A SPECTACULAR AUTUMN

Although the fall colors were late arriving the view from our front porch has been spectacular. We appreciate it every morning when we look out our window. The leaves are now falling and the mountains are turning brown. Now the forest floor is a bright yellow and the squirrels are kicking up trails of leafy gold as they run through the woods. I wish Lawrence would let me chase some squirrels and then I'd be kicking up some leaves.

BROOD

I am a lucky dog. I live in a nice house with Lawrence my owner who loves me very much. Some of my cousins are not so lucky. Several of them are up for adoption at Basset Rescue Of Old Dominion in Charlottesville, Virginia. You can see them at http://www.brood-va.org/. They are all loveable dogs and your life would be enriched by adopting one of them. Bassets love humans.

EARLY BIRTHDAY

Tomorrow is my seventh birthday but we are celebrating today because Lawrence will be away for most of the day. Lawrence bought me a bag of Beggin Strips and has been giving me one each hour. Boy are they yummy. I usually don't get any junk food. Each day I get one measuring cup of dry Purina One kibbles in the morning and the evening and one Milk Bone biscuit. This is how I keep my girlish figure. After all of these goodies today I will have to spend extra time on my Pilates tomorrow.

OLYMPIC SPIRIT

We are really pumped up about the olympics. The athletes are really inspiring. If they had an event called "Begging For Treats" I would be a champion.

BEAR IN THE FIELD

Yesterday when we drove in from our evening drive there was a bear sitting in our field. He seemed to be just smelling the wildflowers. There were also some deer in the field at the same time. We have seen more bears this year here at Doubleview than ever before. They have been down in our peach orchard tearing up the trees. Instead of just eating the fruit off of the limbs they break the limbs off of the trees and lie down on the ground and eat the fruit. Bears do thousands of dollars of damage to the orchards in our area each year. We really enjoy seeing the bears but they have really increased in numbers and are destructive pests.

TO THE BEACH !!!!!!! NOT...............

I want to go to the beach !!!! But Lawrence says no - we are going to stay home and do things in our area. People travel from all over the United States to visit our area. Local attractions include the Shenandoah National Park and Skyline Drive, Graves Mountain Lodge, Montpelier, and Monticello. Washington, D.C. is only an hour and forty minutes away. He says we are going to do things closer to home this summer. People are calling this having a Staycation. I call it having a Fakecation !!!!!!!!

THE TWINS WERE HERE

Yesterday twin fawns were in the backyard with their mother eating some of our plums. They have been grazing in our wildflower meadow for the past three weeks and this was the first time we could get a good picture of them. They are really beautiful and we don't mind their eating some of our plums.