Dog Sitting Sierra

I've been dog sitting Sierra today while Aaron and Stephanie are across town getting to know their new nephew Liam.  Sierra wanted Riley to play with her but they never happens!  So she went to the toy basket looking for a substitute...........

She found the stuffed version of Riley and played it with it for about 10 minutes.....

Then it was off to find a soft place to take a nap..........

Sierra Plays In Finley River

Aaron and Stephanie's dog, Sierra after an afternoon of river play.  We took her to the Finley, close to downtown Ozark where she could romp in the water.  After an hour of vigorous water play she was ready for a snooze!

Sierra loves to swim and play in the water.  Sierra also hates getting a bath.  A contridiction of sorts to us but obviously not to her!  Maybe she prefers the freedom of open water vs the confinement of a bathtub?  Whatever her reasons are, we love to watch her when she gets off her leash and can play in a creek or shallow river....

One of her favorite games to play is to chase after stones that Aaron skips across the top of the water.  She tries her best to catch them.........

She also keeps a watchful eye on Aaron and Stephanie....

One busy hour of swimming, running and chasing stones eventually leads to one tired pooch.  After getting her home, Aaron gets the task of cleaning her up with a backyard shampooing and Stephanie gets assigned as the doggie masseuse!

We Call This Pound Puppy "Full Of Basenji"

Aaron and Stephanie adopted Sierra from a shelter when she was a puppy.  They have long wondered what her gene pool consist of.  They are slowly narrowing it down.  Because of black tongue and some other physical traits they are pretty sure she has a little chow in her.  It has been confirmed recently that she definetly has some Basenji in her. 

But..... we also call her a snooty girl......

A prissy girl..........

A pretty girl and a princess.........

This Is How Sierra Rolls

This is how she rolls.  The girl wants the softest spot and she won't stop until she finds it.....

Well...............she found it!  And she does not care if she is almost standing on her head!

Dogs, Flowers and Fires

Sierra is a princess and she knows it!  I spent part of the weekend with Aaron and Stephanie and enjoyed using my new camera.  There was lots of practicing taking photos of the dogs.  They were not as thrilled as I was but they tolerated it okay!

Riley is in desperate need of a decent haircut.  He's sporting the shaggy look right now....

I sat out on the front porch with the pooches while Aaron and Stephanie did some yard work.  The dogs had to stay on their leashes so they would not take off after squirrels or other dogs.  Sunday was a lovely day (except for the wind) and lots of people were outside enjoying the sunshine.

Stephanie has been growing some flowers from seeds.....

She also got some gerber daisies from Lowes that morning that she needed to transplant into her clay pots...

She picked out some really pretty colors!

and did a little dog teasing with some dirt clad fingers.....

Aaron's hard work on his yard is really paying off.  His lawn is beautiful, especially right after a mowing !  A few dandilions had to be plucked out of the yard.....

Finishing up the front yard work.....

Stephanie's marigolds to keep the ants away!

Sierra in the backyard after Aaron finished mowing.  She hates the lawnmower and hides in her bed until she hears it shut off!

Riley on the other hand could care less about the lawnmower.  He'll stay out in the yard and watch it.

That night we sat around Aaron's firepit, watched him add twigs and logs and caught up on life!

The weather was a little chilly and just right for huddling in blankets around a hot fire!

Riley kept his head under the blanket most of the time, he does not look too pleased that I uncovered him to take his picture!

Dog Photography

I've been dog sitting for Aaron and Stephanie the last four days so it's been me, Riley and Sierra hanging out together, A LOT ! ! Got a little bored this afternoon and started playing with the camera. These are all the best of about 100 pictures I took today.....

I changed the color and brightness on some of them.

Every afternoon, there's a streak of sunlight that pours through the living room window. I had given the Bichon a bath right before I got out the camera, so he was laying on his towel I had spread out on the ottoman. I slowly moved the ottoman to position it where the sunlight was.

He was very sleepy so I had to tease him with the word "treat" to get him to open his eyes and hold his head up for this one!

I placed Sierra's favorite chew toy in the sunlight and she moved right over to it so I could get some good pictures of her........

I forgot what I adjusted to take away most of the color of the picture except the red in the chew rope toy.

Here's Sierra giving some kisses to the monkey. This monkey is Riley's favorite, so he was off on the side watching what was going on.....