Category Archives: pets

The Tonka Reunion

Written on November 21, 2011 by in pets

Many of you have asked for the whole story on Tonka– the dog we had to give away because she’s a little Houdini.  The last stunt she pulled was jumping our fence into our impenetrable hedge wearing her harness while chained to a stake.  She wriggled out of the harness, struggled through the 4 foot thick hedge, and went gallivanting about in the neighbor’s yard.

For the sake of the neighbor’s privacy we thought it was best to re-home her.  But after much trial and tribulation, we decided we hadn’t tried everything to keep her from escaping.  This weekend we dog-proofed the yard, again, in order to give Tonka one last shot.

We went to pick her up yesterday from the foster home:

This is what the ride home looked like.  I couldn’t get any pictures from the actual reunion because she was so happy to see us that she just ran and ran and ran and ran.

Our friends kept her for two weeks and she had the time of her life.  She met a doggy friend named Copper who matched her energy stride for stride.  She had a pond, and acres to run around in.

But, she didn’t have us.

.

Home again.

.

Her first momma.

.

Daisy was also happy to have her home, we think.

I have conflicting emotions about bringing her home. I know she needs a huge yard to burn energy. We’ve been wanting to move because our boys need a huge yard to burn energy!  It just isn’t the right time to move yet.

It’s a quandary.

Don’t you hate quandaries?

In the end we couldn’t say goodbye forever.

.

So, our baby is back.

.

With a little help, we hope we can keep it that way.

8 Comments - Leave a comment!

Lessons Learned

Written on November 18, 2011 by in kidlife, pets

It’s been a long two weeks since I’ve last posted. It was not unfruitful, though.  I learned some lessons along the way…

Lesson One: Giving away a beloved dog is not as easy as it sounds.

.

Lesson Two: Blogging tends to fall by the wayside when your energy is diverted to drying tears.

.

Lesson Three:  You can trust God to lead your husband to make a wise decision when it’s too heavy a burden for you to bear alone.

.

Lesson Number Four:  If your dog can jump a 5 foot fence, you should get a new fence.

An electric one.  This may allow you to keep your silly dog after all.

.

Which may lead to a happy birthday and a happy ending for a 16 year old girl.

.

More to come on that front.

But first, the most important life lesson of all:

Never, ever, ever, under any circumstances…

Leave Cheetos and a stapler alone together when two little boys are the sole custodians.

.

Life goes on, oh yes indeed…

9 Comments - Leave a comment!

The Dog Gave Me Away

Written on November 2, 2011 by in kids, pets

There she is, walking the dog in this fantastic light.  I wonder if I can catch her without being seen?

.

She’s looking to see what Tonka is pulling toward.  Shoot.

My cover is blown.

Stupid dog.

.

Yes, it’s your mother, sneaking around trying to shoot you unawares.

It’s my job to embarrass my teenagers.

.

Although, your dog does a pretty good  job of that for me.

.

Hey, I sat down and figured out all the mistakes I made preparing Thanksgiving dinner.
Read and learn, people, read and learn:

Top Ten Thanksgiving Tips

6 Comments - Leave a comment!

Charlotte’s Web

Written on September 27, 2011 by in kidlife, pets, photography

At the same time that we found this…

.

We found this.

We named her Charlotte.  We thought it only fitting.

.

She’s stationed by our front door, so we’ve seen a huge reduction in insects.

Not really, but the theory is there.

We just hear more screams from people approaching our domicile.

It’s better than having a watch dog.

.

Much better.

Did I tell you about the roses?

Charlotte is also by the roses, which bloom just before everything is about to die from the first frost.

.

Summer’s last gasp.  I hope these buds make it.

It’s a gamble. (Gamble, as opposed to gambol.  Did you know there was a difference between those two words?)

I shot these roses during the golden hour, just before the sun was setting.

.

As evening approached, Tristan went to spend the night at a friend’s house.

.

Goodbye, my son!

He took my soul with him.

.

And now my life is meaningless and without color.

.

And my heart is weeping.

.

But we still had a candlelight dinner to celebrate.

.

It was a toast to the first of many cool autumn nights.

Someone else actually had the camera this time.  It was Daddy, represented by the empty chair.

I wasn’t taking the pictures because there was flank steak present.

Marinated flank steak is like a tractor beam, it pulls you in.  If you want a photo of me, just give me some flank steak to chew on and I’ll hand over my camera, the whole kit and caboodle.

.

Who’s the little piggy now?

.

Today is Todd’s dad’s birthday. If it weren’t for him, there’d be no Todd. There’d be no us!  There’d be no Kiki, Greyson, Tristan or Sawyer!

Jeepers, but we’re blessed.

You can meet the man responsible, here.

9 Comments - Leave a comment!

Go Get Ready

Written on September 23, 2011 by in kidlife, kids, pets

Sawyer, what are you doing in your jammies?  It’s time for school.

Go get ready!

We scored these pajamas from a Lucky Charms commercial Todd directed.

The costume designer could not find any old fashioned pj’s for sale in any store.  So she made them.

They’ve been through Greyson, Tristan, and now Sawyer.

.

I think all little guys ought to own a pair of these at least once in their life.

They are irresistibly huggable.

Speaking of irresistibly huggable…

.

Tonka is part of this nutritious breakfast.

Where is Tristan?  He needs to get ready for school too…

.

What?  School?  What?

What is school?

.

A Sith is beyond school.

And is impervious to hugs.

Ah. Well.  What about the secret weapon used against Siths?

Thou knowest not what I speak of?

I shall break thee with…

The tickle monster!

.

Works every time.

3 Comments - Leave a comment!

Energizer Bunny

Written on September 19, 2011 by in kids, pets, photography

We went on a retreat this weekend.  But before we even got out the door, a post happened.

Imagine that.

.

“Mom, something tells me that we better say goodbye to Scooter before we leave.”

 Scooter.  He is Mckenna’s first and favorite bunny. She’s had him so long, he’s a granddad bunny now.

.

He’s my favorite, too. He has so much personality.  He loves people, he plays checkers, and he even throws away toys that he’s tired of playing with.

Poor little Scooter.  Was it time to say goodbye?

I picked him up and heard an exhale of breath.

I’d never heard that before so I was prepared for the worst to happen while we were gone.

.

But I am happy to report that Scooter made it through the weekend!

He’s ready for another round.

Checkers, anyone?

8 Comments - Leave a comment!

What Waits Below

Written on September 13, 2011 by in kidlife, pets

Copier paper:  it’s not just for copiers anymore.

It’s also the perfect glider material for Lego man.

.

The kids had been begging me all week to help them build a life-size glider that they could use for themselves.  (They put a lot of stock in my abilities.)  They had grand plans to jump off the roof, “or a really tall mountain”.

“Mom, do you know of a really tall mountain?”

I guess they gave up and resorted to having Lego man test a glider out for them.

I have a way of squelching their fun.

.

You’d think they could live vicariously through Lego man’s exploits…

.

But it looks like even his fun is soon to be squelched.  I bet he never saw it coming…

It’s a theme around here.

 

 

 

1 Comment - Leave a comment!

Baby’s Got a New Pair of Shoes

Written on August 16, 2011 by in kidlife, pets

I finally found a yard I can handle.

.

Low maintenance.

And it even has a pond!

.

They just installed the grass.

.

And mowed it.

.

It’s all part of a plan for the cats- Merri and Jupi.

.

I turned around one day, and Tristan was a contractor.

.

The question was, would the cats even like it?

.

Hmmm.  Maybe she’s one of those grumpy home owners.

Oh, you know what it is?  It’s missing the most important thing.

A thing that only an observant boy would think of:

.

“Mom, where are the paper clips?”

“Why?”

“I need to make a little scratchy thing for Merri and Jupi’s house so the cats can scratch on it.”

Ah.

.

You just wouldn’t find this in a store now, would you?

But it works.

.

It was the perfect solution.

.

She likes it!

.

Hey, Mikey!!

This was the successful introduction to the cat’s  house.  Things quickly went south, however,  the following day…

.

Well, good morning.

.

Yes, that’s how I too, generally feel of a morning.

.

I see you’re out enjoying the yard.

.

I’ve just got one little problem with that.

.

It’s the grass…

.

You’re crushing it.

.

And you don’t care one whit, do you?

.

So you’ll pull the ignoring routine.  You’re so good at ignoring.

.

I concede, you’ve got the skills here, but I ultimately have the power.

It just takes one little word…

.

tuna?

4 Comments - Leave a comment!

The Squirrel Faces

Written on August 12, 2011 by in pets, photography

I was at the park to shoot foliage.

But then this guy came over and sat on the bench next to me.

.

He wouldn’t leave me alone, he was very friendly.

Then he started posing for the camera.

.

I’m not kidding.

.

I’d never seen anything like it.

.

He gave me his profile as a parting shot.

Then a girl came up…

.

Excuse me, I saw you were taking pictures.

.

I was just wondering …

.

I mean, if he’s done?

Yes?  Good.

.

I never know what to do with my hands.

.

Maybe just act natural?

.

Oh, this one’s good.  I can feel it.

.

Okay, we’ll leave you alone now.

(You can just send on any prints you might have.)

5 Comments - Leave a comment!

Of Dogs and Water

Written on July 27, 2011 by in kidlife, pets, photography, the tonka files

I remember what it was like to not wear makeup. I never looked this good.

“Are you okay?” people ask me today if I dare to venture forth without it.

But this post isn’t about that, it’s not even about people, although we did venture forth.

.

He loves venturing forth.

.

He’s pointing with his leg to ask if he can go down there.

.

He went down there.

By the way, getting a shot from this perspective almost always works in your favor, unless it’s a very bright day and their eyes squint shut.

But this isn’t about photography tips, although we did take a lot of pictures.

.

It’s not even about the flowers we found…

.

Or,

.

the,

.

jumps,

.

that were made. Yes!

.

Or the victory dance.

.

It’s about a sign.

A sign?

Yes.  A sign.  Or lack thereof.  You see, there was NO SIGN saying we couldn’t let our dogs off leash.

.

So we did.

.

And as she shot like a bullet across the wild landscape, free for the first time…

.

I couldn’t help but wonder…

.

Would she ever come back?

.

Not if I was lucky….

.

Welp. There goes that idea.

.

And yet,

.

 

I’ve heard there are hidden pools in rivers.

.

It’s pretty shallow for hidden pools.

.

But a girl can dream.  AH!  Nope.  Darn those grippy paws.

.

Daisy took a different approach to relishing in her freedom.

.

She just jutted her snout under water.

.

I have no idea why.

.

And then she laid in the current like an otter-dog.

.

Ahhh, the peace, the solitude.

It’s like the kids are out of the house and you have it all to yourself.

.

And then they come home.

.

And your prone position dissipates like mist in the wind.

.

As you receive the splash in the face of your new reality.

.

The roar of the falls thwarted verbal communication.

His gesture means, “Hey, Mom, can I go down there?”

or, maybe he’s trying to say:

“Hey, Mom, let’s all go home and pitch in to get the house clean.  And then bake cookies.

And fold laundry.

Yeah, that’s it.

Then we’ll sit around the deck and groom the dogs and tie a pink ribbon around Tonka’s neck.

.

What actually happened:  We all cleaned the house yesterday, Mckenna baked cookies, I folded laundry, Mckenna groomed the dogs and tied a red ribbon around Daisy’s neck, Tonka fell exhausted into bed while I looked at her and thought, that should be me, it should be me!

1 Comment - Leave a comment!
« Older Posts
Newer Posts »