Well, I'm long over due for a new post. Sorry for my MIA status of late. The summer so far has been busy and adventure filled with too many diversions to devote extra time to blogging.
While at the beach yesterday I was reminded of our last time there and my last post here. With this week finally slower than all those in between I decided to do some catch up.
June started off with our second, now annual, tradition of a week in Mendocino at our favorite dog friendly Bed & Breakfast. (Yes, they have cottages with enclosed attached fenced yards!!) This year we were actually brave enough to take the dogs canoeing with us. I can't say they were overly thrilled but it was fun to take them with us. We kept them leashed even in the canoe. Between the two beavers and the seal we saw up "Big River" I was glad they could not get any stupid ideas of getting a closer look themselves.
We returned Friday, and Saturday found me in bed all day with a 102° fever. By 5 pm I knew something was very very wrong. The doctor in urgent care confirmed my worst fears that strep throat had gotten the best of me. With glorious pain killers and my first dose on penicillin on board I finally got a good nights sleep Saturday night.
The next day my 13 year old niece flew in from Virginia. Ten days on penicillin is not my idea of fun. When I wasn't out drinking coffee so we could paint the streets red ( we went every where), I was napping off the side effects of penicillin. 
By forth of July I had finally ditched the drowsy, though much necessary drugs, and we were headed to Monterey for the fireworks. It was the first time the dogs were going to experience fireworks up close and personal but I was optimistic. True to their calling, my even tempered "gun dogs" took it all in stride. Shelby in fact snuggled in under a blanket with one of the teenagers with us and went to sleep. Nutmeg snuggled into my husbands chest and kept him warm from the cool ocean air. Not a single startle from either of them despite the "ooooohhhhs," and "aaaaaahhhhhhhs" all around us, not to mention the ground shaking noise of the exploding fireworks.
Our two weeks with my niece ended much to soon and the dogs and I found ourselves sulking as we missed our too soon departed companion. Fortunately my nephew's and family were down this weekend and a trip to the beach was just what the doctor ordered to cheer the dogs and I up. We all had a blast - as if there is any other option available when at the beach. It was a sunny, warm, and best of summer pacific ocean days. The water was even warm - of course you have to really love the ocean and live on the north west pacific coast to appreciate the subtlety of how warm it was. [subtlety: so delicate or precise as to be difficult to analyze or describe]
The past two months have flown by much faster than any other's this year. Through it all our dogs have been my constant companions. Now able to take my dogs every where with me, we are all enjoying the freedom that well trained dogs afford. I was reminded of this today as I was stopped in the parking lot of Trader Joe's (for those of you who do not know about Trader Joe's I am so very sorry!!!). I was giving the dogs some water and the back of the SUV was open. A lady came up and had to say "Hi" to the dogs. She laughed at Shelby's crazy over excited greeting and was impressed as he calmed himself down with a little coaching from me. Nutmeg of course charmed her in two seconds flat with her sweet soft gentle kisses of "hello". She was so surprised to hear that the dogs were siblings. Yes, they are siblings I reassured her, and no different than two children in a family, each with their own personality.
Despite the ease of the last several months, nothing is ever truly easy with a sensory driven overachieving dog (a very nice way of describing Shelby). Of course nothing of any value in life is ever easy. Nutmeg is my reassurance dog, reminding me every day that even though I may have gotten side tracked I didn't cause him to be this way. Shelby is the dog he was meant to be, and both dogs have a lot to teach me.
