Nap Under a Rocking Chair

Shadowfax has a half-dozen comfy dog beds in the living room to choose from, but she'd rather take a little nap with her head underneath this rocking chair.  Go figure. 

Does this look comfortable to you?  It sure doesn't to me.  But who am I to argue? 

Shadowfax Asleep

Shadowfax the deaf pittie mix snuggling hard against the North Dakota winter. 

She spends a decent amount of time here in her cozy slumber ball and warming blanket.  I you want to check out the slumber ball bed or reflective warming blanket for your four legged friend there are links.  In many respects Shadowfax is a stereotypical pittie (or pittie mix) - lazy as all get-out.  If you want to know what a pit bull dog is like, here it is. 

That is the happy face of a dog that shall always have the finest things in life. 

Indoor Gardening and Pruning

It's been cold here in North Dakota, the third consecutive day where the temps haven't reached above 0. We're not complaining (much), that's winter in North Dakota.  Winter has some enjoyable activities, but it leaves a big gaping hole in our gardening yearnings. Some indoor gardening is in order.   

This is a ficus (ficus benjamina) tree that Alycia's parents had in their house for a number of years.  It belonged to Alycia's grandparents and is probably 20-30+ years old. It's been around for a long while. We've had it in our entryway for a few years and (as you can see above), it slowly grew to take over the East facing window in the entryway and leaving it looking really unbalanced.  Some pruning is in order!

I trimmed a bunch of unruly branches and rotated it. I don't rotate it very often as ficus trees can be finicky about being moved. They're prone to sulking and dropping their leaves if they get drafty or jostled around too frequently. After the trimming, you can finally see the nice window in the entryway with the leaded glass and tulip designs, I knew there was cool window behind all that foliage. 

Indoor gardening isn't as much fun as outdoor gardening, but it's a reasonable substitute for the next few months until the weather warms up and Spring arrives.  

Merry Belated Christmas

I didn't get you anything for Christmas.  Heck, we didn't even send out or post or usual Holiday Newsletter.  We feel guilty.  You feel slighted.  But we're gonna make it all up to you (and then some) with this...

This magnificent photo is our annual family Santa Paws photo, held every Fall and a fundraiser for the Circle of Friends Humane Society here in Grand Forks.  Alycia's Mom knitted (proof here and here) the whole family matching outfits - sweaters for Shaak Ti and Shadowfax, hats for Alycia and I, and a cowl for Tito.  Why not a sweater for Tito?  Well, any fool who tries to put a sweater on Tito will leave with fewer fingers than they started with, that's for certain.

Hopefully your laughter helps soothe the disappointment of our not sending out a Holiday Newsletter, or even posting more frequently here on the blog.  We hope you had a very merry Holiday season and are on the path of having a happy and healthy 2016!

Transporting Ivy Rose

In mid-September I helped transport Ivy Rose up to Canada for the National Brittany Rescue and Adoption Network (NBRAN). She came from the Minneapolis area and was heading somewhere into Ontario. I had the leg again from Grand Forks to Pembina, similar to when we drove Remington a few years back.

Here's a picture that her transport team posted of her prior to the trip. She was an excellent traveler for me in our big crate. 

When we got to Pembina, we had a few minutes to walk around. I tried to take some pictures, but it was hard with just one hand. 

She was a nice size for a pibble and I hope that her new family loves her very much. 

Thanksgiving - A dog, a Boy, and a Swan (no we didn't eat a swan)

For our Thanksgiving this year, we left the two little dogs at home for the day and only brought Shadowfax to my parents' house for dinner.  John just stayed for dinner and then hustled back with Shadowfax to spend Thanksgiving evening with Tito/Shaak Ti

Shadowfax made the most of her Grandpa and me time. 

She helped with cooking for a few minutes and was surprisingly good. 

Grandpa was very impressed. You can see the prototypical pittie tail blur.

The main reason that Tito and Shaak Ti were left at home was because we knew my friend Stacey, her husband Tony, and their son Jonathan were in town. Shaak Ti and Tito are not big fans of young kids so it's easier to just not tempt fate.  The guests showed up after we finished dinner and stayed well into the evening. 

Shadowfax, Shaak Ti and Cold Weather

The weather has finally turned chilly here in North Dakota.  We're not complaining (much) since we're had a fantastic run of warm and dry weather so far this Fall.  We've been able to squeeze an extra 2-3 weeks of garden time out of some of our flowers (more pictures in a later post), but that came to an abrupt end this week with a shot of snow and a few days of cold, strong winds. 

The dogs are adjusting to the onset of winter as they usually do, by hunkering down in their heated dog beds and snuggling under their warming blankets.  Shadowfax is generally the more sprawling of the two. 

This is Shaak Ti's "Why don't you get your butt over here and tuck me in under my blankie?" face.  We tuck the dogs a few dozen times a day.  Essentially every time we get up for anything, we're also tucking them in. Yes they're pretty dang spoiled.

This is a pretty typical afternoon scene, the girls sitting on the floor and snuggling together. Shadowfax sure knows how to pose for the camera. 

Rub a Dub Dub

Shadowfax in the tub.

She's not getting a bath, she just really likes to jump in there when Alycia uses the bathroom down in the basement.  Shadowfax has never had a bath in this tub, so she possibly doesn't know what it's actually use is supposed to be, and therefore isn't appropriately afraid of the tub.