Thanksgiving pies

Mom made at least half-a-dozen pies for the 30+ people at Thanksgiving this year.  As pretty as this cherry pie is, you know that it did not last long.

Hiking the Emerald Necklace

Dave, Meg, Aki, and I hiked the Emerald Necklace Metropark trail near Boston Mills in Northeastern Ohio with Trigger and Larsen on Thanksgiving.  Trigger is Dave's son Geoff's Britt.  There was a lot of red and white flashing by on the snow-filled trail, and happy, tired dogs afterward.

Larsen enjoys the snow-filled wood.

Bird day

Went through quite a few birds in practice today, on this weekend before Thanksgiving.  I saw where Larsen was on the curve, which is to say really at the beginning.  Kind of surprising that he was so far back.  But we have a new approach that might help with the control and then one can always hope for rapid progression once the learning kicks in.

Thanksgiving 2012

We hope you had a happy and thankful Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving 2011

Thanksgiving in Ohio means a hike in the Valley, otherwise known as the Rocky River Reservation or metropolitan park that winds its way from Bagley Road in Berea to the Lake Erie confluence in Rocky River.

Cousin Dave and his wife Meg corralled 14-year-old Scout and 18-month-old puppy Trigger to meet Aki, Larsen, and me. We let the dogs run, play in the river, and run some more. The lanky puppy, Trigger, was practically giddy with his ability and desire to run.

After the hike, we returned to Dave and Meg's for a lunch of turkey on white with mayonnaise.

(click on photo for full picture and for photo show)

Scout was high-stepping on his hike.

Dave prepares Trigger for launch.

Off they go! Road Runner and Coyote. Larsen does his best to keep up with the far swifter Trigger.

Larsen after Trigger (barely in photo) again.

Frank and Larsen pose for a photo.

Scout and Meg enjoy the sunny afternoon.

Larsen is beat after trying to match Trigger in the field.

Baker: Therapy dog

You can teach an old dog new tricks.

Baker was the five-year old Welsh Springer Spaniel that we helped rehome from Indianapolis to Asheville, North Carolina. We picked up the little dog in Cincinnati and brought him to Knoxville, Tennessee, where Laurel picked him up.

As Laurel herself commented that day, he was a little unused to the six-foot lead, and that was being charitable.

It looks like Baker is a willing learner, though, and he has passed his Therapy Dog test.

Therapy dog

Take a minute to stop by Laurel Hunt's Bark Wag Love blog.

Laurel is training Baker the Welsh Springer Spaniel to become a therapy dog and give comfort to kids in a local hospital that are in a tough spot at a too-young age.

You remember Baker, don't you?

Baker was the six-year-old Welshie re-homed from Indiana to North Carolina. Aki and I picked Baker up around Cincinnati and delivered him to Laurel in Tennessee.

All in that wagon train agreed that Baker was a sweet boy, but needed some training fundamentals. He didn't really know how to walk on a lead!

And now Baker is a therapy dog apprentice. What a fine turn of events, Laruel and Baker.

The Emerald Necklace

Unlike the Cleveland Orchestra, few have ever heard of the so-called Emerald Necklace around the Cleveland area.  Like the Orchestra, the Emerald Necklace is a national treasure.  The Cleveland Metroparks portion of the necklace had its origins in the Rocky River Valley.  It now has unconnected beads in Huntington, Big Creek, Hinkley, Brecksville, Bedford, South Chagrin, North Chagrin and Euclid Creek.

Another of the unconnected gems in the necklace is the Boston Mills Historic District (which technically is part of the Cuyahoga Valley National Park).  Boston Mills fronts the Ohio and Erie Canal just north of Akron.  The canal paralleled part of the Cuyahoga river, which in that region of the state winds north from Akron to Cleveland and then into Lake Erie.

We accompanied Cousin Dave, his wife Meg, and their 12 year-old Brittany, Scout, on the trails of the Rocky River and Boston Mills parks during Thanksgiving.  We had some nice, chilly outings. 

Meg, Aki, and Larsen enjoy a cold and wet Thanksgiving afternoon as the turkey cooks at home.

  
Cousin Dave and Scout lead the way.

Do you recognize this?  It's the Cuyahoga River.

Aki, Dave, and Larsen view the waterfall from a distance.

The former canal towpath in Boston Mills has been reclaimed for recreational purposes.

The low winter sun casts sharp shadows on this little store in Boston Mills.

Baker finds a new home

Changes in a family's life can result in a homeless Welsh Springer Spaniel, which is what happened to Baker, the WSS from Indiana. 

Shannon Gandee of Heatherstone Welsh Spring Spaniels and her many, many volunteers at WSSCA Rescue perform the herculean effort of finding foster and permanent homes for unwanted dogs.

We were honored to have played a small role in one placement on Thanksgiving weekend.

We were traveling from Cleveland to Atlanta.  Suddenly, WSSCA Rescue needed someone to drive a dog along the Cleveland-Columbus-Cincinnati-Lexington-Knoxville route.

Can do!  We picked up little Baker, a six-year-old Welshie in Lebanon, Ohio and dropped him off with his new owner, Laurel, in Knoxville.  Baker will have a new home in beautiful Asheville, North Carolina with another WSS, Alex.

Get it?  A happy ending for Puppy A and Puppy B.

 Marrielle introduces us to Puppy B.

Larsen gives the eyeball to sweet little Baker.

Frank does his best to manage two active and curious spaniels.

Larsen and Baker pose, in a manner, along the road to Knoxville.

Time of giving thanks

Mayflower.

Thanksgiving.

George Washington's 1789 Thanksgiving Proclamation

Whereas it is the duty of all nations to acknowledge the providence of Almighty God, to obey His will, to be grateful for His benefits, and humbly to implore His protection and favor; and Whereas both Houses of Congress have, by their joint committee, requested me to

"recommend to the people of the United States a day of public thanksgiving and prayer, to be observed by acknowledging with grateful hearts the many and signal favors of Almighty God, especially by affording them an opportunity peaceably to establish a form of government for their safety and happiness:"

Now, therefore, I do recommend and assign Thursday, the 26th day of November next, to be devoted by the people of these States to the service of that great and glorious Being who is the beneficent author of all the good that was, that is, or that will be; that we may then all unite in rendering unto Him our sincere and humble thanks for His kind care and protection of the people of this country previous to their becoming a nation; for the signal and manifold mercies and the favorable interpositions of His providence in the course and conclusion of the late war; for the great degree of tranquility, union, and plenty which we have since enjoyed; for the peaceable and rational manner in which we have been enable to establish constitutions of government for our safety and happiness, and particularly the national one now lately instituted for the civil and religious liberty with which we are blessed, and the means we have of acquiring and diffusing useful knowledge; and, in general, for all the great and various favors which He has been pleased to confer upon us.

And also that we may then unite in most humbly offering our prayers and supplications to the great Lord and Ruler of Nations and beseech Him to pardon our national and other transgressions; to enable us all, whether in public or private stations, to perform our several and relative duties properly and punctually; to render our National Government a blessing to all the people by constantly being a Government of wise, just, and constitutional laws, discreetly and faithfully executed and obeyed; to protect and guide all sovereigns and nations (especially such as have shown kindness to us), and to bless them with good governments, peace, and concord; to promote the knowledge and practice of true religion and virtue, and the increase of science among them and us; and, generally to grant unto all mankind such a degree of temporal prosperity as He alone knows to be best.

Given under my hand, at the city of New York, the 3d day of October, A.D. 1789.

(Credit to: wilstar.com/holidays/wash_thanks.html)
(set by Washington and revitalized in 1863 by Lincoln)