I am up at my brother's house for CookieStock 2010.
We started this tradition the year after we lost our parents. Its something my Mum did every Christmas and we thought it a good way to remember and honour them.
Anyway, I took the dogs with me even though we were going to mostly be baking. A lot of attention goes into our cookies and I wasn't sure what the dogs would do.
We drove through a pretty scary snow storm and when we got to the house it had eased off a little. So we unloaded the car and got into the house and hunkered down. In the late afternoon/early evening it was time for the dogs to go out and it was the first time Emma has seen snow. Sure, she saw a dusting of it on our back porch, but nothing like what she found at my brother's place.
Well, after the first sort of look of shock, she went nuts!! She was bouncing and jumping and leaping and all over the place trying to catch snowflakes. Then she'd fly straight up and come down facing a different direction.
It gets a lot darker in the country than it does in the city. It marked the first time we could see Emma at night, though!
She has been driving Sidney N U T S. She has gotten more playful I guess because of the snow. Now her new trick is to bite his tail and hang on. He turns to bark at her. He growls. He snarls. He tries to bite her. Nothing, she just comes back for more. Poke, poke, poke.
He did finally get her on the nose and you would have thought he had ripped her leg off. She's is like that little spoiled kid that just keeps picking until somebody finally decides to put an end to it. Then its all "Mommy, he's picking on me."
I should have some pictures to add to this when I get home. I'm still at my brother's house waiting for my hubby to come and get me and go home. Emma is right now on my brother's sofa, which would tick him off if he was here. But, they are quiet so I'm okay with it.
The really good thing, when I put her outside, is that she stays around the back door as well as Sidney does. She would venture out a little bit but seemed to know she was somewhere new. She stayed quite close to the house. They ventured out to the back of the house a little but never went more than ten feet from base.
She is almost housebroken too. The only problem is that Sidney will bark to go out. Emma just trots off to the door. SO if you aren't watching her you don't know she wants out, in which case she will do her business right by the door. While here, she had three accidents, which for being in a strange place is pretty darn good.
Next time, I'll tell you about her learning to come when she's called.
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
The Latest
Well, I took the two of them to the Vet last week. Emma needed her shots and I was worried about Sidney. He seems to have put on a lot of weight, suddenly. Turns out it was only a pound or so. I guess it's just that picking Emma up (6 pounds now), before I pick him up (20 pounds, yes he's heavy but he is also a Shih Tzu from a breeder and therefore has some substance to him) really shows the comparison.
So anyway, I am to keep him on a special diet for a month. It adds bulk but not calories. Then, if he has still not lost weight they will test his Thyroid. She felt that this would be the better way to go as the test is over $100.00 and the food was $35.00. Well, we have to pick one and the food was the better choice at this time.
A month from now they both go back, her for more shots, him to jump (or waddle, if a certain someone doesn't stop giving him the plate to clean off) on the scale. I have to admit I was really scared it was 'C'. I feel better about that part now.
We went to the park the other day and saw a squirrel acting weird. This one was on the ground and having trouble holding his head up. Plus he suddenly started towards the dogs instead of running away. I saw this behaviour once before, and it involved a lot of noise from the geese we owned back when we lived in the country.
We were startled by this explosion of sound from the back yard. The geese were really aggravated about something and in full alert mode. Suddenly we saw a skunk. It was staggering and having trouble with its head. We had an dog house that a mother cat had moved into with her kittens. She shared the house with Jenny, our collie. The skunk headed that way and while I went to hopefully get her the hubby grabbed a BB gun.
I get Jenny out of the pen, without getting sprayed and the skunk heads towards the dog house. Suddenly Mum cat hears her kittens and goes tearing in after the skunk. The skunk did NOT spray but staggered out again and by now hubby was within feet of it with the gun. He managed to kill it with the BB gun and THAT'S when it let loose with the odour. His last gift to us. We called animal control and they came and got it and said they would test for rabies and let us know. Sure enough the thing was rabid and I had to get shots. The reason? I had a hold of Jenny by her fur. She had chased the skunk when it first went in her run. I happened to have touched her down low where she may have been in contact with the skunk, and I had a fresh cut (open wound) on my hand.
The rabies shots were NOT in the abdomen; there were only five of them, and the worst part was getting a massive dose of hemoglobin before the rabies shots started. THAT goes in the butt and they didn't have any large needles for the size of the dose they give you, so I had to have six smaller shots. A nurse on either side of me doing two at a time. Fun!
By the way, I DID report the squirrel to the man who does the park maintenance and he was going to call about it.
Next time I see him I'll ask what happened.
Now, Sidney, Emma and I are off to my brother's for three days of serious cookie baking. This is Cookie Stock 2010. We started this as a remembrance of or tribute to my parents, Mum especially. She used to do cookies every Christmas with us and its our way of keeping her alive in our hearts.
I'll let you know what adventures we have, Emma especially. Sid has been there before and nothing really bothers him. But Em is going to find all kinds of interesting smells and stuff.
SIDE NOTE: I am a HUGE MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fan and just noticed a couple of days ago the those are the last three letters in Emma's name.
SIDE NOTE TWO: I m going to record some of the activities at Cookie Stock. If any of it is good I'll have it on You Tube by the end of the week.
So anyway, I am to keep him on a special diet for a month. It adds bulk but not calories. Then, if he has still not lost weight they will test his Thyroid. She felt that this would be the better way to go as the test is over $100.00 and the food was $35.00. Well, we have to pick one and the food was the better choice at this time.
A month from now they both go back, her for more shots, him to jump (or waddle, if a certain someone doesn't stop giving him the plate to clean off) on the scale. I have to admit I was really scared it was 'C'. I feel better about that part now.
* * * * *
We went to the park the other day and saw a squirrel acting weird. This one was on the ground and having trouble holding his head up. Plus he suddenly started towards the dogs instead of running away. I saw this behaviour once before, and it involved a lot of noise from the geese we owned back when we lived in the country.
We were startled by this explosion of sound from the back yard. The geese were really aggravated about something and in full alert mode. Suddenly we saw a skunk. It was staggering and having trouble with its head. We had an dog house that a mother cat had moved into with her kittens. She shared the house with Jenny, our collie. The skunk headed that way and while I went to hopefully get her the hubby grabbed a BB gun.
I get Jenny out of the pen, without getting sprayed and the skunk heads towards the dog house. Suddenly Mum cat hears her kittens and goes tearing in after the skunk. The skunk did NOT spray but staggered out again and by now hubby was within feet of it with the gun. He managed to kill it with the BB gun and THAT'S when it let loose with the odour. His last gift to us. We called animal control and they came and got it and said they would test for rabies and let us know. Sure enough the thing was rabid and I had to get shots. The reason? I had a hold of Jenny by her fur. She had chased the skunk when it first went in her run. I happened to have touched her down low where she may have been in contact with the skunk, and I had a fresh cut (open wound) on my hand.
The rabies shots were NOT in the abdomen; there were only five of them, and the worst part was getting a massive dose of hemoglobin before the rabies shots started. THAT goes in the butt and they didn't have any large needles for the size of the dose they give you, so I had to have six smaller shots. A nurse on either side of me doing two at a time. Fun!
By the way, I DID report the squirrel to the man who does the park maintenance and he was going to call about it.
Next time I see him I'll ask what happened.
* * * * *
Now, Sidney, Emma and I are off to my brother's for three days of serious cookie baking. This is Cookie Stock 2010. We started this as a remembrance of or tribute to my parents, Mum especially. She used to do cookies every Christmas with us and its our way of keeping her alive in our hearts.
* * * * *
I'll let you know what adventures we have, Emma especially. Sid has been there before and nothing really bothers him. But Em is going to find all kinds of interesting smells and stuff.
SIDE NOTE: I am a HUGE MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) fan and just noticed a couple of days ago the those are the last three letters in Emma's name.
SIDE NOTE TWO: I m going to record some of the activities at Cookie Stock. If any of it is good I'll have it on You Tube by the end of the week.
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