As you can see it’s already January 4th and mom hasn’t posted since Christmas! When I decided to adopt my parents I didn’t realize that I’d have to do everything around here!
Anyway, I didn’t want you all to think we aren’t thinking about you, and reading your blogs and stuff, so I hopped on here to bring you up to date. (OK. I just hopped on here cause I like the attention. I really have no idea what’s going on!)
Mydog mom, me, andmy dog mom’s bff.
All I know is that mom and dad had some stuff to do and they asked my breeder if I could go live with her for a few days and she (of course, cause she loves me) said yes!
In fact she said she would be more than happy to have me visit because she has a new puppy named Sarah, who is my niece, and she thought we might like to play together. And maybe then Sarah would quit bugging her mom to play all day.
This is my niece Sarah. She’s 6 months oldand she’s a pistol!
Well! I am nothing if not willing to play all day!
And so, my breeder tells my mom, we did. All day, every day, for three whole days. It was sooooooo fun! That little Sarah is in high gear all the time! Sometimes even I had to jump up on the sofa and tell her to settle down.
But mostly we played.
Me and my dog mom on the sofa avoiding the puppy and checking if anyone had treats for us.
And when mom finally came and took me back home I fell asleep on my sofa next to my dad right away. And I slept all night too.
Yep…I don’t know what’s going on around here, but I hope they send me to visit Sarah again soon! I have great expectations for lots of fun in 2025! I think Sarah and I will be good friends. Even if I have to tell her off once in awhile.
Zonked out at home with my dad.
I hope you have a wonderful 2025 too.
Meanwhile I’ll try to get mom to take her blog responsibilities more serious. She says she’s still struggling with all the new stuff but she’ll try. I have less than high hopes that she’ll figure it all out.
My breeder trimmed my ears too, don’t I look GOOD?!
Well, I guess I’ll talk to you all later, I gotta go supervise the birds at my feeders. I don’t know what they did when I wasn’t here,
Many of you will be celebrating Christmas or Hanukah today.
Penny and our family want to send you warm holiday wishes today and for the rest of the year.
And we’re linking this post to Karma’s blog, where she challenges us all to post images of warmth. We can’t think of a better way to express that concept than by sharing the holidays with all of you.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, and thank you all so much for being part of our world. We’ll see you soon.
Now normally I wouldn’t be allowed back on mom’s blog so soon after my birthday post. That was only 10 days ago and mom likes to remind me that this is her blog and not mine and if I want a blog of my own I’m going to have to hire my own slave labor.
To celebrate my 2nd birthday mom took me to a fenced in dog place at a state park so I could run. We have only been there a couple of times and both times mom and I had the place to ourselves. I love to run and jump and generally act like a crazy girl so I enjoy it there a lot, even by myself.
But on my birthday, after mom and I were there just a few minutes, another couple showed up with their little terrier. I’ve already forgotten her name but she should have been named Hurricane. (Her name might have been Mandy.)
Cause she was!
She was a few months younger than me and, I hate to say it, she was faster than me! And she never stopped chasing me!
And then, while we were running around, another couple came by with their baby beagle who’s name was Toast. He was only 5 months old and he loved to run too! For awhile the terrier chased him, but he must have been boring, because she went back to chasing me, and let me tell you, I got exhausted!
I started asking everybody, even complete strangers, to pick me up!
Mom said I was a wimp, but picked me up and we sat at the picnic table while the two youngsters ran around. Then that terrier went right up on the table and landed on mom’s head! Well, mom said that was enough and we left to go home so I could get a birthday nap.
Now I’m rethinking asking mom for a playmate for Christmas. I might be a lucky dog after all, even as an only!
Hey, hey, hey, it’s your birthday girl Penny here!
Mom says in honor of my birthday I get to let you guys all know that I’m a very special girl, highly intelligent, an over achiever, and athletic to boot.
Oh, wait. Mom’s trying to get my attention.
Mom says that was not what I was supposed to tell you. I’m suppose to tell you it’s my birthday and I turned TWO today! And that she’s not giving me any cake or blowing up balloons or anything.
On the other hand she’s also not making me wear a silly birthday hat, so I guess it’s all good.
Right.
But somehow it doesn’t seem fair that there’s not a worldwide celebration of my birthday. Or at least a house-wide celebration. And you’d think there might be a present or two.
Well. Mom does promise me a walk in the woods at a park of my choice. And she says I get an extra snuggle with daddy, which is one of my all time favorite things to do.
I’m a happy girl, that’s for sure, and all I really need is my mom and my dad and their big bed and my supper bowl and an occasional treat.
Yep. That’s all I need.
Oh…and my ball to chase and mom’s shoe to chew on.
And my sofa to nap on.
Yep. That’s all I need.
So….happy birthday to ME, the happiest sheltie in the world!
Talk later, I’m going to go threaten mom’s ankles until she gets me a treat and then a walk…
…your birthday girl, Unstoppable Penny…now moving on to her terrible adventuresome twos!
I’m afraid I have some sad news to share with all of you. My friend, sheltie Lance’s big sister Tally, a Gordon Setter, crossed the rainbow bridge last Friday. Tally lived with Lance and Katie’s half sister Payton and their mom and dad. As you know Peyton crossed the bridge in September, so the loss of Tally is doubly hard on her mom and dad.
My mom learned about Tally crossing the bridge on Sunday morning, shortly after she finished doing the Wordle puzzle. Sunday’s Wordle solution was “tally” and mom, of course, thought about Payton’s sister and smiled. And then she got the news and she wondered if anything in the world is truly a coincidence.
Anyway, I can’t say that I knew Tally well, I only met her once, and I have to admit I was something of a chicken then, cause she was a lot bigger than me!
She was nothing but polite though, and it was silly of me to be scared of her. She was such a friendly girl.
You might remember that Katie got to show Payton and Tally around her park in May of 2022. Tally had the best sniffing nose and just loved exploring new parks.
She was less thrilled to pose for my mom who is always taking pictures. But she did it anyway, cause she was a very good and polite girl.
Katie got to visit Payton and Tally at their house too. One time Katie and Payton were busy getting treats on the deck and Payton’s mom went in the house. Katie thought she was getting more treats, so she waited by the door. She sure was surprised when Payton’s mom didn’t bring more treats, but brought out Tally instead!
Tally got along with everybody, and was such a good girl that she didn’t even steal treats off the table! Katie was sort of jealous that Tally was tall enough to even think about doing that.
Tally and her mom were competing in obedience and she had already won lots of ribbons when she had to retire because she got sick with leukemia.
Photo from Tally’s mom Diane
She fought hard to stay with her family as long as she could, but last week she was just too tired.
Her mom and dad and Lance are missing her terribly.
Lance and Tally playing, photo be Tally’s mom.
Our only consolation is that she’s with her angel sister Payton, her angel mother Flair and of course my angel sister Katie. We know they’re exploring a new park every day with lots of things to sniff and the best treats ever!
If you’re of a mind to send positive thoughts, or prayers, or suportive vibes to Tally and Payton’s parents I know they would appreciate it. And poor little Lance, who has never been an only dog, needs support too.
Lance on the left, me on the right.
I hope that I get to see him soon. When I do I will remind him how much all you nice people and your fur babies care about him and his folks.
You might have noticed that mom is still missing. I’m kind of worried, even though daddy said it was all going to be just fine. But I’m also a bit miffed, cause mom has more beautiful pictures of me and she hasn’t posted them! So I guess I’ll have to do it myself.
Katie warned me there would be days like this.
So without further ado, here are the images from our second 4 season photo shoots! I think you will agree I am simply stunning.
Ahem.
November of 2023, where it all began:
Winter of 2024:
Spring of 2024:
Summer of 2024.
Fall of 2024! (My personal favorite.)
I hoped you liked my second set of 4 seasons images. Mom told me she had fun too, but NOBODY has as much fun as me!
Talk later,
Your professional model (who will be increasing her fees if she has to do all the work around here),
Has anybody seen my mom? I can’t find her and she’s been missing for at least 3 days. Maybe more!
I’ve looked and looked in all her favorite places. You know, like in her bed, and on her sofa, and in her favorite chair and at the dinner table.
Maybe she’s lost in one of my parks! I’d drive over there to look but I don’t have a driver’s license!
I asked my dad, and he said not to worry, he says mom is fine, she’s just taking some “Penny-free time” for herself.
Penny-free?!?!?!
What the heck does that even mean?
Anyway dad said to tell you all not to worry, and that mom will get that Walktober collection post done as soon as she gets home. I figured you guys would want to know.
Meanwhile I’m going to sleep in her bed next to my dad every night. Maybe if I make her jealous she’ll come home to us.
A year or so ago Karma, over at Karma’s When I Feel Like It, suggested we work on getting 4 seasons of an image from a single location. That means it’s a year long project, one you have to be conscious of as the seasons change. It requires some planning.
I knew when I saw this location that I had found my spot. Penny agreed.
Our first visit to this part of Penny’s park was in November of 2023, so technically this image is late fall. Or early winter.
And then I waited for some snow to fly, and we went back. Snow made it officially winter, at least in my mind. Penny said snow makes everything more fun.
It wasn’t long until winter gave way to spring. Spring was so pretty over in Penny’s park.
And then it was full blown summer, hot and muggy, but still fun.
I could hardly wait for fall, and I wasn’t disappointed. Penny and I went over there more than once, it was so pretty.
I guess, that makes five seasons, but I just couldn’t leave that first image out. I hope you enjoyed this series….because Penny and I have another one to show you soon.
She’ll probably do the honors because she is, after all, the star of the show.
Well, it’s that time of year again…time to dust off the ole walking shoes, grab your phone or your camera (or both!) and head out to find something interesting or boring, pretty or mundane, to share with all of us in the world.
What’s it like this October where you live?
We didn’t have a lot of color on my walk, but I found a little bit of it!
Interested bloggers want to know!
The most eager Walktober participant I know is our girl Penny, so I’m going to let her kick off this event. She’s so happy she’s darn near panting with joy. Or maybe she’s just drooling. Hard to tell. Anyway…here comes Penny!
Hi Hi HI HI HI HI!!!! It’s me, Penny!
This is me on my Walktober !
This will be the second Walktober of my entire life, cause I’m not even two years old yet! But I remember last year and it was so much fun I could hardly wait for October to come around again.
We hiked on trails like this for most of our walk, but also across grassy meadows too.
Mom says I shouldn’t wish my life away, and time is short no matter what we do. But I’m just a puppy and I try to get as much fun stuff smashed into every day as possible. Mom says I’m exhausting.
Whatever, Mom.
So anyway, Mom took me on a walk in one of mine and Katie’s parks and I thought I’d share it with you as my Walktober 2025.
We started out in Katie’s part of the park and walked up and down the hills. Mom always tells me about Katie when we walk there. I don’t mind, Katie seems like she was a pretty awesome girl and I love hearing about her adventures.
I was quite proud of myself for jumping up on this bank.
After we got up and down the last big hill we arrived at a meadow and Mom had me practice my recall on the mowed path.
I’d say my recall is pretty spectacular…a long as she has treats! HA!
I’m coming, Mom! Get that cheese ready!
Then we wandered through the meadow and back into the woods and over to my part of the park. Mom and I walk over on that section a lot, but we usually enter it from a different parking lot that is about 1/2 a mile north (as the crow flies, lots further if you take the trail) of where we parked this time.
Pretty in purple.
Mom and I wandered around and she took lots of pictures. Eventually we made it to my pond. It was really pretty.
My pond.
It was after we moved on from my pond that things started getting messed up.
I wanted to go back to the other parking lot (which was still about a mile away from where we were) like I was used to when we visit the pond, and Mom wanted to head back to the parking lot we were actually parked in (which was also about a mile in the other direction).
Mom had me stand near the one tree that had changed color. It’s another sassafras tree.
Mom had never gone back to that parking lot from our pond before, but she had a photo of the trail map (because she’s a smart mom) so she wasn’t worried. She studied the map and we walked on a brand new trail that she was sure would take us back to that meadow and eventually back to our car.
There were lots of trails to choose from.
But it was winding through the woods and didn’t feel like it was going in the right direction. And Mom couldn’t figure out exactly where we were on the trail map. It was getting hotter and she didn’t have that much water for me.
So she started getting worried.
How about we rest on this nice bench, mom?
Me? I wasn’t worried! I just kept sniffing and tugging Mom along. Why I even surprised a mouse! Or, if I’m honest, the mouse surprised me, cause Mom says I jumped about 3 feet straight up into the air when I found it!
What’s over here?
Anyway, after awhile Mom decided we needed to turn around and go back the way we had come. That meant we added another mile or so to our hike, because we had to go back to the pond and then back to the trail we had come on, then all the way back to the car!
At least there was shade in the woods!
I didn’t like turning around, but Mom said not to argue with her just this once please, so I decided to be good.
But Mom, we were going this way!
We made it back to the pond, and then back to the meadow and then back to the car eventually. Mom was hot and sweaty and crabby.
I think it’s this way, Mom.
I, however, was a happy girl! Another long Walktober in the books for your gal Penny!
Mom found some interesting leaves and light.
So here’s what you need to do…go do your own Walktober (but you don’t need to get lost) and take a few pictures. Remember you can walk in the woods or in a town, even in your own back yard! You can ride a bike, or take a car ride, or jog or skip or even ride a unicycle!
Just do what you do and then show us your world by writing a post on your blog.
We were lucky to see this monarch butterfly too!
Then link it up to this post and at the end of October my Mom will gather up all your links and put them in one giant post so everybody can visit everybody else’s walk!
Mom says if you need a little extra time, or have questions, just let her know.
Change Is Hard 