Five Star Diner - Lake Tapps, WA

The Chickens are gone! I always start out in wonder at the little yellow and red puffs, watch them scratch and peck, and grow. Wow, do they ever grow! By about week 8, I'm done with the wonder, and they're big and bulky and eating machines. These were Poulet Rouge type chickens, and must have some Cornish in them, as they grew large and lazy. The hens liked to get out in their yard and forage, but the roos pretty much camped by the feeders and waterers unless I shooshed them outside for some "fresh air and sunshine". (Does that sound like a mom, or what?)

Well, yesterday, I cobbled together three chicken wire and PVC panels to block the opening in the back of the pickup, spread an old bale of hay in the bed, locked the chickens in their inner yard, disassembled their outside yard, and backed the pickup up to the fence. One and two at a time, I caught and plopped them into the pickup, and we made the drive to the Meat Shop in Tacoma. This morning they processed all 83 of them! Of those 83, we've sold close to half :-)

Continuing our quest to stimulate the local economy and using 10% of the chicken sales (probably more!), we went to the Five Star Diner about a mile from our place. The Diner shares a building with a daycare business, and is set back from the road behind a Texaco gas station, dry cleaners, realty, karate school, vet office, marine dealer and storage facility.

We were met by the Chef/Owner, Geoff Peters, who welcomed us and explained a bit about his cooking philosophy. He's a fairly recent graduate of South Seattle Community College's Culinary Arts program - a second career after leaving the aviation electronics field. He creates much of the food from scratch, cuts his own meats, buys local when possible, embellishes according to French cuisine taste, BarBQues on the side, and personalizes food for the "regulars", including a Jewish family and a vegetarian.

Dave ordered the NY strip steak special, and I ordered the meat loaf sandwich special. Geoff came out and talked to us about the food. Soy products give me a queasy stomach, so I avoid them. When I asked Geoff about soy, he went straight to the kitchen and checked for me. Bread was out, most of the sides were out (made with mayonaisse - soybean oil). He offered to make the meat loaf dinner for me - baked potato, peas and carrots, meat loaf and gravy.

In one of the other 4 tables, one of the regulars was there with his two kids. We were entertained by the daughter while we waited :-) She was a cutie.

The food was delicious! The meatloaf was toothsome and flavorful, flecked with veggies, moist and seasoned just right. The gravy, made using homemade beef stock, was likewise, flavorful and seasoned just right. The peas and carrots (frozen???) were cooked just right, finished with butter, salt and pepper. Amazingly, they compared favorably to the just picked snap peas and freshly dug carrots I'd had for breakfast at Take Root Farm. There was butter for the roll, and sour cream for the potato - although the gravy was wonderful on the potato. My bite of Dave's steak was fabulous. Great beefy flavor and juicy, perfectly cooked like the rest of dinner.

As we finished, it was near closing time and Geoff came out, sat down, and we all started talking. We covered aviation, organic gardening, free range chickens, NZ and domestic lamb, big Ag trying to squash small Ag in the name of "food safety", going back to school, government crooks and helping out the neighbors. It was over an hour before we left. He still had to clean up, I still had to feed sheep - but NOT CHICKENS! :-)

The Five Star Menu is fairly simple, all kinds of breakfast items - including omelets, salads, sandwiches, burgers, hot dogs, sundaes. The daily specials really make the Five Star special. If you're in the neighborhood, don't hesitate to stop in. They're open Tuesday through Saturday 8:00 am to 7:30 pm, Sunday 10 am to 2 pm, and located at 18223 - 9th Street East, Lake Tapps, WA 98391. Phone: 253-862-7571

As we were leaving, I told Geoff and his staff (of two), about our Stimulate the Local Economy effort. They appreciated it :-)

Gotland Sheep for Sale

Gotlands are a medium size, Northern Short Tail breed originating on the Isle of Gotland off the coast of Sweden. They were developed as a pelt sheep. We are focusing on handspinning fleeces through selection and our choice of Foundation ewes (mainly Finnsheep and Shetlands). They are generally friendly and rather inquisitive sheep, and quite calm. Halter training is a breeze, but you need to watch any supplies and tools that come within their reach!

The original Gotland color is a unique blue grey. In our flock, due to the influence of our foundation ewes, we have black, white and brown sheep in addition to the classic grey. All of the colors are beautiful in the field and spun, either natural or dyed. Gotland wool is on the fine side of the luster longwools and has wonderful luster in the mass of curls. The white Gotland/Finn cross especially tends to produce a soft handling, wavy, eye popping lustrous fleece.

EverRanch Snickers

Our Gotland sheep for sale are posted on Washington Wool dot Net. I would keep them all if we had space and resources. They are really nice!

http://www.washingtonwool.net/show2b/EverRanch_Farm

EverRanch Angie

The ewes and rams are listed as separately. We're also offering Gotland semen from 3 rams in New Zealand - at our cost. These genetics will offer diverse bloodlines and complement those from the UK, and we'll truly have "Global Gotlands". These rams are from Hamish Black's Chocolate Wool NZ flock. Hamish selects for handspinning fleeces and sells them worldwide.

"Flash", Gotland ram in New Zealand

EverRanch Bunny - one of our 50% Gotland/50% Shetland ewes. (NFS)

We will send fleece samples, photos and/or videos on request.

- Franna

How does your Garden grow?

This is the first year in many that I've put in a garden. It just seemed to be the "right" time. Even though I'm working at Take Root Farm and get to share in the bounty there, some things are just better from your own garden - and in quantity!

There are Peas, Beans, Carrots, Leeks, Tomatoes, Corn, Spaghetti Squash, Sugar Pumpkins, Yukon Gold and Red Potatoes. The peas (center front) and beans (left front) had disappointing germination rates, but there still should be enough for the two of us. The single row of carrots (more rows were/are planned) are in the far left front corner, leeks are in the center front between the snap peas and shelling peas. The potato "jungle" is at the right, with tomatoes between the potatoes and peas. The corn is well past my knees, and the squashes are starting to crawl :-)

Here's a closeup of the Roma tomatoes. For such wimpy bushes, they sure have nice tomatoes set on already. There are eight tomato bushes, each a different variety, cherry and regular size, red and orange, round and roma shape. The weather here has been wonderful for tomatoes this year - maybe we'll even get a decent crop!I just let the lambs out in the pasture surrounding the garden, so had to fence it off with electronet. Just imagine (Nancy...!) what havoc sheep can do in a garden! Even if they don't eat everything, those little hooves could trample everything beyond recognition. Later, sheepies, later you get the garden surplus and plants - but not tomatoes!

I bring rejects and trimmings home from the TRF sometimes. This week, the rams got turnip greens, beets, and reject carrots complete with tops. They were like wooly gourmets!

... looking forward to harvest at home,

Franna

Gotland Lamb Update

It just never ceases to amaze me how fast time goes. In my last post the chickens had just arrived, lambs were still coming, and it was cold and rainy. Well, the chicks are half grown, lambing is complete (I think!), and the weather is the best it's been on Memorial Day weekend for many years! The kittens, Toby and Catrina, we started bottle raising in April are now racing around the room, climbing up my legs and generally taking over the house.

I started back to work at Take Root Farm for the second year (VERY busy right now), planted a garden (or half a garden yet), am trying to purchase 20 acreas adjacent to ERN (wish us luck!), working on semen and possible sheep import from New Zealand (more luck needed), started feeding and selling Chaffhaye (WONDERFUL product!), finished Clifford's Junior Hunter title (Yeaaaaaaa!), judged agility for the Irish Water Spaniel Club of America (excellent working teams), and am making progress toward our move to Whidbey Island (it's **sooooooo** hard to wait).

It's been busy. All the while the lambs are growing. A couple are BIG, a couple are small, and most are in between. Several of the % Gotland lambs are shown below:

This handsome lad isn't one of the lambs - this is the sire to many of our % Gotland lambs. We used 3 sires this year, the AI sire - Daniel, our white 50% Gotland/50% Finn - Kibbles and this boy. His name is EverRanch Jack, and he is 75% Gotland/25% Shetland. He has a very attractive face and lovely curly, lustrous fleece.


Two of the ewes in Jack's group are not part of our Gotland foundation flock. They're Scottish Blackface ewes Sweet Pea and Eve. Their lambs will be market lambs. They are still very cute. This is Borax, Sweet Pea's son. He has a lot of presence, and is very stocky.



This is Eve's ewe lamb. Just look at the fleece on her! If Jack can produce this type of fleece with a Scottie, he has a good future producing % Gotlands!


These next two are very interesting. The first one, Ricki, is one of Niblet's quadruplets. It is very interesting to see that her body "spots" aren't really spots at all, but part of the grey pattern, seen often in Shetlands as wild body swirls that change over to a fairly uniform grey as the secondary fibers come in. You can see this change to grey already in her lighter body areas. I expect her to keep quite a bit of white on her head, although I've seen Shetlands with this type of marking change to grey, as well.


Next is "Ricki Clone" or Cloe, one of Freckles' twins. Her body is also turning grey. Both of these girls are Jack daughters, so are 37% Gotland/13% Shetland/50% Finnsheep. Cloe is a real standout among the lambs with her long legs and statuesque carriage.



This boy is a Jack son out of Anneke. He is 62% Gotland/38% Shetland/25% Lincoln. Both he and his white twin brother have gorgeous lustrous curls showing their partial Lincoln heritage.


This next photo is Charcoal, a 50% Gotland/50% Finn (Freckles) ewe. She has triplets this year out of the AI ram, Daniel. Charcoal has the softest handling fleece of our adult % Gotland ewes.

Here is Charcoal's threesome - 2 ewes and 1 ram - 75% Gotland/25% Finnsheep. I'm very pleased with them.

Brain the white Finnsheep was our other ewe that had Daniel lambs. Below are 2 of her triplet girls. First is her grey girl...

and her larger white girl, Chamois. Chamois has a very soft fleece, and is another lamb with nice presence - long straight topline, excellent, long legs, and that way of carrying herself that is just special. The Finn/Gotland combination will be very useful for producing finer fleeces with the unique Gotland luster and curl.


This last little one is also very special. Angie is out of Bunny (Gotland/Shetland) and Kibbles (Gotland/Finn). She is therefore 50% Gotland, a double F2. She's the first of our white % Gotlands to have the looser curl typical of the grey % Gotlands rather than the tight pincurls seen on Chamois.


There are quite a few more, of course. Their photos will be posted in time. Many are for sale! I can deliver to Black Sheep Gathering.

Of course, over time, there are crises large and small that have to be dealt with. We lost the Scottish Blackface ram near-yearling a couple weeks ago. Most likely he was mortally bashed by one of the other rams. He was a gentle soul, and low ram in the group. It's always sad to lose one of the sheep. The most recent crisis - this afternoon, the "Big Ewe" group got into the pasture with the bird feeder. I had just filled the feeder (of course!), and (also of course) the sheep emptied it. They're confined in the Hilton for closer observation and so far, look okay (knock on wood!).

My Economic Stimulus Plan is coming along. We've sold a few fleeces, a couple of sheep, some used equipment, and some Chaffhaye. The businesses that we've supported as a result include Superior Fibers, Meadowwood Dairy, Skagit Fresh Natural Beverages, and the local espresso joint. We have plans to eat at the local "Five Star Diner" but went there on a Monday when they were closed. It is still to come.

My own Pay It Forward projects are coming slowly. Tina and Tina, I hope you can wait a little longer. It'll be worth it!

sheesh. Each of these topics could take a whole blog by itself. More is to come!

- Franna

Teaser Photos

- Franna

Coming up for Air ... or Down for the Third Time?

I know some of you have more sheep than we do, and more lambs in a short period of time - Theresa, for one. We've had 21 lambs in the last 3 1/2 days, including the third set of triplets and a set of quads! I haven't really kept track (other than writing them down) of who's got what, who're possible keepers and who's for sale. There WILL BE Shetlands and % Gotlands for sale! There are still at least 6 ewes left to go.

In addition to lambing, we are bottle feeding a couple of kittens every 6 hours (down from every 4 hours) I found in our hay and straw hauling horse trailer, this morning took delivery of 102 Colored Range chicks, are (supposed to be) helping at the Shepherds' Extravaganza through Sunday, are trying to get the garden in, on top of the rest of the usual chores.

The individual sheep are gestating 3 to 6 days longer than previous years, and that's thrown our whole schedule off. No one appears to be in labor at this time, so I actually might get more than 4 hours of sleep tonight. Yeaaaa!

We got to see Joey + Rory in concert tonight at the Puyallup Spring Fair/Shepherds' Extravaganza. Joey + Rory were finalists from the TV show Can You Duet, and Rory is a very successful Country songwriter with hits including Blake Shelton's number 1 "Some Beach" and one of my favorites, the as yet unreleased "Welcome Home". It was a fun mix of serious and lighthearted songs, including one about Granny in her 'Daisy Dukes', their version of Free Bird, and their hit "Cheater, Cheater". Dave got his CD signed and we got to talk briefly with them (as did many! other fans). If you get a chance to hear them, do it!

(image from http://www.myspace.com/joeyandrory)

As an aside, while searching for information on the songs Rory's written, I found out that he co-produced Blaine Larsen's first album, as well as co-writing Blaine's single "How Do You Get That Lonely?" Blaine is a local boy, and another of my (and my mom's) favorite artists.

Okay - break time's over! Back to barn checks, feeding and BED!

- Franna

My Economic Stimulus Package

I've been thinking about the economy for quite a while. We, the people, seem to be waiting for a handout, watching to see what everyone else is doing, going about our lives, scrimping and grumbling, and just hoping it will all "get better".

High gas prices last year hiked everything up *a lot*, and prices didn't come back down with the gas prices. Prices at the grocery store are insane, power and gas went up and aren't coming down. People, including us, have cut way back in spending on non-necessities and on luxury items. This is hurting small businesses, many of whom are really struggling or have even gone out of business.

This is not news.

The gut reaction is to raise your own prices and cut spending wherever possible. However, one of the few things I remember from my economics class in college - ages ago - was that in a healthy economy, every dollar spent, is respent, respent again, and respent some more. One dollar put into the system can end up making 6 to 8 times that in a chain of sales.

So, to counter my tendency to stop all unnecessary spending and reduce that dollar in the economy to only a dollar in sales, and instead of waiting for someone else to do "something", I'm going to do my little piece.

Our farm sells a few things - sheep, wool, roving, chickens, pigs, Chaffhaye, some services. For the rest of 2009, I'm going to CUT my prices by 10%, PLUS take 10% to spend in the local economy on items that I've cut out.

Hopefully, this will do a little bit to put more money in the economy. My customers save 10%, 10% of our sales will go back into our local economy, and I get a little luxury. Sounds like a Win-Win-Win to me!

I challenge you all to do the same or something similar. If you buy something from us, please spend the 10% you save on another local, small business. Think about challenging your suppliers, customers, friends and relatives to do the same. My 10% will make a very small difference. Many 10%'s will make more difference. Let's make a difference together.

- Franna

April Fool!

The calendar says it's April First. I think it's an April Fool's joke.

It can't be April First. It's snowing outside. And it's sticking! It's darned cold.

At least it isn't sticking to the pavement... yet.

Lambs are due. Lambs are overdue. Maybe the ewes have a comlink to Mother Nature and they're waiting for the Real Spring.

Hello? Real Spring? - We're READY for you....!

- Franna

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

My last sheepie check was in the wee hours of today. I went outside and the ground was WHITE. No, it wasn't cottonwood cotton, it wasn't dense fog, it wasn't fleecey bits. It was SNOW. ...on March 29th. It stuck to the ground. It was still there when I got up this morning - late morning. Ugh.

Sometime during breakfast, while watching the Lamb Cam, I could see Charcoal concentrating on "something" near the back of the Hilton. A foreground sheep moved, and I saw a little head moving! Charcoal's lambs were coming!

Out in the Hilton, I saw the lamb was drenched and brand new born. Charcoal was licking and being very attentive, so I just watched the miracle unfolding before my eyes.
The little one has a white tail tip and white on the top of the head and a strip on the muzzle. It also has dangly bits in the rear - Ram lamb!

Charcoal is one of our 50% Gotland ewes, and her lambs are a result of AI to a 100% Gotland ram, Whitehall Daniel. So this little guy is a 75% Gotland, 25% Finnsheep.

Charcoal wasn't done. There were tiny hoof tips showing. I just waited and watched. After about 15 minutes of on again off again pushing, more "lamb" was coming. But wait! It's more FEET. Lamb number 2 was coming OVER THE TOP of lamb number 3... or was it 3 coming over the top of number 2???

Time to help. I gave number 2 just a little gentle tension with Charcoal's next push, and out it came. There were still feet presenting, but now it was apparent that they were upside down and HIND feet. I dashed to the house for gloves, lubricant and boluses. When I got back, Dave had taken over and had helped Charcoal deliver number 3 with just gentle tension. WOW.

All three are vigorous, all three made it to the milk bar, and they're safely penned in a jug. Good girl Charcoal. Look at the beautiful Gotland curl on Charcoal's lambs.



We couldn't stand it anymore and looked under tails - number 1 is a ram, number 2 is a EWE, NUMBER 3 is a EWE! Jackpot number two! These are the first 75% Gotlands ewes born at EverRanch, and 75% Gotland ewes are eligible for REGISTRATION. :-)

The Brain's girls have learned that snuggling together is warmer than staying by oneself.

Who is next? By my calendar, Freckles the Finnsheep is due, as are Midnight the Shetland and Bunny the Gotland/Shetland.

...anticipation!

- Franna

Our Turn!

After waiting it seemed like forever! we finally have more lambs.

Visitors came to see lambs among other things and only had Rissa's twins to view, plus a whole lot of wide ewes and voluptuous udders. As I was saying good-bye to the last visitor, I thought I heard a lamb!

Indeed! My ears took me to the Hilton where The Brain was licking one lamb, then another, then a third in succession. One was standing on wobbly legs, one was front up, back down, and the third had a wobbly head up. I peeked at one - a EWE! Oh joy! Then peeked at another - another EWE! I almost couldn't look at the third one - EWE - JACKPOT!!! Two whites and a black (grey) with krunet, white nose and tail tip. I forgot to look at her feet for sox.

These three are half Gotland/half Finnsheep, and already look beautiful. :-)
Photos forthcoming.
- Franna

Back to Sheep!

EverRanch Farm has lambs! Shady Oaks Marissa had two musket ewe lambs about 7am. When I went out just after 8, she was cleaning up #2, and #1 had wandered through the electronet (fortunately off!), and was next to an old trailer in the pasture, baaaing pitifully. She was VERY happy to have me scoop her up and return her to Mom.



This is Daughter #1, she has a shorter, crimpy fleece and less white than ...



...Daughter #2. D2 has a longer, wavy fleece, that I'm guessing will be like Mom's. Marissa has a long, long, wavy, gorgeous fleece. In the photos, it's about 5 months growth!


V Creek Buddy is the sire of all our Shetland lambs this year. He's modified - either mioget or fawn. I can't tell yet if either of these girls is modified. I'm not sure what a musket modified color even looks like.

So these are the first, but looking at the wide loads and developing udders below, you can be assured they won't be the last lambs at EverRanch in 2009.

Left to right are Scottish Blackface - Sweet Pea, and Finnsheep - Niblet and Pinky.



I spent some more time in the barn. It's still not ready for the sheep. I got all of the hog panels pulled up, rocks moved, some of the lumps and bumps leveled out, and the lamb cam turned on.

The pigs do a good job of breaking up the straw bedding pack, but this year they broke their lixit waterer, and had a soupy mess of mud in half the barn that never really dried out.

There isn't too much more I'll do to it before spreading some lime and a whole bunch of straw. After that, "The Twelve" big ewes will move up, and the Shetlands will move into the Hilton with the "Yearling Plus" group.

Stay tuned!

- Franna

ERN March, 2009 Update

Ahhhhh, the Shop is looking much more like a building. It looks a lot like what I designed :-)
We're still scrambling since the economic downturn affected our building plans considerably. The current plan is to slow construction way down, and put ourselves in a position to live in our trailer while finishing the shop. Most likely this means converting the shop into a residence, complete with complying to all residential codes. There are two "hot" items on our list - getting the electrical box installed inside the shop and the state inspection complete, (See the temporary power pole in the middle of the "carport"?), and getting a woven wire and electric perimeter fence up. The ground is HARD and ROCKY, and we need about 3/4 mile of fence. I think we'll pony up to have someone put that in.

Next is a series of photos of the Second Floor. This will be a good part of our living space, and the future studio space for fiber crafts, model making, stained glass, etc., etc. The first photo is looking SE; Clifford is about ready to run down the stairs ... for the eleventy hundreth time.

This view looks South. I tried to design in plenty of southern exposure for passive solar gain. You can see the slight cathedral ceiling formed by the scissors trusses. It is essentially the same cost to use scissors trusses as straight trusses. It will make drywall more complex, though.

Here's the view to the SW corner. There are 8 feet between the stairs and the South wall - enough for a small room, if we ever decide to put up walls. ... and Villa getting ready to follow Clifford down the stairs yet another time. The railing on the lower right is...

...surrounding the high bay opening from below. This is the (future) shop area for tall things - like tractors and trailers. If we make this a "residence", all of this high bay will have to be drywall separated from the living space. (Photo looks West.)

Also looking West, from Floor 2, the Olympics are visible!!! This day, there was a roil of clouds coming over, and, indeed, it was wet and stormy the next day.

Continuing on around, this view is looking NW. Out the window on the right will be our new agility arena (and equipment shed) ... someday. Villa says "hey, whatcha doin' Mom? Come run up and down the stairs with us!"

And my favorite viewpoint, looking NE. It's my favorite because of...

... Mt Baker! I'll never get tired of this view!

- Franna

P.S. ERN = EverRanch North - our future home on Whidbey Island.

The Dogs of EverRanch

These are the dogs of our household. The very peacefulness of this photo belies their normal activity and exuberance. Everyone has to sleep sometime. This is our typical view when we finally sit down and watch Iron Chef America! on Sunday evenings. (The TV is right above Winnie.)

Kiss, chocolate Lab on the left belongs to son Bryan. He's selling his condo in Albuquerque, so Kiss is staying with us instead of "helping" the realtors. Kiss is officially known as Dave's Chocolate Kisses, CD, NAJ, CGC. She was Dave's dog before she and Bryan fell for each other. Interesting Kiss fact - when she got her CD (AKC Novice Obedience title), each of the three required qualifying scores ("legs") were earned with a different handler. Dave earned the first one with her, Jennifer (DD) the second, and she finished with me handling.

Next is Clifford, my Welsh Springer Spaniel, who is less commonly known as AKC, Int Ch. Briarbanc Brych Red Dog, RE, OA, NA, NF, CGC. (and on the verge of JH, OAJ, OF, and AX)

Then are the Three Yellow Labradors. We didn't choose anyone by color, it just happened that way. We chose the litters we wanted, then chose from the pups. They all ended up being yellow.

On "top" is Winnie - our newest addition - Winroc Winsome Winifred. She is Dave's up and coming star.

Front and center is Villa - who should be ready for competition "sometime" this year. AKA Winroc Virtual Villainess.

Then, last but certainly not least is Int. Ch. Winroc St. Thomas at Evrrnch, RN. Thomas is Dave's current competition dog.

Thomas earned the most recent title in our pack:

This is Thomas earning his International Championship on February 22, 2009. The Int. Ch. is a non-competitive title. The dogs are required to earn three V-1 (Excellent) Ratings from judges representing at least 2 countries. Around here, the judges are usually from the US and Canada. As I was in Lynden judging agility (and awarding Winnie's mom her MACH!!!), DD Jennifer and our good friend Gail handled Thomas to this title, and Dave took photos.

Next, here is Winnie, playing in the March snow last week. We've had snow in March for 2 years in row!!! The last time I remember it snowing significantly in March was 1989. Is this how they define "global warming"?? (I got up this morning to MORE SNOW! On March 15th!!!)

...Pouncing...
...looking....

...then later, curled up in the favorite dog bed in the house. The dogs like their beds. They mostly like being with us, wherever we are. So, we have dog beds all over the house. This one really isn't a "dog bed". It is a kid's play tunnel that we use to start puppies in agility. It ties together in a hoop for storage, and by accident one day, it got knocked over and taken over as a bed. Even Thomas curls up in it! It is hardly ever vacant.

Winnie earned "house" privileges a couple weeks ago, by consistently going to the door to go outside to potty. She has really taken to being with the "Big Dogs" and with us. It is so much nicer when a puppy gets to the stage where you don't have to watch them 100%!

It's not so easy for dogs to get comfortable in my no frills pickup truck. On my last trip to ERN, I took Clifford and Villa. I filled the back with hay, so the only place for dogs was in the cab with me! Of course, they just want to be with me, so that was all well and good. There isn't much room on the front seat for me and two (semi) big dogs. This was Villa's solution:

...and Clifford's:

They did shift now and then. I'd get a soft muzzle laying on my leg, or a nice warm body against my side. It is verboten for them to get in my space while I'm driving, and they understand that pretty well. No, they're not very safe riding like this. I've got plans to get seat belts and/or a crate stand. We don't ride this way very often.
(Photos were taken while we were on the ferry - I wasn't driving and clicking!)

Clifford is very resourceful. He's good at finding ways into and around just about anything he wants. He's a terrific hunting dog, too. If there are birds around, he'll find them. He gets so intense that he goes into all kinds of cover and gets covered with all kinds of things. He always comes out full of sticks and seeds. Then, he chews them out, if I don't get to them first. Here, he's pulling berry vines out of his feathers after tally-ho'ing through all the brush at ERN. This is the reason that spaniels shouldn't be dripping in coat! He has just enough feathers to protect, yet, not too much to work out the vegetation. Actually, most of the seeds slide out of his correctly textured Spaniel coat.

To end this post, here are Winnie and Thomas again. Thomas is accepting her as one of the pack; she's learning that the pack sleeps under the TV when "Mom" and "Dad" vege out. Don't they look innocent and peaceful?

- Franna