I like blackberries!

Handy Man took me with him to the garden this morning; I love going to the garden! He was going to harvest the last of the blackberry crop and he again let me eat my fill.....oh the yummy joy! I can pick them right off the vine and I always choose the biggest, juiciest ones. Now maybe tonight they will have blackberries and ice cream and I'll get a lick!

Nice Lady was telling me that blackberries grow all across the United States and most likely her ancestors enjoyed blackberry desserts too. I'll bet my dogger ancestors were right there at ground level picking off the biggest ones. She wants me to ask if anybody has an heirloom blackberry recipe to share????

I did not get to go!

Nice Lady had to drive the 300-mile round trip from Spokane to Chelan on Saturday. I was supposed to go, but darn! Handy Man got home from his hunting trip and I just HAD to help him. Nice Lady went to share some time and teaching with the Chelan Valley Genealogical Society. (Need any help in Chelan County, WA? Contact them!) This is a view of the Chelan area along the Columbia River and the view of Lake Chelan looks about the same. I'm promised that I'll get to go next time. I like genealogy too!

Chocolate and Me

Nice Lady often shares licks of her chocolate ice cream with me. Never much, only licks. She tells me that chocolate contains a chemical toxic to dogs in sufficient quantities. Whatever that means! Based on the kind of chocolate, and the dog's weight, milk chocolate can cause diarrhea. But for me, a 10-pound dogger, I would have to eat 10 ounces.......... way more than a few licks.

Did you know that any ancestor alive in 1900 might have tasted Hersey's Milk Chocolate? That's when Mr. H. started making bars in his Pennsylvania factory. Hersey's Kisses debuted in 1907. Wonder if Nice Lady's forebears were chocoholics like she is???

Me vs Water

Here is where I live and go walking with Nice Lady most everyday. Yesterday it was rainy and she thought I was too dirty to sit in her lap. So into the bath I was dunked. Now I like water....frolicking at the edge of a lake or river, great fun. But being dunked into a soapy laundry tub, not fun. What's to learn from this? Advice from Nice Lady's grandmother: It does take pains to be beautiful. There is much to learn from our forebears. Hers, anyway.

How do I do it?

One of my fans has asked, "How does she do it? How does Tika type and use the spacebar without opposable thumbs?" Gosh. Never thought about it; I just do it. (I do have some help!) My Nice Lady is a genealogist and she sees family history in everything. For instance she came across the last line from Tennyson's poem Ulysses which reads: "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield." She explained to me that this means when you see ancestors you make double-triple sure you've got the right one. I understand. Just because she offers me a treat of something red in color I know to sniff first. It might be red pepper and not bacon!

Alas, I have no pedigree.

My Nice Lady and Handy Man both have documented pedigrees. Alas, I have not. What difference does it make? They know from whence they came; I do not. (I think it was Idaho.)

Picture? That was my Staff Lady.

Should have explained. I am an only dog. I live with Staff Lady and Handy Man. When they merit it, I give them kisses. Not that you care?!?!

I am Tika.

Hello. I am Tika. I am a mini-longhair dachshund. I weigh a tad over ten pounds. My birthday was in September of 2008. So I am two-and-a-month years old (in human years that would make me a teenager). I began this blog because I have some things I would like to say, some wisdom I would like to share. Care you to read??