January 22, 2009 at 14:22 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Ben, dog park
One tired dog
December 12, 2008 at 02:22 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Alley, apartment, Ben, Chauncey, computer, courthouse, Craigslist, dad, divorce, dog park, Elise, enV2, ex-husband, family, football, lawyer, LG, Missouri University, mom, Motorola, move, nephew, snow, text messaging, Thanksgiving, TV, US Cellular, Verizon
Its been a while, I know. When I get behind then it seems like a monumental task to blog again. Its not that I’m not thinking of you all, cuz I send music, but… I just dont find time to sit down while I’m at work. I almost never even touch the internet when I’m at home anymore. In fact I’m going to cancel my home internet simply because I might use it once a day and its nothing that I can’t just check when I get to work, or… as I plan, check on my new phone, but I’ll talk more about that later.
First off, Thanksgiving.
For Thanksgiving I went to go visit my family down south. I’ve visited my family more this year than I’ve ever visited them before. I attribute some of it to truly missing them, especially my sister and her family, and having the freedom and time to do so.
This, as best as I can recall, the first time I have sat down with my family for Thanksgiving dinner in 16 years. I mean, my mom, dad and sister. My mom visited for Thanksgiving three years ago, and we ate together then, but, its been a long time as a whole family.
It was a nice visit, as most of my visits have been lately. I stayed with my mom this time, the last few times I stayed with my sister. I’d not taken into account that my mom is an early to bed person with her job, where I am the exact opposite, a night owl because of my work hours. But, it wasn’t bad, because I was able to relax each night and just do nothing.
It’s not that I can’t do nothing when I’m at home. Its just that even if I had been stressing out about doing something, I simply couldnt. No internet, just a computer with lots of recorded TV I hadn’t gotten to watch yet and a phone with unlimited text messaging! I had lots and lots of “me” time.
I went down on Wednesday, spent Thanksgiving with my mom and then on Friday we had a meal together with my sister, brother-in-law, nephew and dad. On Saturday, with the threat of bad weather on the horizon, I dedided to head out at half time of the MU vs. KU game.
On Sunday I decided to cancel my vacation day and go into work. If I’m home I might as well go to work, right?
Here are a few pics from when I was with family.
First is my mom and sister cooking for Thanksgiving!
Elise and Ben and I
My entire family loved Ben. Which is not hard to imagine! He was a very good boy while we were there and remembered his manners. Alley and Ben both played nicely with my mom’s Weim “Jesse” and for the most part everyone got along with “Chauncey” too. Alley likes Chauncey because he plays at her speed, which is all out, all the time!
Not much has been going on since I got home. Work and snow I guess.
This was our first true snowfall and that was before Thanksgiving. A few days ago we got an additional 9″ plus there is always more snow in the forecast.
The last few days I’ve been thinking about getting a new phone. I’ve looked at lots of phones and I think I finally settled on the LG enV2, which gets great reviews, but… it means I have to switch cell carriers.
I’ve had US Cellular forever and ever, but Verizon has all the same coverage as US Cellular plus lots and lots more! PLUS… there just aren’t any phones I want from US Cellular. I might as well stick with my Motorola RAZR and I’ve had that for a few years now, and although I love it, it’s time to catch up with technology.
Well, looking at options and carriers and phones, etc. had me on Craigslist today. On a whim, while I was on Craigslist, I looked at available apartments. My lease is up at the place I’m at now at the end of January, but I had planned on signing for another 5 months, to get me into summer and move then. But, things don’t always work like we think they should.
Well, this apartment caught my eye, and I’m going to go look at it on Saturday. They accept pets and its in a really nice area, worlds better than where I am now, and it’s not any further from work. It also has a pool, fitness center and is in walking distance to a dog park. Perhaps its fate, perhaps not, but, I’m going to go look at it to find out. 
In other news, on December 2nd, my husband and I were divorced. He is such a procrastinator… poor guy. He was there, on time, but with paperwork he was still filling out. I suppose a lawyer would have made him fill it out a bit more promptly.
We didn’t use a lawyer for our divorce. We paid not quite $200 to file the paperwork with the county and took care of the whole thing ourselves, with no other costs but fuel to drive to the courthouse on hearing day. I know some people would say, if you get along so well with someone that you can negotiate an entire divorce, including real estate and property division, perhaps you could have, or should have, stayed married. Ya, its not like the thought didn’t cross my mind.
I don’t hate my ex-husband. Not even close. I’m not a fan of his recent attitude of live it up and be a rude shallow prick to everyone, including me, but, well, he’s got to sort that out for himself. I know that deep down he cares, and deep down he’s still trying to figure this all out, what happened and where to go from here. I feel bad for him. I feel guilty for how I’ve treated him and I feel responsible for his behavior. Had I handled myself better, perhaps he wouldn’t be quite so damaged.
When I first left him I wanted him to wise up and realize he can’t treat people the way he treated me. Of course, I needed to learn the same lesson. I wanted him to just leave me alone and go away, but on the other hand he had been my best friend for the last 7 years and I wanted him to still be there for me, when he hadn’t been there for me in our marriage, but, still… his kinda being there was more than I had available to me.
Ya… I don’t know. It’s been eleven months now since I moved out and there are times where I miss the house, and fewer and fewer times where I miss him. But, I’m not as angry with him anymore either. I’ve forgiven him for all that there is to forgive and I think he has forgiven me, at least I hope so. He’s still too proud a bastard to say “I’m sorry!” but, well, miracles don’t happen everyday.
I guess what I do now is look at the future and say, where do I want to be now, where am I going? I look at my job, my hobbies, my relationships and say, “Are these what I want?”, “Are these going to get me where I want to be?” and I guess more often than not I say, “Yes!”. What more can a person ask for.
November 16, 2008 at 04:32 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Alley, Ben, Brent Smith, clam chowder, dog park, fish fry, Gordon Ramsey, Kitchen Nightmares, Labradoodle, laundry, Molly, Shinedown
Morning all… OK, It’s 2200, but, how else could I start a post?!?
Ben and Alley and I started out our Friday morning by going to the dog park with our friend Dawg and his Olde English Buldogge, Molly. We went to a park to the south of us and let the dogs run around like goof balls, like they know anything else!
Alley, Ben and Molly get along very well and they look like quite the troupe of Mush Faces running around. Ben really loves going to the park. He runs around and you just cant take your eyes off him, one part fear that he is going to stumble and hurt himself, three parts amazed at how he can really get going! He and Alley and Molly were all running and then someone stumbled and dogs went down in a heap and then all hopped back up and started running again.
Alley’s favorite game is “keep away”. She has the tennis ball and no one else can even look at it. This keeps them entertained for ages! She also periodically runs into the water, which must be about 35 degrees now, but she doesn’t seem to care. Ben and Molly wade in after her. It’s really Ben’s time to shine since Al is still swimming when he’s not even up to his chest. If he ever had a chance of getting the ball from her, it’s then.
Dawg and I were sitting on one of the park benches talking watching the goofs. Alley is the point dog. She goes out and checks everything out, while Ben and Molly stay back on executive protection detail. Ben leans against our knees, and he can hit 3 of 4 knees this way, and Molly sits with her back to him and us, keeping an eye out. It was hilarious when she backed up so that she was literally sitting under Ben, ever watching.
Later Ben and Alley were trying to wrestle each other. Al loves to try and kill her dog friends. It’s the truth. She does everything she ever could to take Topper down at the throat, and since she has accepted Ben as her new bosom buddy, he now gets the same treatment. Funny thing is, he is NEVER going down! First off he has this huge neck of rolls and rolls of fur. Al can’t get a grip on anything. Secondly, her entire head can fit in his big maw of a mouth. Alley of course has had to perfect her “Boxing” skills, getting up on her hind feet just to meet him eye to eye. They are a joy to watch! Especially when Ben gets the “zoomies” and Al gets the look of “Oh no! What have I done!?”
Yesterday Ben was also extremely adorable when he went to meet a pair of Labradoodles for the second time. The first time he greeted them and the owner normally. The second time he saw them coming towards him down a path, so he literally laid at the head of the trail… and waited. Big old noggin resting between his paws, just waiting for them to get there. Both “doodles” had no idea what to think, and Ben only got up when the guy reached down to pet him. When he gets tired, he hits HARD! Nothing short of a crane can move him!
After a few hours at the park I took my kids home to rest. They were sleeping before we made it out of the driveway. When we got home Ben lumbered into the house and plopped down 3 feet in. I went about some “house chores” and he just laid there and slept. Al hung out with him, tired, but not as tired as he was. After about an hour I decided to take a nap too. I wanted to be plenty rested for fish fry later on.
I woke up about 1630 but was still waiting on plans to develop and see who I was going to go catch a meal with. I watched TV. Yes, I am extremely ambitious. I wanted to watch Chef Ramsey on Kitchen Nightmares. I LOVE that show! As I was watching one of my friends called to see what the dinner plans were. We made plans to go eat, but I wanted to check my messages and told him I would call him back. I checked my messages but it was nothing important and called him back, but he didn’t answer. I tried a few times, with it going directly to voice mail and then decided to go check on my laundry. While I was in the laundry room I heard the phone ring but didnt worry too much as I was going to be back upstairs in a second and I’d call back then.
When I call my friend back, he answers like I had come back from the dead. The relief was VERY evident! “OK.. Tell me the story!”, I say.
He says that he had called me back after he hadn’t heard back from me, and a man answered the phone.
He said, “Hello?”
The other guy said, “Hello?”
My buddy says “Hello?” again and the male answerer hangs up. He is a little puzzled, but then when I still don’t call, his brain starts working and before you know it, he’s sure I’m being assaulted… Thank God I didn’t take too long in the laundry room or I would have had the Local PD busting my door down!!! There’s nothing like knowing someone is driving over to your house to save your life by force to know that someone cares!!! LOL! I think its a great story and I write it here only so that I never forget it.
So finally, we get out to eat some fish. Thirty minutes after we are seated and have ordered, the server comes back to tell us that they’re out of fish. Are you kidding me??? We decided to eat elsewhere.
The second place was such a much better choice. The Clam Chowder was absolutely unbelievable!!!!! The fish and loaded baked potato were also to die for. Even when I had them again for breakfast this morning!
I ended up not going to the Shinedown concert. I just wasn’t feeling it. Plus, I didn’t want to pay the $30+ for the concert tickets. My buddy tried to win tickets for me… yes, a collective… awwwwwwww….. The tickets included a backstage pass before the concert. Damn it! I would have loved to win that one! Brent Smith is just sooo damn awesome. BUT, I had a great night regardless and I got to sleep hours before I would have had I gone to the concert and that made today alot easier!
I’ve got 30 minutes left in my 16 hour shift. My last report was that the pups were fine. I can’t wait to get home to them….
November 4, 2008 at 01:46 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Alley, Ben, dog park, Shinedown, Twilight
So we went to the Dog Park today!!!! This is Ben’s third time to the park. He is a perfect gentleman when we are there. He’s “slimed” quite a few people but he is definitely a favorite among the regulars. They all know his name now and he’s starting to learn some of the regular dogs. He seems to really like the little dogs, but, he is always very calm, and nothing gives me a bigger kick when a dog, of any size, because they are all smaller than him, chases him and he tucks his butt and runs like a scared cat!!! He is a hoot!!!
Below. Ben heard a noise from the business that borders the park. He was wondering what was going on. Alley is oblivious or maybe she just doesn’t care. She runs point always and Ben follows up with me, usually heeling at my side. They are so much fun to walk with.
Below. Ben and Alley romping! She tries to get ahold of his neck and in the process she gets “slimed” SO bad!!! Her head today was literaly spittle from ear to ear and brow to the back of her neck. Ewww!
Below. Look at those faces!!!! You have got to love those lips and ears!!!!!!
As you can tell we had a good time. I’m glad i remembered the camera.
Not a whole lot going on in the rest of the world. Tomorrow is election day. That makes me a bit busier at work. I have this coming weekend off, plus Monday and Tuesday, so that should be nice.
Looking forward to seeing Twilight in three weeks and going to see Shinedown in two weeks.
November 2, 2008 at 04:22 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Alley, Ben, dog park, Fall, motorcycle
This morning I left the pups at home and went out for a motorcycle ride with a buddy of mine and some of his friends. We had a great time and I was thankful to enjoy some of the beautiful weather we are having this fall.
When I got home I took Alley and Ben to the dog park and they had a great time. Ben was soooo tired when we got home.
I had to work overnight tonight so I left the pups at home and hopefully they will sleep till morning.
October 26, 2008 at 23:05 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Alley, Ben, Cocker Spaniel, dog park, football, Mastiff, Molly, swimming
We had a great time at the dog park, but, I was too busy to get pictures. Sorry. Watching Alley, Benjamin and my friend’s dog, Molly, all interact, plus the other dog park visitors today kept me jumping.
Alley was in rare form today, friendly towards other dogs and running around like she was happy beyond belief. Ben immediately joined forces with a big Shepard mix named Whisper and ran around and around and around. He sure is something when he’s running. It’s like you expect the ground to shake.
No one really wanted to swim today however. It was a bit cool, 50 degrees, and very windy. Al was not swimming well when she tried. I have no idea why, maybe the waves were hitting her in the face. They did however all want to at least get into the water, splashing and getting just wet enough that they needed to dry out again.
Ben was extremely kind to every person and dog he met. He was most scared of a Cocker Spaniel mix we met that was a fifth of his size. he’d turn tail and run whenever she wandered over to say “Hi”. It was laughable. Ben also leaned on everyone he met that would rub his big noggin.
He also is such a “protector”! This morning he and Alley showed that they were getting along better and better. This afternoon Ben showed how far they’d come as companions.
Alley was watching two men play football. One of the men bent to pet her, but she does not let strangers touch her, and she scooted away. She often looks like she is “playing” and so the guy was gearing her up more. Ben watched for a second and then decided he didn’t like how that guy was behaving so he started barking at the man. Once Al returned to me, Ben stopped and we went on our way. It was the only time Ben was not a perfect gentleman all day and as far as I was concerned, he was a gentleman then, protecting his new friend.
He is an amazing dog!
We’ve been all sleeping since our return from the park… whew….
October 26, 2008 at 16:03 (Uncategorized)
Tags: Alley, bathing dogs, Ben, Boxer, dog park, guard dogs, Pebbles, sleep, swimming, Topper
Ben slept better last night, so that makes today a better start already. Ben’s first night here he was having a difficult time adjusting to sleeping on the bed, and believe me, him getting in and out of bed is a noticable thing! LOL!!
The first night he was still wary of Alley, my Boxer and I could tell he didn’t want to interfere with her territory, and she had claimed me as hers. By yesterday afternoon, Ben had decided he did not acknolwedge Al’s claim and I was now his. They even had to have some words over it, until i set them both straight.
I’m surprised at how quickly he has bonded to me. It’s in his nature to protect/guard, but I am still amazed at how fast he has centered on me. He stands in between me and everyone and everything else already, however, he is quicker to accept, where Al takes her time. They are a wonderful pair.
This morning was hilarious as he and Al romped around the living room. I hadn’t seen her play like that in a long time, since Topper left me. It brought tears to my eyes, I won’t lie. Add on to that, watching Ben play is like watching a car wreck and you can begin to understand how awesome it truly was. When he gets to moving, bouncing and charging, he is awe inspiring. I can’t take my eyes off of him, wondering what is going to break and being amazed every second that he is truly so agile. This morning he brushed the coffee table, the first time he’s hit anything, and that was mostly my fault because I put something in his path and he moved around it.
I just went out to my car, in preparation for a dog park trip, and I was amazed at the amount of hair clinging to my interior. I shook out blankets and made the back seat more comfortable and there will be a strict no front seat rule this time. I also wiped it out the best I could to get rid of the already present hair, but, a trip to the detailers may become a regular occurence.
We’re on our way in a few minutes to the dog park. I’ll take the camera. There is water and Al LOVES to swim and I’ve been told Ben may get in too. I’ve also packed extra towels!!! It’ll never be enough though… I can tell you that right now.
Funny thing last night. I was preparing a bath for myself and Ben thought it was for him. No joke he kept trying to get in. Not just your kinda want to get in either. I was physically holding him back and he kept putting his front feet in the tub. At least we won’t have any troubles with bath time!
He and Storm have pretty much forgotten each other’s existence, so that is nice. Storm is one of my two cats. Pebbles has only seen him from a distance and decided she immediately hated him. Of course she already hates Alley so this is not a new development. Pebbles has already staked claim to the space above the cupboards in the kitchen and she has her own room for cats only, so, I’m not feeling overly sorry for her.
OK, we’re off to the park. Check back for pictures later!!!
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