Eva Turns 3!

 I can't believe our baby girl just turned three!
It seems like just yesterday we brought her home all paws, gangly legs, and wiggly butt.

We have learned so much and had so much fun: puppy classes, catching rabbits and other critters, Rally-O classes and even a Rally-O competition with a win!

I can't imagine having any other companion to complete our little family. She is just perfect for us even when she does get into trouble or roll in heaven knows what!

Such a great snuggler.

For Halloween she did really well with the doorbell always going off... I found out that giving her a favorite rawhide every time minimized barking and gave her something to focus on.
(She wore her "Prisoner" costume again this year... too cute!)

In preparation for the impending cold, we got the fireplace and chimney cleaned. We had the ugly, fake, (broken) logs with gas flames coming through. The chimney sweeps told us we could actually convert it to a wood-burning fireplace!
I know a lot of people like/want gas, but we will still have the gas line for ignition, and I just love the smell of a real wood fire. Plus this way we will have a heat source if the gas ever goes out.  We only light a few fires a year and are young and can buy just a bit of fire wood.
And the gas line will still be plumbed, so future owners can re-install a gas insert.

As Halloween has passed, I like to give Fall/Thanksgiving to most face-time as possible before we get inundated with everything Christmas. So I threw this mantle decoration together using what I had around the house. I still need to add some squash/gourds for a bit more "harvest" feel.

Want to know a trick? See that twine wrapped around the candles? They were too boring by themselves, so I took some strings from the burlap fraying edges to use as a wrap! Not too bad for less than a half hour for the whole thing.