Agility, Graduation and Rain

Yesterday was downright boring. Rain, rain, rain. We did go to the grocery store because it was dog food cooking day. Mom got the ingredients for the homemade food she makes. It is really yummy and keeps Belle's and my coats all shiny.

Friday evening we went over to Breeze's house because Art and JoAnn got a new computer that wasn't talking to the internet. Mom does computer stuff pretty well, so she worked on getting things going. Even though I love to play with Breeze, I wanted to be with Mom--that's my job. I didn't like it when she was lying on the floor and kept checking her. Mom figured out I was worried and gave me some good pets and praise so I could go settle down.

Saturday, was SO fun. It was our last day of agility for the season.. There were only a few people there, so it was mostly socializing and running the course every once in awhile. Baby Zeus was there with Cammy and Blitzen (who is doing A LOT better). Zeusie was happy and really attached to Lisa. He told me he loves his new home and family even though he misses his brothers and sisters. He has forgotten all about his funny hat. Art says he looks like a Shriner, whatever that is. Lisa wants to get him used to surfaces and build his confidence while he is still young (like Mom did for me). With help from Nugget and Breeze, they took him on the agility equipment suitable for babies.
Baby Zeus Learns Some Agility

Then we had our last class for the year--graduation from Basic. The weather was good so we got to be outside. Here are some pictures:
Last Day of Classes

Mom especially likes the picture of Art babysitting all of us dogs while class is going on. Also, you can tell when JoAnn starts handing out diplomas and treats because we are all at attention.

I'm going to miss classes and agility. We'll probably keep going over to Breeze's house so we can run and because Mom helps JoAnn and Art with some things--mostly computer related.

Mom promised to take me to the park today. Let's go already!

Exciting week

Tuesday, we went with Nika and Lina to their advanced training class. Mom wanted to observe how they do things. Lina learned how to carry firewood to help her Mom. She did a great job. They all practiced stairs. A couple of dogs there didn't have very good manners, but Lina wasn't one of them. She did hog the back seat, though. I scrunched up into a corner and looked at Mom with my "help me" gaze. She said, "you're alright" and I realized I was. After all, it's Lina's seat and she is a big girl.

Wednesday, Mom had to go to the dentist. When we walked into the office, I thought "uh oh". It was no big deal though. Her permanent replacement tooth wasn't perfect, so they put it in as a temporary and she will have to go back. Temporary teeth? Humans!

Later, we drove to the valley to meet Zeus and his Mom at one of those huge stores. Mom got dog food for us and for our friends up here. She wound up pushing around a cart that was heavy with bags of dog food. I thought Belle would be really happy when she sees all of this.

Mom paid for that and got out of the store without problems. YAY! Auntie Jeanne told Mom how to find another store because she still needed a few things. Mom thought the directions were very clear and decided not to follow in our car. What a mistake! Mom gets muddle-headed and lost easily, especially where there is traffic and lots of traffic lights. It was already dark. Mom drove around in circles FOREVER and wanted to cry. The electronic lady on her dashboard didn't know that Sam's Club existed and when Mom tried "Walmart" the stupid lady wanted to send us far away. After asking someone and getting lost again, Mom called to get the address and told the stupid electronic lady what that was. She finally found it. This took a LONG time. Zeus and Auntie Jeanne were still waiting for us. They must really love us because it was SO cold. Auntie Jeanne said they met many kind strangers while they were waiting.

We got home late and Belle was all worried about dinner. I told her she shouldn't worry. We ALWAYS get fed. Plus, she should see how much dog food Mom bought. WOW!

Yesterday a man came with our property manager Tammy to look at the shower. The man didn't know about wiping his paws, so when he stepped in the tub, he made mud. He said something about taking it apart and putting in new sheet rock (hmmmm...rocks in sheets, doesn't sound too comfortable to me). He said something about Mom not taking a shower for a couple of weeks. Now that JoAnn has sold her shop, that means I probably don't have to take a bath for a whole two weeks! YAY!

Mom had the man put his dirty paws into garbage bags to walk out of the house. I'm sure glad she doesn't make Belle and me do that. I prefer standing for a towel wipe down any day.

Speaking of which, last night Mom said I stink and whooshed me up and into the tub. I'm glad I don't know in advance when she is going to do that. At least it was only a butt bath. Dogs, I'm looking forward to seeing what a sheet of rocks is and being able to avoid baths for awhile.

Mom on the computer SO much

We have done some fun things over the last couple of days, but Mom has been on the computer a lot too.

First the fun things. Several dogs had either a make-up class or an evaluation on Saturday, so we went to school. Who showed up? LINA! She has been pulling her person around. Even in a halti, they struggle. Her mom has lots of pain, so on her bad days when she needs Lina most, the pulling is especially painful. Mom fitted Lina with one of our training collars and JoAnn told Lina's mom how work with it. After only a few minutes, Lina was heeling on a light, loose leash! Lina was happy to have the halti off her face. When she realized she wasn't supposed to pull she said, OH! No problem. She didn't really understand that before because she mostly pulls. Her mom was happy and grateful. They are going to come to one of our classes when we start up in January.

Yesterday, Mom and I went to meet Zeus and her humans at the coffee place. Zeus and I just lay there like always while Mom and Auntie Jeanne talked and played with their beads. Every once in awhile, Mom would drop one and it would roll by me, just like a ball but no fun to chase. Then Zeus' dad joined us with some books he bought. Mom started asking him all about fossils and dinosaur birds. They talked about "leaf-cutter ants" having a highly developed social order. Mom thought that was really cool. Ants? All they do is crawl over bones in the yard and taste weird.

About too much time on the computer--Mom wants to do more things with our friends in the bay area. The drive is really far and staying overnight expensive. She thinks if we had a den we could sleep in, but with wheels, we could go visit more. We could maybe park in one of our friends' driveways. She would have to sell our car to do that though and she likes our car. She has been looking at special dens on the internet to see what she can afford. If she can get a den with a smallish engine and room for a bed and other stuff, she may do that. I don't know what that will be like, but if it means we get to go on more adventures, I'm all for it!

No Special Dens for Us

We had an adventure today. Evidently, with all the computer time, Mom found a van she liked. According to internet information, it was about the same price as our car is worth. She thought it would be a great trade.

The van was far away. We went on a windy, windy road and had to stop and wait a bunch of times because people were spreading stinky stuff around.

When we got there, Mom left me in the car for a few minutes, then came back to get me. We went into an office where she handed over her keys. She talked to a really nice lady there. A man with red lines under his eyelids came to stare at me and talked about how he wanted a dog like me. Silly human. There aren't any more of me, just the one.

The lady got up and came back with a paper that had a red number on it. Mom said, no way. We got up pretty quickly after that and left.

She drove a long time. We stopped for Mom to have some coffee. Lots of people wanted to talk to me or stare at me. Mom didn't have much patience with that today.

After a walk, we went to the office where Mom talks to that nice lady who helps her with her feelings. According to Mom, the price the car people wanted to give her for her car was about half what something called the blue book says it's worth. Mom was disheartened. They talked the whole time about how Mom can do more of the things she wants, including going to visit our friends in the bay area. "Money" came up a lot. Blah Blah Blah. Mom didn't need me so I dosed off. I perked up when Mom said it's because of me that she wants to do more things, that I make it possible. She said her world is bigger now, so she wants to enjoy new places. I'm all for that. For now, I guess we will be doing it the way we have been and may have to miss some stuff.

Money is something I don't understand but evidently the human world seems to require it. I'm glad to be a dog and not have that worry.

Long day and now bad weather

We had a long day yesterday starting out with my ball chase at the park. I'm so glad we do that before I go to work.

We rode in the car for a really long time which usually means an adventure. Sure enough we wound up at Mr. Taco. Ollie and Iris were there stretching their legs. Pretty soon, Zeus got there and we went into the restaurant. Mom had me go way under the table. I mostly napped. Mom's energy was really good and she was happy. That means I can sleep.

When we left, Annie came with us. She and mom yacked while Mom drove. Every once in awhile, Annie reached back to pet me and tell me how cute and sweet I am. That felt good.

After Mom dropped Annie off, she made a stop to use the bathroom and get a cup of tea. Like usual, there were people who talked to me. I know now to ignore them. Sometimes that is hard. Holding my "post" position is the most important thing in public, so I do that regardless of how silly people get.

The last stop we made was at our grocery store. It had started raining, REALLY hard. There were lots more people in the store than usual. Mom doesn't like that and had trouble. I made sure to move around to the right position for her because she had to wait at the deli and meat counters. When it looks like people want to step between me and her, she has started saying, "closer" and I know to close the gap. She was so happy with the job I did that she bent down and told me, "you're da bomb!" I love hearing that.

After we got home, it started snowing. I like the snow, but I'm not enjoying the cold so much. Maybe it's because a lot of my extra coat was groomed away. That's okay. Mom doesn't make us stay outside.

Today, all we have done is sleep. Mom, Belle and I, even Kermit, slept off and on all day. Nobody wants to go out in the cold. Mom says more snow is coming. Lots of naps. I hope Mom doesn't forget that I NEED my ball chasing.

Our New Den

What a long day I had! First we went over to Breeze's house. I haven't been able to ball chase or anything for two days so running with Breeze was going to be fun. Well Breeze hadn't played either and instead of playing chase, she just wanted to jump all over me and sit on me and stuff. That's not very much fun. She is big enough now that I can't get away from her when I run, so I wind up hitting the ground really hard. I just gave up trying to run.

JoAnn got in our car and we drove off, leaving Breeze there. We met Art who followed us over that windy, windy road.

Art test drove the van with Mom and me riding along. He really liked it, said it was "tight", handled well, was solid, in nice shape, all good things. He was ready to find everything wrong with it, too, but couldn't find anything.

When we got back, Mom was so anxious, I knew she needed help. I leaned up against her while she was standing and talking with Art and JoAnn. If I could, I would have made her leave, but she needed to do this. We went into the sales office. Mom was a mess. She told the lady what she had to offer. Then she got more anxious. I kept getting up and looking at her, looking at JoAnn, asking her please to do something for Mom. JoAnn knew what I was doing, so she started to do some of the talking and bargaining.

They decided to go to lunch and talk about it. At lunch, Mom was still anxious, so I kept trying to get out between her and the restaurant walkway. I wanted to protect her. Mom kept trying to get me to lie back down. JoAnn told Mom "She's just picking up on your nerves. She doesn't do this otherwise." Mom said that's true and stopped trying to get me to lie down where I couldn't protect her.

When we got back, they made a deal. Art and JoAnn left and Mom signed a whole bunch of papers. She had finally relaxed, so I stretched out a took a nap. That was a good thing because riding in our new den is totally different. I can see EVERYTHING. That's because I rode in the front seat. It's way up high. I wanted to watch everything as we drove home.

Mom says she really likes our new den on wheels. Art is going to help her take out all the metal stuff that's in there right now. He will help her put a bed in too. He said she could put an RV plug in there and get a little electric heater for sleeping. For now, Mom is just happy to know she got a really good car. I'm glad Art and JoAnn helped her because she wouldn't have been able to do this herself. Well, she does have me, but I'm not old enough to drive or fierce enough to bargain.

The Sun is Out!

Mom is a wimp and doesn't like the rain, wind and cold. It's not my favorite either, but throw a ball for me in any weather and I'm happy.

Just to catch up, we went to meet our friends at the restaurant in Dixon for something called Thanksgiving. It was just a regular day for me, and I think for the humans as well. They were happy and silly as always. We rode in Zeus' car. He brought his sister Teagan. A really nice human named Annie also came with us. She didn't bring a dog, so Zeus shared Teagan with her.

After the humans ate we went to a big store where Mom found a bed for our new rolling den. She was really excited, opened it up and lay down on it. One of the humans said "Make sure there is room for Rethy." Mom pulled me up on the bed and yep, there was room. The bed goes places with us now. I wonder what Mom is up to.

The next day, we went to Breeze's house to play. Evidently, Breeze has been chasing down the moles in her yard which results in her being covered with mud and little trenches through the grass. JoAnn doesn't like that so she calls me in to help get Breeze tired. Breeze told me she will still chase moles regardless. I told her that sounds like fun.

Mom took our new van over to her mechanic to see if he would take out the extra shelves. He was glad she found such a nice van and said he would take the shelves out for a trade because he could use them in his shop. Cool.

We did a little grocery shopping, came home and have been home ever since. Boring. All of us napped yesterday. Mom was on the couch where Kermit can't see her unless he is standing on the tippy top of his cage. He kept saying "peek-a-boo". He was bored and wanted to play, too. Later, Mom slung chocolate around the kitchen. She called it making "chocolate gingerbread houses". For all the mess she made, she wound up with only one house. It looks like she is going to make more. Can't she do something more interesting like toss the ball for me?

We will go out today because the sun is shining. YAY!

Mom with Grooming Scissors? Scary!

I had a fun day today. Mom took our new den to her mechanic so he could remove some of the shelves and a barrier between the seats and the back. JoAnn and Breeze came to pick us up and took us to Nevada City so we could walk around. Breeze is doing well at walking through new places and paying attention, heeling and everything. JoAnn wants to take her as many new places as possible. Mom says we need to go into the city so she can walk by buses, motorcycles and maybe some sirens.

It was sunny so the humans decided to have a snack and coffee at an outdoor cafe. We walked around some more then picked up our van and drove to Breeze's house. Breeze and I got to run around and then whoosh, we were both in a "stand" on a brick wall. JoAnn brought out her brush, scissors and combs and proceeded to instruct Mom on how to trim around my feet.

I'm patient which is good. Breeze and I were both standing there with our Moms holding up our back feet and trimming away. I whispered to Breeze that Mom is really clumsy. Breeze knew that because every once in awhile, JoAnn had to stop and fix something Mom did. JoAnn also trimmed around my ears while Mom worried about it being too short. JoAnn was really patient with my fussy Mom. She decided that I look good, though. One of these days, Mom is going to do that part, too. Hoo boy. It's a good thing I'm not vain.

The change to our new den is great. Now I can lie in a bed right near Mom with my seat belt on and without that big metal thing rattling between us. I don't have to sit high on the passenger seat which I didn't like at all. On the way home from Breeze's house, I stretched out in my bed admiring my pretty trimmed feet and thought, "Life is good..."

Decorating, Split Pea Soup and Cars, Cars, Cars

Last year we went to JoAnn and Art's house to help decorate their yard. I ran all around while they put up big blow-up snow men and Santas, reindeer that raise their heads up and down like they are grazing, candy cane lights along the drive way and lights all over the trees.

This year, Amber wasn't there to cook for everybody, so Mom offered to make split pea soup while everyone else decorated. She cooked while I stayed outside to play with Breeze. Now that Breeze is so big, I can't run fast enough to get away from her. She jumps on me and chews on my feet. She's so big I can't do much about it. I play fight too, but Breeze is bossy. Don't get me wrong. I love my cousin, but sometimes...

When JoAnn's feet got tired, she went inside. She told Mom she wanted to bring me into the house so Breeze would stop "tormenting" me. I wanted to play, but it was good to be inside and rest. Mom was in the kitchen stirring two big pots of soup, tasting it, having JoAnn taste it. They kept saying it was still crunchy. Evidently split pea soup isn't supposed to be crunchy. The soup cooked for 4 hours and was STILL crunchy.

JoAnn got a "food processor" out and they put some of the really hot soup in that to grind it all up. What a mess. It was still crunchy. JoAnn kept telling Mom it was okay, but there were people to feed. The good thing was, JoAnn's son's family said they didn't like peas and besides, they needed to get back to Reno before the snow got really bad. They left. By the time JoAnn's daughter and grandson got finished decorating, they thought the soup was normal. Every one said it was really good. Silly humans, all of this fussing over soup.

Art had four boxes of collector cars he was trying to give away to his grandkids who didn't want them. Mom told him that he could make money selling them on ebay and offered to do that for him. They loaded up the van with boxes that Mom went through when we got home. She kept shaking her head and saying "what a shame." Mom knows about collector cars and was sad that they had been stored so carelessly and had broken parts. She picked out some of them and sat with q-tips and vinegar water to clean them up. Then she photographed six of them. She is going to try to sell them to make money for herself and Art. If that goes well, she will clean up and try to sell some more.

Today, we are all inside. I'm hoping to get out to play ball but the weather is icky. Maybe if I look pitiful enough and drop my inside ball on Mom's feet enough times, we will go to the park.

SO much going on

Mom hasn't helped my write in my diary because she has been so busy. It's like this.

Auntie Kim came to visit for several days. I love her. She throws my ball in the air, then laughs when I play hide and seek with it. She and Mom did all kinds of work to get things ready for a party where people came over and put candy all over little chocolate houses. Mom's is sitting on the bookshelf. I don't get it, but the humans had fun.

When Auntie Kim was here, we all went out to dinner at a Thai restaurant. The humans sat for a long time before any one brought them menus or took their order or brought more water or anything. In the meantime, the floor was soooo cold. I was shivering. Mom didn't know what to do because she couldn't really bring me into her lap. She put me between her feet and petted me until they could get out of there. The humans liked their food, hated the service and my vote is not to go back.

Mom has been getting our van ready to go on a trip. She has a portable sink, a propane heater and an electric heater, a bed, some other equipment. We went super-shopping with Auntie Jeanne a couple of days ago and Mom got this heavy plasticy fabric to hang over the windows. Today, she measured and cut and got all excited. She said, "Rethy, we're all dressed up with no where to go." Then she laughed. I didn't get it. Human humor rarely makes sense.

It's raining and raining. Today, after I did some working for Mom, she took me to the park. There was a break in the rain, so Mom threw my ball and let me get all muddy chasing it. Sure, she had to wipe me off and I'll probably get a half-bath later. It's all worth it to chase a ball.