YAY Charlie!

Welcome Back!

Charlie has been a part of our family for 7 months now and she has come a long way! (Though she still has A LOT of puppy in her!)

When Charlie came to us, she didn’t know how to walk on a leash. She would walk maybe 10 feet and lay down. EVERYTHING scared her…garbage cans, trees, other people. It wasn’t fun to go on a walk. I’ve worked hard to get her to be comfortable to go on a walk, even when on a leash.

So Friday, we went for our first walk in a neighborhood and she ROCKED it!!  YAY Charlie!! Shake that booty, girl!

Unfortunately, her celebration walk started off HORRIBLE!! We got out of the car and started to walk down the sidewalk. A gal was running on sidewalk towards us, with her dog. She passed us about 30 seconds into our walk and her dog lunged out at Charlie (who was walking nicely beside me) and bit Charlie’s face and would not let go!! Charlie was yelping and yelping and her dog was growling (a small dog) and held on tight! The gal finally yanked her dog hard enough so it let go of Charlie’s face. Charlie continued to whimper and immediately laid down on the sidewalk. (NO!!!)

I immediately got down beside her expecting a bloody mess, but thank goodness, it was only wet where Cujo and latched on. The gal kept asking, “Is he ok? Is he ok?” I looked at her and said, “SHE’S not bleeding!” I kept looking at Charlie and heard the gal say, “That’s not a way to say hello to other dogs!”

Thankfully, Charlie was not hurt and I think it scared her more (as it did me) then anything. The gal kept asking if she was ok and I told her it appears that she is fine. She kept saying how sorry she was, too. I told her it was ok, things look fine and so she went on to continue her run.

Thinking back, what else was the girl to say or do? She didn’t want to get close because her dog might bite again, so I think she said and did what she could.  (Though, right afterwards, I did have a lot of bad thoughts in my head go towards her and her dog.)

Well, Charlie got up and we continued on our walk and it turned out great!! She walked past scary garbage cans with no interest, she went over two bridges without freaking out, watched someone fish and wasn’t scared or skittish even once (after our second start!)

We watched families of geese get into the water with their little ones!
Here’s the first group…

The group behind them…

And I think these are all the single ladies…

Charlie sat and watched and didn’t even flinch or try to run after them. (phew) It was wonderful and Charlie has come along way! (or maybe she was in shock) Looking forward to many more UNEVENTFUL walks around the neighborhood with Charlie!

 

Just Finished…

Welcome Back!

I just finished the book
Force of Nature by Jane Harper.

Image result for force of nature jane harper

From Amazon
When five colleagues are forced to go on a corporate retreat in the wilderness, they reluctantly pick up their backpacks and start walking down the muddy path.

But one of the women doesn’t come out of the woods. And each of her companions tells a slightly different story about what happened.

Federal Police Agent Aaron Falk has a keen interest in the whereabouts of the missing hiker. In an investigation that takes him deep into isolated forest, Falk discovers secrets lurking in the mountains, and a tangled web of personal and professional friendship, suspicion, and betrayal among the hikers. But did that lead to murder?

I was so excited to start this book because I loved the previous book by this author, The Dry .  The story caught my attention right from the start and hung onto it to the end. Love the twists and how the author makes you believe something is going on, when there’s really nothing there and vice versa!!  I love the characters in the story and how the author rolls out their personalities and back stories slowly. There were a few unanswered questions, but nothing that left you hanging. Maybe I missed something or was done on purpose. If you liked The Dry, you will enjoy this read, too.

I would give this book 4 out of 5 starts.

Happy Birthday, Sam!

Happy 16th Birthday, Sam!

Sam came into the world 16 years ago today weighing 10.1 pounds, 23 inches long, smoking a cigarette and said, “Why hello, Mother.”

Needless to say, Sam was a bit on the larger side of the average baby. I imagine new moms and dads and families, looking into the nursery and saying, “Oh, look at the baby.” Then look over at Sam laying in there and saying, “OH! LOOK AT THE BABY!”

Before Sam was born, I had bought all these super cute 0-3 month clothes for our new baby boy! Needless to say, again, they did NOT fit him. We had to do some emergency shopping and our new baby went right into 9-12 month clothing!

Here’s Sam’s baby photo they use to take at the hospital. Nothing like the professional photos that are taken now days.  I loved this little onesie and Sam was going to wear it for his new baby picture (a little postpartum coming out!) I had to force it to snap together as you can tell by the lines from the neck to the snaps and his little diaper hanging out!

At two years old, it is said that you can double your kiddos height and that is how tall they will be when they grow up. A doctor told me that Sam would be 7’2″.  AGHAST!! WHAT?

Thank goodness that doctor was wrong and not our regular doctor! But, he did mention that Sam would probably have big feet. He got that one right!

The blue shoes are Sam’s first baby shoes! He was wearing those at 4 months!! The other ones are his current favorite sneakers.

Not only is Sam turning 16 today, but it’s his Golden Birthday! He is turning 16 years old on the 16th!

“What is the one thing you would like to do on your Golden Birthday?”  I asked him.

He looked at me a bit strange. Uh oh, this should be good. Hold my breath. “Get my driver’s license,” he said.

Me….stunned.  I hadn’t even thought of that! Hadn’t even crossed my mind!! Totally spaced off that he could get his license!

Now that is hard core mom denial that Sam is getting older!

I must say, even when Sam was the “biggest baby on the block” and is now 6’4″, 200+ pounds, he will always be my little blue eyed boy.

Happy Birthday Sam!
Love you  to the moon and back!

Ugh.

Welcome Back!

I have poison ivy again. How…no idea. Not only does it itch, but it hurts and burns. Once again, I’m miserable because it is right we’re my knee bends.  This spot is the worst ever.

I also have it on top of my knee, little spots/blisters all over both legs, my right arm, my chest and face.

Jason thinks I may have mowed over some poison ivy and it fluttered on me. Not only am I done with the front garden bed, but now I am not going to mow.  (A week of blisters actually may be a good thing!)

 

Gamer’s Thumb…

Welcome Back!

The boys school sends us emails that show us exactly what the boys have searched on their school computers.

We got an update the other day and I started giggling when I read Jack’s. Check out the last search!

A friend told Jack that this was a real thing, so he had to check it out. I asked him if he was self-diagnosing?

“No! Just checking out if it was real or not….for a friend!”

Funny!

Hello!

I’ve been taking more pictures lately. I think it’s because of the nice weather, things are changing and growing and we have been doing more things out and about.

I decided to try a “creative” type of shot the other night. I set my camera up to take an “action” shot of me watering my plants. I put my camera on a timer.  This is how it came out…

Nailed it!

Flowers…

Happy Hump Day!

When Moose was alive she would follow me around while I planted flowers. I’ve really miss her each year it’s time to plant flowers….until…

Charlie!
Yesterday I came home and while I was unloading flowers, Charlie jumped into the car…smiling of course!

She waited patiently for me to unload them all…can you spot her?

Then she followed me around while I (strategically) placed the pots.

Suddenly,  I heard “our” cardinal! When we see our cardinal, which showed up when Moose passed, we say it’s Moose checking in on us (the female showed up last year when Moose’s friend Esther passed away.) Looked up in the trees and saw our cardinal.

It was almost like Moose telling Charlie, “Thank you!”

Don’t Look…

Welcome Back!

Jason and I took Charlie to the dog park, but first needed to get coffee. As soon as Jason got out of the car, Charlie jumped into the front set beside me.

She watched Jason go into the store.

She then watched people walk by and gave them her best smile!
Hello!  Hello!

Must be a long line!

UH OH! Here he comes! Don’t look at him. He won’t see me in the front seat if I don’t look at him!

If I lean back a little further, he won’t see me! I can stay in the front seat and not have to go to the back seat!

As hard as she tried not to be seen, much to Charlie’s dismay, she ended up in the back seat!