Michelle, Laramie, and Ryan visit

Michelle brought her daughter, Laramie and her son, Ryan over to see the house for the first time, and of course the dogs.

The kids played hide-n-seek, then climbed on the retaining wall, then were getting a little bored, so I thought about making a fort with the super big blanket.They rolled around on the floor with it for a while. I think they were making a caterpillar or horse or something. Michelle said they were "sneaking up on me."
Laramie is 9 years old and super cute.
Ryan really loved the Mountain Dew!
He is younger than his sister, but I can't remember by how much.
Here is their Christmas card that Michelle always remembers to send me.
Thank you Michelle for bringing the kids over to visit. I know Mallory, Artimus and Gollum loved your kids. I really enjoyed your making the effort to come visit. Thank you!

Why I don't make the bed...

What's the point of making the bed when the dogs turn it into this? Tom and I generally have to "make" the bed before we get into it at night. This is to insure that we both get at least one pillow and a proper portion of the sheet AND blanket. What a concept. We have to kick at least one or two dogs off the bed in order to get anything accomplished and play "keep away" before they wiggle their way back onto it. Tom, maybe we really do need to elevate the bed? I dunno, would that make anything easier? Actually, Mallory would probably just break her neck trying to jump on, or break a leg jumping off.This is my 51lb dog wondering why she isn't in a cage in the car.
I took the cage out in order to clean it, and it just hasn't gone back into the car yet.
This is Mallory testing the weather out in front of the house.

Tom's video

Mallory likes to eat the snow:

Tom's super short video clip

What a great picture of our home during the Christmas Eve blizzard of 2009!

walking with Linda

Watching her load the kids back into the car is fun. Lola is about a hundred pounds on the right; Vino is her first lab ... and Molly, of course, is the baby.When she goes to the restroom, all three labs want to go with her.
Molly is singled out sometimes, but I have a feeling she's turning into a diva...not playing nice with the new "coupler" leashing system. She works very hard to keep up with everyone, and somehow she DOES!

I took these pictures after our walk while Linda was getting the dogs back into the car. Molly was so tired, she just plopped down on the edge.
Lola can jump up into the car, but she prefers a little boost from Linda.

Vino, Lola, and Molly are sooooo cute. When we walked at the Keller trails today, I brought Artimus and Gollum and Debra brought Toby, so we had seven dogs between the three of us.

Quite a fun crowd. Artimus and Gollum can be off leash, but everybody else needs to be leashed and it can be a tangled, hysterical mess!

54 seconds of Mallory and the garden hose

This video will be so cute to us when she is no longer a puppy and no longer thrilled with every new little game we come up with. She is nearly 6 months old and so full of energy. This is a good way for Tom to play with her and run the energy tank LOW. She weighs 49lbs. By January first, she better be up to 52lbs, so I can win the bet and go out to eat at night with Tom! I wonder what happens if Tom wins the bet....hmmmm...

Christmas morning 2009

We went to sleep at about 9pm on Christmas Eve, but both of us woke up around midnight to say "Merry Christmas"--I fell back asleep on the couch until 3:30 am, before we both got up to brush our teeth and go to bed. We were so excited from playing in the snow and blizzard. I slept until 5:15 am, and wanted to watch the local news to see all about the road conditions and weather-related stories. I had to watch the Weather Channel until 6am when the local news came on. It was so interesting. About one hundred miles west on I-20 near a town called Eastland, over 100 cars were stranded on the freeway. Their tires were actually frozen to the pavement. The local police and emergency vehicles were taking food, water, and gasoline to the people who did not want to abandon their vehicles in favor of a shelter. All the hotels were booked, so local churches and even some private homes were opening their doors to the stranded motorists. At about 7am, I crawled back into bed under the electric blanket, and immediately started worrying about the dogs needing to pee and poop. Snoozed until about 7:30 where Tom and I both did tag team with the dogs going out the back door then front door. Like coaches, we were cheering them on. Tom got Gollum to pee, while I waited on Mallory to poop about three times, ending in diarrhea. Poor baby. I think I gave her too many treats last night while she was outside with us in the blizzard.