My Spoiled Dog Blog

We've moved!!

2008-10-07T07:53:00.000-07:00

We've moved! Please visit us at www.myspoiledmutts.com

The fireplace is scary!!!

2008-10-06T07:07:00.000-07:00

My parents frequently have a fire in the fireplace at their house. Dylan has never had a problem. I also had a gas fireplace at my old duplex. We used it often to heat up our basement. Dylan never thought it was scary.

Last winter, Dylan was scared of Paul's fireplace. For some reason fire inside of Paul's house is scary when it's not anywhere else. Dylan is an experienced camper and never had any issues with the campfire either.

Last winter we'd do some clicker training and eventually I got him retrieving a ball off the hearth when there was a fire going. He'd do okay as long as I didn't let him shut down too much before doing some c/t with him for working near the fire.

Last night we went to Paul's after fire. I was thrilled to see the fire crackling when we arrived. Dylan, however, was not happy. He decided that it was safest to hide under the dining room table as far away from the fire place as possible. I decided it was time to get the clicker out again. We used our homemade target stick to help Dylan gain some confidence around the fire. Dylan doesn't quite understand that he is supposed to touch the green end. I haven't been that picky when I used it in the past. As long as he touches the stick, he gets a click and a treat! It wasn't long before he was leaning over the hearth to touch the stick - right near the crackling fire. The rest of the evening, his tail was wagging! He avoids going too close to the fire but at least he isn't hiding! Guess we'll be working on this again this winter! Hopefully one of these days he will realize that the fireplace really isn't scary!!

We had fun!

2008-10-04T07:21:00.000-07:00

Marley wants everyone to know how much fun she had at Tanner Park yesterday. We went with our TipTail friend and got to make some new friends from Resqtails too. Marley chased and played with muffit and was a super happy girl. We were happy to have Paul and Leon join us too!! I didn't get many good pics. It's hard to get good pics of dogs that are moving. But here are a few:

Some of our new sheltie friends:
Leon is such a happy boy!!

Twist and Zoe want treats!!!

It's not his leg...

2008-10-04T07:03:00.000-07:00

I finally had Dylan in to have his leg checked for the second time. Turns out it is not his leg; but rather his right side of his body. Thermal imaging showed he has hot spots on his right shoulder and right hip. The Chiropractic treatment showed his sternum is pulling to one side. My vet said the muscles are tight and inflamed. Hopefully getting his spine back into alignment will help and I'll also be doing some new stretches with him to stretch out his spine. I love having a vet who is in tune with this stuff and understands the needs of a flyball dog! A regular vet was crazy if I had gone in and said I think there is something wrong with his leg but I'm not really sure!

He's been having a few issues with his box turn at practice. My new flyball club has a new and different training prop than he is used to. He's been turning really wide and doing some funky stuff when he gets up on that box. So my vet ordered that he not use it for a while - at least until we see if that helps him get better. He is fine without the training prop and does a great box turn consistently when it's not there so we might as well not use it. We can't race with a prop there anyway!

The Flyball Box is fun!!

2008-10-03T08:13:00.001-07:00

Last Night we got together with our Friends Chase, Muffit, and Cynthia to do some work on the flyball box. They came to our house this time and it's great that they did. I cleaned all the walnuts but more fell during the day yesterday so we found a small patch of grass that was mostly clean of walnuts to work on.

I stole this pic of Muffit because I think he is so cute. I hope my friend doesn't care! He's a typical frantic border collie who at 5 years old had had no training. This is pretty normal for a border collie who doesn't get to work. Or at least that's been my experience. That's why it so important that people that get this breed - understand their need for work and mental stimulation.

All the new sights and sounds at our house were very distracting for him. I'm really glad he came over there though because he did really well. He had to take a few minutes to focus then go off and check things out. He also did some VERY nice box turns when he was there.

Dylan, Chase, and even Marley got to do some box work too! I was most impressed with Spicey Love Muffit though! He is coming along so well and I hope they know they are invited to come back and use my distracting yard anytime they want too!!

Time to see the vet!

2008-10-03T07:03:00.000-07:00

I'm happy to say that we made it through the whole month of September without going to the vet! It's a miracle and I am nearly positive it's the first month this year that I have not been in a vets office with one of my dogs!

We are going in this afternoon though but at least it's October now. Dylan's going for a Chiropractic. They are having a special today and I have been wanting to take him in because he has been limping a little bit off and on.

So I get to take off from work early and take Dylan in to see the vet. I'm happy he is going in even though it's been a week and a half or so since I have noticed him limping!

Happy Dogs!

2008-10-03T07:01:00.001-07:00

Just found this pic again and had to post it. Reminds me of last summer when I had Zip!!!

Are they tennis balls? Or Walnuts?

2008-10-01T18:00:00.001-07:00

I have a huge walnut tree in my backyard. It makes for a decent shade tree but it also is a huge pain when it comes time to clean the yard of leaves and walnuts. It

drips sticky stuff all summer and so anything in the yard tends to be sticky. It drops literally thousands of walnuts in the fall. Luckily it only produces nuts every other year.

I tried to clean some of the walnuts up this evening. They were falling even as I as picking them up! It seems impossible to pick up all the crappy walnuts. I was worried that they were going to hit me in the head and knock me out!

Marley, however, keeps me quite entertained. She seems to believe that whenever a walnut falls - it may be a tennis ball. As soon as she hears one fall - she runs over and pounces on it. She seems disappointed to find out that it's simply another walnut. There's already a thousand on the grass (well maybe 500 now that I did some work out there). It must really be disappointing to her that it's not actually raining tennis balls. Dylan is of course, just scared of the walnuts when they fall. He really is afraid of anything that moves!

When I first bought this house, there were 5000 walnuts. It looked like they hadn't been cleaned up in years. Now that I am through my first 2 years of owning this place, I realize that the walnut tree is just so big that it drops 5000 walnuts in the fall. I have the joy of getting down on my hands and knees to try to clean them up. They get buried in the lawn so I have to literally pat it down to make sure they are all picked up. Of course, there are already more falling so I am not sure what good all this work does. I'll have to do it again next week and the week after that. Oh and I only got about a 1/4 of the yard done anyway. I hope that 1/4 stays somewhat clean so we can do some box work out there tomorrow. We are expecting some of our friends from Tip Tail to come and do some training tomorrow evening!

Sometimes I miss being a renter. I never realized how much work it was to own a house. Now I own two and man do I hate doing yardwork. Maybe next year I will be able to afford to hire someone to do it. That's probably wishful thinking though!

WW Poor Pathetic Dylan.

2008-10-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

He'd like everyone to believe he is deprived.

Taking it off Together Tuesday

2008-09-30T08:22:00.000-07:00

I did great at the beginning of the week but then the lasagna happened. I lost all focus at the end of the week but pulled it together on the weekend. I ended up pulling a -2.4 lb loss. That's still more than I was two weeks ago. So hopefully this week will go a bit better. I've not been feeling well and I actually drank my first soda in two months. My hope is that the Ginger Ale will help calm my upset stomach - even though it's full of junk and empty calories. I think I may have caught a stomach bug from my nephew. At least I am not feeling like eating crappy greasy food right now!

This week our contest is sponsored by Clara who writes the Coming Back to Life! She is offering a hand made tote as a prize this week! Here is a picture! Oh it is SOOO cute and perfect for fall!

The names of this week's "losers" were dropped into a coffee cup and this week's WINNER is Julie!

Congrats to Grace for being this week's biggest loser of 3.2 pounds!! Be sure to cruise over to her blog and congratulate her!

Chris - 2 LOSS
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - no report
Grace - 3.2 LOSS
Leigh - 2.5 GAIN
Clara - 2.5 GAIN
Dette - 1.0 GAIN
Julie - 0.6 LOSS
Cheryl - NO CHANGE
Audrey - no report
Christy - 2.4 LOSS
Tina - 1.4 GAIN
Danielle - NO CHANGE
Jessie - NO CHANGE
Steph - no report

And welcome back CYN who is reporting no change this week.

This week's total - 0.8 LOSS!

My blog is moving.

2008-09-30T07:08:00.000-07:00

My blog is moving...It will take a few days but it will soon be My Spoiled Mutts. Thanks so much to my friend Cynthia for helping set it up!! I'm excited to have my own site soon! Keep watching! I may still post on this blog until the other is up and running.

The nicest guy...

2008-09-29T10:09:00.000-07:00

I had a rough morning today. I woke up with miserable allergies that didn't go away until I got to work. When I arrived here, I realized I left my lunch and dinner sitting on the kitchen counter. I have to work a long day on Mondays I pack two meals with me. Money is tight so I didn't want to go out to eat. I also didn't want my dogs to think it was okay to feast on my roasted food.

To make matters worse, I lost a bunch of data on my computer and was freaking out all morning. Stuff that could totally screw up my work life for a good couple of weeks until I restored it all.

Paul was going to pick D&M up for the day since I have to work both jobs. I asked him to stick my lunch in the fridge so at least it wouldn't be ruined. He was nice enough to bring it across town to me at work! And he brought my princess Marley with him (and Sage and Leon too). So I got lunch, I got to see Paul, and got some loves from the puppies! It was so incredibly nice of him to drive so far. He brought the dogs so he could walk them at the Dimple Dell Gulch that's not too far from my work here.

Ohhh and when I got back from visiting with Paul and the dogs, someone had restored all my lost data. All in all, the day has gotten a lot better than the way it started. I'm so lucky to have met such a nice guy who is willing to go out of his way to help me - even without being asked.

Eating Healthy

2008-09-28T20:55:00.000-07:00

I've been trying, when possible, to make some healthy meals. I'm a horrible cook and I usually end up eating something that doesn't taste very good as a result of my attempt to cook something healthy.

I love veggies and I was a vegetarian until about a year and a half ago. So veggies are a good easy and healthy thing for me to eat. I mostly eat them raw because I don't know how to cook them.

I got this recipe from Chris but I improvised. I didn't add any peppers and I added portabello mushrooms and yellow squash and carrots and tomatoes. Oh and some whole garlic cloves too. The recipe called for salt and pepper but I don't like pepper much and I am trying to cut down on sodium so I used garlic powder instead. My house stinks but it tasted yummy so it's worth it.

Oh, and D&M always eat healthy. It's sooo easy for me to deny them the yummy treats that people offer. Yet I can't turn them down when yummy treats are offered to me. I wish someone made all my decisions on what I could eat. It really isn't difficult to keep a dog at a decent weight if you just make wise choices for them. Healthy food and small but healthful treats for training and reward is all it really takes. Exercise is good too!!

I really love raw feeding these two. It's good for them and my vet insists on it. They get some healthy kibble too since I work for a pet food company. They usually eat it in the morning for breakfast though. It's about time I start feeding some chicken now that it is cooling down. That will be nice since it's a bit cheaper than beef. My friend got some raw green tripe and she said her dogs love it. I may have to buy some one of these days but I can't handle feeding it.

Glad we all had a healthy and yummy dinner. Tomorrow is a weigh in day and I haven't had a great week so hopefully the low calorie dinner tonight will help a bit.

Relaxation Time

2008-09-28T10:40:00.000-07:00

Dylan and I attended a Relaxation class yesterday at Four Legged Scholars yesterday. It was a really interesting course that talked about using Tie Downs to teach a dog to relax. Johanna also did a guided meditation with the people and their dogs!

During our guided meditation Dylan told me that he would like to play more flyball and that he wants me to pay more attention to him when we are just hanging around at home. He also would like me to get the living room cleaned so that we have more space to play in there.

So today I am trying to get motivated to clean. Well, I was working on paying bills etc, but now I am procrastinating by blogging. I really hate how messy my house is but I also hate cleaning!!

Icky Rash!!!

2008-09-26T08:01:00.000-07:00

I think I may have had an allergic reaction to something I ate last night. When I got home from survivor night; I had been itching for a couple of hours. I noticed that I had red bumps all over my skin.

I don't think it was the dogs. The rash was mostly covered by clothing. I did have a dog in my lap for a while but I don't usually get a rash from dog allergies (yes I am allergic to my own babies)!

I didn't eat anything really abnormal last night. I did have some yummy fruit salad, Lasagna, Garlic Bread, and homemade Hummus. There were plums in the fruit salad and I haven't really eaten many plums in the past. I also wonder if there might have been something in the hummus?

I've also been taking a Pycnogenol Supplement to see if it will help with my allergies. I have only been taking it a few days now so I wonder if it could be an allergic reaction to that too.

I took a benadryl late last night. Man did that make it hard to get up this morning! I woke up and still had a rash everywhere. I am sitting here at work and trying not to scratch it. Whatever it is, I hope it goes away soon!!

Survivor is back!

2008-09-25T07:08:00.000-07:00

My friends and I have been getting together to watch Survivor for years now. At first, I thought it kind of dorky. I'm not a big TV watcher and getting together for a reality show seemed a bit odd. But over the years I have come to appreciate the show and of course, the good company.

My friend has Tivo so we spend a lot of time pausing and chatting. We talk lots about dogs because he's a dog lover too. Sometimes D&M get to come with me but for the most part I leave them home. Dylan gets a little frustrated with so many dogs around and we have to keep my two baby gated into the TV room because my friend has a Blue and Gold Macaw that I can't trust them around.

Tonight the Survivor Season starts! We are getting together as usual but having good yummy homemade lasagna! I've been eating healthy all week so I can eat some lasagna tonight!! Should be lots of fun!! I enjoy having a free activity that encourages my friends and I to get together. When the survivor season ends, I feel like I don't see them enough because I can't afford to call them up and invite them to go out somewhere!!

Marley is the best medicine!

2008-09-24T07:38:00.001-07:00

Marley is the best medicine!

We went on our scheduled therapy visit last night. Sometimes I forget how much impact a visit from a dog can have on people.

Last night we visited the same Alzheimer's patients. Many of these are the same patients we have visited for a year. I've been frustrated thinking our recreation therapist didn't really understand our purpose there. Last night, however, was different.

We had been making our usual rounds when we found a few people in the dining room. We went in and Marley and I went from one person to the next to say hello while she let people love on her. Marley likes to perform her tricks for people and the rec therapist kept telling everyone that Marley would do some tricks. She set the people's chairs up in a small circle around Marley and I. Marley did some sit ups, high 5's, and spins, and twirls, and all that. When I asked her to roll over, she did her very distinctive plop down and roll over! One woman started laughing and laughing. It was if she thought it was the funniest thing she had ever seen.

We've seen this woman before and she never speaks. She does always want to pet and visit with Marley and she's always with her roommate who appears to be her best friend. Last night, she separated herself. We visited and she made enough words for me to understand her questions about Marley. She laughed and smiled and grinned when Marley did tricks for her. She loved on her and Marley was a princess and loved every moment. Our rec therapist was amazed that this woman was laughing. In all the time she had been there, she had never heard her laugh. So we stayed and visited as long as Marley seemed comfortable. When it got time for us to leave, the woman commented that Marley seemed tired. In truth, Marley was fine, but it was a good time to leave.

Our rec therapist now wants to make a special effort to visit this particular patient. I think she now has a better understanding of the impact Marley can have on people. If my girl can provide a source of laughter, Marley really is the best medicine. We'll have a camera with us next visit so the rec therapist can take some pictures to put in People's rooms. I'm not allowed to take pictures of my baby girl when she's working but the facility sees some value in taking some pictures to put up in people's rooms to remind them of the dog that comes there to visit.

Marley is my very special girl. She has a way to know who is going to benefit from her love and affection. She's always happy to do some tricks and her Roll Over is the funniest thing I have ever seen! It takes a special dog to be a good therapy dog and Marley has proven herself to be wonderful at her job. She may never be the athlete and character the Dylan is. He tends to get a lot of attention when we are out and about. He's a strikingly handsome boy with a lot of personality. Sometimes I think he overshadows my little girl most of the time. Marley, however, proves time and time again that she's a wonderful little girl who has the ability to impact people in a very special way. Marley really is the best medicine!

WW -Dylan and the giant zucchini I found in the garden

2008-09-24T07:13:00.000-07:00

Taking it off together Tuesday!

2008-09-23T07:33:00.001-07:00

I didn't do so well this week! Actually, I did really poorly. I gained 3.2 lbs. I figure most of that is from eating food that can be delivered all week while I was painting. I ate pizza like 5 times!! It was yummy but it wasn't the healthiest of options. I was too busy to worry about making healthy meals and I wanted to feed everyone that came out to help me. I did eat burgers one day and chinese another. That was all during the week! Then the weekend came! And I had known that I had eated crappy all week and I used that to justify poor choices on the weekend! Godiva Chocolate cheesecake from the cheesecake factory was SOO good but didn't contribute to my goal of eating healthier! It was worth it though! I also ate out at chili's and some fast food too! Man I need to get refocused this week!

Last week we continued the contest where everyone who reported a LOSS had their name added to a drawing for a lot of 100 Mary Kay samples! The names of this week's "losers" were dropped into a coffee cup and this week's WINNER is Danielle!

This week our contest is sponsored by Ciara who writes the Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog! She is offering a hand made bracelet as a prize this week!

And check it out! We had an over all loss again this week (barely, but it's still a loss)! Congrats to Clara for being this week's biggest loser of 2.5 pounds!! Be sure to cruise over to her blog and congratulate her!

Chris - 1 loss
Tammy - 1 gain
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 1 loss
Grace - 2.2 gain
Leigh - 1 gain
Clara - 2.5 loss
Dette - no change
Julie - 1.4 gain
Cheryl - no report
Audrey - 2.4 loss
Christy - 3.2 gain
Tina - no report
Danielle - 2 loss
Jessie - no change
Steph - no report

This week's total - 0.1 LOSS!

We hate the bath!

2008-09-23T07:08:00.000-07:00

Dylan despises the bathtub! He won't even come into the bathroom if I am in there getting ready! Marley is getting more and more used to it since

she has to have a bath every 2 weeks before her therapy visit. Last night was bath night and Dylan hasn't had one in a few months so I decided he needed one too. He was sure unhappy about it!

Marley has learned to do 2 shakes behind the shower curtain before she gets out. She's a pretty good girl but I can't get Dylan to shake and towel drying a dog doesn't really work well! So as soon as he jumped out of the tub he was shaking and flinging water everywhere!

I'm allergic to dogs oddly enough so having wet dog smell all over my tiny house isn't the best plan. We survived though and I even slept next to two damp dogs. Oh the joys of dog ownership! I can't bear to kick them out of my bed for the night and I didn't have time to bathe them early enough that they would actually dry before bedtime!

At least they are clean! I love soft clean dogs!!! Marley will have her therapy visit tonight and she will be all clean for the people to pet her! Dylan will smell better and will be more fun to cuddle with. That only usually lasts a couple of days around my house because I am sure the two of them will be out splashing in mud and water sometime in the very near future! Guess that it's just part of living with a two dogs!

Chasin Lizards is lots of fun!

2008-09-21T19:52:00.000-07:00

We took the dogs out to the desert today to give them a chance to get out and run. This is Dylan's favorite place because he gets to run free! I try to call him minimally here because it's flat and I can see him and he loves so much to go out and explore. He does quite well and checks in on his own so I don't call him unless I have too!

Dylan wears an orange vest and his Muttlucks Booties. He blends in so well with the landscape that this orange vest helps make him much more visible. He tends to wear out his front pads on this dry terrain so the muttlucks help prevent that issue. They seem to stay on well but they get turned around so I have to stop him from time to time for an adjustment. My vet says he wouldn't have so many issues with his pads if his nails weren't so dang long. I really need to get working on the dremel but I've found it is very difficult for me to work on this alone. I think it would be easier if there were someone to sit there and feed him!!

There were lots and lots of lizards today and the dogs had the time of their life. Dylan especially loves to chase the lizards. The funny thing is, the lizards will run through the sagebrush and keep on going but the dogs seem to think they are hiding in the bushes. By the time the dogs realize they aren't there; the lizards are long gone!!

Paul and Leon just seem to belong together. Leon rarely leaves his side unless he sees a bunny or a squirrel!
Three tired dogs came home and took naps. I really need to get Dylan one of this round dog beds. He loves this one that is over at Paul's house!

And who couldn't love this boy? I had to post this last pic that I took after Dylan woke up!! Isn't he the cutest english pointer you have ever seen?

Finished Painting!!!

2008-09-21T08:56:00.000-07:00

We finished painting! Actually, we finished Friday night! I was SO happy to be done with it and I am pleased with the way things turned out. I think the house looks a lot better with a fresh coat of paint. It will rent easier in the future and hopefully this tenant will stay a bit longer than previous tenants!

THANKS SO MUCH TO ALL THE GOOD FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT CAME OUT TO HELP! There's no way I would have finished this if I hadn't had so many people willing to spend a few hours painting!!!

It's official! Marley is the cutest dog!

2008-09-20T14:46:00.000-07:00

We went to the Salem Pet Fair today. Marley won the contest for the cutest dog. I alwasy knew she was the cutest girl!

I actually wasn't going to enter but I bought these cute bows for her hair right as the contest was starting. So we decided to run down and enter the contest because she looked SO darling with her bows in! Guess the bows really did make her the cutest!

She also won "Most Obedient!" It's kind of a funny title since I have not really done much obedience work with her. The contest was easy though - Sit, Stay, and Come. Then Marley and our friend Tonks had to do a roll over for a tie breaker. Pretty easy obedience and Marley LOVES to Roll over!!

Marley also ran in the flyball demo! I was so impressed with her! It's been about a year since she ran with a team and she did SO great! I actually let her play at practice 2 weeks ago just for the fun of it. She did great! Dylan's been limping so I didn't take him. Marley ran in his place! She completed all her runs after a messy warm up. She dropped the ball early once but other than that her runs were pretty good! She even did her swimmer's turn just like she is supposed too!! I'm amazed that after a year she could just go out there and do it like she'd been practicing all along!

It was a fun day at the Salem Pet Fair! We had fun with Cynthia, Chase, and Tatum! We got to ride down in the nice new van!!

YAY for Flyball!

2008-09-19T08:04:00.000-07:00

Time for another Flyball Demo!! I can't wait! I'm not sure if Dylan will be able to run or not but I am just happy to get to go out and do a demo with my team! It's always a good time!

I'm lucky my friend Cyn got a new van! She's going to let me ride down to Salem, UT with her! I hate driving and this way we can save some money on gas and do our part to help the environment!

Marley will get to go too. If there are any contests, I may enter her! She won the roll over race at the last event we went too! She's a fast roller!!

We will get to hang out with Tatum, Chase, and Muffit!! YIPEE!!! I can't wait for tomorrow!

The New Tenant!

2008-09-19T07:18:00.000-07:00

My new tenant arrived yesterday from NM. He seems pretty nice and really likes his cats. I foresee him spending a lot of time on the big front porch! He was sitting out there when I got home last night.

The house already smells a bit like cats. It's just his stuff that was moved in. I'm a bit nervous the place might smell like cats after he moves out but hopefully a good cleaning and cleaning some carpets will help.

He likes to cook and to garden. I suspect he might stay on top of me to keep the front yard looking a bit nicer. It's probably good though. I'm super lazy about yard work and I hate doing it. I kind of need to be obligated to get it done to keep me motivated.

He's promised to bring me some chocolate from his work. Sounds like a bad plan huh? Guess it's supposed to be healthy chocolate that they sell at whole foods.

We got another room painted and now we have 1 more to go! I added the total for all hours put into painting and getting that house ready. So far we have spent 66 hours, taping, cleaning, patching walls, and painting. That's a lot of time! I've put in 26 of those myself but I feel so lucky to have such wonderful friends and family that have been willing to come help!! Pics to come soon!

21 hours of painting!

2008-09-18T08:22:00.000-07:00

I spent 5 hours Wednesday and 16 hours yesterday painting in the rental! My 21 hours combined with the many hours of my friends and family has made it possible to clean and tape and paint 2 bedrooms, the kitchen, and the bathroom! We are over half way done!!

I have some painting pics to post but I haven't had time to upload them to the computer!

This old house has sooo much molding! Big 10 inch molding around the floor and molding around all the doors and the ceiling in some rooms. I'm getting really good at using the paint brush!

My Dad, Brother in law, Sister, and friend Dia came and we taped and cleaned on Tuesday Night. We also finished painting the small bedroom.

Paul came yesterday morning after working all night and helped patch the millions of holes in the walls and then helped me paint the other bedroom. This wonderful man stayed up for like 23 hours straight to help me paint yesterday!

Thanks to my good friend's Andrea and Ross we finished up the kitchen and bath at 1 AM last night. Andrea came early and helped me clean and tape and get started painting! Ross stayed until 1 AM and painted all the hard corners and crap. I have video of him shakin his booty on top of the refrigerator!!

Now we just have the two living rooms. They have tons of molding around the windows and doors and on the walls. I still have paint in my hair and on my skin after my shower to get to work this morning. I didn't sleep well and woke up late!

I'll have my Dad and Paul to help me again tonight and my tenant will be moving into the bedrooms and the kitchen today. We need to hang blinds tonight and clean up the drop cloths and tape from the kitchen and bath so he has space to live the next few days while we finish the rest of the house.

I'm hoping that tomorrow night will be the last night! I am SOOO very tired!! I just want to go back to bed right now!

D&M have been so neglected the last few days. They are lucky to have Paul who is taking them out this morning for me. I just haven't had much time for anything more than food, water, and potty breaks.

Dylan's Leg

2008-09-16T10:29:00.000-07:00

Something is still going on with Dylan's leg. I'm not sure what it is but when my vet looked at it a month or so ago she couldn't see anything either. She treats a lot of working dogs so she pays close attention to soft tissue injuries. So if she couldn't find anything, I'm pretty sure another vet wouldn't either. I may have to try to get him back in sometime in the near future for a more thorough exam.

He seems to be standing off balance sometimes and very bull-legged at others. Then there are days that he seems okay and acts like nothing is wrong? I need to start journaling everyday so that if and when we do go back to the vet, I have clear records of what is wrong.

Dylan is supposed to be running in a Flyball demo this weekend. I don't know if he will be able to. I don't want to allow him to push himself and make things worse. He's one of those crazy dogs that would keep going and going and going until he drops. He just doesn't know to stop when he feels pain!

Sometimes I think life would be a whole lot easier if dogs could talk! Then they could tell us what is wrong with them so we could take care of it!

Taking it off together Tuesday!

2008-09-16T08:17:00.000-07:00

Another week of reporting a loss! I'm happy it worked out that way because I was getting worried. I really wanted to stop eating fast food but I had it a few times last week! I also went to brunch on the weekend at the Little America buffet. It's so yummy and I ate way too much but I tried to keep it to a really light dinner that night to make up for my over indulgence in the morning.

I hope to lose at least 1.6 lbs this next week. That will put me at 30 lbs lost! Yippee!! It's gonna be tough though because I'll be working on the rental and won't want to take much time to cook. Plus I will want to provide food for my friends and family that are helping. I can't think of anything but Pizza that is inexpensive and can easily feed 4 or 5 people! I was thinking though that maybe subway sandwiches would be good? They have those new $5.00 foot longs.....So for 15-20 I could feed a bunch of people. That's a little less greasy! At least all the working and painting should burn off some of the extra calories!!

Here are this week's results:

The names of this week's "losers" were dropped into a coffee cup and this week's WINNER is Dette!

And check it out! We had an over all loss again this week! Congrats to Grace for being this week's biggest loser of 3.8 pounds!! Be sure to cruise over to her blog and congratulate her!

Chris - 1 LOSS
Tammy - 0.5 GAIN
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - no report
Grace - 3.8 LOSS
Leigh - 0.5 LOSS
Clara - No Change
Dette - 1.5 LOSS
Julie - No Change
Cheryl - No Change
Audrey - no report
Christy - 1.4 LOSS
Tina - 0.5 GAIN
Danielle - No Change
Jessie - 3 GAIN
Steph - no report

This week's total - 4.2 LOSS!

A new belt!

2008-09-15T09:10:00.000-07:00

I finally invested in a belt. I decided it's an absolute necessity. After loosing 28.4 lbs now, my pants are all way too big. I don't want to go buy new ones because I am working to lose even more. So I would rather put off spending a bunch of money on new clothes for as long as possible.

Saturday, I was working and running and lost my pants. Literally, I caught them when they were about mid thigh! As embarrassing as it was, it's nice to know that things are getting too big! I just hope no one saw me! But it's made it very clear that a belt is now a necessity!! I hate wearing one but I don't have a choice. It's a new belt or at least a few new pairs of pants!

So I finally went and bought one this weekend! It's reversible so I have a black belt and a brown belt all in one. I should be able to wear it with just about anything. Hopefully it will keep my pants on for a while! I have a feeling I will be asking for new clothes for Christmas!!

My favorite cuddlers!

2008-09-13T19:30:00.000-07:00

More pics of my favorite sleeping buddies. I love it when I have time in the morning to cuddle with them!

Super Pet Adoption Weekend!

2008-09-13T19:17:00.000-07:00

I really have mixed feelings about the super pet adoption. It's a busy weekend for me and I feel good knowing that at least some of the dogs being adopted are going to good homes that are feeding high quality food. I know this because I sold it to them!

I understand that all breed rescues have a very difficult job. I've been involved with rescue a few years now and there are so many mixed breed dogs and there will never be enough good homes for them. My concern is that people seem to think that because a dog is a mixed breed dog, they need to require lower standards in order to get them placed. No one disagrees with the home visits and careful screening that pure breed groups do. They just don't seem to think that it's necessary that mixed breeds deserve the same. They say there aren't enough resources to do the things all breed groups do?

I know there are those that really try to do everything they can to make sure the dogs are getting wonderful homes. They are selective and turn people down that they don't think really make a good fit. I know several people out there and I believe I am one of them so I know they exist. Unfortunately, too many are too quick to try to get one dog adopted that they don't stop to think whether the dog is going to be really in a wonderful home for the rest of it's life. It's almost as if they feel that if the dog sleeps indoors and has a fenced yard that's all that's needed to make a good home. No concerns for whether the dog will get training or proper nutrition or love and attention. No concerns about whether or not the people really know what they are getting into when they adopt a dog.

I know these events are wonderful especially for rural shelters and rescues. It's a great place to get your fosters some exposure and it's great for potential adopters to see a wide selection of dogs in one place. If I were looking to adopt, I would love to be able to go to a super adoption to look! A wider range of dogs might mean I'm more likely to find the right dog for me. I just seem to think it creates a scene of chaos. People are rushed to do adoptions so they can help the next person, and the dogs are stressed, and you can't really meet them in an environment they normally live in. You don't know if someone adopting is being impulsive because they don't really have time to think things through before taking the new dog home.

Anyway, I am sure there will be more than 300 dogs adopted from 501(c)3 nonprofit groups and shelters. I can only hope that they either end up in wonderful homes or they get returned right away to the rescue group. I hope none of these dogs end up tied up to a tree somewhere in someone's backyard and that they all go home to warm snuggly families who will take good care of them for the rest of their lives!

My Puppy fix!

2008-09-13T19:02:00.000-07:00

I can't get a puppy. I know well enough that I can't afford one! So sometimes I have to borrow a pup to give me a puppy fix! Sometimes it's an adult and sometimes it's a puppy!

In reality, I actually bring home dogs from my rescue group during the super adoption. The out of town dogs have to stay crated over night and it breaks my heart. So I try to bring one home so at least that's one less dog that has to stay in a crate all night long out at the super adoption.

Today I brought home this girl. She's a 6 month old pup whose name I don't know. It doesn't matter though, I doubt she knows her name either. I love, love, love border collies so when the rescue told me about her I immediately offered to bring her over night. She's a maniac and wouldn't hold still for a picture. That's to be expected though with a 6 month old border pup that hasn't had any training.

I played a bit of chase games with her. Well I let her chase me! I also got out a clicker and some treats and just played a few training games with her. I had her targeting and she's very responsive if I just make little click noises to get her attention. She's definitely a fun girl and would probably be good to work with since she focuses so easy and is quick to respond when I want her attention. It's good that she's already been adopted! I think I'd be in love!

She just can't go to her new home until she has been spayed. The foster said she had a lot of people interested in her so I really hope that she chose wisely. This is an active girl that is going to need lots of exercise and mental stimulation to keep her from becoming a total terror. I didn't meet the adopters but if I do tomorrow I will take time to see if they have any idea what they are getting into. B0rder collies are not dogs for just anyone! They really need a certain kind of home (well Marley is the exception to that rule - she'd be happy just about anywhere but I am glad she ended up with me!!)

I gave her a raw bone to chew on for a bit. She's being a good quiet girl in the x pen for now. Dylan's a bit upset but I baby gated him into the bedroom and gave him a raw bone too. So he'll be busy for a while and maybe forget that there's another dog in the house for the night!

Jon Butler Trio and G Love and Special Sauce!

2008-09-12T08:08:00.000-07:00

My friend Andrea and I were going to hike up in the hills above Red Butte Gardens and listen to the Jon Butler Trio (JBT) and G Love show last night. We planned on going to listen to the show because we didn't want to pay for tickets (plus the show was SOLD OUT). Marley was going to join us for the show! We've done this for a few Red Butte shows in the past because you can hear the music great in the great scenery and red rocks that are up above the gardens.

We were chatting and making plans when Andrea got a call from her boss. She hopped on the call waiting and came back to ask if I would mind leaving Marley home! She got free VIP tickets from work. Marley girl had to stay home but I didn't feel so bad. I would have felt badly leaving Dylan home alone anyway (there are too many off leash dogs on concert nights for him to go up there). We hurried to get ready because the show started about 45 minutes after she got the call. We still had to go pick up the tickets and try to get up there before JBT started. Andrea really wanted to see them but I had never really heard of them before. G Love is pretty good though and I have seen them before so I knew it would be a great show!

Our VIP tickets ended up being in a seated section. We were front and center of the VIP and it was GREAT!! The people around us weren't really getting into the show much though. I had friends that were sitting in GA not too far away so by the time G Love was playing we opted to go down so we could hang and dance with some friends.

I must say that Jon Butler Trio blew me away (as well as some of my friends who hadn't heard of them!) I should have known that Andrea has great taste in music! They were really amazing and I will definitely be looking to get some of their albums when things calm down and I can afford them. I even went online when I got home to see if I could download some free live shows from some of the free sites I know of! Truly amazing group for sure and the highlight of the night. I'd pay to see them as a headliner any day!!

We really love to see GOOD live music! I haven't made it out to many shows this year but the three I saw were really great ones (even Bob Dylan in the pouring rain was the highlight of my summer)! I am so glad Andrea scored free tickets at the last minute!! It was well worth leaving my girl home for the evening to get to see the show and hang with some good friends.

Getting Ready!

2008-09-11T10:35:00.000-07:00

I'm getting ready for a very busy week! Starting tomorrow I will be working at the Super Pet Adoption all weekend. At least I am working and not volunteering. So I will have a good sized paycheck as a result. Then next week I will be painting starting Monday when my tenant moves out. Painting every night next week with my new tenant moving in on Thursday.

I am starting to get nervous that the place won't be clean enough on move out day. This has happened pretty much every time in the past. I don't mind keeping some deposit money in exchange for doing a bit of cleaning but I just don't have the time next week! I will need to be painting.

I am so lucky to have some wonderful friends and family who are going to help! I have friends and family scheduled to come almost every night next week. I hope they show up because I am going to need all the help I can get!!

WW - I miss the Puck Monster!!

2008-09-10T07:05:00.000-07:00

Taking it off together Tuesday!

2008-09-09T08:43:00.000-07:00

I did okay this week but the weekends seem to be so hard on me. I don't keep to eating healthy and I don't drink near enough water. I need to figure out how to incorporate healthy eating into my busy weekend schedule and drinking lots and lots of water too. I just hate carrying a water bottle around all the time. On the weekdays I try to drink 64 oz of water during my 8 hour work shift. -1.6 lbs this week brings me to -27.0 overall. My pants are literally falling off now. Saturday night I was a party and walking up the stairs and almost lost my pants. I can't afford new ones now but might have to search my closet for some older pairs. At least a few of my pants seem to be not quite so big.

Oh and we had a great time on the pedicure reward! I decided when I lose another 25 I am going to reward myself with some new dog T shirts. I really really love them and all of mine are getting old and worn out. I want new ones but they are so expensive and money is so tight right now. So if I make it to my next goal then I will buy myself a treat!

Funny - when I first got dogs - I swore I would never be one of those crazy people who had dogs all over their clothing. Now I have dogs on my clothing probably at least 5 days a week. HAHAHAHA I'm glad my main job doesn't have a dress code!

*********
Last week we announced a contest where everyone who reported a LOSS had their name added to a drawing for a lot of 100 Mary Kay samples! The motivation worked! Nearly everyone reported a loss this week. So we will have the same contest this week. Just remember that maintaining doesn't count, sorry!

The names of this week's "losers" were dropped into a coffee cup and this week's WINNER is Ciara!

And check it out! We had an over all loss again this week! Congrats to Cheryl for being this week's biggest loser of 4 pounds!! Be sure to cruise over to her blog and congratulate her!

Chris - 4 GAIN
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 0.4 LOSS
Grace - no report
Leigh - 2.0 LOSS
Clara - no report
Dette - 0.5 LOSS
Julie - 0.8 LOSS
Cheryl - 4 LOSS
Audrey - 0 CHANGE
Christy - 1.6 LOSS
Tina - 1.4 LOSS
Danielle - 1 LOSS
Jessie - no report

And please give a warm welcome to Steph who lost 2 pounds this last week!

This week's total - 10.7 LOSS!!

Is he injured?

2008-09-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is the second time in about a month that I have had to pull Dylan out of Flyball Practice. I'm not sure what is going on.

A month ago Dylan started limping during practice. I pulled him out and rubbed him down and stretched him out. I gave him some Arnica and by morning he seemed okay. We were headed to the holistic vet the next morning with Leon so I brought Dylan along and she checked him and watched his gate. She couldn't see a limp so we figured he must have just twisted something and seemed to be feeling better.

Last night, he was messing up on his box turn. He's been turning wide sometimes and I think it's because of the training prop. I asked them to move it out. I don't want him learning to turn too wide because of the prop. First turn without he prop was totally messed up. Then I noticed that he was favoring one leg. He won't put near as much weight on his right leg. He's spending a lot of time standing a little bull legged. I pulled him out, rubbed him down and stretched him good. Gave him some Arnica last night but this morning he was still favoring that left leg.

I can't remember if the first time it was the right leg that he was having an issue with. I need to call the vet today and see if they have it in their records.

I hope we can figure out what it is. I don't want my little boy hurting. Paul believes it's just a stubbed toe but I am not sure if that is the case. I have a feeling he's twisted or tweaked something in that leg that needs some time to heal.

I never get sick of this..

2008-09-08T07:11:00.000-07:00

Yesterday Morning I actually got to spend some time just laying in bed cuddling with my pups. I'm glad I ended up with cuddlers (although I secretly believe I turn dogs into cuddlers!)... I never get to sleep in. My body just wakes up too early. But once in a great while I get to stay in bed a bit later. It's always fun to have puppies to cuddle with!

I never get sick of looking at them lounging around. They just look so cute!!

The tire saga continues....

2008-09-07T09:43:00.000-07:00

I went to swap out my tires with the ones my parents had. When I called a couple weeks back they told me it would work just fine but might look a bit funny. On my old car, I really don't care much anymore what it looks like. It's been hit in the parking lot at least 5 times. It's got a bunch of dents and dings.

The tire salesman yesterday gave me an earful about how the car was going to be all messed up if we put the smaller tires on my car. It would mess up suspension, mileage, and make for a really bumpy ride. Blah Blah blah I wasn't sure if he was just trying to sell me tires or if he was being truthful. So I went to a second tire store. My dad said it was better to get my second opinion from an independently owned shop rather than a national chain. So I drove around until I found one. I swear it had to be the most ghetto tire store in all of Salt Lake City. The man who came to check out my tires spoke very little English but managed to get the point across that the tires won't work right on my car. I guess getting 4 almost brand new tires for free was a bit wishful thinking.

I had to go back to the original store I was at and just buy two new tires!! I hate spending so much money on them!!

To make matters worse, the car is still rubbing on the tire. My Dad couldn't fix it but he said the damage was probably more than $1000.00 so it's worth filing a claim with the insurance company. Once again another financial set back. I am going to get an estimate and depending on the price I may end up paying the deductible to have it all fixed up. If I do, that means no trip to NY for Christmas and definitely no Flyball tournaments for the rest of this year.

I'm not sure how other people on single income's seem to do so well to travel with their dogs so much. I don't want to fly to Europe or go to Mexico. I want to take a 6 hour road trip to a weekend Flyball tournament. For some reason life seems to be working against that goal this year. I know Marley is a big expense but other dog people have expensive broken dogs too. I guess I will just keep telling myself that everyone else is using credit cards (even though that may not be true) and that I am still refusing to use credit cards if at all possible. Even if it means my dog gets to play less Flyball and I get to spend less time playing too.

Tomatoes!

2008-09-07T09:31:00.000-07:00

There are a million tomatoes here. Seriously, my tenants planted a garden and I think they planted at least 8 tomato plants. At least three of those are cherry tomatoes which are convenient to eat but a pain to have to pick!! I've been eating tomatoes almost daily. One of my tenants moved already and the other one is never around. I don't think he's eating much.

Anyone want some tomatoes? Fresh from the garden they are pretty yummy. They are starting to go bad though and I hate to see that. There are so many green ones too that will still ripen. And yellow and red ones too. Come pick em! Seriously, just let me know if you want to come pick some!!!

Dog Videos!!!

2008-09-06T17:01:00.000-07:00

I stole this idea from my friend R3K9s. She recently posted some videos of her backyard agility star Maddie. Dylan's a backyard agility star too. I'd like him to be a real agility competitor but I just can't afford it. I'm a poor single girl with two very expensive dogs so getting up to trial level is not an option for us. We have some backyard agility equipment (including a training teeter, jumps, contact trainer, and ladder) and I'd like to add to my collection a tunnel (even a small one!) and some 2 X 2's for weave pole training and a Tire Jump. I have a plan for building the 2 X 2's and Tire jump but it seems money is always tight and I just can't afford to buy the stuff to make them. A table would be fun too.

I took these videos myself of us playing in the yard. It's hard to tell a dog what to do and video at the same time. Guess that's one big disadvantage to living alone. There's no one to videotape for you!

Marley is my trickster! She loves doing tricks and gets to do it a lot as a therapy dog. She had a hard time with her high five in the video which is odd becuase she was targeting to my hand instead of giving me a high five. Often she tries to offer a high five when I ask her to do a target to my hand that is out of her normal reach. LOL.

This is Leon at Flyball practice. This was only his 2nd or 3rd week training with me. He's doing quite well for a newbie dog. When I first thought about bringing him to flyball I was on another team. My club owner at the time said that there was no way he would play! Look at him go!! Some people seem like they just aren't willing to give all dogs a chance. Never underestimate the speed of a crazy curly coat! We still have a long way to go but I have high hopes for this boy!!

This is of Dylan at flyball practice. I have some actual tournament videos on Myspace but it won't let me embed them here. I had this video of him at practice but I was scolded for putting it online before without the club's authorization. Ever wonder why we changed clubs? I'm really glad to be with the new team! I wish I could have brought some of my old teammates with me though! It's much better for me and my dogs to be in a more positive environment!

Adventures in Pedicures!

2008-09-05T08:03:00.000-07:00

My friends Andrea and Julie and I headed out for pedicures last night. We brought little Landon thinking that he would be fine sitting with Julie while she got her feet scrubbed and massaged.

The place we planned on going was closed when we got there. The power was out in half the stores in the mall.

We scrambled to find a place close by because we all had been so excited for our pedicures. Landon got fussy and hungry and it started to get late.

We ended up driving up the road until we found any random nail place to go to. LOL. We also took Landon home to his daddy to be watched since we were close and Daddy Justin was home from work now.

I think we all three enjoyed our pedicures. It was a fun girls night in celebration of me hitting my first goal of 25 lbs lost.

Isn't that little Landon the cutest? He's got beautiful blueish eyes and reddish brown hair. Oh and his mom's big lips!! I made him cry when I sat in the back seat next to him but he will get more comfortable with me when he gets a bit older.

Lazy Dylan!

2008-09-05T07:12:00.000-07:00

Have you ever seen such a lazy looking dog? Isn't he the cutest??

I love taking pics of him lounging on my bed because I think he looks so stinking cute.

This was last night after he walked at the rail trail with Paul while I was at work. I think he looks pretty tired right? In reality he'd get up and run another 5 miles or more if I would let him.

When he was young, I never believed that pointers were supposed to be lazy around the house. He was a maniac as a puppy who never slowed down. All the books said that pointers were very energetic but nice and calm around the house. My puppy sure was not calm! Nowadays, he spends most his life lounging on a king sized bed. Guess he just needed to grow up. I bet he spends 18 hours a day sleeping. Are you jealous? I sure am!!

Wish I were there...

2008-09-04T10:21:00.001-07:00

This is where Dylan and Marley are right now. Wish I could be out walking with them! Paul took them out walking for me since I have a busy night trying to take care of my tires and stuff. He's so kind to me and the pups for sure!

I'm stuck at work but my day is almost half over! Time to go have lunch now!

Hope all those dogs have a great time! Don't you love camera phones? Even if the pics they take aren't the best! I always love getting pics of the fun things my dogs are doing when I am working. Makes me a bit jealous though because I know I'd rather be there too.

Scary Tire Blow Out!

2008-09-04T07:07:00.001-07:00

I was driving home on the freeway yesterday afternoon. Going about 65-70 and all of a sudden my car started making noises like I had run something over. I look out the side mirror and see rubber flying everywhere and realize I must have blown a tire.

I really thought I was driving on the rim and I had to get through an exit only lane to get to the side of the road. No one would let me in. I had to let 3-4 cars go past me before a cop let me in. He had seen what happened and stopped to make sure everything was okay.

When I got out I couldn't tell right away which tire was having an issue. I walked around the car and then realized my driver side rear tire still had air but it had no tread! What little tread was left was hanging off. It had been flying around and banging up my car that whole time I was trying to pull over.

Roadside service took over an hour but when they came they changed my tire pretty fast and I was out of there. I'm lucky to have Paul who went and rescued Dylan and Marley from being locked up in the house all day and night.

Now my bumper is hanging off and I am missing one of the side lights. Plus the metal frame for the bumper is bent and rubbing on the tire when I go around corners. I hope it's not going to cost much to repair!!

I needed a new tire anyway but it was a front tire that needed replaced. This tire was in decent shape until it fell apart on the freeway! My parents just bought 4 new tires for my Mom's car and then her transmission went out. They are donating the car and offered me the tires before they donate it. I was going to actually put them on my car but hadn't got it done yet. Looks like now is the time to make sure it gets done! I'm just glad I am getting new tires and all I have to pay is for installation. My mom is probably glad she got a new car even though they aren't happy about having to pay for it!

Found a tenant!!!

2008-09-03T08:38:00.000-07:00

So happy that I found a tenant in about a week! That's the fastest ever and it's a huge relief! I still have a bunch to do with painting and a few minor repairs but I'm lucky to have good family and friends to help! My dad is great about helping me fix stuff when I need it. Saves me a lot of money in hiring stuff out that I can't do myself.

My new tenant is a big time cat lover! He' s had dogs in the past but currently has 3 indoor only cats and no dogs! That means I get the best of both worlds. An animal lover who can handle being around my two rambunctious pups and no concerns about whether or not the dogs are going to get along!! He likes to garden so we will be keeping the veggie garden for next summer. It's so nice to have fresh tomatoes and squash to cook whenever I want it.

He will be here on the 18th. He's moving from out of state. My house will only be vacant for 2 days! That's nice for me financially but it causing some stress since I was planning on repainting the whole house. We just want to do one coat to freshen stuff up in there. He knows it won't likely be done before the 18th but I am going to try to get the bedrooms and kitchen and bathroom done. That means I will be having painting parties and inviting all my local friends to come over on the 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. My family is coming to help on the 16th and hopefully maybe some other days as well. I hate to have to ask for so much help but I'm gonna be in a crunch to get the painting job done as quickly as possible. So any of you that feel like doing some artistic painting of plain white or plain light blue just let me know!! I know it's not too creative but it's easiest to stick with the colors that are already in there so I don't have to do multiple quotes.

Bob Dylan!

2008-09-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

Woo Hoo! The Bob Dylan show finally came! It was a great time.

There happened to be major thunder and rainstorms that evening. It was raining when we left and when we got there it started pouring. There was a line a 1/4 mile long to get in but it moved pretty fast. We were soaked by the time we found a spot to park it for the evening. We bought some $5.00 Bob Dylan ponchos that keeped us semi dry. The rain stopped right as the show started!

It stayed pretty dry for the first hour then started raining again but the rain was tolerable. The last 15 minutes or so it started pouring again. I have no doubt they cut the show short for weather but we all had a great time despite poor weather. It poured on us all the way to the car and all the way home as well. Wet jeans after losing 25 lbs are hard to keep on. My pants were sagging and I was having a hard time keeping them from falling off!!

These pics are all blurry. I couldn't get clear ones with my phone but it's alright. The blurriness seems fitting with the rainy weather!!

Taking it off together Tuesday!!

2008-09-02T07:09:00.000-07:00

I had a better week and stayed on track eating healthy until the weekend at least. Weekends seem to be so much harder on me. I only at fast food on Sunday so that's not great. I tried to get something better but was having a hard time finding something that was open. I was running late and needed to eat before leaving to go see Bob Dylan in the rain!!

I've lost a total of 25.4 lbs! My plan was to reward myself when I lost 25 lbs with a pedicure! I've been wanting one all summer but never could justify the expense. My feet get dry and cracked and it will be nice to have someone clean them up and make them look nicer!!! My good friend is going with me but we are still searching for an affordable yet nice place to go!

Here are this weeks results:

This week we are adding a contest! It seems we all need motivation after all. So, for everyone who reports a LOSS (maintaining doesn't count, sorry!) on the next weigh in will have their name put in a drawing for 100 assorted Mary Kay samples! So drink your water and count your calories. We can all do this!

And check it out! We had an over all loss! Congrats to Christy for being this week's biggest loser of 5 pounds!!

Chris - 3.2 LOSS
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 0.4 GAIN
Grace - no report
Leigh - 0.5 GAIN
Clara - no report
Dette - no report
Julie - 0.2 LOSS
Cheryl - 0 CHANGE
Audrey - 2 GAIN
Christy - 5 LOSS
Tina - 1 LOSS (from last week)
Danielle - 2 LOSS
Jessie - 0 CHANGE

This week's total - 9.1 LOSS!!

Busy Busy Rental

2008-08-30T17:13:00.000-07:00

My phone keeps ringing and I'm hoping that I will have a finalized new tenant by the end of the holiday weekend. I may have to wait to do some reference checks until Tuesday due to the holiday.

I really think I may have found someone I like. I just hope things work out with his application!!! Keep fingers and paws crossed for us.

Delta Blue...

2008-08-27T20:23:00.001-07:00

It's been two years this week since Delta Blue passed away. I've been thinking of him this week and wanted to post this picture because it always makes me smile. He was such a happy little lab mutt!

He was my roommate's dog and I lived with him for about a year. He regularly slept in my bed and was definitely loved like one of my own. His owner didn't do the things for him that I felt he deserved but he didn't care one bit! He was always happy as could be and I loved him for it. I tried to make life easier for him whenever I got the chance.

Shortly after we moved out; Delta was with a pet sitter who left him out in the yard. Somehow he and another dog got out. The other dog stayed on the property but Delta went wandering. I found him a few days later on the DOA list at the shelter. He had been hit by a car and was hopefully killed instantly. The pet sitter hadn't wanted to admit that the dog was lost so she waited three days to call my roomie who was out of town at a funeral.

Delta's death was tragic for me and the first time I ever grieved the loss of a pet. He was not even two yet and I was so devastated to see his young life ended.

This pic is of him and Dylan when they first met. He was just an 8 week old pup. Dylan was much nicer with other dogs back then. I just adore his cute little face! Marley and he were instant buddies. I'm sure she will be happy to see him again when she joins him at the bridge. We're hoping that won't be for several years yet though!!

What are people thinking?

2008-08-27T12:38:00.001-07:00

My rental house is going vacant. I have advertisements up for renters. My phone is ringing off the hook during the day which is great! It's always good to get lots of calls. I often have to show the house to at least 75 people before I find a good renter. Usually, half of people that call or email say they are going to come see it and half of those people actually show up. So it takes a lot of talking on the phone and emailing to actually find someone that I want to live in my rental.

Last night at 4:25 AM my phone rang. Startled out of my sleep, I managed to reach for the phone and answer it. A man asked if it was me and when I confirmed, he stated that he called because he was interested in the rental? Seriously? I asked him if he realized it was 4:30 AM? He said yes but he works graveyards? I responded that just because he is awake it doesn't mean that I am. He offered to call back and I told him after 7 AM would be fine. He never called back this morning and I don't blame him at all. I wouldn't have rented to someone who called me at 4:30 AM anyway!!!

I just don't understand how people really think that it's okay to call someone you don't know in the middle of the night to ask about a rental property? My brain started racing and of course I never really got back to my restful sleep. I got up dragging my feet this morning after hitting the snooze button for an hour.

I wish the guy's number had shown up on the caller ID. I'm inclined to call him this afternoon and ask him about renting. Just to wake him up out of spite. Unfortunately, his number was blocked on the caller ID! If he does call back, he'll likely hear an earful from me!!

WW - Sleepy Dylan

2008-08-27T08:29:00.001-07:00

Took this with my phone this morning when I was getting ready for work. Dylan doesn't like to get up in the morning. I have to force him out of bed to go potty before I go to work.

This boy loves to SLEEP! He thinks he owns the bed and will sleep all day and night if you let him. When you have him out and about he's a maniac so you wouldn't expect him to be so lazy around the house! He's my cuddle bug and always keeps me warm at night. Marley watches over the house while I sleep. I truly believe she never really sleeps during the night because I wake up and she's up and sometimes she licks the couch all night and gets it all wet. Sometimes I wake up and she is watching me sleep.

Guess that wasn't so wordless.

Marley's recovery!

2008-08-26T20:55:00.001-07:00

Marley is still recovering from the dog bites in May. She's been doing well but had an allergic reaction to the sutures. She's limping a bit but that's normal for her. She's never really walked completely straight.

She's now developing some new little seroma's in the main incision from the first surgery. The incision is all lumpy. My vet said they may open up on the skin level and we may have to cut them out. Poor little girl has already been through so much.

We are hot packing the incision for now to see if the lumps go down. I forgot to do it until today but she was a good girl to lay on the warm rice bag for me. I took this pic to show what a patient girl she is. Of course I was right there with her to give her some cheese for saying cheese!! She still has her therapy bandana on but our visit tonight was cancelled (even though we got dressed and showed up - the rec therapist apparently did not).

She's had vitamin b12 shots in her incision to break up the scar tissue. As well as another chiropractic treatment and acupuncture session last week.

I'm just so grateful this little girl survived this whole mess. I can't imagine life without her! Her darling little face lights up my life in ways I never knew possible. We'll continue to do whatever necessary to help her heal from these terrible injuries. She's just too precious of a princess not too.

Did I mention before I never understood how some people NEVER go to the vet? I am not keeping an exact count and I have been in a vets office at least 18 times this year (that I can count). I only have two dogs now!! That doesn't include the stops in to buy all her dietary supplements either!

Lagoon Day!

2008-08-26T20:38:00.000-07:00

I went to lagoon last weekend for the first time in more than 10 years. I can't beleive I am getting so old (turning 30 in 4 months!).

We had a good time with my sister and some people from my work and got wet more than once!!

This is London and Jordan. My sister was there with her friends and their cute kids so we hung out with them for a while. London and I went on the Hydro Luge in the blue tube because you can see and it's for girls. Jordan and Paul rode the black tube because they are tough boys!

Overall it was a great day! Lots of waiting in lines! Free barbeque provided by my work! And discounted tickets too!

Too busy!

2008-08-26T13:08:00.000-07:00

Life has been crazy busy so I have to apologize for not keeping up on blogs! I have been so busy at work and my rental house is going vacant and the phone is ringing off the hook. Hope to get caught up on stuff one of these days.

D&M are good as always though. Miss Marley didn't love her bath last night but she will really enjoy her therapy visit tonight!! Guess it's all worth it!

Taking it off together tuesday!

2008-08-26T13:05:00.000-07:00

I totally lost focus and have no one to blame but myself. I could use my sore neck as an excuse for lack of exercise but there's no excuse for the crap I ate last week. Things are already back on track this week and much much better. 2 lb gain sucks!! Making a goal not to eat any fast food until the end of September!!!

Chris - 2 GAIN
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 0 CHANGE
Grace - no report yet
Leigh - 3.5 GAIN
Clara - 4 LOSS
Dette - 2 GAIN
Julie - 0.2 LOSS
Cheryl - 0 CHANGE
Audrey - 2 LOSS
Christy - 2 GAIN
Tina - no report yet
Danielle - 0 CHANGE
Jessie - 0 CHANGE

This week's total - 2.3 GAIN!

Still a stiff neck

2008-08-25T08:02:00.000-07:00

I have lots to write about dogs but I have been avoiding the computer.

My neck is still stiff. I got a massage yesterday at the massage school but it was not the best. Beggars can't be choosers though right? It helped a little but my neck is still dang stiff.

I'm just happy that it's not cramping all up like it was Thursday. Flyball wasn't easy and my trip to Lagoon was limited but I am a chicken anyway so it was okay to have an excuse.

My dogs have been a bit neglected but Paul is always good to help out. He's watching them today while I work my long day.

I've been taking some Arnica and Hypernicum as recommended by my vet. Yes that's right my vet! I have also taken a minimal amount of muscle relaxers to help a bit with the stiffness. Stretching, stretching, stretching and hope that things go back to normal soon.

Pain in the neck part 2~

2008-08-22T11:42:00.000-07:00

I went to the chiropractor yesterday after sitting at work for an hour. Things with my stupid neck got worse and worse as time went by. The chiropractor didn't help much either. He did adjust my neck and tried to do a bit of massage but I couldn't tolerate it.

I went home and lied down on my couch and stayed as still as possible. Luckily, I was able to get into my doctor yesterday. He shot me full of drugs and gave me some muscle relaxers and pain pills. At least that stopped the excruciating pain of the spasms. I can move again but still have a very stiff and sore neck. I feel like I am sitting with my head tilted but I am not really sure.

A short day at work today and I am so glad. A full day of work would probably have been more than I could tolerate. We took Marley in to the homeopathic vet today who also recommended some remedies for my neck problem. I'm using those now to see if they can help as well.

I have some coupons for free massages at the massage school. I intend to use one this weekend to see if I can loosen up that neck some more. My entire left side is so tight I don't have my full range of motion there.

My dogs are lucky to have Paul to play with them the last few days. I've not been the most entertaining person for them to be around. Hopefully things will get better the next few days and I can go out to play again soon.

Pain in the neck!

2008-08-21T07:06:00.000-07:00

Literally!! I woke up unable to turn my head left and I can't sit up straight. I'm not sure how I was able to drive to work but dang was it painful. At all the lights where I turned right, I just waited for them to turn green before going. I couldn't look to see if it was safe!

I was fine when I went to bed but man is my neck messed up now!!! I wish it were massage day here at work (they have a massage therapist that comes in a couple times a month!). I will probably have to call my chiropractor and see if they can get me in today. I don't know what else to do!!

It's gonna be a long day of sitting at the computer.

WW Lydia and Kade

2008-08-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

I love this shot of my cousin's daughter and her dog!!

Taking it off together Tuesday.

2008-08-19T08:36:00.001-07:00

I didn't have a great week emotionally which resulted in not a great week of sticking to eating healthy. I still pulled off a loss of 1.2 lbs though so I guess that is okay. I really want to get stuff back together this week to eat healthier.

Chris - 1 GAIN
Tammy - 0 CHANGE
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 1 GAIN
Grace - 0 CHANGE
Leigh - 0.5 GAIN
Clara - 1.5 LOSS
Dette - 0 CHANGE
Julie - 0.2 LOSS
Cheryl - 2 GAIN
Audrey - 1 GAIN
Christy - 1.2 LOSS
Tina - no report?
Danielle - 1 LOSS

Please help us welcome Jessie to the group with an inital report of 0 change!

This week's total - 1.6 GAIN!

Blogging Friends Forever!

2008-08-19T08:32:00.000-07:00

Our friends at It's the Dog Life nominated us for the Blogging Friends Forever Gold Card! We feel honored! Thanks!

I know I am supposed to be nominating some people to carry the award on. I am super busy and haven't even posted the awards we got from last week. I hopefully will be able to pull stuff together and get things up to date here! Work is crazy though and will be for a while. Maybe if I can get my slow old PC moving, I can get some stuff done online.

Nietzsche's last day...

2008-08-19T08:21:00.000-07:00

Nietzsche will be meeting Puck and Delta Blue at the bridge this afternoon. I know they will be waiting there to greet him.

The veterinarians made the determination late yesterday that it's definitely cancer. There are no treatment options and with a dog that is unable to walk, there's also not much hope for a decent quality of life. Nietzsche spent last night at home with his family and is getting to eat some special treats of cheese and eggs and steak and whatever he wants.

His family searched the neighborhood to find a wagon that they could borrow. They got to take him out on a good walk last night. I am sure he enjoyed being able to get out and breathe some fresh air after being in the hospital the last several days.

A veterinarian will be visiting this afternoon to free Nietschze from this life and help him transition to the Rainbow Bridge. Run Free Nietschze. We will be seeing you again one day! Until then, keep my Monster Puck and Delta Blue company. I am sure you three will have fun playing together!

There may be hope after all....

2008-08-17T13:19:00.001-07:00

Good news came from Colorado yesterday. The Vet staff that is taking care of Nietzsche thinks there is a possibility that an auto immune disease could be causing his issues. They are running more and more tests. More results will come back tomorrow. An auto immune disease may have some treatment options so they want to rule it out before they decide that it is time to put him down.

He's supposed to be coming home today as well. I think it will be good for him and his family to be able to spend some time together today.

Still keeping our fingers crossed...We know however that this may be Nietzsche's time. We hope that the veterinarians will help our friends make the best decision for him once they determine a more definite diagnosis.

My favorite Pitty Cakes!

2008-08-17T13:12:00.000-07:00

Miss Maddie is my favorite pit bull! She's a beautiful brindle with an awesome guardian. I got to spend some time with her this morning and am so happy I did. Here are some pics I took on my phone!

She is owned by R3K9S who often blogs about her pets and responsible pit bull ownership. She's an extremely responsible pit bull owner and also has two of our most favorite black lab friends!

Now who could really think a beautiful girl like this should be banned? Really?? Are they afraid she is gonna give them big slobbery kisses????

UUATA Summer Picnic

2008-08-17T08:08:00.000-07:00

We had a great picnic at Wheeler Farm last night. We got to walk and see all the animals and on the trails behind the farm. The dogs really enjoyed it but Marley was sure scared of the sheep. She's obviously not your average border collie! LOL. They wanted to sniff her through the fence but she would go sniff them and then back off. I should have taken more pics but I took just a few when we were sitting around on the grass!

Dylan did not get to go because there were too many dogs. They were all on leashes but for some reason therapy dog people forget that it's common courtesy to ask before letting your dog approach another one. I had to ask multiple people to keep their dogs away from Marley. I used her recent injuries as an excuse but mostly I'm just worried that dumb people will misinterpret her vocalizations as aggression. She was a bit stressed out though with all the other dogs so it was only half a lie.

Marley was a stinker and took a bit out of my hamburger while I was sitting on the ground eating it. I guess all that nasty ground beef got the best of her. Gotta admit it was a bit funny. I turned my head from that burger in my hand for one split second and she grabbed a piece as fast as she could thinking I may not notice. LOL.

We were happy that Paul and Leon were able to join us for a few before Paul had to head out for work. It was nice to spend a little bit of time with them.

I was really sad when one of the women hit her therapy dog last night. She smacked him hard enough that I heard it from 75 feet away. I couldn't believe that she did that. It is really unfortunate that someone involved with a group that's all about promoting the gentle kindness of animals feels that it's necessary to be so hurtful to her own dog. I think she was trying to get him to sit but I was far enough away that I can't be sure. Leash popping isn't even supposed to be allowed in testing so I am not sure why no one said anything about it. I guess I can't really talk because I didn't say anything either. I just stood there feeling very bad for her dog. If she does that in public, can you imagine what she does in the privacy of her own home?

Overall it was a good picnic though. I just have to block the thought of that person hitting their dog. Most the therapy animal people are really wonderful and focused on what services their animals can provide to others. I really have lots of respect for them since so many volunteer so much more time than I do!!

That Cute Curly Haired Kid!

2008-08-15T21:15:00.000-07:00

I try to keep this blog to mostly dog stuff so I don't write much about my family. I'm pretty close with my parents and I can't help but adore my curly haired nephew, Ammon.

I took this pic on my new phone last night. We were at a family wedding and Ammon was making faces at me! He's a funny kid with lots of personality. He and my sister live with my parents so I see him pretty frequently when I go out there to visit.

Those big blue eyes and curly blond hair are so dang cute! I can't believe how much having a little one around has changed the dynamics in my family. It seems all my four sisters and mother adore him and my Dad finally got a boy to play with (he had five daughters and no sons of his own)! He loves his Grandpa so very much and his uncle is one of his favorite playmates!

I'm the special visitor with the big dogs that he will hopefully learn to love! Right now, they are still a bit intimidating. Dylan is also a bit intimidated being around a toddler but we monitor them closely and I think it's good exposure for him to get some pets and attention from Ammon on occasion. I have to be very careful that Dylan doesn't get cornered or approached in a way he deems threatening though. He's never bit a human but I don't dare take any chances! Marley's a precious girl for him just as she is with everyone else. She loves cleaning up after he eats since there is always lots of yummy food on the floor! She also likes to lick his face since there may be leftover food there too! I try to be careful to watch her as well. Ammon isn't pulling hair like he did when he was young but he's attempted to tug on an ear or a tail on occasion! Kids just need to be monitored around dogs!!

Bad News about Nietzsche

2008-08-15T21:01:00.000-07:00

I finally got some news about Nietzsche. Unfortunately, it's not good news.

An MRI, CT Scan, and other tests have shown that Nietzsche's spine is completely messed up. It's likely cancer since they don't know what else caused it. As is, he is unable to stand and will likely have to be put down tomorrow. There isn't much that they think they can do for him at this time.

I'm very sad for our friends. Nietzsche was one of the first few dogs I bonded with before Dylan came along and changed my life. I remember days of him running in the desert on several wonderful camping trips! I remember Dylan tormenting him as a puppy, and wishing so badly that my wild puppy would behave more like Nietzsche who was almost always calm and collected.

I know he will be missed greatly and my friend has grown so close with him over the past twelve years that his sudden illness is difficult to understand and accept. Nietzsche has been a wonderful friend and companion for him and will live in all our hearts for years to come.

I'll be waiting on more news tomorrow and still hoping for a miracle!

Lamb Chops! Yum!

2008-08-15T20:41:00.000-07:00

I'm not a fan of lamb chops but my dogs are!! They had a special Birthday and Gotcha day dinner! Leon got some too since he is here for the night.

I love raw feeding almost as much as my dogs love it. I know it's so healthy for my dogs and they do great on it! It's not often they get Raw Organic Lamb Chops but today is a special day and deserving of a special treat! Plus they were on sale (but still pretty dang expensive!)

Marley actually chews her food like a lady when she eats Raw! Well maybe not so ladylike but at least she doesn't inhale it as if she were a vacuum. When she eats kibble her entire meal is gone in about 3 seconds. She still gets a good high quality kibble for her breakfast meal. I try to do raw most nights but it works out nicely to have kibble on hand in case I forget to defrost some raw food for dinner!

Dylan already thinks he is king of the world! You should see his proud face when he tears into the raw flesh of an animal! I really like feeding whole chickens because Dylan seems to get such satisfaction out of tearing the meat off the bone! We are off Chicken for summer but when winter comes, I am sure there will be plenty of whole chickens around this place!

Leon is our special guest tonight since his Daddy is working graveyards. We have been enjoying having him over sometimes to stay the night. He sleeps by my bed and keeps me safe. :) He wasn't quite sure what to think of lamb chops. He's a lot pickier than my two food hogs! He's also a bit newer to raw feeding but once he started chomping he didn't stop until he was finished!

All in all, it was a successful raw fed meal. Glad to know all the dogs like their lamb chops. I also got them some pork back rib bones. I think I will save them for another day!!

Happy Birthday Dylan!!!

2008-08-15T08:47:00.001-07:00

It's Dylan's made up Birthday today! He was 10 weeks old when I got him but the rescue group didn't know his date of birth so I made one up 10 weeks from the day I adopted him.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into when I brought this little bundle of trouble home. He was literally an early Christmas gift from a friend of mine at the time. He was the cutest little puppy I had ever seen. I remember sitting down on the floor next to his kennel while I waited for the rescue group to finish unloading dogs and find a leash so that I could get him out to visit.

I had wanted to adopt a pug but was torn on the idea of a bigger dog because I wanted a dog that could camp with me. I dragged a couple of my friends an hour away at 8 AM the day after a late night Halloween party to go look at the only pug that had been listed on Petfinder in weeks. We got there 5 minutes too late!

On the way home we decided to stop at another adoption event where I ended up finding the dog that would soon become the single biggest impact on my life to date. From that day forward, life was different!

I've learned so much in the past 5 years. I can't believe my baby boy is 5!! He's taught me so much about life and love and all things dog! He's been a challenge but I never questioned whether or not I made the right choice in adopting him. He was meant to be my boy and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Sometimes I don't give this little boy enough credit. He's got his quirks but he is a very good dog! Lately, he has been exceptionally good with his recall off leash and I thank him so much for it. It makes life easier for me and more fun for him because I feel more comfortable letting him off leash in more areas.

Happy Birthday Baby Boy! We'll be celebrating his day tonight and Marley's Gotcha day. Paul took him out walking this morning and I will make sure he gets some Frisbee time this evening since it's his absolute favorite!!

I got him a special present but I haven't received it yet. He's hated his gentle leader for over 2 years now. I finally invested in a comfort head collar. I hope it will be a bit more comfortable for him! I borrowed one a while back and it seems so much softer and he's able to have enough space to open his mouth and pick up a ball so we can play when he is wearing it!!

Happy Gotcha Day!

2008-08-15T08:38:00.000-07:00

I almost spaced Miss Marley's gotcha day! I'm so self involved this week and had planned on giving her a celebration of sorts. Maybe just some extra play time and a super yummy dinner or something. Between work, my plumbing, and a wedding yesterday, I didn't get around to it.

We will celebrate tonight though! Miss Marley was Dylan's first birthday gift. Turns out she was a gift for me too. I remember feeling like I would never be able to love her as much as I loved and bonded with Dylan. Boy was I wrong!! She's my baby girl and I love her so very much. So girly, in a dirty dog kind of way and I love her little prance around like she owns the world! She's always there for me when I am down and is the first to lick away my tears.

I'm so grateful to have this little princess in my life. Her medical issues have taught me a lot of patience and understanding. I'm happy to be able to share her with others when she works as a therapy dog! I can't stand traveling without her despite the fact that she is unable to compete in any dog sports! I just miss this little one too much if I leave her home!

I hope this little girl has a happy day today! We will have to celebrate tonight since I was too busy yesterday! She's spending the day with Paul and is up hiking at Millcreek right now. I wish I could be there with her but I need to work to pay her bills! LOL At least she's out having a good time!!

Good Thoughts for Nietzsche!

2008-08-14T20:18:00.000-07:00

Nietzsche is a long time dog friend of ours. His owner is my good friend. I have known Nietzsche since before I got my boy Dylan. He was one of the first dogs that Dylan met when I brought him home.

He's now a spry young 12 year old dog. Still full of life and energy! He's been in Northern Cali for two years but recently moved to Boulder, Colorado.

I got a message earlier that he's believed to have a neurological injury. He tripped last weekend camping and had a slight limp the last few days. Now he seems to have lost balance and control of his urinary and bowel movements. A veterinarian today wasn't sure what was causing the issue but said it could have been a stroke or some kind of neurological problem.

Luckily, Colorado State University is close by and they have some Veterinary Neurologists there. So Nietzsche has been transferred and was having a CT scan and whatever else he may need. I haven't got an update in a few hours now but last I heard they were waiting on test results.

I am sure it's nice to a veterinary school close by! I don't know if we have one here in Utah but in cases like this it would sure be nice to have a team of specialists. I know some people think that 12 is old for a dog but so many dogs I know are still full of life at that age.

Keep sending good thoughts to our good black lab friend! We're worried and want him to be able to recover.

WW Marley the therapy dog.

2008-08-13T10:04:00.000-07:00

This isn't a great pic. It's a little blurry. I took when we were in the waiting room last night at the place we visit. I need to take my real camera next week because the rec therapist wants me to give her some pictures of Marley. I thought it would be nice to take a picture of the three of us (rec therapist, Marley, and myself) and then print it for her.

Taking it off together Tuesday!!

2008-08-12T08:10:00.001-07:00

This is my fifth week with the group. I haven't had a soda in over 4 weeks now. And I have lost now 21.2 lbs.

I did get a new scale this week so the 7.2 lbs lost may actually be 5 or 6. Since scales do vary a bit from one to the next. This new scale will be mine to weigh in on each week though so it should be consistent going forward. I really hated walking to the gym here each week to weigh in. Especially since I haven't actually been using the gym to actually exercise.

I didn't eat great last week but I think I'm just paying more attention to calories and cutting out soda has helped me a lot. I want to eat lots better this week. It will hopefully be a bit easier since I will be at my house instead of Paul's. I moved half of my refrigerator contents over there when I went to dog sit but I still haven't eaten as well as I do at my own house. A lot of that was just because I was so busy and getting home so late in the evening though.

I did get out walking several times in the past week. I am feeling better and a bit more energetic already. Hopefully that will just get better and better. I only wish that there was some way to heal my lungs. I know they can be stronger but they will never be as good as most people's. Having asthma is a challenge I've dealt with for 20 years though so I should be used to it already.

Here are the reports for this week.

Chris - no report
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - no report
Grace - 1.4 LOSS
Leigh - 5.5 LOSS
Clara - 2 LOSS
Dette - 1 GAIN
Julie - 0 CHANGE
Cheryl - 4 LOSS
Cyn Blue - no report
Audrey - 0.6 LOSS
Christy - 7.2 LOSS
Tina - 0.5 GAIN

Please welcome Danielle to the group with her starting result of 0 Change!

This week's total - 20.2 LOSS!

I need to keep watching calories and trying to eat healthier. Funny thing is, I really like fresh and healthy food better than greasy crap food. It's just that it's a lot more work to prepare something healthy and I am lazy and a crappy cook. This week I cooked some chicken breasts until they were black as charcoal. Yesterday I way undercooked steamed carrots but I ate them for dinner last night and will have them for lunch again today. I so LOVE healthy food that is well prepared. I wish I was capable of making it myself but it seems I always screw something up.

Leaky Plumbing!!!

2008-08-11T08:46:00.001-07:00

It never fails that as soon as I spend money on myself, something goes wrong to make me feel like I did something I shouldn't have. As I was walking out of the AT&T store the other night with my new phone, I got a call from my tenant. He found a big crack in a pipe in the basement that was leaking. GREAT!

Turns out a big crack was a bit of an understatement. The crack is over 3 feet long and runs through a whole length of drain pipe. It's definitely not a great thing. I duct taped it for now and that seems to be working. I have a home warranty that will luckily cover it. I almost cancelled it a few months back and now I am so glad I didn't. The plumbers will be out today to see what needs to be done to fix it!

My next flyball dog!

2008-08-11T08:39:00.000-07:00

I took Leon to Flyball last night. Since I am dog sitting, I wanted to take him out as much as I could. He got to play with some of the dogs before practice. Then I gave him a shot at flyball. It wasn't long before he was flying down the lane of jumps to play with his toy. He's such a good boy and really seemed to like it. When the team was running, he was barking and wanted to come play.

So I talked with Paul and I am gonna give the big boy a shot! I'll bring him to flyball for a while and see how he does. It'd be fun to have two dogs running again even if one of the dogs is a loaner!

Hopefully that good big boy picks it up well. He sure was driving last night but I am not sure how he will do once he has a ball in his mouth!! Guess only time will tell! He sure is a fast boy when he wants to be!!

I took this pick with my new blackjack phone. We went to Tanner Park again yesterday. The dogs sure love it! Paul will be home this evening. Leon will definitely be ecstatic to see him tonight and so will I!! We miss him lots when he is away.

Dog sitting a curly coat!

2008-08-08T07:06:00.000-07:00

Dog sitting one curly coat turns into a lot of work. This is Leon; my boyfriends spoiled dog. I love this big boy so I don't mind the work!! We went walking at tanner park last night. For those of you not in SLC, Tanner is an 88 acre nature reserve that is legally off leash! There's a creek that runs through there and the dogs love to swim and play in the water! It's a great spot for most dogs to walk! Dylan doesn't get so lucky as to go there though because there are way too many dogs.

Last night I went with two friends and 6 dogs! It was a lot of fun. Marley played chase games with her friend Chase and her new friend Trip! Leon stuck right by my side most the way!!

I took these pics on my new PDA Phone!!! Not bad image quality for a camera phone!! This is my friend Ross! We always have a great time together!!

Two walks a day will be good for me! I just can't handle all three dogs off leash! It's way too much to manage!! So I have to split them up into two walks! Oh well, I need the exercise anyway! I just wish there was more time in the day for me to be walking!!

I splurged!

2008-08-08T06:43:00.000-07:00

I finally got a new phone!! I ended up with a samsung blackjack. It wasn't at all what I was looking for but the sales guy talked me into it. The number pad locks automatically (supposedly but I haven't seen it do that yet).

It's a nice little Smart phone. A BlackJack II by Samsung. I also have access to my email, internet, and a semi decent camera. I have enough memory to store a bunch of pictures and a data cable to transfer them to my computer when I need to.

I finally joined the world of Blue Tooth too! It's about damn time! I talk way too much while driving so I really should be on a headset!

It's been kind of a pain though. I signed a new contract but I guess it will be worth it. They didn't have the right color in stock so I had to go to two different stores. There's some issue with my Internet access that are still unresolved and last night the guy was trying to fix it and accidentally deleted my entire address book. OMG!!! That's at least 200 phone numbers! I was panicking but he got them on my old SIM card. So for now, I can't tell who is calling and I have to look up phone numbers in my old phone and dial manually. Remember the days of memorizing numbers or writing them all down? Now I think it's a huge pain in the butt! They should be able to do an automatic download but now I have to go to a third AT&T store after work today! That's a lot of driving. I think they should have given me the blue tooth for free. I might bring it up with the guy that sold me the phone today!!!

RIP Dear Cell Phone

2008-08-06T08:57:00.000-07:00

My poor crappy cell phone finally died this morning. It fell off the side the couch onto my linoleum entryway. When I picked it up the antenna was completely missing. I've been expecting this crappy phone to die one of these days. I'm not happy about it but I knew it was cheap and wouldn't last long.

So now is the time to invest in a new phone. I think I like the LG Shine or maybe the Nokia N75. I'd like something that closes over the number pad (because I hate having to remember to lock my phone!) and that has a decent screen and camera phone. Maybe a Sony Ericsson W580i. A lot of phones have Mp3 capabilities now. That's kind of nice. I will have to visit a AT&T store and see everything in person then check prices online and through eBay. I kind of like those phones with the keyboards for text messaging but they don't have many that are pop up for flip phones. This AT&T Tilt looks nice but it's not work 500$.

I've been debating about changing wireless service at the end of my contract. I love my roll over minutes with AT&T. It comes in especially handy when my rental goes vacant and I go 500 minutes over my plan. I am not sure what I will do but I new this was coming.

Why do dang phones have to be so expensive anyway?

Taking it off together Tuesday!

2008-08-05T06:59:00.000-07:00

It's my fourth week with this blog group. I've been eating much healthier for sure! It's nice to have some group support. I lost 3 lbs this week! That's a total of 14 overall! Not too shabby.

This week I am going to be dog sitting for Leon. I will be walking and walking and walking with the dogs for sure so it will be good for me!

Here are the reports for this week.

Chris - 3 GAIN
Tammy - 0 CHANGE
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 1 LOSS
Grace - 0.4 LOSS
Leigh - 2.5 GAIN
Clara - 0 CHANGE
Dette - 0.5 LOSS
Julie - 1 LOSS
Cheryl - 0 CHANGE
Cyn Blue -0 CHANGE
Audrey - 5.2 LOSS
Christy - 3 LOSS
Tina - no report

This week's total - 5.6 LOSS!

We have a new friend...

2008-08-03T12:19:00.000-07:00

This is Seki. He is our new Border Collie Buddy. My friend from Four Legged Scholars just adopted him a few weeks ago. She lost her 14 year old Border Collie to old age a few months back. She's excited to have a new dog to train and a new potential athlete.

Seki is doing very well for being a 1 year old dog without much training. I'm jealous of his recall (compared to Dylan he's a saint) and he's focused and responsive. He's been too excited in the car though but his new guardian is the perfect person to work with him to modify undesirable behaviors.

We have high hopes that he and Dylan will one day be friends. I thought today might be the day since Dylan was stalking him and wanting to play when he was on leash. Off leash, I just don't think they are quite ready. They were doing quite well but Dylan got grumpy over a treat I was giving him when Seki ran up from behind. One of these days they will get used to being around each other though. Dylan just requires a bit of time to get used to new dog friends.

Seki hopes to one day be a flyball dog and do some agility and herding and who knows what else. Oh and freestyle is on the list too. He should have a fun life in his new home with a professional clicker trainer. Unfortunately, the last few weeks have shown a potential problem in one of his back legs. A vet on friday said his patella is popping out of place but he may grow out of it because he is still young. He'll see a better vet Monday and we are hoping it's something minor because this dog would be a wonderful athlete if given the opportunity. Only time and a better vet will be able to tell if the problem is something that can easily be fixed (and hopefully without surgery). Good thing we have that new big Pet Center here that has rehab, Physical Therapy, and acupuncture and all that. Seki may just be a dog that needs it! We are crossing our fingers he doesn't though.

Princess in pink!

2008-08-03T12:07:00.000-07:00

Marley took on the nickname princess a little over a year ago. I had a houseful of male animals and Marley was the only little girl. I started calling her princess despite her not so ladylike habits of rolling in stinky stuff and splashing in water and eating cat poop and rolling over on her back and spreading eagle. She's our princess and it's a nickname that's here to stay.

Yesterday I was working in a Petsmart store. They had these Princess tank tops on display. They weren't too expensive but they are actually made for cats. I wanted one so bad for her but I didn't know if they would fit. Over the course of my shift I debated and decided I must bring her back to try it on. The large one is a little short but I like it better than a tshirt that goes all the way down her back. My dogs don't have clothing but I have debated on getting Dylan a jacket for the winter. In general, D&M have no need for actual clothing. The princess tank is just something I couldn't pass up though.

I think this is the first thing that I have ever purchased that was pink! LMAO. I think she looks pretty in pink!

Dylan's fifteen minutes...continued.

2008-08-02T20:32:00.002-07:00

The pics from the park record are online. I am so so so happy that they will let me order some prints. YAY YAY YAY YAY YAY.

Anyway, the pic they had in the paper can be seen at:

Newpaper Pic

The whole album can be seen at:

Bark in the Park Album

I cannot wait to get prints. There are a few really great shots of my boy! I will have to sit down and make a decision on what I want to order!!

Not sure what to do with a rawhide?

2008-08-02T09:32:00.000-07:00

I'm sad to admit that Dylan and Marley can't seem to figure out what a rawhide is for. I haven't given them any in years because I hate not knowing if they are full of chemicals or what. I finally found some by Merrick a few weeks ago and bought my dogs each a few treats. I trust Merrick isn't adding a bunch of unnecessary chemicals to their treats.

I opened each dog a rawhide roll this morning. They have shown no interest in them whatsoever. This is highly unusual for my dogs who usually think all food items are the greatest thing ever! I think they don't realize that the rawhides can be chewed on? Wonder what they will do with the Merrick brand pigs ears when I get them out?

My dogs are not deprived of chewing. They get raw bones and raw meat pretty regularly. I also occasionally give them Merrick Bully sticks. They just haven't had rawhide in quite a while. I think they must be really confused about what to do with it.

Better this morning....

2008-08-02T08:12:00.000-07:00

Dylan seems to be doing much better this morning. I let him out and he was running around the yard like a maniac.

I'm not sure what caused the problem with his paw so I am keeping him home from Flyball this weekend. I'll give him some more arnica this morning as well.

Hopefully the limp has passed and he just twisted it funny or something!

Dog's or no dogs?

2008-08-01T19:03:00.000-07:00

I have a rental house on my property here. I share a yard with the tenants and their dog. Their dog is the one that attacked my baby girl just two months ago.

My tenants are moving in about a month and it is quickly becoming time for me to start showing the place. I have always allowed dogs in the past but have been picky about the kinds of dog owners that I would rent to. I want someone responsible who keeps their dog inside. I also need someone who is going to be understanding of Dylan and his "issues" and make sure that they don't just let their dog bolt out the door until the dogs are all properly introduced. Dylan takes a bit of time to accept a new dog into the yard so I need someone patient enough to wait a few weeks before the dogs can openly socialize.

I've been contemplating not allowing dogs in the future. Only because of the recent situation with Marley. I would love to be the awesome animal friendly landlord but I just don't know if it's a good idea. Marley's injuries were extensive and the owner of the dog actually has shown little sympathy (let alone offer to help pay the bills). His roommate, however, has been awesome checking up on Marley and how she is doing. I never would have expected this to happen with Marley and I am fearful of allowing other dogs on the property. I know Dylan isn't the nicest boy and I would have expected him to be involved if there was ever an issue.

I'm not sure if I should allow dogs on a case by case basis? I really like dog owners who are responsible and I think they value their rentals a bit more than people without pets. They are more likely to stay long term too since it's difficult to find a rental where pets are allowed?

Since Marley got injured we have been coordinating time in the yard so that the two females don't ever get to be together. It hasn't been too difficult so maybe I will just have to make sure that the tenants I rent to have the same willingness to coordinate?

Poor dog with a limp!

2008-08-01T17:06:00.000-07:00

It's Dylan this time not Marley! That's actually pretty unusual. Marley is a constant limper.

I came home from work and Dylan is limping all over the place. He won't put any weight on his front right paw. I am not sure what happened but I am guessing he twisted it or something when he was jumping off the bed. When I first got home he was licking and licking and licking. It's not his pad and the foot looks okay to me. He does have Monster long nails but other than that things look okay.

I put him up on the bed and laid down with him a bit. Now he's lounging comfortable in a king size bed he has all to himself. I'm hoping he will stay there and lay still most the evening to give that paw a rest. If it's not better by morning, we will see about getting into a vet's office. My regular vet is open Saturday mornings but I usually have to schedule with them a few days in advance. The vet that did Marley's surgeries is open tomorrow and Sunday and they take walk ins for a few extra dollars. I could possibly get an appointment tomorrow or Sunday as well.

I gave him some Arnica. My holistic vet (yes I have lots of vets!) gave it to me after Marley's surgeries. She said I should have given it to Marley right after the dog fight (even before rushing to the vet). Live and learn I guess. It's supposed to be good for muscle and soft tissue injuries. Hopefully, Dylan will benefit and be bouncing off the walls very soon. I'm thinking he will have to stay home from Flyball regardless. I don't know what's wrong and even if he starts walking around like normal, I wouldn't be positive that everything is all better. It's probably best to give him some time to heal before making him jump on that flyball box. I'm bummed because we haven't had practice in a few weeks and I was getting really excited to go out and play! It's more important to make sure that he doesn't cause further injury to whatever it is that he's done to himself.

It seems my dogs are accident prone. I will never understand the people who don't even make to the vet once a year. I've been in every month this year except January. I have multiple vets who now know me and my dogs by name and I spend more money on veterinary care than I do on anything else.

Yonder Mountain String Band and Keller Williams!!

2008-08-01T06:55:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite non-dog related things to do is to see live music. Of course, I end up going with my dog owning friends anyway though!!

Last night we went to a free show here in SLC. They have free shows every summer at the Gallivan Center. This year the line up isn't exactly my favorite but seeing Yonder Mountain String Band was high on my list of priorities. What a great show it was! Keller Williams was awesome too. We danced and danced and danced! A good night with good friends.

I took some funny pics of my friends and I. When I tried to transfer them from my memory card to my computer, I somehow deleted them. I'm pretty bummed because I couldn't find anyway to get them back. They would have been great to post on the blog. Oh well, guess there is always another show another time.

The big plans for the summer is to see Bob Dylan. I am, of course, a big fan. I usually see a few paid concerts every summer but this summer I just couldn't afford it. I got a little bummed out because I wasn't able to afford it but I decided it was worth the expense. My best friend and I first hung out 5 years ago at a Bob Dylan Show at Deer Valley. This could be the last time we are able to do that again!! So we are going next month and I can't wait.

Working with Alzheimer's...

2008-07-31T07:27:00.000-07:00

We had an interesting visit last night to a local Alzheimer's center. Marley was squeaky clean and dressed in her therapy dog garb. She was excited to go. She was a little stand offish with some of the patients but it was her first visit in a while. Hopefully within a few visits she will get back to feeling comfortable enough to snuggle up with the people who are very different than those she interacts with daily.

Last night Marley showed some stress signals with the woman who was reaching out to her and mumbling very loudly. Three months ago Marley would have been snuggled up with her. The woman seemed ecstatic about the presence of an animal. I couldn't understand her but I understood that she was excited about having a dog nearby. She got louder and louder and her excitement level rose. Unfortunately this made Miss Marley nervous and she could only tolerate this for a few minutes and we had to move on. Luckily, I was armed with treats and rewarded her for being calm in the presence of someone that made her a bit nervous.

I had a very interesting conversation with a woman who seemed so lost. She tried to hook me up with her son that lived in North Carolina. He's single and handsome and young and I am guessing 20 years older than me. LOL. She gave me his full name and then spelled it (she did this with her own name too) and then asked me if I knew him? Logic would tell a person that some random stranger would not know her son that lived all the way across the country. Often times, it seems logic never comes into play for the Alzheimer's patients. It makes my heart ache when I think about these people were once functional members of society like myself. This woman was so lost that she said she was in North Carolina and can she stay here because she doesn't want to burden her son any longer. I told her yes that she was welcome to stay and she asked me to bring her some canned food so that she would have something to eat while she stayed here. I advised her that they would deliver her meals to her and that she had a roommate who we had just met in the hall. The woman seemed to have no recollection of having been there before or of the roommate that she had been living with for sometime.

I felt bad leaving her but Marley was ready to move on. She wanted to give me some phone numbers for her son and his address in North Carolina so I could stop by to visit him. It made me wonder if she ever had visitors from her family and I really hope they are not all the way across the country?

Visiting with Marley has put a lot of things in perspective for me. I feel guilt for not visiting my Grandma more often when she was old and unable to care for herself. She lived for years in and out of facilities much like the one we visit. She had multiple strokes and to my young and irresponsible self; visiting felt like a chore. She was old and grumpy and I can't help now but feel saddened that she didn't have enough family around her to keep her company. My mother was a saint and was there nearly every day. I never understood how she could give up so much time and energy for her mother who was always boring and grumpy. It felt impossibly selfless. I was in my early twenties and was self centered and focused on partying and having fun. Family wasn't a focus for me at that point in my life.

I'm glad to have these experiences at this point in my life. It puts things in better perspective. I've already grown much closer to my family in the past few years but it reminds me of the importance our family members play. I know now that I want to play the role that my mother played. I want to do everything I can when the time comes that my parents can no longer care for themselves. It no longer seems impossibly selfless. My parents gave up so much for me when I was young. There's no reason why I shouldn't do the same.

I really hope that the Alzheimer's patients we visit have children and family there sometimes to visit. We often run into family who love to play with my princess Marley. I hope the others get some visits too. If not, at least they get to occasionally love my little girl. Hopefully she will want to love them back too.

Puck's Ashes

2008-07-30T07:37:00.001-07:00

It's been over two months since we tragically lost our dear kitty Puck. The shock of it all has passed. The pain has not. I feel so fortunate that I have been so distracted by Marley's injuries because it's helped me move on. If I hadn't had a few other major events since Puck's death I'd probably not have dealt with his death as well as I did.

This week we went through some of his stuff and gave it to a friend who has cats and can use it. I am glad that Puck's toys and food and litter will be put to good use. He never would have wanted the food to go to waste. He always believed that every crumb of food deserved to be eaten!!

Paul has made a decision on what to do with the ashes. We are going to spread them in the yard and bury the cedar box and his crinkle cave that he loved so much. We also got some small urns on eBay for each of us to keep a small amount of the ashes.

I'm torn on the idea of getting another cat. I know I can't afford it but I miss Puck's presence so much. I am also very allergic to cats so I never should have had one to begin with. Puck was special though and I am not sure another cat will fill the void. At least I could save a life though.

Marley's a working girl!

2008-07-29T11:37:00.000-07:00

Marley finally got released by the vet to go back to work as a therapy dog. She started out strong on Sunday when she went to the Park Silly Market on Sunday. We worked in the UUATA as a representative for the group. She was a great therapy dog and let all the people and kids love on her. She performed lots of tricks for people and made me happy.

I had been worried about taking her out to such a busy place. She's been more stressed around other dogs than she was prior to getting injured. She did great though and I just made sure she kept a few feet distance from every dog there! Some of the other people with the group think I am crazy because I don't just want her to socialize with the other therapy dogs there. I think they are crazy for not understanding that it's not the best plan to just let your dog approach another without asking permission! Some people there seem to have very little knowledge of behavior and training. Oh well, my dog = my rules. She doesn't get to socialize when she is working. Mostly, I worry that uninformed people may mistake her vocalizations for aggression. People don't understand that a little girl with so many issues and so much pain - needs to communicate to other dogs that they can't jump all over her.

I'm glad that we are able to get back out and working. We are actually going out tomorrow evening for our first visit back at our facility. Marley was ecstatic when I got out her collar and bandana. She new that it was going to be her time to be the center of attention. I'm glad that she is finally ready to go back to doing the thing she seems to love so very much!

Taking it off together Tuesday!

2008-07-29T08:17:00.000-07:00

I didn't lose any lbs this week but I also didn't gain any. I did eat well most of the week last week but I didn't do so well on the weekend. I went out to dinner friday and saturday and ate lunch at the farmer's market on Sunday. I didn't make it to the gym but at least I got out and walked some dogs.

I will have to do better this week.

Chris - 2.8 LOSS (-5.8 overall)
Tammy - 2 LOSS (-7 overall)
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 2 LOSS (-2 overall)
Grace - 1.6 LOSS (-51.6 overall)
Leigh - 4 LOSS (-31 overall)
Clara - 1 GAIN (-9.5 overall)
Dette - no report...?
Julie - 1 GAIN (-4.1 overall)
Cheryl - 2 GAIN (+2 overall)
Cyn Blue - no report
Audrey - 2.6 GAIN (-0.4 overall)
Christy - 0 (-11 overall)
Tina - 1 GAIN (0 overall)

Totals:
this week - 4.8 LOSS
over all - 120.4 LOSS

Dylan survived the firework season!

2008-07-25T12:33:00.001-07:00

Dylan is getting better every year with the fireworks. I think it helps that we don't live so close to liberty and sugarhouse parks where they have big firework shows on the 4th and the 24th. The 24th is a Utah Holiday so they have big fireworks all over the place.

I forgot to give Dylan the Acontinum that my holistic vet gave me to calm him down during the firework season. He did alright without it. I put him in the bedroom and let him chew on a bully stick for a while why we went out to watch Paul's neighborhood fireworks.

I did take him out to do some C/T while the fireworks were going. I kept a tight hold on his leash though and tried to get him to play and stay engaged. He did okay if we were closer to the house but I tried a bit of targeting to get him to move closer to the fireworks and more out in the open. There was a point at which it got to be too much and he would no longer eat the yummy homemade jerky that Paul makes. We backed up a bit and did some sits and tricks for C/T. He was a very good and brave boy and I am so proud that he was able to do anything outside with so many fireworks going off.

I'm sure there will be a few more fireworks for the next few days but we made it through the worst of it! What a brave boy!!

Marley is making progress!

2008-07-25T09:55:00.000-07:00

We've been back to the vet for a follow up today. It's been almost 2 months since the dog fight where she got injured. She's making progress and healing well. The strained muscle in her leg is lots better and her lower back is healing well. There are still some tight and tense muscles in her mid back and neck. Time will help them heal and I think the accupucture and chiropractice help.

She's had some sort of reaction to the sutures. Her insicision from the first surgery is now lumpy. Our wonderful vet said it was probably the die that caused the reaction so I've called to have them add notes to her files at her other vet's offices (she now has 3 vets!) not to use those same kind of sutures if she needs stitches in the future. She got some Vitamin B12 shots in the scar tissue that will help break it up so we don't have problems in the future with her stomach being too tight.

Marley is still nervous about being in the vets office but she did a lot better today than last time. I think this whole thing has been a bit traumatizing. The moment we walk into Willow Creek she has her tail tucked and acts terrified. Luckily our holistic vet is wonderful to work with her and reward her for being a good girl while she is working on her.

Marley has been approved to go back to work as a therapy dog! I have called to try to get a date and time set up. She's still not allowed to do any agility or flyball but I'm not working her there anyway so it really doesn't matter. Mostly the vet wants me to try to limit her jumping as much as possible while her back continues to heal.

We will go in again next month for some more chiropratic and accupuncture. She'll also have a thermal scan and maybe some more B12 shots in the scar tissue. With time, she will heal and keep feeling better and better. I'm just so grateful my baby girl has made it through all this. Her injuries were potentially life threatening but she's a trooper and has done well throughout the many vet visits and having people poke and prod her all the time.

Her hair still isn't grown back all the way but it's coming back. It's funny that she still seems to have a ring around one leg where she had the IV. Soon you won't be able to tell though that there was ever an IV there!!

Dylan's fifteen minutes....

2008-07-24T08:30:00.000-07:00

So the Park Record came out yesterday with a sweet picture of Dylan pushing off the flyball box. He has a bright and happy expression on his face as he pushes off!

Unfortunately, no pics online just yet. They do have a photo gallery online but it hasn't been updated with pics from the Bark in the Park. I hope they put some on soon!

I bought a bunch of copies. I'm just so proud of my boy!!

Some friends from our flyball club made the front page. Apache is a deaf cattle dog and there's a big picture of her launching off of Diane's back to catch a frisbee!!

It's so fun to have something to remember such a fun day with. I really do hope they put the pics online at some point.

Time for a biopsy....

2008-07-23T08:25:00.000-07:00

So it's never a great thing when your doc says you need a biopsy. My doc said it to me last Monday when I went to have my knee checked. I have a spot on my skin on my arm that they are going to biopsy on August 4th.

I have my Dad's complexion. My skin generally turns brown in the sun. I don't usually wear much sunscreen unless I plan to be out all weekend. This past weekend at the bark in the park; I forgot to take my sunscreen. I am allergic to some kinds of sunscreen so I don't usually use anyone's but my own. Breaking out in hives in all the area you applied sunscreen is more than just miserable. It's really unbearable since you tend to put sunscreen all over your body. I spent 9-10 hours out in the sun Saturday and actually got pretty fried. I forgot to bring my sunscreen with me! Combine that with Sunday's yard work, I went to the doctor with a bright red face on Monday. Kind of ironic since it happened to be the day he says I need a biopsy.

My Dad says he has had a few biopsies over the last few years. He worked outdoors for 30 years and always had way too much sun exposure. They always turn out to be nothing. From his understanding, skin cancer is a lot more common in fairer skinned people. So it's probably just a precautionary measure. I still can't help but have a bit of anxiety over it all though. There's nothing I can do but wait for another two weeks though.

On a much better note, my doctor said the knee problem is probably just a bit of tendonitis. He says it sounds like it's on its way to getting better. Hopefully that means the end of my knee feeling like it's being stabbed over and over again!

Arte-y-Pico-Award! Twice!

2008-07-22T10:35:00.000-07:00

Our blog friend, The Saint Lover Gave Dylan the Arte-y-Pico-Award. Dylan was also given the award by Marie at Resq Tails. That was so nice of them and I am sure Dylan will appreciate it when I tell him. Of course, Dylan appreciates anything I tell him because he doesn't understand anything I say (hehehe).

The Rules for Passing on the Award:
1. Pick five blogs that you consider deserve this award for creativity, design, and interesting material and also contribute to the blogger community regardless of language.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and a link to his/her blog to be visited.
3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given him/her the award itself.
4. Award winners and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of the Arte-y-Pico blog so everyone will know the origin of the award. http://arteypico.blogspot.com/
5. In compliance with said rules, the award winner must show these rules.

I'd like to give this award to r3k9s, Cynthia Blue, George, Melissa, and Julie. You guys definitely help keep me entertained when I am supposed to be working!!

Dogs afraid to swim? Clicker Training Works!

2008-07-22T09:39:00.000-07:00

Three Summers ago I decided I really wanted to be able to take the dogs to swim. I knew Marley had some issues with her hips and swimming is good, low impact exercise for her. I was trying to drop her from 51 lbs to 35 lbs.

imming. She picked it up quickly just by chasing a ball. Dylan, however, was SO terried to go in past a depth where he could stand. So I decided that clicker training might be a good option. I hate the lake water but I got in anyway and had Dylan coming out into the water for a click and a treat. Several sessions later he was swimming out a few feet and getting a treat then rushing back. I invested in a life jacket for him because it seemed to give him more confidence in the water.

This past weekend there was a pond at the Bark In the Park. I wasn't sure if Dylan would swim much without the life jacket. He's been swimming more and more on his own but this was a great accomplishment. He swam way out into the pond to get his ball (over and over and over again!).

I love these pics thanks to my friend Cynthia! Check out my good boy who has become a pretty strong swimmer!!

I'm so proud of this big boy! He's learned to get over so many of his fears in the past several years. He's proof that clicker training can work wonders!!

Taking It Off Together Tuesday!

2008-07-22T07:15:00.000-07:00

The results are in. I am not quite sure how I ended up with an 8 lb loss. But somehow it happened. I really was trying to count calories last week and feel like I ate plenty but I ate really healthy food. Saturday night I even went to a barbecue and ate a bunch of crap and chocolate cake!! During the day I made a point to pack a healthy lunch to take to the Bark in the Park so I wasn't tempted to eat whatever crappy food was available to me.

I didn't go to the gym at all but I stayed pretty active by walking dogs and hauling around 30 lb bags of dog food at work. I also spent all day Saturday out and about at the Bark in the Park and Sunday I did yard work.

8 lbs is way over my goal of 2-3 lbs a week. They say losing weight too fast is unhealthy but I feel like I did things right. I didn't starve myself and I didn't over exercise for sure. I only felt really hungry one day and I ended up eating an apple as soon as I got home from work anyway. So I guess it's alright. I don't expect that it will happen again but I guess I will keep on the same path and see what happens. I did get permission from the doctor to go back to the gym so I will be starting back on the elliptical a couple days a week after work.

Chris - 1 GAIN
Tammy - 1 LOSS
Life With Hashi-Thyroid Blog - 1 LOSS
Grace - 1.4 GAIN
Leigh - 0.5 GAIN
Clara - 0.5 LOSS
Dette - -1.5 LOSS
Julie - 2.2 LOSS
Cheryl - 1 GAIN
Cyn Blue - 0 CHANGE
Audrey - On VACATION
Christy - 8 LOSS!! You go girl!

Welcome new member Tina with a 1 pound loss!

Total : 11.3 LOSS WOOT!!

Chase and Dylan!

2008-07-20T20:27:00.000-07:00

I stole this pic of Dylan and Chase from the Bark in the Park yesterday. I stole it from my friend and I hope she doesn't care but I can't help but LOVE LOVE LOVE it.

Chase is an awesome and fast border collie. He's a rescue and he competes in agility and does some obedience too. He and Dylan aren't exactly friends but they seemed to do okay when they were swimming together yesterday. If I make it to the flyball tournament in October Chase will go with me and I will run him since his owner can't go. It would be really fun to run two dogs and especially a really fast border collie who LOVES to tug!!!

It was fun racing yesterday but I got fried in the sun. We chatted about sunscreen and I was going to go back to my car to look for mine. I spaced it off and ended up with a very red and painful neck. My face is so red that an random stranger in the grocery store yesterday stopped me to comment on how sunburnt I was. Hopefully it will turn to tan within another day or two!