BRRRRRR!

Tucker wishes everyone a happy new year...
or he would if he had ANY clue what it meant!

Back to BRRRR!
It is finally winter. Our high yesterday was 34 and that was shortly after midnight. We had snow "showers" off and on all day. The dogs LOVED it! Last night's low was 14. But at 1 PM it's already warmed up to... 23! Even the puppies are sleeping in a clump on top of their blanket. Usually, they sprawl all over the pen and the blanket is more often used for tug-of-war than a cushion. I'm glad I didn't get everyone clipped short last month, although the ones who are clipped seem to be just fine. Toward the end of the week, the daytime temperature is supposed to get back up to the low 50s. We'll see about that!

Picks
Things are going smoothly... waiting for the last family to choose. Several other people are interested in seeing who's "left" so they can decide between one of the Maggie/Cisco pups or getting on the reservation list for Di/Boon (which is not open yet.)

Chomper update
The news is not good. Chomper is the dog lost in PA since Thanksgiving. His family hired a pet detective from Hephzibah GA (where I lived for 10+ years.) The man spent two days in the area right after Christmas with his dogs who are trained to find any indication of a dog hiding in barns, sheds, outdoors, etc (even if they are dead.) There was NO sign of Chomper even though over the last month he had been seen a number of times in the same area. The guy spent a lot of time visiting businesses and homes in the area making sure everyone knew what Chomper looks like and that he is not a throw away. The detective's conclusion is someone has him and isn't willing to give him up. Chomper's "mom" said she got a really strange phone all from a local man which she reported to the local shelters "just in case." As with me, she says it's the not knowing that is the hardest to take.

Rain, More Rain, Snow

So a couple days ago we were about 6 inches over in the rain department for the year. Didn't see last night's total, but if I judge by my road, aka the Rapids, we're close to doubling that today. It just has NOT stopped. I live on a hill which gets VERY steep right above me and the road is a combination of dirt and gravel. When the weather is like this, the gravel gets washed away and the dirt turns into mud, DEEPLY rutted mud. In an emergency, I can get DOWN, but coming back up is impossible. Thanks goodness, our local weather predicters are very good at their jobs and give enough advanced notice that I can get out and stock up on dogfood, newspaper, etc. To make things interesting, the temperature is dropping from the 40s to below freezing and the rain is turning into snow. Depending on which tv station I get my weather report from (none are actually local,) I'm going to get anywhere from a trace to 6 inches. The 3-6 inch forecast most likely is for elevations higher than where I am. And often, because of the configuration of the hills in the area, much of the really bad weather goes by on either side of me. I hate to tell you how many times I've gone out and been surprised at how bad things are just a couple miles away when I have nothing alarming going on at home. Like me, the dogs will be glad when the rain stops later today. They've had to run out, do their business and run back inside. The dogs miss the exercise they normally get but THEY don't seem to mind getting soaked. For me, there's nothing like the smell of wet dog(s) in the morning to get my juices flowing! And I don't mean that in a good way.

Christmas is coming...
Tucker is ready to take part in the festivities. Bring on the eggnog!

Happy Thanksgiving

From my house to yours! Turkey day is being celebrated by everyone here, including Sheana Colvin, the only pup still here. Hope you all have a wonderful day with lots of good food and friends and family to share it with.

Older pups check in
Tucker Sybrant, Emy's 1-1/2 year old son, making himself comfortable
Koda Eppley, Di's 2 year old son, getting an early start on the holidays

More Progress

THIS gorgeous guy is Tucker, an older brother to Emy's pups. Isn't this a great shot!

Today
As I'm sitting here, answering email (LOTS of email!) the pups are ALL out of the pen and roaming around. Several, including Mostly White, are completely out of my sight, in another room. Actually, I know exactly where they are because several dogs are barking at them! The first time they stuck their noses in that room and Lucky (remember Lucky?) alerted to them, they all bolted back to me. They are over that and are ignoring him... or barking back. In THIS room, several of them are trying to destroy my straw broom, always a favorite with pups, and my shoelaces have been untied (and almost chewed through) practically since I opened the gate. A word of warning: shoelaces, no matter in whose shoes, are fair game to any puppy, and they don't care if the shoes are being worn or tucked away under the bed. Another word of warning, even at this time of year, puppy nails scratch right through bare skin. Be sure to wear long legged pants and shirts with long sleeves!

Since the weather is supposed to be nice and warm for the next couple days, I'm going to try getting the kids outside. They adjusted quickly... within 24 hours... to being allowed to roam on their own away from their "safe place," so I think another adventure will be good for their mental development. The biggest problem is once pups learn about "outside," they tend to WANT "outside." And this weekend is supposed to be rain with HIGHS in the 30s. Believe me, I'd rather listen to their disappointed noise than take them out in THAT!

Everyone Here is Fine

I, all the dogs and everyone I'm close to in Tennessee survived the horrific storms last night. None of us even had any major damage. However, the current count is 17 dead in the Tri-Cities and several times that injured. People who have lived here 30-40 years are saying they've never seen anything like it. I've been here 11 years and if you put all the bad weather we've had during that time into one big storm, it wouldn't even come close to what happened last night. The national weather service center here issued 70 different tornado warnings. (It covers from Chattanooga to about a hundred miles into VA.) We had "spiked" hail... instead of being round, it had spines sticking out all over... which I had never heard of before. Several times during the 5+ hours Mother Nature was yelling at us, the dogs yelled back... usually they are pretty quiet during bad weather. Last night they were upset. And when it was over, just like that, it was over.

Happy Birthday!



From Emy and Sparky's April 2010 litter, this is Tucker. He has his family well trained and is quite proud of all they have accomplished in just a year's time! Tucker weighs 30 pounds.