Vegas Baby! Part 1

I just returned from a short, short trip to Las Vegas. I was meeting up with some relatives from Europe.

It's been quite a few years since I've been to Vegas. Kim and I used to go every February for the Photo Marketers Association convention. We were even married there.

This time I stayed at the MGM. It was surprisingly pleasant. There were Christmas decorations everywhere. I'm always surprised at the decadence displayed in Vegas.

The view from my room;



The MGM lion in the lobby.




You can view real lions in their cage.





New York, New York is right across the street.





Waterfalls in a mall;




Gondoliers inside the Venetian Hotel;





Oversized decorations at the Bellagio Hotel;






Next post; more pics of how your gambling money is spent.

December Beginnings

Here are a couple of Christmas videos I did a while back. Wish I had some new ones for you but they're so darn time consuming.

Click To Play

Some Christmas themed cartoons from Funny Times. (You really should subscribe.)














And remember back in February when I had the superficial basal cell carcinoma on my nose? Turns out it wasn't so superficial. More like "stubborn" basal cell. Anyhow, I had to go in and have the Mohs procedure and have it cut out. So I'm dealing with this now:





Yeah, it sucks. That's eight stitches on my nose and it's sore as hell.
So keep slathering on the sunscreen!

"Real" Thanksgiving Feasts

Outside our house (shot through a window) yesterday:






Not sure what type of hawk this was - maybe Cooper's or Sharp Shinned?




And I loved this from our local newspaper;

another "real" Thanksgiving Dinner - Feeding the turkeys instead of eating them;





You can read the story here.


However you celebrate it - Have a Great Thanksgiving!

Winning is Good - I Love My Hug-Bot!

Like the package said, "Shopping is Cheaper than a Psychiatrist".

Were truer words ever spoken?

I am the lucky winner of this cute Hug-Bot pillowcase.





I'll enjoy putting my sleepy head on this tonight.


Also, and probably offensive, but totally funny in my opinion, this dish towel;







Thanks Prairie Chicken!

Check out her blog, and buy some of her handywork for yourself from her Etsy shop.

Free pass day

I am sick today and guzzling Pedialyte. Today was supposed to be movie day with the dogs and I can't go. Anyway, no post today.

Taking a Dare

My sister responded to my post yesterday by telling me about a more interesting fitness gadget called GoWearFit that she has been using. This device measures steps, calories burned, time exercised, and how many hours you actually sleep at night. She also said that when she started measuring how much movement she did in a day, she was shocked to see that she was averaging around 4000 steps a day, so I guess my counter was accurate after all. There is another device called a BodyBugg that does everything the GoWearFit device does except measure sleep. I think I'm going to ask for one of these for Christmas instead of an e-reader since an e-reader will keep me sedentary.

Ann also told me about this site called Livestrong where you can sign up for all kinds of "dares". I'm interested in
fitness challenges, so signed up for the Walk 20 Minute a Day Dare. I was also motivated to look up my local Volkswalk association so I can start doing more interesting walks than walking on a treadmill. Portland/Vancouver often gets top 10 walking city recognition and I'm looking forward to discovering the area on foot.

Plugging along

This is Lyn's teaching day and therefore my give into cravings for dinner day. I went to Whole Foods Deli (Woops - first time in a long time, I swear) and came home with 2 bags of frozen okra, 2 containers of Brussels Sprout salads, and a new coffee. I love Brussels sprouts and no one in the family does, to my great disappointment. Now, what to do with the okra?!

I just learned some good news and some bad news - the good news is that I may not have to work Thanksgiving. The bad news is that if I do, the shift all but guarantees I don't get to eat dinner with my family. I'm hoping I get out of holiday work this year!

I bought a step counter yesterday with a new goal of trying to walk 10,000 steps a day. I took 2 separate long walks with Ardella and Madeline this afternoon and went to the store and walked on the treadmill for 7-1/2 minutes during lunch break. I'm almost there, but have about 2500 steps to go. Either this counter doesn't work well or I'm humbled by how little I move during the day.

I'm getting brain freeze with topics for this 30-day thing. I may give myself 3 separate days off from posting since I've had 3 days with 2 posts.

Kristin

I just heard that Kristin has been placed, but I'm not sure if she's a K-9 buddy or a pet. I do know that things went well. I miss her and I'm hoping to hear from her new family or from the CFR that placed her. Words help!

Edit: My leader thinks she's a K-9 buddy and that we will get more information. Crossing fingers that that is so!

She is a K-9 buddy! Yay Kristin!

Day 15 Blog Prompt

Are you spiritual, religious, agnostic, or atheist? Do you think there is one path to God, or many?

I'm spiritual, but also lean towards agnostic. I was brought up in a religious home, but didn't stay with the denomination. I'm afraid I have low tolerance for groups and have never truly found a "spiritual home." Religious Society of Friends (Quakers) (the silent, unprogrammed Friends) comes the closest to my beliefs, and my husband is a member, but I have never committed (and having a job where I work on Sunday doesn't help). I love silence and contemplative practices, and feel a kinship with the mystical branches of all religions, so yes, I do think there are many paths to God.

World Diabetes Day

I have added a button - go light a candle.

Madeline shows one way to fight diabetes:

Veteran's Day and Books about War

I found a book meme blog that asks questions for bloggers to answer on Thursdays called Booking Through Thursday. I really like the idea, so thought I'd answer last Thursday's question today and start with regular Thursday posts on Thursdays in the future. The question was: It is November 11th, known here in the U.S. as Veteran’s Day, formerly Armistice Day to remember the end of WWI but expanded to honor all veterans who have fought for their country, so …

Do you read war stories? Fictional ones? Histories?

I'm a pacifist who hates war, and I find it difficult to celebrate most any holiday that has a military flavor. When I was 11, my father (who is a Protestant minister) exchanged pulpits with a minister in Scotland for 6 weeks. We started our trip in Geneva, Switzerland, where I celebrated my 11th birthday with Andre and Magda Trocme, who served me a traditional Swiss birthday meal and ordered an almond torte instead of a birthday cake. Later, I was given a tour of a church in Geneva where priests used to collect penance tax from people and we saw a room filled with bones of dead priests. This tour left quite an impression of Andre Trocme at age 11, but it wasn't until 30 years after I met him, that I learned through the book "Lest Innocent Blood be Shed" by Philip Hallie about the role the Trocmes played in rescuing Jewish children in the village of Le Chambon. They never said a word.

We saw parts of Europe that had yet to be cleaned up from the intense bombing in England and Germany. We saw unexploded bombs in cathedrals. I saw my first war movie on the evening of our departure from Europe, it was a naval film, and I had to sleep with my parents that night. We were due to sail home in the morning on an ocean liner.

The sail home on the SS France was a highlight of the trip for me. I met a girl a year older than me and we became good friends and I spent most of the ship time with her. It wasn't until I missed church on Sunday morning, assuming my new friend would be going to church, too, and I could just go with her, that I learned that my friend was Jewish. I had never met anyone who was Jewish before. After the return home I encountered The Diary of Anne Frank and my eyes were opened to new horrors.

I also should mention that the early 1960s was a time when the Cold War was quite active and the Cuban Missile Crisis was part of my childhood. Atomic bombs and school drills, timing how long it took to run home from school, hiding under desks, and bomb shelters were part of my everyday existence in elementary school. So was the Civil Rights Movement, (my father was a Southern minister who moved to Tallahassee, Florida 3 weeks after the local bus strike started) and then the Vietnam War.

At any rate, my early experiences have taught me to abhor war, but how people survive in war and how war changes the world has always been fascinating to me. I don't read military novels, but I read both fiction and nonfiction about World War II. I read novels about the resistance movements, and novels and nonfiction about the Holocaust. I've read novels that take place in WWII Germany and know that not everyone in Germany was equally guilty. There was a resistance movement there, too.

I admire people who stand up to authority when authority is wrong and I admire people who fight back against oppression in amazingly creative ways. We've had many wars since WWII, and I read about the effect of war on people in Africa, Asia, and South America. Medicine is another favorite topic of mine to read about and I've discovered war medicine accounts and medical anthropology books about people who identify the dead in mass graves following acts of genocide.

I can't possibly list every book I've ever read about war, but here are a few that made an impression on me:

Lest Innocent Blood be Shed - the book about the Trocme family.

History: A Novel

The Invisible Bridge

The Book Thief

Charlotte Gray

Is Paris Burning?

The Spanish Bow

The English Patient

Stones From the River

For Rouenna

The Storyteller's Daughter

The Dressing Station

The Stone Fields

Let it Be Morning

Lost City Radio

Not Wanted on the Voyage I can't believe I forgot this one!

Learning house manners

I've been concentrating on house manners with Madeline this week. She's been getting a little wild with the other dogs, jumping on their backs, biting legs and playing alligator mouth. I don't want her to learn to be dog distracted, so I've been separating the pets from Madeline. I've been blocking off the open kitchen-family room area from the living room with a baby gate and I've been letting Madeline be on the kitchen/family room side with us. We have stacked two beds together by the tie-down and Madeline really likes this.



Last night I started watching the HBO series The Wire and I sat on the floor with my back against the couch, and pulled her bed beside me. Madeline didn't need any prompting and was content to stay with me during the 2 hours or so that I was watching. The nice thing about the stacked bed is that I can lie on it, too. Now I can snuggle with Madeline.

Madeline is also free to roam around the room and she will choose other places to lie down, like by the French doors that lead to outside. She also chews on toys or chases empty orange juice containers. At any rate, less time on tie-down is making us all happy. I'm just hoping she can learn to be calm in a room with the other dogs soon, but we're taking it a step at a time.

A favorite blog

When I wasn't laid off in October, I experienced a fleeting feeling of disappointment. There is a GDB book group in Portland called Bookhounds that meets on a weekday morning, so I can never attend. Had I been laid off, I could have gone.

I've come to terms that I still have my job, and that I prefer to have one. I can still read the books that the book group reads and can read their blog

I'm putting dogs on my 11 books in 11 categories for 2011 list and I'll be referring to Bookhounds for some ideas.

A favorite blog

When I wasn't laid off in October, I experienced a fleeting feeling of disappointment. There is a GDB book group in Portland called Bookhounds that meets on a weekday morning, so I can never attend. Had I been laid off, I could have gone.

I've come to terms that I still have my job, and that I prefer to have one. I can still read the books that the book group reads and can read their blog

I'm putting dogs on my 11 books in 11 categories for 2011 and I'll be referring to Bookhounds for some ideas.

Love the cold!

So the November blog prompt today is What do you like most about cold weather? What do you like least?

It finally got cold here and I knew I was missing something. I have many things I love about the cold, but it depends on whether it's a damp cold and dry cold. I love cold weather because I can wear a coat, hat and scarf. We can cook casseroles and soup and baked things. I love the seasonal lattes at coffee shops (and today had a peppermint mocha at Peets). I have more energy to be outside and exercise. It means planning for holidays, being thankful, being generous, being reflective. I read more in the winter and I get more knitting projects accomplished. I love sleeping under comforters.

I love cold temperature, but I don't like long hours of darkness, and I don't like endless days of rain. It gets harder as I get older, too. This ennui always hits me after the holidays when there are 3 more months of endless rain. I like the little surprises though that come around February, like primroses and hellebore, and by the end of February I can put away my light box because it's getting light enough for me to feel like I'm waking up.

We just got back from Trader Joe's and we found some good treats like sweet potato tarts with candied pecans and drinking chocolate (not hot chocolate). It's time for holiday food and I'm getting excited. I have a hankering for decorating this year. I hope the dogs cooperate!

Love the cold!

So the November blog prompt today is What do you like most about cold weather? What do you like least?

It finally got cold here and I knew I was missing something. I have many things I love about the cold, but it depends on whether it's a damp cold and dry cold. I love cold weather because I can wear a coat, hat and scarf. We can cook casseroles and soup and baked things. I love the seasonal lattes at coffee shops (and today had a peppermint mocha at Peets). I have more energy to be outside and exercise. It means planning for holidays, being thankful, being generous, being reflective. I read more in the winter and I get more knitting projects accomplished. I love sleeping under comforters.

I love cold temperature, but I don't like long hours of darkness, and I don't like endless days of rain. It gets harder as I get older, too. This ennui always hits me after the holidays when there are 3 more months of endless rain. I like the little surprises though that come around February, like primroses and hellebore, and by the end of February I can put away my light box because it's getting light enough for me to feel like I'm waking up.

We just got back from Trader Joe's and we found some good treats like sweet potato tarts with candied pecans and drinking chocolate (not hot chocolate). It's time for holiday food and I'm getting excited. I have a hankering for decorating this year. I hope the dogs cooperate!

No subject Tuesday

I changed my e-mail address today and have spent most of the afternoon fixing up my home page. I've added Hangman, a pet hamster, BBC News headlines, recipes, daily Spanish words and a Hindu God of the day (today that would be Rahu, a sky demon who swallows sun and moon, causing eclipses). I've also added a fish tank, but it's very fake looking and dull, so I'll probably take that down.

It's rained all day and has been dark since I got up this morning. I can't believe it's only 7:30 p.m. - it feels like 11.

I'm off to relieve the dogs and I'm going to try to make them believe it's bedtime so I can retire and finish up The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I sure am sad that there will be no more books in this series!

No subject Tuesday

I changed my e-mail address today and have spent most of the afternoon fixing up my home page. I've added Hangman, a pet hamster, BBC News headlines, recipes, daily Spanish words and a Hindu God of the day (today that would be Rahu, a sky demon who swallows sun and moon, causing eclipses). I've also added a fish tank, but it's very fake looking and dull, so I'll probably take that down.

It's rained all day and has been dark since I got up this morning. I can't believe it's only 7:30 p.m. - it feels like 11.

I'm off to relieve the dogs and I'm going to try to make them believe it's bedtime so I can retire and finish up The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest. I sure am sad that there will be no more books in this series!

Day 8

Now that's an uninspiring title. I can't believe I've done this 30-day blog challenge for 8 whole days.

It's show and tell day. I finished a hat last week and it's a slouchy hat called Etta and I knit it from Cascade Heather. I'm actually proud of the hat. I don't know who it belongs to yet, possibly me.



It will probably be paired with this Pimpeliese scarf I'm knitting. I'm using a fingering yarn that has a number of long color changes.



I learned today that one of my favorite club dogs is in class to graduate in November. That would be Dalston. I'm so happy he's in class!

We're having Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter's house this year. This is a tradition I'm glad to see starting. I usually have to work Thanksgiving (this year being no exception) and it will be nice to be bringing a side dish. Plus, it's nice not to have all the tempting leftovers!

Day 8

Now that's an uninspiring title. I can't believe I've done this 30-day blog challenge for 8 whole days.

It's show and tell day. I finished a hat last week and it's a slouchy hat called Etta and I knit it from Cascade Heather. I'm actually proud of the hat. I don't know who it belongs to yet, possibly me.



It will probably be paired with this Pimpeliese scarf I'm knitting. I'm using a fingering yarn that has a number of long color changes.



I learned today that one of my favorite club dogs is in class to graduate in November. That would be Dalston. I'm so happy he's in class!

We're having Thanksgiving dinner at my daughter's house this year. This is a tradition I'm glad to see starting. I usually have to work Thanksgiving (this year being no exception) and it will be nice to be bringing a side dish. Plus, it's nice not to have all the tempting leftovers!

MARS stars

I got a note from Leslie of Mini Aussie Rescue and Support about 4 of the dogs she has in rescue that were in movies this summer: Marley and Me 2 and the new Reese Witherspoon movie. Dogs for Marley and Me 2 were Dexter, Buddie and Harley. Dexter was considered brilliant, Buddie did agility and was filmed inside a tunnel, and Harley was too nervous on the set to be in the movie.

Comet was in the new Reese Witherspoon movie and is in a scene where he's on a grooming table at a shelter having just been brought in as a stray. I saw the trailer for this movie yesterday but I can't recall the name of it.

It's killing me to post this next part, but my husband has said no and my puppy club leader would not approve. However, somebody who reads my blog might be interested or know of someone who would be interested. Dexter and Comet are available for adoption. The people who trained them felt that Comet has really good potential to be a therapy dog as he is gentle, small and loves everyone. Dexter would be a great demo dog for a trainer and would make any trainer look brilliant. Leslie said he has mild separation anxiety but it could be managed by a knowledgeable person.

As far as Marley and Me 2 goes, I will go to see the dogs, but I'm a little skeptical about the talking dogs with Australian accents (Aussies are not Australian dogs).

This video is going around like crazy on Facebook. I'm impressed because it's a terrier and it just goes to show what the power of positive reinforcement techniques can do. Since I can't have my MARS star, I'll see what I can do with Aidan.

MARS stars

I got a note from Leslie of Mini Aussie Rescue and Support about 4 of the dogs she has in rescue that were in movies this summer: Marley and Me 2 and the new Reese Witherspoon movie. Dogs for Marley and Me 2 were Dexter, Buddie and Harley. Dexter was considered brilliant, Buddie did agility and was filmed inside a tunnel, and Harley was too nervous on the set to be in the movie.

Comet was in the new Reese Witherspoon movie and is in a scene where he's on a grooming table at a shelter having just been brought in as a stray. I saw the trailer for this movie yesterday but I can't recall the name of it.

It's killing me to post this next part, but my husband has said no and my puppy club leader would not approve. However, somebody who reads my blog might be interested or know of someone who would be interested. Dexter and Comet are available for adoption. The people who trained them felt that Comet has really good potential to be a therapy dog as he is gentle, small and loves everyone. Dexter would be a great demo dog for a trainer and would make any trainer look brilliant. Leslie said he has mild separation anxiety but it could be managed by a knowledgeable person.

As far as Marley and Me 2 goes, I will go to see the dogs, but I'm a little skeptical about the talking dogs with Australian accents (Aussies are not Australian dogs).

This video is going around like crazy on Facebook. I'm impressed because it's a terrier and it just goes to show what the power of positive reinforcement techniques can do. Since I can't have my MARS star, I'll see what I can do with Aidan.

Falling Back

I usually hate this day - I'm never prepared for shorter days and I think I'm one of the few people I know that love daylight saving's time. Short days mean SAD with a vengeance for me, except I don't get depressed, I get sleepy. Somewhere in our evolutional past, I'm sure we hibernated and that I kept that gene.

I'm going to challenge myself to stay awake through the late Fall early Winter season this year and I'm going to start a new blog of challenge lists. So far I'm going to have an 11 books in 11 category challenge and 11 new things to do in 11 different categories. I'll be spending some time figuring out those lists and have a new blog to go on January 1, 2011.

Lyn set up Madeline's new bed arrangement yesterday. She has a dog bed inside an ex-pen at the foot of our bed. I hope to be able to take the ex-pen away soon. Her crate is now in my office and when I get up in the morning I take the bed out of the ex-pen and put it at the foot of her crate and leave her crate door open. She's well-behaved in the office and I can leave her loose and now she can go in her crate or sleep on her bed, which gives her a little bit of variety during the work day.



P.S. The toys inside the ex-pen do not stay in with Madeline all night long. They were in there yesterday because I was photographing yarn while introducing Madeline to her new bed.

P.P.S. My new map is a visual tool of the countries I've read about, not visited. I'm too afraid of flying to visit to have been to all those countries.

Falling Back

I usually hate this day - I'm never prepared for shorter days and I think I'm one of the few people I know that love daylight saving's time. Short days mean SAD with a vengeance for me, except I don't get depressed, I get sleepy. Somewhere in our evolutional past, I'm sure we hibernated and that I kept that gene.

I'm going to challenge myself to stay awake through the late Fall early Winter season this year and I'm going to start a new blog of challenge lists. So far I'm going to have an 11 books in 11 category challenge and 11 new things to do in 11 different categories. I'll be spending some time figuring out those lists and have a new blog to go on January 1, 2011.

Lyn set up Madeline's new bed arrangement yesterday. She has a dog bed inside an ex-pen at the foot of our bed. I hope to be able to take the ex-pen away soon. Her crate is now in my office and when I get up in the morning I take the bed out of the ex-pen and put it at the foot of her crate and leave her crate door open. She's well-behaved in the office and I can leave her loose and now she can go in her crate or sleep on her bed, which gives her a little bit of variety during the work day.



P.S. The toys inside the ex-pen do not stay in with Madeline all night long. They were in there yesterday because I was photographing yarn while introducing Madeline to her new bed.

P.P.S. My new map is a visual tool of the countries I've read about, not visited. I'm too afraid of flying to visit to have been to all those countries.

Movie day

Lyn and I have wanted to take Madeline to the movies for some time and had plans to go see Secretariat as that was the only movie we could imagine seeing (it was an awful summer for movies). Lyn gave me a time for Secretariat that didn't appeal to me, so I started looking at movies playing in the area and low and behold good movies are out again! The puppy club is going to be going to a movie as a group in a few weeks and we'll be going to a second-run movie theater, so the chances of going to see something like Secretariat are good (children will be going). Therefore, we decided to go see something more sophisticated than Secretariat and went to see Hereafter with Matt Damon.

It was a long movie (a little over 2 hours) and I think probably wasn't the best choice for Madeline's first movie, but we both liked it and I recommend it. It's the story of 3 people whose lives have been touched by death, one a woman who has had a near-death experience following a tsunami, the second (Matt Damon), a man who has a gift of connecting with the dead after his own near-death experience as a child, and the third a young boy whose brother is killed. It's like reading 3 different short stories, but all the stories connect eventually.

Madeline got very restless during the movie, but she wasn't trying to eat anything off the floor. I think the outing with the club will be easier if the movie is shorter.

I have a list of about 3 movies that I want to see now, and that's the longest list I've had in several years. For Colored Girls, The Town, and Conviction are at the top of the list. Lyn won't go see The Town with me, so I may have to wait for that to come out on video or go see it alone.

Movie day

Lyn and I have wanted to take Madeline to the movies for some time and had plans to go see Secretariat as that was the only movie we could imagine seeing (it was an awful summer for movies). Lyn gave me a time for Secretariat that didn't appeal to me, so I started looking at movies playing in the area and low and behold good movies are out again! The puppy club is going to be going to a movie as a group in a few weeks and we'll be going to a second-run movie theater, so the chances of going to see something like Secretariat are good (children will be going). Therefore, we decided to go see something more sophisticated than Secretariat and went to see Hereafter with Matt Damon.

It was a long movie (a little over 2 hours) and I think probably wasn't the best choice for Madeline's first movie, but we both liked it and I recommend it. It's the story of 3 people whose lives have been touched by death, one a woman who has had a near-death experience following a tsunami, the second (Matt Damon), a man who has a gift of connecting with the dead after his own near-death experience as a child, and the third a young boy whose brother is killed. It's like reading 3 different short stories, but all the stories connect eventually.

Madeline got very restless during the movie, but she wasn't trying to eat anything off the floor. I think the outing with the club will be easier if the movie is shorter.

I have a list of about 3 movies that I want to see now, and that's the longest list I've had in several years. For Colored Girls, The Town, and Conviction are at the top of the list. Lyn won't go see The Town with me, so I may have to wait for that to come out on video or go see it alone.

Yes, we're going to a party, party!

After I baked the cake this morning, Madeline and I went birthday gift shopping. Madeline couldn't go to the party because food was involved, so she got to ride around town with me and go to a store. We went to Natural Pet Store just up the street and I bought a new bed for Madeline (she's going to move to a bed inside an ex-pen tonight to start her on the road to sleeping on a bed full time) and treats and toys for Annalynn and Ardella.

I had arranged to pick up Marion, a friend of Karren's, to bring her to her first dog birthday party ever, and I picked her up about 1:15 and we drove out together to Karren's house (Ardella was with us, too, of course). When we drove into Karren's driveway, Annalynn was there to meet us. After an enthusiastic hello, we went to Karren's deck where the dogs went around and said hello to all the human guests.



It was a beautiful day as seen here from Karren's deck:



The adults sipped cider and seltzer while the dogs sat around and napped a bit.





The girls were decked out in special attire. Annalynn sported a fancy birthday kerchief:



Ardella wore her elegant collar with a pink flower.



After a few minutes of visiting we decided to give the dogs some cake. We had to get a picture of the cake and the dogs waited patiently. They're only sign of excitement was a constant drip of drool in anticipating of eating (which hopefully you can't see).





Yellow jackets chased us indoors where we finally gave the dogs their cake. First, we made them sit and wait, which was really hard!



They were off to their bowls at the O in Okay.



After cake, Karren showed Marian and I around her home and we saw all the projects she and her husband have been working on all summer. The dogs played chase in the yard with wild abandon and I'm sorry I wasn't carrying my camera.

Eventually we had a delicious carrot cake for adults and then the dogs opened presents. The dogs got some yummy treats from Karren:



And both of us got squeaky toys for the dogs. These are Ardella's - she got a fox and a squirrel, shown here in the picture. Annalynn got a rabbit and ?:



There were infamous antlers (which Madeline does not get):





The best.toy.ever was a puzzle Kong. Annalynn's was blue, Ardella's was orange. We put freeze-dried chicken in them and both were busy for some time.





I had to leave around 4:30 to get back to Madeline, and Marian stayed behind to visit with Karren a little longer. Karren had bought birthday hats for the dogs and had forgotten about them, so we put the hats on the dogs and took some final pictures. They were less than thrilled, but we enjoyed the photo session.





A good time was had by all. We plan to do it again next year. A belated happy birthday to all the other "A" puppies, wherever you may be.

Yes, we're going to a party, party!

After I baked the cake this morning, Madeline and I went birthday gift shopping. Madeline couldn't go to the party because food was involved, so she got to ride around town with me and go to a store. We went to Natural Pet Store just up the street and I bought a new bed for Madeline (she's going to move to a bed inside an ex-pen tonight to start her on the road to sleeping on a bed full time) and treats and toys for Annalynn and Ardella.

I had arranged to pick up Marion, a friend of Karren's, to bring her to her first dog birthday party ever, and I picked her up about 1:15 and we drove out together to Karren's house (Ardella was with us, too, of course). When we drove into Karren's driveway, Annalynn was there to meet us. After an enthusiastic hello, we went to Karren's deck where the dogs went around and said hello to all the human guests.



It was a beautiful day as seen here from Karren's deck:



The adults sipped cider and seltzer while the dogs sat around and napped a bit.





The girls were decked out in special attire. Annalynn sported a fancy birthday kerchief:



Ardella wore her elegant collar with a pink flower.



After a few minutes of visiting we decided to give the dogs some cake. We had to get a picture of the cake and the dogs waited patiently. They're only sign of excitement was a constant drip of drool in anticipating of eating (which hopefully you can't see).





Yellow jackets chased us indoors where we finally gave the dogs their cake. First, we made them sit and wait, which was really hard!



They were off to their bowls at the O in Okay.



After cake, Karren showed Marian and I around her home and we saw all the projects she and her husband have been working on all summer. The dogs played chase in the yard with wild abandon and I'm sorry I wasn't carrying my camera.

Eventually we had a delicious carrot cake for adults and then the dogs opened presents. The dogs got some yummy treats from Karren:



And both of us got squeaky toys for the dogs. These are Ardella's - she got a fox and a squirrel, shown here in the picture. Annalynn got a rabbit and ?:



There were infamous antlers (which Madeline does not get):





The best.toy.ever was a puzzle Kong. Annalynn's was blue, Ardella's was orange. We put freeze-dried chicken in them and both were busy for some time.





I had to leave around 4:30 to get back to Madeline, and Marian stayed behind to visit with Karren a little longer. Karren had bought birthday hats for the dogs and had forgotten about them, so we put the hats on the dogs and took some final pictures. They were less than thrilled, but we enjoyed the photo session.





A good time was had by all. We plan to do it again next year. A belated happy birthday to all the other "A" puppies, wherever you may be.