September 2011 Blog Posts (121)

When our oldest daughter started college and moved away from home, it was so hard on my husband and me. This was our first little birdie to leave the nest and we were sad. The first day back to work after we got her situated, I was talking to a much older woman who told me that as much as I missed her now, it was going to be even harder to get used to having her back for the summers when she had been away so long.  I wasn’t sure I believed her, but she…

Trav has a place of ultimate refuge in the house. When things have become unbearably horrible, he retreats to a small area in the bathroom between the toilet and the wall and just stands there. He’s elected to escape to this refuge on only 6 or 7 occasions in his 1-1/2 years–a couple of times when he saw me gathering grooming tools after the previous grooming session was too vigorous for his taste, and when he realized I was getting ready to give him a bath in the kitchen sink, an activity…

So Saturday I spent most of the afternoon putzing around the house cleaning up between puppy naptimes.  Late that afternoon, I planned to go visit my bestie & see her new house.  I couldn't take Zoey with me, so I made sure to get some playtime in with her, took out to potty and then rearranged her pen so that she could have a larger space on the tile in the entry to move around in, have her food & water and would still be ok if she had an accident.  I put the pen up to block entry…

We started out with high hopes.  Just as Serena and Venus Williams were born to play tennis, we were certain that our girl would rank World No. 1 in the therapy dog world.  After all, she was bred with superior traits in mind:  the loyal and gentle Labrador retriever mixed with the higher intelligence of a poodle.  How could she help but become a rising star?

Hah! Almost as soon as we took her home, those hopes were ground in the dust, quickly shoveled under a hail of loose topsoil…

Lilly turned 3 months old on the 2nd. She had her third round of puppy shots on the 1st and weighs 7 lbs. She has settled us into a routine. She gets up around 6 and some days before the rouster across the street starts his crowing. she goes outside and goes pee/ comes in and eats a bit of food and then has to go out "right THIS MINUTE" and poops, then she comes in and finishs eating. She plays for a bit then decides it is nap time. She is up for about 2 hrs and sleeps for 2hrs. She like to…

Living close to the border with Mexico, some of our cuisine is influenced by Hispanic ties. One of our favorites is Snapper Vera Cruz.  This is a very easy dish to prepare and you can prepare the sauce and freeze it while tomatoes are abundant in your garden or very inexpensive in the grocery stores.  The recipe is not rocket science and I NEVER MEASURE. I usually cook this two batches at a time and freeze them laying flat in 1-gallon freezer bags.  Freezing them flat not only saves space in…

I have had Riley home now for about 2 and a half weeks..... Wow!! I can not believe how smart she is and how much she has grown (physically and intellectually) in just those 2.5 weeks.

Although she is tiny (right now), she is about 3.5 pounds, her personality is DEFINITELY not. I love it!!! She can be a bit bossy, but definitely makes up for it when she is sleeping in my arms and giving me kisses. I was told she would get up to 50 pounds, but now I am thinking more around 35.…

Not looking forward to Tucker having time alone when school goes back this year.Many decisions to make....to crate or not to crate and just give him access to the ceramic kitchen and hallway.He will have 2 stints a day he will be alone and this will only happen 3 times a week...he will be alone Mondays,Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:30 until noon and then DH gets home for lunch....then he is alone from 1pm to 3 pm....then kids get home from school.I hope all will go well as he has been doing…

It's been a week since dear Ember has been home!  I am just so excited that she is here. 

There have been lots of good things:

- usually sleeping well during the night without whining (most nights have been asleep by 11 and waking up at 6:30 am with no get-ups...except the past two nights)

- meeting the other dogs in my…

Our first dog, Hershey, loved people food. Our youngest daughter was eight when we got Hershey and they soon became best friends. A couple of times when she was in the bathtub, I would hear her talking to someone and open the door only to find that Hershey was in the tub with her. We explained to her repeatedly that the point of a bath was to get clean and we preferred her bath to be dog free, but every now and then Hershey would still get in that tub. Looking…

Lachlan has the most amazingly plush hair on his legs and face, which is lovely to look at but a bit of a pain to keep up with - especially that face! I'm not as good as I should be at keeping his beard washed and he hates having it brushed out. He's also one of those pups with a constantly wet beard, which I can't imagine is all that great for the skin. His coat is so soft and thick it just wicks up any moisture within a 10-block radius.



I finally decided to trim his beard down…

I decided a while ago to forgo the puppy classes and wait until Riey was five months old to take him to obedience training classes.  The best one I found after extensive research is a 40 minute drive from home and with a 9am start I though ok, no problem since we normally start the day at 7am.  Plenty of time to have a little food and the required 15 minute walk as instructed by the course leader. Today though Riley decided to sleep  in until 8am, first time ever and so I leapt up.   I made…

What can I say about week 4. I love this dog and honestly can't remember life before Cooper.

As I write this he's lying on my feet (though he has a bully stick to keep him occupied lol).  I feel compelled to write a bit of a cheesy post. I have been a pretty indepedent person. I've lived alone for about 10 years and haver really only had to look out for…

This is only partly doodle related, and, no, it doesn't mean I can't participate in yappy hour any more.

Three weeks ago, I went in for minor, outpatient surgery on my wrist. My ECU tendon in my right hand/wrist had been hurting for almost 2 years. As a matter of fact, it was exactly 2 years ago today that I hurt it.  An MRI didn't show any problems, but with the pain still lingering, the surgeon was just going to do a quick, simple tenosynovectomy. The surgery takes less…

I hate to start talking about the old days, but years ago when I gave birth things were much different.  When I gave birth to my oldest daughter back in 1984, there was a big push for natural childbirth.  I gave birth in a hospital, but was attended by two midwives, and I had a very long labor.  I had no IV’s and no drugs to help.  The midwife in charge encouraged me to walk all during my labor to speed things up, but on or about the fourteenth hour, I…

So excited to be taking Bailey to the beach for the first time tomorrow.  I do feel like I am getting prepared to take a toddler with us.  Toys, water, extra towels, long leash, treats for the ride home.

We are only planning to stay an hour or two...don't want to overdue it on her first visit...

Pictures to follow tomorrow afternoon!!!

Just wanted to share!  Brulee is getting a new sister tomorrow.  She's another Manor Lake pup...in fact she and Brulee have the same Dad and their Moms are sisters.  I'm hoping the sweet personality of Brulee is there in ???  Oh, my golly, she doesn't have a name!  Won't sleep much tonight!  :)

She's a minature, chocolate, and is 16 weeks old.  Saw her little picture and fell in love!  Now I think our cup runneth over!  I am so excited. :)

Hey! A couple days ago we got hit by Irene, and Tucker loved all the commotion! We sat out on the front porch with him watching the storm. He ran around the yard and barked at all the blowing trees. Then, he came back up onto the porch with us. After sitting on my cozy porch and reading my book, I looked up and saw that Tucker wasn't there! I panicked! I had heard a car start up earlier, so I thought that maybe Tucker chased it! That wasn't in Tucker's nature. I looked around. I closed my…