Preparing to Turn Our Pet into a Therapy Dog

We have been playing with the idea of training Rikki as a therapy dog when we learned that her mother and older brother were both working therapy dogs. That was a few weeks after bringing her home in 2011.

Rikki, taking a break :-)

After which, we learned that her twin brother (I call him her twin brother because their mother had only two litters), was also adopted by a special child with special needs. Lennie (Rikki's twin)  is being trained as a therapy/companion dog, too.

We have not stopped contemplating about the idea. Actually, the whole family was keen on turning our pet into a therapy dog but when I talked to somebody knowledgeable, she recommended that we enjoy our time with Rikki first. So, we did!

A Short Hike to Celebrate the German Unity Day (in photos)

Today is the Day of German Unity (Tag der Deutschen Einheit), a national holiday in Germany celebrating the anniversary of German reunification in 1990. 

Since the holiday was on a Thursday, the school declared Friday a holiday, too -- a long weekend! What to do?

We took advantage of the sunshine and decided to go for a short hike. The girls were not too fond of the idea but they went with us after telling them we could also collect walnuts, hazelnuts, chestnuts, etc. along the way.

We are near the forest parking area and
here's Rikki running after a cat :-)

The cows are also enjoying the sunshine.

Walking beside the pet cemetery.

Inside the forest now.

The girls walking along the pet cemetery.

Walking deeper into the woods.

Back in the path after exploring the pet cemetery.

September Harvests

Sunny September means longer harvest time.

We are enjoying our harvests and there are more to come...

Tomatoes are still hanging in our garden. There are loads of green ones, too.
That means, we would have enough frozen tomatoes for winter.

Rucola (arugula), I love the smell of this green leafy thingy whenever I pluck them for salad.

Spinach and red beets. They were victims of the snail invasion but despite that,
there were enough harvested to start a great meal.