LUNA: Swim Party, Anyone?

So the moms decided "enough with lying around on the couch all day" (which is pretty much what we've been doing since it's been SO HOT around here) and it was time to get out and get some fresh air, so ....





We all piled into the car and drove to visit some friends who had ...A POOL!!

Harvey's an old hand at this pool stuff so he just found some shade, settled in and waited for the food to come out.

But I had to wander around and check it out first ...

It turns out there were people actually FLOATING in there which kind of creeped me out ...


And I sure wasn't interested in getting there (though they tried to lure me in!)

But I WAS interested when the chips and dip came out ... and so was Harvey -- funny how old, tired Harve perks up when the food comes out and gets his nose in there ahead of mine -- yum, yum!

And then the only thing better than drinks by the pool ...

... is dinner on the deck! (Look at shameless old Harve up there ready to catch anything that might come off the table by mistake ... he's a pro at this, you know ... I'm lucky to have such a great teacher in the details of dog life!)

And then, after a great day at the pool it was back home -- and back on the couch -- the perfect end to the perfect day!

LUNA'S REPORT FROM THE VACATION FRONT: When the going gets hot ...

... we do NOTHING!!!
.

At least that's what's been happening at our house. It's been bloody hot here in Pasadena ... WAY too hot to even want to chase a ball or go to the dog park or to do just about anything! So here's how we're coping around here today ...

Birdie and Baby are sacked out on the bed ...

... while Harvey is likewise crashed on the bedroom floor.

Meanwhile, I've staked out my favorite summer sunbathing spot: the chaise lounge on the patio ...
.

... but Walden wins the prize. He found the ONLY pile of clean laundry in the house and planted himself on top of it. Bet THAT'LL need washed again! He may not "be" cool but you gotta hand it to him ...he LOOKS pretty cool!
.

Oh well ... tomorrow is another day. Maybe it'll be cooler. And maybe not. Either way you can be sure that I'll be calling "dibs" on the chaise lounge again!

Luna's Excellent Wine Country Adventure

This is all about my VERY excellent adventure into the wonderful world of wine making!

My moms are on vacation until after Labor Day and they started out with a trip to the Santa Ynez Wine Country and I got to come along! (We love Harvey but he's something called "too high maintenance" so he's at I Dig My Dog for the weekend.)

So they grow grapes around here ... and my Uncle Billy and Aunt Cindy (who live up here in Santa Ynez) make wine out of some of them ... and on the day they bottle the wine there's a BIG party and everybody comes to help. (Here's me waiting for the party to start.)

It turns out that it takes a lot of STUFF to make wine ... a machine to put the wine out of the barrels into the bottles ...

... a whole bunch of corks ....

... and then there are all the glasses for the people who are coming to TASTE the wine. (That seems to be a VERY important part of the process!)

This year they're bottling a "Barbera" ... (that's an Italian varital, you know -- you've got to keep up with your wine lingo!) ... and these are the clear bottles they start out flushing out the lines from the barrels.

Once the people started coming things started to move really fast.

The bottles were all washed and the lines were all primed ...... Uncle Billy got the cork machine ready to go ...

... and Aunt Cindy (she's the REAL brains behind this operation!) said, "ready, set, GO ..."

... and the wine started to flow!

And at that point SOMEBODY decided I was not as helpful as I thought I was so I got TIED UP a little removed from the action and -- a you may be able to tell -- I was NOT happy about it!

But my mom said they were there to bottle wine and not keep track of me so she just kept putting corks in the bottles and totally ignored how insulted I was.

And before you knew it there was one case done and then another ...

... and everybody pitched in to help ... (and taste!) ...

... and things were moving right along!

Once I realized it was all going so well I decided to just relax and enjoy the country air. (After all, I'M on vacation, too!)

And before you knew it the wine was bottled and the cases were stacked and ... sniff, sniff ... what's that Uncle Billy is doing in the background? Lighting the BBQ! NOW you're talking!

Even Aunt Cindy finally got a minute to put her feet up a little ... check out her official "wine" shoes. (I think they'd made great dog chewies but nobody was taking a chance on letting THAT one happen!)

While I missed out on the wine tasting at least they DID let me in on the hot dog tasting and I gave THAT an A+!!

Here's the finished product, ready to go home and fill up people's wine racks ...

And since the party is pretty much over ...

... I found a cozy spot and called it a day!

===========================

LUNA'S EXCELLENT
WINE COUNTRY ADVENTURE:

DAY TWO

We all slept in a little the next morning, but then ...

There were barrels to clean -- "pickle" Cindy calls it -- and some other bits and pieces to sort out so we were back at it again.

Uncle Billy put something called a "sulphur stick" inside the barrels after he lit it ...

... and then plugged up the hole ...

... and the barrels went back on their stands to get ready for the next wine making adventure.

There were bottles to wash out ...

... and then a bunch of unlabeled wine to sort through and decide what to keep ...

... and what to toss. (Here's Uncle Billy looking for "legs" in the glass of wine ... who knew?)

A few more bottles to fill and then ...

... after posing for a picture with their "job well done": Barbera Di Tutti 2006 ...

Uncle Billy and Aunt Cindy are ready to spend some time doing what I want to do ...

Scratching my belly!

Now THAT'S my idea of a VERY Excellent Adventure!