The World According To Lexi: Saturday Pet Blogger Hop

Lexi, Nitro, Tallulah, Bailey, and I are excited to participate in this weeks Saturday Pet Blogger Hop. Special thanks goes out to our Pet Blog Hop hosts, Life With Dogs, Two Little Cavaliers, and Confessions of the Plume! If you would like to read some entertaining pet blogger posts in the Saturday Pet Blogger Hop, just click on one of the host links above or click on the purple Pet Blogger Hop button on the right side of our homepage.

Do you all remember the little puppy Madison? She was the puppy I drove to Gastonia, NC a month or so ago to pick up from a lady who found her on the side of the road. If you haven't had a chance to read about Madison, click here to see where her story begins. Well many things have changed since the day I picked her up and brought her back here to Salem, VA. She has been living with her foster mommy Ashley and she has been learning how to live with other dogs, go potty outside, and learn to be social.

Madison finally got an approved adoption application submitted at Angels of Assisi. Her new mom's name is Darci and she lives in the Northern Virginia area. Darci's Dalmatian crossed over to Rainbow Bridge last year so now she is ready to adopt Madison. Darci also lives next door to a deaf Dalmatian that will be Madison's big brother once she goes to live in Northern Virginia. Since it happened to be my best friend's Birthday last weekend (and she lives near Darci), I decided to take Madison on a road trip up North to spend the weekend with her new family.

Ashley and I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity for Darci to get to know little Madison. We decided to meet Darci and her friend Marie at the Sunset Hills Vineyard that is located next to my BFF Terri's The Overlook Farm. While we were waiting for Darci to show up last Saturday, Madison got to meet some of the animals at Overlook Farm. The following photos are in order of all the events that happened to Madi and I last Saturday on our road trip. Enjoy!

Look at sweet Madison. She is so adorable! She knows my car well and she was looking at me as if she was saying "okay chica, where are we heading to now?"

Madison is a pleasure to travel with because she has such good manners and she is very laid back. She just sits in the front seat and looks at me or she takes naps. I think when she gets a little older she would make an amazing Therapy Dog with her laid back personality!

We didn't get far and she started yawning. She was just letting me know she might want to take a nap.

Sleepy girl.

When we turned into The Overlook Farm's driveway, to the right was the Sunset Hills Vineyard where the girls (Darci and Marie) got to meet Madison and I for the first time. Before they arrived, Madison and I went and met all the animals on the farm.

This is my closest friend Terri's house. She has a beautiful 30 acre Hunter-Jumper Farm in Purcellville, VA called The Overlook Farm. We met 27 years ago when we were both hard working bartenders in Northern VA. At that time many years ago, we were putting ourselves through school. We were both dirt poor and now 27 years later you can certainly see what Terri's hard work accomplished. I am very proud of all Terri and all of her accomplishments. No one handed her anything. She has always had a very strong work ethic and you can tell by looking around her farm she absolutely loves what she does for a living. She is also a talented equestrian!

This is the view of The Overlook Farm's barn and indoor riding arena. Madison and I headed down to the barn to let Terri know we had arrived and then we watched Terri give riding lessons.

Madison was wearing my deaf dog Nitro's baby coat. We try to ship it from place to place so others can use it when their dogs are still little puppies. So far this is puppy number three wearing Nitro's coat and it is really holding up well. Madison could smell the horses as we entered the barn.

In this photo Madison was watching the lessons being given on horseback and she didn't even bark at any of the horses. She was such a good girl!

More lessons....

Check out the big red horse trotting by Madison. She just sat there watching and taking everything in stride. After watching lessons for awhile, we decided to head up to the house so Madison could meet Jake the farm dog.

Here they were...Madison meet Jake, Jake meet Madison. Jake was such a gentleman with little Madi girl.

Madison and Jake were keeping an eye on the main driveway onto the farm. I think they both could sense something or someone was going to be coming soon.

Jake got over the excitement of Madison stopping by for a visit and since it was close to 1:00 in the afternoon, it was time for his afternoon nap. Farm dogs have such a "ruff" life don't you think?

Madison walked right up to this old antique plow and took a sniff to make sure it wasn't anything she should be concerned with while she was on the farm.

I swear Madison poses for my camera. She is always ready to pose for me as soon as she spots my camera. It's hard to shoot photos at a "dog's eye view" when I try to hold a leash in one hand and a camera in the other but Madi makes it easy because she "freezes" like a super model so I can get a good shot of her.

Jake is such a good old farm dog. He came from the local shelter many years ago.

While we were waiting, I spotted a pretty paint horse in the field next to the driveway so I decided to take Madison up to meet the horse. We started from a distance at first.

I'm not sure what she thought. She never barked, growled or whimpered even once. She was such a good girl!

I wonder if thought the horse in the pasture was just a big dog.

Madison was using her nose to try to figure out if it smelled like another dog or something else.

After a few minutes the horse got bored and started eating grass again.

Bye, bye horsey. By the time this photo was taken, it was starting to get very close to the time when Madison was about to meet her new family.

She kept looking at me as if to say "what is going on...what are we doing here...when is my dinner going to be served?"

As we were hanging out in the front pasture, I received a text from Darci telling me to meet them at the Sunset Hills Vineyard next door. They were picking up some wine so Madi and I hopped into the car and went next door for the big "meet and greet"..it was so exciting!

In this photo Madison wasn't sure what was going on. She kept looking at me and then she would turn and look at her new mommy Darci and her friend Marie. Marie has a Dalmatian named Sidney who is 9 years old and Sidney will become Madison's new big brother.

Darci and Marie looked pretty excited (although it was cold and windy outside) to finally get the opportunity to meet their little Madison and get to take her home for the weekend.

Madison was probably thinking: "yummy she has treats...I thought we would never eat again". Ashley and I didn't want to give Madison to much to eat because we didn't want her to get car sick on the day of her big trip up North.

A few hours after the girls picked Madison up, this amazing sunset suddenly appeared over The Overlook Farm. Although it was very cold and windy, I think God was trying to tell me that everything worked out like it should. When one door closes (Madi being left on the side of the road) another door opens (many folks came together to save, foster, rescue and adopt Madi). This was and is so true.

Sunset over Sunset Hills Vineyard.

Madison, Darci, Marie and Sydney's weekend turned out perfectly. Madison spent the weekend playing with Sydney the Dalmatian and she adores her new family.

Nitro, Lexi, Chris and I are thankful to Nicole Huffman who was the angel who saved Madison from the side of the road. Nicole took Madi to the vet and paid for her to be in boarding until I could get to N.C. to pick her up. We are also grateful to Ashley Leonard and her sweet husband Nic for fostering, loving, and training Madison to get her prepared for her new home. We would be remiss if we did not give a big shout out to Angels of Assisi for being so kind to accept Madison into their rescue on such short notice. Last but not least, we want to thank Darci and Marie for stepping up to give Madison a loving home. We feel blessed to have met and worked with all of these amazing people. We pray that Madison and her new family will be blessed for many years to come.

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by to visit us at The World According To Lexi.
xoxoxoxo
Christina, Chris, Lexi, Nitro, Bailey, and Tallulah