WHAT?! WORK?!

I'M SURE EVERONE THINKS THAT WE ARE ALL PLAY AN NO WORK, BUT WE KNOW HOW TO GET DOWN AND DIRTY AND GET A JOB DONE. WELL, AT LEAST STARTED. THE PEOPLE THAT LIVED IN OUR HOUSE BEFORE US TORE OUT THE BACK YARD, SO WE'VE BEEN TENDING DIRT (WHICH IS WAY HARDER THAN TENDING GRASS) FOR THE TWO YEARS THAT WE'VE LIVED HERE. WE FINALLY DECIDED TO BUCKLE DOWN AND PUT IN A BACK YARD. I'VE DRAWN UP MY PLANS, SO NOW WE START THE DIRTY WORK.

IT'S FUN WHEN DAD BUYS ALL THESE SWEET TOOLS AND LETS US USE THEM. THANKS DAD! LIESEL IS THE FIRST (AND ONLY) ONE TO USE THE NEW BACK-HO ATTACHMENT. SHE DID AMAZING! WHAT SHE WAS DOING HERE WAS DIGGING UP WHERE A FENCE POST HAD BEEN CEMENTED 3 FEET IN THE GROUND. I'VE DUG UP 3 OF THESE IN THE FRONT YARD WITH A SHOVEL, AND THE BACK-HO WAS WAY EASIER.

SHE'S A NATURAL AT HEAVY MACHINERY

THIS IS HOW YOU TAKE OUT A SIDEWALK

ACTUALLY, THIS IS HOW YOU TAKE OUT A SIDEWALK

THIS IS NOT HOW YOU TAKE OUT A SIDEWALK. TOO BIG FOR THE BUCKET

WHICH CAUSES SOME MANUAL LABOR WITH A BIG HAMMER

TA DA! SO WE'VE SPRAYED FOR WEEDS, GOT RID OF THE CEMENT, NOW WE DIG TRENCHES. WE'LL KEEP YOU UPDATED (AS FUN AS THIS IS FOR YOU I'M SURE)

Negro Bill Canyon

For Memorial Day we decided to do a hike in Moab that is dog friendly. Tripp has been jeeping in Moab, but never hiking. Until now....

This is the trailhead for Negro Bill canyon and it goes to Morning Glory natural bridge.

Tripp was a good leader. Somehow she knew the trail the whole way (probably was sniffin out the dogs ahead of her).

This was Tripps first real experience with water. I want her to like the water, but she had a bad first experience. On the way up the trail there was a rock sloping into the water. Tripp wanted a drink, so she inched her way down it until she could reach the water with her mouth. She got a little drink, lost her balance, and fell right in. She put all fours out reaching for something to grab onto. She got out fine, but when we came to the next water crossing, she did everything she could to "rock hop" across and not ever touch the water. After a while she figured out the water wasn't going to hurt (but would actually cool her off) so she wasn't quite so timid.

Tripp goes so good with the Moab sand and rocks.

The shade made for some nice breaks on the hike.

Tripp is a little scared of strangers, so this is what she did when we pulled over to let other hikers pass. She is so cute! And that is the problem, she is so cute that people walking by want to pet her. When they reach their hand out she'll back away and not let them get close.

Morning Glory Natural Bridge is the 6th largest natural bridge span in North America.

We found some people repelling down it. How cool!

Tripp would watch closely to see what new people and dogs would come to the natural bridge while we hung out there cooling off.

So we decided Tripp is part deer. She looks like one, and she can jump like nobodies business! We were running down the trail, and this little part had rock steps up the side, but she went straight up and over with little effort. We're considering re-naming her Tigger. Boing....

BEAUTIFUL COUNTRY!!!

The morning hike in was very pleasant, but on the way back the afternoon sun would make the sand a little hot for Tripps little paws. This is the point where she started liking coming up to water crossings.

There were some long stretches where there was no water or shade, and she just couldn't take it. She would sit down and try to get all of her paws off the hot sand. Kind of reminds me of "footprints in the sand."

On one of our last breaks on the trail I looked up at the tree providing us with shade and saw this beautiful picture.

And of course we can't go to Moab without hitting up the local T-Shirt shops!

Tripp was a trooper, and she definitely got worn out. I love how cuddly she gets when she is tired. Or maybe she thinks the same thing about me ha ha

NINE MILE!!!

So guess what! We went somewhere else worthy of blogging. We had our annual memorial day weekend fencing trip. We headed out Friday night and spent Saturday messing around and doing a little fencing. We had Liesel's Dad, brother Beau, and sisters Kallie and Abby with us. We had Tripp with us too.

This is the beginning of the summer village.

Of course we had to do a little pot gut hunting. The 22's are a must out in camp.

The pot guts even turned Kallie into a mighty hunter.

Liesel just can't get enough of it. Isn't she CUTE!!!!

Beautiful country.....

Tripp was so much fun out there. She loved being able to run around with Chaco as fast as they could. They would do circles around camp until they couldn't run anymore.

Here we are doing a little work. Those dang Elk plow through the barbed wire like it isn't even there.

The dogs did so good sticking around, we didn't even have to watch them. We just had to watch that we didn't run them over, and that they didn't get caught up in the fence.

Chaco had blood on her head and we decided it was coming from Tripps mouth. We gave her a drink, then couldn't find where the blood was coming from. Whatever it was, it healed up quick. It was beautiful weather and we had a really relaxing, fun trip.