Random Musings.

Hello. I'm happy. But I didn't win the mixer on www.thepioneerwoman.com, AGAIN! That's kind of sad. She's got lots of great prizes and all you have to do is put a comment in her comment section. But you know how the lottery is like 1 in about a 100,000,000 winners - I think my chances with The Pioneer Woman are less! Oh well. And here I am linking you to her so that at least one more person can join the myriads of people competing against me. That's true sacrifice. I'd like to enter myself as Exhibit A for examples of true sacrifice. Anyway, besides the fact that I never win her give-aways, I love her blog! I was set on to it by my good friend, Aleycia. Look at me, I'm a serious linkage fool today! Anyway, she's got lots of great stories and recipes and photography! She's a real humdinger in my book! And that's saying a lot!

So what's new in the Tundra today, you might ask? Well, we are busy working on Tonto's kennel. His new and improved kennel! I don't know if you remember, or even if I told you that Tonto learned how to jump over his kennel after 3 and a half years of living in it. Ok, so he's a little slow. But I'm not holding that against him. He's so cute!



How can you resist that face, I mean, seriously? Ok, so he runs away. Fine, he rolls in dead stuff. I know it gets a little old when he tries to lick your face when his breath smells really bad. I know, picking up poop out of the yard isn't always fun. But come on - you have to love a face like that - when you wake up in the morning and he's just sitting there, staring in the window waiting for one of us to acknowledge him, when you drive into the driveway, and no matter how deep of a sleep he's in, he jumps right up and starts wagging his tail like he hasn't seen you in years. When you're mad at him, and he knows it, and tucks his tail between his legs and ducks his head as if to say I'm sorry. When you are sad or crying and he instinctively knows it - and he comes and tries to cuddle up in your lap to tell you that he still loves you. Just the thought of it brings tears to my eyes. How can you not love that? A lot of people don't like our dog. They think he's dumb. In general, these are the people who don't like dogs at all, but I love him. He's the greatest dog in the whole world! I don't care what people think of him, except for when they say bad things about him, secretly, I like the people a little less! Shhh....

Anyway, so enough about that. We are building Tonto a new and improved, sturdier, and prettier kennel. There is always a project going on at our house. And this is no different. Sam says the neighbors must think we are crazy - there are ALWAYS things laying around. Right now, we've got piles of sand, rock and camping equipment in the driveway. A little further to the left, we've got plastic bags of flowers, lumber and gardening equipment. Down the steps, we've got shovels, lumps of grass and random rocks. At the door, we've usually got a left over cooler, maybe a bag of trash and tons of empty planters, never mind the length of hoses cris-crossing our yard from one flower bed to another. There are always projects. But it's lived in. And I like it. It's a sanctuary. I love coming home. We live right in the middle of town, but it doesn't feel like it. It feels like we are the only ones on the street. I love that. I love that you can drop the problems at the door and step into this sweet little sanctuary that God has given us and be entertained for hours by the birds and squirrels and flowers and Tonto and Sam. I'm mostly entertained by Sam, that's for sure. He can stare at our pond for hours on end. I suppose it's actually good that we don't live near the ocean. I'd never see him again!

Well, anyway, those are my musings for the day. Where is your sanctuary? What do you love about your house or yard? Do you love it?

Basking in the solitude of the Tundra!

Love, Sarah