Happiness is...

...a car load of Goldens....

...having a sister.....

...and being close to those you love.

Um, yeah, right...

Pops sent me this little video, and it gave me a chuckle. I hope you like it too.

Here is the note that accompanied it:

Some of you probably already know, I foolishly joined an animal rescue group last year and have been assigned to protect the African Antelope. Well, last week was my first real action, and fortunately my efforts were captured on the attached video. I hope you enjoy it. This type of work is rather tiring for a man of my age, but it is most rewarding. But even so, one rescue a day is all I can handle...

Stages

What'dya mean ....we can't come in?

...we aren't THAT wet!

Wordless Wednesday - Patriotic Pooches

Memorial Weekend

I'm hoping you all had a safe, fun Memorial Weekend. Ours was a flurry of fun, and festivites. We were busy enjoying friends, dog activities, and of course food, but did take some time to reflect on the occasion, and honor those who have given so much to our country.

On Sunday we hung out with friends and enjoyed the warm weather. My Pops was feeling well enough to come over and enjoy the day. He got to share some special time with Jill, his favorite of our pups. He loves Jill and considers her his "personal" therapy dog. I'm pretty sure the feeling is mutual.

Pops and G-Ma stayed for most of the day, enjoying some card games, all of the goodies, and the company of the others that were here.

Yesterday we got up bright and early and headed to the nearby community of Kensington, where they have an annual neighborhood Memorial Day Parade. This was the third year in a row our Golden Retriever Meetup Group has walked and the second year we won a first place ribbon. We had a great time and a very nice turnout. Of course the Goldens are always a huge hit with the crowd.

Some of the faces I encountered along the way touched my heart in and extra special way~
It doesn't get much sweeter than this!

At the end of the parade, while we waited for the awards ceremony, I got a surprise phone call from Harley's Poppa. He needed me to come and pick her up for a little while, while he has a health issue addressed. So, after we picked up our ribbon, we loaded up, and headed to their house to get her.

She was happy to see us, and of course she fits right back in with the rest of the pack easily. It is always a pleasure to have her with us.
It was a Happy Memorial Day indeed!

Therapy Graduation Day!

Today was our last day of therapy training with Love on a Leash. Last week we'd completed the basic training evaluation, and both boys passed with flying colors (as did Hubby and I). Today's class was more of a formality than anything, we got our pictures taken, received our visit information, and met some of the visit captains that we'll be seeing in the various facilities we will go to in the future. We need to complete 10 one hour visits to get officially certified, and then we are free to go to any place that will have us. I am very excited about our upcoming adventures, and was thrilled to see that one of the places that is on our list of visit options is the La Jolla VA Hospital, SCI Unit. (Spinal Cord Injury) That place is near and dear to my heart, and I look forward spending many hours there visiting.

Here we are, looking sort of official already! I think the boys knew they did good!

Hubby is very happy that Kona did so well and the class it done. We have our Saturdays back!
Me and Jumbo Jack!

A very proud Momma.

It was only the grammar that bothered me...ha!

I went to the grocery store this morning with G-Ma (my Mom)...we got our separate baskets, and went our own ways...which is a little routine of ours - I always have a ton more stuff to get than she does, and she winds up waiting for me in the deli area, and does a little "people watching" while she waits.

Sooo...I'm walking down an aisle, and in front of me I see an adorable little girl sitting in the cart talking with her obviously very pregnant Mommy. The little girl says something to Mommy, which I didn't hear, and Mommy answers with "Yes, honey, there is a baby in Mommy's tummy." How sweet! Right?

I amble up closer to them and see the adorable little girl point at me and say, "Mommy, is her's got a baby in her's tummy too?" Mommy turned to look at me, I smiled politely, both our faces turning bright red.

Um, yeah, thanks for that.

Made my day.

And here I thought I looked nice today. My little plaid shorts, fun yellow top, and cute sandals. Apparently I looked cute, and pregnant. How sweet...not.

My diet resumes tomorrow morning.

**photo courtesy of istockphoto.com**

Super Pooped Pups!

After an afternoon of this...


It is time for this...

Did you notice that Jack didn't even finish the treat he'd been working on? You can see the remnants on his blanket, and Kona is too tired to even hold his own head up!

Tired dogs are happy dogs. Momma LOVES tired dogs!

Goofy Girl

I know I've mentioned this before but Jill is a little ditsy sometimes. I say "little" only in an effort not to hurt her feelings, but people who know her well will agree wholeheartedly with me. This is the same girl who tries, over and over and over again, to "fluff" up the tile in the kitchen before she lays down on it. She will only eat if someone is sitting right next to her keeping her company, and when she was a puppy, she would get so scared of the vacuum that she would run and go into our pool and swim laps so the evil vacuum wouldn't get her.

She is also petrified of plastic bags, anything that makes a loud noise, and likes to sleep with her head hidden, either under a bed, behind a door, etc. Now, mind you, we got her when she was 8 weeks old, and she has never, to our knowledge, been traumatized by any of those things. She is just quirky, very, very quirky. Sometimes I blame her odd quirks on her having had hip surgery when she was quite young, and a lack of training on our part after that. We spoiled her like she was a little princess...lifting her onto and off our bed, catering to her every need, etc.

She is extremely endearing though, and is probably the most sensitive of all of my pups. If she hears someones voice getting upset, she will come to comfort you. She will nudge you and snuggle with you until you feel better. When my Pops is around, she is 100% devoted to him. She never leaves his side. She is a real love muffin. A quirky, goofy love muffin.

All of this is leading to a quick story about a little incident at the park today. I took the pups to the park, and met up with Val and her pups Joey and Kealani. We did our usual routine, threw the ball for the pups, chatted a while and got ready to leave...Since it was sunny and quite warm, we'd decided to meander over to a little old wooden picnic table in the shade. A couple of the dogs had gone under to enjoy the coolness of the dirt beneath it. Jill followed, and relaxed with the others. When it was time to go, Val and I got up, and the dogs followed as we started to make our way to the opposite side of the park, where the gate is. Everyone except Jill. Apparently, she'd figured out how to get under the picnic table, but couldn't figure out how to get out from beneath it. Seriously. How blond is she?

I called her name. She barked. And looked at me. And stood there. I walked a little further away. I called her again. This time she howled a little bit, as if to say, "Mom, come get me!" I called her name again, and she still stood there-doing nothing but waiting for me to come and help her. (Similar to the "act" she pulls about not wanting to use the doggie door we have. She will get half way through, and start barking and howling for someone to come and open the door for her, at which time she backs out of the doggie door and walks nonchalantly through the regular door. She is perfectly capable of going through the dog door, and does so quite often when no one is home, but she chooses not too if she knows someone is there to open the door for her. - Another of her quirks...)

I finally gave up, walked back to her, and lifted the table up, so she could saunter out. She took her time too...she wasn't panicked or anything, she just wanted someone to come and lift the table, which I did.

Now that I think of it.... Opening the door for her, keeping her company when she eats, lifting the table for her....WHO'S GOT WHO TRAINED? Smart girl that Jill...

Agility Day Camp

We were invited to try agility with our pups this past Sunday as part of a prize our Golden group earned for a fund raising event. (Thank again to J&J for including us!)

I'd never tried agility with any of the dogs before, and wasn't sure how they'd do. I was very pleasantly surprised!

Here they are, after about an hour of working on the course and learning all of the different equipment. They all seemed to really enjoy it, even Jill. Her hip didn't seem to bother her at all, and we all cracked up at how she waddled through the long tunnel.

First Jack, then Jill, and last, Kona.

Uninvited Guest

On top of an already fun and very busy weekend, we had a little real excitement at the ol homestead yesterday evening.

The kids were sitting out on our little porch chatting with a friend on a bench we have near our front window. Very casually, the friend says, "hey, check out that snake...," and points to spot right under the front window. They glanced over and flew into the house to get me.

A.J. - Mom! Come check out the snake.

Me - The what?

A.J. - The SNAKE!

Me - Where?

A.J.- Right under our front window.

Me - Seriously?

A.J. - MOM - COME SEE THE SNAKE!

Me- I'm coming... (I grab my camera and head out front expecting to see a skinny little garden snake a foot or so long.) HOLY CRAP! GO GET DAD!

A.J. & Pickle holler in unison - DAD, come check out the snake! (that was their idea of "getting" Dad)

Hubby - I HATE snakes! What'd we got?

Me- You're really gonna hate this big thing!

Hubby takes one look, and is not happy....he really, really hates snakes. This one was a nice, fat snake, between 4 and 5 feet long, curled up unassumingly at the base of some plants we have. He wanted to be left alone. I don't blame him, but we couldn't just leave him there. Not with our front door a mere 5 feet away, and the dogs and the kids coming and going....nope, he'd have to go. We sent the kids to grab a neighbor friend of ours for a little help. Help to do what? We didn't quite know yet...

Not quite being sure what to do with our little guest, I picked up the phone, and called the police (the non emergency line) who gave me a number for an animal agency that can help with these types of issues. A pleasant woman named Tiffany answered the phone and had me describe what color our friend was, the design on his back, the size of his head. We were able to determine that it was NOT a rattle snake, which are quite common in this area, especially at this time of year. She told me that more than likely it was a gopher snake or a king snake. Either way, it wasn't venomous, and there was no reason to kill it, or even mess with it.

HELLO! Didn't she realize that it was right by my front door? Easily within slithering distance, into my home, down the hallway, and under my bed? No, our little friend had to be relocated.

Hubby and his buddy grabbed an empty trash can, a shovel, and a long piece of PVC pipe. Within just a couple of minutes they were able to wrangle our slippery little friend into the trash can, and close the lid down tightly. We all hopped into our buddy's truck, and headed to a nearby canyon area, where we figured out little friend had come visiting from. The whole lot of us, and by this time there were about 8 or 9 of us, got out, and walked about 50 yards onto the edge of the canyon, with Hubby carrying the trashcan...

Off came the lid. Snap a quick picture, and give the trash can a tip. Our little agitated friend didn't take any time at all to make his way out, hissing all the while, and headed off towards the canyon.

We felt pretty good about not having harmed our uninvited guest. Hopefully it will send a little good karma our way. We could use it, that's for sure!

Goodbye my little slithering friend, and please don't come back.

A Super Quickie!

Pops is home. YAY! He was discharged from the hospital late yesterday afternoon. He is happy, we are all VERY happy!

The boys, Jack and Kona, both passed their Therapy Training tests today with flying colors...now we will start visiting different facilities as "Therapy Dogs in Training" and after 10 hours of volunteering they will be officially certified.

Jack, Jill and Kona, fresh from the groomer yesterday.


For right now, all is well with our world.

I hope all is well with you too!

Pops Update and Some Fun Stuff

There hasn't been really anything new to update on my Dad, he is still in the hospital, and we continue to hope that is body bounces back from his pace maker surgery, and the other issues he has been dealing with. I've been visiting with him every day, and working to keep his spirits up. All I can say is that getting old sucks, but it beats the hell out of the alternative.

In spite of it being a rough week, there have been some definite bright spots. Hearing that Dad made it out of surgery well and was resting in recovery - very bright spot. A little pampering from Bear, my cosmetologist "wunderkid" who started at a new place recently and gave me a much needed haircut and spa treatment shampoo-head massage, nice bright spot... My wonderful, dear friend Doug coming down from Seattle and spending some time with me both on Monday and all day yesterday, huge bright spot. Spending a good portion of the day yesterday with a bunch of members from the Golden Group, as we went on a Hornblower Bay cruise with our dogs, and then followed it up with a great lunch in a scenic little area not far away, very bright indeed.

My friend Doug, in white, and Hubby on the Hornblower cruise yesterday.
Not all of the dogs on the cruise yesterday were thrilled to be there (notice this was not one of our Golden group pups!)

Our little group

This is Lola, one of the newest additions to our Golden Group. What a doll! (She was in a pet stroller because she does not have all of her shots yet, and this is a great way for her to get out and socialize but stay safe.)

The pups are at the groomer now, to get all cleaned up for their "official" therapy training test tomorrow. (Keep your fingers and paws crossed that they do well) They were in dire need of some pampering themselves, and honestly, I am appreciating the peace and quite. Oh, so much to do...so little time.

I'll catch up again soon - promise!