Friday, March 25, 2011

A Surprise Spring Snow Storm

It was a surprise to me anyway. I had no idea it was coming till the day I was coming home from the spa. It was a big storm, stretched across several states. But for us it dropped about 10 inches of fluffier than expected snow. Luna and Ziggy seemed to enjoy it quite a bit. Since everything is still pretty new to Ziggy I think he enjoys just about everything.

We still managed to take a couple walks while it was snowing and here are some videos to prove it. Both are in my driveway. First one near the house, second one farther up the road.


The day after the storm was nice and sunny (as was today) and we walking some more. Not a lot else to mention so I'll leave it at that.



Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Went to a Spa

Last weekend I went to a spa just outside of Petoskey, MI at the Inn at Bay Harbor. First time I'd ever been to a spa or had a professional massage. I must say it was a very nice experience. I also had a facial and a pedicure. A weekend of firsts for me. I went with my mother-in-law and 4 sisters-in-law and a friend. I would say we had a blast. The rooms were great, the food was great and even the local casino was okay though I am not much of a gambler. I lost my $20 complimentary cash from the hotel pretty quickly. The whole trip was a Christmas gift from my father-in-law. Rather nice of him, I'd say.

Aren't those the prettiest toenails? The color is Peruby Ruby by OPI which, of course, has been discontinued so I bought a bottle of It's Greek to Me, which seemed close enough.

While gone I left Ziggy with Hal and Luna with Uncle Butch and his wife. Ziggy has a mild case of kennel cough so he has to stay away from most dogs. Luna had gotten a booster shot last month so she's fine. Every so often I would receive a text message from Hal stating things like "pup still alive." I do believe Hal had no idea what he was in for when he volunteered to look after the puppy by letting me get him before my spa weekend as opposed to after it. When I got back to the farm to drop my MIL off, Ziggy was waiting for me to take home.

Upon getting home I picked up Luna and my two pups acted as though they hadn't seen each other in years. Maybe that's true since dogs have such short lives. But in any case they seemed very happy to see each other again. They bonded so much more quickly than Rocket did with Luna. But then Luna has always been part of a duo except for these past 6 months while Rocket had 8 years of being the sole dog.

So here are a few photos of their reunion.


  

Such puppy love!

(edited to fix typo)

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Here's My New Puppy!!

Well, after talking with Hal, I emailed the shelter Sunday night and Joe from the shelter called me the next morning. Before 1 pm Aunt Judy, Luna and I headed to Tawas City, MI. First we hit Wal-Mart and bought puppy chow, (same thing the shelter was feeding) then we went to the Iosco County shelter and attempted to figure out which of 7 rambunctious brothers and 1 extra 3 month old lab puppy would be lucky enough to come home with me. I don't think I played with all 7 brothers, I know the first one I pulled out was the 3 month old because he was a full blooded black lab and twice the size of the little ones. Some of them were very yappy so I didn't try too hard to play with them. At one point all 8 got out of the pen and ran up and down the hallway. It was not easy stuffing them back into the kennel.


Generally, I had 2 at a time in the playroom, settled on 2 and brought Luna in to see whom she liked. She didn't want anything to do with any of them, she backed right out of her collar to escape from the mayhem. I think the one I picked was pretty much one of the first I tried. He seemed very friendly and liked to snuggle with Aunt Judy while I was exchanging puppies. I am so glad she came with me because the only worker at the shelter said he had to stay up front so was no help at all.


I paid my $35, then we went to the vet on the way home and Dr King pronounced him a healthy, chunky handsome man. He got wormed and we finally got home around 6 pm. When we finally put him in the crate and went to bed he began howling and yapping so I had to drag the crate into the master bedroom before he would settle down. He then kept us up most of the night hacking and coughing and I suspected kennel cough but last night he was much better so I've got my fingers crossed he'll keep improving.


Luna also seems to be enjoying the new puppy much sooner than Rocket enjoyed being around Luna. Perhaps it's because they're closer in age, 2 months vs 5.5 years instead of 2 months vs 8 years. Or Luna is just less reserved than Rocket was. At any rate, it's good to see them play together.

Since then it's been up and down and in and out hold me, feed me, let me hump your leg. He's a cute little devil. As for his name, I'm still hovering between Comet, Boomer and Ziggy. He was Comet most of yesterday but I'm not feeling it, I think he's too small for Boomer and I'm liking the sound of Ziggy.

And Ziggy played guitar.

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Looking for a Dog

I had actually found a sweet looking 9 year old chocolate lab at the shelter a couple weeks ago that was brought in as a stray but another family got there ahead of me and his photo is no longer on the website.

So I looked around some more and a different shelter has seven 9 week old male black lab/beagle mixes available. They are very cute. I am hoping I can take Luna in to see them later this week. Maybe we can find a new little buddy!

Tuesday, March 8, 2011

Winter Won't Go Away!

It's official, I am sick and tired of winter. Yes, I know spring is still 2 weeks away by the calender but we've had a few days of 40 degree temperatures and sunshine and then the cold would snap back into the 20s during the day and minus digits at night. And tomorrow we're expecting another 2-4 inches of snow.

*Heavy sigh*

February had quite a bit of snow. A blizzard in fact at the start of the month dropped about 18 inches of snow. Luna really enjoyd it though and I did too, as I haven't experienced a blizzard in years and I didn't have to do anything about it other than shovel the deck, feed the birds, load the woodstove, walk the dog and stay warm. Luna got lots of exercise leaping through it. Check out the video. She had lept off of the deck into the snow then discovered leaping back up was harder than she thought.


A few days of 40 degree temps a week later really shrank the snow base but then we had a 7 more inches last week and now we're expecting 2-4 tomorrow. I'm ready for spring to appear though. The sooner the better.