May 1st

How in the world is it already May, 2010? Everything is so green and so beautiful outside. My honeysuckle is LOADED with huge blooms and the hummingbirds prefer it to the syrup I make for them. However, I was surprised to see the red bellied and downey woodpeckers drinking from the hummingbird feeders!

A couple people have asked me how I came up with the name OPR Shichi. I have been OPR Akitas for over 25 years. When we moved to the hills and creeks southeast of Jay we had a high ridge covered with pine trees, so we called our place Piney Ridge. When I got Akitas, I started out with Piney Ridge on their registered names, however, it used too much room to come up with a good name for the dog, so shortened it to Of Piney Ridge, or O'PR and eventually just OPR. Greg's kennel name is unique. Since Akitas are Japanese dogs, he used the number 7, which is Shichi in Japanese. He had a total of seven dogs, was born on the 7th day of the month and his ranch brand is 7T.

I am sharing a few pics taken before I had dental surgery of the beautiful spring flowers in our area.