Sister Maggie

Summer, lakes, ice cream and family/friends all make for a happy time – true for me and true for Holly & Helen!  We’ve had some remarkably enjoyable and special days.

We took a trip north to Lake Vermilion where Lana was hosting a week-end with her friends Kris & Josh and Anna.  Kris & Josh are the proud owners of Maggie, the 7 month old golden retriever who is also Holly’s biological sister.  They share the same mother & father only different litters.   This was their first time meeting each other and they were magical together.  They shared their friend, Kooper, without any difficulty.  Here were two sweet girls,  sisters,  instinctually knowing how the other likes to play and launching into a joyous play session instantly.  As they weave and roll and run and jump, I had to look hard to tell them apart.  Holly has topaz eyes with more of a blockhead, which I found amusing to say!  There is about a 10 pound difference between the two, Holly (at 20 months) having the more muscular build.  This was Maggie’s first trip to a lake and she was not quite ready to venture to far into the water.  She was fine with letting sister Holly go racing out to get the thrown toy.  Maggie is blessed with a wonderful family, including daughter Anna,  who are providing her with all the right activity, experiences, training and love.   I feel so fortunate that Holly has sweet friends in her life.  She likely doesn’t know how blessed she is.  Having the likes of Kooper, Maggie, Keltie, Rainie and Helen as peers and playmates has to make her one of the richest dogs in the world.  

While at the cabin, Lana generously had brand new life jackets ready for Helen and Holly.  We are certain we will qualify for a new RuffWear commercial once they see four beautiful dogs happily wearing their product.  In the picture you will see that the soggiest dog in the bunch is Helen, who we had to pull out of the water for the picture.

You know it’s a good day when you have time at not just one cabin, but two!  After leaving Lake Vermilion, we made our way to Comstock Lake to meet up with DeeAnn, Kristie, Dan & Craig for a driveway and dirt project.  Holly, Helen, Keltie and Rainie had some time to play but for the most part had to be tied up, safely away from Dan and the interesting dirt-moving machine.  Holly & Helen may have silently been saying ‘Thank You’ to Dan for giving them reason to rest.  Both were exhausted from their big adventure to Lake Vermilion.

All the fun and activity made for a tired evening for everyone.  I tend to measure how good the day was by how tired the dogs are at the end of the day.  And great days are measured by my productivity, physical activity and personal connections.   Periodically, there are those days that are off the charts –  those are the days that just keep being great because they pull you through the times that go the other way.  Sometimes I have to wonder how those without dogs can possibly gauge how great their day has been.