After sending announcements far and wide about the Second Annual Gathering of the Rose Croft Clan, owners, friends, relations and supporters sent their RSVP's and the plan was set.

July 4, 1998 dawned very warm and grew hotter. After a week of building and digging an Earthdog den, planting flowers and general yard tune-up, we where ready.........................

9:00 am and Mark McDonald & Trish Watson were at our door, dogs in hand. Joy Brewster & Ramona Boulter the two ladies that volunteer their time and experience in tattooing dogs to raise funds for D'COP (they buy police service dogs) closely followed them.

Joy & Ramona set up "business" in the garage and as the dogs arrived for the day, they were tattooed early before the other events of the day. A total of 19 dogs were tattooed. A few more could have been tattooed, but their owners forgot to bring their AKC numbers!

There was space reserved in the garage for crates and dogs to be left in the shade and cool while the owners unloaded food, ex-pens, tents and grooming tables.

A regular tent city was erected on the lawn between the grape arbor and the rock wall next to the pool. In a matter of minutes after each "family" added to our small doggie village.

Several people spent the morning in the pool while we waited for the later arrivals. And not just the kids either (at least 5 of them). They only part of the weekend that Trish Watson didn't enjoy was the sunburn.

There were about 35 people. One couple came all the way from Arizona! Lala brought a date that came all the way from either Germany or Russia we never were quite sure which, but he was a sweetheart and a neat person to spend time with.

The Sayre's brought their Norwichs for their first Earthdog experience and boarding kennel information was swapped around too.

After swimming and a snacking lunch people started to gather around the tunnel to try their dogs paws at Earthdog. Twenty-three dogs tried their paws at going the length of the tunnel, but only two dogs went the entire way and worked the rats. Dawn & John Gennrich's McCork and the Watson/McDonald's "B" (aka Rose Croft Ironwood Lilly, JE). "B" was the very first dog to get the chance to use the brand new tunnel and liner.

After some rat chasing it was time to eat. The Tattoo Parlor was transformed into a "mess hall". Dave transformed from keeper of the tunnel to chief chef!

The guests brought everything you can think of; Tom Quarles brought two rubber maid containers of Marie's famous Special K chocolate iced peanut butter crispy treats and they were both gone before lunchtime. There were more hot dogs of every variety than you would believe.

Everyone brought a different kind. There were foot longs, beef and regular, Polish Kielbasas, Russian, English and Irish sausages and bangers, all kinds of German sausages, pork loins, steaks, and chops. There was tortellini salad, macaroni salad, fruit salad, green salad, coleslaw, vildalia onion cheese pie, chopped videlia onions, chili no beans for hot dogs, home made chili with beans, ranch beans, baked beans, all kinds of chips, and Sue Broderick brought her hubby and his twin and the incredible berry cobbler she made from the berries they picked early this season that was one of the hits of the dessert table along with carrot cake, peach pie, American flag sugar cookies baked by Dawn G, and homemade ice cream, French vanilla with real vanilla bean full of crushed Reeses Stix.

Official eating started around 2:30 and ran the rest of the day and evening. Everyone ate with the same gusto their terriers would and very little of it was left or rapped up to go home.

Dave, Tom Quarles, Dawn Gennrich, and Connie Monahan, deserve a special thank you for working so hard to help the kitchen stay in order throughout the day and evening and helping so generously with the clean up.

Pat Monahan couldn't find couch space to conk out in after lunch and was found napping by our young photographers with his head in the dog bed for a pillow. It was great. (You lucked out Pat, that was one of the pictures that got deleted).

Since there was a three week lay-off from shows in Northern Calif., and this was the day that the new owners got to take their puppies home a lot of us used the cool of the evening to catch up on some grooming.

Most guests stayed until sunset around 8:30 and those that stayed past 9 got to watch the kids and their fireworks. One silly couple hung around talking until it was too late to go home, really I think that Mark just wanted to help Happy bring her Fourth of July litter into the world. We were very proud to witness the birth of the last two July fourth party guests; two fat little bitches.

Mark your calendar and next year for the Fourth of July make plans to join us. There are lots of places to camp, in addition to our front yard. Lakes for fishing and water-skiing too.

This page has been visited times since July 9. 1998

This page was last March 30, 2002

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