Precious Cargo

Sarah found this nifty little cargo wagon at Costco. It is the coolest thing. It has come in handy in so many ways.

You can lug all your softball equipment to the field in one trip!


It comes in handy when moving boxes and stuff...


And it has handy pockets for your beer.

(Okay, that's Sarah's beer, but I thought it would be funny to put it in.)

But the best thing about this little wagon is that when taking Bridget for a long walk,


she gets tired sometimes...

She is going on 13, you know. That's like 91 years to you and me. So we came up with one more use for this wagon...

Perfect fit!


Now Bridget can go on the long walks with Jack.

So cute!

The story of a dog named Jack

It's about time I introduced you to my son Jack. He is black and he is beautiful. I don't need to tell you that - you can see for yourself.








Now sit down and let me tell you his story... Once upon a time...

On April 5, 2011, out of the blue, I got a text from my neighbor, David.

He sent me the following picture.



The text said - "1 year old black lab - are you interested?" Just look at that picture. I mean, how could I not be interested?

Jack's story is kinda of a sad one, but with a happy ending. I won't ever really know his background because he and two other dogs were dropped off at the side of the road and the car just drove off. I can just picture the dogs watching the car drive away and then looking at each other. Now what?!

Lucky for them a woman had witnessed it and she took them in. She was able to adopt one of the dogs out to another family, but was unable to keep the other two dogs (Jack being one of them), so she contacted the Menifee Humane Society.

Lucky for me, my neighbor happens to be the pest control guy for one of the volunteers at the humane society. She contacted him because he had mentioned to her that I would be interested if a lab ever came in.

I arranged to meet Jack the very next day. He was staying at the Briarcliff Pet Motel in Menifee. The Motel volunteers to house abandoned dogs until they find an owner. Sarah, Bridget, Brooke and Jon came with me. They came along because I wanted to make sure that Jack would get along with other dogs and also kids. We all fell in love at first sight. He was so calm (that may have had something to do with being neutered the day before). Anyway, I knew the moment I saw him that he was a keeper. He came home with me that night.



And I have not regretted it once. Okay, maybe when I saw he had worms, I was a little grossed out, but that was cleared up in a day or two.

He is such a good boy. He is mostly black with a little white on his chest and chin and also on the back of each paw. He is a lab mix, but I'm not sure what the mix is. I am waiting for the results of the lab test!



In this picture, he kinda looks like one of those stuffed dogs with the really big head and small body.



He has the pinkest tongue and very expressive ears.

Jack gets along with everyone so far - neighbor kids, adults, other animals, Bridget.

Okay, well maybe Bridget, not so much. Actually they love playing with each other and sometimes it just gets a little out of hand and one of them always ends up in a time out. For the most part, they get along.

He still thinks he is a lap dog. He sleeps right next to me. And he loves to eat snails and sometimes puppy dog tails!

Jack will be having his picture taken professionally soon - so his story will continue then. And that concludes the story of Jack - Part 1.



Oh yeah - The End!

(Not really, stay tuned...)

Missing Slider

THINGS I MISS ABOUT SLIDER - August 29, 1997 to April 24, 2010

1. Waking up with him every morning.
2. Feeding him the same meal every single morning and watching him get excited for the same meal every single morning.
3. Watching him hop backwards and then sit and wait for me to put his bowl down.
4. Seeing him outside my shower waiting for me to get out and letting me drip all over him while I dried off.
5. Scratching him every time I blow dry my hair - he would wait until I tipped my head upside down and then wander over.
6. Being stared at every time I sat down to eat.
7. Watching him lift his head and come over to me whenever I put my fork/spoon down knowing that he would get the last bite of my food. How did he know when I was finished?
8. Running and ducking under the garage door every time I opened it so he could be the first one outside. The garage door never opened fast enough for him.
9. Watching him pee on my neighbors side of the lawn.
10. Watching him roll around and stretch on the grass.
11. Watching him run around in circles with a burst of energy.
12. Having my buddy with me when I mowed my lawn and knowing that he would never run away.
13. Watching him stare at a cat walking across the street and never chasing after it.
14. Watching him get attention from neighbors and watching him roll over to get his stomach scratched from all the kids in the neighborhood.
15. Calling him to come in and having him come in (almost) immediately.
16. Being pulled while taking a walk. He always wanted to lead.
17. Watching him take a flying leap up on to my bed.
18. Seeing one ear flapped backwards.
19. Hearing him come busting through the doggy door.
20. Watching him stretch after hanging out on the couch and leaving his back legs up on the couch and his front paws on the floor.
21. Wishing he was here this season to eat my tomato plants.
22. Watching him stick his head out the window of the car and always pulling it in at 45 mph. How did he know that we reached that speed?
23. Sharing the last bite of every meal with him.
24. Having him look over my shoulder when I would weed.
25. Having him help me dig a hole or fix a sprinkler. He was a better digger than I ever was.
26. Hearing him bark as I drove up into the garage.
27. Wondering how he knew to come running when I opened the drawer where his leash was stored. Being so excited and turning in circles.
28. Watching him be such a gentleman to Bridget when she moved in.
29. Running to the bathroom every time I opened the door to the closet where the vacuum was stored.
30. Hearing him bark whenever someone knocked or rang the doorbell.
31. Trying to exercise on the floor and being licked the whole time.
32. Watching him try to eat as much of his food as possible as I poured a new bag into his container
33. Watching him be so patient while I cleaned his ears.
34. Following me from room to room just to be with me.
35. Waking up with him every morning.

Things I don't miss about Slider.

1.

Garage Sales ROCK

My Saturdays used to be devoted to mowing my lawn and cleaning my house and going to soccer games and grocery shopping and doing laundry and just cramming everything into the day that I possible could because Sundays are a day of rest. But since I discovered how fun garage saling can be with my niece(s) and my sister(s) - instead - my Sundays are not only a day of rest, but also a day of "get the rest of the stuff done you didn't on Saturday because you were out garage saling." Not really... Okay, maybe...a little.

Although, I am not as aggressive as Tracy and Leslie are at the bargaining part, the driving part and the spotting of the signs part, I am slowly learning from the pros. I have learned to just make sure my seat belt is fastened and to hang on. Deborah learned the hard way about keeping up with this group because they do not wait for stragglers even when they are down on the ground with a broken ankle. (Tracy - still waiting to see Deborah's cute doc.)

This blog is to share with everyone the finds that I found.

Here is a picture of one of the first purchases I made - Leslie bargained it down for me from $10 to $8 (thanks sis!). It came with the six pots (minus the flowers - which I planted later). Also, it was green and Tracy suggested I paint it red and I think it looks very cute.

After I painted it and got it all set up - Tracy said that I should have blogged about it and that I should have done a before and after picture. Well, since I didn't do it on this one - I decided to do it on the following plant holder I got at another garage sale. Here is the before (cute dog not included):


Here is the spray booth - I know, I know it looks like a murder scene with blood splatter (call CSI) - but believe me - it is just red paint:

One coat on, one to go.

Why is the writing on the can so small? Or are my arms just not long enough. I finally had to get a magnifying glass to read the fine print and when I did I found out that not only could I not read it, I was trying to read the French version. I hate my bad eyesight! Don't ever get old if you can help it.

And now for the final product - basil, rosemary, thyme, anyone?


I also got the cute tin pots at another garage sale. Do you like the way I wet down the front porch because I wanted to get the effect that they always do in movies?



Can't wait until next Saturday - saving my dollar bills and quarters for the next garage sale, or yard sale, or "gigantic" yard sale, or "huge" garage sale, or neighborhood garage sale, or "estate" (but nobody died) sale, or estate (I think they died in this house) sale, or humongous yard sale, or big yard (my neighbor is having a yard sale so I will pull out a few things) sale,or garage (I want to sell my free vases I got from flowers) sale, or yard (I have three things to sell) sale, or garage (why do we always fall for the same "old" garage sale sign) sale, or yard (every sign is in a different color) sale, or my personal favorite - yard (let me tell you what I originally paid for this and what country I got it from) sale.

Happy Garage Saling!

Blog about my Dog (Warning - Not for the faint hearted )

First I want to remind you all how extremely handsome and distinguished my little boy is - I love his look - the black hair, the gray highlights - what a hottie. Aren't those eyebrows great?

Okay, now prepare yourself.


Here is what he looks like today!
Okay, okay, really!! It looks worse than it is - really, I promise! I wish I could say, "You should see the other dog!" but I can't - that would be a lie. (Click on the picture to get the enlarged, full grossness.)

This whole mess all started with a small cyst on his right eyelid. Not just any cyst mind you. The kind of cyst that make your toes curl. Brooke and Jon can testify to that. Just ask them about eating a hamburger with him staring at you.

I made an appointment for my little buddy to have the cyst removed and had this great idea - hey, if he has to be put under anesthesia for cyst removal - why not just have, ahem, Shell (Slider's vet) cut out a few warts too.

Little did I know I would be dropping off Cyclops with a creepy eyelid and picking up Frankendog! Poor little guy.

Here are a few other pics. Enjoy your eggs.






There were two warts on his back too. Note Bridget's ear in the bottom corner. She was very tender and good to Slider and kind of followed him around to make sure he was okay. Actually she probably just couldn't look away - like one does when something is so gross that you want to stare even though your toes are curling!


He h.a.t.e.s. the cone. I warned him about going outside in the rain - he could drown! Thank goodness for good weather.

Slider will be back to his old self in no time at all. The swelling has already gone down on his eye and I've been putting some ointment on his eyelid, plus he's on an antibiotic. We have to go see, ahem, Shell, in a couple of weeks so that he can remove the stitches. Slider is such a trooper - he's like "whatever".

I L.O.V.E. T.H.I.S. D.O.G.

Everyone join me in singing - "My dog is an awesome dog" - on three. 1, 2, 3...

Why I Think People are Gross

Okay, okay, here is a blog for ya all.

You all know how I think the human race is gross - we have discussed it many times. Well, I thought it would be a good idea to compile some of the top and most disgusting things that I have observed about humanity. Most of my material comes from trips to WalMart and sometimes just out in public - church, schools, amusement parks, playgrounds - anywhere that people gather.

These are all in just random order - AND please feel free to add your two cents worth because I know that there are many, many other gross things that I cannot think of right now.

Okay - here you go. Don't blame me if you feel sick after reading this, blame the public!

1. Bad Breath - need I say more?
2. Bad Teeth - (Dan, you have job security)
3. The smell of hair
4. The smell of BO - especially when it lingers in a grocery aisle from the old man that left it - who is now 3 aisles over.
5. Greasy skin
6. Fat people who ride around in the motorized shopping carts and boss their family members around especially in a grocery store, where sitting in one of those makes them think that they are an expert at food shopping - which is probably why they are buzzing around in the cart in the first place. How many bags of Doritos can you fit in the basket on those carts?
7. Hearing people cough - especially productive coughs. (gag)
8. Hearing people blow their noses and actually hearing the release of the snot during the blow - you know what I mean? Even grosser - when they look at it! (double gag)
9. People that are so overweight that you wonder if they are able to clean under the folds of skin. You know, those people that gain weight in the most abnormal places - like below the belly (pub area)
10. People with bandages over open wounds waiting in line at the pharmacy (Leslie and I have already discussed this extensively.)
11. Dirty fingernails
12. Watching someone pick their teeth with a toothpick as they are walking out of a restaurant, then looking at it and then (gag) putting it back in their mouth to eat it. (Excuse me while I clean up the vomit on my keyboard)
13. Hearing someone blow their nose in a restaurant. Excuse me, but we are trying to eat here!
14. Thick yellow toenails and dry, cracking heels.
15. Scaly, purple ankles and calves on overweight people - why is that? Steve, can you answer that one for me? Please - just wear long pants!
16. Whiteheads (especially on the sides of the nose)
17. Bad Breath - needs to be mentioned a few times
18. Ear hair
19. Nose hair coming out of nose
20. Gray nose hair coming out of nose
21. Big moles on the face (Really, you think the scar would look any worse, come on...)
22. Mustard anywhere near someone's mouth (That's for you Tracy)
23. Food stains on people's fingers
24. Food in someone's teeth
25. Seeing food fingerprint stains in books that I have checked out from the library. (Note to myself - keep a bottle of Purell near my nightstand)
26. Walking through someone's fart. (triple gag) What is floating in the air with that?
27. The sights, the sounds, the smells of public bathrooms says it all. Oh yeah, and the general wetness in there - around the toilets and sinks...
28. Hearing people go to the bathroom and then leaving without washing hands. (Time to take a bath in Purell)
29. Crumbs and food stains in people's cars. Apologizing for the mess does not make it any easier to sit down on the seat - and what is this stain on the seatbelt going across my chest?
30. Tank tops on men with hairy armpits with dripping sweat.
31. Tank tops on women with old lady skin - snake like and wrinkly. But if they have a tan - it's worse.
32. Watching people eat and sometimes watching food fly out of someone's mouth while they are talking.
33. Lipstick on straws.
34. Lipstick on teeth.
35. Lipstick on clothes you want to try on.
36. Crusty... anything. An adjective that should not have to be used to describe anything on a human. My dog can have crusty anything and I will still love him - he can't help it.
37. Bad Breath - can't say it enough. (I have to hate if I smell...)
38. Floating clouds (boogers) in the nose.
39. Food in mustaches - especially when lunch was like 3 hours ago.
40. Seeing someone pick their nose. (Why do people think they are invisible when they do this activity in their car?)

Okay - I came up with 40 reasons people are gross. Please feel free to add your own. I'm sure I'm forgetting many more. But please remember - these do not pertain to family members and a few choice friends (okay, maybe some of you).

There He is!! Wha-la!!

There he is. Playing that same game. Wow! Well he is not a couch potatoe. He is lively, always riding a bike, scooter, motorcycle, skateboard, or any thing else he can get his hands on! Yup, there he is!