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.