365: Road Trip!

Our landlord came down to fix some stuff at the house this morning and when we was here he told me his little dog Zippy got bit by a snake last night and he had to go to the emergency vet. Luckily he had already had a rattlesnake vaccine so he made it. This was my call to action! I'd been meaning to get the girls vaccinated but kept putting it off. The Butte Humane Society has a walk in clinic every day of the week (M-F) and super cheap vaccines. So I hopped in the shower after Bill left and tossed the girls in the car to go get their rattlesnake vaccines! They were SO EXCITED to be GO, GO, GOING! They also decided that despite the fact that I drive a station wagon they both needed to squish into the front seat and breathe on each other and me. Total nerds. But they got their first shot so hopefully it will save their little lives if they ever happen upon a snake while running through the canyon!

365: Camp Awesome is Teeming with Wildlife!

Scientific method proved that there is more than one salamander living in our yard. I saw four at one time today! Two are pictured here; they're so small I couldn't get all 4 in the picture with any kind of clarity. There's also a slug in the picture. We have lots of them.

Scientific method also led us to reject the null hypothesis. Ho did not equal "Dogs will shred little salamanders into millions of pieces." I think this is because they salamanders belong to the honey badger family; they did not give a crap about the girls sniffing them. If they would have darted it would have been over for sure.

365: Looking Out Over the Pride Land

Duke likes to pretend he's the Lion King. He'll sit at the top step of the deck for hours on end just watching the world go by. And by world go by I mean nothing happening. Because duh, we live at the bottom of the canyon. Maybe he sees a bird fly by every once in a while. Maybe he's reflecting back over his life. Who knows? All I know is he loves it and he sure looks cute doing it!

365: Caught Red Handed

The poison oak case I have is one of the worst I've ever had. I think I got it from giving the little girl dogs a bath this weekend. The most interesting part is checking out where I must have touched myself after giving them a bath and before I showered myself. This picture is of three fingerprint-shaped rashes I have on my upper stomach. So weird.

365: Rock On Old Man

Duke doesn't really like to play with dog toys. But he does love some rocks. We went on a walk this morning and he found this rock about a 1/4 of a mile from the house. He scooped it up and decided he didn't want either of us getting it so he ran ahead about 50 yards and kept looking back to make sure we were still coming but not close enough that his rock was in danger. When we finally got back to the house he ran out of places to go and I could finally snap his picture. He tried to sneak it in the house but got in trouble; he knows the rules, no rocks in the house!

365: Silly Boy

This is our Dukey boy. Dukey only likes to eat his from a laying down position. He has bad hips so I think it hurts for him to bend over to eat. In the top picture you'll note two standing feeders that we got so that he could eating from a standing position. He basically told us to take a leap off a bridge because he refuses to eat from them. So instead squatty little Sam eats from them. Because he's weird too.

When Duke is done eating he likes to pass out on the floor next to his bowl. Never know when you might get hungry again and will need quick access to food!

I also like that Duke appears to be sticking his tongue out at me in the top picture. He knew I was going to rat him out on my blog!

365: Beef flavored or barf flavored?

Duke's new pain medicine, Rimadyl, comes in a "beef flavored" chewable tablet. However if it tastes like it smells I'm gonna guess it's closer to "barf flavor." YUCK! If dogs could talk...

365: The Sneak

Oh sure. She looks all innocent and cute NOW, but when I woke up on the couch a little while ago I woke up to two little beady eyes staring down at me. Yes, DOWN. Which implies she was above me. Considering she's less than 2 feet tall all stretched out that can only mean she had somehow wiggled and tiptoed her rumpus onto the couch without waking me up, and managed to perch right next to my head where she was finally able to wake me up with the power of her laser beam staring at my eyelids! I live with a bunch of weirdos!

365: Wanna Know How I Know Ange is Perfect for Me?

Tonight we were moving something out of this storage cabinet and we crashed into this dog bowl and half of it spilled on the floor. We both looked down, looked up at each other, shrugged and said simultaneously "Meh, someone will eat it."

And then cracked up at our mutual "efficiency."

Good job Daisy. You didn't let us down.

365: Yoda Dog

Carmie was being weird (as per usual) and I caught her in the middle of a trance. It looks like she's summoning the force.

365: Dorky Dog Eyes

Until we moved into Camp Awesome, I never realized how differently dogs see from humans. Specifically, how wacky their depth perception is and how hard it is for them to figure things out sometimes. One of those times is when I try and call for Duke when he's on the upper driveway. When I come out the door and he's standing anywhere except the end of the deck he gets so confused as to how to get to me. I have to physically walk to the end of the deck so he can see how to walk a basically 90 degree angle to come in. We do this at least once a day. You'd think he'd figure it out. Especially since if left alone he eventually comes and stands at the backdoor. Nerds.

365: Exhausted

Daisy looks how we feel. In the midst of all the sick doggie craziness, Daisy has been her usual wacky self. Today she did NOT want to come in when it was time for us to leave. So we decided to let her be a wild and free dog. This meant she would outside for about 6 hours by herself. She spends hours and hours outside when we're home so we figured it wasn't much difference. We left a bowl of water out (and she always has our mineral spring overflow pan) and hoped for the best. Well at least Ange did. I was worried to death all day. Nervous dog mom you could say. We got home and she came running up the canyon to greet us! I was relieved. I thought she might come in for a long nap like she usually does on the weekend, but nope! Stayed outside until the sun went down. In addition to the time she spent when we got up today, she spent almost 12 solid hours outside today. She loved every minute of it. And now she's passed out COLD. Works out for all of us!

365: Happy Boy

We weren't the only ones who enjoyed the sunny day! Duke got a nice brush down and as you can see he was happier than a clam about it!

365: Last Night in Paradise

After about eleventy million phone calls, a change in medications for a third time, and a trip to the vet we were finally able to secure new pain medication for Duke. There are going to be 4 sad doggies tomorrow when all the floor pallets come up. Poor spoiled babies.

365: Rufus!

This is our little neighbor buddy Rufus. He's just the cutest, sweetest, timid little guy ever. It took about a month of time and lots of treats to make him our friend. But now that he knows our cars = treats, he's our best friend. We met him a long time before we met his dad...which leads me to the fact that his name is not actually Rufus. His name is Logan. But when we met him we didn't know that so we needed to give him a name instead of just calling him neighbor dog. After a few months we met his dad. We told his dad that we named him Rufus and he thought that was hilarious. And now when we talk to him, he also refers to Logan as Rufus. Rufus is such a better name for him. Logan is only good for a human or a pet wolverine.

365: Weirdo

We have 6 water bowls in this house. And yet? None of them are apparently as delicious as licking water droplets out of the shower.

365: Crazy Bug

Carmie is OBSESSED with bugs. She is particularly fond of moths. She runs and jumps through the air trying to catch them and eat them. Since the rain came last week we've had a plethora of moths. Getting her to concentrate on going to the bathroom or eat dinner is nearly impossible. Nerdy girl.

365: Naughty, Naughty Dogs

Someone was apparently very hungry today. That is a box of dog treats torn to shreds. The recycling containers live in the basement with the dogs. I guess if you're hungry enough an empty box with a promise of crumbs is enough to get you by for the day. Sad story for Carmie--she's the only one who cuddles in this "house." BUSTED.

365: Daisy's Turtleneck

Daisy, the notorious escape artist of the harness/collar contraption, has gotten a new harness. We spied it this weekend at Petco and decided to give it a whirl. It only fastens in with a strap in one area and the rest is a wide swath of mesh covering most of the upper body. It appears to be working. She's tried twice to shrug out of it and has not been successful. We think it's because it creates almost a turtleneck style neckline on her due to the whole mesh connectedness piece. I'm sure given time and with enough effort she could Houdini her way out, but luckily she only has to be in it at nighttime when we can keep an eye on her. She's not THAT quick with it like she was with her other one. And while she doesn't love it, she sits patiently while I slip it on her and looks only a little bit pathetic with it on!

365: FREAKING MUSHROOMS!

There are tons of wild mushrooms growing in the canyon. There are at least three different species that grow in our gravel alone. I've seen two or three others growing out in our yard too. I'm totally a mushroom lover--as long as I know what they are (for 100% sure) and that they aren't either some poisonous killer mushroom or some trippy psychedelic mushroom. However all the ones growing around our house are suspect. So they piss me off continually every time they pop up. I don't want the dogs to eat them so I'm constantly digging them up and flinging them in the garbage. I just wish they'd stay away!