Toby relaxes on the sofa

Toby enjoys a good, hot wood stove fire. This was the first of the season and Toby got dibs on the sofa!

Drew's Little Helper

Toby is Drew's little helper when it comes to lawn care. He loves cool autumn days when he can beeline it to a pile of leaves in the backyard.

Those leaves are all his. Drew keeps adding to the pile as Toby snuggles in.

The more leaves, the better as Toby sinks lower...

and lower...

and even lower...

until...he can barely be seen!

And, then he falls asleep under the warmth of the leafy blanket.

Autumn Pups on the Papermill Trail

We love the Papermill Trail, and it is especially pretty during autumn. The sky was dark, the air was cold, and there were very few people on the trail.

Lady Flame patiently waits while Toby gets his umpteenth treat.

Both pups pose nicely on the boulder next to the trail.

Then, we walked over to the chunk of granite next to the river. I couldn't get the pups to look at me for anything. Actually, they were focused on Drew thinking that they would get yet another biscuit!

Flame is good a posing and she will not move when the leash drags on the ground. Although, she continued to avoid looking at me;-)

Lady Flame Squirrel Patrol

Lady Flame limbers up before going on squirrel patrol.

Gotta stretch all the important running muscles...just in case...

Lady Flame spends hours on alert in the backyard. She obviously has a low prey drive as she just watches and waits. No willy nilly charging and running after the squirrel, just watching...

It is exhausting work, but somebody has to do it!

This is all followed by a satisfying nap (with a slight smile as she remembers the squirrel of her dreams.)

Chillin' in the back yard

The pups have been enjoying the back yard to the max! Flame has become a squirrel huntress extraordinaire, and Toby is the sight-challenged Sheriff of the yard. A gray squirrel has been taunting and flaunting throughout the yard, and it is an exhausting business for the pups to keep the yard free of these cutie patootie vermin;-)

Play Date with the half sibs

Beautiful Sugaree and her side-kick Lady Flame

Yay! We had a play date and I actually had a camera in my hand. It was a bit dark in the backyard, so the photos came out a bit blurry, but the pups don't care a hoot about the quality;-)

Trouble and Flame start a high speed chase!

The half-sibs had a good time together, and they didn't waste any time in getting a good game of chase going.

The hounds are getting to be oldie goldie hounds and their runs are short.

Lady Flame is so happy to see her bestie, Trouble.

Lady Flame and Trouble are a blur as they run around the yard.

Flame and Trouble do a quick tear around the yard at lightning speed!

Pretty Flame rests after the run-around...

Stormy Weather equals panting and drooling

Note the drool, on the tip of her tongue, that would soon be pulled downward by gravity.
Lady Flame said, "Mom, what the heck are you doing taking photos while Thor is taunting me?" 

What were you doing at 4:30am? Sleeping? Geez...you are lucky. I was trying to console an inconsolable Lady Flame who looked like she was thinking about jumping out of the bedroom window (which I then partially closed) to escape the thunder and lightning. 

Toby said, "Dude, what's the problem? Just go to sleep...zzzzzzzzzz..."

Toby...well...he slept through it all.