SNOWMAGEDON HODGEPODGE!

With all the snow coming down, Joyce came up with great questions, now for our answers.

1. When did someone last suggest you 'chill out'? Or, when did you last tell someone (or want to tell someone) to 'chill out'? Or, when did you last tell yourself to 'chill out'?
I can't remember the last time I told someone to chill out or the last time someone told me to chill out.  But when I get upset, I tell myself to chill out a lot.  I take a deep breath, count to 100 (or more) and try to chill out before I make a final decision or say something I shouldn't.  Most of the time it works, but once in a while, I should have kept counting....

2. What most recently caused your heart to melt? 
I love holding my Hubby's hand while we watch TV.  We do it a lot.  I love that but what really makes my heart melt is while we are sleeping, we reach for each other.  We are just old romantics at heart.

3.  "An adventure is only an inconvenience rightly considered. An inconvenience is only an adventure wrongly considered." G.K. Chesterton  

Your thoughts? When did you last experience either an adventure or an inconvenience? How did you see it at first, as an adventure or an inconvenience?  Does it feel the same in hindsight?

A few weeks ago the car broke down in traffic, I was alone.  It was an inconvenience for sure.  It was so cold and I didn't have heat in the car.  A nice police officer allowed me to sit in his cruiser while I was waiting for Hubby to get to me and then we waited for AAA.  It was an inconvenience for sure.

On the other hand, we sometimes just drive around looking at the beautiful countryside we live in.   We get lost on purpose and drive around, talking and laughing.  To me that is an adventure.  I love that.

4.  A Wendy's Frosty, root beer in a frosty mug, or a frosted chocolate cupcake...of these three, which one is your favorite 'frosty' treat?
Root Beer in a frosty mug on a hot summer day. Hands down. But since it's so cold out, I'm going with the chocolate cupcake.

5. Would you say your life so far this year has been more like a circus or a symphony? Explain why.
More of a symphony so far for sure.  Our lives are filled with joy and laughter and love and grand children.  Family, friends and I love ever minute of it.

6. Since it's a 'snow day' here, what's your favorite song containing the word 'white'?
The first one I though of was White Christmas.

7. If you had to leave the city you currently live in, what would you find the hardest to leave behind?
I love living in the country with neighbors just far away to make it so nice. I would miss the country life.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

Well the state shut down. We all stayed in and waited for the snowmagedon.  And guess what?  It really didn't happen.  Yes we got lots of snow, and it blew around a lot, and it was cold.  But it was not what the snow storm of 1978 was and that was the storm this was compared to.  We didn't loose power and we are all OK.  August went out once and fell into the snow.  Since he is 10 inches tall, we knew we had at least 10 inches of show.  He jumped up and into the house in one leap and looked at me with sad scared eyes.  Me, I laughed so hard my side hurt.  

There is another snow event scheduled for the end of the week, We must be playing catch up for all the snow we didn't get in November and December.  That's OK, we're ready. 

How to store grooming supplies

There are lots of things a person can use to store your grooming supplies.  Some use a drawer in the bathroom, others use a basket to hold the supplies, while still others have an entire room dedicated to grooming their dogs.

Me, I have one of these to hold my supplies.

Each draw holds supplies for both dogs.  The top carries what is needed every day while the bottom holds what I use every other week.

The top has the combs and rakes and mat splitter and scissors that are needed for either dog.  The red Zoom Groom and the Blue Rake are for Beckke.  Most of the other stuff is for August.

The dryer is perfect for both dogs.  I can either place it  in its holder and aim it at August who is on the table which allows me to  blow dry him and brush him at the same time or I can hold it over Becke and blow her dry while she stands on the floor. 

This attaches to the table in the kitchen and helps hold August in place while I work on him.  It stores behind the cabinet, out of sight until I need it.  

What do you hold your grooming supplies in?

Jammies/Rompers - Whatever you want to call them.

When it only 13 degrees and your little dog goes outside to "go" it's nice to have an extra layer on.  For August, who is very styling, that means he wears one of his rompers.  Sunday he wore his "Frozen - Olaf" romper.  Who says boys can't be up on all the newest fashion.  He sure liked to be warm.  

The pellet stove is going to keep the house warm, but sometimes a little extra is always good.

Are all of you staying warm this winter.  What tips do you for you and your pets to stay warm.

Baby It's Cold Outside!!

Like most of us in the Northeast, it's cold, down right bloody cold!  Temps are in the single numbers with wind chills well below zero. This morning (Sunday) it's 5 degrees.  5!  Luckily there is no wind chill at the moment.  Yippee!!

That makes it too cold for snow to land and pile up so there is not much on the ground and nothing to shovel but boy is it cold!

Still, the dogs need to be cared for.  August needs a bath at least every other week so this weekend, he got one from me.  I didn't go to into the office on Friday so his regular groomer didn't get a chance to get to him. But she is so generous with her time, she showed me how to shave him and since I have the shampoo here at home, he got a full bath.  He was not happy!

In good weather, he can run around outside to zoom dry, but not when it's -7 with a wind chill of -24. So he runs around the house trying to zoom dry.  Then he hides.  Funny thing is, he hides on top of me between 2 blankets.  Silly boy.

But once he's all dried and brushed out, he looks so handsome.  Don't you agree?

My tools for every day are these.  A slicker brush, letter opener (that woks perfectly as a mat splitter), Greyhound comb and Detangle spray.  Since August has a soft coat, and it's hair not fur, I never comb him with dry hair.  A light spray is all I need to keep his hair in place.

For those of you with pets who need grooming, what are your "go to tools?"

What to do when you're home sick.

Well, Craft of course.

When I wasn't coughing up both lungs and all 10 toes, I was crafting.  After all it was Christmas time.

I made some body pillows for the grand girls.  You've seen them I'm sure on Pinterest.  Basically you take 5 pillowcases and sew them together, stuff them with pillows and you have a body pillow.  Since I couldn't find 10 "Frozen" pillowcases, I made the pillow cases for both grand girls, then Hubby went shopping for 10 pillows to stuff them with.  Here is what the finished product looked liked.

It touched my heart that both girls used them to sleep on the floor for a few nights and loved them.

The other thing I did was create a better way to hold on to August's rompers.
What's a romper?  It's play clothes for a small dog to wear either as jammies or to play outside in the winter and stay warm.

August goes to day care every day with me and while I work (with Becke in my office as my office buddy) he plays.  If the weather is really terrible the small dogs will play inside with the door to the outside open  so that they can go outside to "go".  So the inside room is just as cold as the outside.  If it's not too terrible, the small dogs play outside even in the winter.  Either way, August is cold so he has play clothes to wear out there.

I've bought a few outfits but made most of them.  There is a child consignment shop in the big city and I get either 6 month or 9 month size outfits and adjust them to fit his "boy parts". T-shirts are often onezeeze with the snaps cut off and then hemmed.  Easy!  His one pants and tops are often just that, a top and pants sewed together, then the middle is cut out for his "boy parts".  It really is easy.

As for storage, I found this doll clothes rack and hung his clothes on it.  It was $6.99.  The hangers, were either hangers from baby outfits I bought for a gift and kept the hanger or one of these hangers from the Dry Cleaners.  Pull off the cardboard, bend to fit the new smaller outfit and hang your dogs clothes.

From this 

To this

2 pieces sewed together

All hung up and ready to find what I want.

Did you do any crafting this season?  What did you do?  How did it work out?

Vacationing With Dogs!

Going on vacation is always lots of fun, being able to bring your furry best friend makes it better and knowing how to make vacation extra special and safe for your older dog makes vacation awesome. Having 2 dogs of very different ages takes some planning, but with planning, the vacation works for everyone! 

If you’ve never taken your older dog out of state on vacation before, here are some tips on what to do.

1.     Visit your vet!  Make sure that the old girl/guy is healthy. It’s easy to miss something in your older dog because change can be very slow and subtle.  Make sure you are up to date on any changes in your old friend.  Ask about any health concerns in the states you are going to visit as that may change plans on where you go.  In our case, there were no outbreaks of Kennel Cough or Parvo Virus in the states we were going to visit so we felt safe taking them to dog parks.

The "kids" at a dog park, in the shade.  Chasing balls and getting some love under the trees.

2.     Make sure if your older friend is on medication that you have enough to cover you while you are away and even a little extra so that you can up the medication if need be (with your vet’s OK)

3.     Bring what your pet is used to. In our case we brought Becke’s orthopedic bed from home as well as her food, treats, harness, leash, and a fan that blows on her face while she is sleeping.  All the things she has at home. We have dog bowls in the car that both dogs have used so we used those rather than bring the bowls from home.

Becke's bed and her fan is in the upper right of the picture.  

4.     For Becke, who is 14 ¾ years old, her eyesight and hearing is going.  So keeping her safe is important.  She stays on a leash and connected to one of us while we walk and we walk slowly so that she can stop and smell the flowers (the nose still works).  We limit how far she can walk and then we stop.  After letting her rest, we can then continue.  We carry water with us for her to either drink or splash over her if she is getting too hot.  She also has some arthritis so she has medication that we give her in her breakfast and can increase it if needed.  At night she got a great hip massage from Hubby which made her feel better and kept her going the next day.

Don’t forget to plan for the younger, more active dog as well!!

5.     For August (who is 3 years old) we had his food, leash, long line, coats, clothes, bed toys, stroller with blanket to lay on, and blanket to put on top of the hotel bed for him to sleep on.  August  sleeps with us but it’s just plain polite to bring a blanket to put on top of the hotel bed to keep shedding and smells down to a minimum.

August all sprawled out on the blanket in the hotel room

6.     While Becke is sitting under a tree with daddy resting, I would walk August at a faster clip around the block or park that we were visiting.  When we all walked together he would be on a long line where he could move out and explore away from us but could still keep moving while Becke, Daddy and I sat and rested.

7.     Letting August play outside with some of his toys at the hotel early in the morning on the long line while Becke lay in the grass and watched allowed August some time to burn off energy while Becke conserved energy for the day ahead.  I drank coffee which made me livable. 

     

8.     Bring medical info in case you need to go to a vet. It will come in handy for the Vet if you will info on your dog’s medical conditions and vaccination’s.  If you have a smart phone, it should all be in there with a current photo of your dog.

Yes, it takes planning to take two dogs of such different ages and needs to have a great vacation, but it’s no different than planning a vacation with kids of different needs I suspect.  After all, the idea is for everyone on vacation to have fun.

Have you ever taken your dog with you on vacation? Do tell

Arcadia National Park

Part of our vacation was going to Arcadia National Park.  It is a beautiful place where we were able to walk around and tour some of God's beauty.  The picture above is at the peak - Cadillac Mountain.  It was super cold up there and the wind was blowing so bad we left the dogs in the car. August would have become a kite and Becke would have been a tumbleweed.  Hubby had to hold me down and we got someone to take out picture so that we could get back in the car and drive down the mountain.

One of the sights in Arcadia is "Thunder Hole"  where the water hits the rocks just so, the sound is that of Thunder. While we were there we didn't hear it, but boy is it beautiful down there.

 Sand Beach is another beautiful place in the park and at this time of year dogs can go into the water.  The only problem that we didn't know about was that there are only steps to get down to the beach.  Becke would get down, but not up as it was a lot of steps.  So she and daddy stayed up and August and I went down to the water.

August chased the water back out to sea and I do believe that he feft that he was making the water go away as he chased it back out to sea.  He had on a shirt just to keep the wind off him a bit and give him a little bit of protection from the wind.  He really did like it out there and did draw attention to himself as he chased the water away.

Here is just one group that came up to ask "What is that?" as they pointed to August.  August is used to standing behind me or his sister while we explain that he doesn't have a lot of confidentce and how to meet our little man.  They were wonderful as one of the ladies has a Papion and knew to sit on the gorund.  It was wonderful to see someone who understood and August immediately climbed into her lap.

At some point on our tour of Arcadia National Park, August became overwhelmed.  At that point, we placed him in his stroller and although some people looked at us all like we were nuts, August was able to relax and calm down.  The stroller is a wonderful thing and helps him to enjoy all our outings without having to be overwhelmed.  Have you ever seen a dog in a stroller?  

He loves to look out and see the world and not have to be a part of it.   He gets lots of looks but not no touching!!!

More vacation stories - Dog Mountain

The first half of our vacation was spent in Maine. The second half of our vacation was spent in Vermont at a place called Dog Mountain.  It's a private spot on a mountain top in Vermont.  150 acres that are always open to the public and their dogs.  Here the dogs are cherished and there is no leash law so well behaved dogs are encouraged to be off leash and are welcome inside any building who's doors are open.

Picture this, you have 150 acres to walk around in, take pictures of and play in.  There are ponds for the dogs to swim in and while they are still wet, they can then go into the stores and run around and play.  It's an amazing spot and this time of year, it's beautiful!!

We kept August Rush on a leash since he was overwhelmed with all the bigger dogs running around off leash and playing with each other while their owners were talking and tossing a ball for the dogs.  Becke had her leash on and at times we wrapped it around her harness as we walked around but since she has limited sight and hearing we wanted to keep her safe.  

There is Dog Chapel up there where people post photos, and notes about the animals in their lives who have gone on.  

Here is Hubby just outside the doors of the Chapel with Becke and a lot of statues that August was sure were real people and dogs.  It took a while but he finally did go see for himself that they don't move!!

Inside the chapel you will find thousands of notes, letters, photos, and even ashes of dogs who have died. These notes and photo's are never taken down.   It's a place of love, sadness, joy, prayer and reflection.

Can you see the notes and photos in there.

August sat in one of the chairs looking around.

Seats to sit and think, pray, cry or just be still.

All the seats have dog statues either on the side or in the back of them

Stain glass windows are everywhere.

The walls are called Remembrances Walls and there are note pads, pens as well as push pins and tape so you can write and post your message on the walls.  All are invited.

Everywhere you go there are dog statues, hidden in the tall grass, standing along the walk ways, and outside of buildings and ponds.  There are even statues of cats outside the Gallery peeking out from the corner of building.  Pets are truly cherished here and they know it.  The dogs who go there often, know where all the drinking bowls are and each is refilled thoughout the day.

What a magical place to go. We saw lots of dog themed furniture, dressers, mirrors, place mats, and chairs all with dogs on them. 

                                 Even the sink in the bathroom is a dog. Pull down the tail for water!!

Becke and August had a blast and frankly, so did we.  

Is there a magical spot for pets in your neck of the woods?  Do tell!!

Well no one said it had to be real!!

I work with a woman called Michelle.  She told me that since we were going to Maine for vacation, we needed to get a photo of August sitting on a moose.  OK I thought, she didn't say it had to be a living Moose.  Challenge Accepted!!

The state "Rest Stop" had a moose statue so we let August walk up to it.  Since he didn't look up all he saw was a place to mark --- so he did. I picked him out and Hubby took the photo.

Now before this photo, August was on the ground and looking every where around except at the thing he just piddled all over. So I will enlarge the photo for you all so can look at his face as he all of a sudden looked at the head of the moose!

Now that is a face that says "Holy Cow - look at that thing!!".  Yes that is me, hot curly blond babe.  My hair is coming in hot blond and super curly!!  I'm learning how to take care of curly hair.  It's fun and I like even a bad hair day.

At our Motel there was this fun ship to play on and in. August really liked it.  He spent the first day walking around it and looking in the bottom holes. The second day and on, he played in it.  This is a huge step forward for our shy little boy.

Day 1 - he just walked around this big thing.

But after that he was fine running and out and up and down.

But he did continue to look for that Easter Bunny!  

What was the last challenge you accepted and completed?  

Time Goes By.

Tomorrow, Saturday the 30th our little boy 'Naturial's All In The Music, August Rush' will be 3 years old.  How fast the time goes.

He started out like this:

This is his Momma, with all the babies she had.  Our little boy is on top with the black spots on white coat.  Momma was a powder puff and dad is a hairless.  Both powder puff and hairless are born in the same litter.   This was the first photo the breeder sent me asking if I could figure out which were hairless and which were powder puff.  I couldn't in this photo so she sent me photos of each dog separately and when I saw him I put him on my short list of dogs I liked the look of.

Here was the picture she sent me and I thought wow, is he little?

She gave them names, this was Ditto and at one week old look at that face!!

She sent me another photo asking if I could find him in there.  His ears were still taped and still, I loved his face.  Here he is with the siblings.  They are all so cute. 

Our slippery little boy was really taking shape and I couldn't wait to pick him up.

At 10 weeks of age we were able to drive drown and pick him up.  He was ours.  

Becke, the wonder dog started right away, taking care of him and teaching him.  

They still nap together and Becke sure looks happy about it.

So Tomorrow is his 3rd birthday.

I'll make him Scrambled eggs with cheese for Breakfast and stew beef with green beans for dinner.  

Happy 3rd Birthday our Little Man.  You've come a long way!!