The toddler terror

Artimus and Gollum mostly just avoid my niece and nephews. When we are at my sister's house, I bring in their crate so they can have a quiet place to rest where they feel safe. Nathan, however, isn't quite old enough to understand this concept. Since the crate is something different and "new" in his territory, he feels justified to play with it. Maybe he thinks it's his newest toy. Week after week, Danell and I have tried to explain that he must not touch the "puppy's cage." It seems like it may be sinking in.

growing up in the old days

To Those of Us Born

1930 - 1979

At the end of this email is a quote of the month byJay Leno.. If you don't read anything else, please

read what he said.

Very well stated, Mr. Leno.

TO ALL THE KIDS WHO SURVIVED THE

1930's, 40's, 50's,

60's and 70's!!

First, we survived being born to mothers who smoked and/or drank while they were pregnant.

They took aspirin, ate blue cheese dressing, tuna from a can and didn't get tested for diabetes.

Then after that trauma, we were put to sleep on our tummies in baby cribs covered

with bright colored lead-base paints.

We had no childproof lids on medicine bottles, locks on doors or cabinets and when we rode our bikes,

we had baseball caps

not helmets on our heads..

As infants & children, we would ride in cars with no car seats, no booster seats, no seat belts, no air bags, bald tires and sometimes no brakes.

Riding in the back of a pick- up truck on a warm day was always a special treat.

We drank water from the garden hose and not from a bottle.

We shared one soft drink with four friends, from one bottle and no one actually died from this.

We ate cupcakes, white bread, real butter and bacon. We drank Kool-Aid made with real white sugar. And, we weren't overweight.. WHY?

Because we were always outside playing...that's why!

We would leave home in the morning and play all day, as long as we were back when the streetlights came on..

No one was able to reach us all day. And, we were OKAY.

We would spend hours building our go-carts out of scraps

and then ride them down the hill,

only to find out we forgot the brakes. After running into the bushes a few times, we learned to solve the problem

We did not have Play stations, Nintendo's and X-boxes. There were no video games, no 150 channels on cable, no video movies or DVD's,

no surround-sound or CD's,

no cell phones,

no personal computers,

no Internet and no chat rooms.

WE HAD FRIENDS and we went outside and found them!

We fell out of trees, got cut, broke bones and teeth and there were no lawsuits from these accidents.

We would get spankings with wooden spoons, switches, ping pong paddles, or just a bare hand and no one would call child services to report abuse.

We ate worms and mud pies

made from dirt, and

the worms did not live in us forever.

We were given BB guns for our 10th birthdays, made up games with sticks and tennis balls and, although we were told it would happen, we did not poke out very many eyes.

We rode bikes or walked to a friend's house and knocked on the door or rang the bell, or just walked in and talked to them.

Little League had tryouts and not everyone made the team.

Those who didn't had to learn

to deal with disappointment.

Imagine that!!

The idea of a parent bailing us out if we broke the law was unheard of. They actually sided with the law!

These generations have produced some of the best

risk-takers, problem solvers and inventors ever.

The past 50 years have been an explosion of innovation and new ideas.

We had freedom, failure, success and responsibility, and we learned how to deal with it all.

If YOU are one of them, CONGRATULATIONS!

You might want to share this with others who have had the luck to grow up as kids, before the lawyers and the government regulated so much of our lives for our own good.

While you are at it, forward it to your kids so they will know how brave and lucky their parents were.

Kind of makes you want to run through the house with scissors, doesn't it ?

~

The quote of the month is by

Jay Leno:

'With hurricanes, tornados, fires out of control, mud slides, flooding, severe thunderstorms tearing up the country from one end to another, and with the threat of bird flu and terrorist attacks, are we sure this is a good time to take God out of the Pledge of Allegiance?'

Green Valley's natural pond

I got a really pretty picture of the "little circle" which is the pond we run around during bootcamp.I usually ignore this pond in North Richland Hills, because I'm wheezing and sucking in air as fast as I can to try to keep up with everyone while exercising. However, I took the dogs out there on an "off" day and decided to stop and smell the roses. Nah, it really didn't smell like roses, but it was pretty!
The pond is covered with some kind of red algae. Some people think it's ugly, but I really like it.

Cartoons

How to make dog food

Artimus has some dental issues, so I make him food instead of buying the canned variety. I don't know if I'm doing this because it's cheaper or that I don't want to carry a bunch of cans up to the apartment and find a place to store them. Of course, it's probably because Artimus and Gollum wrote me several good recipe reviews and decided it was their favorite meal.

Main Ingredients:

eggs

oatmeal or brown rice

chicken, tuna, and/or salmon

ground flaxseed

Fillers:

corn, carrots, peas

white rice or pasta

(I occasionally include a doggie multivitamin that I've softened up with water overnight.)

The quantities or amounts really don't matter all that much; I just throw it all together, and my dogs seems healthy and can't get enough of it. I've discovered I have to give them more in comparison to when I was using dry dog food. It must not have as many calories as store-bought food. I have to make it every other day to keep it fresh. I haven't tried to freeze it yet, but I'm sure that would work.

Artimus and his spatula

I made dog food today. I scooped the food into a tupperware bowl and stuck it in the refrigerator, but I felt sorry for Artimus and Gollum. They stared at me the whole time I was preparing their food, but I knew it wasn't dinnertime, so I didn't give them any. I decided they could lick the bowl and the spatula before I put it in the dishwasher. I set it down on the kitchen tile but left to go do something else, and then this happened. Artimus carried the spatula onto the carpet.Tom and I giggled at him then tried to get some pictures, and I got a 2-second video: