Saturday Pet Blogger Hop 7-15-2011 - Nitro And The Salem Farmer's Market

Lexi, Nitro, Tallulah, Bailey, and I are excited to participate in this weeks Saturday Pet Blogger Hop. Special thanks goes out to our Pet Blog Hop hosts, Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume! If you would like to read some entertaining pet blogger posts in the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop, just click on one of the host links above or click on the purple Pet Blogger Hop button on the right side of our homepage. Happy Pet Blog Hopping!

Nitro and I love going to our little Salem Farmer's Market on Saturday mornings. It is a great opportunity to do a little training with Nitro because there are so many distractions. For this reason, I do carry a "high value treat" in my bag. Usually I will cut up some lunch meat so I can get Nitro's attention if he becomes to distracted. He is so good about laying down when seeing another dog or small child. By laying down he is less threatening and more approachable. We have literally done hundreds of meet and greet dog introductions without even one incident because he lays down. It was great seeing more dogs at the Salem Farmer's Market this past weekend because it makes me happy we live in such a dog friendly town. The Salem Farmer's Market is also a great place to get homemade doggie treats from Paw Paws Dog Treats.
Below are a few photos I took this past weekend at the SFM.

Nitro just up the street from the Salem Farmer's Market. We were window shopping (me more then him).

The big sign at the Salem Farmer's Market

 I love the little shops near the Farmer's Market. They have lots of uniques and antiques.

There was a very pretty yellow lab when we got to the Farmer's Market and he was very close in age to Nitro. He spotted us all the way down the block and watched us as we approched the market. I think he was excited to see another dog to hang out with at the market.

Here is Nitro practicing his "meet and greet"...it really should be called "Nitro's makeout session" because he is such a lovebug when it comes to other dogs. He is such a good boy!

 Nitro giving kisses...

 The Farmer's Market venders have all kinds of farm fresh honey, baked goods, homemade jams and jellies.

This photo is a picture of Mrs. Yoder's fresh baked banana and pumpkin bread. I live for her pumpkin bread.

This little fellow is a Basset-Beagle mix. He was very handsome.

I think Nitro liked him because they were the same height (with Nitro laying down and the Basset mix standing).

I am currently on a no bread low carb diet so this was killing me. They also had a gentleman there dipping fresh baked donuts into a hot glaze. The sweet aroma was overwhelming. I even had to pull Nitro away from his table because all we could smell was the hot glaze and it smelled so good.

Oh my ...pound cake...have you ever wondered why they call it pound cake? No. I didn't think so.

These three Chihuahuas were shopping with their mommy and daddy at the market. I sure hope they picked up some Paw Paws while they were there visiting.

 My pups love Paw Paws and they are homemade right here in town. We love to support our local venders.

This is Meg Hibbert's new pup. He is a Great Pyrenees so that means he is going to be a big one when he grows up. Meg Hibbert is the reporter who interviewed my husband and I about Nitro. She did a great job writing a story about Nitro's new life in the first story in the Salem Times Register and then she also included us in a story about our new Salem Dog Park the city of Salem is planning here in town. Here is the Salem Times Register - Dog Park Story

Nitro just watching all the other dogs at the Farmer's Market. He has his new red wondervest his daddy ordered him on-line (it has flames on it so folks can tell he is a cool little boy).

I purchased some Hot and Mild salsa from Cooksters. It is so good. I put it on my eggs (still on a diet) and it makes eating eggs without toast very tasty.

Some of the downtown Salem Antique shops.

Such a sweet Golden...

Just chillin...

Even Nitro couldn't resist getting close enough to smell all the fresh peaches.

Mellons anyone?

Fresh veggies. I love to steam my veggies in my little steamer and have them with dinner whenever we cookout on the grill.

Downtown Salem Shops.

Here is a photo of Nitro shortly after we got back from visiting the Salem Farmer's Market. All that socializing got him all tuckered out. Happy Saturday Pet Blog Hopping! Thanks for stopping by for a visit. We love ya! Lexi, Christina, Bailey, Nitro and Tallulah

The Roanoke Pet Expo and Those Cute Geese!

Chris and I spent the afternoon setting up our double booth for the Pet Expo that starts tomorrow here in Roanoke. This is the first Pet Expo that we have ever participated in so it was fun planning everything. I had some of my favorite photos but a stetch canvas for display and I think they tured out great. We also ordered some cool promotional postcards at Got Print and bookmarks with The World According To Lexi (with a photo of Lexi and Tallulah) printed on them to hand out to the public. We are promoting four of the local websites we design and manage.  I think the booth turned out really nice but now my front porch is empty because I stole everything off my porch to put in our booth.

I put together lots of dog, cat and horse prize packs so folks can stop by and just drop thier name in the bucket for a chance to win cool prizes.

These are some of my favorite photos that I had printed on stretched canvas. So pretty!

The saddle is my Western Pleasue Show Saddle that I used to compete in (me and my horse Skippy have retired from showing). I have Nitro's crate all set up and realy to go. He will be with me at the Expo doing demonstrations with Field of Dreams Dog Training Center and I found out tonight we might be judging the cute pet/trick contests. I will take my video camera and film as much as I can. Stay tuned...

Below are some photos I got on the way home from the Pet Expo. Those little goslings are growing so fast I thought I better stop and get a few shots of thier progress. I was lucky enough to gets some pictures of them entering the Miller's pond and some even better shots of the goslings glowing in the evening sun. I hope you enjoy the photos.

 Such and amazing evening....

 See, they are getting big!

 Here they are starting to enter the ray of light from the sun setting on Bluebird Lane.

 Here are the goslings swimming throught the ray of light...oh my!

Dinner time!

Out For A Walk On A Beautiful Spring Night In May

Nitro and I decided to take a walk down our country road last night to practice our loose leash walking since we are working so hard at perfecting it in class. Wow, what an amazing night! We left the farm as the sun was setting and it seems like all the Canadian Geese and neighborhood horses were out and about. I think we got some fun photos of our little walk down the road. Enjoy!

Since the fields are covered with butter cups and the sun was setting the fields glowed with a golden hue. Here are some of the adult Geese from last years batch. They are loud and proud! Nitro barked at them and they flew away!

This farm was owned by a sweet man named Harry Smith who passed away a few months ago. All of his horses have been sold and now all the butter cups and grass are growing out of control. I love this old tree next to his big red barn. I also love the way the sun is hitting the side of the barn as the sun goes down. Things just don't seem the same without seeing Harry out at his barn every evening feeding his heard of horses. We sure miss him.

 Here is one of the newest babies on the road. I think he is a yealing Quarter Horse. He is just adorable!

 He is checking out Nitro in this shot.

Nitro touched noses with this horse, gave him a couple of licks, and then he wanted to play with him. I think Nitro thinks this colt is just a really big dog. Okay, he isn't that bright on the social seen (if you know what I mean).

 This is a little Hackney pony up at the Richard's farm. So cute!

This is one of the horses a few houses down from Bluebird Farm at the Delano farm. Nitro is just relaxing checking out the view.

Look at that pretty little face. He is so cute with his bright blue eye.

I know he is thinking "if she would let me off this leash, I would go make friends and play with that big old dog over there in the pasture"...like I said socially inexperienced!

Here are the baby goslings. They are growing so fast. It looks as if she lost one. There were six baby goslings and now there is only five.

I love the reflection in this shot. I don't take many photos at this particular pond because I can't see it from the road very well. I have to sneak onto their property, go up a hill and cross over by about 20 feet and shoot the photos fast before thier dogs come tearing down the main drive.

Happy May!

Lexi, Nitro, Tallulah, Bailey and Christina