Luka Muddypaws

I chose to hold back on announcing the latest addition to our family because it seemed too soon after the loss of Paisley to do so.  Paisley was very important to us, as all of our pets are and as I have said on previous occasions never replaceable.

When the thought of bringing another puppy into our home occurred, it was well before Paisley’s untimely death.  We had been missing Yuri a great deal and the thought of bringing another red-headed fuzzy face, for Paisley to grow up with and give poor Faith a rest was forefront on our minds.  About a week or so before Paisley passed away, I had found an ad on an online forum from a woman who has Huskies on her farm.  She had a red and white Husky puppy with blue eyes available and for everything that we had been considering, he looked perfect for us.  We spent the week deliberating if we could handle another puppy, if we could deal with the potty training and rule enforcing and obedience training.  If we could handle Paisley’s endless energy and the addition of puppy wildness and all the other issues that come with puppies.

After thinking about it, we made an appointment with the woman and began to look for names for our potential new family member.  The Friday before we were to meet the puppy, heartbreak reached us through the loss of Paisley, her humor, her personality and her presence.  All of us were in shock and felt lost as to what to do next.  We weren’t sure if we should bring the puppy home, if we should cancel if we could go through with bringing home another puppy, so close to Paisley’s passing.  I felt, after thinking on it, that my “stretchy love” theory still applied.  We had intended to bring home this puppy and give him a life full of love and happiness, regardless.  He wasn’t a replacement for Yuri or Ozzie or any of the other family that we had lost in the last few years.  And with Paisley gone, he wasn’t a replacement for her either.  He couldn’t even if he tried, he is entirely his own fuzzy person.  He has his own personality and quirks and dorkiness.

And so, Luka became our friend and family.

And then he got a bath.

And he loved it.

In reality, he didn’t.  He hated every waking second of it.  But he also got over it pretty quickly when there were toys involved.

He is quite the character.  He howls funny, plays rough and is stubbornly refusing to learn the definition of  potty training.  He’s also still learning that the hollering response he receives after sinking his needle-like puppy teeth into someone’s skin does not mean bite harder…  I won’t be sad when those start falling out.  I’m hoping sometime in the next week or so.

Some might say he’s a catastrophe, some might say he’s a joy– I say he’s still learning and give it a week– month, year…

My only heart break is that he will never know Paisley.  I think they would have liked each other very much and would have appreciated the finer, more destructive things in life.

Love you Paisley,

Jaina

My Joys

I’ve always been one to say that pets are truly the answer to one’s depression, whether it be a short-lived sadness, or chronic.  I have never been more sure of that statement until recently.

In the last few months, my family and myself have faced soul-hardening heart-ache.  The death of my Grandfather, the loss of Yuri and other hurts.  More recently, I, myself have endured a heartbreak I would readily sell my soul to never go through again.

Although my pain is not physical, the drain has often left me exhausted and not wanting to do much.  I’ve been disappointed in myself for letting it bring me to this point, but I imagine others who have felt as I have, know it isn’t easy to drag yourself up by your bootstraps, like it’s no big deal.

However, because of this, I have been privy to the joys that are my pets.  I’m sure there are plenty of people who would roll their eyes and plenty of those who would agree.  Either way, I have found myself admiring how perceptive they all are, even the little ones, (I’m looking at you, Ianto) that seem to know that I haven’t been feeling well about life and have been sweeter than I could have ever asked for.

Faith has always been empathic to my feelings and since day one has been there to snuggle and provide me with supportive kisses throughout the last few weeks.  And, well, life.  The day she’s gone, I will mourn the greatest friend I’ve ever had– I hope, upon hope that isn’t for a very long time.

Faith is just one example, as she is closest to me in everything– She has seen me scream, mull, rage and cry.  The others, though not as easily privy to my emotional state, still provide me with a comfort I cannot express through words.

I had a customer come into work and explain how having a dog (or pet) is cheaper than paying a therapist and I can only agree with that.  I find myself seeing that every time my emotional state is less than stellar– Snuggling with Buddha while watching a movie, letting Uno run around on my shoulders, Ianto kick-boxing my fingers when I feed him, my bunnies coming to bump my hand with their noses when I leave them treats, even Paisley and her crazy antics, just to make someone react.

No matter how I’m feeling, no matter how alone I feel or am– I know I have them.  They might just seem like balls of fur, but really, they’re little counselors and they don’t even know it.  I highly recommend their services if ever you find yourself alone and sad.

I owe them so much:

:0}

Watson

Baxter

Uno

Naht hehlping.

Life may change, I may change, the people I love may change– But I don’t think my babies will ever change.  They’re my constants (Well, and I suppose my parents too :0) and I would not give them up for anything.  Maybe I’m weird, maybe people think that means I need a life– Maybe I do, but I’m happy that I have the love I have with them in my life.

Until the troubles fade,

~Jaina

Yuri and the Story of the Hyper Thyroid

*Edit* Yuri’s surgery will actually be tomorrow,Thursday, February 4th.  Please keep him in your thoughts.

I’ve been keeping things quiet regarding a few things as tough decisions needed to made and diagnoses revealed in the last few weeks.  Now that everything seems to be settled, I guess I’d like to ask everyone to keep Yuri in their thoughts the next few days as he will be undergoing some fairly serious surgery come Tuesday.

Let’s start from the beginning– On Christmas morning, everyone was opening presents and generally being excited for the holiday.  Yuri in particular; he had just gotten some rawhide bones and was looking forward to chowing down on one.  After getting his little puppy lips on one, we noticed that it disappeared rather fast and that he had begun to walk funny.  Mom was worried that he had chewed about half, got annoyed it was taking so long and swallowed the rest of it whole.

Plausible, right? Sure looks like he ate one!

So, the next day she took him to emergency care to see if they could find it and what to do were it there.  Apparently x-rays can’t pick up rawhide (I don’t know why not) but it was very detailed in the picture of the staple he had swallowed.  He’s pretty, not always bright.  Despite the staple looking gargantuan and poky, the vet was less concerned about that and more concerned about his calcium levels from the blood work they had taken.

Yuri has always had issues with kidney stones and such, so high calicum levels weren’t especially surprising to us, but the vet was concerned it was a preface to a cancer diagnosis.  So, we were referred to a specialist, who was very impressed that Yuri looks so good in his old age (he is almost 15 years-old you know) and made him feel special.  She couldn’t tell us anything conclusive from the tests they perform at the office, so she made it apparent we needed to get a sample to one of their off-site labs as quickly as possible so we could begin treatment on whatever it was.

My boy :0)

Whatever it was being either cancer or a Thyroid condition– the latter being the more preferable of the two.  So Mom worrying for her baby (as we all were) had them get everything sent off and then either through incompentence or just plain idiocy, it took over a month to get his test results back.  I won’t go into the gory details, but if a lab specifically tests for something, like cancer– would it not make sense to have the supplies to actually perform the test?  So, whatever it was had a month to continue doing what it was doing to Yuri.

You have to keep in mind, we had taken him to the vet concerning something that wasn’t even related, which happens a lot in our family, but because of that, it’s not like we were aware of what kind of symptoms to really look for, or if he was handling being sick better than anyone could think of.  And even if symptoms did come up, how would we know what it was or what to do without a diagnosis?  After several frustrating weeks, we finally found out what’s wrong with him.

He has Primary Hyperparathyroidism (try saying that 10 times fast) and it’s caused a benign tumor (ask me what benign means, I dare you) to grow on his thyroid gland.  Despite it not being cancerous, the tumor itself will continue to grow and eventually block off his windpipe (It’s already causing him breathing issues) and it’s also causing the gland to overproduce and distribute calcium throughout his body.  Left untreated, it will cause his organs to harden and shut down and that is a most painful way to go.

So, despite the happy news that it’s not cancer, the unhappy news is that it requires surgery.  Both to remove the tumor and to remove bladder stones that were formed through the tumor being on the gland.  At age 14, he’s probably more at risk than a younger dog to have complications and from previous experience with a surgery to remove kidney stones, he heals very slowly and is irked by stitches.  He will be wearing the cone of shame for a while.

Don't worry, Dug. Yuri doesn't like the cone of shame either.

I’m very scared for him.  I know that as a dog, his life does not necessarily outweigh that of a human’s and he doesn’t necessarily understand what’s happening, but he’s my baby.  He’s my beautiful, funny, dorky, pushy, talky baby and I’m scared he won’t come home to me and the girls.

CHEEEEEEESEEEEE!

So please, if you have a little or even better, a lot of understanding for what it’s like to have so much love for a fuzzy love, please keep him in your thoughts during his surgery Tuesday and of course his recovery during the coming weeks.  If he were your dog, the joy he would bring you is insurmountable.

Be strong my sweet boy. We all love you and are pulling for you :0*

Much love to all our readers and most especially to Yuri, the bestest Husky of them all.

Until then,

Jaina, Yuri, Faith & Paisley

Belated Christmas: Paisley’s First

Yes… I forgot to write a Christmas post.  I suck at this blogging thing–

Anyway, we had a very Merry Christmas at our house and the dogs, made out like the bandits that they are.  Really.  I have pictures.  I was pretty spoiled too, but I have to say the dogs did pretty well!

But before we get started with the evidence, we in the midwest hope you all had a Merry Christmas and as Paisley says “And a Hippee Nude Deer”.  You might need an online translator for that one.  And now on to what we’re really here for.

Dad woke Faith and I up Christmas morning as he traditionally does, with Mannheim Steamroller playing to wake us.  It’s one of my favorite traditions and I think after 10 years, Faith has figured out that this is her cue to run to the door because Santa Paws has come and gone.  She loves getting presents so she was pretty excited when I kicked back the blankets and made my way to the door.  She wasn’t the only excited one.  Paisley had been let out of her kennel and was making a ruckus when she saw all the new things under the tree.  They hadn’t been there when she had gone to bed the night before and like a little kid, she knew immediately that there was something new:

Ohhhh, Chwismas twee ohhh Chwismas tweeeeeee, how yummy awe yowr bwanches!

Since Paisley likes to gnaw on Pine tree branches– I felt it was appropriate.  Just so you know, all of the packages wrapped in blue, are for the dogs… And you can’t even see them all from this angle…

I got a Sock Monkey! Paisley thinks it's hers but it's mine.

Oh man, were they ever excited to see all of those presents:

See what I mean?

Iz dat mine too?

They were quite excited to get their presents open.  A few of them were rather stinky (A real dog magnet) and they could tell it was for them just by sniffing them.  Yuri, is really rather good at getting presents open on his own:

This is the best Christmas EVER!

Paisley and Faith were just as happy:

Whatevewr yew're opening, it's miiiiiineee!

I would post photos of all of us opening our gifts as we all received some awesome gifts.  My Dad and I actually found gifts for Mom that she loved and for once, she had no idea what they were.  A typical Christmas includes Mom grabbing her gifts, giving it a little shake and calling it before she opens it.

This is rather aggravating.

But this time– HAHAHAHAHAHA.  WE WIN!!!  So, she was surprised, we were surprised and the puppies were happily gnawing on toys and Beggin’ Strips and not surprised– Because we’re wrapped around their little paws.

Anyway, like I said, I would have added pictures of the non-fuzzy people, but it was early in the morning and none of us were exactly– Attractive at that time.  I’ll post one that is a little less scary of myself– I had just received a Garmin Nüvi for Christmas and was very excited as I’ve needed one of those for years.  As I’ve mentioned in previous entries, I am directionally challenged.  Sometimes, I can’t even find my way around my own hometown and it’s rather humiliating.  Soooo, I was about two seconds away from kissing it.

At least I brushed my hair before I came downstairs, so there's that...

Sorry if you feel a sudden need to stab your eyes out…

So, I would say overall we all had a good Christmas.  We had a lovely Christmas meal, delicious turkey and sides and I’m very happy to say my Dad was able to accurately recreate my Grandmother’s turkey gravy; a recipe that had been lost for several years after she passed away.  I loved my Grandma very much and when she died it was hard to get used to holidays without her.  I remember family gatherings being what they were because she was there.  She made things from memory and the recipe for the gravy was no exception.  It was one of those “A dash of this, a handful of that” sort of things and we were fairly sure after many, many failures that it was a lost cause.  Well, this year, Dad tried again with the ingredients we knew were necessary and it was success.  So much so that I nearly cried when I tasted it as it transported me back to those days at her house during Christmas, her hovering over everyone and making sure her grandchildren were stuffed to the gills.  I miss her and I hope she and my grandfather who has also passed are celebrating together again.

Sorry… Reminiscing.  But as I said, the puppies were well spoiled this past Christmas and although I know it’s over for a while, Paisley is already plotting what she gets next year!

Much love and a Happy New Year!

Jaina, Faith, Paisley & Yuri (Oh and Mom & Dad too)

Paisley Claws

Paisley went to PAWS & More Shelter last Tuesday to drop off  toys to those puppies and kitties that have yet to find a home, for Christmas.  She was very excited to get going:

Kay, I’m dwiving– Wet’s get dere aweady!

Dey’re going to be sooo excited to see me!

She was pretty excited about the car ride and despite being waaaay too big to sit on my lap anymore… She found a way anyway.  I still have a bruise from her pointy little elbows.  Mom thought it was pretty funny, but, I did not.  While we were in the car, she found some nature:

I tawt pine needles wewe edible…

It was nice seeing the place again, our experience was really quite exceptional as compared to some of the horror stories we’ve heard of in the past.  So thank you, to all of you at PAWS & More for your exceptional service to your animals and to your adopting families.

It’s not a very big shelter, but it I don’t believe they’ve ever turned an animal away and they take very good care of the animals they have.

And look who’s on their wall!

When we arrived, a few of the volunteers/employees recognized Paisley and were happy to see her.  They were also happy to report that her mom, Mystic had finally been adopted after having a few possible adoptions fall through.  Now the entire family has been adopted out, which is great to hear.  Happy puppies and less mouths to feed at the shelter.

While we were there, the volunteers decided to dole out the toys we had brought and the cats were more than happy to test out our donations for us:

It’s really quite sad to see all of these animals still needing homes.  As someone who has the full-spectrum of pets, from store-bought to stray to adoption I feel like I’ve gotten an idea of how things go.  At PAWS & More and I know Faith, Paisley and I have mentioned this on the blog before, the shelter is overwhelmed with cats.  They have so many that it’s pretty much an ASPCA commercial waiting to happen.

See what I mean?

This is in no way meaning the shelter provides subpar care.  Absolutely not, even with the sheer number of animals they have, they still find a way to care for them all and love them, even when it seems like there’s no end to the number of animals (the cats, oh the cats especially) who need to find a home.  I’ll just leave you to the photos:

They even take in bunnies… He, however, was adopted, so he’s good :0)

In the next post, I’ll feature some specific kitties, who sadly, have been waiting since 2008 to find a home.  If I had the room and the boyfriend wasn’t allergic, I would be adopting them all, because it’s far too sad.  Keep an eye out for them, maybe you’ll find a friend!

Until then!

Jaina, Faith & Paisley

Chwismas Cookees and Snowee Puppees…

I know, I know, it’s been a long time since I posted. What’s new? Lots of stuff has happened since our last post and trust me it’s been interesting. As we’ve progressed into winter, we’ve all been getting things done, mostly Christmas shopping and the like, but either way. It’s been a long month and we still have a few days to go till Christmas.

Whiiiiich, by the way, for any of you who forgot, will be Paisley’s first. Though I’m pretty sure, she’s figured out that Christmas for puppies in our house means lots and lots of cool toys:

And dis is wewe all de bownes and Squeakies go, wight?

Paisley met her first Christmas tree a few weeks ago and has since taken to gnawing on it whenever she gets the chance.  It’s not surprising to look up and find a piece of Fraiser Fir stickng out of her mouth.  We noticed the trees were pretty sparse this year, so our tree is a little dry and easily chewed, so this isn’t a shock when she tries to wine and dine herself.  With nature.

Also, because we live in the midwest and winter isn’t winter without a blizzard– Guess what… We got a blizzard.  This was also Paisley’s first major snowstorm and she seems to be enjoying herself, even though the snow got to be about chest high on her:

Aneeebodee gawt a shovel?!

She’s more Husky then she lets on– she pants when it’s cold and can’t just walk passed snow– no, she has to have dive-bomb into every drift.  She never comes into the house dry.  I’m not looking forward to spring when there’s mud…  But at least the family gets that she loves to play in the snow:

Ah catch it! I wuv de snoooow!

This blizzard came as predicted and made it impossible for people to get around safely.  The college my father teaches at actually cancelled classes three days in a row, which never happens and my mother’s office decided to stay closed right before she left so she didn’t have to go to work.  Unfortunately, in some cases, as I attend a small college where 99.9% of the population lives on campus, closing is never a possibility.  And for the 1 or 2 people who live off campus– it sucks, because classes are never cancelled, even if there’s a lot of snow.  So, I got to make (or, rather, my mom did) an executive decision to stay home.  I wasn’t too broken up about it as this year seems to be the year for ridiculously stressful classes, and even though I was missing participation points, I honestly didn’t care I wasn’t there.

Since I stayed home, mom and I decided to do some of the baking we had planned on doing later in the week.  We had bought a cookie recipe magazine previously and had decided which ones we wanted to try and also a few traditional recipes we try to do every year, if possible.  And this year, we had help:

Dwoppp de cookee dowwwgh-- Dwopppp de cookee dowwwgh...

She’s Santa’s little helper these days.

Did you dwop any cookee dowgh yet?

We made several types of cookies and dipped Candy Cane Sticks, though we only handed out a few plates.  The rest we’ve been knocking back pretty well.  I’m all right with that.  They were good.  Aside from the usual sugar cookies, we also made Snickerdoodles, Chocolate Jubilees (omg, never make those if you only want a few!!  The recipe makes about ten thousand cookies!) and a few others that are soooo good:

Snickerdoodles

Chocolate Jubliee dough... 600 ingredients, 5 million cookies

I will never... Ever... Make these... Again...

At least someone ended up being happy in the process:

Ahhhh, happyhappy.

However, some of us found out the hard way what trying to sample the cookie dough for free comes to:

I haz been banished...

Yuri didn’t think this was fair:

Give me a minute... I'll figure this jail door out...

I’m not sure Paisley got the point– She’s too tall for this baby gate anyway and frankly, she uses her cuteness to get out of trouble– A lot.  As in, one look and we’re all forgiving her, her transgressions… No penance here, just adorableness…

I am de pwincess of dis caswle.

You see?  You’re falling for it too– don’t lie, I know.  You fell for it.  Get the Milkbones out now, because it doesn’t end here.

The snow kept going for two days straight and left us all with almost 10 inches of snow.  It doesn’t help the snow came back yesterday and came down so heavy that my parents, boyfriend and I couldn’t get to the extended family Christmas.  We had all been looking forward to it, we had presents to give and food to share and it took nearly an hour to drive less than halfway– That normally takes 20 minutes.  It just wasn’t in the cards, which was sad, because I was really looking forward to seeing my grandparents and family.  It happens, I suppose.  We live in the midwest, winters are usually hard and the weather doesn’t recognize holidays.  Gotta get over it and maybe we’ll get to visit later in the next week or so before I go back to school.

Anyway, Paisley has a big day tomorrow.  We’ve gotten some things together for PAWS & More Shelter where we adopted The Puppy.  She’s been with us since September and we’ve been lucky to see some good growth in her, both physically and behaviorally.  Although she still uses her genius for evil, she’s really very smart and can be a joy.  Since she’s brought so much to us, we figured it was only right to bring something to the shelter that brought her into the world and kept her safe until we could bring her home and add her to our family.  We’ve bought toys for the dogs and cats and also some treats for those fuzzy loves that haven’t found a home yet.

I’ll try to take photos tomorrow but the weather is threatening to stink again so we may not get to the shelter and I don’t know how crazy it’s going to get.  I guess we’ll see.  I’ll try not be slow when it comes to posting.

Whenever that it is, here are some photos of two of my fuzzy babies, looking lovely in the snow:

I wooowd weally wike to come inside pwease!

Or I wiww eat threw dis doow!

May I come in?

Until then!

Jaina, Faith & Paisley

Faith Goes Christmas Shopping

So, yesterday was “Black Friday”.  Or for those of us who work in retail/grocery– Hell.  Luckily I didn’t have to work until well after the rush was over and frankly, I’m not thinking a lot of folks are looking for deals in their local grocery store.  At least not after 1pm.  So, I avoided that… Work-wise…

Mooooom, however, found a deal for something that couldn’t be passed up.  And guess who got to go get it?  Yeah.

So I made Faith go with me.  It was a little chilly out so I bundled her up in her new coat (her fur is really thin, oook?)

Weady! Wewe's my Cookee?

Isn’t she adorable?  The hood is faux-fur lined and everything.  It even has a pocket on the back– Why?  I don’t know, extra cookies?  Though if we did that, we’d make millions because Faith would become the world’s best canine-contortionist.  No way would she leave cookies back there, all alone and unattended!

Anyway, we left, knowing we might not come back alive and I say this half jokingly, because honestly there have been several deaths associated with this horrific sales day– not counting the brawl that broke out between two people at an outlet mall nearby over a Bath & Bodyworks item no less– which is really sad.  Honestly, is there anything at all in this world that’s worth trampling someone for?  It defeats the whole point of Christmas.  However, when you can go into a store and see people lined up clear to the back with 6 cartloads each of crap no one really needs.  You have to laugh out loud, with a touch of horror, because you’ve just joined the masses.

Which, we did.  I cannot believe I actually waited 20 minutes just to park my car and it looked sort of like this:

www.life.com/image/56273378

I had several people point out the spots they were in, letting me know they were leaving.  Which was nice, but not terribly helpful as there were still at least six cars in front of them that would keep them from exiting for a while.  One woman decided she wouldn’t be waiting and reversed anyway, nearly smashing into one car and coming precariously close to mine.  Thank goodness my car has a surprisingly loud horn because I was not having any of that.  Just got the window fixed on that thing, not going to have the butt-print of some idiot’s car imprinted on mine.  Unfortunately it wasn’t a white Prius, so I couldn’t make a connection…  But oh well.

Finally after circuiting the store several times, speaking with clueless and clearly exhausted employees, I found what I had been sent for– in the shoe section.  And let me tell you.  I wasn’t looking for shoes, I was looking for:

http://www.hoverspeed.com/Ferry%20News/Expats-given-present-tips/

Haha, like I would actually tell you what it is. It’s a present for crying out loud!  I’m just saying, it’s not shoes!  It shouldn’t have been in the shoe section!

After acquiring the target, the challenge then extended to getting through the line quickly.  Seeing as I only had one item, that self-serving part of my brain began listing all the reasons why I should be able to skip in front of all these “Black Friday” nerds with their game plans and reusable bags, purses unzipped for easy wallet access and store charge cards getting sweaty in their grubby paws.  But no.  I had to wait in line too.  Even when a “1 item or less” line would have been handy!

20 minutes later (20!  I’ve never waited that long in line before!) and I finally got checked out!  20 minutes…  Unnnnnnbelieveable.

Never again my friends!  Never again!  If I get my Christmas shopping done early, I’m perfectly content to pay full price or maybe snag a deal a few days before Christmas, but never will I traverse into the wild that is this after Thanksgiving “special”.  It should be renamed After Thanksgiving NIGHTMARE!  And to think there are people out there, that actually sit out in the rain and cold and snow and CRAP, late into the night, so they can be the first ones in at 3am.  NOTHING is worth that.  If I had kids, I’d love to see them smile, but I don’t think I can ever love them enough to buy a Happy-Slappy-Facelift Barbie that early in the morning.

Good grief!

However, we did survive.  Within an inch of our lives (did I mention it took another 10 minutes to get OUT of the parking lot?) and neither of us was the worse for wear– Well, maybe:

Bwack Fwiday makes me sweepy...

Me to Faithee, me too.

At least one of our posse is happy about things:

Give me, de bottwle and I wiww weave you awone!

She loves plastic bottles, just as much as Faith, if not more.  If Mom happens to have a bottle of water, she better get it done quick because Paisley will be watching.  The second you set it down, it’s hers!  No questions asked.  Or permission– what’s permission?

As demonstrated here...

She really shouldn’t be on the furniture, but there’s that whole listening thing again… /

Hewwoooooow?

Guess who’s fitting in nicely?

Well, that’s all I’ve got for now.  Sorry it wasn’t more interesting, but with school, homework, the holidays and all that other crap that means I’m an adult, this sort of stuff doesn’t get done as often!

Until next time!

Jaina & Faith

And it’s Fall

: I’ve discovered that the tree in our backyard has forgotten that fall is a sort of  slow process.  You know, the leaves change, things are pretty for a while and even though it’s getting colder, you get a sort of calm before the snow, as it were.  Since we all complain the minute the weather isn’t a balmy 80*, we at least get to enjoy the pretty colors before it becomes snowy and cold– Or arctic if you happen to live in the midwest.  Like me.  Buuuut.  As I said, the tree out back– forgot.

Yesterday morning, I let the dogs out to do their thing and I could see the yard.  The grass was still pretty green, it was at least nice out and I didn’t think anything of it.  I went to class, came home, let the dogs out again… I could barely find the back deck.  It was like a reanactment of the Charlie Brown Christmas Tree…  It just dropped everything it had, all at once and now it’s naked.

Bet it’s embarrassed about that.

Well, thanks to that, Paisley was able to enjoy her first pile-jumping day.  The leaves are stacked so high that in some areas that it almost reached her chest.  Since I was elated to have completed my finals today AND receiving an A on an IEP (if you’re a teacher you know what this is) development I had been ripping my hair out over, I thought it would be nice to enjoy the day with my puppies.  Paisley was doing belly flops into the leaves, Faith was worrying as usual and Yuri was just trying to stay out of it.

: De weaves awe so high!  I was afwaid she would get wost!

: Some days, I wish she would get lost out there, but that’s only when she’s acting like a maniac… Because, people– I’m tired.  We all are, I don’t know if it’s because we’re out of practice or because she’s a mix of two really energetic breeds– or both.  I don’t know.  I’m just tired.  I can’t keep up with her.

: I can.

: Not by much.  You’re not a puppy anymore you know.

: Why do you say dese huwtful tings?

: Sorry– you’re very energetic and all, but you’re a… Mature dog, she’s got a ridiculous amount of energy.

: Yeah… Dat is twue… I’m always tiwed when we go to bed.

: Exactly.

Spending time with them this afternoon was fun though and I’m glad I had the time to do it.  It was really nice out, the sun was shining and my puppies were having a good day.  And now that I don’t have 600 hundred papers due all at the same time, I’m able to enjoy it.  And take pictures.

:0)

Baby's first leaves.

Dat squirrel is gonna getz it.

I wuv you!

My pretty girl!

I feel wike SINGING!

: Oh my gawd… You said you wouwdn’t put dis one up!

: Oh, it’s cute, don’t worry.

*Faceplant*

I wuv weaves!

WEAAAAAAAVEESS!

DON'TYOUWUVWEAVESDONCHYADONCHYA!!??

I'm not in a Leaf kind of mood.

I don't understand women.

Hope everyone’s having a good week so far and is enjoying the fall.  Pretty soon I’ll be reporting Paisley’s reaction to a good snowstorm so enjoy it while you can.

: Yeah, I’m weally gwad I got a new coat fow de winter!  I have no fuw, I fweeze in de winter!

Until then!

Jaina & Faith

With a Feather in her… Nose…

: Ok… So, I’m a really terrible blogger.  For whatever reason (*cough* I’m lazy *cough*) I have a hard time getting my act together.  I’m sorry.  Also, not a lot has been going on, other than me losing my mind in my current college course.  Believe me, it shouldn’t be this hard, but apparently it has to be.

: Appawentwee, educmuhcation is mowe impowtant den puppies and squeakies, but down’t twy tewwing hew dat.

: Let’s not start on that again.  In any case, it’s been kind of on the low-down around here.  Paisley is settling in pretty well, she already knows how to sit, lay down, roll over, shake and is working on sitting pretty.  But, she’s still definitely got baby fat, so she’s got a serious case of puppy butt.  Meaning she gets about half way up and then rolls backwards.  It’s cute in a sad little way.   The potty training is slow, but she’s done pretty well the last few days.  As far as I can tell, no new messes, but I haven’t been home 100% of the time.

: She steaws my towys…  And she bites me.  I dunno why.

: I’m sure it’s a sign of affection.

: Yeah… I kinda wike hew too… It’s wike a mini-me!

: I know and I’m exhausted.

Anyway, the shelter we adopted Paisley from has a board at the front desk called “Happy Tails”, where they post photos of the animals who have been adopted and are now living, hopefully, happy lives.  they asked me a few weeks ago if I would send them a photo of Paisley for the board since it looks like she’s going to be sticking around.  I have a lot of photos of her already but I wanted to get a family photo of her with Faith and Yuri.  You know, since they’ll be living together for a while.

How’d it turn out?

CHEEEEEEESEEEEE!

I’d like to say that my dog’s are perfect.  They sit when I tell them to, they smile when I tell them to– in fact, no command is too much…

Nevermind...

… to ignore…  I really hate it when they do that.  Well, before they scattered and tried to drag my poor boyfriend off the deck, just for being a sport and helping me do this, as I’ve been saying for days now that I wanted to do this photo (maybe just to shut me up?) and the weather had not been cooperating.  We live in Iowa, the first day of winter isn’t complete without a snowstorm and power outages.  It was finally sunny out and I had a weekend off for a change, it was going to happen eventually.

Clearly I overworked my furry friends because about ten minutes later they were passed out on my bed:

Sooooo tired-- Note the puppy butt

For the record, I just realized in most of my photos my sheets are the same…  I promise, they’ve been washed, in fact a week before this photo they were pink sheets.  Just in case anyone thought I had issues with that.

Awww. Still sooo sweepy...

And this just killed me.  As I was taking photos of Paisley sleeping, I realized there was a feather sticking up her nose that apparently wasn’t interrupting her sleep.

See what I mean?

*snorebeepdebeepbedebeeepde* *tickletickletickle* *snorebeepdebeepbedebeeepde*

After telling my mom, she said she wished I had caught it on video.  Now I do too…  Because it would have been hilarious.

I know.  I’m lame.

Anyway, just wanted to share that.  I entered a photo contest a few days ago and I’m hoping, if I win (fat chance) I’ll get a Nikon D90…. Most excellent.  We’ll see what happens, it’ll be a while before I find out, like January or something.  I’ve entered a few photos of Paisley, Yuri and myself and some flower photos.  I had a few others I wanted to add, but I missed the regular entry date and the fees went up.  Depends on if I want to spend more money on it.  I have no idea how well it’ll improve my chances.

I’ll try to keep y’all up to date.

Until then!

Jaina & Faith (oh and Yuri & Paisley too)

Introducing… Paisley!

So this particular post may be short as I am absolutely exhausted from today’s events and really just want to sleep.  Whatever I’m sick with has only left on a semi-permanent basis and keeps reminding me it’s around by causing me to cough uncontrollably for several minutes.  So I’m thinking sleep is a good idea.

However, Faith and I had to share the news that Paisley has officially joined our family as of 7pm this evening.

: Yeah.  We gotta new bebe.  Onwee, dis one doesn’t squeak…

: What do you think of her?

: I dunno yet.  She is cute wike my squeakies… But I can’t actuwee squeak her– and she copies me a wot.  Can’t do nuffing wifout her following me.

: I think that means she likes you.

: It’s a wittle cweepy.  But, I guess dats ok… If she tinks I’m cool…

: Of course.

This morning, after reassuring my professor, a fellow dog-lover, that I would let her know if we indeed adopted a puppy tonight, I sat through class and suddenly realized how anxious I was for the day to be near an end.  Seeing as then I would actually be able to meet Paisley and see if she could come home with us.  Class broke relatively early and I headed home to grab lunch, finish up some work and get Faith and Yuri prepared for their vaccination.  Which really consisted of me putting on leashes and getting them into the car.

I left a half hour early so I wouldn’t be late, seeing as the office we had to go to was a different branch of our vet’s office and I had never been there.  I should also mention I’m directionally challenged.  So, yes, it’s a good thing, or I would have been more than the 3 or 4 minutes late I was.  Found out they weren’t going be getting shots but nasal sprays, much to Faith’s relief and after that, got to head home to meet up with Mom so we could head to the shelter, an hour away from our house.

It felt like the trip would take forever.  Like, forrrreeevvver and we had already expressed some concern that for whatever reason, they might deny us an adoption or Paisley would turn out to be a bad fit for us, so this was torture.  Faith and Yuri were fine with it though, as long as they got a breeze from the open window and a bit of water from the bottle we bought them before leaving.

When we finally got there (on the first try no less) we nervously asked to see Paisley at which we were guided to an outdoor kennel where Paisley, her mother (so sad to have to separate them) and her father were waiting.  I hadn’t had any idea that the entire family had been brought to the shelter, I just assumed that the puppies were accidents (they happen) and that someone had brought them in.  Apparently they didn’t want any of them.  We didn’t really get a chance to see Paisley’s parents as there was a cacophony of barking and the girl helping us was  a bit overwhelmed with excited dogs.

And there she was.  Absolutely lovely.  She is clearly of Lab and Husky descent (obviously) and never before have I seen so many of my own dogs’ traits in one single animal.  My Mom and I were tickled to see that many of the quirks, looks and mannerisms Faith and Yuri have all on their own could be seen in Paisley.  She truly is remarkable to handle all of that.  In any case, I think it’s clear we had to bring her home.  A picture sent to my Dad via text had him leaving a message telling us that despite him being leery of adopting another dog, her cuteness had prevailed.  During the meet and greet with our dogs, Paisley handled herself amazingly and so did Faith and Yuri.  They all seemed to get along just fine and although Faith was worried she was meeting her replacement, she appears to be channeling motherhood and gets more upset with me if the puppy cries about something than me actually enjoying the company of a new puppy.  I’m ok with that.  So in the end, she definitely seems to be a good fit for us.  She’s beautiful, she’s clearly smart (more on that later) and she is loved by all.

Now if we can get that potty training out of the way pretty quick, we’ll be good!  I’ll leave you with some photos!  She’s a pretty girl and in case anyone notices, she has two eye colors, in an odd way.  One eye is entirely blue and the other is bi-color, both blue and brown.  It’s very cool, very odd, but very cool.

She goes in for her first check up this week, sometime, whenever I can actually make it to an appointment with her and hopefully the little concerns we’ve managed to find in the first few hours are nothing and she’s healthy as a horse— er, puppy and we can all just move on and have a good time.

Meet Paisley

Paisley is a good little baby

Paisley has decided she loves the feel of wind in her fur

Really.

And to pose for the camera

While Faith pouts (sort of)

And Yuri asks Mom "But, what do you do with it?"

But it all just makes her sleepy

Until she gets home

Exploring new appliances

And stealing Faithee's toys

: I want dat back in de mowning.

: Oh, Faith.  What would I do without you?

: Pwobabwee die, mommy.  You’d nevew make it.

: Thanks.  I definitely would not be the same.

Until then!

Jaina & Faith