A Wonderful Poem!!

A friend of mine posted this on her Facebook page. It was so moving, that I thought that I'd share it here. HERE IN THIS HOUSE

I will never know the loneliness I hear in the barks

of the other dogs 'out there'.

I can sleep soundly, assured that when I wake

my world will not have changed.

I will never know hunger, or the fear of not knowing if I'll eat.

I will not shiver in the cold, or grow weary from the heat.

I will feel the sun's warmth, and the rain's coolness,

and be allowed to smell all that can reach my nose.

My fur will shine, and never be dirty or matted.

Here in this house...

There will be an effort to communicate with me on my level.

I will be talked to and, even if I don't understand,

I can enjoy the warmth of the words.

I will be given a name so that I may

know who I am among many.

My name will be used in joy,

and I will love the sound of it!

I will never be a substitute for anything I am not.

I will never be used to improve peoples' images of themselves.

I will be loved because I am who I am,

not someone's idea of who I should be.

I will never suffer for someone's anger,

impatience, or stupidity.

I will be taught all the things I need

to know to be loved by all.

If I do not learn my lessons well,

they will look to

my teacher for blame.

Here in this house...

I can trust arms that hold, hands that touch...

knowing that, no matter what they do,

they do it for the good of me.

If I am ill, I will be doctored. If scared, I will be calmed.

If sad, I will be cheered.

No matter what I look like, I will be considered

beautiful and thought to be of value.

I will never be cast out because I am too old, too ill,

too unruly, or not cute enough.

My life is a responsibility, and not an afterthought.

Here in this house... I will belong. I am home. ~ author unknown

Snow Fun 2010

Well, Casey, I, the dogs, and the cats have been snowed in since Friday. It started snowing early Friday morning. By noon it was getting treacherous, so Casey and I decided to head home. The university decided to shut down at 1, and they've been shut down ever since. So, I managed to snag an extra long weekend. WOOT! When the snow was finally said and done, we had nearly 6 inches on the ground at the house. We've just basically hung out, watched t.v., and played out in the snow with the dogs. The dogs have enjoyed the snow, nearly as much as we have. I'm sure that their paws got a little frosty, but they didn't seem bothered in the least. I had to take the puppies out one at a time, because there was a lot of ice with our snow. Everything was slippery, and it was easy to fall down. Here's a little video that I made with the new camcorder that Casey gave me for my birthday. It's of Indiana, Fergie, Jack, and Trixie out playing in the snow. There's more videos of Shingo and Molly out. I'll download those and post them up tomorrow.

Gettin' Ready for Santa Paws!

I guess these guys got tired on waiting for their humans to finish decorating the tree! Looks like they had a great time decorating!

Pumpkin Carving

I sure hope my crew doesn't get wind of this activity!!

Things You Wish For...

Isn't it funny how you get something on your mind, that you wish for, and it just won't go away? I've found myself in that position the last couple of weeks. All of you know that I run. My dream is to have a big dog that will run with me. My three little ones tire out, before my mileage is done, especially in the summer. My big dog, Fergie, is a couch potato. Her idea of a good time is sleeping by herself on my bed. Even a walk around the block is out of the question for her. She's just NOT interested. Shiloh, my 11 year old, is out of the question. So that leaves me with an opening for a big, running dog. I think that I have a 5k coming up in February, and we're allowed to bring out dogs to run. Nothing would make me happier.

When I used to walk Bear, over on the other block, there was this big, sweet, black Lab named Betty. She always used to keep us company on our walk. She always had the sweetest disposition. I picture a running dog a lot like that. I'd love nothing better than to have a Black Lab to keep me company on my runs. I know that I have a full house right now, so a Lab is out of the question, but that doesn't keep me from wanting one. I love my dogs to pieces, but without Bear, I get so lonely out walking or running. I talked with one of the ladies down at the shelter. We have several Black Labs down there. My hope is to go a couple of times a week and get them and slowly teach them to run with me. There's a big run in May called "See Spot Run", and I hope to have one of them trained to run with me by then. There's several there, so hopefully one of them will enjoy it. I have a feeling that I may have to recruit Jennie to help me a bit. I totally think it's do-able though. Still doesn't keep me from wanting a Lab of my own though. Maybe one day...

Christmas Checklist

I spent the better part of the afternoon with Mom wrapping the final Christmas gifts yesterday. This is the first year that I'm NOT going to spend most of the late night Christmas Eve wrapping gifts. Let me tell you, it feels good to be done. I don't mean to gloat or anything, but I AM DONE SHOPPING FOR AND WRAPPING MY CHRISTMAS GIFTS!! I have absolutely NO idea how I managed this accomplishment, except to say that my family has really simplified Christmas. We only buy what we can afford and enjoy our time together. It helps that my family is really small too. This is the least stressed out Christmas that I've had in the past 10 years or so. Of course this means, I'm waiting for the other shoe to drop. I'll slink around in fear until December 25th at 4:00 p.m. HEE HEE!!

Well o.k., I still need to get the puppies their Christmas treat bags. I went to Petco last week and just had a heyday of a time filling up Christmas bags at their treat bar. I was SO excited that I couldn't wait and have already given out most of them. So, I need to go back early next week for refills. It's SO hard not to spoil them! I suspect that I'll grab a few chews and toys to add to the mix too. Hmmm..seems that I may NOT be through after all!

Secret Life of a Dog's Tongue

Check this out:

Celebrate Dogs Tomorrow

For more info on the origination of this day, click HERE.

Jump For Joy!