Yesterday the sun was shining, but the wind was blowing a bit. I took our sweet doggie out for a walk to give her some exercise since she recently had hip surgery, and she loved being in the sunshine. So we would slowly limp around the yard, sniffing the wind and listening to the geese honking as they flew over the pond in the field across the road from our house. I was so encouraged to see her taking an interest in things around her as she has been unable to move much since her little accident. She would sometimes walk / limp across the front yard, and then she would sometimes do a three-legged jog, but I always had her securely attached to me via her harness and leash. We also have a sling that helps give her back legs some support as she is recovering from surgery, but she is quickly moving beyond the need for that.

As we walked over by the mailbox she stopped, sniffed the air, listened intently for something, and then . . . she just plopped right down on the grass to take a rest. She loved sitting there with the warm sun shining on her, so she then decided to lay down. That was great! Except that I was just standing there waiting for her to move along, so the breeze was rather chilly when I was standing still. So I waited . . . and waited . . . and waited. I thought it was really good for her to be outside in the fresh air, and it really felt great to me, as well after being inside for the past several months to avoid the blowing snow.

But I was getting really cold, so I tugged on her leash and kind of pulled up a bit on her sling, and she got right up and headed for the front door. I hope we are making progress on teaching her where she can and cannot go. I’m encouraged. Today was another beautiful day with a bright blue sky, sun shining warmly on our deck, and very little breeze. Out we went again, and down she plopped in the grass, sniffing the air with her nose twitching  and her ears perking up at every bird tweet and squirrel rustling the leaves. After a few minutes of being on “high alert” to all of the exciting events happening in our yard on a Wednesday morning, she again decided to flop down in the sun, laying on the grass.

By this time I needed to go back inside to try and get some work done, but I really didn’t want to make her go back inside. Hmmmm . . . . since we have several leashes of different lengths, I decided to put a couple of them together and attach one end to the railing of our deck just outside my office door. That way I could see her and make sure she was safe, but I could attempt to catch up on a bunch of stuff that was neglected while she was in the hospital last week.

I took her blanket out and spread it out in the sunshine and she immediately sat right down on the blanket, still observing everything going on around her. Well, “everything” is a rather broad definition of what actually happens in our yard on a Wednesday morning. There were robins hopping across the grass and flitting up into one of the big trees in our front yard; there was a squirrel on the other side of the deck scampering under the bushes; and there was a gentle breeze. Not exactly exciting, but she was certainly entertained! Eventually she laid down on the blanket, closed her eyes, and dozed off for about a half hour in the sunshine.

As I was bringing her back in, I noticed a corner of our yard, right beside our deck where we cleaned out the flower beds last summer. We were trying to simplify our yard and garden responsibilities, so we tamed a few overgrown flower areas. But there in the corner, peeking up from the layer of dead leaves from last year was a whole bunch of daffodil shoots. Some of them even had buds on them so I’m excited about watching them bloom. I’m NOT excited about watching all the buds popping out on all of our great big trees because they push those icky brown seed pods (or whatever they are that fall from the trees in the spring). I wish the leaves would just spontaneously pop out on the branches and skip the part where we have to sweep up those millions of tiny brown things that fall all over our deck and driveway.

Anyway, after a couple of weeks of stress and anxiety, between the dog getting hit by and car and having hip surgery and now a kid with potential knee surgery on the horizon, I needed a sunny spring day with our sweet doggie resting peacefully in the sunshine, and the daffodils peeking up through the dead brown leaves from last autumn, really made me feel hopeful again. I’m also very happy to be back at the TFT party this week . . . . I missed you all last week! I hope you can join us, and I promise, I will do my best to get out and about to visit some of you this week. See you soon,

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Welcome to this week’s Thursday Favorite Things Blog Hop and Linky Party!

Remember you can add three links until midnight on Saturday. One each day or all at once. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us. It’s time to party my sweet bloggy friends. You can add three links until midnight on Saturday. One each day or all at once. Please invite your blog friends and social network to join us. – Inlinkz has implemented a new policy when you add your link to the list you need to click the little square boxes about their policies on the bottom right.

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Katherine-Katherines Corner

Nina-Vintage Mamas Cottage

Marilyn-Marilyns Treats

Bev-Eclectic Red Barn

Amber- Follow the Yellow Brick Home

Theresa- Shoestring Elegance

Linda- Crafts a la Mode

Pam- An Artful Mom

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