Cayenne Turns 9

Our best girl and the sweetest Simpson turned nine on July 4th.  It’s hard to believe she’s already nine as she still acts like a puppy much of the time.  As is tradition, she had a special pancake.  Normally made with chicken jerky treats, this one had Lil’ Smokie bits, so I think it was extra exciting.  She could barely contain herself while we were trying to wait for it to cool a bit.  If there’s one thing that has stayed true about Cayenne for her whole life, it’s her love of food.  She’d be a 300lb Vizsla if we let her!

   

She enjoyed her pancake, opened some presents, and got plenty of love from the family on her special day.

  

Her favorite activities include hiking with the family, swimming, exploring new places, playing chase, and perhaps her favorite...

  

…stalking this little guy.  

After pirating food from our bird feeder, he hides under the grill cover before making a quick exit off either side of the deck.  Cayenne watches intently for him from the deck door and tries to flush him out from under the cover.  He’s crafty and manages to make a quick run for it while she’s at the other side of the grill, so I think he’s in no danger of getting caught, but she’s obsessed with him.

  

Cayenne can definitely be high maintenance at times, she’s very vocal, and she can be quite stubbon when she doesn’t want to do something, but she is so sweet, so loving, gets along well with almost anybody/any dog, and I’d say she’s such a great dog, but I’m sure she’d take offense to that because she may not realize she’s a dog.  She’s way more human than she is dog, but we love her.

Hungry Mother Vacation

We tried something different for a family vacation this year and booked a week in a house at Hungry Mother State Park in the far southwestern portion of Virginia.  The house was a cute little 3 bedroom place that was surrounded on water by all sides, naming it Hungry Mother Island.  On most days, the water going around the house is rather mild, but it rained all day on the first full day we were there, and the water was rushing!   Despite the rain on the first day, we were all outside quite a bit - the girls stick racing and skipping rocks, and Mark and I took a rainy walk around the lake just to check things out.  

 

Once the rain stopped, we got out for a quick bike ride to see what was around, the girls checked out “the beach” and Mark tried a little fishing while the girls carved more sticks for racing and rafting.  

  

 

 

Thankfully the weather during the rest of the week was good, so on our 2nd full day, we did a really cool hike to Molly’s Knob that had great views of the surrounding area.

  

 

While the girls slept in in the mornings, Mark and I did some great moutain biking.  There is a trail that goes around the lake that we could easily ride to from our house, so that was a lot of fun for us.

  

We also visited the beach, did a float trip at a local river, did another hike at Clyburn’s Ridge, paddle boated, kayaked, and got a lot of time at the fire pit.

 

Mark was clearly in his element here - outdoor grilling while tending a fire.  

  

  

Hungry Mother State Park is in the small town of Marion, VA, so we went into town one evening for dinner.  Marion has a very small town feel, and while I don’t think we’re built to be in that environment for the long term, it was definitely nice to visit and experience something completely different than what we’re used to on vacation.