July 4th Weekend - Now Available

This is unusual -- I've had a cancellation. The July 4th weekend has been reserved for quite a while, but now I've heard from the guests, and they can't go after all. You know I hate to see the cabin be wasted on a three day weekend -- especially that one. I always try to go away for that holiday to a secluded place where there won't be fireworks to scare my own dog who's really terrified of them. But I've got something else going on, so it won't be me. Are you interested???

May Guests Tsavo & Akela

I've got more pictures to share - from recent guests Tsavo and Akela

These girls don't look like they have kind of sibling rivalry going on!

Tsavo and Akela enjoyed an action packed weekend that included back to back hikes -- with a nice photo to prove it. I think they're pretty serious hikers.

But the poor girls did suffer from a common problem with hiking -- ticks! There's a tick remover at the cabin, but their ticks lasted beyond their stay. Here's something cute that the girls' mom told me in an email after their stay: "Funniest thing.. our older dog keeps finding them on our younger dog. (she is a year old today) Twice I’ve notice Akela sniffing and biting on a particular spot on Tsavo and when I investigate sure enough it was a tick each time. What a good big sister she is!!"

Great Danes Apollo & Phoebe

So I spent a little time at the cabin this weekend, doing some owner TLC. Would love to occaisionally relax while there like my guests do, but it's not in the cards. Gotta be happy living vicariously through my guests. I'll take it!

I love to read guest book entries like one from a couple and their 9 year old lab, Mason, that stayed at the cabin since my last OTLC weekend. It said that although Mason is up there in years, he kind of came to life at Paws & Reflect, and was excited to check the whole place out. It warms my heart to think about dogs happy at my cabin!

From another of my recent guests, I received a bunch of photos of their great danes, Apollo and Phoebe. Check 'em out -- there are some photos of the scenery too.



The original caption said Phoebe was a bad dog. I just see a BIG dog.


Want to guage if the dog door is big enough for your dog? This is Phoebe, standing outside the dog door.



What a nut Apollo is - determined to hang on the Critter Couch even though it's way too small!

Presenting Bella, Future Paws Guest

Hopefully some day before it's all over, I hope to have had dogs of every breed as guests of Paws & Reflect. (Pictures of them all would be even better, by the way.) So whenever I talk to someone that will be bringing a new breed of dog to the cabin, I get so tickled! I was telling that to Bob today when he wrote to ask a few questions. As I mentioned to him, I went to look up on the internet what a Tibetan Terrier looks like, and he was nice enough to send me photos of her. She looks just like the photos I saw on the 'net!

What do you think? She's a cutie, huh? Her name is Bella. I was so happy to learn that both Bella's mom and her dad are photographers, which should increase my chances of getting some cute photos of her with Paws & Reflect in the background after their stay!

Tsavo & Akela

My post-Memorial Day guests have graciously sent me photos of their two gorgeous Siberian Huskies that round out their family of five.

This one looks like it would be a puppy picture of Tsavo, who is now 11 months old. Well, I guess she's still a puppy even now. Pretty cute, no?


Then this would be 4 year old Akela on the left, and a more recent photo of Tsavo.

They are certainly dogs that like the cool weather, what with their big coats, but I know they'll enjoy Paws & Reflect even though their stay will occur in very late May. There are plenty of shade trees around, and it helps keep the cabin a nice temperature.

I hope to see more photos of these beauties with some Paws & Reflect in the background later this month!

Nancy Despeaux

Kira & Sascha Enjoy Their Week at the Cabin

My guests really know how to put a smile on my face -- by sending me photos of their beautiful dogs at Paws & Reflect. Check out these gorgeous girls, who are obviously used to having their photos taken!

Sascha & Kira model in front of the Paws & Reflect sign at the road (at the end of the driveway)


That's Sascha on the Critter Couch, and Kira on the bean bag bed. I always laugh when big dogs squeeze themselves onto the critter couch like Sascha is doing here.

Kira & Sascha looking in from the front deck

The girls' mom, Emily, of course dropped me a nice email when she sent the photos:

Nancy - Our stay was amazing!!! Thank you so much for having such a wonderful place, it really is the most beautiful cabin up in those woods. Thanks again, we will definitely be going back sometime when it's warmer! Emily

I spoke with Emily while they were at the cabin, and apparently they got a tiny bit of snow while they were there!

An Exhausting Weekend at the Cabin

Well, I am exhausted!!! I got back from the cabin a little while ago, having gone yesterday till today to do some spring cleaning. Becky does a good job after guests leave, but I found plenty to do in order to feel useful. There sure was a lot of dog hair, between the vacuum cleaner, in the drier after laundering all the slipcovers, sweeping under the furniture. And I took most of it outside and scattered around in the woods so the birds can use it for their nests.

When I go to the cabin, it's almost never to relax. But I love it anyway. Oh I did take a soak in the hot tub. I got to listen to a lot of the pet music CDs while I worked inside, and the weather was beautiful while I was outside. My neighbor Mike, ever the gentleman, brought his rake over when he saw me, and we raked together and got caught up. He told me all about when he and Phyllis took down the tree that was due to fall on the house any time. We also took a look at the base of the driveway, by the road, and he's going to do some work there to smoothe it out. One of the things I remember best from our chats this weekend was when he told me that there's never been a guest that caused a bit of trouble.

I finally hung this CD display that I've had for a while, but I was waiting till I had enough pet music CDs (and dog DVDs) to fill it. It's pretty cool -- it's a wall hanging that displays six rows of five CDs each. Well, it holds mostly CDs but a few DVDs are among them. It's pretty interesting. Hopefully I'll eventually get a good photo of it, but all I had with my was my phone and that photo didn't turn out. Anyhoo, I find it interesting to look at, with all the pet music CDs. Bet you didn't know there are enough pet music CDs (and dog DVDs) to fill up a 30-CD/DVD display, didja? There is, and I'll miss not buying every one that I see anymore! There are lullabies, classical music, and all kinds of other great CDs with beautiful music that I'm sure lots of guest dogs love as much as I do.

Well, I have one more weekend at the cabin next weekend, then I won't be able to get back for a little while. I'm already looking forward to it. But tomorrow, Shannon and his family come in to enjoy the cabin until Thursday. I hope they relax much more than I did!! I'm sure they will!