Katie | Change Is Hard

March 6, 2017
by dawnkinster 14 Comments

Rivers and mountains oh my!

Anyone want to float down the river?

Katie here. I guess I have to do all the explaining cause mama is lazy. You’d think this was my blog or something, she hardly does anything anymore. She says she’s on vacation.

Whatever.

So anyway, we’ve been over in Columbus Georgia the past few days, visiting family and taking it easy. Well. I’ve been taking it easy. Mama and family have been working hard on projects and stuff.

They did stop working for a bit to take me on a walk along the Columbus waterfront. What a pretty place!

I’d rent one of these but my fur gets curly when it’s wet.

We walked and walked for about a hundred million miles. Good thing mama had water and treats for me. We watched people going down the rapids in a big yellow rubber raft…

They are definitely going to get wet!

…and in little tiny kayaks. Seems like the water would be way too cold for that! Plus it would mess up your hair. I’m pretty sure I’m not a kayak kind of girl.

Kinda scary if you ask me!

Mama says she likes kayaks but wouldn’t want to go down those rapids! Smart mama!

We saw lots of pretty stuff. We walked in Alabama and in Georgia! I don’t think I’ve ever walked in two states on one walk before!

A lone fisher-bird.

We walked so long that I slept all night without bugging mama! Mama said that was a wonderful thing. I slept with the new toy my Aunt got me. Isn’t it cute? (I’m cute too..it’s OK, you can say it out loud.)

It’s a hedgehog…zzzzzzzzzzzzz…

Anyway, we’re back home at the lake now, and today mama took me to Smith Mountain again for a walk. (Cause I was bugging her while she was napping. I think she wanted revenge.)

You are so slow mama!

This time we walked up what is usually the exit down from the mountain top. It was very steep.

Come on! I ran up these, you can too!

Good thing mama had me to show her the way! Sometimes I had to drag her up steep passages!

Just follow me mama!

These are baby long leaf pines. Mama loves these trees. I think they are pretty too.

I secretly don’t mind posing. It means I get to rest and I get a treat!

We had to go way up here and I scampered right up. It was awesome.

Are we THERE YET mama?

But about 3/4 of the way up I figured that was enough and I started back down the path. Mama said oh no..we’re not going back down this steep path and she took me all the way to the top!!!

Good thing I didn’t have to go all the way to the top of the fire tower too!

Not going up there mama!

We walked back to the car down the road. There was lots of pretty stuff to see there too….including native azaleas in bloom.

Pretty pink deep in the woods.

I was a slowpoke on the road down, but as soon as I saw my car I started trotting ahead of mama. Enough is enough mama!

I see my car mama! Hurry!!

Time to get a little shut eye….mama says we have a big day tomorrow. I have no idea what she’s got in store for me now, but if there’s anything I’ve learned it’s to be well rested!

-Your tour guide gal Katie

Here’s the start of the trail up. (I’ll wait for you here.)

March 3, 2017
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

I was tricked!

Come on mama, this looks like an AWESOME park!

Katie here. Mama asked me if I wanted to go to a park, and I said “OF COURSE MAMA! Are you crazy? I want to go to a park! Let’s go right now! RIGHT NOW MAMA!”

So we did.

We drove and drove and drove and I started to get vocal. Mama told me to settle down but I didn’t really. I was just expressing my opinion, and a princess is entitled. Right?

Isn’t this a pretty lake mama?

So anyway, mama was going to take me to visit Auburn University but she couldn’t find anywhere to park the car. We drove around and around and mama saw lots of stuff but I didn’t see anything cause I was in my crate in the back.

Not fair.

But when we finally stopped and mama got me out it was at a park! A beautiful park! Mama says she’s not sure where it was because she was lost by then. And she said she wasn’t going to take her camera, we’d just walk around a little bit.

Mama liked the row of trees. I liked the shade.

And then of course she found a gazillion pretty things that warranted a camera. So we walked around this beautiful little lake and then mama and I went back to the car, got a drink and her camera and walked around it again!

Isn’t it great? There was a blue heron the first time we walked, but he had moved on by the time we came back. We did get to watch these turtles though. Mama said they were all looking at me. Well of course they were, I’m the princess!

A little warm for my taste, but these guys liked the sun.

And there were these exercise things. Mama tried a couple of them, she said they were really fun. I was not interested, given that I already have a svelte sheltie figure.

These look fun mama! For you anyway.

Once we got around the lake the second time mama loaded me in the car and drove some more and when she parked again I couldn’t figure it out. It was a busy parking lot? What are we doing here mama? I dutifully followed along and suddenly we were inside a groomer’s place!!

Mama tricked me!

The lady put my on a table and there were all these little dogs, bichons and chihuahuas and other little fru fru dogs running around on the floor, and then a great dane walked into the room and stretched! Why he could reach as high as the table I was on! And the lady was clipping my toenails! And trimming my toe fur! I turned my head and looked at my mama and pleaded with her to get me out of there!

Mama says she wishes she had the camera, because the whole thing was ridiculously funny, dogs running all over and me looking pitiful up on the table. But she left her phone in the car, so no pictures.

I’m personally glad. It was humiliating.

When we left I was in such a hurry to get out of there that I ran up the 8 stairs outside. Up the stairs. Wait…I forgot I don’t do stairs. Mama called me a little stinker. I think that’s a compliment…right?

I’m ticked at my mama. Taking me to a wonderful park does not negate the secret groomer appointment. But I have to say my feet do look a whole lot better.

Don’t tell her I said that.

Pretty feet.

March 2, 2017
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: The Road Taken

Walking a forest fire access road around the mountain we were surprised to find a bit of the lake hiding in back.

Let’s go explore that shoreline mama!

We were glad we took this road a bit further than we ever had before.

Wonder what surprises other people have found on the roads they’ve taken? Check out the link above. Or here are a couple I especially liked.

Katie says she hopes everyone gets out today on a walk filled with wonderful surprises.

And that you all get to take a nap after.

Come along with me!

Wordless Windy Wednesday

March 1, 2017 by dawnkinster 24 Comments

February 24, 2017
by dawnkinster 16 Comments

WordPress Photo Challenge: A Good Match

Mahogany sable sheltie in the Alabama red clay woods.

Come on mama! Let’s go see what’s over here!

A good match.

Want to see some other good matches? Check out the link above. Or if you’re short on time, a couple of my favorites so far are here and here. Go ahead and take a look. I think you’ll be surprised and then you’ll smile.

Katie says everyone needs at least one smile each day.

Smile everybody!

Wordless Wednesday

February 22, 2017 by dawnkinster 12 Comments

February 21, 2017
by dawnkinster 18 Comments

Ain’t no mountain tall enough

Katie here.

I have sufficiently rested up from my mountain adventure to tell you all about it. I know you’ve been wanting to know. (PS: Most of the photos here were taken by my aunt. That’s how mama got to be in so many of them! Thank you Aunt B!)

A little bit of a huge lake.

See, there’s this big mountain near my lake house and it has a restored fire tower on it. Almost every time mama comes down here she and her family and friends climb up the mountain and then up the fire tower.

But this year she had me and she wasn’t sure, at my advanced age of ten, that I’d want to climb a mountain. Plus it’s pretty warm here and she always worries about me overheating my pretty self. After all I do carry my fur coat everywhere I go. (I don’t trust it to the coat check guy. At all.)

Hurry up mama!

My aunt and uncle came over to the lake house this past weekend and they wanted to go up the mountain. They didn’t worry at all about how I would do, they knew I was a brave sheltie-girl and just assumed I’d want to go. Mama decided to pack a bag with all the essentials like water and poop bags and treats and see how far I’d go. She didn’t want to go so far up that she’d have to carry me down. No siree.

Good spot for a photo shoot…and a rest!

Well it turns out that I love being in the woods. I don’t know why mama was surprised. Once again she underestimated me. We took lots of breaks and most of the path up the mountain was in the shade. She gave me lots of water, in fact I drank almost a whole bottle of water myself on this adventure.

I sniffed lots of cool stuff and scrambled up and over lots of rocks, and pulled mama along cool paths covered in soft pine straw. It was fantastic.

Another pretty spot to rest!

Mama had to carry me the last bit…because stupid people had thrown bottles over the top of the rocks and there was broken glass…and then there were a bunch of steps up to very top and you all know about me and not doing steps. I did all the down steps just fine, but I was scared to do the up steps. Don’t ask. I can’t explain it.

At the top of the mountain I sat on a nice cool slab of concrete with my aunt while mama climbed the tower to get a few shots. She says she doesn’t know why she did that, the images she took look just like the images she took when she was there in November. But she loves being up at the top of that tower.

I’ll wait for you down here mama!

She says she could stay up there for hours, but she knew I was waiting for her down below so she hurried on down. I said no rush mama, cause I was meeting all sorts of nice people and some nice dogs too! It was a beautiful Sunday with blue skies and warm temperatures so there were lots of folks and a few of their dogs out. Everyone said I was really cute. Of course.

Mama and me on top of the world.

Then we walked back down the mountain which I found easier than the trip up. That’s a good thing because truthfully I was getting a little tired. I stopped half way down and looked at my mama. She said no way was she carrying me the rest of the way, so I took a long drink and trotted down on my own.

I’m a good girl.

Monday all we did was go to the little park which was OK.

I’ve named this Katie’s Park II!

And take some photos in town. Which was boring.

Mama says this is grandma and grandpa’s church.

And today…so far all we’ve done is this.

BORING!

Mama says she doesn’t know what she can do to top walking in the Smokey Mountains and on the Atlantic Ocean beach with my boyfriend Reilly, and taking a boat ride and seeing an eagle and climbing a mountain. She says she’s running out of exciting things to do. She better get thinking. I don’t know how long I can be patient.

Because as you all know, it’s not good to keep a princess waiting.

What’s next mama?

February 18, 2017
by dawnkinster 21 Comments

The princess and a boat

At my uncle’s house.

Katie here. Guess what, guess what GUESS WHAT?

This is my bench, but I’ll share.

I got to go on a boat ride!!!! My mama was all nervous and stuff cause she has no faith in me at all. She didn’t think I’d like being in a boat. She thought I’d be afraid of the sound of the engine. She thought I’d be shaking like a leaf and want to get out. She thought it would be a very short boat ride.

She (once again) underestimated me.

So let me tell you all about it. We drove over to my Uncle’s house on another lake. I thought this was gonna be another drive all day sort of thing and I protested about half an hour into the trip, but mama told me we were almost there, so I settled back down. She lied of course – it was another half hour before we got there. And then there were all new smells to sniff and I liked it right away.

Me and mama smiling.

Then mama and my uncle discussed going on a boat ride and decided to see if I liked it. They agreed to drive real slow and if I wasn’t comfortable they’d just go back. The entire focus was on whether or not I’d enjoy it.

What do you think?

Relaxed on my yacht.

I thought it was the best thing since cheese! I got to sit on my princess bench between mama and my aunt. And I got to sniff the air a lot. And watch the water go by at the back of the boat. I didn’t shake one little bit. Sometimes I even smiled.

And once I almost fell asleep! Can you believe that?

Lulled to sleep by the engine vibration.

My uncle drove us way up the river, so most of our trip was pretty slow but I liked the fast stuff too. Once, on our way home we were going fast into the wind and mama and I both had a bad hair day!

Matching crazy hair mama!

But all in all I thought this was a most excellent adventure. We’re back at our own lake house now, and I have been all wound up, wanting to play with the toy that Mr. Reilly gave me, and wanting mama to pay attention to me and wanting my dinner, and wanting to go outside and not wanting to come back inside. Mama is exhausted. So to give her a break I’m gonna take a little nap now.

I expect more adventures tomorrow mama! I hear the uncle and aunt are coming over here and I’ll get to show them around.

Can’t wait!

Captain princess.

February 17, 2017
by dawnkinster 19 Comments

The sleepy life of a southern dog

This is my lake house mama!

We’ve been at the lake house for a few days now, long enough to settle into a routine. Katie thinks it’s pretty boring, but I try to liven it up for her a bit. It’s not easy; she has such high expectations. After all, she had the company of two friendly shelties and the whole ocean where we were last weekend. Now she has me. And a lake with muddy edges. Still, she seems content to hang out with me and nap a lot.

Relaxing in grandma’s chair.

I take her to a park every day for a walk. So far the weather has been beautiful, lows in the 50s at night, highs in the 70s during the day, and sun though they say it will rain soon. We’re planning on going on a little road trip tomorrow to visit my brother. I’m hoping there’s no rain over there.

Keebler Park in Dadeville

Meanwhile she has met the neighborhood dogs. They’re both friendly, but neither of them has the obedience skills that Katie has worked so hard to achieve. Both will sit for a treat, but neither of them will stay long enough for me to back up to get a picture. And Katie won’t sit near either one of them. She finds their lack of social skills a bit off-putting. I guess.

Carson is a laberdoodle. He’s a big bundle of energy and very friendly. But to Katie is he just big. He will sit but if he doesn’t get his treat right away, say I’m trying to get him to stay while I’m taking a picture, he barks one giant WOOF!!! and leaps into the air. Katie is always surprised by that, but she holds her stay. I know she’s not happy because her ears go flat. So I release her so that she can move away. This is the best picture I could get of the two of them.

Katie and Carson

And then there’s Dixie who lives next door and is outside after her owners come home from work. She’s adorable and loves to have her belly rubbed by anyone that will pay attention to her. She’s the same size as Katie but stockier.

Dixie! Stay!!!

They like each other pretty much, though she won’t stay either. Katie gets frustrated waiting for a treat while Dixie follows me around instead of sitting pretty.

I’m not sitting any closer to her mama!

But they do seem to like to laugh at me together.

Seriously Dixie, she’s not going to stop trying to get a picture until you settle down.

I’ve been working on a shell project…making a frame covered with shells found on the beach for a photo of the three shelties. A reminder for later when this trip is only a distant memory.

Thanks Bree for the extra pretty shells!

And I’m watching the weather up north a bit, debating when to make the trek back home. It would be nice if the snow was all done by the time Katie and I get back…but that’s doubtful. We need to be back for things that are scheduled in March. And I think Katie-girl misses her dad and her house and her park and her school.

Let’s go exploring mama!

She says adventures are only adventures if they have a beginning, a middle and an end, mama. Otherwise it’s just life.

She’s a smart one, yes she is.

Enlightened one

February 16, 2017
by dawnkinster 25 Comments

Exploring

Katie here. My mama has been very remiss in getting my posts online in a timely manner. OK, so she’s been driving and getting food for us and stuff. But still, I’m going to have to play catch up now and that is so frustrating. I hope mama gets her act together now that we’re in Alabama and apparently resting a lot.

So last time you heard from me I was in Florida with the love of my life Mr. Reilly. But you only got to see one of our beach excursions. We went out another day really early (I was good at the really early thing since I’ve been getting mama up at 4 a.m. for months and months!) to the beach so we could see the sun rise. We didn’t count on it being so foggy.

My handsome guy disrupts the shore birds.

Still…it was pretty on the beach in the fog. There was hardly anyone else out there. Just us and some birds and a couple other people and their dogs.

Mama and Reilly’s mom got some very nice photos of us. I tried to be good about it but I really just wanted to get up and explore. Mama takes way too many pictures if you ask me.

The three of us tolerated more photos.

Sadly we had to continue on with our adventure, mama and I, the next day. So we said goodbye to my favorite Florida family and headed across Georgia to visit my Aunt Beth. It was fun to stay at her house overnight. I hadn’t seen her in a lot of years!

My Aunt Beth’s front door!

The next morning mama took me over to the lake house. This is where my grandma and grandpa used to live. I never got to meet them, but I’m pretty sure I’d have liked them cause I like their lake house a lot. I can see out the big windows and watch the world go by. I get to choose between the comfy chair and the comfy sofa to snooze, and I’ve been snoozing a lot.

Our first sunset at the lake house.

Here at the lake I have my mama all to myself…and she has promised to take me to parks for long walks. Yesterday we got to go to Horseshoe Bend Military Park where we read all about the Battle at Horseshoe Bend between General Jackson’s army and the Lower Creek and Cherokee Indians in 1814.

The battle site is along the Tallapoosa River. The river was beautiful in the sun when we were there, but I was more interested in smelling around the trees, looking for pee-mail left by other dogs. I didn’t find much to speak of. I guess we were one of the first there after the early morning rains went through.

Pretty river mama, but boring if you’re me.

We climbed a big hill and I got to explore the cannon. And mama only took one picture, so that worked out. I guess even mama can learn if I give her time.

Way up on a peaceful hill is the remembrance of a bloody battle.

I enjoyed the park, but it wore us both out. We fell asleep at 7 last night! Now I’m ready to find out what mama has up her sleeve for today. I told her we need to explore somewhere new each day. She says she’ll try. I guess that’s all I can expect from mama.

After all, she’s on vacation too.

I’m getting soggy mama!

Change Is Hard

…but change is certain.

Tag Archives: Katie