too.  Peaches was happy to have a chance for another good roll in the grass.  It really is her favorite thing to do.

Friday we had rain move into the area in the late afternoon, so I made a point of getting the girls out for a walk between work meetings and before the rain started.  We were able to get in a quick 1 1/4 miles before the rain and then another short walk after work when there was a brief break in the rain.  Then we did a short training session and Mina went out for a good run around the yard in the light drizzle.  By the time the rain picked up again, the girls and I had taken a drive to pick up some take-out for dinner and they had their dinner while I ate mine.  And then we settled in for a quiet Friday evening at home.

Saturday morning we met up with Vanessa to get back out for some miles on the North Country Trail.  With our schedules and other factors, we haven't been on the trail since February.  It was nice to get back out there and get moving toward our 100 miles again.

The girls were so excited to be out on an adventure with Vanessa again.  Peaches was feisty!  We had a nice 6.5 mile walk between Cannonsburg and Rockford.  The trail was mostly paved trail or sidewalk which made for easy walking and there were even a few geocaches along the way.  While the weather was cooler than average for this time of year and the sky was cloudy the entire walk, it was a great day to get in some miles.  With the exception of a small 5 mile section of trail in Hillsdale county, we have traveled almost 211 miles from the Ohio border through Michigan and in about 20 miles we'll be done with Kent County.  Then we'll really start to get into some more scenic areas on the trail.  I think that is pretty exciting.

Before leaving the area, we made a stop in Lowell for lunch and then slowly meandered home picking up some geocaches along the way.  I thought this little dam in the Saranac area was pretty.

 

I also love how geocaching brings me to interesting historic places that I probably wouldn't find otherwise.  

Our Sunday plans include house cleaning and yard work, and hopefully it will also include starting to get the garden ready for planting this week.  I'm sure we'll get out for some adventures too!  

I have a short week of work this week and we have some fun plans for Memorial Day weekend.  Am I the only one who can't believe that it's already Memorial Day?!?  I look forward to seeing what fun things we find to do this week and I'm very excited about next weekend's adventures.  The blog will probably be delayed a day or two next week, but I can't wait to share our adventures with you.  I hope you all have a great week!

The joy of Spring Flowers

Happy Sunday and Happy Mother's day everyone!

We had a rainy start to the week, but after a long Monday of work, I was determined to get the girls out for a walk.  I decided we'd get in the car and take a drive to some dog-friendly stores.  First, we made our way to Frandor Shopping Center for a visit to Petco.  We don't go there often, so I figured they'd enjoy the change of pace.  After spending some time in the store and picking up some treats, we started walking outside under the covered walkway, and before I knew it we had walked a mile.  It was going so well, that we just continued to walk back and forth in the area until we'd gone nearly 2 1/2 miles.  It wasn't the most exciting walk we've ever taken, but it wasn't a bad option for a rainy day.

Tuesday, the sun came out and the weather was perfect for a good evening walk.  I wanted to find a good spot to enjoy some of the beautiful flowering trees of Spring, and with Lilac season upon us, I knew we had to head to the Horticulture Gardens on campus.  

As soon as I got out of the car in the parking lot, I could smell the lilacs.  I love that smell!  

The flowering trees were spectacular and the smell of the flowers filled the air all around us.  

The Red Buds were stunning as well.  They are one of my favorite Spring flowering trees.  I especially loved seeing them in three different colors.

The girls were so excited to be on our walk.  There were lots of squirrels, rabbits, and birds to keep things extra exciting for all of us.  

 

I think the best part of the evening was finding this quiet grassy spot where we took a break from our walk.  Both girls loved rolling in the grass, and Mina zoomed around trying to get Peaches to play.  I think we'll have to come back to this spot again over the Summer, maybe we could even have a little picnic dinner here.  

We finally had to continue on our walk and return to the car so we could get home.  It was such a wonderful evening!

Wednesday night was Dog Walking night.  I walked Pyxis who was a sweet little Shiba Inu.  Cassiopeia also joined the walk.  She was a really nice girl too.  It was a great night for a dog walk.

Thursday morning Mina had her final Canine Good Citizen class and it was test day!  We arrived early so I could get her focused and we could practice before class started.  She has such a good stay when she's focused!

I was very nervous about how she'd do on her test.  It is especially challenging because during the test, there are no treats or petting allowed.  It was definitely challenging, but she really did an outstanding job and in the end, she passed!  She officially has a title on her AKC record now.  I'm proud of her, but our work doesn't stop here.  We will continue to keep working to make her an even better little doggy citizen.

After our big success passing our test Thursday morning, I decided we'd enjoy another walk around campus on Thursday evening.  Campus is so big and there are so many areas to explore that we could walk there almost every night and never take the same walk.  We visited South campus and enjoyed more beautiful flowering trees.  At the end of our walk, I realized I hadn't gotten any pictures, so I made the girls stop and pose in front of Case Hall...the best dorm on campus in my opinion!

Friday's forecast once again showed the potential for rain in the early evening, but when I finished my workday, the rain hadn't started so I decided we'd head out for our evening walk and just deal with any rain that came our way.

Most of our walk was spent walking around the Beal Botanical Gardens.  There were some occasional rain drops, but it was still a really nice evening for a walk.  

Surprisingly, the girls let me get some pictures with the tulips despite the fact that there were ducks and squirrels nearby.  

The tulips are past their prime, but they still looked beautiful.  Spring just doesn't last long enough!

Before we headed home for the night I enjoyed some more beautiful flowering trees.

And some beautiful blooms found their way home with me so I could enjoy them a little longer.

Saturday morning started gray, cloudy, and humid, but it was cool enough that I knew I could bring the girls along while I ran errands.  We started the morning with our first trip of the year to Felzke Farms.  This farm is my go-to spot for Strawberries in the Summer, but they offer other items throughout the year, and they advertised their fresh, homemade doughnuts being available for the weekend, and I can't resist those doughnuts!  I looked around the greenhouse and picked up a few plants and some parsnips along with my doughnuts.  It was a great start to the day.

I ran a few other errands before stopping by campus for an afternoon walk.  We had a good long walk with some light rain and made it back to the car before the rain picked up.  It was another great walk on the beautiful campus in Spring and we'd gotten in some good miles.  I made a couple more quick stops before heading home for the day.  We'd had plenty of adventures, so I knew it would be quiet for the rest of my day.  

For our Mother's Day, I had plans to visit my parents.  Nicol, Tyler, and Fiona would be joining us as well.  I left home around 9am for the drive to Chesaning.  Peaches and Mina were so excited to get to the country to spend time running around and exploring.  Peaches had lots of off-leash adventures.  She has three favorite spots in the yard to spend exploring, and she had a wonderful time doing just that.  Mina got lots of exploration time too, and we got lots of practice using her long line.  We've got some work to do with her focus when she's in exciting places, but eventually she settled down and listened better.

We had a nice lunch before Nicol and Tyler headed home with Fiona, and I left shortly after.  It was a great morning spent with family.  

I made a little detour on the way home to do some geocaching...imagine my surprise when I found a billboard advertising geocaching on my way to find a geocache!

I was also pretty excited to see these adorable lambs on our drive home.  Baby farm animals are another favorite part of Spring.

Overall we had a great week enjoying all of the beauty that Spring has to offer.  The weather over the next week gives me hope for plenty more Spring fun!