Hamamelis 'Rochester'

It is lovely having flowers that time of year. Boy, didn't you get a lot of snow this last winter. We didn't get any, my nearly 2 year old German Shepherd has still yet to see any lol.

We didn't get much snow at all this winter and most of it came before January. We had one big snow storm around the beginning of December but never much after that. It was nice getting a break for a year, the past few winters have been brutally cold and brought a ton of snow! Dogs don't seem to mind the snow and mine actually loves it but I don't think I would miss it much haha

Lol they do, my older one Ben loves it! Becomes a puppy again and acts all stupid :-) but like you I'm not keen on it. Over here people don't clear it off the pavements outside their houses so it ends up like walking on a ice rink. Back down in Kent I used to worry every time I took Ben for his walks. Ended up getting clamp on spikes for my boots just so I stayed upright :-)

My older dog is 12 years old now and she is the same way when it snows! That's what makes dogs so great, they celebrate every little thing that makes them happy.
It seems like people only clear the snow here when it's so deep it's hard to walk through haha. The biggest problem I have is with all the salt, the cold temps and salt make my dogs feet crack so I have to put petroleum jelly on her feet when I walk her.

Oh I thought that you had to clear it over there. The councils put salt on the roads and some on the pavements in big towns and cities but not normally in villages which I lived in down in Kent but up here I'm rural and even though I am surrounded by fields, the farmers don't let you walk around their field with dogs so I have to get in my car to get to where I walk dogs. Don't really blame the farmers protecting their crops. So have you just the 1 dog? Ben will be 8 this summer. So does the petroleum jelly work?

It depends where you live over here, some areas have strict guidelines and some don't have any. That's too bad about the farmers, I grew up in the country and I know how some of them can be. I don't know what they grow over there but if you live near any that grow hay or wheat they'd probably be more relaxed. I have two labradors, one is 12 and the other is 2. Are your dogs both German Shepherds? They're very intelligent and loyal, I've always loved that breed. The petroleum jelly works great, it keeps ice from forming in their paws and helps protect them from drying out. Just remember to wipe their feet when you come in or it can be messy haha.

Farmers are growing all sorts, from cabbages to wheat. One of our customers is a fairly local farmer and he said the other week I can use his fields but I've got to find it yet lol. Are both your labs the same colour? Yes mine are both German shepherds. Ben is a Red sable and Shadow is a black sable. I grew up with them but when I met hubby I had 2 English Spaniels but when we losed them hubby said we go back to GSDs. That way we can claim for them on the business as guard dogs :-). Hubby also calls them our Complaints Department lol. See we are Gunsmiths.

Yes both of my labs are black. They're a lot of fun and really easy to train. My older lab was an excellent retriever and the younger one is a natural tracker. You have an interesting profession, that takes a lot of skill. Do you build guns or repair them?

Sounds like you do what we call over here as game hunting. Labs are great, over here they are they main breed used in assistance dogs. No we don't make them, we repair, service, customise and gun fit. At moment we are building a stock for a bloke who was born with fingers missing. Saying we are gunsmiths, I'm not, it's hubby who is and in moving up here my daughter moved up as well and learning the trade. We only do shotguns as handguns are illegal over here and most of our customers are clay shooters but some are game shooters. I do the phone work and appointments so it means that I can take the phone out in the garden and get on with trying to tame it :-). Previous owners had planted some really lovely plants then I think losed interest, just mowed the lawns and just let whatever took root in the garden grow. My main weed I'm fighting is Horsetail :-(. Never come accross it before and it's not nice, will take years to get rid of it as roots go down to about 8ft.

Labs are used here a lot as game retrievers/gun dogs, assistance dogs and for tracking/drug sniffing. I still think it's awesome that your husband is a gunsmith. There are a lot of small parts in guns and it's tricky getting them to fit together right. I don't love guns the way a lot of americans do lol but I have a couple shotguns and rifles for hunting and clay shooting. Are rifles illegal there too or is it just handguns? I almost wish handguns were illegal to carry here, kind of scary going some places and not knowing who has a gun on them. I live in a part of the country that doesn't have bears or mountain lions though lol.
Do you live somewhere with water nearby or get a lot of rain? Where I grew up we had a lot of horsetail growing because of the rivers and lakes around us. It wasn't a big problem in the yard but I lived on a dirt road and sometimes it would grow up through that. I never had any idea the roots could go down so far, no wonder it's a pain to get rid of!

Not that I've done a lot of research on Horsetail lol but it its different to I think what you had growing up. Merestail is the one that grows around water. Both a big pain! :-). People can have rifles over here but to get a license you have to prove you have access to enough land to use it but Shotguns are more popular as lots of clay shoots all over the country and a lot of farmers have them for pest control. We also have a lot of pheasant shoots around. Semi-Autos are also restricted to only 3 shots. We don't really do rifles as hubby feels they are more engineering to look after. A lot of our work is woodwork at moment, people cracking stocks due to dropping or not tightening their stock bolts regularly. Loose stock bolt with lots of shooting equals cracks. We do the servicing so yes there are lots of little bits lol and some of the really old guns, hubby has to make the parts. Keeps him busy lol. I don't have juniper growing but thanks for warning. What discipline of clayshooting do you do? Hubby and daughter like Olympic trap and Skeet. Can understand it being worrying knowing people are carrying handguns, I wouldn't like it either. Better take dogs out, take care Jen.