Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Our New Baby

So, here is our latest addition to the family.  Drew is his name.  Some of you may wonder why we have taken in a dog that weighs in at around 85 pounds and that did weigh just over 100 pounds a couple of months back.  You my be even more surprised to learn that he is a house dog.  WHAT?!

It is a bit of a story, but here is a fairly short version.  About three weeks ago, this stray shows up.  He is very friendly and takes commands well.  He also has a tag.  Normally when a stray shows up we run it off before Jeff has a chance to.  In this dog's case, since he seemed to be well mannered, we called the number on the tag.  The vet let us know that they would have the owner call us back.  So, while we are waiting for that call, the wheels in Elijah's head are spinning triple time.  He wants a dog.  He wants a dog so badly it is almost painful. 

"What if they don't call?  Can we keep him?" 

Great!  Now I get to remind of how much his daddy really does not like dogs, especially strays.  I had already called to let Jeff know not to freak out about the dog in the yard, that we were just waiting for the owners.  He was surprisingly at ease with that.  I told Elijah that if he wanted to keep the dog that he had to pray about it.  Not just a selfish, "please let me keep the dog prayer", but one where he prayed that if people were looking for this dog that they would call and come get him.  Also he had to pray that the idea would come from his daddy. I told him that he was not allowed to ask.  I think every little boy needs a dog and this is a boy's dog.  So I prayed about it too.

About an hour later a lady called saying she was a former owner.  She said she had been trying to contact the new owners for quite a while because the dog was on medication and she just wanted to be sure he was doing well.  The new owners had avoided talking to her.  That had just been a couple of months ago.  This dog, when he showed up was in sad shape.  You could count his ribs from 20 feet away and you could see his hip bones.  She said he weighed 102 pounds when she gave him away.  I bet he didn't weigh 75 at that point.  I told her we would wait to see if they called and that we wouldn't take him to the pound.  His name was Drugo.  Having no dog food, we gave him some cat food, a couple of stale biscuits and gravy.  That was gone in a minute.  And drink!  This poor guy drank water like a horse.  Elijah played with him in the yard and they were fun to watch.  He knew all the basics commands: sit, stay, come, etc.  When Jeff got home he even played with the dog a bit.  Then the dog was tired and he just laid on the deck.  He was obviously under nourished.

The next day, Jeff asked if anyone else had called.  They had not.  He told me to get some more info from the lady who I had talked to.  Based on that, we might be able to keep him.  What?!  Who are you?  I knew it was one of two things.  Alien abduction and brainwashing or an answered prayer.  I'm going with the prayer.  I got the info I needed and still no one else had called.  That evening Jeff said to call the lady back and let her know that we were going to keep him if she didn't want him back.  You cannot imagine Elijah's excitement.  Mine either.  Probably the biggest difference between Jeff and me is that I love animals and he really doesn't (except the edible ones).  I may be just about as happy as Elijah.  Maybe more.

So it's been three weeks.  The dog ran off within two days but then came back.  We had learned that he was a house dog and decided that, at least for now, he will remain one.  We took him to the vet last week.  He only weighed 82 pounds.  The vet said that he could easily carry the 102 he had weighed before.  His paws are as big as the palm of my hand and his head is kitchen cabinet height.  About the only down side to this dog is the shedding.  I guess the silver lining in that is that I am dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming daily now.  Deleavening should be a breeze this year!  Oh, and he may not be much of a guard dog.  He rarely barks and just let the OGE guy right in the yard to change out our meter. 

Mineral Wells park in Guthrie

So, it seems we have a great dog.  Much of the work has already been done for us.  It is like getting a new baby that is potty trained.  Maybe even better.  I wonder if the dogs like to snowboard?  Maybe we'll have to see?

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Monday, January 2, 2012

A Year to Review

What a year 2011 was!  While it did not start out great for yours truly (broken wrist) it ended great!  So here is a brief review.

January-we went to Sipapu for some snowboarding and on my 5th run of the day fell and broke my wrist.  This was also our first day of snowboarding so that really stunk up the rest of the trip for me but we had good company in the evenings so the whole trip was not a bust.  Later in the month I hit the big  4-0 so I guess that was another milestone.  I went to my first ballet, and what better ballet for a first than Swan Lake performed by a Russian ballet company.  Then came the bucket list item-George Strait in concert!

February-Snow!  Lots of snow!  We were calling it Snow-klahoma.  I loved it.

March-At some point this month, the cast came off!  Elijah started baseball and we started garden prep.  Little did we know it was going to be crumby year for gardening.  I got to go snowboarding again and this time nothing broke!

April-We finally made it to the Medieval Fair in Norman!  That was about it for the month as far as anything new and exciting.  Oh wait-the Thunder made the playoffs!!  We had tickets!!!

May-our 22nd anniversary, Thunder still in the play offs and we still have tickets!

June-backpacking in Colorado.  Jeff, Elijah, and I took off for the mountains and a few days of backpacking.  We had a good hike in and out and caught a few fish too.  I've been camping several times, but always within a few yards of where we parked and with no chance of meeting a bear.  This time it was 3.5 miles away, uphill, and chances of bears increased dramatically (although we never saw one).  It was awesome!

July-June had been hot and dry and July it only worsened.  Elijah went to my mom's for a week, so we did some work in his room.  We replaced some windows with shelves and his room just looked so much better.  Now he has a place for all of his Lego creations and have more to dust. Yay!

August-We went backpacking again, but this time Tabitha was able to go with us.  We went to Colorado Gators while we were there as well.  This hike was not nearly as pleasant as the first.  We had an elevation change of 2200 feet in about 4 miles.  31 switchbacks!  I never want to see another one of those.  It was still a good trip with the whole family.  School started back up and it was time to get back to a routine.  i also wanted to get my pull-up back.  Still waiting on that to happen :(

September-We went out to Elk City for the annual Labor Day rodeo and that is really about all that happened.

October-The Feast!  This year we went to England, Scotland, and Ireland!  I would love to go back and spend a month in each place.  There is so much history, and it is my history as well.  Through some research we found that my father's side of the family has a sizable connection in Edinburgh and in England.  Jeff and I also have Stewarts on both sides.  Elijah had his last single digit birthday.

November-Tabitha left the teen years behind this year.  Jeff and I had a second honeymoon of sorts. We left the kids with Nan and we headed for Hawaii.  That you Living Social Deals.  Now Another bucket list item is marked off.  We hiked Diamond Head, snorkeled in Hanauma bay, swam in the waters of Waikiki beach and watch the sunset on Friday night on the beach.  We road ATV at Kualoa Ranch, and same some big surf at Waimea bay!  It was a great trip!

December-still waiting on some snow.  The NBA started back up and we have tickets!!  I've taken Tabitha and her friend Sarah to a game and Elijah and his friend Mitchell.  Jeff and I made it alone to the last game of 2011.  We also now have a dog!  I am just as excited about that as Elijah is!  A 100 pound German Shepard showed up and adopted us.  It is a bit of a long story, but I'll get some pics and post about him later!