CORGIS! CORGIS! CORGIS!

As part of our Memorial Day pilgrimage to the cabin for some sun and family time with Mom, Dad, Warren, Susan, Sam, Ann Marie, and Max...not to mention a multitude of cousins on "the hill" as per the multi-generational tradition...John and I had a little side trip planned.

It was time to go meet Browdie, the new puppy. BROWD (sounds like the past tense of the word brow as in eyebrow) is the Welsh word for brother, fitting because he'll be a little brother to Tilley and Laika and also shares a bday with my brother :).

We headed over across the dam past the massive and historically controversial Watts Bar nuclear reactor towards Athens and Sweetwater. Home to Mayfield Dairy, the Lost Sea, and our newest-to-be member of the family.

We crossed over I-75 and ducked in and around turns on country roads that felt (to me) like home; it was nice to see an area that looked like it hadn't changed much in the past years.

Honeysuckle was so thick on the vine you could smell it in the air driving along as we passed little farms, a multitude of cows, and yes, even an alpaca farm (Jess, I did not stop to herd them).

We turned up the gravel lane and headed up the hill to the house and were greeted by the fine folks at Immer Essen farm. I knew already that I liked these people from our chats on the phone and email, but really liked them once we met them. I can sum it up by saying this... anyone who raises corgis overlooking the Smoky Mountains, is a self-proclaimed militant vegetarian, and is a Buddhist who can comfortably quote Monty Python and the Princess Bride is alright with us.

We headed over to the little pen with an open travel crate full of little puppies pretty much sacked out on top of one another happily. One brave soul came over, the others in the corner of the pen or the crate itself couldn't be bothered. After a while our hostess headed over and un-sandwiched our boy from the pile and brought him over. As expected, even cuter in person :). He was pretty friendly with us but still pretty young and distracted. He took a little interest in the small toy I'd brought along, but was quickly on to the next thing such as my purse, shoe, or the cuff of my jeans leg. He was fine being held but didn't seem to want to get up near my face just yet.

Then we headed over to the outdoor day runs to meet Llewy, the dad. He was such a bundle of HURRAH - so friendly and energetic. He enjoyed the Zuke's mini treats I had along :). We then went along to meet some of the other corgis just for fun, including the highlight of the pen with the 8 and 12 week litters, where I was happily assaulted by many paws and puppy tongues. Just corgis. Everywhere. John and I later shared that we both seperately wished we had asked to go in and just lay there and let them have their way with us. Corgis!!

Next, we headed over to meet Faith, the mom. They are at 4 weeks so are starting to spend part of the day away from mom. She was such a sweetie....very friendly and happy. A good size too, much like Tilley in terms of confirmation. She enjoyed the backrub from me, lamenting "these puppies are killin me".

Then it was back to the puppy pen for us for more time with Browdie. I did a little putting him on his back on my lap and he was just fine, playing with my hand and my LiveSTRONG bracelet. He also nuzzled up to my neck and then proceeded to give a few glorious puppy flavored kisses to my nose.

Eventually it was time to leave his travel crate behind and say goodbye until 4 weeks from now when we whisk him away to start his new life. The good news is at least he didn't issue a verbal moan of discontent when he saw us like Tilley did the first time when we picked her up at the airport. She's since retracted her initial disappointment and regrets her initial comment. A few videos to get your cute fix on for the day: