Two Years . . . and Counting

MealTime

Meeting Alejandra

Introducing "the puppies" to the new puppy (aka Alejandra the guinea-bear) went much, much better than I thought it would/could. Hank has a mixed track record with puppies and Dagny can be a mean little girl.

Amazingly, Hank was fine automatically, and he just wanted to play, although there was some concern he might think she was like a squeaky toy. Dagny growled at first, got smacked, and then was less than interested in this furry little thing getting the attention. She has since warmed up to the guinea-bear, and now the three are bosom buddies and play until the little one is soaking wet.

Alejandra = 5 pounds
Hank = 50 pounds
Dagny = 35 pounds

The Count

Katie: 1 down, 5 to go

Patrick: 5 down, 2 to go (kinda)

Bublicans

Merry Christmas

"What Christmas is all about"

(you have to pause the music to the right)

Merry Christmas!

Love,

Patrick, Katie, Hank, & Dagny

Our House - The Master Bedroom

It’s been a little while since I promised to post pictures of the Arizona House. After the Dining Room, I got a little distracted, but here are some of the bedroom . . .

. . . or maybe it looks more like this on a normal day

Making the Bed

The other day I was kinda stressed, so Patrick asked if he could do anything to help me out.

“Sure, can you make up the bed?” (I had just washed the sheets but had not managed to get them back on the bed yet)

He said okay, disappeared for a few minutes into the bedroom, and then reemerged - “Done, but it's not made up ALL the way since we're about to go to bed." (I figured this meant . . . well, a kinda "turn down" look, right? No decorative pillows and such.)

While I appreciate his efforts, this is what I found when I went into the bedroom later . . .

Patrick's version of making the bed . . . at least the sheets are on there, top AND bottom!

Our Christmas Tree

. . . And yes that's a real fire in the fire place!

Parents' New Puppy

"Alejandra"

Decorating the Christmas Tree - California

Second Rhamey Thanksgiving

The day after Thanksgiving, we took a trip to Dog Beach with all four Border Collies (and a dachshund) in tow.

Favorite Picture of the Day:

Dagny is biting Ladybird. No one is actually carrying the frisbee. Rocket is lagging behind.

Hank's Booties -
I honestly had no idea that Hanks booties would be such a big deal at Dog Beach (it is California after all), but he was the talk of the beach. Everyone kept asking us, "why is that dog wearing shoes?!"



















Katy & Kate














Look at that tail go!

Dagny's New Crazy Thing

Yesterday we discovered that if we say "Ready? One, Two, Three!" then Dagny goes CRAZY! We're not sure why, but it is her new favorite game.

Booties

This is what Hank's beach booties look like (although they don't come up as high on him).

I don't know if this is because we bought a different style than is pictured here or if Hank is simply "thicker" than this puppy.

Hank's Foot Drama

This week Hank finally got our attention. On Sunday morning he was limping around and holding his foot up to us.

He had a nasty thorn in his pad. Poor baby! We tried to get it out, but it was in his pad really deep. He trashed around too much for us to get a hold of it with our tweezers.

We even tried soaking his foot in water to possibly loosen it up. THAT was the most traumatic part for some reason!

He was obviously in even more pain Monday, so Patrick took him to our new vet. Hank was a very sweet boy, but they had to sedate him in order to get the thorn out and clean the wound. While they worked on him, they discovered two more holes in his foot! When he got home, Hank was very groggy.

Hank's Club Foot

Hank got to hang out on our bed and recover, away from his jealous sister.

Dagny was quite anxious about what was going on.

Hank & Mommy

If he chewed at his bandage, we would have to get a cone for him to wear. Someone chewed at it . . .

. . . but it was not Hank, so a cone would not have helped.



















We put a sock on it to keep it from unraveling anymore.



















And then taped the sock on.



















Feelin' a little better . . .
























HP and I went back Thursday for a follow up, and the vet said Hank was healing nicely. He got his bandages removed but has to be careful about what kind of surfaces he runs around on (no hot concrete/asphalt). The vet also said "no" to California's Dog Beach unless Hank only walks (yeah right!) or wears some kind of protection on his footsie. So, today Patrick and I will go shopping for some fashionable booties for Mr. Hank. I think he will be very excited.

P.S. You wouldn't think that having a giant thorn pulled out of one's foot while drugged would be fun, but Hank was soooooo excited to be back at the vet Thursday that he could not keep him booty on the floor because his tail was wagging so hard. I couldn't even get him to stop ra-ra-rooing, barking, & howling with excitement while we were in the waiting room. It was kinda embarrassing, but Hank was like a celebrity! Even though he had only been there once before, everyone knew him and came into our room to say hello. What a sweet boy we have . . .