Baseball, berries, and dog walks

We had a really great week full of fun activities and adventures.   While the weather was humid, it was a good week for more Summer fun.  

Monday we stayed close to home.  After a busy day of work, I was happy to be able to get out to mow the lawn and do some work around the yard.  We took a short walk around the neighborhood and then I spent time after dinner playing lots of rounds of fetch with Mina.

Tuesday I worked our local election.  I always work the afternoon/evening shift after working the morning at my normal job.  

Before leaving home to work the election, I took the girls for a short drive and a walk around a local park which we rarely visit.  It was nice to get out before being stuck inside the rest of the day.

Wednesday I took the afternoon off from work to take the girls to a Lansing Lugnuts baseball game.  Throughout the Summer, every Wednesday home game is dog-friendly, and I figured an afternoon game would be perfect to take both girls because I expected it to be less busy.

We showed up just a few minutes before the game started and before taking our seat, we did a couple of laps around the stadium.  

There were lots of kids at the game because it was also a Summer Fun Day and there were plenty of kid groups in attendance.   The girls loved seeing all of the kids and eating all of the popcorn and Dippin Dots that they dropped around the concourse. 

We didn't spend a lot of time sitting, but we did use our seats a few times.  Mostly we walked laps around the stadium so the girls could meet people and othe dogs.  We even stopped in the lawn so the girls could play with a puppy that we had met at the game.

Before leaving the game, we got a picture of us all together.   It had been a lot of fun and by the time we got back to the car, we had walked 2 1/2 miles.  The girls had had the best day and crashed as soon as we got home.   

While the girls spent the evening snoring away, I had to head to the shelter for Wednesday night dog walking.  

Since there were only two of us walking that night, we decided to shorten our walk a bit and take three groups of two dogs each out for a walk.   I had the privilege of walking Kia, Dump Truck, and Wyclef.  They were so much fun!

In total we walked 4 dogs 1.8 miles and the final 2 dogs walked about 1 mile, for a total of just over 4 1/2 miles for me.  It was humid, but I really enjoyed spending time with the dogs and was happy to know everyone had some time out of the shelter. 

I also enjoyed some yummy blackberries along our walking path.  I love fruit season!

Despite all of the excercise and mental activity Mina has been getting this week, she has been extra crazy.  Her behavior is definitely being affected by her post-spay hormones.  On Thursday she was especially crazy.  Peaches and I both got yelled at, attacked, and driven a little crazy.  I can't wait until these hormones get back to normal and I get my calmer Mina back!

I was happy to get the girls out for our South Lansing Farmer's Market trip Thursday after work. There were more vendors and more interesting things to buy this week, and I took full advantage of our visit.  I was especially excited about the duck and quail eggs.

Of course I also got my weekly cookie and Ming Dynasty egg roll too.  We ended our visit with a walk around Soldan's while I ate my egg roll and the girls got some extra love from some of their favorite employees.   It was a great trip.

After dinner, we made a visit to campus for our evening walk.  We have to make the most of the short time remaining before the students return to town. 

It was a beautiful evening walk and we even met a fellow GSP owner.  

As we walked around campus, I could really feel the changes that come with August.  It was a beautiful, peaceful evening. 

After a fun week, we started our weekend with a visit to Fenner Nature Center.   We were expecting storms to move into the area Friday evening, so I wanted to get the girls out for an adventure before the rain started.

The late Summer flowers are blooming across the short grass Prarie and the deer were out in force.  It was wonderful to see them all, including a couple of beautiful young bucks.

We hadn't visited Fenner in quite awhile and Peaches was so happy to be back.  She loves the grass prarie and was happy to roll around in the grass every chance she got.

We got lucky and the storms never developed so we were able to get in a nice three mile walk before heading home..

I forgot just how much the girls and I enjoy our walks here so we definitely need to get back again soon.

I started Saturday morning with our shelter dog walk.   We were able to walk three dogs that didn't walk with us on Wednesday and I got to walk sweet Firebird.  She walked so nicely and was just a really great dog.

After our dog walk, I took Fiat out of the shelter for a short walk too.  She is on activity restrictions since she was spayed earlier in the week, so we just took a slow meandering walk in the grass and I'm pretty sure she loved her 15 minutes out of the shelter. 

Once again, Saturday morning there was rain in the forecast, but I wanted to get the girls out for a nice adventure. 

We made a stop at the Farmer's Market in Holt to pick up some treats from our treat lady since she wasn't at our Market on Thursday.  While the girls couldn't go into the building, they did get to walk around outside and the treat lady came out to give them a treat and to say hello.

We then drove to Mason for a walk on the Hayhoe Riverwalk and around the Courthouse downtown.   We had a really nice walk and managed to avoid the rain.  It was another successful adventure. 

Sunday I spent a little time in the garden and I'm happy to report i finally got a couple of tomatoes and some green beans. Everything should start ripening a lot more quickly now.  I so love garden season!

I've been having some knee issues the last couple of weeks, so we had a Sunday rest day after all of the walking I did this week.  Both girls did a pretty good job relaxing and I really enjoyed the quiet day.

We ended our evening like we have many nights this week, with a good round of fetch.  Mina loves to chase anything I'll throw, and I got to enjoy a beautiful Summer evening while also keeping her entertained.   It was a great way to end our weekend.

The weather looks cool and raining for a lot of the upcoming week, but I'm hoping we'll be able to enjoy some more Summer fun.  I hope you all have a wonderful week too, making the most of our Summer.  Mid-August has come far too quickly, and Labor Day is just around the corner.  How can that be?!?

The dog days of Summer

Tomorrow we will reach the mid-point of the Summer season- the spot halfway between the Summer Solstice and the Autumnal Equinox.  Nighttime temperatures are getting cooler, sunrise is getting later, and our sunsets are getting earlier, and as crazy as it sounds, some kids are heading back to school already.  As hard as it is to believe, we're nearly a quarter of the way through the month of August already.  Where is the time going?  My grandma often used to tell me that time seemed to go faster as you got older, and I can honestly say that I agree with her.  

We spent this week trying to keep Mina calm while she continued to recover from her spay surgery.  Monday was fairly easy.  Both girls were quiet and spent most of the day napping while I worked.

After my work day was over, Mina was ready to spend some time out in the yard.  She is so used to spending most of her days outside, lounging in the grass, so it was really hard on her to have to spend more time inside this week.  We went outside for a short period of time, but she was so excited that I was outside with her that we had to cut our time short to keep her calm.

After work on Tuesday, I decided to take the girls to the Downtown Lansing Farmer's Market at Reutter Park.  We were able to take a nice walk around the park before talking a quick walk through the Market.

We continued our walk through downtown and got in about a mile walk before returning to the Farmer's Market for a pineapple slush and some popcorn, which I shared with the girls.

I knew that they still could use some more adventures, so we also drove out to the Dewitt Farmer's Market.  I got some tomatoes and the girls got some treats, and one of the vendors gave the girls these cute bandanas.  Peaches was a little too excited about all of the other dogs we saw, but I know that she had a lot of built up energy from our lack of recent adventures, so I forgave her.

Wednesday was my weekly walk with the shelter dogs.  I got to walk sweet Lyriq.  She was a great walker and a lot of fun.  It was such a nice walk.  

After our walk, I made a visit to the Ingham County Fair for a quick walk through the barns, some Friske fries, and an elephant ear.   I can't wait until Fiona is a little older and can join me for this annual tradition.  Hopefully next year!

Thursday I started my morning at the dentist to get a permanent filling in the tooth that had the root canal a couple of weeks ago.  It was a quick appointment to start the day, but it's crazy to think that I've been dealing with this tooth issue since June.  Thankfully the infection is gone and the tooth is healed and all is well with the tooth now.

By Thursday, keeping Mina calm was getting pretty hard, but I really didn't want to have to use the Trazadone for her if I could avoid it.  She would have been happy to spend all day out in the yard, but I couldn't risk leaving her out there and having her run after a critter and hurt herself.  So I found ways to keep her busy inside as much as I could throughout my work day.

After work, we kept up our weekly tradition with a trip to the South Lansing Farmer's Market.  I didn't need much, but the girls enjoy the socialization time.  I was excited to try the Shave Ice from a local vendor and took it along with me while we went into Soldan's for a walk around.  

After dinner and some time outside, Mina was still ready to play.  She wasn't very subtle about what she thought needed to happen.

Friday night, we drove downtown again for our evening walk.  While Mina was still technically on activity restriction, I figured she could handle a little longer walk than we'd been having the rest of the week.  We had a really nice walk, and then stopped by Veg Head restaurant to pick up dinner before heading home.  

It was nice to sit outside and eat my dinner on the patio while the girls sniffed around the yard.  What a beautiful evening.  It was a great way to start the weekend.

I had big plans for Saturday.  I thought I was going be really productive Saturday morning before getting out for some fun.  Instead, we had a lazy morning at home and I had a good snuggle with Mina.

It was a beautiful day, and for the afternoon we had plans to attend a couple of fun Dog Days of Summer events.  The first was in Mason and benefitted the shelter.  It was a small event with shopping, hot dogs, live music, and adoptable dogs from the shelter.  We walked around Mason and the Farmer's Market there to get out a little energy before walking around the event.  

We then drove out to Williamston for the Dog Days event there.  There were fun activities and vendors and the girls made lots of friends, and of course I bought them some treats and got a delicious bagel from a local baker before we made the drive back home.  

I dropped the girls off at home for the rest of the afternoon while I made a visit to Nicol, Fiona, and Tyler.

I can't believe how fast this little girl is growing up.  She showed me her skills using her new slide, I got to push her on her tree swing, and we had fun reading and listening to music.  She loves music, dancing, and being outside.  It was so much fun spending time with her.  She's got a big personality.

I got home in time to spend some time outside with the girls before sunset.  Mina enjoyed several rounds of fetch and Peaches was watching birds.  I enjoyed watching them and especially enjoyed watching the lightning bugs.  I know it won't be long before they are gone for the year, so I have to enjoy them while I can.  Those little bugs are one of my favorite parts of Summer.

Since I hadn't done a lot around the house and yard on Saturday, I thought I'd spend Sunday cleaning and doing yardwork, but I woke to a very rainy morning.  I had no idea we were dupposed to get rain, so that really put a damper on my yardwork plans.  

By mid-morning, I thought we might need to take advantage of the rainy day for a little drive and rainy day adventure.  I had several ideas in mind, but decided the one I really wanted to take was a little too far for us to drive for the day.  Instead I decided to take an old-fashioned Sunday drive.  

I packed a lunch and some snacks, got the girls into the car, and we were off with no specific destination in mind, just a general direction we'd be driving.  We headed North on Old 27 through Dewitt and St. Johns and then West down M-21 out into the backroads of Clinton, Ionia, and Montcalm counties.  We were surrounded by farmlands and I really enjoyed the country views.

Along the way, we made quick stops to do a little easy country geocaching.  The girls stayed in the car for most of the caching, but I think they were happy to be along for the drive.

The cornfields are looking pretty amazing, and I thought this cute little area at the back of a cemetery surrounded by cornfields needed to be captured.  I really like this picture. 

At one of our final stops, I found a huge blackberry patch, and despite the fact that I had on shorts, I climbed through some of the brambles to get to some of the best looking berries.

Several of these berries didn't survive my visit. Boy were they good, and with so many berries left to ripen, I'm tempted to head back to this spot next weekend with some containers to bring some home. 

We made a quick stop at Phillip's Orchard for a treat and a Cider Slushie before making the drive home.  I arrived home with a muddy car and two happy pups, I think it was a good day.

Mina is officially finished with her activity restriction, so we will be back to longer walks and more fun next week.  I'm glad because I only have half the Summer left and need to take full advantage of it.  I already have some fun plans in store and look forward to sharing our adventures with you next week.

Get out and make the most of the Summer!  Before you know it we'll be talking about snow.