It's All Fun & Games Until...

Somebody loses a tooth.

  Brewer is thoroughly enjoying her new position as Iris' puppy mentor.  The first lesson of the evening: What's Mine is Mine, and What's Yours is also Mine; so don't touch my bone or any of the other half dozen bones I'm hording underneath me.  Being older, wiser and bigger definitely has its' perks.

    

Creatures of the Night

I made a few new friends on my walk this evening courtesy of the nice spring weather:

Toads make excellent playmates. When you poke them they hop all over; what fun!

 Worms are not great playmates.  When you poke them they get squished; yuck!  However, worms are a tasty snack.  Even better is the look on Kelsey's face when she has to fish them out of your mouth.  I may have tasted a few extra just to see that look. :) 

Midnight Marathon (-22mi)

We got 'the call' at 10 pm last night...
Every three months, the crew team has a dreaded midnight run up and down Lakeshore Path.  The run is 4 miles long and must be completed in under 30 minutes or you get to do it again.  I'm pretty sure I've never walked, let alone run more than a mile in my entire life but Kelsey figured I had a bit of 'spare' energy to burn and that I would really enjoy myself. She was right!  I was grinning from ear to ear the entire time or maybe that was just because I was panting soooo hard.
It took me a little while to figure out how to run next to someone.  Sometimes I was too slow, so I would speed up, overcompensate, and wind up running way too fast.  Kelsey said it was like running between two bungee chords until I figured out how to match pace with her.
We finished our run in 27 minutes and 36 seconds - no repeat - Yeah!  I was so exhausted by the third mile that I couldn't even keep my tongue straight in my mouth, so I just let it flop off to the side.  Thankfully Kelsey can't run and take a picture because boy did I look silly.
After the race, the team hit the showers to cool off.  I got to join them but I had to keep my eyes closed; it was the girls locker room after-all. ;)

P.S. - Apparently the jokes on me, because I just caught wind that we have to be up for 5 am practice this morning.  I'm definitely sleeping through school tomorrow.

Stitch Puller - For Hire

Keeping in the spirit of helping, I have skills that far exceed those of mortal chocolate drops!!! I, Amber, am qualified to

1. Pull stitches from my girl parts incision - Oh you mean I should wait 10 days to do that...now you tell me!! Oh, wait why are you putting in those big metal ouchie STAPLES. They're no fun.

2. Wear an E-Collar full time - Hee Hee, bet you didn't know just how easily I could crack that thing in half running at full tilt didja? Who'd a thunk it.

3. Perform a blood draw for blood sugar testing - Oh you didn't want to do any testing??? You coulda said so!!

4. Wear a soft, floppy e-collar for a week - I could do that :-)




NOTE to SELF - remember that little thread hanging out on the side - remember to pull it some night to see what happens...

Amber

Spring Cleaner - For Hire

For those looking to hire someone to assist with your spring cleanup efforts, I have compiled a list of my pertinent skill sets:

1. Mow your lawn: By Mouth ..... Oh, I see, apparently there is a magical machine that can do this faster and more precisely and it also won't barf up your grass two hours later.  Well fine, have it your way.
2. Track, Chase, and Mulch your leaves ..... So let me get this straight, chasing and shredding things is not a desirable guide dog skill.  Well fine, but if that leaf happens to attack me I make no promises.
3. Landscape Artist ..... You really didn't want rocks in your grass, mulch in your garden and the twigs yanked off your shrubs.  I was going for a creative modernist vibe but it's ok not everyone can understand it.
4. Trash Disposal ..... So getting my leash tangled around the trash can and pulling until it tips over doesn't count as taking the garbage out.  Picky, picky.
5. Rake-holder-downer ..... You never know when the wind will pick up.  I work for cheap but you supply the rake and the human operator.

I look forward to hearing from you.  I'm always willing to assist a human in need!

Discussions

On Thursday, I accompanied Kelsey to the Chula Vista Resort in the WI Dells for the annual WTEA (Wisconsin Technology Education Association) conference.  Her students had a trade show booth at the event.  Kelsey was really busy talking to people, so she made me stay behind the booth - by myself :( - alllllll morning.  Occasionally I got tired of napping, so I poked my head out of the side curtain to check out the action and to give a passerby my cutest look.  My efforts earned me a lot of chuckles from the attendees but also many stern words and dirty looks from Kelsey.  So, I rebelled by getting yellow dog hair all over her black table cloth.  HA HA!

After lunch, Kelsey finally let me sit in front of the booth as long as I promised to stay under the chair and be quiet.  I was good until the SawStop demonstration started.  The SawStop is this cool table saw that senses moisture, like that of a human finger hitting the blade, and drops the blade so quickly that you don't cut your finger off.  Instead of using real human fingers for the demo, they used hotdogs.  Needless to say, Kelsey and I had to have a discussion about resisting temptations.  Boy, we sure do have a lot of talks!

Jala and the stairs

I couldn't find a good picture of Jala, but she learned a new skill today. She finally figured out how to go up and down our basement steps. Then she spent the next 5 minutes or so just going up and down for the fun of it.

Falling Up

If you're going to be naughty, you'd better look cute doing it!

I'm an opportunist, so today when Kelsey stepped out of her bedroom to answer the front door, I saw an opportunity to move up in life.  I traded in my expensive, elevated dog bed for a more expensive, more elevated bed.  Being a gentleman, I made sure to stay off of Kelsey's side of the bed and sleep with my head on the pillow instead of upside down.  When Kelsey walked in on me, I misinterpreted her reaching out to correct me as her reaching over to rub my belly.  Wanting to oblige, I rolled on my side and rolled a little too far...falling off the side of the bed.  I landed with a loud thud that sent the rest of Kelsey's family members running to her room. Ouch!  I learned a very important lesson today; the higher you move up in life, the further you have to fall: literally.
Oh, and I guess I also learned NO DOGS ON THE BED!

Friends in Progress

Friends who Train together, Stay together.  

"LEAVE IT" - I love the expression on Barron's face!  He really wanted to  LEAVE IT, but was terrified that Boggle was going to steal the food first.

"DOWN" - Took them long enough!  How far do I have to go to get  the treat...ok a little further...no a little further...?

But, Puppies with wiggly butts who snore like monster trucks, Sleep alone.