I'm a Sophie Doodle Dog!

Lots of indoor time this week.  Sophie Doodle and I go outside, but only for a bit because of the oppressive heat and humidity.  As I write, it is 82 degrees with a humidity level of 77%.  We come inside and plan our next foray outside.  Yesterday Sophie went to the groomers.  She looks so much cooler now.  I love to let her hair be a bit longer, she looks more like her Berner self, but it just isn't fair to her in this hot weather.  She also took a trip to our locally owned Seed and Feed store.  It is pet friendly and she is always the center of attention, and lots of treats, when we visit! The Doodle and the Rocks. No More Rocks! The rose bush I bought before the 6" of rain was planted last night.  After an hour break, landscape fabric and mulch were added.  A trip to the garden store is planned for today because I ran out of mulch.  When my favorite farmer's parents built the house back in 1972, river rock was the rage in landscaping circles.  Actually, it

I want to take this opportunity to apologize for the four months between my blog updates.  While I am an avid on-line reader, I'm not so much a consistent on-line writer.  Sophie keeps me busy but so does being a farmwife, grandma, and friend.   Today was spent gathering groceries at the local butcher and bulk food store.  If you've never had the chance to visit an Amish community, I would encourage you to do so.  I spent some time with my middle nephew and his son.  Tough times have come their way and I hope we are able to do what families do best, support and love our own.  We celebrated our oldest son's birthday two weeks ago tomorrow and, tomorrow, we celebrate my youngest son's birthday.  I love them both! Next weekend we're hosting the extended family for grandma's birthday.  More posts to come.  I promise!   Sophie is sitting by me as I write.  We hope you have a wonderful weekend and are able to spend time with your dad if at all possible.  Mine

Six inches of rain on the farm over 3 days.  It is often annoyingly humid here in central Illinois to begin with and after all the rain, it seems even worse!   Working in the yard feels like working in a sauna! I walked out of the gym yesterday to find my sunglasses fogging up as I walked to my car.  The rain came in buckets with winds blowing, lightning crashing, and thunder rolling, then slowing down to a gentle shower. Our mailbox blew over, a first, and a dead apple tree fell over in the wind that accompanied the storm.  We needed the rain because the crops were dry. We had to hire a tree service to take out a huge tree in our front yard.  As far as I can figure, it had to be over 65 years old.  It provided the most lovely shade and I am heartbroken to had to have it cleared away.  The tree we planted to replace it looks so tiny. It was struck by lightning shortly after we remodeled the house.  The strike killed a neighboring tree and damaged this tree.  Last ye

SNOW! Somehow Sophie Doodle knows when it has snowed.  Her momma is forever being summoned to the back door to let her out.  Sophie plows the snow with her snout.  She runs willy-nilly in her fenced in back yard.  She is not happy when confined to the mudroom while she dries out!  Such is the life of a Bernedoodle when it has snowed in central Illinois. Just the right amount of snow, (Sorry.  I just had to let Sophie back in the house!) enough to cover the ground but not enough to create a problem driving. These are pictures of a very shaggy Sophie Doodle.  She picked up a variant of Kennel Cough (she was vaccinated) at the Vet's over Thanksgiving.  She missed her December grooming appointment because she was under quarantine.  She missed January's appointment because of an ice storm.  She's finally back on track and looking much better! Sophie's humans have managed to keep busy.  While her dad seems to have never ending errands to run off the farm, her momma has

My momma and I hope all of you had an awesome Christmas.  We did!  There were a few bumps along the way, but all-in-all it was wonderful. All of my human family were here which made me and my momma very happy. It started snowing this weekend and we actually had a white Christmas.  I must confess I LOVE  snow!  It must have something to do with the Berner side of my family tree...once a snow dog, always a snow dog! Momma managed to stay healthy until Christmas morning.  No brunch with friends when a cough and runny nose are present.  Yesterday she sounded like a very sad version of Lauren Bacall or  as if she had a clothes pin clipped to her nose. Argh! All she can do is wait it out; she has a 'compromised immune system' because she takes Humira for her psoriasis.  She tells me I am the best foot warmer, cuddle dog EVER!  That makes me happy. We want to conclude today's post by reminding all of our readers to be thankful and grateful.  Not everything goes as planned b

Happy Turkey Day! Sophie helped her momma decorate a Christmas tree for the local hospital's fundraiser.  Actually our offering is a wreath on a mirror with a matching tree.  Who knew the level of stress accompanying the design of such a donation!  There have been no less than four different attempts at the design.  In momma's opinion, there is nothing worse than GLITTER.  She has had glitter everywhere over the past 3 weeks! Usually, momma helps a friend with the set up and isn't in charge of actually designing the tree.  This year her friend asked for our help because she had the gear for two more trees donated by a lovely retiree who moved south and didn't want to take it all with her.  The two, along with her own tree would be quite a challenge for one person to decorate.  Momma said yes, she'd help and as such, momma was blessed with the bronze/brown decorations to design a tree on her own.  In all honesty, the tree and wreath turned out beautifully