July 2011 Blog Posts (114)

As seen on Kid-FreeLiving.com

Humor writer Bill Bryson wrote a wonderful book, A Walk in the Woods, about his trek down the Appalachian Trail.  To escape our busy lives, my husband and I walk our own miniature Appalachian with our Labradoodle, Gordon, every day. Though,  I think a better name for…

This morning I put everything out for Lilly's arrival on Friday. I must say for a little bitty thing, she sure has a lot of stuff. That is what happens when one is retired, can shop by the internet and it is to hot to go outside.  We are renting a little (itty, bitty, teeny, tiny) cottage while we are restoring our 1870 Victorian house in Brownville, NE. We thought we would be in the place by last April and now it is looking more like October. Our main house is in…

I recently wrote a blog about how much I hate the Tour de France from a wife’s point of view.  Writing that blog and reading the comments, however, inspired me to get back on my bike this week despite the heat. Because of the terrible heat we are experiencing here in Pennsylvania, I brought along lots of water and my IPod.  Usually, I worry about drinking a lot of water and having no bathrooms along the way, but after Lynda told me that the riders in the Tour de France do not waste…

Four years ago today, our beautiful Lola was born.

Since then, she has made us the happiest doodle parents you can imagine. She's so loving, social, curious, cautious, sensitive, playful, silly, and HILARIOUS!!!!!

Happy birthday, Lola....we LOOOOOOOOOVE you!!!!!

(birthday pictures to come later....)

This is from…

It is so hard to believe that Rua will turn 1 tomorrow!  She is the absolute love of my life (of course, my DH is, but in a different way....you all know what I mean) and it just seems like we brought her home.  The last 10 months have flown by so quickly. 

The progression from:

• Crates and ex-pens to roaming the house and sleeping on the bed. 
• Trips outside every hour to "potty", Poochie bells (upstairs and downstairs) on the doors, purchasing a gallon…

We just rescued a 9 month old golden doodle.  Her name is Maggie and she is a love bug! 

Not afraid and was very comfortable in our home from the minute she stepped in.

We are working on her to learn basic commands, and have already taught her how to walk on a leash without pulling. 

She came to us house trained, and we have had no accidents!!  We are going to need to work on her manners and she appears to bark (VERY LOUD) at me for attention which we need to break: …

Yesterday was a beautiful sunny day and I decided to go on a quest to find the whales. The season has been kind of slow starting and I was beginning to think my whale radar was broken. For those of you who read the Capelin are Rolling and saw the video, I guess you could call this the sequel. We spent a couple of hours yesterday delighting in the whales at Cape Spear. This is a rocky piece of coastline and the whales come quite close. I took a lot of really bad video and some equally as bad…

Howdy Partners in crime...er...Friends! My name is Tucker Trouble Owen! That is my full name! You can just call me Tucker. Anyway, earlier today, I had the most amazing time of my life! Let me start at the begining.

Once upon early this morning, I was so bored! I padded over to Laney's room and stuck my nose right between her face and the sheets.

"WAKE UP!" I snorted. Laney opened her eyes. I was a muzzle-length away from her face. She screamed. Only I don't know why. So she…

Maddie, the hunter was at it again.  This evening she came to the sliding glass door and I let her in only to see a small baby animal of some kind on the step. I couldn't tell what is was without looking really close which I didn't want to do.  I call DH to get rid of it while Maddie went into the livingroom.   I  took her to  familyroom downstairs  Then I see her drop something.....another baby.  I call DH to get this one and take her back to the kitchen .....Gross.   THEN.....as I walk…

Saturday Murphy (100 lbs) and I made our second visit to a local nursing home.  This time we went on the Alzheimer Unit.

It was a scheduled visit, so they were expecting us, about 12 gathered in one room.  I was relieved not to see any walkers with tennis balls.  We began making our rounds. 3 ladies were very dog focused and told us about their dogs at home. We kept rotating around the room. Other than continually telling everyone his name and that he was a doodle, it was much better…

Hi Everyone!  Missing you all as I enjoy an extended stay at the cottage.  Found a hot spot and decided to post a couple of pics from Gavin's first boat ride.  He took to it right away!  Funny how they automatically know that they are supposed to go to the very front of the boat and stick their nose into the wind!  Hope everyone is well!!…

I now want another one - but not just any one I WANT BELLA! She was such a joy. She is just like my Daisy...calm, sleeps through the nite, very smart and oh so cute.

We are all three going to miss her terribly, but don't worry, I will have her again in August - can't wait.

Oh and guess what else - Head Tilts run in the family.…

So, just like clockwork, on her third birthday, at exactly nine months from her last heat (which is what Lyric always does) Lyric started her heat and will be bred next week. That would put her litter due date at the end of September--which is after all my trips (I have two planned in August and early Sept.) so I am happy about that. We will have a different dad this time if all goes as planned. Bossa nova is a wavy haired apricot beauty and they could have chocolate pups in addition to…

For three weeks every year, my husband sits in front of the television watching the Tour de France. I can honestly say, with no malice intended towards the bike riders, that I hate this race.  There are very few sports that I like watching on TV, but even the Super Bowl only lasts for a few hours. This bike race goes on for three weeks and there are no funny commercials or famous singers belting out songs during half time. I don’t like Football either, but I know a little something…

I would like you to meet my Grandson.

George Edward

9 lbs 8 oz

21 inches