All about River!!

So our new puppy River has been with us for 3 whole weeks!! She is happily adjusted to her new home and life. She and Loki get along great; they do play fight- like siblings. They may nip at each other but never anything serious. River got her stitches (from her spaying) out last Monday (Sept.12), we were finally able to give the little girl a bath. Which she needed. She visited the vet and got a clean bill of health, well minus the parasite but that is totally treatable and is almost gone. She goes back to the vet next Monday for another well puppy visit. River likes to follow Loki all over the place. We don't worry when she goes outside as she tends to stay close to Loki. She is still getting used to the leash. However, she can already sit on command and understands "go outside" and "bedtime". She likes her crate. Occasionally she will cry, really howl, but that's only if a) she can see people or b) she is really wound up. Most of the time we can put her in her crate and she is good.

The Vacuum Cleaner = Evil! Yes, puppy is scared to death of the vacuum cleaner. She runs out of the room and trembles. Something must have happened to her before she came to us, but she is young enough we can get her over this fear. Loki isn't afraid of it, she just doesn't like it and therefore barks at it.

River loves to play with toys, especially Loki's. Suprisingly Loki is okay with this. Often she brings a toy to River. This way River is distracted and Loki can get TLC. Loki is still spoiled rotten, we are making sure that we spend time alone with her too. Loki and I still have Loki/Jenny time- where she sits by me and I put my arm around her and rub her chest. Eventually she lays down and rolls over so I can rub her belly.

River is a lap dog...or so she thinks. She loves to run towards us and dive into our laps. Sound famliar? That's b/c Loki used to do that. Loki still thinks she is a lap dog.

Having two dogs is quite the adventure. I have to keep constant eyes on River. Two weekends ago I had to take her and Loki (b/c Loki likes to follow me too) to the bathroom with me as I was the only one home. I am constantly saying "No River!" I so did not miss those rose thorn puppy teeth. Generally where ever Loki is, River is nearby, and vice versa. Whatever River does/gets, so does Loki. We treat them equally. Although Loki doesn't get as many treats as we don't want her getting fat. River, on the other hand, we want to gain weight. Little girl is still pretty skinny. She is gaining though. She is getting bigger too. Pretty soon she will need a pinch collar (or as we call it 'power steering') and we will be able to really start training her. Loki will go through training as well. So far the Monkey See, Monkey Do theory is working quite nicely. Let's hope it continues!

Loki vs. River

Since we now have two dogs I thought I would blog about both of them and do a little Since we Photnowcomparison on the two.

Loki

Breed: Labrador Retriever (pure)

Age when adopted: 7 weeks Age now: 5 years

Weight then: 8.2 lbs Weight now: 62 lbs (solid muscle)

Color: Yellow

D.O.B.- February 8, 2006

Literal Meaning of Name: Loki is the Norse God of Mischief

Story behind the name: We were searching for the perfect name for her when I suggested Loki, my parents asked "What does that mean" I explained and we all decided it was perfect for our mischievous puppy

Nickname (s): Lokilu, Little Rodent (dad's nickname),

Fave toy (s): Frankenmoo and Squeaky the squirrel

Song: I like to Move it (this is her theme song), Brown Eyed Girl (this is what I sing to her), and the Nudzzle song (silly song mom sings to her in the morning

Photo on top left is Loki when we first got her Photo top right is Loki today

River

Breed: Labrador Retriever mix (dad was pure Golden Retriever, mom was Lab mix)

Color: Black w/ white splash on chest

Age at adoption: 9 weeks Age now: 11 weeks

Weight then: 8 lbs (skinny little girl) Weight now: 16 lbs (starting to gain weight)

D.O.B- June 23, 2011

Literal Meaning of Name: a natural stream of water of fairly large size flowing in a definate course or channel or series of divering and converging channels (ty dictionary.com)

Story behind name: Again, coming up with a name was hard. I was really pushing for Sahara (as she was getting really big drinks of water), Dad came up with River b/c she was constantly peeing. River suits her perfectly as she is constantly taking in large amounts of water and then getting rid of it.

Fave Toy (s): Draco the Dragon, whatever Loki has

Nickname: Little girl, River Rat (dad's), River Pup (mine...interestingly enough that was the name of my univerisitys former mascot),

Song: None as of yet.

River

This blog was written two weeks ago and I forgot to publish it. More details about the new puppy. Enjoy!

Last week we adopted a 9 week old black labrador retriever mix. Her name at the time was Tina Turner. We named her River. River likes to drink mass amounts of water and she also pees a lot. This is how she got her name. She is 10 weeks old and gets her stitches out on Monday, which means then she can get a bath! Yay! Puppy is smelling a bit funky. Loki was groomed on Friday so she is all sweet smelling and fluffy. River and Loki are getting along better. They are playing and chasing each other a lot. It is a bit of a mad house here. River thinks everyone is a living chew toy, so we have to have something nearby to offer her as an alternative. I haven't had an opportunity to upload photos of her yet as whenever I get home from work, River takes up all of my time. Today I honestly felt like a stay at home mom to two kids. I can trust Loki, but I can't let River out of my site. I have only gone to the bathroom alone when River is a) being watched by Mark or is b) in her crate. Wherever Loki goes, River goes and vice versa. Last night, toys littered the living room and I had two crazy dogs nipping, chasing, "talking" at each other. River is doing a lot better in her crate. She only cries in it when she can see us, or when she knows you are in another room and could therefore potentially let her out. Right now I am hiding out in my room. River is sleeping in her crate, and Loki is out cold in front of my tv. I wanted to watch the baseball game and play on facebook in peace. Not possible with a 10 week old puppy who is into everything and peeing every 15 minutes (so it seems). I will post more pics of her soon. Now it is time to wake the baby up to go outside and play a bit. Then bed time for both of us. I love having 2 dogs, but at times they drive me crazy. I love my Lokilu and River tho.

Meet Puppy Noel pt 2

So our new baby is called Tina Turner for now. We will be changing her name to something that fits her personality better. What that name will be, I have no clue. So for now we call her the baby. Since we met baby on a Monday I suggested the name Luna which is Spanish for moon. Lunes is Spanish for Monday, so Luna for short. Other name ideas: Sahara (if she drinks like Loki does- that's her name for sure), Raine (it might rain t/m), Madrid, Dakota, Jubilee, Arizona, Pandora, and Persephone (Perrie for short) - in keeing with the goddess names. Now will we pick one of these names? No clue. Watch we come up with a name not even mentioned. We usually let our animals name themselves as dictated by their personalities.

Ex: Climber-adopted at shelter, cat was climbing the gate to get eye level with us

Sparkle- her eyes sparkled at me when we adopted her

Shadow- silly girl scared herself when she saw her reflection in the dishwasher

Loki- she was/is constantly mischievious.

Hints as to her personality: very curious, loves belly rubs, loves to be craddled like a baby, gives kissies, loves to play hard, was very sleepy/calm when we met her and when Loki met her.

What does that mean? Not sure. However, baby will have a name soon enough. Mom took a lot of pics when she and Loki met, so those will be posted on facebook soon enough. I can't wait until she comes home and joins our family! And now the Noel family is a family of 6!!

Meet Puppy Noel!

It's official! We are adopting another dog! She comes home t/m. About a month or so ago, mom decided she wanted to adopt another dog. Dad finally agreed/ caved (however you want to look at it) So began the great search for a puppy. Mom wanted a chocolate labrador retriever, she didn't care if it was a pure bred or not. Dad still wanted a pure bred. So I began looking on the internet for puppy. Eventually, dad decided that adopting from a shelter was fine. It was decided that we would not get puppy until mid- August. This would be after mom and dad's Canadian vacation and boyscout camp. However, after some discussion, we decided to adopt a black lab puppy instead of a chocolate. As soon as I changed the parameters of our puppy search, I came upon Patti LaBelle on Adoptapet.com. Patti was a black lab mix puppy, solid black and absolutely adorable. I immeadiatly texted mom and told her I had found our dog. Mom e-mailed the shelter, which is located in St. Charles, stating that we wanted to meet Patti. So that afternoon mom picked me up from work and we drove to Five Acres Shelter, formerly the St. Charles Humane Society. We arrived there and saw some black lab puppies hanging out in the back of a truck with some people milling around it and talking. We initially went over to the truck and met Tina Turner, a black lab mix with a splash of white on her chest. When mom picked her up, she grunted...Loki grunts all the time! We learned that Patti LaBelle was inside, however someone had arrived a few minutes before us and had picked Patti. So we went back outside to take another look at Tina. Within a few moments we knew this was our puppy. She was a black lab yes, however unlike our previous Black lab Shadow; Tina had a splash of white on her. Which made her different and we didn't feel like we were replacing Shadow. Tina loves to be held/cuddled like a baby. I held her while mom filled out the application. Then we had to head home not knowing if we would be approved. The next day, mom got a phone call stating that granted our dog, Loki and the puppy got along, Tina was ours!! Unfortunately, Tina didn't have all her puppy shots yet. So we would have to wait two weeks before we could set up a meet and greet between Loki and Tina. Fast forward 2 weeks to August 29th (today), we had an appointment to meet with puppy at 5:30. I was so worried that the two would not like eachother; I was worried that Loki would eat/ attack the baby. However, when mom and dad took Loki to meet Tina, they ignored each other! Tina was more interested in sniffing his foster dad's shoes and Loki was more iterested in the foster dad. Tina and her siblings were fostered at a home instead of staying at the shelter. Loki didn't even react when dad picked up Tina an cuddled her. So that made it official. T/m morning they will spay Tina and she gets to come home at 5pm!!!!

Looking back at the last decade.

Tonight is the last night of 2009. The decade is almost over! I for one am thrilled that 2010 is coming!! 2008 and 2009 were my worst years!. I am so ready for a new decade and all it has to offer!! Below are what I consider high points of each year.

2000: Perfomed at the Alamo Bowl in San Antonio, Texas. Discovered my second favorite city! Competed in my first 500 (20 Laps) race; discovered that this was my event. Vote for first time- the presidential elecitons. George W. Bush (son of George H. Bush) takes office. :)

2001: January- had my first knee surgery. Enjoyed my last swim season :( Graduated high school!!!!! Second generation in my family to do so :) Adopted Phantom Menace from Vet- first pet of my own- my complete responsibility. Was the Day Shift Lead for B-Flats (Brittania Flats, Area 2) which consisted of Highland Fling and Grand Ole Carosel at Six Flags St. Louis.

2002: Attened Meremec Community College, join SAC and meet incredible friends who will impact my life. Mark graduates from high school!! Witness two miracles, stregthens my faith in God. Have second knee surgery- this time on the left knee.

2003: Transfer to University of Missouri-St. Louis and join my father's fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega- a National Co-Ed Service Fraternity. Meet more incredible friends who impact my life. Forever Remembered: my best friend and cat, Sparkle- mi angel.

2004: Attend first Regional Conference in Omaha with my fraternity. Attend first Sectionals. Begining of my obession for all conferences and all things APO. Attend first National Conference in Denver, Co. Visit and see my Uncle Milton, Aunt Angie, and Cousin Duke for first time in 13 years. Have 3rd and 4th knee surgery (both knees). Go on Carribean Cruise (best vaccation ever) with amazing friends from Six Flags St. Louis and see Cozumel and Costa de Mayo, Mexico, Belize and the Grand Cayman Islands. George W. Bush is re-elected :) Republicans have control of the sentate :)

2005: Announce my minor in Spanish. Attend 2nd Sectionals :) See my all time favorite artist in concert: Carlos Santana. Mom and I agree it is the best concert of all time. Start blogging :) Hurricane Katrina devestates and destroys New Orleans. Good friend Liz welcomes son Andy to the world! Hurricane Rita devestates Texas. Enjoy a white Christmas!

2006: Attend second Regional Conference in St. Louis. Best friend Froggiegirl marries her sweetheart Gimlet, acted as one of her bridesmaids :) Graduated college with double major in International Business and Managment, with a minor in Spanish. Become second generation in family to attend and graduate college. Attend 3rd Sectionals. St. Louis Cardinals win the World Series for the first time since I was born in 1982. Pittsburgh Steelers win Superbowl!! Mom and I both have our gall bladders removed with in months of eachother. Mom retires from teaching after 33 and 1/2 years!! Forever Remembered: beloved Grandma Lorraine Noel and my first dog, Shadow. New puppy Loki makes grand enterance into Noel family- I learn first hand what it takes to train a dog.

2007: Get first "real job" at Wolfgang Puck Catering- only part time, but its a job. Attend sectionals again -anyone noticing a pattern here :) Help pick out new living room furniture, new kitchen table and chairs, new carpet for living room and new tile for kitchen. Forever Remembered: my first pet, Climber aka King Tut.

2008: Get first "real full time job". Get laid off for first time. Kitchen floods requiring new kitchen cabinets, floor and trim. Inside house- living room, hall, entry way, kitchen, and living room re-painted. Repaint office and garage door. Also get new siding for house and new gutters-whew! Another best friend Veronica marries her sweetheart Kyle, get to be an attendent!! :) Barak Obama becomes the first African- American President- big moment in U.S. History :) Pittsburgh Steelers win their 6th Superbowl :) Have 5th and 6th Knee surgeries.

2009: Another good friend Suzanne marries her sweetheart Marshal. Dealt with unemployment most of the year. Learned new computer system: Worldpsan at new job as domestic travel coordinator. Enjoy first White Christmas since 2005. Mark moves into his own apartment!! Good for him!! Forever Remembered: My (personal) first adopted Cat and best friend, Phantom.

To all those friends and family I have lost and gained: I love you all and thank you for beinga part of my life. I look forward to spending the next decade with you enriching my life! Looking forward to the next decade and what it may bring!! Happy New Year everone!!!!

My Life Lately

So I haven't blogged since Phantom's death. I still miss him soo much. Its odd not having a cat around. It didn't really hit me that he was gone until a few days after his death. I still look for him when I go downstairs. It's weird not seeing the food box and litter box in "Phantom's area", its just an empty spot. We will not be getting another cat. At least not at this house. When I eventually move out, I will be adopting two kittens (cats do better when they have a friend/playmate). Right now if I adopted another cat, it would live downstairs like Phantom did b/c thats where the litter box would have to be kept b/c of Loki. I won't do that to another cat. Phantom deserved to be upstairs and given more attention but with Loki so bouncy and Phantom so skittish...it didn't work out that way. So now its just Loki in the house. And one dog is all we can handle, trust me, Loki has not really grown up. She is still a crazy puppy at times. Anyways....here is a brief rundown of whats been going on in my life lately.
*I am still working at the call center. Now I am full time, fully trained and on my own for 2 weeks now. I work at Quality Reward Travel booking flights. I like the people I work with, and the supervisors are super nice and helpful. I have come to relized that while I may not like my job...I am lucky to have this job and it is better than nothing. Prior to this I was sitting around at home relying on unemployement wages (a very tiny check) to pay bills and doing nothing but daily looking online for jobs. A lot of peopel are unemployed and deserperately trying to find a job; the job market really sucks. I went to a job fair about a month and half ago and relized that when I apply for a job I am up against HUNDREDS of other applicants, all vying to get this job. There are people with Master's degrees who can't find jobs. Obama reported on his 100th day of office that things were getting better; not really. Unfortunately this is giong to take a while.
*My financial situation is getting better with a full time job. While I could afford a new car, I can't go out and purchase one as my job is not garuenteed. The program I'm working on is going away...they just haven't given notice...so it could be a month from now or six months from now. We don't know. All we do know is that if there are layoffs, the temps aka me, will be the first to go. So long story short, while I could afford car payments now, further down the road I might not be able to and my parents can't afford to either, what with dad being forced to retire come July. So it is better to save up and wait until either a) I get a better full time job or b) my job at the call center becomes secure. I am hoping to replace my car this summer tho. And right now is the best time to buy a car; the deals are unreal. I just wish I could take advantage of it. This next car is going to be MY car, meaning I will pay for it, not the parents. This is going to be my toy and I'm not comprimising, so if I have to wait I will. I thought last summer I was going to be able to get a new car but then I got laid off. I can be extremly patient when I want to be, which is a good thing.
*Family: The family is doing good. My mother is finishing up a 6 week subbing assignment, so that has been keeping her busy. Dad is still working for Maritz, only until July. He is being forced into retirement, that is all I will say, the rest is his business. Mark is still living in Florissant. No luck for him on the job front either. Hopefully, he will find a job and won't have to move back home. I am using a section of his closet for my long sleeve work shirts to have more room in my closet. I sooo need more closet space. The walk in closet my brother had downstairs was totally wasted on him. My closet, tho organized to the nines, is jam packed with clothes, shoes, and other things.
Loki: Ah yes, my crazy little puppy. Loki has been plagued with spring allergies once again. Fortunately, we have been able to avoid costly trips to the vet. We have been giving her Benadryl and that seems to be doing the job. Luckily, summer is right around the corner and allergy season for the puppy will be done. Loki is still a hyper little thing. She has her moments of saneness, but mostly she is still very much a puppy. She keeps us entertained thats for sure. Loki will have her yearly check up in June, where I'm sure the vet will tell us she is doing fantastic. Loki has put on some weight, but she is still solid muscle. That dog is sooo strong. Much stronger and smarter than Shadow ever was. Although at times we wonder about her intelligence. LOL. We love her for all of her crazy ways.
That's all for now folks. I have been busy with work lately, and will continue to be what with two days of 2 hour mandatory overtime. I have the late shift for the second week in a row (10:40 to 7:10), a shift which really kills your day. Thankfully, after this week, I won't have that shift for at least 3 weeks. I just finished a 6 day (50 hour week), two of them had two hour mandatory overtime. Oh, and I watered the garden today, got all hot and sweaty and then it rained. Grrrr!

R.I.P Phantom 2000- April 17, 2009

Today is a very sad day for me; my cat Phantom died today or possibly yesterday. He didn't show up for breakfast this morning and my parnets couldn't find him. So when I got up we went looking for him, and found him. Curled up inside the loveseat downstairs. He must have died in his sleep. Phantom had a very good life, at least the 8 years he was with me. I adopted Phantom from the Animal Hospital where I shadowed a vet during my junior year of high school. His story was sad and naturally my heart went out to him. His previous owners had abandoned him as their child was allergic to him. So instead of giving him to a friend or to a shelter they gave him to the vet. Where he spent roughly a week listening to all the other animals sick or dying in the back. He had stopped eating and responding to the vets assistants attention. By the time I got there, he had just started eating and head butting (pushing his head into their hands). He was alreaedy neutered, de-clawed and up to date on his shots...I remarked how he was a perfect canidate for adoption, which he was getting prepped for. Something about him stuck at me b/c I went home raving about him and begging to be allowed to adopt him. They called him "the big guy" as he was quite large. At first my parents were reluctant; we already had two cats and a dog. Eventually, I wore them down, signed a contract (one clause being I would drive my brother to school on Mondays for the rest of the school year- I had kicked him out of my car when he began talking about me driving him and his little friends all over- wasn't gonna happen). and adopted Phantom. Phantom was a real sweatheart, very shy and very much a scaredy cat...he jumped and ran at loud noises. If he was on your lap when you sneezed, he would leave scratch marks behind in his hurry to leave. A few weeks after I brought him home, I was typing on my computer talking on AIM, when he suddenly appeared and suprised me by jumping into my lap. He lovedd the sound of the clicking the keys made. Phantom went by Big Guy until he had been with us for a month. He got named during a thunderstorm when I nervously asked mom if I could keep the cat. Mom asked "what cat?" He had been hiding in my room the enitre first "trial" month. Phantom could live with us granted he got along w/ our two other cats; he did- he rarely interacted with them. Sparkle hated him b/c he was my cat and I was her human. Climber was okay with him; an occasional sparing buddy. Phantom was named thus as we never saw him and it was like having a Phantom cat. Menace b/c when he lived in my room he would knock stuff over including water glasses to get me up and feed him. Phantom Menace spent 8 wonderful years as a member of the Noel Family. He was an odd cat; he didn't know how to meow- he had a half/halting meow kinda like me-ow, he drooled- no seriously- he drooled, and he liked to sing. He would sing late at night hoping we would go downstairs and feed him. Food was his favorite thing in the world, besides me....I think. Phantom loved to eat, and eat...and be brushed. I will miss my odd scardey cat. He just turned 12 (or 13) on April 2nd- my made up birthday for him. He didn't suffer from any pain. He just closed his eyes and went to sleep...and didn't wake up. He is being cremated and will be buried in the back garden next to Sparkle, Shadow and Climber. I will always love my big guy....he will be terribly missed.

Updates 2009

I haven't blogged in forever b/c my internet decided to lose all of my bookmarks. So here are all the updates in my life.
* Rang 2009 in w/ a bunch of APO friends at Kyle and Veronica's. Had an absolute blast. Met V and Kyle's new puppy; Atticus! Such a cutie.
* Attended Marshall and Suzanne's wedding (another APO wedding), it was sooo beautiful. Suzanne looked amazing! The Church and the reception were beautifully decorated.
* Laptop is on its last legs. I am going to have to break down and buy a new one. Already have the one I want picked out. Just don't have money. So I am hanging in there until I get my tax rebates back. Half will pay for laptop (or at least nice down payment) and the other half will pay medical bills. The new laptop is an HP, dual processor, 12 cell battery, 4GB hardrive...and other specs I like. Going to be a few months until I can get it tho...
* Speaking of medical bills; my insurance sucks (majorly). I have big time bills, luckily I have another credit card (medical one) to help pay it off.
* Job front: Still no job. Just temp work and even that is scarce. The job market sucks and is getting worse. President Obama just signed a new stimulus bill (which won't work b/c there is too much pork on it). Supposedly Missouri is getting 8 million. Yea, well we'll see how that turns out. I am applying like crazy and trying to be hopeful.
* Loki celebrated her 3rd birthday on February 8th. She is still rambuctious as ever...now mom is saying that some labs take 4 years to mature! FOUR Years! That is insane! She still goes nuts when people come over to visit. I love her, but I think its time she calmed down.
* A year ago I was 17 lbs heavier. My total weight loss was 30 lbs. Unfortunatley, I have gained 13 of it back. However, on the bright side, I have managed to keep 17 lbs off! I feel better. Of course I will feel a lot better when I drop some more lbs. I did the weight loss for me, not anyone else. I'm happy how I look but I could be happier.
* I had three Orthovisc shots; kinda like cartilidge for my knee (chicken fat if you will). They are supposed to help my knees track better and lower the pain level. Unfortunatley it takes 6 to 8 weeks to feel a difference. Its too early to tell how its going to turn out. I am hopeful tho. If this doesn't work I don't know what the next step is; although I think the only other option is partial knee replacement. Which the doctor doesn't even want to consider due to my age. I don't want to either. I still have a few more weeks for the shots to do their work, so join me in crossing your fingers in hopes the shots work. And that my insurance will reasonably cover them too.
* Cell phone is also on the fritz, I can't get a new phone until April...seriously thinking about going to AT & T and begging for a new phone now. Can't afford to not get calls b/c the phone is wonky.
* Other than that. Nothing really exciting going on here. I'll try to be better about blogging in the future...no promises tho...I'll try.

A Blog from Froggiegirl

Okay so I regularly read my friend froggiegirl's blog, and today I found the following blog and decided to copy it. Special thanks to froggiegirl for sharing this. Froggiegirl recieved the following in an email:

All you animal lovers-this is pretty simple... Please tell ten friends to tell ten today! The Animal Rescue Site is having trouble getting enough people to click on it daily to meet their quota of getting free food donated every day to abused and neglected animals.It takes less than a minute (How about 20 seconds) to go to their site and click on the purple box 'fund food for animals' for free. This doesn't cost you a thing.Their corporate sponsors/advertisers use the number of daily visits to donate food to abandoned/neglected animals in exchange for advertising.Here's the web site!
www.theanimalrescuesite.com
*I have visited the site and clicked. It will be added to my faves and will become one of my daily websites that I visit.

Cleaning house

So on my off day I was quiet busy. I took Loki to the groomer, gave Phantom a bath (he is not mad at me-suprisingly), had lunch with dad, and then started cleaning. I cleaned my bathroom, dusted the living room, vaccumed the living room, cleaned the fireplace, placed Climber's cat statue on his grave, picked up the big branchs the crazy wind knocked down in our yard (some bigger than me), did laundry, dejunked some, and FINALLY got enrolled for my company's insurance!!! I called again today, after calling last week, and finally got a resolution. I have been trying to enroll since January 6th. Now I will have insurance again...good thing to, after this pair, I'll be down to my last pair of contacts, I need some of my prescriptions refilled, and I need to go to the knee doctor and get them fixed (be it physical therapy, surgery, or a shot). Loki is home from the groomer, and she is all fluffy(her tail is fluffier than usual!) and sweet smelling! She is soo happy, she got to play w/ all those other dogs, and then she got home and I washed all her squeaky toys and blankets and they taste different!! All in all it was a good day, busy but successful.

Labrador Retrievers #1 Dog in US- again!!

Further proof that Loki is the best dog in the world:
According to The American Kennel Club, the Labrador Retriever is the most popular dog in the United States! Is this a suprise, hardly. You can't beat a Lab's temperment; I used to use my old dog Shadow as a pillow all the time and as long as you petted her she was fine. They are great with kids; endless amount of patience. And the picture if you click on the link is of a White/Blonde Lab. This color is the most popular color now. When we got our Black Lab Shadow, black was the "in" color, then Chocolate. The AKC recoginzes 3 colors of labs; Black, Chocolate, or Yellow. There are some "silver" labs, but AKC does not acknowledge that color. Golden Retrievers came in 4th. The German Shepard came in 3rd. Suprisingly, the Yorkshire Terrier came in 2nd. I woudn't have thought they would even make the top ten. They are the most anoying dogs ever. There are two that live accross the street and all they do all day is bark! And their owners never do a darn thing to shut them up! Personally I would put them on a list of worst dogs. I would have placed Golden Retrievers as 2nd or 3rd and German Shepards in 2nd or 3rd. Both breeds are great dogs.

R.I.P. Climber- End of an Era

Climber ~Febuary 14, 1987-September 25, 2007~ Today was one of the hardest days in my life. Today we had to put down our beloved cat, Climber. He was 20 years old. He was ready to go; at the Vet's office he allowed us to cuddle him in a towel and play with his paws; when he was at his best he never allowed us to do either. His fur was severly matted and lumped together, you could almost feel every bone in his body and he was constantly hungry; he could never get enough food in his stomach. Poor baby.
We adopted Climber from the Humane Society of Missouri when I was in Kindergarten. Show and Tell was big back then. Pet week came and all we had were fishes; that didn't cut it. So we went to the Humane Society and I got to choose a kitten. We got to one of the cages; and I pointed to this white fluffy kitty. However, there was this kitten with four white paws who had climbed up three feet on the fence seperating the kittens from the visitors. While I may have originally wanted the white fluffy one, we got the climbing kitten. Hence the name, Climber. We brought him to show and tell. All of those kids with grabby hands; Climber freaked and hid under a cabinet. A year after we got Climber, we adopted Sparkle, our second cat (and my first cat). At first, Climber was very wary of Sparkle. Eventually he warmed up to her and they became best friends. They were always cuddling and doing everything together.
Climber was never a cuddle cat; oh no he was a biter. He was a definate lap cat; he would plop himself on your lap and stay there until either he got bored or you pushed him off. He also liked to randomly attack people. He once attacked a neighbors son for absolutely no reason (or at least to us). Most cats when they roll over and expose their bellies, you think awww what a cute kitty they want a belly rub. When Climber did this, we were like "Oh crap, the cats up to something". Over the years Climber accumulated a variety of nicknames; Fat Cat, Tub of Lard (at one point he was quite fat, he got sick on his 19th birthday and lost a lot of weight and never gained it back), Tyrant, King Tut (he acted like he was the king of the house and everyone must obey him), Climy, Clim-Clim, and many others which I can't remember.
Mom and I cried like babies at the Vet's office when it came time to say goodbye. We put his "lovie" (an old golf sock which he used to sing operas to) with him. Luckily, the people at the Vet's understood what we were going thru and gave us tissues. I am going to miss him something him fierce. Climber was with me all thru school, from Kindergarten to college graduation. He was 20 years old and was well loved. He is in a better place; he is no longer in pain, no longer hungry, his furry is all shinny and soft, he is back with his best friend/wife Sparkle. (Yes, we married the cats; Shadow was a bridesmaid- very comical). He is in heaven now and he is much happier. A part of me is screaming "No, no, no, I want my kitty back now!!", while the more reasonable part of me relizes that this was the right thing to do. As hard as it was to do, I know we did the right thing for him. I just hope he is not upset with us for keeping him so long and not allowing him to go out with more dignity.

Loki

Our little girl is officially one year and four months. I can still call her my puppy as Labs are puppies until they are three years old. She continues to act like a puppy and never seems to tire. This week Loki has learned a new trick; she now knows how to open the cabinets and steal tupperware. While this is highly amusing, she is putting dents and tooth marks in our tupperware. Today we took Loki down to Lost Valley Lake and she got to go swimming. We threw her retriever several times and she happily swam out to get it until she finally got tired. Unfortunately, her retriever was still out there... we had to wait until the wind blew the retriever closer and Loki finally decided to swim out and get it. Then I walked her up the hill to the showerhouse and from there mom walked her to where our friends were camping. Mom gave her a bath and we enjoyed talking with our friends while she dried off. She snoozed on the way home; she went swimming,went on a long walk, got attention: that was one tired puppy.
Yours truly got sunburned again; on the back this time. Just once I would like to be able to go out in the sun in the summer and not get burned.

Loki is one year old!

On February 8th, Loki turned one year old. To celebrate this happy event we gave Loki a new fleece blankee. It is pink with sheeps. We also took pics of her with a SpongeBob Square Pants party hat on while she sat on her new blankee. New pics will be posted soon. Even tho Loki is a year old, she hasn't been with us a full year yet- when she has been another celebration will take place (very minor).

Laptop & Loki updates

As I type I am sitting in my living room watching the end of "Paint Your Wagon". Yes, that's right, I finally can access the internet from my laptop. I got the laptop in the beginning of August, and it took me until December to get the wireless connection working. And I don't even need another internet port. In fact, we are going to try and return it. All we had to do was turn on a switch and type in a password. Lucky for me, my mommy did it for me so when I got up, my internet connection was in operation. So I am blogging for the first time on my laptop. Hehe, no more sitting at the dumb desktop complaining about the speed or lack thereof. My laptop is very fast and I love it. Now I can take it with me and access the internet at places that offer free connection like the St. Louis Bread Co.
* Loki is now 10 months old now and will be 11 months on January 8th. She is done w/ obedience lessons, she doesn't have an official piece of paper declaring her a graduate; but she is. She is very smart and did really well. She still acts like an idiot when ppl are over. Despite all of her training, she still acts like she has no manners when it comes to ppl. She is still very much a puppy, so it is forgivable. Labs in fact, don't really mature until they are about 3 years old. Shadow still acted like a puppy at times up until her last days.

Loki Tales

This past Tuesday, we had Loki spayed. Poor puppy was all bewildered when she came home, she didn't understand why she was all drugged up and was hurting. She was so excited when she got home she jumped out of the car and promptly whimpered b/c it hurt. Poor baby didn't know what to do, she kept looking at us all forlorn and didn't want to lay down. So we finally had to put her on command and make her lay down b/c her legs were going bowlegged. She was so docile and sweet all night, it was quite the culture shock to us. We are used to Loki running around the house like crazy living up to her name. She spent the majority of the night laying in my lap....well half in and half out of my lap. I will post pics of that later. The next day Loki was back to normal. Loki is herself once againn, driving the family batty. The vet told my dad that the surgery went beautifully and that Loki's hips (which he x-rayed for us to see if we could expect hip probs in the future) and told us that her hips are in the top ten of all the dogs he has x-rayed in the past eight years!! Her hips are perfect! And what do we do...we spay her-she would have been perfect for breeding. Which is what we would have done w/ Shadow had her hips been perfect. But we are happy w/ Loki and stand by our decision. I can't imagine having more than one Loki running around the house, chasing the cat, and creating chaos. Having a puppy in the house has made looking at puppies easier-we no longer want one-as we have one. Wheras when we had Shadow, we wanted a puppy to play with and go on walks w/. So Loki is all better after her surgery and the family is great. There is a pet day coming up at the People Pictures place at Crestwood, so we are going to take Loki w/ us on that day to get a family pic- b/c Loki is a very important part of the family! So finally mom gets the family pic taht she has been asking for - for about a year now.

Goober Brain Strikes Again!

The past two weeks, Loki has been doing great in her lessons. She can now "chill" (where the dogs put their head b/t their paws when laying down) with the best of them. Her "heeling" is wonderful. She can do the "Yoyo" (sit, down, sit, down, etc) command very well. However, when we got to Level 5 (lesson #3 on this level- she's done it 3 times), all of that went up in smoke. Loki decided it was too much, and it was time to play. She broke command over and over. Her long distance recalls (put dog in sit or down, walk to middle of room and call them to come) were awful. If she had been called a few dogs sooner she would have done fine. So next Sat. I am going to ask the trainer to call her 2nd or 3rd or even first. She just wants to play and give everybody (especially the other dogs) kisses. She is a very smart dog, just has a short attention span. What made me mad was the fact that there was a lab only about 12 weeks doing better than Loki! 12 weeks! That's when you are supposed to start! But this was one of the professional trainers dog. We are going to take Loki to the city park and work with her there- there are more distractions. Hopefully, next week she will do much better.....I hope!

Loki Loki Loki!

My little Loki passed level 3 last week and moved on to level 4. She is the youngest in her class and one of the best behaved and trained. I can leave her in a sit or down posistion and walk around the room and she won't move. However, all bets are off when someone pets her. Loki still thinks ppl only come to see her. In order for Loki to pass level 4, she has to remain sitting when someone pets her. That is going to take a lot of work. Luckily there is no class this Saturday, so we have an extra week to work on that. I don't think Loki will pass level 4 quite as quickly as she did level 3. She is still a puppy. She is doing amazing tho. Mom saw a Golden Retriever puppy (about 7 months old) the other day, and said Loki is much better trained than her. Not suprising...Loki is very smart and wants to please everyone. We recently got Loki her own bed. It is a blue quilted bed with red stripes and white stars... very patriotic. The plan is to convince her that her bed is better than the furniture and that she should stay off. Hopefully, it will work, she is already laying on it.
Oh yea, gave Climber a bath today...he is off somewhere pouting.
My brother caught my elusive cat, Phantom, last night. I got to hold him and give him lots of attention. Poor thing, his fur is all matted up (dad had to cut some of it off), and his nails were soo long. I felt horrible for him, I felt (and still do feel) like a bad owner. Next time, my brother catches him, Phantom is getting a good scrubbing to get all of the nasty clumps off. That way he will look and feel better. Loki was an angel last night, letting me hold Phantom and give him TLC. That is until she came up and bit my toes...

Weekly Loki Report

Poor little Loki still has an ear infection and she does not like that ear medicine we have to put in her ear. It doesn't hurt, she just doesn't like it. Loki passed level 2 and moved onto level 3 in obedience class. She should pass level 3 and move on to level 4 next Sat. She is doing very well. Got a new pinch collar for her, much better- it doesn't pop off. Spoke with the trainer about the original one-asked if it needed to be tightened- yep! Told ya so mom! Loki is still stealing stuff, but she is getting better about letting it go and coming and sitting at our feet when we yell at her. She still chases the cat, poor Climber, Loki thinks its great fun to torment him. Loki loves her pool! Loves to dive for treats and stomp around...doesn't like to be splashed tho. Loki is camping with the parents this weekend. Went to the lake yesterday, but was more interested int he goose poop than the lake itself. They gave her a bath afterwards, and then she rolled in the grass and dirt! Typical Loki! She has a fascination with rolling in the grass.