Wednesday, October 29, 2008

Cold night and a Spooked Hound

I'm not one to turn on my furnace easily at the drop of temperatures. I grew up in the Midwest and I know cold weather. I will admit it's getting chilly here, but I refuse to turn on my furnace yet!

Last night Gemini was trying to get under some covers in his crate, so I decided to get another blanket for both the dogs. I turned on the light, made sure I had Gemini's attention, and laid another blanket on him. All was well.

Heater's turn. I thought he was awake. I laid a blanket over him. He shot up, tried to get into the crate with Gemini, jumped on my bed, jumped off my bed and paced the room. I scared the poor boy. I called him back to me, and petted him a bit, got him to lay back down, put the blanket back on him and the same thing. I think I scared him so bad with the blanket that he was having nothing to do with it. Poor Heater. Maybe he lives up to his name and doesn't need the blanket on a cold night....

Monday, October 27, 2008

Techie Girl's Latest Obsession

I've become a bit of a techie lately. I have never been one to have to have the latest technology. I usually wait until others have it for a while, all the bugs are worked out and it's no longer "bleeding edge". I was actually accused of being a gamer today. Still unsure of how to react to that one......

Well, that changed last week. I've been wanting a new phone. I've had iPhone envy and Blackberry envy for a while. I have T-mobile and searched their available phones and there was not anything that had everything I wanted, until just recently. They came out with the G-1.

So, I pre-ordered it, it was delivered the day before it was released to the general public and I have been playing with it obsessively ever since!

I can check my e-mail on it, I can browse the web, it has google maps and GPS, games and tons of fun stuff. And I can make phone calls too!

Ok, enough of the blogging, I have to play with my phone some more......

Napping and the velcro dog

I love to nap. What can I say, as I age I look forward to stretching out on the couch on a Sunday afternoon and taking a nap.

Gemini doesn't have the separation anxiety that Heater has but does typically follow me from room to room in the house. When I'm sitting on the couch, he can see me from his dog bed. When I lay down for a nap, he come over and lays down on the floor right next to the couch. Very cute, right?

It's cute, until he starts whining to be petted and puts his on the couch and looks at me. You can barely resist. You pet him, he puts his head back down, relaxes and I start to doze off and I stop petting. The whole routine starts again, and will continue, again and again. The whine is so pathetic, I can hardly resist. Most of the time I doze off petting the dog. Spoiled dog........

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Bad Kitty Mom

I have had Lucky, my cat since 1999. Found her as a stray, the vet had estimated her age then to be between about 3 and 4 years old. Of the four animals in the house now, she has been here the longest, and I let her rule the roost. She is the reason no dogs are allowed on the furniture, I want her domain and the other cat, Reily's domain, to remain intact.


Shortly after I first got Lucky (sounds a bit dirty doesn't it?) I was working in a CPA firm and the first tax season rolled around. That means 14+ hour days. I let Lucky develop a bad bad habit of drinking out of the sink faucet. I don't know if I didn't keep her water bowl clean enough for her or what I did, but to this day, she does not drink out of her own water bowl. The dog's water bowl is good for her and sink faucets are good.


She will come into the bathroom with me every morning and meow at me till I turn on the faucet for her.


She has also taught this to the other cat Reily.
By the way, for those that grew up in the 80's, Lucky is named after the cat in the TV show ALF.


Tuesday, October 14, 2008

your feet, my feet

There are several questions I often ponder with these hounds. One is how the dog can be walking along and step over a pile of poop with his hind legs, which is 2 1/2 feet behind his nose?

But the same dog, will step on my foot with his front paw on a regular basis?

I really want to have a professional pedicure again. But my toes and feet end up with cuts on them that I don't dare go into a salon and risk infection with open sores. Will I ever have pretty feet again? Am I force to where steel toe boots in the house at all times?

Will the dogs ever learn the difference between my feet and their feet?

Saturday, October 11, 2008

Spooky McBeggers

I'm hanging out at Jodi's house as she is decorating for Halloween. She comes across a witch's hat made for a cat. Hilarity ensues.

And the cat wins......

Friday, October 10, 2008

Being sick with the dogs

The rule in this house is no dogs on the furniture. The reason behind it because the furniture is the cats domain and when I first got Gemini, I wanted the cats to keep their areas so they would still feel safe.

I have had to retrain Heater to stay off the furniture. I know that consistency is key when training. When I am away, both dogs are put in my bedroom. I have found evidence that Heater gets on my bed. There isn't much I can do about it since I am not there and can't catch him in the act.

I've been down with a migraine for the last 3 days and must give kudos to these dogs. They have behaved very well and were not their normal needy selves, for the most part.

Yesterday afternoon, I was napping in bed. I heard heard Heater start to whine a bit., in my drug induced state, I fell right back asleep. Next thing I know, Heater is on the bed with me. I think I tried to tell him to get down, which is the command for laying down, so he plops his bony butt next to me. I was really sweet that he wanted to snuggle. I love to snuggle with the animals. But, by the time he became comfortable, his bony butt and spine were against my back and I was being pushed off the bed. I guess my nap time was over. Luckily the headache is just about over also.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Heater

Heater, Gemini and myself and Greyfest

When I did the wordle, I noticed that Heater was not featured as much as Gemini, who has now been nicknamed Whizzer (see the last post). And a few people have also pointed out that Heater isn't featured as much.
Well, in my defense, Heater doesn't pull as many antics as Gemini. But, I shall dedicate this post to Heater.



Heater was bounced from a home in Florida after 9 years. His original foster mom was Laura Parker, who then met the Florida couple to pick Heater up after they gave him up. The Parkers kept Heater for a while until I was able to foster him.



Heater was then adopted but his severe Separation Anxiety kicked in and was bounced again. So, he ended up back here. The SA isn't bad here because he is with another dog all day when I'm gone.

Heater is also known as:

Heater Beater Pumpkin Eater
Heat
Heat Beat
The Beat Man
Old Man
Three Toe Wonder
The Florida couple called him Bubba - what a HORRIBLE name for a dog of such a noble breed!

OK - now a few short stories.

When I had my gallbladder out, I had terrible gas. I was belching a lot. Some of the belches may have won belching contests. I'm not proud, it's just a fact and I couldn't help it. Well, I would belch and Heater would come right to me, EVERY TIME!!! I just wonder what the previous owners taught him, especially when they called him Bubba!




The second story happened at Greyfest. I was looking at those cute bags and Heater was next to me. There was a lady standing next to me, and I'm sorry but I didn't get her name. I looked down and him whole head was underneath her skirt! I was so embarrassed! So, to that lady, I am very sorry that my dog acts like a dirty old man! The picture by the way is Heater after he nuzzled in between my legs.


And a picture of the Old Man snuggled with a toy sleeping




This was taken before I adopted him, when he was still a foster. He already knew he was here to stay. Thank you everyone for allowing Heater into my life.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

BLUR OF FUR WINNER - NOT


I can't begin to explain how excited I was about this year's Blur of Fur. This was the first year that I was able to be there for the Blur of Fur and I want to know how fast the pooch can run.
So after trotting along side of the brat for over have the course, he finally stopped and peed. I think I heard someone say "How fast can the SEGA member run?"

Pile in the Car!

Heater is typically the one that starts the piles in the house. Well, today, on the way to Greyfest, Gemini started the pile!


And, my official pile designator, Jodi, was there to witness the pile, and snap the picture.