Happy Birthday, Remi!

Hey Guys,
It's my bud's birthday today!  He's now four! 
-Champ

No Bed is Safe...

...With Sophie in the House.

My parents took this photo of Sophie about a onth ago, while she was doing one of her faorite things in the world--destroying de up beds!  I ean, what noral dog ould resist being a tornado through a bunh of fluffy, light pillows!  She will do this eery day and neer tire of it.  In fat, shell go bak to a bed that we just fied and hae fun all oer again.  We an always tell what shes been doing by her happy sounding itory lap gallop through the house....

One tie, she ae out of one of y brothers roos with his boers around her nek.  I dont know what is ore disgusting... that he had his dirty boers on his bed, presuably up by his pillows sine thats where she rolls, or that she was wearing his dirty boers....

Did you try reading that?  FYI, that is how my laptop is functioning right now.  Fun, huh.  I just have to order a new keyboard and the tech support at my school will fix it for free.  Hopefully by next week, I’ll appear literate again.  So, here’s the above, filled in with painstakingly sought, copied, and pasted letters from a random document:

My parents took this photo of Sophie about a month ago, while she was doing one of her favorite things in the world--destroying made up beds!  I mean, what normal dog could resist being a tornado through a bunch of fluffy, light pillows!?  She will do this every day and never tire of it.  In fact, she’ll go back to a bed that we just fixed and have fun all over again.  We can always tell what she’s been doing by her happy sounding victory lap gallop through the house....

One time, she came out of one of my brothers rooms with his boxers around her neck.  I don’t know what is more disgusting, that he had his dirty boxers on his bed, presumably up by his pillows, since that’s where she rolls, or that she was wearing his dirty boxers....

Sporting Red




Slow drive, slow week

Hi all,
Dog Mom here.  It is going to be a slow week, as my laptop is awaiting repair.  Now, I'm not blaming it on Elsie, who didn't realize laptops are too fragile to jump onto last week, but I will say my computer was fully functioning before that little incident!  (Okay, okay, it was fully functioning for a couple days after her pouncing onto my keyboard, too....)  Anyways, it is a major PITA to type on it, so I'm currently writing on my cell, which happens to only be a minor PITA but a PITA nonetheless.  I could break out the ol' beast HP, but well, that may or may not happen.  So anyways, that's what's going on...  I didn't give up on this endeavor!

Anyways, we drove back to the dog house yesterday after a great long weekend at my parents' home.  Elsie was a crack up.  She adores Morgan, who refused to play with her, no matter how pathetically Elsie begged.  She was her copy cat, too.  Morgan rolling in the mulch?  There went Elsie.  Morgan lounging on a chaise.  Well, Else caught on to that as well.  And here is a photo of the girls... Elsie went and laid down by her big sis.

So back to the drive.  I've made that trip through the Columbia Gorge countless times.  My parents live in Eastern Oregon, and since undergrad at OSU, I've been in Western Oregon.    And I go home a lot.  Still, it is nerve racking for me when it is icey or rainy.  I think about too many "what ifs."  After all, I have precious cargo on board!  So just how would I get all three untethered/uncrated and bust us out of the car before we slid and drowned in the Columbia River???  OK, we won't go there now... or hopefully ever.  Anyways, I've always managed to make the drive safely--not without error, but safely. Last night was no exception--for us.

However, there was a 15 to 25 car multi-collision pile up, which caused both interstate lanes to close.  Just before five o'clock.  My uncle who made the trip Eastwards called us to let us know.  Surely it would be cleared up by the time I got there at 8 o'clock, right?  Wrong.  Over three hours later, we still had to sit on the interstate for an hour.  In fact, two police cars and two tow trucks made their way past us, and when we finally got in sight of the wreck, both lanes were still closed (we had to detour off an exit) and several cars were still on the road.  While we were stopped, I pulled over to let the dogs out.  Traffic started moving, and the car behind me was kind enough to wait and hold my spot in line, so only Soph and Champ got a break.  Here's Soph and Champ waiting ever so patiently during the crawl after hours of already being in the car.

Yes, Champ squeezes himself into the tightest of spots in the car.....

Oh, and here is a pretty flower growing on the hill by the road.  I wish I could have gotten photos of some prettier bunches of them, but this will have to do!

We got home soon enough, but it was late.  I unloaded our bags, the dogs got their dinners, and we headed to bed.  Today has been a whirlwind day of school, errands, yard work, dogs, and finally, couch time.  I'm sitting here with Else Bells on my left, Champers on my right, and Soph is over on the love seat on a plushy pillow and blanket.  (Elsie smells great, btw, since she got a surprise bath after deciding to roll in some Round Up I had just sprayed!)  Tomorrow will be another busy day with my shift at the shelter, housework, and finishing my vegetable planters!

Thanks for stopping by!

Best Friends

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Fun in the Sun

Ohemdee, ohemdee, ohemdee!  Champ let me, Elsie, post today for Setter Saturday!  This is just perfect because I'm having the BEST time at Grandpa and Grandma's, and I can't wait to share some of my photos Mom took of me!

First, note that the post is called "Fun in the Sun."  The SUN.  That's right.  On this side of the state, we actually get beauuutiful bright blue skies and sun. None (or not much anyways) of that rain garbage.  

Now, see this grass?!

I love it!  No offense, Mom, but our yard sucks.  I mean, it's muddy. It's weedy.  You should really aspire to the purdy green outdoor carpet-like grass that Grandpa has.  It makes for great rolling and lounging.  So. Soft. 

Can't get enough!

Awww, this is what life is all about.

The other thing about G&G's yard is it's size.  This isn't any cramped city lot (like ours).  We've got room to run at full speed.  The photo below doesn't even show the a quarter of the yard, plus we get to play everywhere that isn't horse-designated.  It makes me so happy to gallop laps and laps around the house!  

Sometimes, I have to take breaks from all of that exercise!  Above, I am hanging out with Remi and Morgan under one of the sycamores.  Rem's sporting a cool OSU (go Beavs!) coat.  It was a little breezy, so Mom found that as an excuse to try it on him.

When we aren't running around for no reason or going after tweeties, we like to check out other areas of the property.  Below, I'm sniffin' some good stuffs in the garden area before Grandpa tilled it up last night.   

Over to the right of the garden area, in a not so organized state, is the mulch pile.  I just saw my sis, Morgan, having a good roll in it, so I just had to check it out and roll, too!  Mmmmm... I smelled so wonderful after that!  (Dog Mom here: No, you didn't, Elsie.... And you were green.  Green isn't your color.)

I'm not too sure about these horses.  I can't follow Mom into the pasture or their paddocks that they stay in at night.  I don't like that.  But I'm a good girl and just wait outside the fence for her.

This last pic is of me and my bio-mom!  Kind of a bad pic, but Mom likes it.  She was being lazy on the sofa... the one we're not allowed on, btdubbs... and snapped it of us while we were munching out of the Manners Minder (just for kicks... and well, Mom was too lazy to reach down and actually hand us treats for being such dolls).  (Err... Dog Mom here... Else, I was just keeping my hands clean, for the last time!)

Anyways, that's all for my show and tell tonight!  Thanks for stopping by!  Happy Memorial Weekend!

Dirty paws

Do ya see what Grandpops is doing behind me?  Well, he's really tilling the garden area so that Mom and Grandma can plant it this weekend.  But more importantly, he's making a dog race course.  Trust me on this one--running through freshly tilled dirt is pawsome.  I had fun speeding through it tonight, and boy, you should have seen the dirt wash down the tub drain when Mom brought me in.....  (Who else has five dogs and off-white carpet!?  Not the greatest decision my peeps ever made.)

We are home!

Elsie is a happy girl! Champ wouldn't sit still enough for a good photo tonight.  He was too busy stretching his legs and watering plants.....

Today I was...

Lazy

Lazy

Lazy and Cold

Ominous days.

Crappy pic. I know.  But hey, it was also a crappy day.  I should be used to all this rain by now.  It sucks.  It's all doom and gloom.  I didn't get to lay in the sunshine like I did yesterday because being outside just isn't fun when your coat gets drenched.  Mother Nature needs to quit crying and get over it.

Okay, Mom says I shouldn't be complaining over a bit of rain when there are much worse things out there.  I don't know what a tornado is, but she told me about a really sad one yesterday....

Anyways, I just did a lot of lounging on the couch today.  Not even a walk.  Mom tried to make up for it with a couple training sessions and some puzzle toys, but I can't wait to run and run and run and--you get the idea--when we go to Grandma and Grandpa's on Thursday!


Thanks for stopping by!
Champ

That Naughty Pony

 Hey, Sophie!

Yes, Champ?

Do you wanna hear what Dandy did last night?

Sure!

Well, he opened his gate, walked right under the top hotwire, and hung out with Orion all night in the paddock!

Tehehehe.  He is so clever!

----------------------

For your reference: this is the ever rebellious Dandy, sporting his mohawk (aka outgrown bridlepath): 

And this is the gate latch style, which we'll now have to lock....

Thanks for stopping by!

Makeup Monday

Ever miss a class and have to do makeup work?  My mom could tell you all about it!  But today, I'm making up for not posting on Saturday!  We were hosting a bbq and vegetable planter building party!  Mom will post pics of the planters once she gets them filled with dirt and veggies!

I went "to school" on my walk yesterday!  No, it wasn't my training class.  This school is for the small two-legged animals and happens to be at the end of our street.

Okay, okay, I'll try to fit my tongue in my mouth....

Better?

Flashback....

This is my bio-mom out hunting on her 10th birthday this year.  (October 6, 2012)

My Blog is One Month Old!

This is what I looked like when I was one month old!

See?  I had attitude from day one.

This gecko just barely survived.

That's me snuggling with my bro, Ringo!  Fancy is in the background.  And I still have that yellow teddy bear toy!

More 'tude, but wasn't I handsome?

Have a great weekend and thanks for stopping by!

Champ

Manners Minder!

Look what we've got!

Our Manners Minder was waiting on our door step when we got back to our dog house last week.  It is so cool!  It's like a candy dispenser for dogs, except we've got to do stuff in order to get the yummies out!  Silly Sophie thinks it's a puzzle toy, but Mom will straighten that out when she actually starts some training with it. This week, Mom used it to help me wait more patiently in another room while she was in the kitchen.  The apron strings were stretched tight.  But.  I survived.  Thank you, MM!

Mom is in love with it because she can eat her own food and still give us treats without getting her hands dirty!  (Did I mention that Elsie drools?!)  She also doesn't have to move much, turn, or bend over to reward us.  She is lazy like that....

Anyways, eventually, I'm going to have Mom get some videos of me doing my tricks.  Yesterday I started working on weaving around Mom's legs, the beginning stages of "cop cop," and sitting while holding objects. Today, we focused on more obedience type work and practiced left turns at heel.  Those are tricky for me!  Oh yeah, inspired by a friend, Mom started to teach me "high ten" yesterday.  I have to admit, though, it's tricky as well.  Mom is going to have to rethink her method on that one!

Blogkeeping: Mom has added a bunch of training resources to the Training page!  Check it out!

Finally, tomorrow will be my blog's One Month Anniversary!  I'll have to think of something awesome to do to celebrate that!


Paws,
Champ

Elsie's Biopsy Update

Real quick: the growth they removed from Elsie was a dermal hemangioma and benign!  They got it all, so we have nothing to worry about.  Yay!

The Pond Project

I can't believe I've almost been blogging for a month!  I also can't believe my blog has had over 800 views!  Woo-hoo!  Thank you all for visiting us, and thank you for all of your comments and emails!

Today, instead of doing a blog hop, I wanted to share what I've been working on at my house.  I've been here for about a year and a half, and there's been one project after another.  But this planter...

... has been driving me crazy!  See that silly plastic mountain?  Could it look anymore fake?  And those plants.  Don't get me started on them.  It seems like the previous owners planted anarchis anywhere and everywhere on this property, and that stuff creeps!  I hate it.  Strong words, I know.

So I spent three afternoons clearing out the old river rock, plants, and weeds, dodging centipedes, earwigs (eek!), and giant ants, replanting, putting mulch down, and fixing the pond up.  Oh, I also spent an afternoon emptying the pond mostly by hand because the pump was glitchy.  The water was nasty--the green, smelly, filled-with-dead-slugs-and-live-worms, sort of nasty.

Now, my walkway looks like this:

<insert happy face here!>

Champ approves.  He thinks it's his personal drinking fountain.

Yup, we're glad to check this project off the list!

My dad is going to fix that hole in the wall and put an outlet in its place.  I'm going to put a bigger filter in the pond, add a couple lilies, and get some goldfish!  Or not.  I don't have the best luck with fish.  Plus, I would get grossed out with Champ drinking fishy water.

Thanks again for stopping by!

Champ's mom  

PS.  The siding in the first pic looks like crap because we pressure washed it to prep for painting.