On A Fine Fall Day...

After going for a walk last week, and discovering little green textured apple looking things that look SO COOL, I decided they would make great home decorations. It turns out, these green 'apples' are actually called Horse Apples, or Hedge Apples, and they can be spray painted gold, silver, or just left in their original brilliant green form. Well, I told my mom we should collect some and spray paint them this weekend... so off we went in the name of Martha Stewart craftiness. We took my dog, buddy the nose-driven beagle, in of the spirit of inclusion, and as we collected our horse apples, Buddy was leashed to a bench watching and sniffing... The following are pictures from our 'Martha' adventure...The horse apple tree, sitting right on the lake

My momma, making sure our horse apples didn't have any stowaway creatures from nature

Bend... and snap!

I really like this picture of us. We may have a new fall tradition!

This is the fore mentioned Buddy, minutes before wriggling free from his leash ensuing on an adventure of his own: a three hour run through the creek and cow pastures and brush. Yes, we followed this adventurous little dog for THREE HOURS before finally being able to catch and bring him home.

Now, some insight into Buddy: he has always been an adventuresome dog- He's a beagle, and even though he likes to think he is the purebred hunting dog he was meant to be, he just simply isn't. He is completely a city dog who wouldn't know what to do with something if he actually did catch it! When he gets to smelling anything out of the ordinary though, there is no breaking him from the scent- should one try to grab him, one should prepare to be minus a finger or two, indefinitely. He simply has to run his nine-year-old joints until they're too tired to run any more...

Well, after spending some great quality time with my mom and a flash light, the cavalry- i.e. my brother Trevor, and my dad, show up after Trev's soccer practice to relieve us from our frustrating pursuit. Trevor wanted to help my dad look for the dog through the woodsey area, but would rather not have stickers permanently embedded in his legs, or have a nasty run-in with some poison ivy per the lack of coverage his soccer shorts provided him with; so he turns to me and says, "Chelsea, trade pants with me...". After some more of our rather awkward conversation to the tune of my mother laughing hysterically, I gave Trevor my jeans and he gave me his shorts... He went and helped search for the dog while i sat contemplating the idea that I'm pretty sure his butt looks better in my jeans than mine does! I'll let you see for yourselves:
See? What do you think?

Trevor in my jeans and sweatshirt, and me in his soccer shorts and Dallas Texans T-shirt. We kept our own shoes though :)

My momma's poor wet, muddy, sticker infested shoes

The dumb dog, banished to the laundry room. Look closely, and you can see how wet and muddy he is. He knew he was in trouble...

Still banished to the laundry room, Buddy is sleeping on his palatial 'Prince Buddy' bed. He'll probably be gimping around for the next couple of days... I hope he remembers why, and restrains his little hunter self next time he feels like pulling out of his leash!

Needless to say, we didn't quite get around to spray painting tonight. Hopefully that aspect of this project happens with a bit less excitement!

When it was all said and done, it wasn't quite the drama we thought it was while we were in the moment. We got to talk to a few of my parent's neighbors who were very nice and sympathetic, we got to see some cute frogs and some beautiful nature, and we got to spend some quality time working together as a family sans TV, cell phones, and all of our other daily distractions. So maybe thank you's are in order to 'Prince Buddy'? Maybe I'll un-banish him from the laundry room...




...Then again, maybe not :)