Ron and Mary's Visit

Ron and Mary came to visit in early August, shortly after they announced their engagement.  Here are some photos we took during their trip, starting with one of Teo on the slide...

Go, Teo, Go!

And his brother Troy...

David and Mary in the yard, with Cooper looking on.

Ron pushing the boys in the swing.

Cooper enjoying some down time after an intense game of Fetch.

Troy Videos

David, Lucy and Troy came over Friday and I was able to get a bit of video of Troy and Marcy. Enjoy!










and even a video of Just Marcy:

Troy Walks!

Yessirree Bob, Troy started walking in early September. Here are a few videos taken of him a few days later at his grandparent's house, when he was 10 months and 1 week old:







And a video of the budding relationship between Troy and Marcy:

Marcy

 Marcy has lived with us for a little over a year now, so we thought it would be a good time to give an update on her: she's doing just fine.

 When she first moved in with us, the house was bustling with activity. She moved in with me, my wife, my son, his wife, and our 16 year old beagle Cory. Cory passed away last summer and David and Lucy moved out in the fall, so it is just me, my wife and Marcy now.

 Marcy misses David and Lucy, but she still gets to see them. I think she misses Cory the most, as they spent all day and night together. I hadn't realized how much dogs appreciate a second dog until we got Marcy (Cory liked having Marcy around, too).

But she's adapted just fine and everyone who knows her loves her. We've had her a year and I still have not heard her growl - ever. She'll bark one single bark when the doorbell rings, and today for the first time I heard her bark once at a crow in the back yard. She's doing mighty fine for a 12 year old dog (born June 30, 1997). She made her first trip to the vet under our care last week, and our vet instantly fell in love with her and gave her a clean bill of health. Hopefully she's got many more moons with us.

Troy at 19 Days Old

 David and Lucy brought our grandson over for his first visit to our home on Sunday. Troy was but 19 days old. We had a pot roast for dinner and David promptly fell asleep in my chair holding his son.

 I'm well known in the family as the Camera Man, so a little invasion of privacy on my part is expected. It's worth it to capture magic moments like these.

 Troy is a gorgeous, quiet, sleepy kid at this point. Dave and Lucy assure me that he knows how to use his lungs when there is something he needs, but he's been quite restful when I've seen him.

 Very peaceful. Shhhhhhh!

 My goal for the evening was to try and capture his eyes. No one is quite sure yet what color they are. Although I caught him with his eyes open a few times, they were not open wide enough to determine.  And I'm not going to blind him with super bright lights.

  Like the rest of the family, Troy has his limits on how long he'll continue to be a good model for my camera. But as we soon discover, there was someone we had forgotten to tell about the new addition to the family. She did not discover it all through dinner (while Troy slept), but right about now she figured it out....

Yes, Marcy began to suspect we had more that just laundry in our arms. We were cradling something...but what was it?

And here she discovers it. A baby! Marcy was delighted and oh so curious.

She continued to inch forward and get as close as we would allow. She was dying to get to know the baby.

 Troy, on the other hand, kept one eye on the strange bald man with the camera.

 And, after he had eaten his dinner, Troy quickly needed to return to napping. Here he is about to tell us that.

 My wife was able to get Troy to relax, and Marcy took the opportunity to sneak another peek.

 She was so gentle around the baby.

 Once she figured out that we were keeping her away from Troy, she tried to settle down and keep her distance.

But you can see on her face she's just doing it to make us happy. She would love nothing more than to cuddle the baby herself.

 Ooops! Naptime is approaching! Notice Marcy's nose in the lower right...she wanted to do anything she could to comfort Troy. She's such a good girl.

 A little bit of rocking while standing calmed Troy right down....

 ...he throws one more suspicious stare at the Camera Man....

....and he slowly drifts off to sleep, secure in the knowledge that all he has to do is call 1-800-508-0000 for a good lawyer (see TV in background). Thanks Dave and Lucy for bringing Troy by! We had a great time!

The New Addition

Here is the latest addition to our family - Marcy. She is eleven and a half years old and for the first year of her life, she lived with an Air Force family who was being transferred to Japan. They weren't able to take Marcy (named Mercedes at that time) with them, so my dad took her in so she wouldn't have to go to the pound. Marcy is a mixed breed.

For the next ten years, she lived with my Dad and has been a loyal family member. She has seen the family through some tough times during that decade, including the death of my mother from cancer. My Dad is no longer able to care for Marcy, so she needed a new home. We couldn't stand the thought of her going to a pound either so over the Christmas break we drove the truck to northern California and picked her up. She rode over 500 miles in a cage in the back of the truck home with us.

One of our main reservations about taking Marcy was how it would affect the household princess, Cory. Cory has been with us for fifteen and a half years and is definitely way late into her retirement years. She has never lived with another dog. She sleeps most of the day and walks very stiffly. Her eyesight and hearing are going also.

But it has worked out well. Cory actually acts more lively with Marcy around and I've actually seen her go out front and crouch down in the "Let's Play!" stance...something I haven't seen her do in at least two years. These first four photos were taken on a recent morning...I take them out front with me to get the paper first thing...they enjoy the morning air and looking up and down our rather boring street.

Marcy has adapted well to our house. She is an extremely obedient dog which is really the only way we could sign up to taking her in as she is also very powerful, even at eleven years old. She is a pleasure to be around. We have temporarily put runners on our wood floors because both dogs were slipping and sliding. I actually saw Marcy do a Scooby-Do move a couple of times.

The two dogs enjoy each other's company. I've seen them stand in our computer room doorway together on several occasions, watching us as we move about the house - wondering what we are up to. They sort of remind me of Mutt and Jeff, which is my new nickname for them. The only time I see any competition at all is when they are being fed or when I reach down to pet one of them (the other comes running right away!). We'll see how things go in the long run, but so far so good.

Grateful

A fireman rescued a dog from a burning house in Lincoln, Nebraska this week. Imagine the scenes and fears this dog had just faced - you can see the worry and gratefulness on his face.

Happy Thanksgiving, loyal family member. And a very happy Thanksgiving to the fireman who braved the fire to retrieve him.

2008 Travel Trend: Dogs

If the travel trend of the last few years has been increased security, I have noticed an entirely new trend in 2008: dogs!

I have been traveling quite a bit lately (the reason the blog entries have been fewer and farther between the last two months), and I can confirm that many dogs are now taking to the air. On my trip to the east coast this week, I counted FIVE dogs! When I stepped off the plane in Dallas, I saw a chihuahua being walked proudly down the center of the walkway, as if he owned the place. Judging from people's reaction, he did.

A little later at the same airport, there was a second miniature dog being walked in a similar manner. When I arrived at the east coast, I saw this cute little west highland white terrier. He was all eyes as he took in the hub-bub of the airport, not a word out of him.

On the way back, I saw a larger dog in a dog carrier and one more small pocket dog. None of them said a peep - were they sedated? I just hope they were being taken on short trips, as I'm not sure where these fellows would do their business in an airport environment. The other interesting thing is that all five were being tended to by women - have men not caught on to the trend?

Not long ago, we were wine tasting in a winery on the mid-California coast when a couple walked in with a Great Dane who could peer over the bar (and order himself if he so desired). We nudged the gentleman next to us and pointed. He turned back to us, unbuttoned his coat, and revealed a little brown chihuahua in his coat pocket. We couldn't stop laughing, it was so fun! Of course, the wine helped.

The Beagle Wins!

Yes, sports fans, for the first time in the history of Westminster Kennel Club's Dog Show, a beagle won the Hound Division. Not only that, but Uno the beagle went on to win Best of Show!

We are huge beagle fans and couldn't be happier - and judging from the crowd's reaction we are not alone.

This is the only dog show we watch each year, and unfortunately we missed seeing Uno win the Hound Division on Monday night, but we read about it. While being judged, he barked at his owner, bayed at the crowd, tried to grab his leash, and lunged at a piece of filet minon that was within sniffing distance. In other words, he was his normal beagle self.

Last night, we were glued to the TV to see if Uno would go on to take the top prize - and he did! He was in spectacular form and full of energy. As soon as he started his lap around the carpet, the audience went wild - Uno perked his ears up and looked around to see what the roar was about. It's about you, Uno! I've never seen that type of reaction from the crowd before, it was awesome.

Not only that, but when the judge singled Uno out for first place, the audience gave him a very loud standing ovation....unheard of! I couldn't believe my ears and eyes - I was thrilled to know how many other people understand the wonders of everything beagle.

We have a female beagle named Cory who is about to turn 15. She is our daughter, the princess of the family, and the undisputed lead scent detector of the house. Like Uno, she gets so excited when we head out the door for a walk that she turns her head, grabs the leash in her mouth, and tries to drag us out the door to hurry things up.

One thing that comes to most people's minds about beagles is the notion that they are very loud. While that is often true (as Uno showed), it is not true in all beagles. Cory very rarely barks and bays even less frequently. I'd say the reasons for that are three-fold: she was discouraged from barking as she grew up, she's female, and she grew up without other beagles around. Therefore, she modeled herself after the rest of her pack (us) and we don't bark. :)

Anyway, here's a photo of Cory taken quite a few years back while she was looking down the road at her 'boyfriend' Rodney (a golden retriever). Congratulations to the beagle world!