Carolynn got a dog. It is a husky and german shepherd mix. I am not a fan. Carolynn told me she was going to take care of this dog. But she works and goes to school. And Koda does crazy stuff. So we created a hash tag just for her.
#thankskoda
Koda ate one of my plants. Thanks Koda.
Koda pees everywhere. Thanks Koda.
Koda eats all the plastic ware. Thanks Koda.
I tried to let Koda in but she peed all over the threshold and on my foot. I needed clean socks. Thanks Koda.
Koda some how managed to get on the table but can't seem to figure out how to get off. Now I have to go outside in the freezing cold to rescue her. Thanks Koda.
I forgot what this herb is, because the sign is missing/eaten. Thanks Koda.
Koda just licked me up the nose. Thanks Koda.
We found Koda's collar... She ate it. Thanks Koda.
Our dog, Bubbles, is an intimidating force. She is large. Being part mastiff it was bound to happen. And also being yellow lab, she is a bundle of energy. She loves to play in the water. She fetches. She chases birds. She is funny.
Then of course is our other dog, Drizella. She is so serious. She thinks she is in charge of everything. She doesn't play.
And she hates when Bubbles gets excited.
And sometimes, when Bubbles gets excited, Drizella feels like telling her to shut up.
And then the fight is on.
And Bubbles always loses.
Last time they fought, Bubbles ended up in the hospital. And $600 later, she was as good as new.
Of course, she did have to wear the cone of shame for 3 weeks.
To combat this, we have started crate training Drizella. She has taken to it pretty well. By putting her in the crate, I am in charge, not her.
So far, it's working.
Of course, last week, our old beagle, Elvis, managed to beat up Bubbles a little. He had knocked the grease trap off the barbecue and was happily licking away. And Bubbles tried to get in on it. Elvis only beat her up a little. Bubbles got the heck out of the way in a hurry.
As to why I shouldn't be left alone alone when there are puppies.
So yesterday I went to Animal Control to get dog licenses for Elvis and Drizella. Now they are all set for the next three years. Gibby is still good for another year and a half. Anyways, while I was there I saw some kids volunteering. And Carolynn wanted to look at the puppies. So we went back.
Carolynn has been wanting a puppy. Everyone else has their own dog and she has cats. You can't walk cats in the park. Cats don't fetch. We already had three dogs. So I was going to be strong. Unless somehow they had the perfect puppy.
So we get some paperwork on voluteering and we look around. They had a huge iguana and a large white parrot type bird. They had other snakes and lizards. They had rabbits and guinea pigs. They even had a little goat. And they had tons of dogs and cats and kittens and puppies.
I wanted to take them all home.
But I didn't.
Carolynn did it.
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Dear Mary and Tonya,
We have kidnapped your dog. And somehow it is now a very large puppy and a girl.
Meet Bubbles.
She is a mastiff mix. (Probably with lab.) She is 10 months old. And she is full of energy.
And we love her.
Gibby, Elvis and Drizella are still thinking it over.
One day I was walking Gibby in a local park. This park has lots of sidewalks for walking, a big park, the pool where Carolynn swims, and a amphitheater. They are building a dog park there too. So they have water fountains there that look like this one,
with a little fountain for the dog on the bottom.
Anyways, I was walking a long and I saw a little boy on a scooter stop at a water fountain for a drink. He took a drink the started examining the doggy fountain. He was quite interested. He looked around and then, of course, he tried to take a drink. He tried all kinds of ways. But the button turn on for the doggy fountain is at the top and he was so small, maybe 7 or 8. I watched him as we walked the dog. He was so funny. When I got to him I went over and let Gibby have a drink. The little boy stood there and watched me and Gibby.
I don't know what I would do without my pets. We currently have three dogs and three cats. We also have a turtle. They have been there through good times and bad. I can't remember having a home without a pet. Even when I lived in a place where dogs and cats were not allowed, I had a cage full of parakeets and a tank full of fish.
We have gotten most of our pets from local animal shelters. Over the years we have loved nine cats. With the exception of the two that we got from Chris and Sherri, all of them have come from shelters. We have loved 4 dogs. Two of those dogs were shelter dogs. We got Gibby from a lady who had puppies because she wanted to breed her chihuahuas and so she didn't have them spayed. Too bad there was a pomeranian mix loose in the neighborhood, who also was not fixed. Elvis is a purebred beagle and we got him from a breeder who was a friend of my mom.
I know that right now, in this economy, it is hard to want to spend your money to give to animals. But I just don't know what I would have done without my Gibby to snuggle when I am sad or Betty to chew my fingers or Muffins (IBK) to hop in bed with me at night.
So here is a way to help. The ASPCA is going to give $100K to an animal shelter in the ASPCA $100K Challenge. First thing you have to do is vote. The 50 animal shelters who receive the most votes between now and April 15, will be eligible to win the $100K, possibly up to $300K with other donations and grants associated with this project. So go to the website, votetosavelives.org, and vote for your favorite shelter or rescue. My town, the neighboring town, and the county animal control are all in the running so far. So remember to vote everyday to make sure your town becomes one of the top 50 qualifiers.
Then, the contest is on. Between August 1 and October 31, it is a race to see how many pets can be saved. Winners will be announced November 30.
How cool is that? All you have to do is vote. That is it. A simple few seconds of your day, everyday until April 15. Easy.
Because without animal shelters, I wouldn't have...
Betty and Muffins (IBK- Itty Bitty Kitty)(She isn't so itty bitty any more though, more like giant and fluffy)
Drizella
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And even though we got Two Face here from Chris and Sherri, we had her fixed at the local shelter. And since we take good care of her, she will not end up in one.
Elvis here was fixed at the animal shelter as well, and when he was sick, they treated him there as well.
And of course Gibby... Who proudly wears his license from the animal shelter and he was microchipped there.
Have you seen that much cuteness? You know you want to save the pets. Do it or I will play this commercial over and over again until you cry yourself to death.
A couple of weeks ago there was a near tragedy in our house. We were leaving the house and we put the dogs outside. Gibby usually stays inside when we are not home, but that day he went outside. It happens pretty regularly. No big deal. We got in the car and left. We dropped Carolynn at swim practice, we went to the Best Buy, we bought some groceries, we picked up Carolynn and we came home.
Usually, when we come home from somewhere Gibby gets overly excited. He jumps and yelps and runs around. But there was no Gibby. I looked in the back yard everywhere. Only Elvis and Drizella were there. I went out front and looked all around. Still no Gibby in sight. The kids went to ask the neighbors. Nope, they had not seen Gibby.
The girls put away the groceries and I started searching the neighborhood behind our house. Neighbors began telling me horror stories of coyotes and giant owls that would eat small dogs. I was frantic. I called and called. He didn’t come. No one had seen him. I started home hoping David and the girls had found him. They had not.
David had driven all around north of our house. He went all the way down to the park to see if he was there. Still no Gibby. Catherine was in the house crying. It was getting dark. I knew if someone had found him they would have called. He is licensed and wears a name tag with our phone number. He is also microchipped. We had gotten no calls.
It had been four hours since we had seen him. It had been over an hour since we got home and we still could not find our Gibby. I was crying and crying. David went out into the big field across the street to look. But it was just about dark by then.
Carolynn got a flashlight and we hopped in the car and began looking in neighborhoods south of our house. We asked everyone we saw. No one had seen him. We finally decided to go home.
We pulled into the driveway and all of the sudden, out from under a bush in the yard, comes Gibby. I had no idea where he went, but he was back. David fixed the gate where he got out and we don’t leave him outside when we go out anymore.
Today was supposed to be a great day. Friends were coming and we were going to have a good time. The kids were going to have fun. It should have been super.
Too bad.
I worked 16 hours yesterday. I am tired. My stomach hurts. I have a headache. Then Trisha’s dog got sick on the way here and pooped all over her car. She didn’t want to leave the dogs home because they might escape or tear up the house. We have plenty of yard and her dogs are good travelers. So it should have been no problem. But the poor dog just pooped liquid disgust all over the car and on the other dog. The stench could make a buzzard cry. Not funny. (Okay, in a few weeks it will be hilarious.)
So instead of a nice fun day of catching up and hanging out, we got a tired and sick me, a stressed Trish, two stinky dogs, and two sullen teenagers. Super. We did have egg rolls, which were awesome. Our dogs didn’t get too crazy over having Trisha’s dogs here. That was good. But Trisha forgot the warmer I bought her from Nicole’s new business. She had a tough day. She looked pretty stressed.
Now I am relaxing. David made pizza. We watched some Desperate Housewives. We watched some old Simpson’s episodes. Maybe later we will watch some Glee. Now I am watching Lock Up. Tomorrow we are going to fund raiser for Allison’s cheer-leading. It will be at Applebee’s. I didn’t know Applebee’s did breakfast.
Well, anyway, I was really glad to see Trisha and her family. Sidney and Catherine had fun. Carolynn and Morgan might have liked each other better if they had interacted rather than just stand around looking at each other. We will see each other again. It’s not that far.
Every time I have a day off, David cooks me breakfast. Today was no exception. He got up and made eggs, pancakes and sausage.
It was so yummy. We all gathered around the table for a nice breakfast. He made a huge stack of pancakes.
Of course, the whole time we were eating, we saw this.
Dogs like pancakes too.
Today we did some serious cleaning and we are making some burritos for dinner. Not a bad way to spend a day. Tomorrow, it's back to work for me. One last week on the day shift before I switch to evenings.
It’s been a busy week, and mostly we have been enjoying.
Last week on Sunday, we went over to my brother’s house and his wife Nicole made tacos. They were soooo good and her rice was awesome. Then on Monday, they came over here and we had chicken. David spent the whole day baby proofing and I got Nathan a toy to keep him occupied. After dinner we played Apple to Apples. That is so fun. We learned that Oprah is frightening and General Patton was dreamy. I love that game.
Friday was again pizza night. It is becoming a bit of a tradition, until I go to the night shift in two weeks. Nicks has good pizza. Then on Saturday we went to my brother’s house again. Nicole was going to help Carolynn with her hair dye. She wanted to put pink and blue streaks in it. I am no good at that stuff and Nicole is. Plus, Nicole is starting a new business selling these melters at Scentsy. They are cool and have a lot of great scents. And since she was doing that for us, we decided to bring dinner to her. We got dinner at a great Chinese place near their house. We met at her house at 6:30ish. That is kind of when it went downhill.
Just as we get in the house, (we all arrived at the same time), the doorbell started ringing. Nicole went outside to talk to the neighbor. Allison and I were letting the dogs in and only one came in. Nicole figured that he got into the neighbor’s yard and that is why the neighbor was there. Then I heard Nicole crying so I went outside. The neighbor told me that Oakley, Joe and Nicole’s dog, did get into his yard. Unfortunately, this neighbor had a new pit bull puppy and Oakley and the puppy were playing…
The neighbor didn’t even realize Oakley was in the yard until it was too late. He rushed him to the animal hospital but... It wasn’t too viscous. The pit-bull broke his neck, didn’t really bite him a lot. I felt so awful. Nicole was so upset and then she had to tell Allison. Poor thing. She was so upset too. She felt better after I told her about doggy heaven and how now we can love Oakley forever. Their other dog was not harmed. The neighbor felt so bad. He got rid of the pit-bull. (Not put it down, just took it somewhere else. It was an accident.) He offered to buy them a new dog. He took Oakley to the vet and did what he could. It was so sad. Rest In Peace Oakley. (AKA Humper… that dog humped everything… Lol)
Anyway, David and Carolynn were over there today and he says Nicole was doing better. Nicole is so sweet. She really loved that dog. Nicole did dye Carolynn’s hair with pink, blue, and purple stripes. David played with Nathan while she did it.
Tomorrow, she is having a get together for her new Scentsy business. I am going. It’s at 6:00 if anyone feels like joining me for some excellent scented flameless melters. It should be awesome.
Yesterday was a stormy day. It snowed off and on all day. Nothing stuck. The wind howled. The lights flickered. The Christmas lights are now falling off the house. It was so cold. It is still cold. I have to work tonight. It is going to be super cold. I know it. At least the weather is Christmas-y.
I am still having trouble getting in the Christmas spirit. My car is a piece of crap. Seriously. I hate it. If I don’t have to go to work, I am not driving it. Not until I can afford the repairs. Why do cars find the most inappropriate times to break? I still have bills to pay and Christmas presents I want to buy.
Here’s another added stress for you… Drizella has been digging out. She digs out and Gibby goes with her. She knows she is bad. When we catch her she slinks back and won’t come close to us. I don’t know what to do about her. Frankly, she isn’t a very good dog. She doesn’t listen. She steals food. She chews stuff up. She bites. And she digs. What am I supposed to do? If animal control finds her, we will get a big ticket and the added expense. Just what I needed right now…
And one more suck-fest to add to my Bah-Humbug spirit… Knott’s Berry Farm is free for me and the family until the 20th. It’s free for all law enforcement officers. I knew it was coming and we had been looking forward to it. But now, it looks like we won’t be going. Even though it is free to get in, we’d still have to pay for gas, parking, food (you have to get Mrs. Knott’s Chicken Dinner), and maybe a souvenir or two. And with my stupid car being stupid, I wouldn’t try and drive it that far anyway until it is repaired.
Okay, sorry I am such a Scrooge. I am trying not to be. We are thinking about having a New Year’s Eve party. A long time ago, I used to throw a New Year’s Eve party every year. At the time, we had this grouchy neighbor who called the cops on us at about 10:30 PM. Every year. We were never that loud. She was just a Scrooge herself. Then for a long while, I had no one to invite to any sort of party. Now I do. And if my work schedule continues in the way it is, I will have New Year’s Eve off. So keep a look out for party e-vites. (They are cheap.)
Here is some more good news… Yesterday I talked to my friend Paula. I had not talked to her for a couple of years. She moved and lost her job and I lost contact. But thanks to Facebook (again) she found me again and we talked last night. She is going through some rough times too, but like me she is working through it. Her husband is having trouble finding a job right now. I suggested he apply where I work. At least it is something.
Well, I guess that is it. I have to get ready for work soon. I will take my Scrooge attitude to prison. I am sure the inmates will enjoy.
