Well here we are, the two senior reporters, bringing you the quick and dirty report on the weekend activities. 

Lucy:   Saturday was a sunny, blue-sky day, albeit chilly, and I was welcomed like any dignitary with lots of old friends, as well as some new ones, fawning over me, They greatly admire my long silky ears and we spent the first hour or so getting introduced before they all got organized for a beach walk. I was excited at the prospect but Mary thought it might be too cold for me to go. I quickly disavowed that notion, as I howled my displeasure at the door, so Stephanie found a warm, tweed jacket for me to wear and I joined the gang for our walk. Felon, Stephanie's Bulldog, came along as well and we got caught up on all the  news. 

             

My new friends included Nelson and Kash  and the old friends that I hadn't seen for a while, Betsy   and Louie    . 

It was a lovely time on the beach with the big hill blocking the cold wind and Kash    showed off his swimming talent in the cold Atlantic water while the rest of us just enjoyed the shoreline    and a good game of chase which I encouraged with my best howling. 

Inky:   While, I have a sporty red jacket  , you couldn't convince me to put it on and race down that hill so I stayed warm at the house with Lyla, Hali and Arthur. Throughout the afternoon we took a few walks in the fields and enjoyed the warm sunroom while we watched the youngsters play non-stop, knowing all the while that they would be very tired later and sleep well through the night. 

    

Lucy:   Sunday was a much less enjoyable day due to the high winds and mix of precipitation, including some snow in the morning, which quickly turned into rain by noon. So, I stuck close to the warm house and didn't make a fuss when the youngsters got ready for a beach walk. 

In spite of the bad weather, another new friend arrived, Hazel  , the Golden Gal, for her first adventure and, although she was a bit nervous at first, she soon relaxed and enjoyed meeting all of us. A very sweet girl who was very enthusiastic about playing with all these new friends     and enjoyed following me around  , in spite of my slower pace.

Inky: In spite of the snow pellets and the windy conditions, those Oodles, along with Kash and Lulu, lobbied for a beach walk and Stephanie agreed but she didn't take the new gal, Hazel, as she was still a bit nervous about this big adventure without her humans. 

 

   

After getting back to the house, Nelson's human arrived to pick him up and a short while later, Kash and Betsy departed as well. Hazel stayed with us until dinner time and she was thrilled to see her humans and anxious to tell them all about her new friends. The rain finally stopped and after we ate, we accompanied Mary to the barn while she fed the lambs and the McGuineas. 

So, the next few hours of Sunday were reported in detail in the Friday DogBlog which didn't get published until early Monday morning and involved a surprise power failure so I won't recount that saga. I will however, tell you that Stephanie provided the answer as to why one light bulb in the barn was still lit in the midst of the power outage. It seems that about five years ago, she purchased a couple of special light bulbs that had a built-in battery so when there was a power failure, the bulb stayed lit. Another puzzle solved. 

It's now early Tuesday morning and Lucy and I have managed to do the weekend update but we're too tired to do Monday's report, so it will have to wait until tomorrow.  I'm also getting very confused about what day of the week it actually is. 

The storm that we had yesterday has passed and it's not a bad day weather wise but the wind is still fierce, so the wind-chill

factor is well below zero. The surf is still riled up and pounding itself against the shore so there won't be any beach adventures today. 

         

Our friends, Millie and Job have come to spend the day and Job is doing very well since he lost his vision a couple of months ago. Millie is his best friend and she  sticks close by him most of the time. They both arrived with their festive Christmas collars. Very sporty, indeed. 

JOB                                                                         MILLIE 

    

Job enjoyed roaming around on his own in the backyard and he was able to navigate his way back to the house where he waited for Mary to guide him up the steps.  

     

We hung out with Stephanie over at the cabana and checked out the east field during one of our many walks. 

    

      

We took a peek at the pond   to confirm that yesterday's rain has brought the water level up quite a bit so the goldfish should have plenty of space below the ice to hibernate for the winter. 

      

Of course, as that wind kept things cold, there was always the warm cabana and a comfy sofa   to encourage a napping session until it was time to go back to the house with Stephanie, so she could get some lunch. 

Stephanie took the afternoon off to do some grocery shopping while Desi kept us occupied and Bruce continued the big clean up in the barn. Soon it was that time, when humans start arriving to pick up their critters, after which we waited patiently for Desi to get our dinners ready. 

So let's jump ahead a couple of days. It's Monday morning at 12:30 am and  Mary is trying to get the DogBlog caught up after losing several hours of computer time because of a strange power outage that began around 6:30 pm on Sunday evening, while she was eating her dinner. The outage didn't seem to be weather related, as the wind had stopped blowing and the rain had ceased, but suddenly two of the three light bulbs in the fixture over the dining room table went out. Upon further investigation, there were several other fixtures where some light bulbs were not working but not all and then, about ten minutes later, all of the lights went out and the power outage was full blown. When Mary checked the neighbouring houses, it was obvious that only some houses in Seaforth were impacted. Stephanie called to say that she was going to report the outage for both houses. 

Now comes Mary's big decision. Should she get the 200 pound generator out of the basement, fill it with gas and get it plugged in to provide us with power?  Nope, that sounded like too much work. Instead, she grabbed her Kindle reader and decided to do some reading, in the hopes that the power would soon be restored. Of course, she promptly fell asleep about 7:30 pm, as did the rest of us, and didn't wake up until 11:30 pm and there was still no power.

We were all prodded to wake up and go outside and we took the opportunity to do our business, while Mary checked the barn, the lambs and the McGuineas.  Curiously, inside the barn, Mary discovered that one light bulb, used as a night light, was still working. It was almost midnight, so back to house we went and Mary picked up her cell phone and called the power company. A very pleasant lady confirmed that there was still no power to about eight hundred homes in the area. Mary wondered if she should tell her about the single barn light that was still working but decided that she better not mention it in case they might think she was having an hallucination. The power company woman said that expected time of power restoration was 2:30 am. 

Upon hanging up, Mary figured she should tackle the generator and try to get some work done. But, like magic, full power came back on just as that thought crossed her mind, and now, here we are getting ready to publish Friday's DogBlog at 1:52 am on Monday.  Feeling a little confused, Mary wonders whether she should continue to work and do the Saturday and Sunday DogBlogs but decides it would be better to go to bed, since she has to be awake in about five hours to greet the first Monday arrival. 

There's one thing that might keep her awake, though. Why was that one light in the barn working when everything else was in total blackout. 

It rained all day and the wind was nasty but we still managed to spend some time outside playing. 

Here are the photos of wet dogs: 

    

    

The best fun we had in the rain was the competition to see who could be the top dog on the heap of gravel and Rosie was declared the winner, after fending off all her challengers.  

           

    

There was also some competition to see who could get back inside the house first. I think Inky won that one after refusing to give up is spot right in front of the door.  

 

The surf was pounding the shore all day and the waves were high.  Too rough for a beach walk. 

 

 

Otis was picked up by his human just as breakfast was winding down and later Finnigan was crossed paths with little Lucy   as she arrived and he departed. 

Lucy had a happy reunion with Ollie and Ozzy   and they played outside for a while until they wanted to warm up their paws. Three of the Doodles, Charly, Snickers and Rolo,  were keeping each other busy chasing around in the front yard. Once Maddy   made the decision to join the other three in the chase game, she enjoyed the sport. She is still a bit shy and it takes a while for her to warm up to them but, once she does, she has a lot of fun. She even tried to talk Felon   into having a game of football, just as the sun sank into the western sky, creating some long shadows.  Later, these three were bathed in a golden glow   as the sun headed toward the horizon and Stephanie gathered up her Bulldog and headed home. According to the weather forecasters, we are in for some heavy rain tomorrow so we expect there will be some cancellations, by a few of the day visitors. It had started to rain when we went out on our late walk and the wind was blowing a gale from the south so we all got wet had to be dried off before going to bed.  

Today is Tuesday, and we, the little critters, are not going to share the DogBlog with any of the big critters. We met with Hali first thing and told her that we're fed up with hearing about the Golden Day and the beach walks and lots of stuff about the Doodles. It's time that the little critters dominated one of these daily reports, so here goes.  

To start with, two of us, Otis  and Inky   are overnight guests and our presence was enhanced by the arrival of Rusty  ,  Marty  , Lyla  , Henry     and Oliver   ,who will be here for the day.

There are a couple of traitors, who technically belong in the little critter category, like Finnigan    and Scamp    but they enjoy the beach too much to stay behind and be pampered like any self-respecting little critter would do. 

Here are some photos that are overflowing with the cuteness factor, which is a big part of being a little critter.  

   

We enjoy our forays outside where we can play with Hall-E, who has a dual-identity. She loves playing with us but she hangs with the big critters a lot of the time too, so she can keep her street cred. 

   

 

So there, we got our way and there were no Goldens or Doodles or unending photos of the big critters at the beach. Just a whole bunch of cuteness on display. 

  

   

It was a lovely day to be in Seaforth in spite of the cool temperatures because the bright sun and blue sky are heartening and we can enjoy being outside. 

We welcomed our Frenchie friend, Finnigan  , who will stay for a few days and he always manages to liven things up. The regular group of Monday day visitors were on-hand and they were very good about welcoming our new Golden Gal, Piper   who we hope will will be joining them on Mondays going forward. Piper and Kash form an immediate bond and they spend lots of time playing together. 

     

We all want to make a trip down to the beach and enjoy the beautiful day so Stephanie soon has us organized. Because this is Piper's first day, she will stay with Mary while we go off on our adventure but we're pretty sure she will join us on her next visit when she will be feeling more a part of our pack. Right now she is trying to figure out if she is seeing double or triple when she meets three  more Golden Retrievers,  Levi, Sage and Nala, as they look so much alike and they are always together.      

  

 

 

After we return to the house, we spend a lot of time playing outside and the day passes quickly until it's time for the Golden Gang to head home as well as Joey and they are soon followed by the remaining day-visitors. When Piper's human arrives at the gate to get her, Mary and Stephanie give him a glowing report on Piper's activities and we're pretty sure she'll be back next week.  

Hi, Scamp   here, bringing you the DogBlog because Hali has taken the day off and asked me to fill in for her. She says that this 'day-off' was long overdue but, now that I think about it, she seems to take a lot of 'day off's. If it weren't for Stephanie getting lots of great photos, the DogBlog might cease to exist. I would suggest that we have to have a dog council   meeting to debate the future of the DogBlog but I'm going home in a couple of days, so that likely won't happen.  

So, back to the weekend's activities.

There were eight arrivals on Saturday and seven of them got here before nine thirty in the morning. On top of all that, Mary had just managed to pour herself a cup of tea, when Christopher, the neighbour who keeps some of his lambs here, drove up with a load of grain and hay for our woolly friends. By the time Mary got that straightened out, the cup of tea was cold and it was time for us to high-tail it down to the beach. Nothing should ever get in the way of our beach walk, not even a cup of hot tea.

   

This was the first beach walk for our newest Doodle friend, Nelson, and he had a grand time.  

    

Koda   lead the way as we headed back to the house so we could be ready to meet another new Golden Gal, Piper. She would like to come and play here sometimes, so she got introduced to some of the better-behaved critters like me, Charlie and Luna along with Otis , Inky and Lyla. She's a bit shy but we're pretty sure she will enjoy herself once she can relax so she's going to come back on Monday and spend the day with us. 

After Piper left, the eighth arrival, Georgee, got here and since she is best friends with Charlee, they wanted to get some other critters to join in a line dancing session   but they couldn't figure out how to line up. 

   

Soon, they all went off to find some new fun and the afternoon passed until it was time for Nelson, Lyla and Koda to go home. There was a colourful sunset   and after dinner, Rusty had a noisy reunion with his human and waved a big goodbye to the rest of us. 

Sunday was another busy day but for different reasons.  There was a heavy frost overnight and the morning sun    set it all aglow, as Stephanie paused on her walk up the driveway to snap a photo. We waited for Charly to arrive and then we headed down to the beach before anyone else had a similar idea. 

   

   

     

 

That's me   exploring, on my own, along the edge where the sand meets the trees, I had heard a rumour that there might be some deer bones in the area but, alas, I didn't find any.  After we returned to the house, Stephanie did some work on the computer before she left to take the rest of the day off and soon Desi and Bruce arrived to help out with some of the chores. First on the agenda was a walk to the beach with Desi, for Honey and Lulu, and they almost had the beach to themselves, but they had to return early when someone else appeared with their dogs. Nevertheless, they enjoyed their hike. 

   

Back at the house, Mary and Bruce were busy moving lumber and other items to make room for the work that will begin on our new critter care room, this coming week.  When Desi got back with Honey and Lulu she took the rest of us out for more walks until it was time to send a bunch home. Georgee, Hunter, Charlie and Luna, Charlee and Charly were picked up by their humans and the remaining seven critters had dinner. Once Desi and Bruce left for the day, I gave Mary my report and she keyed it on the computer, added the photos and, voilà, here's the DogBlog weekend report. 

Friday's activities will be presented in photos because it's already Saturday night and we're all too tired to think back that far. 

We do recall the highlights  ... first we did the beach. 

       

    

In the afternoon, we raced around and the wind kept us on our toes with our ears pinned to our heads.  

   

Rusty was dropped off for an overnight visit. 

   

Desi and Bruce arrived to help with some chores.  

   

The end. 

 

Everything was icy when we went outside this morning, which is not unusual for November 28th but we've had such mild weather this month, it caught us off guard. Henry and Oliver, along with Georgia, got here just as the sky was starting to lighten up. There had been a brilliant red sunrise earlier  , but it had clouded over by the time they arrived.

Rosie and Bailey got here just before eight o'clock  and they were anxious to get to the beach, not realizing there would be a wait. First, we had to finish our breakfast and then bide our time until the tide dropped a little, before we could head down to the shore. In quick succession, Remi, Daisy, Joey and Ruger  appeared and they were very excited to get through the gate and start the fun and games.

Finally, the time arrived that we could head down the hill to the waters edge. Honey, Inky, Ruger, Otis, Henry, Oliver and Hali all decided to stay back with Mary, for various reasons. Here are some pictures of the rest of us living the good life.  

   

     

   

When the wet and sandy gang returned, Honey, Otis and Ruger   joined up with us and we headed to the cabana, to have a little break, while Stephanie prepared the monthly invoices. There wasn’t a whole lot of resting going on, mostly tag team wrestling matches. Eventually, after we had another walk around the North Field 

    

 and had some fun talking to the lambs, we all settled down to nap so Stephanie could get her work done.  

Meanwhile over at the house, Mary was making some phone calls and keeping track of Henry, Oliver and Inky. Around three o'clock, Henry and Oliver start insisting that they should be allowed to go down to the gate and wait for their human while Inky is demanding access to the mudroom so he can be first in line for dinner. Before we knew it, all our daycare pals made their exit through the gate and the rest of us lined up behind Inky for our food. After such a busy outdoor day in the wind , we were tired so we all flopped down on a dog bed and napped until suddenly the house shook and things began to get very noisy. 

The wind had shifted and was hitting the house from the East with some terrific gusts and then heavy rain started pounding on the windows. We could hear items that hadn't been put away being tossed around and the roar of the surf was loud enough to wake us. We kept glancing at Mary wondering what she planned to do about our late walk because we didn't want to go out in that weather, and neither did she.

She waited until eleven o'clock and then she nudged us out the door onto the front veranda and then she put on her boots and coat and joined us in the driving wind and rain. We knew what was expected of us, so we applied ourselves to the task and, then we dashed back to the house.   

Big doins today with the arrival of Inky  , back to stay for the winter months. For those of us who have enjoyed his company in the past, it was a pleasant reunion with an old buddy. For the recent alumni, who haven't had the pleasure of knowing him from previous visits, it was exciting to meet the adventurer who they have heard so much about from  Arthur, Karter and Hali. They told us that Inky has been coming here since August 2017 and right from his very first visit, he demonstrated just what a free spirit he could be. On the first visit, Inky swam across the channel and went exploring in the woods, causing a lot of worry on the part of Mary and Stephanie, but he soon decided that he would return and stick with the rest of his new pack. Here are some photos of Inky adventures over the past seven years.   

During Inky's first visit, Cocoa, the Boss Dog, had these observations that he shared in the DogBlog. 

 Excerpt from the DogBlog dated August 9, 2017

His name is Inky and we are all at a loss to say exactly what his heritage would be. If he didn't have a wire-haired coat, he might be mistaken for a black Chihuahua but then again if he didn't have such long legs, he could be taken for a Cairn Terrier. And those ears ... well, they look like they might have belonged to a French Bull Dog at some point. That being said, he's a real nice guy and he will make a nice addition to our pack.

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Today was the first day-visit for our newest Doodle gal, Maddy  and while she was a bit shy at first by the end of the day she was starting to play and relax with some of her new friends.

   

Another of our friends that we haven't seen in a while arrived in the afternoon. Here is Honey , enjoying herself as she says hello to her fellow guests and we're pretty sure that the next time you see her, she won't have that lovely, white, fur coat since the weather forecast, this week, calls for more rain and that means a lot of mud. 

    

We did enjoy a beach hike just before lunch.