Resting up from the weekend.

What's one extra PWD? Or three? Or four? If you said "exhausting", you got the right answer!

On Wednesday, 6-month old pup "Willa" arrived for a weekend visit. She was really a very good girl for her age. She didn't chew anything she shouldn't, she ate her meals when they were offered and she slept nicely in her crate (after a few minutes of complaining the first night).

She did give us a good scare when she decided that we were no way, no how gonna catch her in our extremely large back yard on Thursday afternoon. I spent over an hour after I got home from work trying to persuade her that I really wasn't scary and that being caught wasn't a bad thing. I finally enlisted Ecko's help and by pretending to ignore Willa and play with Ecko instead I finally managed to capture her. Needless to say, she spent the rest of her stay with us dragging a leash so we could catch her when we needed to.

Willa and Ecko had fun playing on and off while she was with us and she followed Decker around like he was her hero.

Ecko engaging Willa in a game of "chase"

Willa with a toy. Isn't she cute?

On Friday evening, Julie dropped off Ecko's brother Cooper and his housemate Tsuzi. These two have stayed with us before and are always easy to have around, but still..... seven PWDs in one house? Yikes!

On Saturday morning, Dick and Ginny arrived to spend the weekend with us, bringing Ecko's brother Reef with them and the total PWD headcount hit eight. The dogs all got on amazing well. Fortunately the weather was amazing so the patio doors could be open to the back yard pretty much the whole weekend.

We had a yummy dinner which Dick and Jan cooked on the barbecue Saturday night to celebrate Ginny's upcoming birthday.

On Sunday, we had a visit from this beautiful bird. We heard her first, and thought it was the Pileated Woodpecker that visits each year. After looking at some bird websites on-line, I think it is actually a Northern Flicker, which supposedly makes a sounds very similar to the Pileated Woodpecker. Flickers are members of the woodpecker family. The Northern Flicker is 11 - 12 inches long, has a wingspan of 17 - 20 inches and weighs 3 3/4 to 5 1/2 ounces. They are common in open woodlands and suburban areas. They nest in a cavity in a tree or post.

Reef was the first PWD to depart, heading home with Dick and Ginny Sunday morning. Willa's family came to pick her up mid-afternoon and Cooper and Tsuzi left late in the afternoon. Amazing how peaceful the house seems with "only" four PWDs.