Thursday, December 25, 2008

Seasons Greetings!

It's been a wild month and this is the first chance I've had to actually sit at my computer and do something fun. Between the medical stuff (Christmas is a crappy time for a family member to have surgery), the finals (teenage son), the work (everybody seems to want to sue everybody else in December for some reason) and the number of dogs being turned into rescue (and shelters that can't tell the difference between a boy dog and a girl dog), I haven't had a spare minute.

However, the holidays have arrived, ready or not, and everyone at my house is thankful to be in pretty good health and still gainfully employed. So from our house to yours --
Merry Christmas!

(Can you tell how much the dogs love to pose in front of the tree.)

Rusty LOVES the holidays and he especially loves presents -- anyone's presents -- and he thinks Christmas is grand. :)

This is Rusty and "Bear". Bear is not really a dog toy, but Rusty fell in love the minute he saw him. Bear has glowing parts and lots of choking hazards, so all play with Bear must be observed by the Stuffie Police.




Everyone got a visit from Santa!



"Look into My Evil Glowing Eyes"

The real reason that Spike's eyes are glowing, is that after Santa finished filling the stockings, she started digging through the treasure trove of treats and found (oh feline joy!) a package of drugstore catnip mice and liberated one from the wrappings.

Miss Spike spent the rest of the night racing around the house, tearing from room-to-room, sending rugs flying and knocking down decorations. She finally settled down in the wee hours of the morning into a catnip induced stupor of pure kitty bliss.
Not everyone is as fond of Christmas and Allie has spent most of the morning hiding under the bed. (All of those scary, crinkly wrapping papers flapping.) Oh well.

"I don't wanna pose anymore!"
We are looking forward to what will hopefully be a great 2009 and
Rusty says "Merry Christmas to All"!!

Sunday, November 16, 2008

And Now For the Main Event -- Mud Wrestling!

It was a beautiful fall day today and the temperatures were in the high 50's/low 60's. What a great day to take the pooches out to the dog park. Recently, one of the local off-leash dog parks had a terrible incident of two dogs being poisoned while hiking (both dogs died) and so I was a little worried, but decided to take them to the one dog park that I can keep an eye on them most of the time -- located at the mouth of Emigration Canyon.

(Can you say "Mud Pit"????)

The major downside to this park is, that whatever the season is, it is almost always muddy -- but today it was even worse than usual. Ugh! However, the dogs LOVE it, so we played frisbee, until the frisbee was dragged into the pond and sucked into the mud, never to be seen again. :(

"Where did that bright red rubber frisbee go????"

The park is actually located in a beautiful area just at the mouth of a local canyon (above This is the Place Monument and the Hogle Zoo). If the dogs would just stick to the grassy area and chase the frisbee and ball everything would be great.


But the huge, muddy pond is a magnet to the dogs.

And so they look like this . . . . . :P (Yes, that round item is, indeed, a mud-caked tennis ball.)


They just can't help themselves and stay out of the mucky, nasty water! (Rusty greets a friend - well actually, Rusty hates most other dogs, so he was actually saying "Mom, do I have to be nice????".)


(This poor German Shepard pup is only 8 mos. old, but he had the worst dysplasia I had ever seen -- however, his stupid owner said "Oh no, he's fine." This poor puppy could barely walk and he was a major sweetie who hung out with us most of the afternoon.)

And we finish out the day with this . . .

With a big sigh, my son and I bathe the dogs and the spouse dries them off. (The mud STINKS!) I don't think I'll be going to this park again for a while.

Sunday, November 9, 2008

A Visit With Friends

Today we went to visit a friend who has a new Border Collie puppy. Little Zin (the puppy) is about 11 weeks old and she is sooooo adorable!!

My son sure thought she was especially cute (and all the way home I had to tell him that "NO! We were NOT getting another puppy")!

Zin has a very shiny head in this picture because Margie (her Human Mom) had to clean a big smear of poop off so we could keep taking pictures.

Zin was also very willing to get into the wild ball game that Zephyr (Zin's older brother) and Allie were having. She likes to run with the Big Dogs!

This is as close as Rusty would get to Zin -- he was afraid of her. (Big wuss kept growling and hiding behind my legs.)

A little sibling rivalry here. (Zephyr and Zin toussle.)

Allie and Rusty are actually watching the ball -- not ready to pounce on Zin.

It was a good way to end the week and I'm looking forward to our next visit.


Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Ghosties and Ghoulies and Long-Legged Beasties . . .


(Yes, this is my front yard -- sick, I know, but the neighbor kids love it.)

I love Halloween! I've always enjoyed decorating my yard with spooky decorations and creating elaborate pumpkin carvings. Dressing up on Halloween (even at work) was something that we've always done. Last year, my law firm had at least 130 children who came "trick-or-treating" through the office and we'll probably have even more this year. (These are the children of employees of the company, or former employee's children, some kids that wander in from other offices in the building . . . and some we just aren't sure where they come from.)

It's a safe alternative to going door-to-door at night and all of the employees bring in candy and toys to give out to the little goblins, princesses and little Sharpays and Gabriellas (characters in the Disney Movie - High School Musical, for those of you without grade-school age children.)

Because this kind of celebration is often the norm in the area, I've never given too much thought to how others in the rest of the country (or world) might observe this kind of activity. However, my sister and her family recently returned from living in a geographically opposite part of the U.S. and told me of the shock and horror her neighbors expressed when she cluelessly pulled out her inflatable Scooby Doo and Ghosts (although, perhaps their dismay was at the lack of taste this kind of lawn ornamentation showed, rather than the subject matter) and the endlessly-repeating musical theme songs of Halloween V and The Exorcist playing in the background.

It took more than a few months for the furor to die down in her neighborhood after "The Halloween Exhibition". So the following year she toned down her ornamentation and limited her celebration to lots of carved, lighted pumpkins. (Her neighbors were kind, however, and she made many good friends and it was with real regret that she left the beautiful area she'd come to love.)

So, I hope that those of you who prefer not to celebrate Halloween will not be offended, but I wanted to share some of my photos of my spooky decorations.





(Pumpkins from last year -- I haven't gotten around to carving any yet this year, but am planning on starting tomorrow night.)




Allie and Rusty wish you a HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

On another note, this is what I made this weekend from the 150 green tomatoes saved from the early frost (and ripened in brown paper bags on my kitchen table) -- 34 pints of hot, spicy salsa!


This weekend I'll be roasting pumpkin seeds!

Monday, October 20, 2008

And Now, For a Very Brief Political Announcement . . .


As election day approaches in the U.S., both major political parties are campaigning endlessly. Rusty and Allie have gotten into the spirit of things and have been trying to decide which candidate they should endorse.


Hmmmm. Which one should we choose???

Allie and Rusty both decide to try out the elephant - seems tough and sturdy. They knock him around a bit, gnaw on him and the stuffing doesn't fall out. That's a good thing!

Allie, however, kind of likes the look of the donkey, so she keeps checking him out.

"Hey, Rusty, have you made up your mind yet?"


Well . . . . . no, not yet.


Both candidates seem fairly well put together and the dogs are impressed at how well both sides are holding up under relentless attack and tugging. Both have pretty good squeakers, too!!

Rusty seems to favor the sturdy elephant. He has a long, continuous squawk which Rusty loves.

Allie, on the other hand, decided that the donkey was her favorite (note the drool spots).

As for me -- I'm just glad there are only a few more weeks of campaigning left.
This is not a political endorsement for either party -- just Allie and Rusty's take on things political.