Gone to the Dogs

Tony & Elena & Ana & Nikita & Kowboy came up to visit this weekend. We all had a great time--but I think the two Golden Retrievers had an even better time! Sandy has been asleep ever since they left this morning. Kowboy had a big time with all of Sandy's toys, but he especially liked the stuffed goose and duck. He even managed to carry both of them around in his mouth so Sandy couldn't get them from him.


We took them both to the lake yesterday morning for a swim and then to the park to run a while. They both love the water and jumped in and out and chased sticks like crazy. Here they are---both bringing in the same stick to shore! Once Kowboy just dunked Sandy's head under the water so he could get the stick. They were fun to watch. It was hard to tell which one was which with the wet hair. Sandy has been tuckered out since Kowboy left. David even took him outside, just so he could see that Kowboy wasn't in the backyard, that he was really gone. He misses his buddy.


I had to take some pictures while we were at the park.

July 4th at Dickens

July 4th was a real celebration at C&M Farms located outside Dickens, Texas (60 miles east of Lubbock in the panhandle.) All the grandkids on my side of the family were there at one time or another except for Kelly & Tami's 6 girls. If they had been there, we would have had 34 people. Friday night we went to town and ate hamburgers around the courthouse square and then set in lawn chairs waiting for dark so we could see the fireworks display. The Dickens volunteer fire department has been very busy this year due to the lack of rainfall. Fires pop up all the time and with gas prices as high as they are, they had a fund raiser not long ago for them and raised over $12,000 in one night. Every fourth of July though, the firemen purchase fireworks and put on this display for the community. One of the guys told my dad (who was the fire chief in Dickens for 8 years) that they buy them wholesale and paid $1200 for $3000 of fireworks. It was a REALLY good show. And man, you couldn't ask for better seats. In fact when one of the rockets fell over and burst all over the crowd, it was a little closer than some wished for. Fortunately, no one was seriously injured.

Saturday we grilled hot dogs and ate and ate some more. We had a one year old birthday party for my nephew's little boy, Nate. He really got into that cake. The kids took buggy rides on Daddy's mule. They dug in the dirt. They played on the hay at the barn and tried to catch the gold fish in the cow trough.

We took Sandy with us to the country and Tony & Elena brought Kowboy, too. They ran and ran and just wore themselves out. Those 2 city dogs were given out by the time we all went home Sunday morning. They both got in another cow trough and swam on Friday afternoon. Just like 2 kids playing in the water. Kowboy must have pulled a muscle getting in and out of it, because he wouldn't get back in it on Saturday when we went back for them to play in it again. Tony wound up taking him to the vet because he was hurting. He's much better, apparently just a pull or strain. Both dogs just slept and laid around when we got them home. Sandy didn't really start eating again until Wednesday. He just slept all the time. Charlie, the resident Beagle at C&M Farms, was not too thrilled about these 2 Golden Retrievers coming on his property----until the fireworks started going off. Then he was more than willing to come lay down by the other 2 boys and be friends.

Saturday night Tony put on a special encore fireworks show just for our family. We all got our lawn chairs and sat out in the driveway of my parents' home and watched as Tony set them off. They had bought $25 worth of fireworks----you would have thought it was $25K. We cheered and sang and had a great time with them. The kids got to hold sparklers.

Tony & Elena also brought their telescope that Nikita & Ana got for Christmas. It was a cloudless night and with no city lights to interfere, you could see all the multitude of stars and plantets. We got to look at the moon and actually SEE the craters. It was just too cool. Then we saw Mars, Saturn with its rings and then Jupiter with its 4 moons. For the first time ever the moon, those rings and those moons are really REAL to me because I saw them with my own eyes. All the grandkids (and their moms & dads) took turns looking through the telescope. That was awesome.

Two Soccer Games & the River

We spent the weekend at Kyle, leaving Friday morning. It was Sandy's first big travelling adventure. It started out funny at the house. We surmised that he would have more room in the back of the Durango, so David packed everything in the middle seat. Everything is packed, David puts Big Red in reverse and look back and Sandy is in the middle seat on top of everything. So we park in the driveway, rearrange everything to put it all in the back and put him in the middle seat. Had to put a blanket over my leather seats and then David used one bungee cord to secure it around the headrests and we put him there and were ready to go. Right as we're about to get on I-30, Sandy decides he wants to ride in the back! I go back there and get him in the middle seat again and put his leash on his collar. As soon as he had the leash on, he settled down.

Sandy slept most of the way there. We stopped several times to take a tee-tee break, sure takes more time when there are new smells, sounds, people everywhere. But he did good.

We got to Tony & Elena's house about 5 p.m. Nikita and Ana had been calling to see where we were and how much longer it would be until we got to their house. It really threw Nikita when I told him that we stopped in Italy to eat at a Sonic.

Here are the grandkids in their soccer outfits. We were headed out to their games and just had to take a picture while everyone was still fresh and happy :-) We ate lunch at Whataburger and then headed to the river.

Kowboy & Sandy were real friends after the initial meeting was over. We went to a river close to Tony & Elena's house to let the dogs play on Saturday after Nikita's and Ana's soccer games. Tony let Kowboy off of his leash and he runs full speed into the water. David let Sandy off of his leash and he does the same thing----not realizing what he was doing! He went right in the water and came up with this panic look on his face, but he was dog-paddling as fast as he could. Tony would throw a stick for Kowboy to retrieve out of the chilly water and at first Sandy tried to go get it, too. Then he decided it was better to just stand on the rocks at shore and wait for Kowboy to nearly get back to the shore and THEN he would jump in to help him get the stick! They both had so much fun. Here they are just soaking up the water and looking like drowned rats.

Stairway to Heaven

Thursday as I was driving home from work, my cell phone rang. It was David wanting to know my coordinates. He said there was someone at the house who was waiting on me. I'm thinking it's a PERSON, which was exciting because we rarely have guests at the house. So I asked who it was. Well, it was our adopted child who is staying with us while his parents are in Kiev. Kowboy was in the house playing with David.

When I got to the house, Kowboy met me in the garage. He was wired. We go into the house and he goes to the end of our staircase and sits there waiting. David is holding his prized red ball. This ball is the control button for Kowboy. If you have the ball, you are in control. If he has the ball, you can forget it.

David throws the ball up to the landing on our second floor. Kowboy takes off like a rocket to retrieve his ball. Watching him come down the stairs was a hoot. He came down really fast, almost head over heels, taking 3-4 steps at a time. Sounded like an elephant. He was proud of himself and came back to David with the ball. He wants you to throw it, but first you have to get it away from his slobbery mouth. The ball is back in human control, and David throws it up the stairs again. Kowboy bounds off after it, but this time he's a little bit slower coming back down the stairs. Guess it scared him, too, on the first trip down. He's a real hoot. He's such a good dog. He has ruined us. Now after his parents come back to Austin, we have to get another dog. We are hooked.

Kowboy & His Ball

We are really enjoying Kowboy. He is so pretty and is a really sweet dog. We were just having trouble keeping him in line. Like the Saturday I was vaccuuming out my Durango, so I opened the gate and let him out to play with me. Everything was going great until our neighbor lady opened her garage door and came out of her house to get in her car. He goes in the garage to see her---slobbers and all. With David's help we got him back in the fence. The next time David talked to Tony, he told him that Kowboy doesn't mind very well. Tony told him the answer: You have to keep control of his ball.

If you have his ball, he is alert and stays calm and right with you---thinking he will get the ball back soon. He can be running down the alley, but if you squeak his ball, he comes galloping back. We took him walking Saturday and he stayed right with us because David was holding the ball. He is a different dog if you are in control of the ball. If he has the ball, he's in control and will not come when you call him.

That would have been a nice discipline tool for two little boys I know. Wish I would have known about it 30+ years ago! I was going about it backwards. Remember those paddles with the long rubber band stapled to it and a little ball on the end, that you're supposed to hit over and over? Well I always took the rubber band and ball off of the paddle and carried the paddle in my purse. If either Kelly or Tony tried anything in a store, all I had to do was open my purse and remind them of what was in there. Little did I realize that I should have shown them the ball and not the paddle to control them!!!!

King of the Kowboys

Tony & Elena left their beautiful Golden Retriever, Kowboy, here with us after last weekend because they are going to Kiev, Ukraine later this month and will be gone about 5 weeks. Elena's dad passed away recently so they are going to see her mom, Nadia, and her brother and sister.

So we are babysitting Kowboy. He's just a big old baby. Kelly & Tami kept Kowboy when he was younger and wound up with free cable because he chewed up their cable line. Tonight after supper, Kowboy got to come in the house. He went right to David's recliner and jumped up on it, was told to get down, and he did. He then went right over to my recliner and got up in it. At his house in Kyle, he has his own soft chair on his back porch that he lays in all the time. In fact he won't get in his doghouse at home, just gets in his chair.

He was really curious about the TV and 2 ceramic owls that are sitting in front of our fireplace. I had to use some leftover bread to get him back outside. He LOVES bread---------and pasta and ham bones and anything else that comes from the house.

Tomorrow we have to go get a bale of hay straw at a farm store for his lean-to we built for him.

Kowboy is Visiting Us

Tony & Elena & Nikita & Anastasiya arrived Sunday afternoon late. They brought their Lab, Kowboy, with them. They are going to Kiev later in January, so we are babysitting Kowboy for them. He was really good and rode standing up nearly the whole way here from Austin. He was really excited to be in the house when they got here Funny, because he doesn't like it in their house.

Have to get him a lean-to for a house. He's beautiful and is so good-natured. He's going to miss his family while he's here!