I Need a Kevin in My Life!

Last week Shawn returned home from Dog School with Cupcake with the news that she was very close to passing her class. At the end of the night the teacher told Cupcake and Kevin they would pass next week if they get their “down” mastered.

Wait! Hold up!

Who is Kevin? I needed to know.

Turns out Kevin is another dog in her class.

I don’t know what it was about that name but when I heard it I just knew I needed to have a cat named Kevin in my life. He needs to be a boy (obviously) and he needs to be a kitten. He would fit in well with Peter and Eddie. I just know it!

So I tell my BFF Shannon about this need and she starts sending me links to Catteries (who the heck knew cat breeders were called Catteries?!) because Shawn said I could only get a Kevin if he was a Doll Face Persian.

Did you know that Doll Face Persian’s from a Cattery are like $2,000?

Well, no Kevin for me.

At least not right now. But some day I will have a Kevin in my life. Most likely after Eddie has passed on (he is 13 but Shawn says he will live to be 23 because he is so ornery).

If I wait until Eddie is no longer with us then I can get whatever cat I want. So, in 10 years I will have a Kevin and he will be a black with gray striped tabby. Or another big orange tabby. Only time will tell.

 

Peter in the dog food bin when he was about 8 months old. This picture doesn't really go with this post but I found it on my computer today and just had to share it.

 

Happy Friday everyone!

Hugs,
Kara

And We Have A Level 3 In Our Home

To say we have been busy would be an understatement. The last few weeks have been normal busy plus cookies sales for Girl Scouts, final project for our Girl Scout Journey, huge presentation for me at work, huge "troubled" project to fix at work, extra day off from school and work turn swimming outing, and goodness knows what else has been going on.

Oh, yes. Cupcake has been training extra hard for her test.

To pass out of Level 2 Dog School she needed to be able to lay down on command without a treat to guide her down.

She practiced. She studied by laying on the couch, laying in her crate, laying on the bed...  I mean, she is a bulldog so the act of laying down is not new to her. Just the command.

She was so nervous yesterday she didn't eat breakfast. (Or she didn't eat breakfast for so other reason, I just think it's funnier this way).

At 6 pm when Heidi and I loaded into the van to go to Girl Scouts, Shawn and Cupcake loaded into the truck and headed to her big test.

At 7:30 Shawn met us at the Girl Scout meeting for Heidi's final presentation bearing the news that...

She is so proud!

It's official!

Cupcake had passed level 2!!  Way to go Cupcake! You are such a smart dog!!

I just hope in level 3 they teach her not to eat books....

Cupcake Shame

I am hoping you all know what Dog Shaming is by now but if you don't I highly suggest you google it right now.

No, wait, not now. When you are done reading this! But then go right then.

I love, love the idea of dog shaming and I wish it was a thing back in the day when Daisy Mae was a pup. She would have been shamed for eating the left shoe of every pair of shoes I own, for eating the legs on the table in the kitchen, for eating my couch...  I am sure the list could go on and on but that over 10 years ago so I have blocked most of it out.

Cupcake, however is fully susceptible shamed via Dog Shaming. Today I will share the two that have been shared thus far.

I eat cat toys and throw them up on mom's feet in the middle of the night.

 This first installment of Dog Shame has a little story that goes with it.

One night a few weeks ago, I am comfortably sleeping in my bed when at 2:30 am I am awaken by the sound of a dog barfing. When Pig would throw up he would heave for 2 minutes so there was always time to get him outside before the actual act happened. Well, as we all know, Cupcake is not Pig. She heaves twice and out it all comes.

Right on my feet.

Yep. At 2:30 in the morning I woke up to Cupcake throwing up on my feet.

I jumped out of bed and grabbed some tissues to clean it up. When my dogs throw up I always look at it to see what came out. Judge me if you want but dogs not just throw up for no reason. I need to know what they ate.

Man, oh man did this pile of barf smell to high heaven. It was just horrible.

But I had to sift through it a bit to see what was in there.

I pulled out (using a tissue) a hard, solid ball.

"She ate a mouse!" I yell.

"She ate a mouse?!" Shawn sleepily asks.

"Well, Peter's toy mouse. But yeah, she totally at that mouse."

No wonder she threw up. She ate a mouse stuffed with catnip.

I finished cleaning up pulled the blanket off the bed (always grateful we sleep with two comforters on the bed) and went back to sleep. Little did I know at that time this was the start of a week of her waking up at 2:30 every morning for some reason or another. I felt after that she deserved her first dog shame.

Mom said this book was good. I thought it tasted like paper.

 The second dog shame has a shorter story. When a puppy gets to be closer to the one year age you start to give them more freedom and they, in turn, become naughty. They are like a 3 year old looking for their boundaries. And like a 3 year old they prefer your stuff to their toys.

One morning I was doing my normal "get ready for work" routine when I realize Cupcake is just being to quiet.

I walk out to the living room to find her curled up in my chair enjoying my book.

Only, her version of enjoying my book meant eating it!

The kicker? I borrowed this book from the Share Library in my office building. Sigh.

I went to the used book store and picked up a new copy then returned both to the girl at the library who totally laughed at me. Thus earning Cupcake another dog shame.

I am certain there are more to come but to end this longer than intended Friday morning post, I leave you with a picture I took of Cupcake last night before we went to bed.

Such a bulldog!

Happy Friday everyone!
Hugs,
Kara

PS - you can see Cupcake Shame and other awesomely random Cupcake pictures by following me on Instagram - Karamae31

Our Third and Fourth Christmas Celebrations and an Egg Bake

We are still celebrating Christmas around here and I realized this morning it will overlap with our New Years celebrations but that's all good with me! You all know how much I love to be with my family. Heck, that's why there are two house fulls of them within a mile of my house!

On Christmas morning we woke up to one of the best gifts, the gift of Heidi not being sick any more.

She opened her gifts from Santa and from us before we headed over to my dad's house for brunch.

 Santa did good for a kid who asked for nothing. He got her a rolling hockey bag, a new stick, and a "Fuzzy Bear Ball" that she fell in love with at Cabela's a few months back.

 Heidi and I surprised Shawn with the knife he has been coveting for the last few months. To say he was happy would be an understatement.

Santa got Heidi the Moose version of the Bear Ball (which is actually called a Cuddly Buddies Pillow). She loves him so much. The only problem is Grandma and Grandpa got her the dog one so now her bed is more than full. I am really not sure where she sleeps!

Cupcake got a Kong and she loves it! This is her fourth Kong but I think this one will last awhile since Siri isn't here to eat it.

After we opened our gifts I chopped up these beautiful veggies to make an egg bake. We read a number of recipes while we were in Fargo and opted just to wing it. I was very pleased with how this turned out, I will make it again!

What you need:
12 eggs
1 medium yellow onion
1 green pepper
4 to 6 ounces mushrooms
8 ounces Deli Ham
1 large tomato - sliced thin
6 to 8 ounces mozzarella cheese

Dice the onion, green pepper, and mushrooms.

Pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.

Heat a bit of oil in a skillet. When hot add the onion and saute about two minutes. Then add the green pepper and saute another two minutes. The onion should be starting to turn translucent. Add the mushrooms and saute another minute. Test the veggies for tenderness, when they are how you like them, remove them from the pan and place on the bottom of greased 9 by 13 baking dish.

In a medium bowl, beat 12 eggs.

Pour the eggs over the veggies. Place the thin tomato slices on top of the eggs then sprinkle the cheese over the tomatoes.

Bake for 25 minutes or until the eggs are cooked through.

This was a hit with my family and served 6 people when served with side dishes.

Enjoy, Hugs!!
Kara

You're My Boy, Pig

This guy right here one of the most amazing dogs I have ever had the pleasure of knowing.

His name is Pig.

Pig is my dog.

Pig passed away from intestinal cancer one year ago yesterday.

There is not a day that goes by where I do not think of The Boy.

Mama loves you, Pigger. She always will.

Feeling Christmas

I didn't realize until this weekend that I have been lacking Holiday spirit the last two years. What made me realize it was having our friends and family over for our party and actually feeling it. I went Wow! Where has this feeling been?

Two years ago we were going through Chemo treatments with Daisy Mae, our amazing bullmastif.

Last year we lost our Bulldog Pig to intestinal cancer in a very short period of time.

But this year, and this is recent and I haven't really told you all about it yet, but we are a one healthy dog family. Yes, you know we have one healthy dog but you may have thought we had two. What happened to one of those dogs is s story for another day.

Today, I am feeling the Holiday spirit and I want to keep it that way!

Monday, the day after we became a one dog family, we made the trek through ice and snow, three miles away, to a local Christmas Tree Store.

The entire family went so that means Cupcake joined us.

This picture was taken just before Cupcake took a huge steamer in the snow that Shawn made me clean up. I could not find a garbage can so the bag containing the steamer may or may not have been forgotten in my van until the next morning.

 We wandered around the tree store for a while until we found the perfect tree.

Even Cupcake approved!!

Let me tell you, I was so impressed by how well behaved Cupcake was. I mean, besides the steamer incident. She didn't bother anyone and she didn't complain about it only being about 10 degrees outside.

We loaded the tree up and brought it home to thaw out.

Then on Tuesday we decorated it as a family. I have to say, it turned out to be a beautiful tree. I am so looking forward to filling it with presents for my amazing family in a few weeks!!

Happy holidays everyone!
Kara

Some Sort of a Weekend Update...

This past weekend Heidi and Shawn went to a friend’s cabin to set deer stands leaving me home alone.

Thursday night they were gone it was me, my in-laws in the basement, Siri, and the cats. Cupcake was off getting spayed and would not come home until Friday afternoon. I had a moment of weakness and allowed Siri to sleep in my bed. I relocated Eddie the Cat who has been living in my room since Siri moved in down to the basement. Then I blocked Siri in the bedroom so she couldn’t wander the house at night.

It was an okay night but man, Siri is jumpy! Every time someone came up stairs during the night (which in my house is a lot) she jumped up and barked. I had to calm her down and we would fall back to sleep.

Friday after work Cupcake came home from the vet. She was well rested and wanted to play so I spent most of the night trying to keep the dogs from wrestling. The other part of the night I spent eating pizza, drinking Crispin Hard Apple Cider (may or may not have gotten tipsy), finishing the sixth Stephanie Plum book, and watching episode after episode of Extreme Couponers.  It was a very relaxing night, just want I needed. But man! What a train wreck Extreme Couponers is! I could not believe these people!

When bed time rolled around I felt guilty that I had slept in the living room the night Siri came home from being spayed so I did the same for Cupcake. It just happened that the in-laws were gone too so I was truly alone. (Minus Siri, Cupcake, Eddie the Cat, and Pete the Cat.) So the dogs and I slept on the couch.

Cupcake missing her daddy

Honey Crisp Crispin, Janet Evanovich, and Frozen Sausage and Mushroom Pizza. This is how I would roll if I was single!

That was not a very good night sleep since Cupcake had been sleeping at the vet for the last two days. She woke up at 1:30 am and decided she had enough sleep and we should all get up to play. After a quick trip outside to ensure no accidents in the house I put her on the couch next to me, flipped her on her back, and rubbed her tummy until she was snoring.

I got up Saturday morning and cleaned, cleaned, cleaned until Shawn and Heidi came home and the typical weekend craziness started up again with a house warming party for our friends who just came back from a stint in New York, two hockey practices, and an open house at my girlfriend’s house.

The weekend flew by and ended with a little family time before I had to pack and head out of town for work this week. I am in South Florida and I already have some stories so come back and see me tomorrow for a peak at some of the fun I have been having!

My House is a... Race Track?

I have these two dogs.

Siri - my 15 month old, 43 pound, pit bull.

Cupcake (aka Cakes) - my 5 month old, 35 pound, English Bulldog.

They can make a running/chasing game out of anything, any where.

This video is proof.

Just a little slice of the insanity that is my house.

Happy Friday everyone, have a fantastic weekend!
Hugs,
Kara

A Tricked Out Pitbull

The last few nights the dogs have been waking up in the middle of the night crying. We make them go outside but it always turns out that they (Siri mostly) is cold and just wants to cuddle.

Siri has also been pitching a little pity party in the mornings when it's time to go for a walk.Her little pity party is super pathetic. She sits perfectly still, her knees pulled up to her chest, and just shakes. But she has to walk in the morning or she is buck wild when we get home!

So we decided we should get Siri a shirt or coat to wear when walking and a bed for her crate to help keep her warm at night.

Cakes needed a new collar because her big fat neck is growing.

And Siri needed something reflective for when we walk in the dark.

So we took a trip to Petco and $213 later we walked out with...
* 2 new reflective collars
* 2 new dog beds
* a new chew toy for Cakes (which Siri has horded since we got home)
* a thunder shirt for Siri to wear for walks and at night (I am not going to call them her pajamas!)
*  a pack for Siri to carry stuff in. Cesar actually says this is a good way to tire your dog, make them carry stuff! And as a bonus, it is reflective.

In the end I think it's all worth it. Even though my sister in law, who dresses her dogs in pajamas with trap doors, said Siri is wearing a fanny pack. And my uncle asked if she needed to bring pencils and notebooks to dog school.

Bring on the teasing. I can take it now because she slept through the night last night and I am well rested!

Follow Me Little Birdy

I made that little leap last night and I am now an active Twitter user, not just a twitter stalker so if you want to follow me I am @HeidiNae. Let me know you are a new follower and I will follow you back.

Okay, now that we have that out of the way, I am writing to you from a hotel room in Dayton Ohio. Just away on another work trip. I think this is my sixth trip of the year and I have two more planned.

Let me tell you, I love to travel but traveling for work is not that much fun. It takes me a lot of time to prepare both my professional and person lives to be away. Then there is the packing which I have gotten down to a science and can do in under ten minutes. But the worst part is being away from my family.

This trip is probably the hardest one with the exception of three out of about 50. Those three being my first trip when Heidi was a baby, the first trip that Heidi got really upset about (I think she was 5), and the last trip I took a few months back which fell two days after we put Daisy Mae down.

This trip is hard because I know my family is at home tending to my buck ass wild dog, Siri.... I am so stressed about her jumping a fence when someone is there letting her out. I am stressed that all the progress we have made with her and Peter will go down the tubes. I am stressed that she is going to freak and hurt me with her tail when I return home!

That sure is a lot of stress! I think I need to go find a glass of wine to go with my Sabra Hummus and Pretzels I am having for dinner. Then I am going to kick back, read some blogs, and watch some tv without having to crank the volume to hear the Bones Season Premier over a dog fight in my living room.

I will leave you with a little video of my girls having a WWE match in my living room over the weekend.

And With That, It's Fall

The kids went back to school last week and the weather turned cool for a few days but yesterday we the day I knew summer was over.

And I am good with that. I am ready for fall.

Yesterday one last hot day rolled through. I saw 97 degrees on the read out in my van and people on Facebook were toying with the idea of turning their air back on.

That hot day, along with the events of the evening, were my final sign of the end of summer.

Our Girl Scout Troop had our first official meeting last night with the Investiture Ceremony where the girls get their Elf Brownie Pin. We followed that with a quick parent meeting that, I feel, went really well. We are beyond excited to start our new year with these amazing, smart, funny, talented, buck wild girls.

 
After the meeting I sat in the backyard while the dogs got out the last of their evening Bully energy. If you have a bulldog or a pit bull, you know what I am talking about.

It was only 8 pm but it was completely dark out. No more bed time with the sun still up!

I had my tablet and was catching up on emails. I had my dogs. I had a warm, breezy evening with no bugs. I had quiet. All I needed was a glass of trashy pink wine and the night would have been perfect.  These are the nights I am looking forward to now!

After putting Heidi to bed I settled onto the couch to read a few blogs for a couple of minutes before heading off to bed myself.  The dogs were playing quietly on the floor when out of the corner of my eye I start to see white stuff flying by.

It all happened so quickly.

Well, maybe that is not too bad. Just a little stuffing right?

From here Cakes ran into the kitchen, kicked all the water out of her bowl, and stomped around on the now lake like floor. I watched her in horror. It was 9:30. I wanted to go to bed. Now this?

But when I turned back to the living room I saw that it had snowed!

Cakes went and jumped on her sister and they rolled in the snow for a minute or two. Heidi wandered out of her bedroom and said "What happened? Dad is going to be mad!"

I sent Heidi back to her room and gathered up some towels for the floor and a bag for the snow.

At this point Shawn came home and his only remark (after What the heck happened?!) was "Girls, this is why we cannot have nice things."

Then he proceeded to clean up the kitchen (it took two beach towels) while I scooped up the snow.

Which just turned out to be half of the stuffing from their soccer ball so that's good.

When all was cleaned up I crawled in my bed with the fan cranked on high and thought, "That's it. Summer is over and the craziness of Fall is here. Bring it on but I better go pick up some of that trashy Pink wine..."

Happy fall everyone. (I am sure I will with you a happy fall again on Sept 21st but that's all good!)

Why Siri Got Spayed...

Well, maybe that is a bad title. She got spayed because I think there are already to many puppies in this world and I am not the person to allow more.

So a better title would be something like Why We Spayed Siri.

Us, instead of someone else.

Here's the short of it.

We rescued Siri from a foster organization this summer. Her paper work said she was spayed.

This past Thursday she started bleeding. Basically she got her period.

How can a spayed dog get their period? They can't.

So I after being pretty upset most of the evening I called my vet first thing the next morning. They wanted to see her as soon as possible because if she really was spayed but now bleeding something very wrong was happening.

I left work early and took her over to see our vet who confirmed within moments of seeing her that she was in fact in heat and there was no way this dog had been spayed.

I had brought her paper work to the appointment (well, I forgot it so Shawn and Cupcake ran it up to me) and showed them where it said FS for Female Spayed. They called the foster group who were mortified and apologetic.

We got her scheduled for surgery a week later.

I would love to say the week from when we learned this little info to when she had her surgery was peaches but really, it was anything but.

We had to get diapers to keep her from 'dripping' all over our house. These diapers had liners in them that had to be changed regularly. Siri did not fit in the diapers correctly due to her build so we rigged them to stay on her. She would rip them off any chance she got so she didn't wear them when in her crate. Yuck.

She was a different dog ranging from sleepy and cuddly to a bit crabby.


Siri was very stressed when we got her ready the morning of the surgery. We were asked to bring her crate and a blanket so Shawn loaded that into the van for me before he left for work. I am pretty sure Siri thought we were packing her up to move in with another family. It was heart breaking.

Now, keep in mind, I know what it is like to have a dog go through a major surgery. Remember our three legged wonder? Well, none of that helped me keep my stress about this down.

My emotions ranged from sad to mad to furious to worried.

I had to leave my baby, the one who has had an unknown past, the one who lost her eye six months ago, with people I didn't know who were going to operate on her in the back of a semi truck. (Since the foster group was paying, not me, I didn't get to use my own vet)

I brought her home on Friday afternoon and she could hardly walk. I put her in the van where she slept all the way home. When I touched her she jerked away otherwise she didn't move.

We got her set up in the house where she went right back to sleep.

Cakes didn't like that her best friend was not awake to play with her and spent a lot of time trying to break Siri out of her crate.

On the up side, Siri is recovering very well. In fact, sometime Sunday afternoon she was completely back to normal. She is on limited activity right now but that is nearly impossible to manage as she is constantly playing, rolling, chasing with Cakes.

Thanks to all of you and my friends and family for all the support during this mess. I am just so happy we are on the other side of it now!

Our Weekend in Review

Happy Monday everyone! We survived what I was expecting to be an insanely stressful weekend with a reasonable about of stress - hooray!!

Friday morning Siri was spayed. I am finishing up that post and will share that saga with you tomorrow.

But Siri being spayed on Friday meant we didn't do anything on Friday night. Heidi went to a birthday party at Skyzone and had a blast. And reminded me that I have 8 punches left on my skyrobics card!

Friday night was rough with me sleeping on the floor to be near Siri. I felt slightly beat up the next morning from the hard floor. This is why I prefer to camp in my camper and not in a tent. My hips are too old for the hard ground!

Saturday was very low key. Shawn and Heidi ran a few errands while I hung out with Siri then Shawn worked on the new hand rail for the front steps. I need to paint it then I will share pictures.

By about 4 pm on Saturday Siri was feeling much better so we crated her up and went off to a gathering of some of Shawn's childhood friends.

Not to get all confusing but Shawn and Bobby grew up together, went to a year of college were together, attended/participated in each others wedding. But then life takes over and we don't see him much. So Bobby's wife Sarah invites a group of us over to their house to surprise Bobby. It was a blast.

There were eight adults and ten kids. Lets say it was a bit buck wild at times but we are all excited to to it again!

We didn't think to take a picture until after Graham left. Bob, Jimmy, and Shawn, friends since they were 5!

I was so happy Graham and Amy brought Thomas. He is such a cutey! This was the first time he had been out after his bedtime which threw him a bit. He kept asking his mom who turned off the lights outside and if they would turn them back on. When she explained it was dark because it was bed time he decided it was time for them to go home.

I was really worried about Siri but we had such a good time I was distracted from my worries.

Sunday was another low key day. We went grocery shopping then just hung out. It was clear by this time that Siri didn't really know or care that she has just had her stomach cut open so the day was spent trying to keep her from sprinting around the backyard.

My Step-Uncle Dave had us all over for dinner in the evening so we were able to end the weekend with a nice, relaxing dinner on my parents deck with our family. I left the camera at home so this is the only picture I got...

Shawn and his mini peanut butter pie!

 Oh! And this one! Isn't my niece Eile just the cutest little thing? She was wearing a tank top which was making me cold so we put Heidi's tshirt on her. It is a bit big but she totally rocked it!

Happy, as always!

It was so nice to have our weekend end up being pretty low key. I am not sure how I will keep Siri calm as the days progress but she is doing so well I know she is going to make it thru this minor set back just fine.

Weekend Update - Oh, How I Love Weekends Like This One

I am having a very difficult time typing this blog. Not because anything bad happened this weekend, in fact it was a nice and peaceful weekend.

I am having a difficult time because as I type there are two dogs fighting on my legs.

Hang on. I need to make this stop.

Okay, I am back. Cakes is nuts but Siri just wants to go back to sleep.

Ugh! Now Cakes is chewing on the tablet. Cakes, please stop.

This focusing thing on Monday morning at 6 am with only two sips of coffee in me and Cakes being nutzo is a bit much...

Anyway, this weekend was full of a lot of time to get organized and relax. After the summer we had this is exactly what I needed.

Hang on, Cakes is eating the cat tree.

They are super annoying this morning!

I was fully expecting they would be exhausted this morning after the evening they had last night. They took their first trip to the Saint Anthony Parkway Dog park and they loved it. Siri met a bunch of dogs who were much larger than her (three were Great Danes) and ran with them for about 45 minutes. She would get right in the mix like she was a 60 pound, two eyed dog, not the 40 pound, one eyed dog she is.

Cupcake, ugh, hang on again, Cupcake just found a paper bag and is dragging it around the house. I am debating on taking it from her. Never mind. She is bored with it.

Man, dog. Just go back to sleep! She just flopped down on the couch. Which she can jump on now!!  I think she might go to sleep. Siri is happily snoring on my foot now. I am horribly uncomfortable but I don't dare move. Luckily my coffee is in reach!

Where was I? Oh! Cupcake was the hit of the dog park. She played with all the people and soaked up all the hugs and love. Then she met Lola, an ugly little terrier who was about her height and they spend the rest of the night rolling around in the dirt together.

Cupcake was covered in a healthy layer of dirt when we left but she had a blast and is looking forward to going back.

Siri ask if she could live at the dog park. We explained that dog parks close and with the sun going down all the other dogs would be leaving soon. Then she asked if she could marry the dog park. While we were explaining why that would not be possible she passed out in the back of the van under the fully blasting AC. Where she stayed until Cupcake jumped her.

Those stinken dogs came home, ate dinner, then went out in the back yard and played with each other for another 15 minutes.

Now we know, dog parks are a must for these too!!

Other things we did this weekend:
We went swimming on Friday night where Willy passed the deep water swim test for the first time so he was able to go on the diving board with Heidi. We were so proud of him!

We finished cleaning the guest room and now, finally, have a fully functional guest room that someone could actually stay in with no notice. Hooray!!

We cleaned the walkway part of the storage room so now you can actually get to the freezer and pantry. What a novel idea!!

I made a menu for the week using a new board on Pinterest I called "meals for this week" and a task in my Cozi calender for a reminder of what is to be cooked each night. I am very excited to get back to cooking dinner most nights!

Shawn and I logged 5 volunteer hours at the Ice Arena with a very slow shift in the concession stand. Our second shift was canceled but on the up side we only have 15 more hours... ugh, 15 hours...

Heidi had Emily spend the night marking Heidi's first ever sleep over at our house. They ate ice cream, watched a movie, camped out on the floor in the living room, and had a great time!

We met up with my parents for breakfast at Birdtown Cafe in Robbinsdale. If you live in the area check them out. They are pretty good.

The dogs are finally both sleeping, one on either side of me so it is time to shut the tablet down and get ready for work.

One parting thought -

My thoughts and positive energy is being sent to my friends and Co-workers in South Florida who are being hit by Isaac right now.

Happy Monday everyone!

Hugs!
Kara

Friday's Letters

Well, it's pretty much official. Our summer just about over.

Shawn went back to work yesterday. Heidi spent the day with her Grandma and will be with her Granny part of the day today and all next week.

We will hit the State Fair next weekend and then school officially starts on Tuesday, September 4th.

Where the heck did this summer go?

Dear Heidi: I am so proud of all the things you accomplished this summer. You never cease to amazing me and I love watching you transition from a first grader to a second grader. I love you Lulu.

Dear Shawn: I am sorry I adopted so many dogs this summer which in turn meant you didn't get much on your project list. Thank you for building me a fence so Siri cannot run away. I love you.

Dear Siri: you were a total rockstar at your first training class last night. I have some ideas on how to keep you from chasing Eddie and Pete and I am excited to start working with you on them.

Dear Cupcake: You are cute beyond words. Thank you for cuddling with me on the couch this morning and for being such a wonderful bulldog.

Dear Pete: You frightened me when you got outside the other day but I knew you would come home. I hope you enjoyed your time hunting in the neighbors yard.

Dear Eddie: I am sorry I kicked you last night when I got that horrible cramp in my foot. I totally deserved to be bitten. I hope letting you play with the water in the bathroom sink made up for kicking you.

Dear Mean Neighbor: I hope you are happy we put up a fence. I have so much more I want to say but I will keep that to myself.

Dear Weekend: I don't have a lot of plans so I hope you decide to hang around a little longer than normal. I will do my part by starting you at noon today. Please do your part and not fly by.

Have a great weekend everyone!
Hugs,
Kara

Oh, My Aching Foot!

We are in the process of integrating Siri with our cats. It's not very scientific. Basically the cats are barricaded in my bedroom during the day or anytime Siri is not in her crate and have free run of the house when she is in the crate.

They also are able to go into the basement anytime they want but they have to make the trek from my room, at one end of the house, to the basement door, at the other end of the house.

It's been about 3 weeks since Siri moved in and I am not sure if it's getting any better between the cats and her but the cats are getting a little bolder.

I think Peter is just sick of being suck in my room or the basement, to be honest.

On Monday Peter was out in the living room when Siri was also in the living room. Siri has the scratches on her nose to prove it.

Siri just wants to meet the cats.

The cats think she wants to eat them.

Therefore the cats hiss and spit and growl anytime they see her.

It's a ton of fun.

Really.

Stop by and witness it for yourselves... But bring protective footwear or you will end up like me with three swollen and bruised toes from whacking said toes on a door frame when trying to scale a semi-Siri proof barricade when Peter decides he needs a window with a front yard view instead of a backyard view, makes his way into the guest room, and gets busted by Siri on his way back to my room.

Fun times.

Instead of showing you my ugly foot (again) I will share a picture of our bedroom barricade and the cat door in the basement door that Siri totally can fit through.

Our bedroom door, a pet gate that Siri leaps in a single bound, and two laundry baskets that Siri cannot jump.

The "cat" door on the new basement door (ignore the lack of molding, that's how we roll...)

If any of you have any ideas on integrating these wild beasts, I am all ears. Just know that holding the cats near the dog so she can sniff is not an option. These are two very large, fully clawed boy cats. I have the puncture wound on my thumb nail to prove it.

Hugs!

Kara

What We Have Been Doing For The Last Five Days...

You may have noticed I have been a bit absent the last few days.

Or maybe not.

In any case, things have been nuts at work so I come home exhausted. Home has been nuts because who ever thought it would be a good idea to adopt two dogs within 5 weeks of each other was insane.

Oh, that was me?

Um... I guess I am insane.

Last weekend we went out to see our friends new house. The dogs were in their crates for about 5 hours and when we got home Jess and the kids came over for dinner so it was normal crazy town in our house with in minutes.

Siri went into her spinning out of control mode that we, at this point, are not sure how to curb. She starts dog school on Thursday so that is number one on my list of things to learn.

Anyway, Siri goes outside, is totally cracked out with excitement and pent up energy and she spots a cat in the neighbors yard.

Next thing we know, she is in the neighbors yard.

Just like that! Jumped right over the fence.

Shawn went over the fence after her.

I was in the house finishing up dinner when Heidi walks in.

Let me tell you, this girl needs to upgrade her sense of urgency.  She just walks in the house and says "I have bad news..."

I ask her what her bad news is, expecting her to say Siri popped another ball when she says "Siri jumped the fence right into the mean neighbors yard and dad is trying to catch her."

WHAT?!

Jess jumped in her car and took off to meet Shawn, I grabbed the leash and ran around to the other side of the block to help. By the time I got over there Shawn had Siri by the collar and was tossing her into Jess's car.

That was the moment we knew we needed a bigger fence.

Siri spent the rest of the week on a tie out while on the backyard.

Shawn and I spent the rest of the week being mad about having to build a new fence.

And then we did what we always do.  We got over it and got to work.

First Shawn had to take down the old wire fence along the back of the yard.

Cupcake thought she was helping by surveying the folded up fencing.

Ryan and Shawn, with some help from Willy, and Tony marked where the new posts will go.

This is where the pictures stop for awhile. I was not able to be Team Photographer this time. I stained all the panels and was on Dog Duty. During one Dog Duty task I had to bring both dogs inside to get them out of the sun. I may or may not have watched two episodes of Warehouse 13 on the Netflix.

Many trips to Menards, a few trips to Home Depot, a trip to Patio Town, two days of hard labor, and a lot of sore muscles later, we have a beautiful fence.

We had it fully installed by Sunday night but it wasn't fully stained until Tuesday evening.

Siri posed for some pictures. She is such a ham!

And that's it. That is really all we did this weekend. It's really all we did Friday through Tuesday night.

While we were not expecting to install a fence this weekend, I am pleased with the finish product. And for once we are actually 100% completed with this project when we are walking away from it. No lose ends, no details. It's done.

What made me the most happy about this project was watching Siri and Cakes zoom around they yard together with no worry about them leaving the yard.

When my dogs are happy, I am happy.

Hugs!
Kara

The Time We Had Three Dogs For A Minute

I am in the guest room trying to put stuff away, throw stuff away, make a donation box, make the room not look like a storage locker, when I look out the window and see a Chihuahua run up the driveway.

"There's a Chi-wow-wow on the driveway." I call out to whoever is in the living room.

"Yeah, we have seen that dog before" they call back.

Me: "No, there is a Chi-wow-wow on the driveway right now. It just ran up towards the cars."

Heidi: "I will go get it!!"

Shawn: "Um Heidi, wait for me."

And then run out the door.

For the next 20 minutes Heidi, Shawn, and my nephew try to bribe this little Chihuahua out from under the van. In that time Heidi has named it "wah-wha" and Shawn has decided we will keep it and hang up fliers. And my eyes are aching from all the rolling they are doing in my head.

They finally pull this little dog out and we pop it into a cat carrier.

Shawn is telling Heidi to go get food and water when I say "I will not, cannot have another dog in this house so please tell me I can call Animal Control. PLEASE..."

Shawn reluctantly agrees.

Honestly, this dog has been at our house for about 30 minutes at this point and no one appears to be looking for her. How long do we have to keep her?

I call 911 and request the dog be picked up.

Fast forward a very long 20 minutes waiting for the Community Service Officer to come pick her up. Shawn has run out to pick up dinner and is just returning to the house. The dog is in the cat carrier on the front lawn. Siri and Cakes are in the backyard making a lot of upset noises because we are ignoring them.

The neighbor walks by with her dog and notices Siri. She has not met Siri yet so we invite her up to introduce the dogs.

Siri get all crazy because she LOVES other dogs but they are separated by a fence. She is on her tie out (a very temporary measure until we can get a bigger fence because, guess what?! She is a fence jumper! Yay me!!) so she cannot get out but when Shawn opens the gate out runs Cakes.

Just as Cakes runs out, the neighbor dog backs out of her collar.

At this point we have one very large yellow lab running circles around our car, a portly 4 month old English Bulldog chasing her, a one eye pitbull on a tie out behind a fence standing on her back legs dancing and crying at full volume, and a Chihuahua in a cat carrier.

So, because it only makes sense, this is the exact point when the CSO shows up to get the little dog.

My neighbor and I are running around like crazy women trying to catch dogs while laughing hysterically about the irony of the situation.

It was madness!

We had everyone back in their place by the time the CSO walked into the yard but we were still laughing so hard I am sure he thought we were nuts!

The CSO took the little pup out to PUPS in Maple Grove where they will try to locate their owners and we went back to being a slightly crazy normal family with only 2 dogs.

Yes, I did make Heidi talk to the dog in Spanish. No, I do not think there is anything wrong with that. Had Spanish class not been canceled for this week she would have been speaking Spanish with her friends and tutor and not entertaining this little pup anyway so it all worked out.

A Midday Suprise!

Work has been beyond crazy lately. I am getting used to the new job which comes with many training sessions in addition to the added responsibility. And we are shoulders deep in yearly planning. Not to mention the full plate of projects I continue to manage.

So when Shawn stopped by my office today to pick up something he had left in the truck I was happy to break up the day a bit with a visit from all the girls!

Siri and Cakes stayed in the van with Shawn.

Siri in a booster seat. See how small she is?!

Heidi, and the two girls Shawn watches, Sophia and Piper came up to see the office and say hi to a few people.

Piper attending a meeting being driven by Heidi and Sophia. (They had strict directions not to actually type!)

It was a very quick visit, under 15 minutes including the walk to and from the van, but I loved seeing them and getting to hug the dogs midday.

And the best part, when we were walking back to the van to return the girls to Shawn, Heidi and Sophia were touching the stone sidewalk outside my building.

Just as I was saying "Girls! Please do not touch the sidewalk, it's covered in Pigeon poop!"

Just as I was saying that a Pigeon Pooped on Shannon's shoulder! GROSS!

The girls all squeeled and ran to the van to tell Shawn.

Shannon cleaned up using a tissue from the van and we headed back into the office cracking up about the girls and the poop.

And now I am refreshed and ready to get back to work! Thanks ladies and Shawn!

Hugs!

Kara

Am I Building an Arc?

Shawn says I have to have everything in pairs because I am building a arc.

Well. Maybe.

But if I am building an arc then why are both of my cats boys?

And if I am building an arc then why are both of my dogs girls?

That would be very interesting.

And then how do these three fit in?

Bull, Heffer, Bull (I love bullies!)