Love Fall, but ....

Yesterday I treated myself to a stop at Power's Farm Market. I had to get the oil changed on my car and drove by and decided, on the spur of the moment, to stop on in. Can I just say that it totally made my day and I didn't want to leave. They had a big wood fire going in their fireplace, there was the smell of 10 different types of apples in the air and the place was flooded with color from bright orange pumpkins and scarlet and yellow mums. I bought some apples and an apple crisp mix, a jar of maple mustard (made right near by in Nunda, NY), some chocolate walnut fudge and a loaf of homemade cranberry orange bread with crystallized sugar on top. Yummmmmmm!

I love everything about Fall: the leaves, the food, the crisp days, the way my Westies go out in the morning and come in all energized and frisky.

Well, I guess I should have said that I love "almost" everything about Fall because there is one thing that I really don't like at all: Goose Poop. Yes, I know that it is a nasty subject but Calvin and Teddy seem to just love the stuff. They can find the smallest amount anywhere on the 2 acres of property that they patrol each day. Now, Calvin isn't too bad, he finds it and kind of just does a quick roll so it gets here and there on his little body but Teddy, he's another matter all together. Teddy finds it, smells it, circles it and then finds the biggest, smelliest, deepest part and rolls his neck in it. You would think that just having it on a small part of his body would be better but No! he makes sure to cake it on, right on the side of his neck under his ear and along his jaw line so if you aren't careful you don't know it's there until he is sitting square on your lap looking up at you with those big beautiful brown eyes. And, then, whammo! you get a whiff of him. The really bad part of getting it caked on that part of his body is that that is where his collar is so not only does it get caked on him, it gets all caked in his collar. It is really, really gross and really, really smelly!

They came in from outside yesterday morning and both of them had it on them. Calvin, who is a lovey and wants to be near me all the time, just whined and wanted me to pick him up. He knew how bad it was and wanted my help in getting it off him. Teddy, who is a bit of a grumpster sometimes, just reveled in how bad he smelled and hid under the dining room table when he knew it was his time for a bath. Needless to say I coaxed him out (with a treat), tucked him under my arm, and took him upstairs to the bathtub. Within a half hour they were all white and coconutty smelling again.

When they were dry, we curled up on the couch (Westie bookends) and looked out the window at the beautiful Fall colors on the trees and the V shape the geese made on their way South (good riddance!).