Kat's Tae Kwon Do Tournament today

Today was Kat's tkd tourney.  She did great!  She got a trophy for 3rd place (out of 3rd) in forms.  BUT, she won her division (thus adding a larger trophy) AND then she won the grand championship for flag sparring!  And, instead of a giant 5' tall trophy that we'd be looking at for the next two decades, she won sparring gear!  Soooo much better!!!  I will be attempting to post video of the end of her championship round and her award ceremony.  She cannot wait to have friends & family over so she can show them her trophy!

 One proud little munchkin.

Today's adventure

We have a wind advisory today.  Yesterday was 80.  The temp dropped to high 30s today and the wind kicked up.  I had Sadie here (we sometimes watch our friend's boxer) today along with the eight legs of destruction. 

And while they were outside, or just before I let them out, a section of the fence blew down  But I didn't know it, so the 3 stooges went on a super muddy adventure in the woods!!  When I realized the yard was devoid of ALL dogs, I yelled for Dan and went booking out there.  I've been taking the idiots to the dogpark (such as it is-luckily they have no idea what a REAL dogpark should be) and working on their recall.  So they came splashing thru the muck (which is really foul smelling, I might add).  And they bounded back in the house, mud and all.  Eventually followed by Sadie.  Who amongst them has at least a lick of sense!

Then, as soon as the was  storm door shut, I went downstairs to get some tools and dan went up to get warmer clothes.  And when I came back up....there were 2 dogs missing.  The idiots managed (Roxy was SO wound up she was literally bouncing off the walls.  And the doors.  We later concluded that Roxy's rabid jumping up hit & released the lever handle of the door whole she was pushing on it and thus set them free) to get right back out. 

Which lead to me yelling for Dan, again and us running out there again.  This time, I only saw Roxy's mud-covered white fur flashing thru the woods.  She reluctantly came towards me, but clearly didn't want to leave Gromit. 

Who was, I kid you not, In police custody in the back of a cop car!!!!  We snagged her and I saw the cop walking thru the backyards/woods towards me.  And he could see where the problem arose, as we were walking thru the fence.  So I went over to where he had parked his car in the opposing traffic turn lane to grab the crazy pup.  And retrieved Gromit from the clink, where he left tons of muddy paw prints!  AND, while I can't recall if I had my phone in my pocket or not, I do know the idea of taking a pic of Gromit in the back of the cop car didn't dawn on me, which is irritating, as I'm hopeful that the opportunity won't arise again!

Needless to say, they stayed indoors for the repairs that we made.  AND when we finished, Roxy couldn't check the perimeter often

enough to try to find a new route to the fun in the woods!

Pushing the summer?

Well, she might be pushing it a bit, but we are making the most of this amazing weather, as it won't last! She wanted to go in the neighbors pool, but the slackers weren't ready to open it in mid-April!

It's raining, it's pouring

Kat keeps chanting that April showers bring may flowers. I hope so. I spread a giant bag of grass seed across the yard just before it started raining 3 days (more?) ago. Now it's all relocated and/or drowned.....

Fwd: Our most recent Russian Visitor

Liliya was here for a week or so.  We enjoyed having her, but did have language issues....  Oh well.  A 5 year old and my old iphone did wonders for the language gap!

Fwd: Chris's visit

Chris passed thru on his annual migration from the S. Pole to the N. Pole.   Well, close  enough for most of us who will never get within 1000 miles of either!!

Rockin' Robin

Kat's school had its talent show the other night.  Her class and another danced to Rockin' Robin.  It was VERY cute.  I just love that each kid is moving to their very own drummer!!!  The audience goes crazy when  they all do the crossing their hands over their knees in synch!!

I did lose her once or twice during this recording.  And I need to get a tripod for the camera.......  She had a great time that night!!  After their performance she sat with us until she could find a pal from her class to sit with.  She then moved up to the mosh pit under the stage with the bigger kids.  Had the time of her life!

Times Square in the rain!!

New York City!!!

The building crew

Snow critters!

As it's supposed to be warm this week, we decided this could be our only chance to make snow critters (plus it was great packing snow and mild and sunny outside)

Kat's show

One more

Ice skating w/ a friend

We found Kat's former classmate William (they haven't seem each other since they graduated in August). She insisted that they could share the walker. She was right!

Ice skating!

If you watch closely, you will see Shawn, early on, bending down, Cheyenne, Jerry & Alison.

She did great and had a lot of fun. And a lot of help, mostly from Cheyenne.

Sledding

Little snowshoer!

 We met friends at the Science Museum's Birthday party for its dinosaurs.  And all of Buffalo's mascots were present (and the one just below this is a bit creepy...not that Kat ever cares).  He's the Bills mascot.  I had never seen him before.

 

 This is Sabretooth below.  The Sabres mascot.  He must be quite bored these days....

 

This is what the pups did while we were gone!

 This past Saturday we had breakfast with Santa, made a gingerbread house and then ended the day w/ an xmas party and cookie decorating (and wearing, as you can see).

This was the gingerbread house decorating.

Puppies, teeth and Maria's

She asked me to pull her tooth.  I love the moment when it's out and she clearly considers crying..

 This is what happens when you live here......you get yourself into non-threatening trouble and I'm reaching for the camera before I rescue you!!!!

 One of our Serbian visitors, Maria.

 

She did cry when we came home and discovered who had eaten her UNCARVED pumpkin!!!!  Little devil!

I am always amazed at Maria's strength and endurance....Kat loves to make her chase her.  And Maria does!!!

First tooth to go....

The one string holding it in was firmly attached! She eventually asked me to twist it out. And it took more strength to remove it than I expected. But it's out and the tooth fairy will be by tonite!!

Facing her attacker.

And there must be giggling....

Uncle Greg #1

Abusing uncle Greg #1

Uncle Greg #2

Kat abusing her other uncle Greg.

And this is what happens after a bath

Which was very traumatic for Roxy! Poor thing. She may have never had a bath before. I'm so glad we washed all of the puppy spit and mud off of them!!!

Puppy tails

I will be changing the name of my blog to Katnaps and puppy tails. There are a few posts prior to this because of the order I an doing this in. But, here is our new addition, Roxy. She is seven months old. Gromit is five months old, so she has a few months on him. And when we got home yesterday, this is what we saw. Non-stop!

In the water table....

Here is Gromit. I think he likes standing on something because he's not nearly as tall as she is. Yet. Although I don't think he ever will be. And who doesn't want to stand on the water table.

Dog tails

Well, we have acquired dog number two. Her name was Sadie, but now it is Roxy. She is a great pyrenees/ golden retriever mix. And she is adorable. And very sweet. Gromit loves her. Unless she considers getting up on the couch next to him. In which case he growls.

And here are the Bobsey twins eating my tomato plants that, granted, we were done with, but they decided to uproot and gnaw on all by themselves. And so it begins…

Coming home...

Hugs

PUPPY!!!

 The Ron Mohr Family.  We remembered to take a pic when we were all together before mom and dad leave for FL!!

 Kat & her new BFF, Grommit.

 Yeah, that's what we've been dealing with the last few days......

 snack time.

We took our first family outing.  And I think fun was had by all, though a few were quite tired!

More sad news from our house....Ben's obituary

Well, I cannot believe that I am writing this, not two weeks after Boo left us, but there it is.  Ben died this afternoon and has gone to join Boo in the eternal hunt for squirrels, bunnies and gophers.  We wish them godspeed and happy hunting.

Ben was born in February, 2000.  So he had an amazing 12.5 year run.  Which, for someone his size, is pretty good and we couldn't have asked for much more.  We had Scout when we adopted Ben in 2001 and were not looking for another dog.  My co-worker Max was going to the SPCA for lunch and I thought I'd go along.  HE was looking for a dog.  I wasn't.  I found a dog.  He didn't.  I just knew he should be with us and I had to convince Dan that we needed another dog.

We had a great life with the boys.  Tons of adventures.  Ben was with us when we moved to Calgary, which he loved, as long as it wasn't 40 below.  We added Boo to the mix shortly after arrival and our pack had many, many adventures.  We spent long hours in fabulous dogparks in both Calgary and Seattle (none here unfortunately).  We went for hours' long treks in our beloved Fish Creek Park out our back door in Calgary.  Jumping on his people on the bed was one of Ben's favorite activities, though it's been a few years since his leg would let him.  And Boo was up for whatever Ben was up for.

After Boo died, Ben was okay.  Then 2 days later, he stopped eating, was lethargic and had tremendous difficulty getting around.  We put him back on the prednisone (that we had weaned him off of weeks prior) and the vet gave him antibiotics as he had a fever.  He had some good days and some less so.  We got a few strolls around the blocks in.  He would sometimes eat.  And sometimes puke.  But yesterday he just lay in the yard all day and even all night and he had so much trouble getting up we feared the end was near.  I made an appt to take him this afternoon to let him go, but he didn't want to wait and instead died at home  with Dan & I here with him.  He died one minute (or less) before Kat got off the school bus, all excited to tell us about her day.  Poor kid, we met her at the bus in tears and she joined in.  And said her goodbyes.

And poor Ben.  Dying with that ridiculous haircut......I think the pred kept his fur from growing back in all its glory and I got so used to seeing him looking like a battered dog that I forget what a beautiful animal he was.  When I brought him home shaved in May, Dan said "he'd better not die with that haircut.'  He can join Wolfie in the annals of our dogs dying with bad do's.

Apparently I wasn't kidding when I called them life partners.  They were buds for 8.5 years and we will never know how much of their end months/years were owed to one another's presence.  It definitely seems now that they may have been keeping one another going.  But we are grateful that we had such wonderful dogs for as long as we did and with minimal decline/discomfort for both, excepting the last 2 weeks or so for each.  And perhaps it's fitting that they went close together, thus closing that chapter for all of us.

I am sure that we will begin a new dog/family chapter soon. If anyone is aware of an ideal pup for us, please let us know.  Our standards are high, as they have been set by the gentlest and funniest of giants, but of you know of anyone (same general colors, ideally), please let us know.  We definitely want to start the next crop young so we all have many years together.

We will strive to keep Ben's "Let's go" attitude in our lives.  I always admired that he was always up for an adventure....everything was an adventure for him and he let few opportunities pass (including food related opportunities).

Thanks for reading.

Heidi, Dan & Kat

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First day of school

Sad news from our house- Boo Radley's obituary

I wanted to let all of Boo's friends know that we lost him last night.  He had stopped eating earlier in the week and we suspected that the inevitable was approaching, but hoped it was indigestion or he just needed a laxative.  I took him to the emergency clinic last night and they found 2 massive tumors in his belly (see he wasn't fat!!!) that were likely attached to organs and pushing everything out of the way.  And making him very uncomfortable, if not causing outright pain. 

We had him for 8.5 years and he was an adult when we got him.  So he was a minimum of 9.5 years. Likely a few more, so for a near-giant breed, he had a pretty long life.  And a great one, at least the last 8.5 years of it!

We adopted him from Petfinder.com in Calgary in 2004 where he was brought by a rescue group after being found in Idaho full of buckshot.  He loved the dogparks in Calgary and later in Seattle (we all did).  We don't have much for dogparks here, but as they were slowing down they enjoyed laying on the air conditioned kitchen floor tiles instead!!  He did cement his reputation as a killer last summer when he killed a groundhog and a squirrel in the same week! 

He is survived by his life and squirrel chasing partner Ben (and we don't know how much gas he has left in the tank...), who Dan said howled after we left for the vet (he has howled before at the moment of both Scout & Dippy's deaths), so I suspect that he knew more than we did at that point.  And Hermy, our lone kitty, who may or may not give a crap.  Though I suspect that she does not.

We will miss our gentle giant.  But not the ridiculous amounts of undercoat fur that he was blowing every other week (it's currently spread all over our house and yard, so we couldn't forget him if we tried), nor that weight-bearing sharp-clawed paw that he insisted at shoving at one all the time....

He was a good dog and a great athlete.  And a better friend to all of us.

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