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temporary diary for the girls

nothing, grocery shopping and the giant school grounds,- movie night again!!

Jolanda:

Yesterday morning was pretty boring. Mom made a list of all the things we will take with us for traveling. It is not a whole lot, but it took a while since she tried to reduce it as best as possible. Looks good. Then dad backed up mom's computer, so she can upload many many photos in Germany :o)
Mom was tired and so was dad. It is a lot they have to think of and I can feel the tension rise.
Mom has mixed feeling about going to Germany. Long story, but last time was nice compared to the years before.
I am with her so that is a huge plus!
Later we went to do some grocery shopping. We needed new food, so dad went into the Ranch 99 Market to get all the ingredients. Mom and us in the meantime went on a pretty cool walk in the neighborhood. We discovered a great field, which seemed to be part of a high school campus. This area was so huge, you could easily fit two baseball fields and some soccer fields in it. Bummer. We had fun chasing each other, rolling and goofing around. We even raced up and down a hillside. Josephine seemed to have pulled a muscle doing this. It is not too bad, but she was limping slightly. Happens.
After this fun time we went back home, mom's bones, joints and head hurt, but this happens once in a while. Dad started cooking in the mean time relaxed over folding the laundry and was back in shape in no time. Well, an hour ;o)
Then she got in the car with us and went down to the Marina. We got to the parking lot and all of a sudden mom said "duhuuu" like really loud and turned around. Jojo and I looked at each other and rolled our eyes. What now?
She drove somewhere else, also the Marina, but another lot. And there was Ollie!!! Yippie.
We got out and went for a super nice walk. We did a lot of playing, but Jojo had to take breaks, since she was limping. Mom did some physical therapy exercises with her, she learned the techniques with the horses when she was younger. After a bit of bending, stretching, massaging and pressing Jojo was back on her feet and her limp was almost gone. It flared up here and there, but only slightly.
Ollie loves running around with us and we love to chase him. He is a great sport.
We had a lot of fun and when we got back home, our food was done! We all ate, it was fabulous. Way to go dad!
Then Jojo was in a crappy mood. Her routine was disturbed and she was in pain I guess. She was pretty much annoyed about everybody around. She tried to hide it, but it was not so convincing. Mom asked Jojo to just get up on the bed and spend some time away from the action. She went to give her a kiss, massaged her a bit, spoke to her for a little and then Jojo staid in the bedroom. She came back once in a while, because she could not sleep without mom and her blanket. But she hung in and got through it. Ollie had a good time and so did I.
The humans ate and watched videos again. I was fun I guess, because they were in a great mood.
At some point the Ollies had to go. We were all very sad. Jojo said bye only briefly and went back inside. Unusual for her.
But well, sometimes we all feel like a foul tomato and want for it to pass.
We all went to sleep and I have to tell you, I really enjoyed my day and all the attention I got ;o)
Jojo is better today but we take it very slow. Mom does not like to see us sick. It will pass.
It was a fun day!

Ollie at the Bulb, the lost Chi, crowded stores, mom being- unfair, in prison and staying behind..

Josephine:

Yesterday, Saturday, we went to meet Veronica and Ollie at the Albany Bulb.
We were all so excited and had a blast on our walk. Mom, dad, Veronica did a lot of useless obedience with us. Well, if it makes them happy.... Finally we got to mind our own business and had a great time.
On our way heading out the trail, we met a couple that has lost a little Chihuahua :o( The area is large and the grass is very high. There are many spots for a Chi to fall into structures, holes, it is surrounded by water and gets pretty chili at night. We told everybody we met about the missing doggie and hope they will find it.
a bit later we came across a puppy, looked like a Puli. I walked around it like I always do, Ollie waged his tail and bounced by, Jolanda trotted along on the other side of the trail. All of a sudden the dog comes up to Jolanda and jumped to grab her face!! Jolanda was stunned, fell over backwards and then very clearly told the pup off. I could not believe this pup did this. The owner said - "ah no worries, he is a chicken." We were like - aeh? Then Ollie came flying and herded the dog away with a very clear tone. It went to sit at his dad's feet. We all went on and when mom turned around one more time, she saw the guy push the puppy on the ground and holding him down. Stupid, stupid.
Jolanda was a bit confused over this incident, but Ollie and I helped cheering her up.
She was fine a bit later and went on playing with Ollie.
We all decided to drive to Target, since mom had to get some stuff for her trip. Ollie was really excited that he got to practice. He loves Target, especially with us ;o)
Guess what..? Jolanda got to go to Target! Unfair :o(( I waited in the car for them. Later Jolanda told me that it was pretty cramped and she did not even have time to yawn! Wow, that must have been pretty tough. She said that mom was stressed and took forever to choose from the shelves.
Dad luckily found an empty register in the corner and they got to check out quickly. I was so happy to see them and wagged my tail so very hard.
After the Target we headed to REI, they sell all sorts of stuff for camping, hiking, biking, all the -ings. Dad had to find shoes. This time I got to go :o) REI is one of my favorites and mom wanted to make me happy. At first all went fine and I followed mom around. We went to the heads and gloves first. I picked up on a slight change in mom and started nudging her. Mom praised me but kept moving. At least she was so smart to move to the shoe department. I nudged again a few times and this time she did not care at all. I went straight to dad, wanted to tell him. Mom got a bit tensed, cause she did not want for me to go to dad. Dad told her to sit for a minute, he would be fine looking for shoes. Mom did not listen and helped picking shoes. Mom started to stress out over it, because of all the choices they had. I did not like this and started to pull toward the exit. I love the store and did not want to leave, but mom started "boiling". She kept telling me to stay with her and not "drag" around. I stopped and when mom sat down, I jumped right on her lap. This was a bit better, so I had her under control at least. She got much better. I got off her lap and said hi to Veronica for a second. Then I started pulling toward the exit again. Eventually dad was done and went to the register. Mom wanted to check out the doggie section. She started putting back packs on my back and got more and more tensed. She is stubborn. I was not willing to stay any longer and became very clear in my message - I wanted out! Now and right away. Mom got pretty angry and did obedience with me. I did not even want to look into her eyes. Mom taught me "out" and that's what I stuck with. Eventually she got on the floor and gave me a hug - good mom. Then we left and on the parking lot mom was unfair again! I headed toward the car and somehow it was wrong again. So we did heel practice!! Can you imagine? Me heel practice? I decided to just play along and get through with it, but made sure she knew how stupid she was and how ignorant. Mom relaxed more and more. She was about to explode in the store. Way too many stimuli and way too much. I got in the car and put my head on mom's leg. She started crying and apologized to me. She does not even have to do this, because I am a very forgiving soul when it comes to mom's non responsiveness to the stuff she actually taught me. She wants to know better and insists on wanting to decide by herself. She can, no doubt there, but sometimes she needs a little reminder......
While we were driving, mom calmed down and told me stories. I liked it and fell asleep. It is hard work being a SD, really. Mom was in a better mood and back to her normal self, when we stopped at Ollie's house!
We even got to go inside, but had to sit in the crate so Sabrina would not get upset. It went very well and she was fine with us being around. We sat in our crate and felt like we were in prison. The humans made fun of us, because we looked so "cute". Yeah, right.... Ollie got to be outside and goof around - kind of unfair, don't you think?
Nevertheless it was just fine being in Ollie's house and take a break.
Mom was sad that we had to go at some point, but a baseball game will start without mom and dad. They did not want to be late.
I was all excited and so was Jolanda, because we thought we would go with them.
Wrong.. We ended up at Muffi's house and had to stay there!! Both of us! Mohom?? What is that about? She never told us.
After a few hours mom and dad came back. We were so happy about it. They told us about the game, we got in the car and took of.
At home then we got an amazing dinner. We better, because it was already several hours after dinner time.
Kind of a stressful day, but well.

office, campus, errands and my paper work and the sick woman

Jolanda:

On Friday we went to Stanford with dad. First we did a great 3 hour walk on campus! We had so much fun, there was a tennis tournament and we got to play with balls and talk to and cuddle with players. Mom, Josephine and I were invited to come watch but unfortunately we had to move on. It would have been so much fun! All those balls *sigh*.
On our way back to the car, we came a cross a group of baseball players. Several teams were warming up, so we stopped to watch for a little. Then all of a sudden a guy came and asked if Josephine wanted to do the opening catch - never heard about an opening catch, only pitch. But well. Mom said yes, had Josephine sit on the pitcher's mount and left the field. Jojo was so excited, she wagged her tail and watched the catcher like a hawk. Then after a bit of applause, the catcher threw the ball very far and Josephine ran for her life to go catch it! She got it, doing a very fancy jump that made moms toenails curl since these balls are so hard. Josephine does not mind - she is a hard head ;o) Once she got it, she ran back to the catcher to drop the ball. Everybody was clapping their hands and praising Jojo. She was so excited and ran right back to the mount :o))
We had to convince her to move on and finally she did, grinding her teeth.
It was fun.
It got hot quickly and we had to do some grocery shopping and go to the pharmacy. Mom took both of us! People were so excited about us trotting alongside mom. I was even off leash and clung to her legs. Josephine was on leash, heeling wonderfully. Many people asked questions about us and mom gave out 15 flyers in two stores!! Wow, bummer mom.
People were most impressed at the Trader Joe's.. None of us cared for the groceries. Mom was so happy. She had no focus, concentrating on us, you know? We had to just "do" it.
We did, even off leash ;o) Seriously, we would have done everything to be with mom. As always mom was considerate, though and asked before we entered the store. We were welcome since they know us individually already. Guess what? We even got a sausage for free!! Oh boy, this was awesome.
Eventually we ended up at the office and mom had to do a bunch of paperwork. She was lazy and tried to avoid it for the last couple of weeks. She got hers in place but not mine. Well, today she finally did.
We were very patient and got off a bit late, but that was ok. We don't mind. It was hot outside anyways...
After work we had to go to a copy shop, since mom had to laminate a few things.
She left us in front of the door, actually inside in the front room. We could see mom and had no problem with it. The copy shop visit was a bit on the challenging side. There was a very sick woman, she was coughing and sneezing. She was obviously very sick. The woman was right next to the laminating machine and mom had to step away from this area. She found it confusing that a sick person would risk getting others sick in a warm and stuffy place like this. Most people avoided her. Mom waited for a long time until the woman left and then went to take care of her things. Dad was with us at the door and watched mom, like we did. He did not like the situation either.
It took a while until mom was done, but she made it and her paperwork looks fabulous.
We finally got to go home and get some dinner. We were already hours overdue!
But nevertheless it was an eventful day :o)