In which Ninja Flees From Fireworks

Wednesday, July 14, 2010

On the 4th of July we went to the Angels Game. Such a surprise, right? :) I made a special effort to make sure the yard was secure and the dogs could come into the house if they were frightened by the fireworks. Fireworks are illegal here, but there are some local shows with the big booming kind.

We got home about the same time as a number of our neighbors, and we were all out front talking to each other. I let the dogs out to say hi to everyone. I have to say that both my pups are usually totally under my voice control, so I can call them into the house or to my side with no issue,

As we were all talking out front, someone let off an illegal firework a few streets over. This terrified Ninja, who panicked and took off.

I thought he'd just run down the street a few houses, but when I went and called him he was gone. Luckily Penny was right at the door and she headed in the house, not out of it. The kids and I made sure she stayed inside, because usually wherever Ninja goes Penny goes.

I called and called and he didn't respond. He must have just kept running. I got really frightened. I could just see him getting hit by a car- he's all black and almost invisible at night. My husband took his car, our neighbors took their car, and I took my car and we all went looking. (Apparently my panic set everyone off.)

About 20 minutes later I found him at the entrance to the park by the school and he almost jumped into my open window, poor baby. I got him in the car- and it was great fun to drive with 40+ pounds of dog in my lap, but I didn't care.

He wouldn't come out of the car when I got home. My husband and I had to put a leash on him and coax him out. I sat down on the floor with him and he was completely glued to my side all night. He wouldn't even sleep. Just laid there shaking with his eyes wide open. I've never had anything like that happen before.

Thank the Lord it all turned out OK, because it could have been really scary. So that was the frightening ending to an otherwise nice 4th. One more prayer of thanks to say at bedtime, right? It really made me think about how much both my pups mean to me.

Happy 4th of July!

Sunday, July 4, 2010

We're Barbequeing and going to the Angels Game. The dogs are hanging out by the BBQ and ice cream machine. Gee, I wonder why? :) Maybe because they get a hot dog now and then. . .

Hope your Independence Day is safe and happy!

All Sassy for Summer!

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Last week was hot. On Wednesday it was over 90 and I was miserable. The Aussies looked pretty hot and uncomfortable too. Plus we have dog hair in every possible corner with these two fluffy dogs. Thank goodness it is a little cooler this week!

I made an appointment this morning to get them trimmed up for the Summer. I'm sure they will be much cooler and hopefully we won't be watching "hair spiders" (as my husband calls them) fly across the floor this Summer every five minutes. Well, at least not as much.


When we came home this afternoon we played with the dogs from next door in our combined front yards. Don't they look sassy under the shade if the tree in my front yard?

You have to love this picture from the back. It looks so nice to have all that long, messy hair trimmed up. Ninja almost looks like a puppy with his hair cut this way. His little puppy rump looks like a little rottweiler. Yes, I miss the long, pretty hair these dogs have, but surely they have to be more comfy with out all that hair. It will grow back by the Fall anyway.

They even put little bows on Penny, but I had to take them off because she kept trying to take them off, and shake her head in puzzlement. Isn't this just so adorable?

When I went to pick them up from the Paw Spa, I asked Donna if they were good. Her answer was, "What do you mean by good?" I guess they didn't overly enjoy the experience of being groomed.

But don't they look beautiful? They are so soft and shiny. They only real problem is that you can see what the hair was hiding- that they are both a little round and are getting too many table scraps. Yep, you and me both Penny and Ninja! :)

The Aussie Patrol

Wednesday, June 30, 2010

It's 11:15pm and im Western Nichts Neues. That means All Quiet on the Western Front. It won't last. Any minute now my Aussie patrol will shoot up, race out the back door, and bark viciously at whatever thing has been walking on the hill behind our house.

I know this because it has happened every night for the past month of so. Ninja has even got Penny involved in this adventure every night. She's not a big barker. For the first few weeks she came home I wondered if she even could bark, she was so quiet. I now know she can bark and be loud, along with Ninja who can bark the house down, but rarely does. Except when they are on patrol!

What is it that comes visiting? Who knows. Coyote? Raccoon? Possum? Rabbit? Whatever it is I doubt it posses any serious threat with a fence between the pups and it, but it sure gets noisy at night.

I am not complaining, except that I'd like to sleep instead of checking on the barking dogs. I always praise them for doing their job. I really don't think that anyone could get into the house (with bad intentions) without these two taking them down. What makes me happy about the whole thing is that Penny must be feeling that we are her pack or she wouldn't be out there working with Ninja to keep us all safe.

Sounds like the guest has arrived out back. The patrol is barking. I'd better go check and give them their treats for doing their job! G'night! I'll sleep tight with my patrol on guard.

The Magic Shoes

Monday, June 21, 2010

Once upon a time there was a lady who found a great pair of tennis shoes as Wal-Mart market for $7. They were her size, so she whisked them off to the register in a flurry of excitement.

The woman at the register rang them up- for $11. "Wait!" cried the lady. "They are marked $7."

"Oops," said the clerk. "I'll reverse the charge and fix it!" And she promptly rang in 70 cents. "Oops!" again cried the clerk. "I'll just charge you $6.30 and it will all be right." So she made the adjustment and typed in sooooooos for the description. Uh huh. She really did.

The lady took her purchases home and got to thinking. My goodness, the bill seemed high! So she looked at the receipt and realized she was charged $11 for shoes, 70 cents for sooooooos and also $6.30 for soooooooos. This was a grand total of $18.00 plus tax for her $7.00 shoes.

Back to Wal-Mart she went, and explained to the returns lady 3 times about the charges, and got it all worked out. She came home and went to put on her soooooos to take her darling pups on a walk, and discovered . . . that she had two right soooooooos, I mean shoes.

The next day, she took the whole mess back to Wal-Mart, go the correct shoes for the correct feet and headed home. That night she walked the pups in her new shoes. They were very comfy and she decided that even though they weren't such a bargain with all the trips back and forth, she really liked them.

The next morning the lady came downstairs to discover that her darling pup, Penny, had eaten the heels out both of her new soooos. The moral of the story is that sometimes a bargain just isn't a bargain after all. :)

The end.

Almost Back in Order

Thursday, May 27, 2010

I've been away from blogging since "The Great Flood" while we get the house back in order. It's almost there. Yippee! It almost feels like a whole new house!

In the meantime, the Aussies are doing great. Penny had her vet's appointment last week and the vet claimed she is in perfect health. . .except she's a little. . .umm. . . fluffy? OK, Dr V said she was fat. Well, she fits right in with us, right? We're all a little fluffy in my house these days. I can't help but share yummy table scraps with my beautiful fur babies.

Plus we haven't been going on the long walks we usually do, and McDonald's has amazing sweet tea for 99 cents! (Before you freak out, I do not feed the dogs sweet tea! I was merely trying to point out that I succumb to temptation of sweet tea pretty easily, and therefore I have become a bit fluffy too these days, lol).

That's not to say we aren't walking at all. I would never do that to my sweet pups! It's just that a usual 1 hour walk has been shortened to about 20 minutes. I promised Dr. V we'd all make more of an effort to get back on track.

I'm noticing more good things in Penny. She's coming to my husband when he calls her. Before she seemed more nervous around him than anyone else, but she's decided he's OK, especially when he's got a chicken nugget for her. (You see my point about fluffy?)

She now comes and lays down with us when we watch TV at night, where before she'd stay under the kitchen table. She was always close to us, but she seemed to like the cover of the table. But the best thing is that she doesn't immediately hop and run away when you walk by her. Before she'd hop up and move away when any of us walked by. We've all been on the same page about totally ignoring her as we walk by, and it seems to be working because she's starting to realize that no one is going to hurt her.

So these are all good thing. Ninja, of course, will lay right in front of you with his belly in the air so you have to practically jump over him. I guess that's a relaxed, confident dog!

I love to hear the two of them play in the yard. They bark and snarl and chase each other around and it is so cute!

I'm hoping this weekend to go for a nice walk and take lots of pictures. Happy Memorial Day weekend!

Minor Disaster! But the Dogs are Fine.

Thursday, May 6, 2010

I haven't had a moment to update my blogs lately because our house was flooded a week ago Sunday. A sprinkler pipe blew in a planter just behind our house at about 4am and ran until I came downstairs at about 8:30am, flooding the yard and providing my downstairs with about and inch of water over the entire floor.

It's one of those things you can't quite get your head around. I walked downstairs and the pups were waiting for me at the bottom of the stairs, completely bedraggled and muddy. I kept looking at them and thinking, what happened? Why are they so wet and muddy? Why are my floors so shiny?

Penny splashed off and then it hit me, there is water everywhere! I ran out in my pajamas to turn off the sprinkler main valve and ever since then we've been cleaning up the damage. All the carpet had to be ripped up and new flooring installed. Some drywall had to be replaced, walls painted, baseboards replaced. I am thankful that it wasn't worse, but it's been a lot of work.

The good news is that the new flooring we're putting in is beautiful! The dogs weer not harmed in anyway, except that Ninja hates water. Penny seemed to think it was fun to have water everywhere for her to splash in.

I hate having furniture in places it doesn't belong while we finish the floors. The dogs seem a bit frazzled with things out of place too. It's been two weeks and at least I don't have to climb over the couches to get into the kitchen anymore. It's funny how you don't realize how much you miss just coming home to a normal house and resting. It's getting there, but slowly.

So I'm not ignoring my blogger friends. I've just got house stuff going on!