Proud Sister and Auntie

Hunting season is a big deal in our family, and there's nothing better than watching a good bird dog in the woods. That's why I really wish I had been at the hunting shack today! Adam texted me this afternoon (yes, due to the wonders of technology we can now text and call people at the shack -- a far cry from when I was a child and you wouldn't hear from the guys for a week or more at a time!) to tell me that he and Molly had completely filled out in two hours. That's five birds in two hours, almost unheard of at our shack. Adam also readily admitted that it's not because he's a great shot -- Molly had flushed 11, and Adam said, "The first one flew at me and was only 4 feet away. I shot twice and missed. I redeemed myself later though. I had to after the dirty looks my dog gave me after I missed...." I am very familiar with Molly's dirty looks, so I can only imagine what she must have thought of Adam missing that bird! So after congratulating Adam, I made sure to tell him to give Molly a kiss from Auntie Jenn, and to tell her how proud I was of her!

Puppy Play Day

All dogs need not only to run and play, but also to meet other dogs and learn to play together! I'm fortunate enough to know several people with great dogs, so last weekend I hosted a puppy play day.

It was a gorgeous fall day, and all the dogs got along marvelously! Jackson and Carl seemed to be best buds:


Carl even taught Jackson where the river was ... they took off all by themselves to go for a swim, and came back very wet!

Often times there was a whole pack chasing each other around, including Piper and little Kaiser, who did his best to keep up with the big guys. He was so cute chasing after them.


Carl's mom brought homemade dog treats (a big hit -- Hannah and Molly rarely wanted to leave the deck), and Jackson's mom brought a whole container of tennis balls, which everyone loved. Here's Jackson's mom throwing the ball:


She didn't go home with any tennis balls. I think we'll be finding some under our deck next spring ;).

I heard afterwards that all dogs went home tired and happy, which makes the day a success!

Lost in the woods

The Moses family had an adventure last night that I'd like to not repeat very often.

Coming home from work, I saw a couple grouse on our driveway. I suggested to Matt that we take the dogs for a little walk with the shotgun. What a luxury to be able to go hunting ... without having to actually go anywhere! So he got the shotgun, I put the e-collars on the dogs, and we set off. It was a gorgeous fall evening ... bright colored trees, sun sparkling through the leaves, and dogs running everywhere. I was very proud of my girls first when Hannah flushed a grouse and then when Piper, following her to the same area, flushed a second one. Way to go pups! Matt didn't shoot at the birds because they were in the direction of a neighboring property, so then decided to walk with the dogs in the opposite direction through the woods.

It probably wasn't a good idea for him to have the dogs and me to have the e-collar controller, because Piper got out of his sight and by the time he yelled at me to "tone" her back, she was probably long gone. I gave her the tone, which she normally responds to almost immediately. After several tones and no Piper, I gave her a little shock...and was shocked myself when she didn't return. Poor Matt and I, yelling in the woods for our dog, wondering where she was. I moved the shock up to a higher setting, and still no Piper. Matt walked through the woods, I walked along the road ... and then we walked opposite directions along the road for awhile, calling. Hannah and I scouted the area where we had seen the grouse earlier, thinking she might have returned there. Matt even returned to the house, got his car and drove up and down looking for Piper. Finally I gave him the controller and he was going to go back and wander through the woods. I had visions of her having broken a leg or getting knocked unconscious, and unable to respond. At least the tone on the e-collar would have given us an indication if we were close to her!

I have no idea how long she was really gone. Probably 20-30 minutes. And then she came running back down the road, seeming very frantic and relieved to have found us. She walked up to me, her back legs shook, and she collapsed on the road. Since this is a dog who can run for hours without getting tired, I feel like she got lost, couldn't find her way back to us, and probably ran every inch of the woods trying to figure out how to find us. Poor girl. She looked like she couldn't even move, and looked completely dazed and out of it (the shocks she got from the e-collar probably didn't help either).

Maybe a little scare will make her stick closer to Mom and Dad next time? We'll take her out again soon ... and will keep a closer eye on her! In the meantime, she is exhausted today, not her normal Piper self at all, and will spend the day resting and recuperating at home with Matt. We are now dreaming of someday affording a GPS collar so that we can track our dogs ... we sure would've liked to have known where she went and how far she really ran!

Fall Colors

Fall colors in the Northland are becoming quite stunning! The red maples in our yard are particularly breathtaking ...


For anyone thinking of a fall color drive up North, stands of maples and mixed forests are looking beautiful. Aspens and birches don't seem to have turned color yet. I don't even feel the need to drive anywhere to look at colors ... tonight Matt and I are going to take the dogs for a walk around our property. We get to enjoy it all right from our house!

For fall colors of a different kind, check out this beautiful flower arrangement my Mom gave us ...


It's very similar to the flowers we had at our wedding. I simply love the colors of fall.

On a completely unrelated note, I thought I'd share this picture of my darling Hannah. Especially since I recently shared one of Piper (have to be fair, ya know).


Piper had taken over the dog bed we gave Hannah last year, and I've been thinking that Hannah needed a more comfy place to sleep. I ordered this at midnight after Hannah seemed particularly uncomfortable trying to fall asleep ... thank god for internet shopping right from bed! It arrived about 36 hours later, and I had barely gotten it out of the box before she started getting excited. I brought it into the bedroom to see if it fit in this corner, and she was laying on it before I even had it fully in place. She was asleep within a minute. Guess she likes it!

Jamie & Becky

Matt and I were so honored to be able to celebrate the wedding of our friends Jamie and Becky last weekend. We still remember the night Jamie introduced us to the new girl he was dating, and the four of us went out to dinner at the Victoria House ... and a few years later, here we were spending the weekend at Grand Superior Lodge, at one of the most fun and beautiful weddings ever. We love the North Shore as much as the happy couple, so it felt magical to be hiking around rocks and along Lake Superior while we were photographing. These two are obviously so happy and so in love ... it's one of the few weddings I have cried at! It was a treasure to spend the weekend with their families too ... what a wonderful bunch of people! Jamie's two kids, Tyler and Sarah, were in the wedding party, and I love the pictures of the four of them together, too. The night after the wedding, Matt stayed up until 2:30 in the morning putting together this slide show, which he showed everyone at brunch the next morning. (I'm proud to add there's even a couple of my photos in the slide show!)

Piper

Matt and I were out in the studio this week taking a photo of me at six months. Eventually I'll do a blog post of those photos over several months. Once again, the dogs came with us into the studio and Matt took this very lovely pic of Piper:

Hi Dad! Hi Mom! I know I'm naughty, like tonight when I jumped

up on the counter, but I'm only two, and I try sooooo hard

to be good!

Welcome September!

September has brought a welcome - although drastic - change of weather. One day we were sweating in our 90 degree office, and the next we were wearing multiple layers! We had a light frost over the weekend (guess I better find my window scraper for my car) ... what a shock to go outside to get the paper and discover it's 35 degrees! Everyone in our house is ready for fall, though. The dogs are happy for cooler temperatures, and I find myself daydreaming about apple crisp, hikes in the woods, and hunting with the dogs. The large maples along our driveway are turning red and scattering leaves all around, confetti in advance of the big fall party.

The beautiful fall weather made for a very nice long weekend for the Moses family. Saturday morning, Matt was doing an engagement session, and since they were visiting some great Duluth spots, I decided to tag along. In exchange for acting as chauffeur, photography prop, and sherpa, I got to enjoy a lovely morning at Amazing Grace, along Lake Superior, and at Enger Park. We came home, gave the pups some much-needed attention, and then hosted a few family members for a follow-up family reunion meeting.

On Sunday my goal was to not leave home ... I love days like that! The dogs were home alone a lot towards the end of last week, so I wanted to give them lots of exercise too. We cuddled on the couch in the morning, and then spent glorious hours outside working in the sun ... hauling mulch, picking vegetables, doing tasks around the yard. All their "help" meant they ran around a lot! Matt was gone most of the day doing a photo session up the North Shore, but we had a nice dinner waiting for him when he got home, and then spent a relaxing evening watching a movie ... something we rarely do! Both dogs were so exhausted from their day outside that they interrupted our movie a few times with barking, whining, and running in their sleep :). I'm not sure which was more entertaining -- watching them or the movie ;).

One of the nice things about living close to Duluth is that a lot of our Twin Cities friends vacation up north, and we are close enough to their route home that we get to see them! On Sunday Erika and Aaron stopped by, and today it was the Brasaemles. So nice to have people gather at our house, and to reconnect with friends!

After today's visitors left, Matt and I took the dogs for a little hike around our property. Matt helped me pick an apple from an old tree in our field, and we ambled through the woods in jeans, sweatshirts, and hiking shoes, talking about where to possibly add new trails and looking for animal sign. After our walk, it was very easy to come inside, shut the windows against the cold, and get cozy on the couch, dreaming about the fall and winter days to come.

Mice in the compost bin

One of the first things I did when we moved into our house was to get a compost bin, of course. Normally the dogs ignore it, but around mid-August, Hannah started staring at the compost bin.

I grew even more suspicious when she started whining at the compost bin.

I knew there had to be something inside, some critter, that she was obsessed with. And then one day I opened the bin and found a mouse crawling along the top of the compost.

Eww. Mice in the compost bin. I had horrendous visions of nesting mice and baby mice and becoming overrun with the little critters ...

But I didn't take immediate action, even though Hannah grew more insistent and started spending hours staring at the bin, monitoring it for mouse activity and ready to turn on her mouse hunting skills!


I knew I had to take action when Hannah learned how to slide the door of the compost bin up all the way, so that she could get inside and start digging compost out. She's too smart!


So finally, I decided to mouse-proof the compost. I took the bin apart and attached hardware cloth to the bottom to keep mice from crawling inside. As I was putting all the compost back into the new and improved bin, I came across the mouse. Thankfully it wasn't the whole nest I envisioned, just one little mouse that went scurrying under the deck. I tried to point it out to Hannah, but she was too busy staring at the compost bin to notice the little guy scurrying away.

I confess, I still jumped, even for that one little mouse.

But ... whew! No more mice in the compost bin.

And even though she didn't watch the mouse run away, I'm sure Hannah's nose tells her that there is no more mice in the compost bin.

Right, Hannah?


Ummm ... right. Guess I'll have to work harder to convince her!