One of the main reasons I picked out Sam was because I was looking for a dog who could run some long miles with me.  It gets lonely out there on the road and I’m always a bit wary running by myself early in the morning.

Now that Sam has learned some much better leash manners, I’ve started taking him out running with me.  The first run we did was about 3.5 miles with a big pond at the turn around point, so he could get some water, and he did pretty good.  After a couple more 3-4 milers, we went out on a 5 mile run with no water stops.  He still had tons of energy at the end of the run, so this last weekend, we tried out a 6 mile run with no water stops.  Somewhere around 4.5 miles I stopped at an intersection to push the crosswalk button, and part of Sam’s training has been that everytime I stop walking/running, he sits down at my side.  Well this particular time I stopped, he sat like he was suppose to, I stepped forward to push the cross button, and when I turned around to check on Sam, he was all sprawled out in the grass like he wasn’t going any further….guess he needed a break and probably some water.  So, I decided to was time for Sam to learn what his real job was.  His job is to be my water dog on our runs.  He is going to have to carry water for himself and for me and tonight he got to try out his new backpack.

He’s not too excited about it yet….

But I’m sure once he associates the pack with getting to go for a run, he’ll probably love it.  And I’m gonna love not have to loop around by my house or car to get water on my long runs.

The start of the hard work of storing up food for the winter has officially begun.  Well, we really started stocking the freezer for winter a couple of months ago.  When it comes to berries Royal is like a little squirrel, he’s constantly putting them in the freezer, and they always seem to be gone just when I’m looking for them to put on the kid’s plates.  We had big plans this year to go to a berry farm and pick a lot of our own berries, but with the driving time, the amount of hard it work it takes to pick the berries, and the young ages of our kiddos, we decided we’d put it off for another year and re-evaluate next May.  But corn is a whole ‘nother story!

Last year, we froze 6 dozen corn and we ran out way too early, so since you can get the corn 4 dozen in a box, we just decided to get 2 boxes this year.  We started out the morning, by going and picking up the corn right when the stand opened, because on the weekends they always seem to sell out really fast.  Then we headed North to Newton to go check out the peaches at Beck’s Farm and find out what kind of pears she’s going to get in this year.  We were hoping to can a couple batches of peaches in the next couple weekends before we left for our vacation to Washington, but it seems like the peaches just might not be ready yet, they are pretty hard still, and I just don’t have the time or room to buy a bunch of peaches and then have to lay them around the house waiting for them to ripen.  I’m pretty sure the kids would think they were new toys just for them, and I’d have peaches hidden everywhere!  So, if they don’t ripen in the next couple of weeks, hopefully they’ll wait for us to get back from Washington!

Anyway, back to the corn.  Like I mentioned, we got 8 dozen corn this year.  That would be 96 ears for all you out there who don’t like doing mental math.  :) That’s a lot of shucking!  So, I made up a new house rule.  When we got home I said to Royal, “Well, it turns out just like I don’t do dishes, I don’t shuck corn either”  Ha ha ha, I crack myself up!  So, Royal sat out in the garage for about 2 hours shucking every ear of corn.

He wasn’t alone though, he had Jayden (and Sam) out there with him keeping him entertained with a measuring tape.

But don’t worry, it’s not like I didn’t do anything.  I was in the house, cutting all the kernals off the cobs.

and then doing some more…

Royal and I got smart this year.  The last couple of times we’ve done this, we cooked the corn on the cob and then stuck them in an icebath to stop them from cooking, and then we’d cut the kernals off as fast as we could.  The cobs were usually still pretty hot because we’re both a bit impatient and we didn’t want to wait until they were completely cool, and so I always left the project with burned finger tips.  But after complaining to Royal’s mom about my sore fingers, she oh-so-wisely suggested that we cut the kernals off and then cook them.  Genius!!!  And it took so many fewer batches of water as well!  We’re getting smarter over here folks!

I just am always surprised that all the corn fits into so few bags.  96 ears of corn, and we have 20 bags of corn to stick in our freezer!

It took Jayden awhile before he could admit that he really liked Sam.   I think he felt guilty about liking Sam and Scooter at the same time.  Since he knew that dogs and cats don’t usually get along, he was going to side with Scooter and not like Sam until Sam knew he wasn’t suppose to chase Scooter.  Jayden kept telling me that I needed to take Sam back, that he couldn’t stay at our house anymore.  I finally told Jayden that if he didn’t like Sam that was fine, but Sam was mom’s dog and I was going to keep him and take care of him.  Well that fired Jayden right up.  How dare I claim something as my own!  Jayden said, ‘No Mom!  Sam is not yours.  He’s mine’  And ever since then, Jayden has been all over Sam whenever we are outside.

And while Jayden and I were in the backyard playing with Sam, Willow was hanging in the front yard mowing with Dad.  It’s nice someone is taking over Jayden’s role of following Royal around with the mower.  We wouldn’t want Royal to be lonely!
Check out Royal’s outfit - that is HOT!   :)

…our new dog!

He’s a 3 year old Weimaraner we found at the Kansas Humane Society.  He’s pretty laid back, which is nice that he doesn’t jump all over the kids, and I haven’t heard him bark once since we brought him home.  Jayden told me that he just squeaks, he doesn’t bark.  He also has always been a strictly outdoor dog, so that made Royal pretty happy.

Jayden, despite all his protesting about not liking dogs and never wanting a dog and he only liked cats and he never wanted me to get a dog, LOVES him.  He’s a little upset that Sam doesn’t like to play fetch with him, but maybe we can work on that.  Jayden is loving having something to boss around though, maybe he’ll give Willow a break for a few days.  :)

I think he’s going to be a great addition to our family!