So many Spotted Puppies so little time, Atalla bound

Sunday November 12th 2006 .... what a beautiful day. I dressed in two pair of socks, thermals, jeans , a turtle neck, my buff, and my helmet and bike jacket.. NO GLOVES.. need gloves.. just do not have any that fit my hands. It was very brisk when we got started. The sky was a crystal blue, no clouds to be found in any directions... We decided to take the back roads to Atalla and what a beautiful ride.. The leaves are at the height of changing color. The air was crisp and lovely. I have mentioned Atalla Alabama to a lot of folks.. and for those of you I have not mentioned it to.. Steve and I go there almost every Sunday morning, weather permiting. We love to walk and people watch.. but mostly we love to Puppy Hunt.. We got there bright and early this morning and are hunt yielded many rewards.. Sadly we did not bring any of those rewards home with us.. we are still on that hunt. When we first got there we found a bunch of puppies blocked in by crates... they were little lab and sheperd mixes that this lady was selling for about 10.00 each ....boy were they cute pups check out the picture ... they were cuties.. next we found some beautiful Wiemiwiners *not sure how to spell that one* very precious indeed. Steve and I have a rountine.. we walk to the top of the hill and make our way down.. I was pretty happy because I found a cell phone case with a regular ( not ratched clip) clip. Yay.... We got to the top of the hill and started working are way down. Our first temptation were the 10.00 puppies.. Now on to our second temptation.. I thought my heart was going to stop .. we approaced a white box.. a huge white box that said puppies 20.00... We peered over the side of the box and much to our amazement we saw a pup tht looked just like Cookie.. we had always thought Cookie was one of kind.. but this little tyke.. could have been her sibling... She was part Lab and part American Bull dog... That pretty much made me hesitant to take her because I just do not know anything about the American Bull Dog and I would be concerned about an agressive behavior.. I think Steve pretty much felt the same way .. BUT we were both shocked to see her...WOW.. First picture is Cookie and the next is the first spotted Puppy we saw the Lab American Bulldog mix.. We preceded down the hill .. stopping to look at tools, and various other items.. but mostly concentrating on puppies .... We went down a few more rows and grabbed a bag of fresh roasted peanuts

We came up to another area were puppies were being sold this time.. and what do see.. BUT another Spotted puppy.. this one is called a Catahula Leopard Dog... yep.. thats what it was... here is a picture of this baby... he is curled up with a Jack Russell Shitzu mix.. (one nervous doggie I would guess ) ..before he curled up there.. he was a sassy little player.. very cute... We kept on strolling down the hill and all of the sudden.. Here comes Temptation number 3... A family was strolling the aisles of the flea pulling a wagon and .. sitting in that red wood wagon were two little girls... the girls were loving and hugging some adorable big puppies and people were crowding around... Turns out the family was trying to find good homes for the pups.. I wish we had gotten pictures of those sweet babies.. they were sooooooooooo laid back... They looked like Rotweiler pups but the folks who were giving them away said they were Coon dog Australian shepard mix... They were adorable. and so cuddly.. I held one.. and was in Puppy love.. we came very close to taking the little girl.. she was precious.. but once we figured it would be too traumatic to bring her home on the bike.. we decided against bringing her home... In away I felt like God was sending us some kind of signal.. We have never seen puppies there that were being given away for free that were in such GREAT SHAPE... usually the pups are a little sickly.. as was Cookie when we got her there... Steve said it best.. going to Atalla and getting a pup there.. is equivalent to going to the Animal Shelter... Here is another shot of the Flea Market area .. It is always packed... for our last few visits we have stoped at this truck ..actually it is a place to eat authentic mexican food. They serve out of a food truck and you can sit at little red picnic tables and enjoy a really unique lunch.. yeah its a bit different.. they have decent health department rating so that is good.. and the food is FANTASTIC.. very different from what we think of when we think of mexican cooking.. there is certainly no taco bell in any of this food... Anyway here is the picture I was telling you about.... Yes it is all outside.. We had our lunch walked the Flea one final time.. debated about puppies and we left empty handed.. back on the bike...Here is Steve right before we saddled up and left the the Flea Market . The ride home was wonderful and scenic.. The trees still changing colors from deep green to rich red and yellow and orange... a sky as crystal blue and perfect as there ever was.. You can check out my FLICKR site and see more pictures if you want.. here is the link http://www.flickr.com/photos/honib1/ After we left the flea we took our time heading home.. We decided to go to Elmwood to my dad's grave .. I only like to go there on a beautiful day... it just seems a fitting tribute to my father.. We stayed there for a few minutes.. and headed on home... Though I prefer the back roads.. riding on the Highway can be interesting as well... The different smells that hit you can be a bit overwhelming.. from desil and god knows what else.. from time to time though.. when you travel the bit of highway we were on.. if you hit it just right you can smell the heavenly aroma of fresh baked bread.. that was coming from the Sunbeam bread bakery somewhere in the downtown area.. Eventually we made our way home... .While the journey is the most inportant part of the trip... arriving to your destination is the blessing at the end of the day... Until we meet again... Happy trails..