Penny's Birthday

Our Labra-puppy Penny turned 1 today!!!

Ben and I started off the day by sleeping in, a startling rare occurrence in our household...we eventually got going, and headed into town to do some chores and some playing...our first stop was the laundromat in town...I have a monstrous sleeping bag which smells like trolls have been wrestling in it all winter, hitting each other with dirty-wet gymsocks...it filled our washing machine to capacity and beyond, so I figured that I would let the industrial -sized machines in town handle it, which they did, admirably...it now smells like princesses have been playing badminton in it (sedately), using potpourri instead of birdies...



Next to the laundromat is a playground which we have always referred to as, "the crappy playground next to Stewart's", which I found out today is a misnomer...it's a pretty great playground, with lots of fun and challenging elements...{{{for those who may be wondering if all of my clever names for places in downtown Saranac Lake are misnomers, the Chinese restaurant that we refer to as, "the shitty Chinese place" is justifiably named}}}


Ben was dressed in Adirondack Spring Casual, which means mudboots, shorts, pile-lined Carhart jacket and a t-shirt...it was 15 degrees this morning, and 55 this afternoon, so it worked for him all day long...


Lots of climbing and running around later, we went back to check on the sleeping bag...it was fine, but the laundromat stank strongly like propane...I mentioned this to the sleepy woman behind the counter, and she countered with, "It gets worse as the day goes one, you should be in here around 5, when we close."...nobody should, but someday it'll go boom, and you can say that you heard it here first...


After changing the sleeping bag into a huge dryer (Ben and I could have both fit inside it, no problem), we went off in search of a newly approved geocache not too far from town...it was a small container disguised like a rock hidden somewhere along a ginormous wall of rock...the one Ben is holding is not the geocache, that's just a rock...my plan is to post this picture on the geocaching.com website to get someone to look for this rock instead of the actual container...I'm just mean like that (Ben isn't and has no idea, either of my evil nature or my plan, so don't tell him)...it was a fun hunt on a gorgeous day, and Ben found it when I was about to give up...we were the first to find this particular geocache...yay us!

Auntie Gladys was asking about geocaching, so I assume that other readers of this blog might have similar questions...the best place to learn about it is through geocaching.com and/or to read their FAQ on Geocaching...


We went back to the laundromat, and I held my breath to run inside while Ben stayed in the car, and when I found that the dryer needed 20 more minutes, we went back to the playground, with Ben losing some layering in the heat of the afternoon...


He had a great time at the playground and geocaching, and when the sleeping bag was dry, we went shopping for birthday supplies for Penny...



Traditionally, Sheffield dogs get their birthday cakes at the table, and it's normally carrot cake...but Penny is a princess, so we varied the formula a bit, and got her an aggressively pink layer cake, and she loved it...


She was very happy when we started singing to her, but a little "whatchoo talkin' 'bout Willis?" when the plate with cake started descending towards her mouth...


She got over her trepidation quickly though, and wolfed the whole piece amazingly quickly...she was a little more ladylike on her second helping...

Ben's asleep, Penny's asleep, Cedar's asleep, and Vinnie's asleep...there is snoring coming from every nook and crannie of this house, and it (or the full weekend) is lulling me to an early bed...

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