Fun at the river

I'm always on the lookout for places with water that will be safe to take our dogs.  Last week, I found a new one, and took Kenzie and Taylor out to play there.  The photo qualities are not the best, as I was using my cell phone camera AND looking into the sun for many of these.  But -- enjoy anyway!

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The dogs of 9/11: the other heroes‏

These are the dogs that worked the trade center that are still alive but retired; they are heroes too. Their eyes say everything you need to know about them. Just amazing creatures.

True heroes of 9/11 still with us today...

Moxie, 13, from Winthrop, Massachusetts, arrived with her handler, Mark Aliberti, at the World Trade Center on the evening of September 11 and searched the site for eight days.

Tara, 16, from Ipswich, Massachusetts, arrived at the World Trade Center on the night of the 11th. The dog and her handler Lee Prentiss were there for eight days.

Kaiser, 12, pictured at home in Indianapolis, Indiana, was deployed to the World Trade Center on September 11 and searched tirelessly for people in the rubble.

Bretagne and his owner Denise Corliss from Cypress, Texas, arrived at the site in New York on September 17, remaining there for ten days.

Guinness, 15, from Highland, California, started work at the site with Sheila McKee on the morning of September 13 and was deployed at the site for 11 days.

Merlyn and his handler Matt Claussen were deployed to Ground Zero on September 24, working the night shift for five days.

Red, 11, from Annapolis, Maryland, went with Heather Roche to the Pentagon from September 16 until the 27 as part of the Bay Area Recovery Canines.

Abigail

Tuff -- Abigail, above, was deployed on the evening of September 17, searching for 10 days while Tuff arrived in New York at 11:00 pm on the day of attack to start working early the next day.

Handler Julie Noyes and Hoke were deployed to the World Trade Center from their home in Denver on September 24 and searched for five days.

Scout and another unknown dog lie among the rubble at Ground Zero, just two of nearly 100 search and rescue animals who helped to search for survivors.

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During the chaos of the 9/11 attacks, where almost 3,000 people died, nearly 100 loyal search and rescue dogs and their brave owners scoured Ground Zero for survivors. Now, ten years on, just 12 of these heroic canines survive, and they have been commemorated in a touching series of portraits entitled 'Retrieved'.
The dogs worked tirelessly to search for anyone trapped alive in the rubble, along with countless emergency service workers and members of the public.

Traveling across nine states in the U.S. from Texas to Maryland, Dutch photographer Charlotte Dumas, 34, captured the remaining dogs in their twilight years in their homes where they still live with their handlers, a full decade on from 9/11. Their stories have now been compiled in a book, called Retrieved, which is published on Friday, the tenth anniversary of the attacks. Noted for her touching portraits of animals, especially dogs, Charlotte wanted 'Retrieved' to mark not only the anniversary of the September 2001 attacks, but also as recognition for some of the first responders and their dogs.

"I felt this was a turning point, especially for the dogs, who although are not forgotten, are not as prominent as the human stories involved," explained Charlotte, who splits her time between New York and Amsterdam. "They speak to us as a different species and animals are greatly important for our sense of empathy and to put things into perspective."

Charles Mayfield

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Why aren't they bald yet??

Just for kicks, I decided to photograph the dog hair swept up last Monday, Wednesday and Friday..... and here are the pictures:

Monday's sweep --


Wednesday's sweep PLUS Monday's in the background --


Friday's sweep --


Cumulative for five days --


And this is only the hair from the living room, dining room, kitchen and hallway; bedrooms are still carpeted -- and then there's still the stairs and the entire basement. There's enough hair to make an entire puppy!! So the question remains -- why on earth aren't these two bald yet??

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Mackenzie's Christmas photo!

Thought I'd share the photo we're sending to friends this year!



Hope you are enjoying a wonderful holiday season!

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The sing-along!

Our dog, Cody, is back to his old tricks.  He's started singing along when Mackenzie practices her violin.  There seems to be something that's especially interesting to him about the open E string -- that's when he does most of his "singing".

I promise I will finish up the Honduras post soon, but I've just been super-busy...... in the meantime, hope you enjoy this!!



http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCPL-AsO1jo

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Really, Taylor -- did you HAVE to???

Yesterday was absolutely lovely outside -- cool, sunny, breezy, GORGEOUS!! I opened all the windows in the house to air out the place, and I left the sliding glass doors open so the dogs could go in and out and enjoy the weather too.

It was a huge change in the weather. Just the day before, it poured like it almost NEVER does here. We got around 7" of rain, which is absolutely unbelievable. And what I hadn't realized was that some time before the storm, Taylor had dug a hole in the back yard.

I was cleaning up the bathroom in my bedroom when Taylor walked into the room -- and her legs were absolutely COVERED in mud...... sigh..... And of course, she'd walked through the entire upstairs of the house to find me, so there were now trails of muddy footprints everywhere that needed cleaned up..... sigh again.....


Here's the culprit.....  "Who, ME, Mommy? What makes you think I did it??"

How much more disgusting could these paws be??

What a mess.....

The disgusting mess in my tub...

Photo #1 of the crime scene

Photo #2 of the crime scene!

C'mon, mom, stop -- this is humiliating!

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Another fun video!

In my seemingly never-ending search for cool YouTube clips, here's a fun one I ran across today -- enjoy!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nHlJODYBLKs&feature=player_embedded



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"Ch-ch-ch-changes......"

You know you're a musical person when something happens in your life and automatically some song (or song title) pops into your head!!  It seems to be happening a lot with me lately.....

So today's theme song, "Changes", just seemed appropriate.  Good changes, bad changes, middle-of-the-road changes -- that's been my day.  Good change -- the kennel where I REALLY wanted to board my dogs called with an opening -- YIPPEE!!  Bad change -- Morgan woke up with a migraine and has been absolutely useless today.  Middle of the road changes -- my dad REALLY doesn't want to do the MC'ing at the reception; however, he's willing to help make sure my brother CAN get to the wedding (car transportation was in doubt!!), and if he comes, HE can do the MC'ing!  Change of an unknown status -- the friend who's supposed to be providing the sound system for the reception (music and microphone) was supposed to be back in town from an extended vacation last week.  However, he's STILL gone and will "probably" be back on Wednesday??!!  Yikes.......  Please, please come back, Peter!! 

Another change -- the gal who's doing the dress alterations was supposed to do Bryanna's alterations today; however, she ended up in Rehoboth Beach for the weekend and won't return until tomorrow -- so fittings will be done tomorrow evening.  She assures me that's "plenty of time" for her to get the dress done.....  I hope so!!!

But I am NOT going to let all of this worry me.  I just found out yesterday about a family we know whose daughter got married in Colorado a few weeks back.  Talk about changes!!  Apparently, the CATERER got the dates mixed up, and no food arrived for the reception -- just the cake and the drinks!!  So I've been telling myself that if they can survive THAT kind of problem with grace and a good attitude, I can deal with all these little annoyances. 

Breathe, relax, breathe, relax......... just a few more days!!

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Full day.....

From getting up early to finish laundry and shopping, and get ready for Bryanna's wedding.......

........ to this..........

.... to small dinner out afterwards with family.......

....... complete with family weirdness.......

.......... to stopping by the jeweler's afterwards to check on the availability of the wedding ring Morgan has her eye on.......

......... to coming home and beginning removal of carpet in living room, dining room, and hallway in preparation for installation of new wood flooring on Friday.....

..........only to find water damage near the back door........

........ which HOPEFULLY can be easily fixed so  the floor installation is not held up.......

........ and add in two stressed-out dogs who can't figure out what on earth is going on in their house for the last week and a half.......

....... and add in several exhaused, stressed-out humans in the house......

....... and that will pretty much describe the state of affairs around here right now.  I think it's time for some sleep....... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz....................

G'nite.............

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Doggie Temper Tantrums....

It's nice outside today -- cool, a slight breeze, not very sunny -- so I decided to take my daughter and our homeschooling friend's daughter outside to do our math lesson. I left Taylor and Cody inside; I knew they'd drive us crazy outside. They sat at the sliding glass door and banged on it with their paws for 15 minutes -- at which point I sent Mackenzie inside and asked her to put the dogs in the crate. This is what she found when she came in --

Can I kill them both now??? Anybody want two used dogs???

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