This Blog Has Moved!

Since Joe and I have been on the East Coast for almost a year now, we are no longer transplants! So, I have decided to start a NEW blog for our life going forward. So, please update your bookmarks!

http://myfamilyandfur.blogspot.com/

Thanks!

Neighborhood Family of Geese

It's kind of hard to see in this picture, but there is a family of geese that live at our neighborhood lake and they are just TOO precious! I took Jackson for a walk this morning, and I had to stop and take their picture. The mom was pretty upset that I stood there with my furry beast. She was squawking at me like she was saying, "You wanna go? I don't care how big you are, if you come near my babies, it's ON b**ch!"

The cutest thing is that they are always walking around as a family, and the little ones will be eating and as soon as someone approaches, the mom squawks and the babies coming running in. It's just so human like!

An UnEventful Weekend

Not much to report about our weekend. It was a cold and rainy weekend, so we mostly just stayed in, cleaned the house, and hung out.

We rented the movie "Blindness" and I had to get up in the middle of it and go to the bedroom to watch something happy because it was THAT bad. Joe stuck with it, thinking it had to get better, and was pretty much in a depression once it ended. Once again, it was THAT bad. Don't rent it.

On Sunday, we had a friend over who owns an Italian Greyhound named Daisy. Ava and Daisy absolutely adore each other, so it was so fun to have the two of them together.

Seriously, that's about it. Kind of a pointless post, I know. But there you go. :-)

Ava Wants Warm Weather

Last week, and especially last weekend, we had phenomenal weather. I'm talking in the 80s and 90s. It was awesome. Ava absolutely loved it! She even got excited to go outside and bask in the warmth. Well, this week has turned cold and rainy again and she is NOT happy.

She would like to ask Mother Nature for the warm weather back, please.

March of Dimes Walk

I can't believe it's been 10 whole days since I've posted! It amazes me that it's already Thursday - last weekend and this week have been so busy that it just flew by.

I thought I'd show you some pictures from the March of Dimes event Joe and I participated in last weekend with my company, Birthday in a Box. We had company shirts made up and a lot of people showed up, so we had a nice big group. Our team raised $1,830, and I just have to say THANK YOU to everyone who supported me. It really means a lot.




As you can see from my red face in the last picture, it was a super hot day! But we made it the full 4.1 miles, and it felt good. (If you are wondering, our shirts say "Shop Click Party" on the back - that is Birthday in a Box's slogan.)

The rest of our weekend was spent doing dog transport. We got in two new rescues that needed to be taken to foster homes last weekend. So on Friday, Joe and I braved the rush hour traffice to take sweet Lili to her new foster home, and on Sunday, we drove 2 1/2 hours to pick up Lou and drive him to his new foster home.

It was a hot, busy weekend, but full of good deeds!

This week has just been crazy - Joe is writing his thesis AND seeing patients (yay!), I have TONS going on at work where I am just fried at the end of the day, Joe is developing his own website for his business (check it out - http://drjoechiro.wordpress.com), I am getting a lot of inquiries and releases through IG Rescue, Joe is trying to market himself by attending lots of after-work meetings and Chamber of Commerce events... you get the idea. Oh, and did I mention that we found a tick on Joe the other night?? Yes, it was horrible, but he got the gross little thing off of him eventually and has had no ill side effects.

It's just been crazy, so again, sorry for the late posting. I'll try to do better. :-)

A Weekend for the Dogs

What a busy weekend!! We had a very fun and interesting weekend - all about the dogs. First, we got Jackson groomed for the first time in 8 months. We were not very good parents, and he had some big mats in his hair that had to be cut out. Luckily, he did really well with it, and is now our little brown bear again.

(By the way, this is him with his new squeaky ball that his grandma got him for Easter. Wow - is it LOUD. I love how grandmas can pick out the most obnoxious toys that their granddogs will absolutely LOVE.)

We also took the dogs to the vet last week, got them all checked out and updated on heartworm preventative and Lyme's Disease preventative, and left with a clean bill of health. Yay!

Then, on Friday morning, we got a call from one of our friends in the local iggie group. They had a loss in the family and had to make a trip to Pennsylvania and they needed a last-minute dog sitter for their iggy. We of course said yes and Miss Brita was dropped off on Friday night.

She absolutely ADORES Joe. To the point where she refuses to be more than 6 inches away from him at all times. She slept either on him or next to him the entire time she was with us. It was so sweet, but I have to admit, I was a little jealous. I mean, I was taking damn good care of her, too! But she just didn't even acknowledge my existence. Sigh.



She had a bit of a tough time Friday night. She was anxious and every time she would hear the slightest sound, she would anxiously look at the door, hoping for her parents to come back. Poor girl.

We had a playdate on Saturday, so we took all three dogs to that. They had a great time and it was such a beautiful day!

Headed to the playdate - both girls on my lap.

Are we there yet?

Brita playing with the other dogs, Ava wondering why she is forced to be outside.

She is such a pretty girl!

But not as pretty as this girl!

Two completely tuckered out dogs on the way home!
(Sorry, no pics of Jackson. He was having so much fun and all over the place, and I couldn't get him to stay in one place long enough to get any shots! He did the lure course twice, and was a complete hit! He may have a future in agility!)

Brita went back home on Saturday night. She was very happy to see her parents and they reported back to us that she slept most of the day on Sunday.

For us, Sunday was the March for the Animals in Baltimore! I want to thank everyone who donated to our walk. It was for a great cause and obviously something I'm passionate about. Unfortunately, we had to leave the dogs at home. Jackson still doesn't mesh well in a crowd and we felt bad leaving Jackson at home alone for so long, so we didn't take Ava either. But we had a great time talking to all the other dog owners and it was a nice day for a walk. Here are some of the walkers:

So, as you can see, it was a busy, busy weekend, all for the dogs! Hope all of you out there had a great weekend too!

Joe's Trip to Portland

Joe took a trip back home to Portland over Easter weekend, and he had a great time! He was able to see all of his family, get caught up on everything, and eat lots of stuff he doesn't get around here - like steak!

One of the people he was most excited to see was Marleigh. She is the daughter of Joe's great friends, Bryan and Kari. And boy, was Marliegh excited to see her Uncle Joe!


It was also exciting because Bryan and Kari are expecting their second! Kari is due next month, as you can see by this picture. :-)

Marleigh is convinced that there is a little sister in there, but Joe and I think it's going to be a boy.

More pictures of the family:

Joe's mom, Connie.

Marleigh with Joe's neice, Samantha; her boyfriend Dalton (in yellow), and Joe's nephew, Zach. (Zach is playing rugby now and Joe got to go to one of his games. He got so enthralled in the sport that I'm a bit afraid he's going to want to start playing. And that game is brutal!!)

Joe's Dad, Joe Sr., with the baby in the family, Roxy.