Mellow at-home weekends

We've taken the last few weekends easy, so there's not much to update. 

I got Sophie a subscription to the BarkBox. It's a company that sends your dog treats and toys every month. All their products are good quality (most made and sourced in the US) and safe for your pet (no recall-happy China imports here!) As soon as I brought the box in off the front porch, Sophie was curious. When I opened the box, her nose was immediately inside. No toys came in this month's box, which was fine with me since Sophie doesn't play with toys (any that we do receive will be going to her cousin Kieko) and she thinks with her tummy. 

This month's theme was picnic, and the box included 
1) a bone: She REALLY wants the bone, but we're waiting until we have a nice long time outside together so it doesn't get on the carpet, but I can still keep an eye on her so she doesn't choke on anything
2) sirloin burger treats: Some bite-sized crunchy treats which she LOVED and couldn't get enough of. I'll probably try to track these down so she can have them again in the future, she loved them so.
3) sweet potato chips: I tried feeding her one, but she just looked at me. I left it on the floor and she ate it about 20 minutes later when she realized that the sirloin treats had stopped coming.
4) Calm K9 treats: These little square treats are made with natural ingredients designed to help calm your dog down during exciting times (aka Fireworks!). Sophie pulled the box off the counter while Dustin and I were at the movies. She ate 4 of the 6 treats (FYI 1/2 a treat was a serving size for a dog her size), but she didn't seem any calmer than normal (not that she's a hyper dog anyway). We kept an eye on her to make sure she didn't OD on chamomile, but man did her farts stink all night long! It doesn't help that she sometimes likes to sleep with her backside aimed in the direction of my head. Gag! I'll send a treat home with Kieko to see if it helps the poor girl get through the 4th of July fireworks.
5) a bottle of dog-friendly beer: I've heard of a lot of dogs liking the taste of beer (which is VERY bad for them!), I guess I can see where they came up it. We'll have to see how well Soph likes it, but regardless, I don't think I'll be buying it in the future

I didn't get any pictures of the individual treats, but this blog has some photos, product pricing and links for this month and past months so you can get an idea of what's inside the box month-to-month. I was definitely happy this month since I only pay $19/month and this box is valued at $35. We'll keep them coming and I'll try to keep everyone updated on what prizes Sophie receives.

She bee-lined it straight to the bone

Dustin and I went to the movies to see the zombie movie World War Z. Both of us read the book years ago (the book follows a journalist who goes around interviewing people years after the initial zombie outbreak and covers a lot of different aspects of the war. It's really good and I would definitely recommend it to anyone who likes zombie stuff), so we were eagerly awaiting its release. I had heard beforehand that the movie wasn't anything like the book, so we went into the movie with open minds because, hey, I like zombie movies anyway. I was actually pretty disappointed, and I think Dustin felt the same. When the end of the movie came, I was like, "Really? That's it?". I guess it was worth seeing once, but I don't think I'll watch it again. Darn you, Brad Pitt, for buying the movie rights and then messing it all up by making a completely different movie! The Battle of Yonkers will never be seen on screen. It did, however, make me want to re-read the book.



I've also been maintaining my not-so-little container garden in the backyard. Unfortunately I didn't pay enough attention to my broccoli and the first batch went to seed before I harvested it, but I should have some more in the next few days. All my plants seem to be doing well and some my tomato plants that were tiny little seedlings when I planted them have gotten so big! I even have a few tiny cherry tomatoes started. I planted some marigolds and zinnias in each of the pots to hopefully keep the bugs away. It seems to be working pretty well so far, though it looks like I have some black aphids living on a few tomato plants that I need to get rid of. I've heard that using a homemade spray with garlic is a good natural way to get rid of them, so I'll be trying that out.

What a happy little garden! And a cute little red dog

Tiny cherry tomatoes

We checked out the super moon on Saturday night. It didn't look as big as I was expecting, but it sure was bright. Unfortunately Dustin is always forgetting his nice camera at work, so I only got a few crappy pictures with my iPhone. Google some pictures for the super moon. I saw a few really amazing pics from the Statue of Liberty and Greece.

I wanted to get a really nice silhouette of the moon above the mountains, but my iPhone doesn't take very good photos in the dark 

Sophie didn't understand why we were driving around in the middle of the night

While browsing Yelp last week I discovered Millcreek Canyon, an apparently popular hiking and biking area that allows dogs off-leash on odd-numbered days of the week (on-leash dogs are still welcome on the even-numbered days). We decided to try it out on Sunday, but were immediately kicking ourselves for wearing flip flops and only bringing one smallish water bottle for the three of us. I had assumed that there was only one trail and, being spoiled by Parley's Historic Nature Park (which has a creek running through its entirety), didn't even think to bring Sophie's water. It was really hot and we went through our water bottle pretty quickly, so we were only able to do part of one of the trails, which was very pretty, but really steep. There are 23 trails total that vary from 1.8 to 17.8 miles (the long one is aptly named Desolation Trail). We'll definitely be back on another odd-numbered day, but next time with a Camelbak, hiking shoes, snacks, and some water for Soph.

Look for more photos next week. My sister Britni is coming down with her hubby Jeremy and we'll be going to Lagoon! Wahoo! 

We got out of the trees and got some pretty views, but the temperature went up about 10 degrees! Whew!

Our poor hot little dog! Look at that droopy tongue!

Aww, these two are my favorite!