Dixie Day

Did you know there is a National Dixie Day?  How can you have overlooked such an important day?  Mark your calendar next year for August 1.  Actually, on second thought, this holiday may come around more often than once a year.  After all, shouldn't I be honored as often as possible???

Okay, so technically this holiday doesn't really exist, but IT SHOULD!!!  Mommy and I had a pawfect day on August 1, just the two of us.  Truth be told, she was feeling guilty.  Ruger got to try out the new dawg park all by himself the day before, and Ruger and Jenna went on their morning walk together and went swimming.  I was left out for reasons I'm still unclear about.  To make up for it, Mommy treated me to TWO surprises!

She decided to take a chance on me at the dawg park.  She was very nervous at first.  I tend to be a little aggressive towards other dawgs on our morning walks.  Mommy says it's because it's my only chance to be the Alpha Dawg.  I growl and bare my teeth at any dawg we come across that doesn't growl at me first.  Mommy says it's very embarrassing.  I think it's empowering!

She need not have worried.  I was an angel at the dawg park!  I REALLY was!  It had been sooooo long since I'd seen that much space to run free.  I really miss my HUGE backyard from the last house.

The dawg in the purple collar is Luna.  She's on the Welcome Committee at the park.  She greeted every dawg that arrived.  She and I played together a little bit.

We didn't catch this dawg's name, but she wanted my ball every time I retrieved it.  I do NOT give up my ball for anyone.  Well, maybe for Ruger.

Mommy took lots of tennis balls with us and we found lots of balls too!  I was in ball heaven!

All that running was exhausting!  I run in my yard where we live now, but it's more like short sprints.  This running was a build up to a marathon!

I had a great time at the dawg park, but my day wasn't over . . . 

Can you guess where we headed next???  We went through the drive thru window . . . 

at STARBUCK'S!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

One delicious puppuccino coming right up!

A friend asked recently if this was whipped cream or gray hairs on my face.  I'd like to say the whipped cream got away from me, but no, those are gray hairs!  I don't have many and they're in really weird places.

My pup cup was good to the last lick!  I had a fabulous day, just me and Mommy!  I can't wait until the next Dixie Day!

Love, Dixie

Flashback Friday!

Ruger has been with us for a year and two months now.  Mommy's had fun trying to recreate some of the group pictures she took last summer.  She used the same bandanas from last year, but we think you'll agree something's labsolutely changed over the past year.  Let us know if you can put your paw on it . . .

Fourth of July Fabulous (albeit distracted)

Our personalized seersucker bandanas from Three Spoiled Dogs (very Southern of us) . . . 

(Yes, that's the real name of the company.  Coincidence??)

Two out of three labs look exactly the same.  Guess we haven't changed that much after all!
Jenna, Ruger & Dixie

Dawg Park

Our city finally opened a dawg park in May.  Yeehaw!!  My sisters never needed a dawg park before since they had a huge yard at their last house, but this city definitely needed one since many of the yards are really small (including ours). Mommy isn't sure why she waited until the end of July before taking us, but she did (insert eye roll).

Mommy knew she couldn't take all three of us at the same time (at least not on the first visit).  She was afraid to take Jenna since her knee acts up from time to time, and Dixie can be aggressive towards strange dawgs.  So that meant the lucky dawg was ME!!!

I was very well behaved and ran around with lots of dawgs!  This is the first dawg I met at the park.  Her name is Lottie and she's a Labradoodle.

I also met Ralph.  He liked to run with me to retrieve balls.  Sometimes he beat me to them.  That didn't matter; I just took them back right from his mouth!

I've never seen so much space to RUN free!!!!

(Mommy says I would have LOVED the yard at the previous house.)

 It's too bad my body is cut off in this picture.  If you look closely, I look like I'm a bucking horse!

All this play time is a workout.  There's a water fountain for humans and dawgs, but I preferred the water bottle Mommy brought for me.  The other dawgs liked it too!  I was quite popular.

I can't wait 'til we go again!
Ruger

Santa Fe via Los Alamos

Mommy and Aunt Holly made a day trip from Santa Fe to the nearby town of Los Alamos.  They visited Bandelier National Monument.  Ancient Pueblo Indian homes are preserved here where they are carved into the side of volcanic rock.  It was a hot day of hiking and climbing, but they had lots of fun!

This is what's left of a kiva, an underground chamber made by the Pueblos for ceremonial rites.  

They really liked this structure as it looks like a face!  Can you see it?

The main walking path included several steps in narrow places.

You can climb up into these living areas and see how the Pueblos lived.  It was very cool in there.

There were a few petroglyphs to be see along the way.  Daddy would have been happy to see these.  The last time he saw petroglyphs Mommy made him climb up a very tall flight of steps to view them!

The big attraction at Bandelier is the Alcove House 140 feet above Frijoles Canyon.  Mommy and Aunt Holly weren't sure if they were going to be up for this adventure or not.

If you look closely, you can see three of the four staircases which you have to climb in order to reach the top.  The first ladder is off to the left.  The second ladder (in the center of the picture) is the tallest.

It's a long way up!  When looking at this ladder, we can sort of understand why Mommy didn't take us with her on this trip.  We would have had a bit of difficulty navigating these steps.  Of course, if Daddy was there, he would have held our leashes as we sat in the canyon and waited for Mommy to return!

This is the view at the halfway point!

Along with this friendly reminder . . . 

Look!  THEY MADE IT!!!  They were so stinkin' proud of themselves.  Kind of like we are when we catch a treat thrown to us.

Don't you just want to reach into this picture and pat their heads with a "GOOD GIRL!" thrown in for good measure??  In another second, we're sure their tongues would have been hanging out.

There was another kiva at the top of this long climb in the Alcove House. And a beautiful view.  Mommy and Aunt Holly took a few minutes to catch their breath and then began the slow climb back down the ladders.  They are so glad they didn't skip this opportunity.

From Bandelier National Monument, Mommy and Aunt Holly traveled into the city of Los Alamos.  They stopped along the way for this beautiful view.  Mommy is a mountain girl and could feel herself breathing easier with each new view!

The city of Los Alamos is considered to be the home of the atomic bomb.  Scientists who worked on the Manhattan Project lived in this fence enclosed "city" while working on this world changing scientific development.  The average scientist was 26 years old!  Does that seem young to anyone else?  Scientists were allowed to bring their families to stay with them, but no one could travel more than a 100 miles radius while working on the bomb.  Everyone who lived in the city of Los Alamos used PO Box 1663 in Santa Fe as their address! 

There isn't much to see at this National Park.  Most of the remaining buildings used during this time period are falling down and behind the fence of the still operational Los Alamos National Laboratory.

Everything and everyone had to pass through this gate on the way to Los Alamos.

 

The first scientists to arrive for the Manhattan Project lived in the Los Alamos Ranch School, now called The Lodge.  The school was a private boys school that offered a strong academic curriculum and rigorous outdoor activities.  When the US government came in and purchased the property, the school year ended early!

On the way back to Santa Fe from Los Alamos, Aunt Holly noticed this rock formation.  Mommy turned the car around so they could get a closer look.  Can you tell what it looks like???  It's called Camel Rock.  And coincidentally, it just happened to be Hump Day!  BOL . . . bark out loud!!

There was a great view of the mountains in the distance.  You can see the rain too!  It's monsoon season in New Mexico.  Seriously! (Anyone else think this is weird for what Mommy thinks of as a desert state??)  It's not unusual to experience sudden downpours in the afternoons and even flash floods.

Happy Hump Day from Mommy, Aunt Holly, and us!
Dixie, Jenna & Ruger

Santa Fe . . . Churches

Santa Fe is known for having some beautiful churches.  While Mommy and Aunt Holly were on their recent trip, they visited four churches in the city.  Three of the churches were within easy walking distance of each other and they knocked all three out in one quick afternoon.

The first church they visited was the Saint Francis Cathedral.  It was built by Santa Fe's first Archbishop Lamy between 1869-1886 on the site of an older adobe church.  Not only does this church honor St. Francis of Assisi, but it also honors Kateri Tekakwitha, the first North American Indian to be promoted to sainthood.

No downtown building can be built taller than the bell towers of Saint Francis!

The second church Mommy and Aunt Holly visited was Loretto Chapel which is home to the Miraculous Staircase.

The Chapel was completed in 1878 and for some reason it lacked access to the choir loft.  Carpenters were called in but deemed the space too small for a staircase and so a ladder would have to be used.  The Sisters of the Chapel made a novena to St. Joseph, the patron saint of carpenters, in hopes of finding a solution.  On the final day of prayer, a man appeared with a donkey and a toolbox looking for work.  Months later, the staircase was finished and the carpenter disappeared without pay or thanks.  No one could find a trace of him anywhere and some have concluded he was St. Joseph himself. It is unclear how the staircase was built (originally without banisters) as it has no obvious means of support and the wood it's made of is still undetermined.

Just down the road from the other two churches is the San Miguel Chapel which is considered to be the oldest church in the US.  Being East Coast girls, Mommy and Aunt Holly had their doubts about this fact.  (Oldest is a technical term that depends on what part of the church you are talking about . . . building, congregation, etc.)  This church was built between 1610-1626.

Mommy and Aunt Holly did not enter this next church, but it was located close to a restaurant they ate at.  They were able to see it during sunset.  The Santuario de Guadalupe was built in 1777 and is the oldest, still-standing shrine built in honor of Our Lady of Guadalupe in the US.  As time went by, a new church was built on this site, but the original shrine still stands inside.  There is also a twelve foot statue of Our Lady of Guadalupe outside.

We hope you've enjoyed this tour of churches in Santa Fe.  We have one more day of Mommy's trip to share with you soon!
Dixie, Jenna & Ruger