A Moment Of Your Time..

Today you are freed from reading a book length entry from me…today I will just share with you some photos and some quotes from Ralph Waldo Emerson…Enjoy my friends..

"Flowers... are a proud assertion that a ray of beauty outvalues all the utilities of the world."

"What is a weed? A plant whose virtues have never been discovered."

"You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon it will be too late."

"It is not length of life, but depth of life."

"In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine."

"For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind."

"A friend may well be reckoned the masterpiece of nature."

"Earth laughs in flowers."

Finally my tip of the day for those living in cold and wet places and are in need of a good boot to keep their feet dry: MUCKBOOTS…these are ultra comfy and keep your feet dry and warm all the way down to –30C (this particular model I bought keeps me warm to –20C) Totally waterproof so you can jump in any ol’ rain puddle you see without even thinking about getting cold wet feet!!

I’ll leave you with my puppy photo of the day…this is my little Bently who we will keep with us..what a little teddy bear he is!!

A Smile On A Rainy Day…

Guess what? It’s raining…..still…..has it been 40 days yet??? 40 nights??? Our ark building is being put on hold as Stig is leaving for Africa tomorrow. He’ll be gone for 5.5 weeks and it is his first assignment as Captain. I am not at all pleased he is going to Africa land of the pirates…but the company keeps telling him the boat should be heading to Brazil by September- sometime. Yeah…..

So I need a smile on this rainy day, how about you? This little guy here makes me smile so much- LOVE his facial expression!! And below the video you’ll find the puppy photo of the day…sweet little Blue Boy- or Sou as his new owner will call him…talk about your angel faces…Have a super day my friends and remember…”I can’t smile without you…”

Weakness

Everything was ticking along just fine until two days ago…when suddenly the man who was going to have red boy got word he needed a back operation so he wouldn’t be able to have red boy like he planned. He was heartbroken and we felt so badly for him. He was really in love with little Redman as we’ve been calling him and we hoped they’d have a great life together. Well, with his cancellation a new possibility opened for us..

You see…we’re weak…these puppies are so darn cute..and I think they’ll be really really nice adults…and as long as everyone had a home we were safe…but then we got the cancellation and we were no longer safe….we were weak and we gave into our desire to keep one…so we told the people who were going to co-own with us that we’d be sending them redman to co-own with us and we’d be keeping mint boy here with us, what did they think of that?

They didn’t think well of that at all…they had their heart set on mint and if it wasn’t going to be him they would rather wait. About the time I got that message from them, the original guy who wanted redman sent word that he had been with yet another doctor and got word he DIDN’T need an operation after all, he’d be doing physical therapy. (Got to love these doctors in Norway) So he hoped that Redman was still available and he could have him. I told him he could and he was happy and we were happy. So now the situation is this, Redman will live happily all of his days with his owner about 1 hour from us, little Shakira will be co-owned with a lovely family about 45 minutes from us, and sweet little Blue boy will be heading to Japan the end of September and Mint boy who we will call, Bently, will be staying here with us to become king of the castle here with his harem of lionesses..every good lion pack should have a Lion King don’t you think? To appease my darling husband who was so gracious as to let me keep mint, Bently’s pedigree name will be Seapride’s The Gambler…as Stig has a big poker obsession. Pretty smart on my part don’t you think? ;-) Below are some photos…you can understand how easy it is to be weak in the presence of these adorable little fur balls….can’t ya???

Queen Of The Norwegian Forrest

So here I am minding my own business (sleeping) when I hear the pups cry..ok, I get up and take Isabella to them and then while they are eating I check my email and go potty. Our toliet room has a window that looks out into the garden and the woods and I always look out both when mounting and dismounting the “royal throne” in hopes that I could see some wildlife or something neat like that…well this particular morning I was thinking how neat it would be if I was to look out and see that mother moose everyone has been talking about and her babies but upon looking out the window I didn’t see anything.

Ok, so back into the room where the puppies were…they were done drinking and had begun playing, I got Isabella and was headed back to bed and as we entered the bedroom I looked straight out the bedroom window and saw something huge standing in the field by the house..NO WAY….could it be???? I scurried out to the living room again past the still playing puppies and opened my veranda door to see this…(mind you it’s around 4:30 AM so sorry this first photo is a bit shakey…)

There she was…the Queen of the Norwegian forrest…Big Mamma herself…Mamma Moose and her two very adorable and very big babies!!

I really wish I could have had a better zoom so I could have gotten closer photo shots but this is as good as it gets and the sunshine we were promised today wasn’t out at 4:30AM (and it’s still missing at 11:30) I also got some video which I’ll try and get someone to help me download and then I can put it on here later. I can’t tell you what an experience this was to see. She and her children rested and ate and rested some more until about 11 when mom called her kids and headed into the woods..now my only fear is where do we walk our dogs while mamma is walking around up here..I really don’t want to get between her and her babies- she’s a big girl and I have a feeling a very protective mamma..

After a couple hours of watching this happy little family dine in the field the peaceful tranquility was broken by the little furball gang who woke up and decided it was time for food…and when one of these little lion cubs is hungry you know it and when they are ALL hungry you HEAR it..…and so did the mamma moose and her babies, so I had to sneak back inside and feed the wild bunch..I tossed them a neck muscle, which they threw themselves over..but like anything for kids this age it didn’t hold their attention very long so I had to give up on my moose watching to get the gang breakfast..mamma moose laid down for a rest so there wasn’t a lot to see and she didn’t give me any further photo opportunities so I must be content with what I got….and I truly am- it was such a special Sunday morning…

Hope your Sunday is a memorable one also….until next time my friends…

Wet Willy

I figured since everything else was wet we could start passing around some wet willies…anyone care to start????

Well, seriously, it’s really wet…I’m not joking, I don’t recall what it’s like to walk across dry grass..our lawn furniture has needed a good towel rub the few times we’ve been able to go out and sit…

The teepee we got to go along with the tunnel for the puppies and keep them out of the HOT sunshine is still brand new and unused…

The Norwegians have a saying, There is no bad weather only bad clothing….well, I can assure you after 14 years here I still have trouble with that one sometimes…so what does this American do on rainy days like this?

Makes pizza and watches the kids in the house playing with the puppies…

Nothing like a pretty girl and an adorable pup to make up for the lack of sunshine outside…

Have a colourful evening my friends and remember….The sun will come out…tomorrow…bet your bottom dollar that tomorrow….there’ll be sun….

Here Comes The Sun…

And I say….it’s all right…yeah…..Ok, that’s enough singing from me this morning…do your ears hurt?? Sorry about that!!! Yeah well, we have sunshine this morning so it’s worth celebrating..this summer has been mildy put- CRAPPY. Of course the first few days of rain after a particularly hot spell like we had back in the middle of June, you think, this is good. Then the rain continues for weeks upon weeks and you start packing up your summer clothes and bringing out winter clothing and you think, this isn’t how it’s suppose to be in JULY!!!! These guys below though, love the rain…

Remember our adorable little mascot Jenny???

She’s grown a bit…still a kid at heart but definitely becoming quite the lady and let me tell you- she is a Nanny Deluxe when it comes to watching these at- times- rambunctious little lion cubs. I guess it wasn’t so stupid getting a herding dog before our first litter!!! :-))

Oh and speaking of lion cubs- they’re five weeks old today- can you believe it? Only three weeks before they start heading to their new homes. Bently, the male we will keep with another family will leave the 21st of August and little Sou who will be heading to Japan will leave the end of September..so I won’t go through withdrawl all at once thankfully. Yeah, they’re a pretty happy gang..I always think they look like they are smiling..what do you think?

Have a great Friday my friends and don’t let the puppies bite yer heels on the way out….;-))

We Are What We Are…

My family is….well….what it is…

We’re down to earth and the majority of us know how to have a great time….despite our age…

On a more serious note, because we all know this bunch isn’t a serious note- no way- no how….

I saw this at Sam’s Club in Texas and I would like Mr. Tunnel Man (above) to make this for me..I was thinking I could have a tiny kitchen garden in this and we wouldn’t have to go down into the ground and can put it wherever we would like. Isn’t it neat???

And to finish off this mix-n-match blog posting my puppy photo of the day….and with this adorable image I shall leave you and wish you a wonderful day!!! Until next time my blog friends…

Butterfly House

When we bought this house it was sold with the description: Eventyrhus…or loosely translated, Fairytale house..but after our first summer here we gave it a new name..Butterfly house…there are tons of butterflies around here. Maybe it’s due to the wide array of vegetation that they have it so good around here, I’m not really sure, but we definitely enjoy them…hope you do too!!!

The family we will co-own a female with from this litter came to visit their little girl today and it was love at first sight from both sides…

I’m so blessed to have found such wonderful puppy owners. That was one thing I feared when it came to breeding was finding people who I felt would treat their fur babies like we would…because- well, is there any other way??? Of course there are other ways but they aren’t how I think dogs should be treated so I feel so lucky to have found people who think like me when it comes to their fur babies and I think all the fur babies will get great homes and we will have contact with little Shakira (here in the photo) and her brother who we will co-own and hopefully the other pup who will live in this area. Little Sou will be the only one so far away that we won’t see him again after he leaves us except in photos…uff..but let’s not think of that right now..let’s think of something funny…something that makes us smile…ok, I’m thinking of something (see below) what are you thinking of?