Blueberries and porcupine quills

On Sunday, we went to Murphy Dome Road to pick some blueberries. Sonja does not like blueberries, though yesterday, she did try a raspberry for the first time this year! Last year, towards the end of the raspberry season, she decided to put one into her mouth, liked it, and that was the end of raspberries for Martin and me. This year, she didn't try a single one until yesterday, so we will see whether from now on she will eat them or not.

Anyways, blueberries were not a hit with Sonja. Instead of picking blueberries for herself, Sonja wanted to help us carry the containers around. In order to limit spill damage, we ended up asking her to first come to me, I would put a handful of blueberries I picked into the container she had in her hands, then she would go empty that into the main container. Then we would ask her to go to Martin, and get his handful of blueberries. Even though the distance between us was only a couple feet, it is still difficult for a toddler to navigate through or over blueberry bushes, so it kept Sonja busy.

Not so Saphira though - once she came jumping through and knocked Martin's container over. Another time Martin said she was eating the blueberries.

After an hour or so, as it got towards dinner time, Sonja got unhappy, so we went home. Since the dogs did not do that much runnig, we left them run next to the car. That was fine except for one spot, where they went into the bushes and didn't want to come back. We had to back up to them and do some more persuasion. Some calling eventually did get them back onto the road, and running next to the car again. After a bit, Mica got tired, so we let her go into the car. Saphira continued to run next to the car. Her mouth was open as she was trying to get air and stay cool. I noticed something by her mouth - three porcupine quills. So the dogs must have seen a porcupine back in the bushes. Surprisingly, Saphira had only three quills in her mouth - personally, I would have expected to see her mouth full of them. Perhaps she is a bit smarter than I thought! Mica did not have any, luckily.

We performed a small operation, with me holding Saphira's behind (while she stood over us in the front seats of the car) while Martin pulled the three quills out. And on we went.

These days, instead of having raspberries topped with ice cream topped with (unwhipped) heavy cream for dessert, we wave raspberries and blueberries with ice cream and cream. Mmmmmm. Good stuff.