The Darlington Trail (Piper-style!)

Posted in Hikes, Piper by Annie T

On Halloween Matt and I took Piper hiking on the Darlington Trail. The Darlington Trail is a public hiking trail in Middletown Township, Delaware County, PA that winds along Chester Creek and an abandoned section of railroad that once connected Media to West Chester. Naturally, I brought my camera along to document this adventure and wanted to share a few of my favorite shots here.

Warning… lots of cute puppy photos ahead!!! 😊

Piper loved climbing around on the train tracks and even walked on one track balance beam-style for a few steps.

In order to get a good photo angle of little Piper I ended up lying down on the tracks, which put me at the perfect level for a surprise puppy attack!

Piper was a total ham on the hike and kept pausing to look at the camera.

Even when Piper got a break from walking she still made a point of looking at the camera!

At the end of the hike little Piper happily snoozed in my arms on the drive home. She is such a sweetie.

That’s it for this hike, but don’t worry, I have photos from a more recent hiking adventure that I will share soon! 🙂

27Oct2014

Welcome Home, Piper!!

Posted in Uncategorized by Annie T

We got a puppy! Matt and I are thrilled to welcome Piper into our lives and home. Isn’t she adorable?

Piper is a two month old German Shorthaired Pointer. Yesterday Matt and I drove from Pennsylvania to Wisconsin to pick Piper up from her breeder, Alliwood Shorthairs, and we just made it home from our 1750 mile round trip this afternoon. We drove there in about 14 hours, stopped for a few hours in a Chicago-area hotel with Piper (not easy with a little pup!), before getting back on the road at about 2:15am this morning. Needless to say, we are exhausted and should probably be sleeping right now… but I want to share a few more photos of our goofy, happy, snuggly new family member first!!

We are looking forward to enjoying many adventures with Piper! (The first of which starts tonight… housebreaking!) 🙂

1Oct2014

Farewell Summer Flowers, Hello Pumpkin Beer!

Posted in Adventures at Home by Annie T

Happy October! I love this time of year. Cool, crisp mornings, changing leaves, lots of apples and, soon, pumpkin-flavored everything. Call me crazy, but I like to wait until it really feels like autumn before going on pumpkin overload. (My one exception is pumpkin beer… Southern Tier Pumking is the best!)

The only thing that I don’t like about fall is that my once-lush summer garden inevitably wilts and dies as the temperatures drop and the days get shorter. Luckily it appears that my garden hasn’t yet gotten the memo about it being October because everything is still vibrant and perfect as of today. It’s hard to believe that in a few weeks I’ll be tearing out those zinnias, dahlias, pepper plants and other summer growth as I prep the garden for winter.

I took numerous photos of the flowers in my garden over the summer and thought that October 1st would be the perfect day to share their summer beauty before the garden transitions to fall. Farewell, summer flowers, and hello, pumpkin beer!!

Blanket Flower (8/10/14)

Pink-Tipped Dahlia (9/22/14)

Orange Zinnia (9/22/14)

Bella hunting butterflies in the zinnias (8/10/14)

Pink-Tipped Dahlia Bud (9/22/14)

Shasta Daisy (7/1/14)

Gazania Flower (7/1/14)

Pink Dahlia (7/1/14)

Pink Zinnia (7/1/14)

Delphinium (7/1/14)

White Dahlia (5/18/14)

Dahlia Bud (8/10/14)

Bee on a Zinnia (8/10/14)

Is there anything about autumn that you don’t like?
Does the arrival of pumpkin beer make up for it? 🙂
What’s your favorite pumpkin-flavored item at this time of year?

30Jul2014

Our Snorting House Guest, 22 Laps on a Track, and other July Events

Posted in Adventures at Home by Annie T

Hello blog world! As July winds down I wanted to share some of the things we’ve been up to this month. So, without further ado, here I go!

1. We have a tiny house guest who snorts occasionally. (OK, a lot.)

Meet Spencer. This feisty little pug belongs to Matt’s sister and her husband and he’s staying with us for a few days. He has quite a personality and is constantly snorting and sniffing his way around the house and yard. Quite a difference from the big GSPs and labs that I am used to! There are more photos of this little character at the end of the post if you haven’t gotten your fill of pug pictures yet.

Spencer

Spencer and Matt stare each other down

Spence and the flowers

2. I chose to run 22 laps around a track yesterday.

Yup, that’s 5.5 miles in case you were counting. Yesterday I must have gone crazy because I voluntarily joined a running club for their weekly speedwork at a local track. This was my first time running on a track since 2007 and boy, was it different than running a hurdle workout! The goal was to run the intervals at 5K pace and I actually did that surprisingly well, but apparently an 8 minute 5K pace is pretty slow because even the slowest of the women lapped me at least once during the workout. But, I guess that’s why I’m trying speedwork… to get faster!!! 🙂 I’m not sure yet but I think I might just go back next week.

3. On Saturday we hosted a party for 50 people..!

Did I mention that Matt and I have been crazy busy with housework and yard work since May? That’s because we knew we were hosting a huge fiesta-themed bridal shower for our awesome soon-to-be sister-in-law and we wanted to get everything looking good. “Looking good” included a complete overhaul of our front walk landscaping, tons of gardening, repainting and steam cleaning the room that used to be Bailey’s hangout, and a multitude of other self-imposed tasks around the house. It all came together perfectly on Saturday when 50+ people arrived for the shower. (That’s a lot of people, by the way.) The party was a blast but I’m also kind of excited that it’s over… now I might actually find some time after work to sit down and relax! (Or, you know, blog!)

Favors

Nacho Bar!

Margaritas and Sangria

House decked out for a party!!

4. Pup of the Month, Miss July edition:

Way back in November I learned that Bailey was chosen to be featured in Purebread Deli‘s 2014 Calendar. Purebread is a local bakery/cafe that has a dog theme and as part of winning the contest we got a free calender full of dog photos and coupons. Bailey was named “Miss July” so her photo has been gracing the wall of my cubicle at work all month. It’s hard to believe that she has been gone exactly 6 months today. Matt and I still miss her a lot but we are at least fortunate to get to spend time with the other dogs in our family like Spencer, Bella and Hershey.
(The calendar photo was taken at a DockDogs event in 2012 – you can read about it in this post if you’re interested.)

Featured Pure Bread Pup of July 2014

Fun Facts

And now, as promised, here are more pictures of Spencer. He’s pretty cute, right? 🙂 Have a great night!

Spencer looking grand

Spencer

Matt and Spencer

2May2014

Spring is Here!

Posted in Adventures at Home, Challenges by Annie T

I’m pretty sure that the universe really wants me to post some photos of flowers today. Why, you ask? Three reasons, primarily. First, Cee’s Fun Photo Challenge is FLOWERS. Second, the WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is SPRING. And third (and most importantly of all), my yard is in full bloom!!! Look at the beautiful spectacle I was greeted with upon arriving home from work today. Spring is really here!!!

In addition to the blossoming pink cherry trees that line the street in front of our house we also have weeping cherry, pear, and crabapple trees that are all blooming. Combine those with my daffodils, viburnum, vinca, and potted dahlias and that makes for a pretty amazing Spring scene!

Pink Dahlia

Vinca

Cherry Blossoms

Pear Blossoms

Crazy Daffodil

Red Dahlias (potted annuals)

Weeping Cherry Blossoms

Crabapple Blossoms

Unfortunately the deer have also realized that Spring has arrived and they are doing their best to gobble up the tasty tulips and azaleas as quickly as they can grow. This was never a problem in the past because Bailey patrolled the yard like it was her job, but it has now become clear that the deer have learned that their german shorthaired nemesis is no longer around to harass them.

Here’s an example of deer destruction in my tulip bed. Photo 1 is from last summer, 2 is what the baby tulips looked like in late March before we went to California, and 3 is what they look like now. Ack!! I have since pushed several pointy sticks into the flower bed (photo 4) to try to prevent the deer from wedging their heads in to snack… it’s not pretty but so far it has worked!

1: Tulips Last Year

2: Tulips in March

4: Deer-Proof Tulip Bed?

3: Deer-Ravaged Tulips

All deer issues aside, after the long, cold winter we had it is really wonderful to finally experience Spring. I’m going to try to spend as much time as possible outside enjoying the weather this weekend, starting off with a 5K trail race tomorrow morning. Wish me luck!

22Mar2014

Weekly Photo Challenge: Reflection

Posted in Challenges by Annie T

This week’s WordPress Weekly Photo Challenge is reflection:

I captured this photo of a Canadian Goose and his reflection on February 5th during the damaging ice storm that caused hundreds of thousands of power outages in our area. I was wandering around my mom’s icy backyard on snowshoes with my Nikon D90 when I spotted this goose standing at the edge of the pond. Hershey the chocolate lab saw the goose too and took off across the yard towards it. Luckily I had my camera up and ready and was able to snap a few shots as the goose flapped its wings and flew across the ice!

27Feb2014

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge: WHITE

Posted in Challenges by Annie T

I don’t usually participate in Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, but I follow a few bloggers who do and I was inspired by how Pami from Pa-BLAM! handled this week’s topic, the color white. Here in Southeastern PA snow has been covering the ground for 6+ weeks so you might think that ‘snow’ would be the first thing that comes to mind for a white photo challenge, but Pami defied old man winter and focused on spring instead. It’s so much nicer to think about crocuses, daffodils and cherry blossoms, don’t you think?

So, without further ado, here are my cheerful, non-wintery entries for this week’s Foto Challenge:

Daffodils, 2013

Crabapple Blossoms, 2012

And remember, despite this cold winter weather, Spring really isn’t that far away. Here are the dates that the above photos were taken. I wonder if this year will be an early Spring like 2012 (trees in full bloom by mid-April) or a later Spring like we had in 2013 (same trees blooming in early May). I vote early Spring!! 🙂

White Crocuses: March 23, 2012 (less than a month away!!!)
White Crabapple Blossoms: April 15, 2012
Pair of Daffodils: April 23, 2013
Crabapple Tree with Tulips: May 2, 2013
Shasta Daisy: July 3, 2013 (not Spring exactly but still a white flower…)

10Feb2014

February’s Icy Start

Posted in Adventures at Home by Annie T

On December 1st Matt and I bought a charming little decorative sign that cheerfully proclaimed “LET IT SNOW!” We hung the sign in our kitchen and since then our town has received over 3 1/2 feet of snow, resulting in 5 snow days and 2 late openings and early closings at work. Coincidence? I think not.

Last Wednesday’s ice storm was the season’s most disruptive storm by far (as of today, at least!). After a snow storm on Monday weighed down our trees with 7-8″ of heavy, wet snow, a wintry mix arrived late Tuesday night and coated everything in a thick layer of ice. We lost power in the middle of the night (along with 620,000 other PECO customers!) and the only sounds we could hear when we woke up were the violent cracks of tree branches snapping under the weight of snow and ice. Look at our sad, sad pine trees…

Healthy, happy pine trees

Pine Tree damage in the ice storm

SAD ice-covered trees!

In addition to the extensive pine tree damage we also lost half a tree in our front yard as well as several large branches. My mom’s yard fared even worse… Matt and I had to remove a tree from her driveway (before / after) in order to get to her house and upon our arrival we discovered her once-beautiful weeping willow tree had uprooted under the weight of the ice and was keeled over on its side in the snow.

It wasn’t all bad, though. My mom and stepfather have a generator so our whole family ended up at their house for the day. We spent our ice storm day chatting, drinking coffee, and completing a huge 1000 piece puzzle before enjoying a yummy dinner together. On Wednesday night Matt and I received word from our neighbors that our power was back on (woohoo!!!) so after our day of fun we were able to go home and gratefully enjoy heat, running water, and internet. 🙂

Here are some photos that I took on Wednesday during the ice storm. Brr…

Goose in flight

Goose across the ice

Canadian Goose

I disturbed this goose in my mom’s pond

Matt and I contemplated taking down our Let It Snow sign today but decided to leave it up a little longer. We’ll see if it’s still hanging in the kitchen after the storm that’s forecasted to hit us on Thursday… 8-12″ of snow!!! What a winter!

10Dec2013

Snow Day!

Posted in Adventures at Home, Bailey by Annie T

It snowed again today!! The snow started falling at 7:30AM and didn’t stop until another 3-4 inches were heaped atop the snow that we got on Sunday. Yay snow! Matt took a “snow day” (aka spent some quality time with his early Christmas present, an Xbox One) and I went into work for a few hours and enjoyed a productive morning in the nearly empty office. Once the roads were plowed I came home to play with Bailey in the snow. Did I mentioned that I LOVE snow??!!

Bailey loves the snow, too. Here are some photos from this afternoon… see the one where I totally whacked her in the head with a giant snowball? Oops!!

Bailey in the snow

Snowy Tree in the Front Yard

Yay snow!

Snow Day!

Snowy Branches

Bonk!!! Snowball to the face!

She’s ready for me to throw the snowball…

Stalking under the pine trees

Patrolling the yard

Bailey’s making a funny face.

Bailey

I shoveled the whole driveway!

Frolicking in the snow

After playing with Bailey I shoveled the whole driveway… talk about a work out! Now I just have to find the strength to get up off of this comfy couch and go run my daily mile(s) for the Runner’s World Holiday Streak. Today will be day 163 of my streak, woohoo!

Did you have a snow day today? How did you spend your day?

4Nov2013

Birthday Walk at Ridley Creek

Posted in Bailey, Hikes by Annie T

Last Friday was my birthday, woohoo! Because we were entered to run in the Trinity 5K at 9AM Saturday morning we kept Friday’s celebrating pretty low key. We got breakfast at Manhattan Bagel (my favorite) and worked a full day while hydrating like crazy for the race. After work we took a nice walk with Bailey at Ridley Creek State Park before eating a pasta dinner and getting a good night’s sleep. Here’s a photo of my Ridley Creek walking buddies… the perfect birthday companions! 🙂

The weather was gorgeous during our walk. Since we weren’t planning on doing any running in the park I brought my camera along to capture the beautiful autumn colors and my favorite photo subject, Bailey. Here are a few of the photos I took:

Bailey my little GSP

Rain drops on a leaf

Yellow Leaf

Bailey looking regal in her new harness

Bailey looks so happy with herself!

Orange Fall Leaves

Bailey hasn’t been to Ridley Creek State Park since I hurt my foot in late September. She was so happy to be out and about again! She was sporting her new ‘walkeez’ fleece harness and she paused for lots of photo ops. She’s such a good dog!