In addition to the dogs, I love puttering around in my flower garden. It's kind of a wild garden, lots of perennials and native flowers, lilies and daylilies, with some annuals filling in the blank spots. I also have some big pots with spinach, parsley, and basil planted.

Here are a few of my favorites:






And my digging helpers!!

In addition to Prissy, Diane also has Mouse from us. He was her first Akita. Mouse got his name because he was only an incredible 6 oz when he was born and looked like a little white mouse. We never expected him to survive, but he hung out right near the biggest milk glands and ate non-stop. He is the brother of our Ch. Jellybean and Ch. Wheezer and is over 12. Here are a couple of photos of him, one right after his bath, and the other when he was all dried off. Di calls Mouse her "sexy man."

I heard from Diane today, and she sent me a couple of pretty funny pictures of Prissy. She writes, "Nope that is not a wolf that wandered into the yard. It is my precious Prissy! Now that is a true helper. She takes the hose and runs around with it to help water the whole yard, and as you can see it needed it...years ago. LOL"



That pup just loves to be wet and dirty!
And here is a picture of Flyer enjoying the fan. Look at that big smile! I can't believe he's already 9 and a half. How time flies.

Sometimes I feel like this household is one big comedy show - these dogs keep me entertained all day long. It's been warm, and Flyer hates the heat. No surprise there, he's the biggest Akita I've ever seen, nearly 30 inches at the shoulder, and about 160 pounds. He is a little heavy, but he's just a huge dog. Anyway, this morning he plopped himself down in front of the fan blowing into the kitchen, about a foot away from it, so he could get all that cool air blowing right in his face. He was happy as a clam! I tried to take a picture, but I couldn't get a good angle to get the expression on his face.

Then this afternoon Mandisa comes trotting into the living room with one of Marc's smelly old yard galoshes...she dropped it on the area rug, turned around and came back in with the other one! She was sticking her head deep inside and taking big whiffs - what a totally doggy thing to do! It reminded me of when Stokes was a puppy and would steal the boys' dirty socks, tuck them under his chest, and smell them every now and then!

With Nemo away on his "business trip," (he's away at dog shows) Mandisa is getting extra time in the house and she is loving it. She was taught house manners by her great-great grandmother, Temma, when she was a very young puppy, and she has remembered them well. Mandisa is more commonly known as Pizza Girl. Andy started calling her that when she was a puppy, I don't know why, and the name has stuck! I make myself laugh when I call her in from outside and say, "Pizza pizza" - it reminds me of those old Little Ceasar pizza commercials! Here are a couple of photos of our Pizza Girl - guess which one shows her true personality?