Blue Ribbon Betsy

Betsy (aka Stacy's Starlight) and Wronny (aka Wrong Number) just got home from the big state fair. They are acting very conceited because they both won money. Betsy won a blue ribbon and made it to the final where they choose the champion. She was also on the front page of the Tacoma newspaper with this photo, showing off her good looks. The judge commended Betsy for her stature, her length of body, and her dairy character. Betsy does not even know what dairy character is. Or any other character. How ridiculous.

Wronny is preening all around because she won seventh place. SEVENTH PLACE! Since when do they have that many places? If I came in seventh I wouldn't even want anyone to know, and here she is flouncing all over the place like Cleopatra on a party boat on the Nile. It's sad, really.

Oh well, anyway, they both think they are all that. Stacy, wherever you are, guess what? Your silly little daughter won first place!

Look Up!

Here is some free advice from me, for what it's worth.

It is easy to get very absorbed in what you are doing. It seems important. Believe me, I know.

But sometimes it is a good idea to stop and look up.

Look up: you can see the birds. Look up: you can see the stars. Look up: you can see the future coming right at you.

Look up.

My New Boyfriend

Captain January 

Enough about Wendell, here is a subject anyone could get interested in. I like my old boyfriend, Marquee, a lot, but let's face it he's no spring chicken and even if he were, a little variety does a body good. So anyway, I was pretty pleased when the farmer brought little CJ home. He's from a lovely family, for one thing, and I think you would be pretty hard pressed to find a cuter little gentleman anywhere.

Strolling, With Staples

Wendell, walking. 

The farmer is all excited because Wendell the pest can walk. Big deal, I have been walking since I was about five minutes old. Nobody takes pictures of me just because I get up and walk to my food dish. Who cares.

Some Photos from our Scrapbook

which way to the barn? 

Mo cannot believe how delicious the camera looks. 

spenny enjoys a beautiful summer day 

sugarbutton says "looks like rain." 

synchronized snoozing: Laddy and Willen on a good hair day. 

Fair Enough?

Project Runway has begun.

The three sisters Betsy, Bertie, and Wronny (half-sisters, really) are going to the big state fair, so they had to get fair haircuts and collars. Now they are learning to walk in a fair-approved manner.

Betsy is so far getting an A+ in walking and general deportment. She will walk anywhere. More importantly, she will stop walking when you stop walking. This is one of the keys, if not the key, to civilized walking in pair formation.

Not satisfied with an A+, Betsy also comes immediately when she is called, and cleans the floor of the barn every evening, checking thoroughly in every nook and cranny for spilled grain. (Update: actually, Betsy's grade has been changed to an A++, because she likes being clipped with the big horse clippers.)

Wronny is getting a C. She will walk, reluctantly, with much tugging. Stopping is her strong point. She is always willing to stop, and checks frequently to see if you, too, might perhaps be interested in stopping dead in your tracks. Shall we stop? Shall we stop? I have an idea, why don't we stop? Let's stop, shall we? Should we stop here? What about here?

Bertie is getting an F-. Bertie alternates between absolute refusal to walk and full-out gallop punctuated by frequent 180 degree turns, grand jetes a la Baryshnikov, and abrupt - but momentary - stops. If she were a horse, she would make champion bucking stock. Her unique style of "walking" is enlivened by such screaming as would wake the dead. I wonder where she gets it? Possibly from her mother Boo?

Bye Bye Babies

It was a long season, but all the babies have finally gone to their new homes.

Where did they go?

Marty and Martina went to Shaw Island in the San Juans.

Barnaby and Roosevelt went to a farm in Vaughn that raises Shire horses.

Harper Lee went to Carney Lake, where she is ruling the roost.

Herman, Pilgrim, and Ricky went to Seabeck. Tinky, my yearling daughter, went with them.

Moony and Betsy went to Duvall.

Franky and Joey, Barry and Whitman, and the two best babies of the year - my adorable sons Huckleberry and Barbaro - went home with some nice people from Port Orchard.

You might think that leaves us lonely. But no, because Lolo, Willa, Wronny, Cammy, and Wrusty - so full of himself already - are staying here.

Well, ok, we are a little bit lonely.

Bye bye, babies.

Remember who you are. Remember where you came from.