New Baby Girl

Well, just when I'd thought I'd seen it all. The masters brought home another little one. Looks like I've got another girl friend. She has a bit of growing up to do, but she is going to be a real looker. Sometimes I think they are trying to kill me. Just kidding. My girls and I have the "life of riley" around here. Lots of love and attention. Master Mom refers to us as her "kids". She wasn't kidding when she said she was going to fill her empty nest with Springers. I thought she had her "brains tied" when they brought home my sweetheart Tilley. It seems the surgery must have reversed itself. Master Dad told her she was going back in to have it fixed. It's a crazy time in our home. I'm just glad I'm the only guy if you know what I mean.

HAVE A GREAT LABOR DAY WEEKEND....I plan on doing some swimming before they put the lid on the new swimmin hole.

Our New Swimming Hole

Well, it's finally here. Our new swimming hole. I'll have Master Mom post a couple of pictures with my next post.

Yesterday was our first opportunity to jump in. It was truly amazing. The old "swimmin hole" had these ladders we had to use to get out of the pool once we jumped in. Well this one has a real nice set of steps. This does not mean I can't jump, or just I say dive in, but getting out is much easier on my legs which allows me more energy for jumping and diving. Yippee. I'm hoping I can get Mom to take some videos of me. I love to show off my stuff.

Guess what? Me and my girl Tilley are going to have another litter of puppies. Yep, Master Dan and Master Kelly finally gave in. I heard them talking, and the little sweethearts should arrive sometime the middle of October. They will make wonderful new family additions just in time for the Christmas Holiday. Nothing like a brand new English Springer puppy to help unwrap your Christmas gifts...lol, or maybe to give ole Santa some real good puppy kisses.

This is a short one today. The weather here in Northern Indiana has been great. We need rain, but then I won't get to run through the sprinkler near as much.

Gotta go check out the swimmin hole, as there isn't much time left this season to enjoy.

Later,

The General and his girls, Nittany & Tilley.

The Polecat.

I am now under "lock down".Yes, it's true. Yesterday while on our early morning run, it appears I did something extremely stupid. Never in my wildest dreams could I have ever imagined something so beautiful could produce such a nostril burning scent. WOW is all I can say.

As soon as the tailgate in the pickup truck opened up, I hit the ground running on all four paws just as fast as my legs could carry me. Of course, I prefer to be the leader of the pack when it comes to exploring the fields. I wouldn't want one of my lovely ladies to show me up, and find something special before me. Guess what? I'm not sure I will have this same attitude on future adventures. I heard Master Dan give a holler for me to come right back, but my ears weren't up to par that early in the morning, or maybe the truth is, I just plain ignored him. Whatever the case, I ended up nose to nose with this black and white creature. I thought it was just another critter out on it's morning run too. I must have came up on it too fast, because all of a sudden the right side of my face was hit with the foulest smelling substance I have ever encountered. I tried my darndest to remove it by rubbing it furiously on the ground, but to no avail. I immediately decided I'd better return to my girls, and Master Dan who happened to be standing there with this odd look on his face. It wasn't really a happy-to-see-you look either.

The morning run came to an abrupt halt. We were loaded back up into the pickup, and promptly returned home. The girls weren't acting like themselves. They usually like to stick real close to me, but I'm not sure if they were mad because their run was cut short, or because I stunk to high heaven. Either way, it was the beginning of a horrible day.

I overheard Master Dan on the phone with Master Mom saying something about one of us tangled with a skunk. Ummmm? There is a first time for everything, and hopefully I have learned my lesson. I spent the rest of the day in my kennel under the Maple tree in the front yard. At least they didn't lock me away in some dungeon. As soon as Master Mom got home from work, I found myself in the bathtub. She sprayed this lemon stuff all over me, and used some really good smelling soap. I don't think I've ever been scrubbed so figurously. I thought my fur was going to fall out. Then she took some scissors, and cut some of my hair. My wonderful nighttime ritual of sleeping in this wonderfully comfortable bed has turned into a real life nightmare. I've been banned to my kennel inside the garage. As you can see by the picture above, I am allowed vistors, and I do have a room with a view.

Does anybody know how long I will have to live like this?

Signed,

The General a/k/a Boiler

Dog Days of August

Six months! I've finally been able to persuade Master Mom to sit down for a couple of seconds to update everyone and anyone who cares. Since my last post in February, Nittany delivered 5 girls and 3 boys on April 19th. She was a real trooper. Of course the masters were right by her side until all eight were delivered safe and sound.

By the first week of June, all the little bundles of joy were off to their new forever homes. Once again, all were blessed to have found wonderful homes with awesome families to love, cherish and nurture them. Master Mom told me to say a special thank you to all of those who have chosen one of our babies! THANK YOU!

Spring and Summer have been lots of fun. Master Dad started a new routine, and me and my girls absolutely love it! Every morning right after Master Mom takes off for work, he loads us up in the back of the pickup truck and takes us down to the railroad tracks. This allows us to run off some of the energy we've stored up throughout the night, and to do our a.m. business some place other than the back yard. We come home, eat a little breakfast and take a nice long nap.

It appeared that our long lazy summer days of lounging around the pool were going to be over. Master Dad started filling it in! I was devastated to say the least. This all started in late March, and by the first of June he was well on his way to having the deep end half way filled. Well, all of a sudden, the fill-in process stopped! It appeared my prayers had been answered. Some guys came out and were taking measurements of it. It seemed as if something big was going to happen. I heard some of the conversations, and if all goes according to plan, I'll be jumping in with all four feet by middle of August. Exciting, but a long way off.

In-the-mean time, one Saturday afternoon, the Masters came home with a big box. I watched with much anticipation as they cut open the box, pulled out this big blue circle, and started filling it with water. Wow, before I knew it we had another swimming hole on the patio. This one didn't compare in size to the old one, but at least it was a body of water for me to jump into! I went a little overboard the other day, and was reprimanded sternly and told to stay out for awhile. Oh well, I'm a Springer after all, and we do love the water.

Last night we were took a ride with Mom and Dad to a lake. Wow, talk about a blast. Even the girls joined me in a late evening swim. We were plumb tuckered out. It's been a great summer so far, but there is still a lot of sunshine to soak up between now and the gray days of winter.

Take care,

The General