Dinner Party

 

Weekends seem to go by so quickly. We work outside almost all day. Both days. It makes for sound sleep, I tell you. We would like to keep Sunday as a separate day. A day set apart for fun and relaxation. We aren't there yet and although we do spend some relaxing time during the weekend it has mostly been filled with work.

 

It is not all drudgery though, except for the relentless horseflies! I like to work. I like to do manual labour. Each day I find new bruises and scrapes. I can't seem to keep my clothing clean for more than a few minutes and Athena more often than not looks like a ragamuffin. She is long overdue for a haircut as well. That is on the agenda for this week.

 

So yesterday we had a our neighbors down the road come up for dinner. It was long overdue. I love having company for dinner and these farm kids ate up everything on their plates and went back for more! My kind of kids. And this particular family can't go anywhere without their dogs tagging along. They are good dogs. Nice dogs. We love when they come and so do our pups.

 

The one lying down is Athena (can you believe that?). The is about 150lbs of pit bull cross. The has scars across her face, likely from a bear encounter.

The golden retriever/coyote cross is Jules. Her owners say "she is her own dog." And she is. She is a non conformist. Nice girl. Athena's (the girl) favorite.

 

 

The big black dog is Cadillac. He is 130lbs of Great Dane/lab. His head is HUGE. Plus, he thinks he is a lap dog. So friendly and gentle.

 

 

Of course there are also our dogs. Haven't they grown? Max, the dark one, wants to be BFFs with all the dogs. In an annoying way. He likes to lick their faces and all three of the bigs gave him a warning growl at one point in the evening. Jack, on the right, likes them well enough but likes to keep a little apart. He'll be the good guard dog for our farm. I can tell already.

But this girl is the queen. She is old and she is tough and she is the alpha dog for sure.

When all 5 dogs were up on the front porch and I opened the front door, the REAL queen rushed out and in her fury of spitting/hissing/scratching that lasted 5 seconds sent four big dogs off the deck in no time at all. Athena (the dog) stood there unfazed and was probably saying to herself "Do you know you have a cone on your head and that you look ridiculous?"

It was a good day. Good company, good food, busy dirty children and happy dogs.