R.I.P. Baby Bird

"The Twins"

As I was getting ready to let the dogs in this morning, I noticed Rocket (Rocket has the white snout) had something in his mouth. He caught his first baby bird of the season.

It's all downhill from here, now I have to keep an eye on him for worms and be watchful of all the other little innocent birdies in the backyard. Rocket and Phoenix both watch for birds and squirrels in the backyard in hopes that they can catch one and pounce on it.

I'm sorry little baby bird that two of my doggies have the instinct to prey on you.

One Thing Leads To Another

The fence is complete. Although they did have to return for a second trip to repair the gate because the arch on it wasn't straight.

You know that phrase "One thing leads to another"? Yeah, well that's what happens when you do ONE project. It turns into many other projects. We decided it would look nice if we put stones in front of both gates to insure the dogs (one in particular) wouldn't want to try and dig her way out.

So the one project turned into three or four and we keep adding more. We also decided we needed to put down fabric and then river rock on top of that, to deter the dogs and keep mud from splashing up on the lovely white pristine fence we just had installed that is maintenance free.  Ha ha!

Now we have two gate walkways to complete, fabric and river rock to place around the perimeter of the fence and who knows after that.....oh yeah a new roof, and then,

Chasing Flags

The yard has been marked with flags for the fence installment, which is planned for this coming Wednesday.

Red flags for power lines, Orange flags for telephone lines, and Yellow flags for gas lines. A slew of flags for Phoenix to pull up by her cute little mouth to proudly parade around the yard and then proceed to chew them to pieces.

After many, many times of replacement of said flags I gave up and said

Fence Me In

Soon and very soon, we are replacing our old, worn out, wooden post and chain link fence in the backyard with a new and improved 6 foot white vinyl privacy fence.

I'm excited about it but at the same time

Escape Artist

Pushing her way out
Weaving left, weaving right

Running free without doubt
She's off again taking flight

Trying my patience
Minute by minute

Running me in circles
Until I get it

I've learned I must be
Proactive towards her

This crazy dog Fee-Fee
A whirling ball of fur!

Phoenix You Crazy Dog

Unwrapping Christmas

Yesterday, the first packages began arriving from the online shopping I've been doing for Christmas. I brought them in and sat them on the floor knowing I would get back to them in a bit after preparing lunch.

So into the kitchen I went to prepare lunch and to let the dogs in. As I was finishing up the tuna salad I had made, I heard a tearing sound, Riiiiiiiip, Riiiiiiip, Riiiiiiiip! I walked into the living room to find Phoenix surrounded by shredded pieces of cardboard, and in the act of tearing off another piece. "Hey, what do you think you are doing?", I yelled at her, and she ran under the dining room table with a substantial piece of cardboard in her mouth.

What a mess to clean up. Luckily Amazon ships a box in a box so no gifts were damaged from "the little stinker." Although, she got very close to tearing into the actual box with the gift in it.

Destruction by Phoenix

She's lucky she didn't get into that second box.

The Monster

I Totally Forgot

Thanksgiving evening I had these brilliant plans of taking photos of the food I made and of the kids and grand kids while they were here. The kids all sat on the floor and

Little Mr. Cutie Pie

Watching Thomas on Television

Saturday was spent with little Mr. Cutie Pie Isaiah, watching Thomas the Train (his favorite), Dora the Explorer (backpack, backpack, swiper no swiping, swiper no swiping) sorry its still stuck in my head, and Sesame Street.

We played with various toys in Mimi's toy box, he especially likes the cash register. He's getting an early start on how to spend Mommy and Daddy's money.

Isaiah and Rocket

Of course all three of the dogs were

The Crowd

Watched the twins today, they couldn't decide if it was more interesting to watch cartoons or play on Mimi's iPad. Either way they had a good time. I don't think they were crazy about me continuing to take photos of them.

The Twins

So when they got tired of me aiming the phone at them, I proceeded to annoy the dogs.

The Intellectual 

The Lover

The Ornery One

Wondering

Why does Phoenix find it necessary to lick my laptop screen when I am trying to type? She always looks so innocent when I take her photo but I am telling you she is not. She is a feisty little thing.

Soon we will be taking a week vacation to Colorado and I keep asking myself, "How will I survive a week without my dogs?" I realize that may sound silly to some people, but my dogs are my little fur babies and I love them and worry about them like they are my children. I can't begin to tell you how difficult it is for me to leave them.

Which leads me to...

Rescued

You are faithful loving and kind
Bringing joy and love to me

Your loyalty eases my mind
You're not ashamed for others to see

Stroking your fur calms my soul
Releasing tears of joy

I just want you to know
You are my sweet boy

Sleepy Time Herbal Tea...Not

I feel like I am being strangled by phlegm. I just want to reach down inside my throat and yank it all out. I wish it were that easy. Doesn't that paint a pretty mental picture for you?

I've blown my nose so many times I think it is about to fall off. I've been sucking on cough drops all day. I've drank Sleepy Time Herbal Tea with honey and its not made me sleepy, just hot.

I've taken Mucinex with a glass and a half of water. I've taken Robitussin cough suppressant. Let's see what

Time Change

I have been an hour ahead of myself all day today, due to Daylight Savings Time. One of the things I always enjoyed about living in Indiana was the fact that you didn't have to change your clocks backwards or forewords each year. Oh how I miss those days.

The dogs have also been an hour ahead of their selves today. They wanted to eat at 4:00 p.m., but to them it was really 5:00 p.m. You just can't argue with the stomach of a dog, when it's time to eat, it's time to eat!

Of course all of this time nonsense got me to wondering, "What really is the point of daylight savings time anyway?"

And here's what I found...

The History Behind Daylight Savings Time

Tyler was ready to turn in early, due to the time change.

Rocket Rocks!

Do you ever think "I'll just chill out on the couch, grab the laptop, and surf the web for awhile?" Yeah, me too.

Although, obviously Rocket had different plans for me yesterday. Such as getting as close to me as he could by laying his 30 pound body across my chest and face making it almost impossible to reach the laptop keyboard, or see the screen, or even breathe for that matter.

Most days I would have been begging and pleading him to get up on the couch and be close to me and he would give me a look like "Yeah, I think I'll just go lay on the floor instead." But he is my little lover when he wants to be, my Rocky Top, my Rock Rock, my Rockford (when he's misbehaving), my Sweet Pea, my Rocky, my Rock. Oh how I love him so!

Yes of course I could have easily told him to get down, but not a chance I'm going to miss one second of cuddle time with my dogs when they are wanting to be loved on. I have to relish the cuddles and closeness when they're willing. So here's to you my Rocky, my little Sweet Pea. Mommy loves you too.

Melancholy

The late evening sun shimmers on the blades of green grass
Giving the deceitful appearance of warmth outside

A cold gusty wind blows the sparsely leaved trees to and fro
It leaves a sense of melancholy with me

The passing of another season, the leaving of fall
The almost naked trees and plants

Brings a crisp chill to the air
A chill that says "Winter is coming soon"

And Spring will not be far behind
Time to begin anew.

Tyler snuck into my serene shot.

Not Ordinary

Today was definitely not your average ordinary day. My husband called me at 8:30 a.m. informing me that he had passed out at work and had no warning of the episode coming on at all. Off to med check we went only to be informed, that we still needed to go to the ER to make sure that nothing was seriously wrong. After an EKG, full blood workup and a chest x-ray they still could not find anything to explain the sudden passing out spell.

Lucky husband gets to stay in the hospital overnight so that he can be monitored to confirm that he doesn't have some kind of weird heart arrhythmia happening. Needless to say he is not a happy camper. I wanted to post the photo I took of him lying in the hospital bed hooked up to tons of wires, but I was threatened within an inch of my life :).

In between driving back and forth to the hospital I was at home taking care of the dogs, only to have Phoenix escape out of the backyard. Then I had to chase her down and repair the spot she got out of. What a day!

Here's a photo of Phoenix, no SHE'S NOT that innocent.

Here's a photo of Phoenix, no SHE'S NOT that innocent.

The Three Amigos

Phoenix, Rocket, and Tyler doing what they do best...soaking up the afternoon sun.

Thoughts for the Evening

Somewhat enjoyed the evening; had spaghetti for supper and a few glasses of Riesling. Sat outside and watched the dogs play and relaxed for a bit. Enjoyed the wine but now keep having hot flashes ever since, maybe not such a good idea I guess. Actually got some things accomplished yesterday: vacuumed and dusted. Jim cleaned some of the carpet, they look much better. Went out and ran some errands; went to Wal-Mart and then to Lowe's, but still need to go to Pet Smart and Kohl's.

Jesse called and asked how I was feeling then he asked when we were going to get together since we didn't do anything on his birthday.

Just finished reading Ro's E-book "Up the Down Hill". It was a good read and gave me some insights into myself and some things that I should be doing, and shouldn't be doing.

For instance:

Shouldn't be: Watching TV so much or maybe not at all, spending so much time doing wasteful things on the internet, facebook, twitter, etc.

Should be: Reading my Bible everyday, praying everyday, putting God above all else, exercising, watching what I eat and drink, writing, working on things around here that I should do.

Today I didn't do much of anything which makes me feel depressed and guilty. What did I do today? Got up let the dogs out, fed the dogs, fed myself, checked yahoo, facebook, mail, twitter, read two Mac magazines, finished reading "Up the down Hill, let Jim cook Supper, watched tv, chilled on the couch, called my sister twice to no avail, talked to Jesse, ate some lunch, ate some cheesecake, looked at yahoo, facebook, twitter, mail, some more. Pretty sad, huh?