A Beautiful Weekend!!!

Hello out there!  I want to thank all of you for the get well wishes!  I am happy to report that I am finally feeling good again.  This rotten bug held on and on, as I have heard that it has with so many.  I am still coughing, but feeling so much better!  We had such a beautiful weekend here in Southern California where I live.  It was sunny, and warm with a gentle breeze, the perfect weather for enjoying the outdoors.  On Saturday morning, we both slept in, which we rarely do.  We enjoyed our coffee, and later Greg made us  his breakfast specialty.  Farm fresh eggs with Canadian Bacon and cheddar cheese, with avocado slices on a toasted English Muffin.  I got to work juicing the oranges.

Greg calls this liquid gold.  I can't even describe how good this fresh orange juice is.  The oranges are at their peak now.  We will be able to enjoy them until about May.

 

Greg got busy on the egg sandwiches.

Right about this time, Drew and Diana showed up.  So I put them to work setting the table and they joined us for breakfast.  It was delicious! 

Do you remember this?

That was the "doggy door" that Dusty made when he came to live with us.  He did the same thing to the screen in our bedroom.  So today, I rescreened this door.  I have never redone these myself.  I always took them to Ace Hardware.  I have been having them rescreened about once a year or so it seems.  Animals are hard on them, and we used to have two labs that would always wind up loosening them.   But none had done what Dusty did, just plow right through as if it wasn't even there.
I will never pay to have this done again.  I bought a roll of screen to size at Walmart for 5.00.  It was easy to do, and I got it every bit as tight as Ace did.  But after 20 years of resisting putting a screen guard on my nice Anderson door, I finally gave in.  Greg put the guard on for me, and I am sure hoping this will solve the problem. 

We spent the rest of the day just puttering around the house, enjoying the day.  In the evening, we went out to dinner to celebrate our nephew Don's 32nd birthday.  We went to a place that our family has gone to for many years.  The owner is from Spain, and will, upon request, make his specialty of Paella.  Oh my gosh, it was so good.  But I didn't bring a camera.  It was fun to visit with my nephew and his wife Kaylen.  They live up in the Bay area now, and we sure do miss them.
On Friday night, Greg and I rode out to PetCo to look into purchasing something that we had heard would help with training and walking the dogs.  Our Wheaten, Ducey, is the awful on leash.  He pulls and tugs, and wears you out!  No amount of working with him as helped.  And he gets pretty regular walking.  Then Dusty came to live with us, and it was apparent right away that he had not had much time on leash either.  He weighs 85 pounds, and is the strongest dog I have ever seen.  When we walk them, I can't even hold onto him.  Since I have been sick, Greg has been taking them both, and sometimes Drew would help Dad with it.  But it is a workout, and certainly not what I would call enjoyable.  Well, we met some folks up in Big Bear who raise Golden Retrievers, and they are all so well behaved on leash.  They suggested we buy the Gentle Leader.  So off we went to find them.

We got one for each of them.  They look a little like a muzzle in the photo, but they are not!  They fit in a very specific way, that allows them to still have complete comfort.  They can pant, eat, drink, play fetch, and are in no way constricted.  But it works on the same principle that works with horses.  There is a piece that is fitted to attach very securely around the back of their heads, right beneath the ears, and then there is a piece that slips up over the bridge of the nose, and is secured to the piece around the back of the neck.  Then the leash is clipped to this.  This prevents them from being able to pull, tug, and behave poorly on leash.  They have to learn to walk at your pace, right next to you.  There is an excellent DVD that comes with it, and in  addition to showing you exactly how to attach the leader, it also offers many tips on how to train them using this tool.  We were so eager to try it out, that we watched the DVD and then fitted them each to their Gentle Leader, and took them out to the driveway to walk them a bit.  They walked next to us, calmly, and without tugging at all.  We were amazed!  We were eager to take them on a walk on Saturday.  When we did, they walked with us, as if they were new dogs!  It was absolutely the most unbelievable thing we have ever seen!!!  We had the most enjoyable walk with them.  It was not difficult at all, and we all enjoyed it.  I cannot recommend this Gentle Leader enough to anyone who is having trouble walking their dog on leash.  You will be amazed!

Sorry for the blurry photo, but you can see how it fits Dusty on this one above.  Ducey did resist when Greg put his on, but he quickly got used to it, and then behaved perfectly on leash.

 Ducey does not look thrilled in the above photo.  But he did just fine with it too.
This morning, we took them both on a long walk.  They are like different dogs!  It is just a miracle!  We had such a beautiful day, both today and yesterday, and we got to get out there and really enjoy it.  We are such believers in this product, and don't know how it took us so long to find out about them.  If you need help training your dog on a leash, or maybe with other behavior problems, I hope you will try this product.  It is the best 50 dollars we have ever spent!!!
After our long walk, I worked in the yard awhile pulling weeds and tidying up the winter yards.  I may have overdone it just a wee bit.

The inside of my right palm is one big blister!  I don't wear gloves like I should.  I need to find a good pair of them.  Any suggestions?
Today I also trimmed all of the flight feathers on my chickens to prevent them from flying over the fence in their run.  I googled it and watched a video on Youtube.  It was very easy to do.  Holding each of them firmly in my lap.  Taking the wing and expanding the flight feathers out into a fan, taking care not to cut too low where there are bones, cut from one end to the other, straight across.  It does not hurt them, as this is just like cutting fingernails.  It is only necessary to cut one wing, as this will prevent them from being able to balance and fly up over a fence.  Cutting both wings could possibly teach them to fly by strengthening their muscles enough to do so.   So, one at a time, I clipped the flight feathers of each one of my girls.

Hammy, then Sammy.  Chickas, Tillie and Blue.  They all had their trim, then went happily on their way, none the worse for wear.  This way, I can let them out of their coop in the morning after the eggs have been collected, and they can roam about under the trees, scratching for bugs, and kept safely within the confines of their run when I am not out there to make sure that no coyotes can come a calling. 

I was so struck by the beauty of the day, that I took my camera and went around snapping some photos.  First, the laundry flapping in the breeze.  It was a perfect day for the clothes on the line.

An orange tree, heavily laden with fruit, against the shining sun.

One of my rose bushes that has just this weekend, begun to display the beautiful first roses of the season.

I trekked across the street to my neighbors house, where I noticed from my kitchen table today while eating breakfast, that their daffies were poking their pretty yellow heads out to say hello.

Although most of the trees are still showing their spiney limbs, sans leaves.  And surely, we are still to have more rain and cold weather ahead.  There are subtle signs that Spring is indeed on the way! 
It was a glorious weekend.  Filled with all of the best things.  Family, celebrations, health, good food, exercise, and some puttering in the yard.  Even sneaking in a trip to see a good movie this afternoon.  Identity Thief.  We loved it!  It was a perfect weekend.  And now, we will snuggle up on the sofa and watch the final episode of Downton Abbey.  The season was way too short!!! 
I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend too!
XO  Kris