But I don't want to leave.

Keller's facial expressions don't need words to describe them. This morning her sad, half-perked ears said it all: "But I don't want to leave........"
Much like Keller, I wish camping would last forever. We had such a great time with the Brocks when they joined us at Great River Bluffs State Park Saturday night-Sunday morning. The weather was perfect, the trees were just about peaking, and the company was excellent. Camping is great even when illness strikes - Keller picked up her fair share of ticks (12? 15?), one that bit her being a deer tick. I got sick Saturday, Owen was ill, and the rest remained unharmed. It doesn't matter. What matters is that we had a terrific time and we look forward to another adventure with them again (Keller and Duncan would have to agree). Keller had so much fun she wanted to go home with Duncan, instead.

Time to play Mouse Trap

Apparently we have a mouse in the house. Or, we had one. Apparently Keller found one upstairs in the guest bedroom. When Dave found it, it was a goner.

Gross.

Gosh, I hope that's all.

Teaching Keller new tricks

Here's Keller doing one of the things she does best - chasing smells in the field behind our house. Her and Pete also had some snuggle time at Adam's a month back.

I'm sorry for the lackluster posts as of late. I've had to re-shift priorities with starting up school again, working full time, and Dave still being gone a lot (funny enough, my priority shifting never seems to maintain hold for long).

But I have adjusted to sitting in the late evening and doing homework. Keller, at first, was probably thinking "What are you doing?????", but she will adjust, and is. The shorter daylight in the evening is helping us both adjust to more inside quiet time in the evening. But I still need to wear her out as much as possible when I get home from work so she's not a squirrely mess for the next couple of hours (meaning I can read and concentrate). Normally, she ends up on the couch next to me or in Dave's chair, happily sighing (another thing she does well). :)

I am working on teaching Keller how to shake her tail feather. That means, shake her tail. You know that rap song? Yeah. I thought it would be really funny. She's good with sit, stay, come, shake; we're working on heel, she's quasi on Fetch, will do DOWN and OFF when forced, and looooooooooves the stretch command. The stretch one is by far the funniest. I'm trying to teach her "Tail feather!" now. She's not a fan of rolling over.

What other tricks would be good? I would like to teach her how to do my homework, or fold the laundry. Maybe feed herself. Maybe use utinsels. Maybe how to turn on the lights. But she definitely knows when it's bed time, and she always finds the right spot to curl up nearly on top of me.

Our camping dog

This is my favorite pic of Keller from our four-day trip to Willow River State Park. Keller spent Thursday, Friday, and Saturday morning with us until we dropped her off at Nonnie and G'pa's for the rest of the weekend so we could go to our wedding. Unfortunately, this wasn't the Boundary Waters and Keller couldn't roam free this trip. But she still had a great time, and had SUCH a good time that she brought back four ticks, three of which I found this morning.

Hugs from Keller

Keller has missed Dave with him being gone (we both have). Here's Dave comforting her that he'll be home again. Actually, he was proving he still loved her even though he had to clean out her painful gooky ear.

Keller pup was back at the vet last week because we thought she had an ear infection. Whenever I rubbed her right ear (she always has problems with that ear), there was a sloshing liquid sound. And she was increasingly shaking her head and scratching her ear. So I called, and they suggested bringing her in.

Sorry, pups. Just more of that nasty yeast stuff building up in her ear again. It's the gross brown/black gook that smells nasty, and we try to do a good job of keeping her ears cleaned, but it just can't be fully beat, I suppose. So we got some more goop for her ears and off we went. Keller loves and hates the vet at the same time. Correction: she enjoys seeing everyone, but doesn't like having her ears poked at and cried quite a bit (well, I'm sure it hurt, too!).

She has had fun lately with Santi, Ann & Ella, swimming, chasing birds, and sleeping in bed with me, keeping me company. She's just as confused as me with the schedule I've been working as of late.

Keller's mad canoeing skills

This is merely ironic since my last pictures in my last post were of canoeing. But I found this tonight searching for pictures to submit for the Minnesota 2012 WeatherGuide calendar. This is where Keller got her canoe start...and her mad canoeing skills...when she was barely three months old at Chester Park. What a baby!

Canoe on, yo!

Have I ever mentioned that Keller has mad canoeing skills? Well, she likes to scoot from side to side, to get the best view. I think she feels like she's going to miss something, otherwise. So all of her 48 pounds forces us to balance the boat pretty quickly, lest we risk tipping. But she is a great companion in the canoe, and also likes her swims. 'Cause who doesn't?

Here are two from our canoe trip on Zumbro Lake last Sunday, which, we'll never canoe on probably ever again (confounded ignorant speed boats and their ignorant wave makers!)