Mischevious Little Ginger...

For someone so small and cute, this little girl can cause tornado like destruction indoors in as little as 30 unsupervised minutes!!! I'm really dreading going back to work because that will be a very LONG time for her to find ways to occupy herself and I'm sure I'll walk into a new surprise everyday!!! So after some of her recent destructive actions I took pictures of her next to her "trophies" for your viewing pleasure! She likes diet Pepsi so much that she'll rip open the cardboard box and then bite and puncture a can to LAP it up...this, I actually saw with my own two eyes!!! She is a TV watcher and a computer hacker too when I'm home and she's seeking attention! When I'm gone she keep herself busy by dragging things outside...everything from shoes, clothes, unmentionables, pillows, blankets etc...pretty much anything she can find on the floor and fits through the doggie door. The problem is that when she gets stuff stuck in the flap Baylie is such a fraidy cat that she won't go through the door or move the item out of her way and sometimes she'll just sit and bark at it! The funny thing is that when all is said and done and Ginger is tired she's so stinkin' cute...I look at her and wonder how it is possible for her to be so mischievous and destructive...can't wait for her to grow outta that trait!!!

Ginger and Dakota Swimming

So in all of this nasty heat and with the closest dog park covered in fertilizer and mud we are running out of places to exercise the pups in the middle of the day...so the other day Leah, her 3 kids, Dakota, Ginger, Baylie and I invaded my mom's back yard and went swimming for a couple of hours (after asking of-course). This is fantastic exercise for the dogs and kids too! The funny thing is that the first time Dakota and Ginger went swimming together it was Dakota who was jumping on top of Ginger and now the tables /'have turned...I swear they almost drown each other! Dakota is really good at fetching toys in the pool...Ginger is not so good so instead, she just waits for Dakota to get it and then jumps in to steal it from her! If they have a big enough toy they'd both grab hold of it and swim it in together.

Helping to conserver H2O...

Ginger loves it when I'm loading dirty dishes into the dishwasher...she gets up into it and starts to lick them "clean". I have to shoo her off over and over because she is just certain that I've left food particles on them somewhere! Of-course now she is weighing in right at 30 pounds I can't let her do this any more (not that I "let" her in the 1st place) because I'm afraid that she'll break the door! Even after she gets her whole body off like I tell her she'll usually try to put just her front paws up there to see if she can get away with that! She's just so darn cute when she gets caught...always looking innocent!

Check Out My Summer Project!!!!

So I've been needing a creative outlet during my summer vacation and with having a new puppy to outfit with cute new collars I have gotten frustrated with the pet stores lousy selections! So I've started making my own unique and custom dog collars! I have to admit that the first few I made I was far from happy with and through research, trial, and error I have mastered the art of making strong, sturdy, super cute collars...so I'm starting my own miniature side business!!! My collar blog site is: http://moesdogcollars.blogspot.com so if you have time feel free to visit and give that address to friends or family who might be interested...also, please make comments or suggestions because I'm always open for new design ideas! Enjoy browsing!

Dogsitting Dakota

So Leah and her husband had a wedding to go to out of town on the 5th of July and rather than crate Dakota for hours I watched her for the day and WOW...she and Ginger played ALL day, only napping for an hour or so. They played in my back yard for hours and then in the afternoon Baylie began to get really irritable from having to "watch" the two puppies who purposely bugged her. I then decided to take all of them over to my mom's house to go swimming mostly for Baylie to get some exercise with Kailey before she and Wayne moved up north . Although, the fearless Dakota who is only 5 days older than Ginger and barely 4 months old loves swimming and JUMPING in off the deck to swim just like Baylie does! Ginger will only jump off the first step unless she falls in...baby steps I guess! By the end of the day I think I was as tired as they were...just observing their constant energy was exhausting...that and making sure that they didn't drown each other in the pool! For whatever reason...they don't swim side by side but rather on top of each other sinking one another! Wayne and I kept pulling them up and out to the steps but we all laughed so much because the pups are just silly and clumsy!

Ginger is FINALLY Swimming!

Ginger has "worried" me for a while now...I was unsure if she'd have all the Lab characteristics because she seemed to be disgusted by getting wet. Here I have Baylie that I can't keep out of the mud or water and then Ginger who I can't get into it...complete opposites! Finally though, she is starting to swim and doesn't look mad about it! When the girls play outside it is noticeable that Baylie has gotten much more patient with Ginger and because Ginger is getting a bit bigger the battles are more even. Ginger is not so timid anymore, before she'd always hide under things and now she's actually instigating the play and thanks to Kailey she's learned to steal toys! She definitely keeps Baylie on her toes and they can tire each other out.

Wayne's Graduation

On the 15th of June, 2008 Wayne graduated from Cal Poly with a degree in Civil Engineering!!! He made the decision not to attend the big whole school graduation because it doesn't really recognize individuals, instead only departments are highlighted in a standup/sitdown type ceremony. He did choose to go to his Civil Engineering departmental graduation because they actually call out the individual names of the students and they get to cross the stage and shake hands the whole thing! However for a super technical school they really dropped the ball for his particular graduation because they did not have the outdoor theater wired with a microphone! All these friends and family had traveled to San Luis Obispo to witness the graduation ceremonies and sadly we couldn't hear hardly anything! I guess it could have been worse...at the Construction Management department graduation (where Wayne's roommate was) had a fire alarm pulled and everyone had to be evacuated out of the gymnasium and then reseated to finish off the ceremony. Just goes to show that even the best laid plans can still implode! I took Ginger with me to graduation which caused a few raised eyebrows I must say, but I didn't have much choice--my whole family was in SLO and most friends were busy because it was Father's Day! Mom and I carpooled and we hauled up the trailer for Wayne to move back with and we left around 8 in the morning and didn't return until about 8 at night. I knew that Baylie and Kailey would be alright left at home but Ginger was still getting fed 3 times a day and it seems that when I leave her for long periods of time she finds something to destroy! I know that I'm biased but overall Ginger did GREAT! Wayne's roommate had her 1 year old yellow lab named Napa and they really played great together the only problem was that they sometimes got a bit rowdy...but at that point I just led them to the back yard and they stayed out of people's way. The good thing was that Napa tired out Ginger enough that she slept through the majority of the graduation and the whole drive home! Anyways, now it is time for Wayne to start the tedious job of packing because he starts work on the 15th of July!!!! Enjoy the various pictures from Grad. Day courtesy of Sherry...she really got some great shots!!!

Ginger and the Food Fiasco...

So we'd spent the day doing yard work...well I say we but really I did the work and Baylie, and Ginger watched and continually brought me a ball to kick as I paced back and forth with the mower. In the back yard they are able to move freely but in the front yard I have them on 30 foot long leashes so they have some mobility but I don't have to worry about them running a muck in the neighborhood while I'm focused on not weed-eating a hole in my leg again! Anyways, at some point in the front yard one of the leashes wrapped around on of those silly tall sprinklers that never suck back into themselves and snapped it right off! With the temperatures peaking at over 100 degrees I decided to hand water the plants that evening and then run the sprinklers just for the grass until I made it to Lowes to get a new sprinkler. So stupid me had left the twenty pound bag of puppy food and the big 40 pound bag of dog food on the kitchen floor waiting to be transferred into the airtight storage containers while I went out to water the plants. I never even gave it a second thought...although it was clear that Ginger had her sights set on them! I was outside for about 10-15 minutes and in that time Ginger bit through the corner of the puppy food bag and chowed down! By the looks of her belly when I caught her with her whole head inside the bag I can only assume she ate continuously without chewing for entire time I was watering! Typically you can lift puppy skin off their bodies like and inch or two because they've got so much growing room...not tonight, her belly was so tight I thought she might pop! My biggest worry was that dog food swells to twice it's size as it takes on water and her belly didn't have room for that...I was almost ready to call the emergency vet to ask what I should do! Poor Ginger looked so uncomfortable...and her little belly looked pregnant! She must have felt like Thanksgiving times 10...she kept plopping down on the floor then she'd move to a new spot then get up to drink and finally she threw up a fist-sized pile of dog food that appeared untouched, she clearly doesn't chew! After at least a cup of food came up I relaxed a bit and let her sleep it off, but even by morning her belly was full! She didn't get breakfast until almost noon the next day! Sadly, I'm not sure she learned her lesson because she still goes crazy when there is food around...she's a total toucan!