Memorial Day

Falkor moves on to a new foster

edited by Murphydog: I made Mom change the title of the bloggie post...too many people though Falkor had gone to the rainbow bridge! She is alive and well, just going to a new foster home! Sorry for the scary wording!

Falkor came to stay with us just about a month ago. An 8 year old Great Dane, she was such a sweetheart.

She had some silly little traits about her that Mom found very endearing. She loved to be covered up...even when it was warm out. And when she was happy to see you, she would bump you with her nose...in your groin. Mom didn't find that one very endearing, but at least it showed she was comfortable at the house and happy to see Mom.

Fergie got over her initial fear as well, after a few days. For some reason, after she saw her covered up with this red blanket, Falkor didn't seem that scary anymore. Phoebe loved her from day 1.

She was a good house guest, for the most part. She was quiet and hardly ever barked. She listened well and would go 'lay on her bed' when asked. She was a little naughty about getting on the couch though...something Mom doesn't like us dogs to do. No couch, no bed....Falkor had a little problem remembering the couch part of the rules.

It got a bit stressy for Mom though. Mainly because Falkor's Mom never had any sort of predictable schedule where she could come visit Falkor. Often, she would say she'd be at the house at a certain time...but then wouldn't show up for an hour or even two later. This was making it very hard for Mom to make any plans. Plus, Falkor always got super excited to see her Mom when she came over, and that in turn got me super excited and rowdy. For some reason, Mom wasn't super thrilled about having a rowdy Great Dane at 9:30 at night.

And then tonight, Mom came home to this.

There are 2 floor to ceiling windows on either side of our front door. They actually can swing open during the summer and create a nice breeze. Tonight, Mom came home to find the frames of those windows had been slightly remodeled. Apparently Falkor was going for the distressed look.

The window to the right of the door was the first one she saw...and the worse of the two.

and then she noticed the one to the left of the door.

Now, Mom knows her house is old. Built in 1927, it has some chipping paint here and there that Mom has been too lazy to fix. But to have MORE stuff that needs to be fixed is not exactly her idea of a good time.

At first she was gonna blame me. Poor innocent me. But when she checked both our teethies for evidence...she quickly saw the culprit was sweet Falkor. She forgot to gargle with mouth wash and still had paint & wood chips in her front teeth.

Both me & Mom are sad, but unfortunately Falkor won't be staying with us anymore. Mom was trying to be nice to Falkor's Mom and help her out...but if the house is going to have damage, and Mom is going to continue to be stressed out about more damage and a very unpredictable visitation schedule, both her and Falkor's Mom agreed Falkor should find a new place to stay.

I'm pretty sure I'll still get to see her when we go on some of our walkies, but for now I'm going to be an only dog again and the master of my domain. Unless you ask the kitTONs whose really in charge!

It wasn't me...I swear!

Falkor here...

I've been stayin with Murphy and his fabulous kitTON sisters for a little over a month now. I am finally starting to feel relaxed and comfortable here, and now this happens.

Murphy's Mom came home Monday night to a bit of a disaster in the living room.You see...she bought this new thing for Murphy (and me too!) to make it easier for us to get into her SUV. Its called the Otto Step, and its a step that you attach to the tow hitch of the SUV and it just helps make it not such a big jump up for us big dogs.

image borrowed from http://www.ottostep.com/

image borrowed from http://www.ottostep.com/

Well...it arrived last week and Murphy's Mom hadn't had a chance to open it yet. So, it was sitting in the living room in its cardboard box...just waiting patiently. No one bothered it or seemed to even notice it was there, other than the kitTONs.

And then Murphy's Mom came home Monday night from work to this...

I swear...it wasn't me!! I'm pretty sure the evidence will convince you of that. If you haven't been following Murphy, you'll need to be reminded that he takes recycling VERY seriously.

Notice how Murphy 'conveniently' picks up his toy monkey just as his Mom gets in the door? I think he's trying to frame me!

Luckily, the product is made from some pretty sturdy material and there was no damage done to it. I mean, its gotta be right? If its gonna support the weight of a big dog like Murphy? Anyway...even though the living room was a bit of a disaster, the step survived its 'unpacking' and is going to be put to good use. We'll make sure to let you know how we like it!

For now though, I think its gonna be Murphy's word against mine.

Based on his past history (which you can read about here and here)...who do you believe??

Feline Friday

BFFs

Tuesday evening hike

Me, Mom, Holly & Dhani went for a short hike up Cowles Mountain Tuesday evening. Sandy Eggo has been getting some strange weather over the past few days....a cold winter-like storm blew in and dropped some waters from the sky both Monday morning and Tuesday morning.

Big threatening clouds still blanketed the sky, but no waters fell on us as we hiked the 1.5 mile trail to the top.

Don't worry...Sandy Eggo isn't as slanty as it looks in the picture, Mom just forgets to make sure the horizon is straight and was too lazy to correct it in Photoshop.

View from the top of Cowles, overlooking Lake Murray

Once we made it to the top, Mom had to get the obligatory picture with the peak marker.

The clouds made for some really pretty sun beams shining through, but it was cold and windy so we quickly headed back down to the bottom of the mountain!

Phew, I was a bit pooped out after the hike and had a nice sleep in the car while Mom & Auntie Holly ate raw fish. Silly people...I thought only doggies ate raw! BOL!

Relatively Wordless Wednesday

there was lots of physical labor this weekend!

LYF Camping (part 2)

This hiking stuff is hard work! Since the little dogs had to move their legs a ton more than I did to cover the same amount of space, I thought I'd be nice to them and take a little break.

that didn't last for long, and soon we were off again! The pine trees and green grass sure were pretty.

Bobby took advantage of his short stature when we came to an obstacle on the path. He got to go right underneath, while the rest of us had to figure out how to go around!

We stopped by one of the lakes to take a picture. Mom usually doesn't like to be in pictures (she just likes to TAKE pictures!), but this one turned out pretty nice.

Ginger looked so pretty with the sun on her fur.

pretty soon though, she was wiped out and decided to take another break in the middle of the trail.

When we got back to camp, she quickly found a nice comfy spot to pass out. She slept like this forever!

That afternoon, the last person arrived with her two doggies. Russell is an English Pointer, and his sister Hazel Rose is a pretty bulldog. Mom got mad at me a few times though, cuz for some reason I didn't like either of them. At one point, Hazel came over for a nice pet from Mom and I had to give her a telling off. Oh boy, did Mom get mad at me. She even made me do a time out!

After everyone returned from their hike and rested up, we played a few games. 1st was a 'loose-leash' walking game. Our bipeds had to fill a cup up completely full of water, and then holding it in the hand with the leash...walk to a bucket about 10 feet away and dump it in the bucket. Whoever had the most water in their bucket after 3 trips won.

As you can see, Dhani needs a little work on her leash manners. Check out that water spillage!

Ginger had no problem with this game! She's such a good girl!

After the loose-leash game, we played musical Hula-Hoops. Basically like musical chairs, but instead of sitting on a chair, the dog had to sit inside the hula-hoop!

It was easy at first, but soon got pretty competitive!

Lastly, we played a game called "Snoopy Says". This one is just like "Simon Says"...where you can only do the action when it is preceded by the words "Snoopy Says".

I wont a prize for being most helpful. I loved loved loved gathering firewood for everyone!

After the games, it was time for some relaxing. Someone needed to tell Russell that he's a little big to be a lap dog!

Mom, of course, had to get pictures of me all weekend. This one was fun trying to get all of us doggies to stay on the stump!

As the evening wore on, it got pretty chilly. Mom thinks it was in the mid-30's over night, so we tried to bundle up with whatever was available.

Most of the dogs had some pretty fashionable outfits. Bear came with more clothes than most of the people!

Dhani looked very stylish in her faux fur.

Russell can drool with the best of them. Check out that slobber string!

Finally it was time for bed, Mom covered me with lots of blankets so I wouldn't get cold...and I din't move a muscle all night!

Sunday morning was a completely different day. The clouds had rolled in, and there was a thick layer of fog blanketing the campgrounds. Me & Mom went for a short hike to see get some pictures and then we started packing up our stuff to head home.

I was so tired, I slept the entire way home....and once we were home I went right back to napping. Mom woke me up for a quick bath, but then I crashed again and didn't even get up for dinner! I was exhausted, but had such a good time! Can't wait for the annual trip next year!