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By Chris, on January 15, 2011, at 8:21 am
…like a hellhound out of some frozen Hell. That is what a friend jokingly said about the above picture, and that description seems to fit the weather of the past month rather well. It’s a shiny new year, but that’s because of the glare bouncing off all the snow and ice. We’ve had four snows – three of them significant, the last one still with us. Each time the snow was followed by days of bitter cold. Yesterday morning, it was four degrees outside when we got up. It’s very unusual for NC to get weather like this, and with this being the second year of it, I think we’re beginning to suffer from snow fatigue.
The dogs, on the other hand, (Cricket being the exception here) are loving the snow. They frolic in it until they are exhausted. Paddy eats it, snorts it, digs in it gleefully. Gwen bounds through it and ends up coated in snow, looking like some sort of miniature yeti. At least someone is enjoying it, right?
If you click on either of the above pictures it will take you to a gallery of their “Fun in the snow” from January 10.
Last year wasn’t the greatest one, but I am thankful for everything we have. These are hard times, a lot of people are struggling hard, facing incredible losses, and we’re fortunate to have stable jobs and a roof (of our own, yet!) over our heads. We lost Lindsy this past year, and it’s still weird and sad to have her gone. She was part of our lives for what felt like forever. We had Paddy and Gwen (who I still haven’t properly introduced here, that’s coming) join the family, and the little kitten we adopted in December of 2009 blossomed into the most wonderful big hunk of orange cuddliness. We adore our Calvin.
Cricket – amazingly – is still with us and thanks to some advice from our vet, her stomach trouble is better than it has been in years. Olive reached her fourteenth birthday! Simon is nine – nine! Holy crap, how did that happen? Winter, the ‘baby’ before Calvin came, will be six this coming June. Time just seems to go faster and faster.
This year ahead is going to be a tough one, I think; we have family members facing serious health challenges and it feels like there is some uncertainty and change possibly in the wind with other parts of our lives. But I also feel that these are all things that everyone could emerge on the other side of better than before. We just need to buckle in for the wild ride, and remember to be grateful for all the good things in our lives.
By Chris, on December 24, 2010, at 10:37 am …and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring,
not even a mouse.
OK, actually it was the morning before Christmas, and the house was alive with the cacophony of dogs playing, cats milling, and two humans trying to police the situation and make a vegetable cobbler at the same time. But I couldn’t make that rhyme.
The animals have already spoken to Santa about their wishes…
Though, if Cricket’s wish was “make Paddy and Gwen go away,” she’s going to be a bit disappointed.
Simon is ready for the big day, all decked out with his personalized collar tag Auntie Caroline at Wag! gave him.
and the stockings are hung by the fireplace, ready for tomorrow. Even though Paddy actually has been playing with his Christmas gift for weeks already… it’s not like we could have kept THAT in a stocking.
Calvin (who has been with us a whole year as of this week!) is keeping a watch for Santa.
We’d like to wish everyone a very happy holiday season, with peace and happiness for the coming new year!
-Chris, Joy, Olive, Simon, Cricket, Winter, Calvin, Paddy & Gwen
By Chris, on December 10, 2010, at 2:26 pm Today, I found myself without any actual dispatch events to work on, so I was doing remote stuff from home. After careening around the house up until Joy left for work, the animals had all crashed… the house was silent except for Calvin snoring on the bed in the office.
Right up until I picked up my cell to call a client.
As I dialed the first numbers, out of the corner of my eye I saw Cricket’s head pop up in the living room. She’d been asleep on the couch. She stretched, hopped down off the couch, and came trotting into the office like she was on a mission. Paddy, seeing her moving with such apparent purpose, jumped off his chair and followed her. They both came into the office, woke the puppy up, and all three began milling about at my feet making all sorts of commotion. I had to hang up mid-dial and regroup.
I took Gwen out to potty, locked her in her crate with a snack, and leaned the office door closed so that the person on the other end wouldn’t hear a puppy whining in a crate, and dialed again. Paddy began trying to bump the door open with his nose. I could hear Cricket dancing in hallway in front of the door. Simon came out of the bedroom yelling at the top of his lungs, having suddenly become aware of this alarming change in the house.
Translation of Simon: “OMG, did you know this door was closed? Why is it closed? It wasn’t closed earlier. What if I wanted to go in there? I think I need to get in there RIGHT NOW.”
Could someone explain again why we didn’t just get a turtle or a goldfish?
By Chris, on October 31, 2010, at 5:25 pm It’s that time of year again! The full album is here but below are a few highlights…
Cricket the flapper
Winter in her Sunday best
Simon butterfly
Calvin the purple dinosaur
Angry Olive Tiger
and last but not least….
Paddy the Cheerleader!
Simon sauntered around the entire time in his wings, I don’t think he wanted to take them off. Cricket also enjoyed her dress. Calvin wasn’t pleased with his outfit at first but eventually got into it. Paddy was cool with the dress and pink toenails, but not so much with the wig. They all enjoyed the treats, though. 
Feeding frenzy. If you look close, you’ll see everyone is in the picture.
By Chris, on October 9, 2010, at 9:50 am We took the dogs to another Yappy Hour at Wag! Caroline is going to be having these every Friday from 6 PM to 9 PM until Thanksgiving, so if you live in the Hendersonville area and have a friendly dog, it’s a lot of fun for canines and humans alike.
Grace the Pit mix wasn’t there last night, but Paddy got to see his friend Matilda again…
and Matilda proceeded to work him over.
These were all taken with cell phones and Matilda just moved too fast to focus. This one looks like something that would have been posted by the humane society as part of an undercover fighting expose.
I think this is my favorite for sheer artistic value. On first glance, just a blur of color. If you look closer you can make out a leg here, a jaw there, Paddy and Matilda had a great time.
June, one of the store ‘owners’, worn out after playing hostess all night.
After all the other dogs left, Paddy decided it was time to go home.
Cricket had a great time again and I tried to take a picture of her in her party collar, but she was really excited and I only captured a vague black and shimmery pink blur. Maybe next time.
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