The Vacation

So, after the puppy has gone to his forever home, A and I are taking a much needed vacation. We are going to Wilmington, NC for a few days. I think for foster homes, it is much more work to go on a vacation than 'normal' homes. Or, I guess just even homes with multiple pets. So, I had to drop Lancer off at another foster home 45 minutes away yesterday morning. Then, A, Sadie and I went to Chicago to have professional family pictures taken by a photographer that specializes in pet photography. We received a very generous gift certificate for our wedding from some great friends. This photographer is amazing. I am so excited to see the pics. Then we got home and I had to drop Bert off at a foster home 15 minutes away. Then, our girl Sadie went to stay with some friends of ours and their Viszla Riley (he's in love with Sadie but she just likes to boss him around, but he is fine with that).

But, alas, there us more to our adventure than just dropping off the pups with the WONDERFUL friends and foster homes who volunteers for us (it really means ALOT). We left Madison at 6am for a 9:33 flight. Then, 30 minutes from O'Hare, we hit traffic, stopped completed on the interstate. Then we had to exit because we HAD to go to the bathroom - I mean my bladder hurt after I went, it was that bad. I almost peed in the car. Well, we made it to the ticket counter by 9:30 - so we had to take a later flight, which in turn cased a later connecting flight, which was full. BUT, it wouldn't have mattered, because out 9:33 flight had a maintenance issue and didn't leave until 11am. But they wouldn't let us on the flight, which was fine because we were going to get to Charlotte at the same time. So, we are currently sitting at the Charlotte, NC airport waiting for the 6pm flight. But we don't even have it bad. Apparently the airline canceled a few more flights to Wilmington and people are stuck here. All the remaining flights for the day are completely full.

The NC Wedding

We are visiting our friends in Wilmington. They are expecting. I have been to Wilm for their wedding a few years ago. A has never been to NC. He has actually not been to alot of places. But, hopefully I will change that. Anyway, they have 2 boxers, Diesel and Dixie. I will post later and add pics of them. I have met Diesel, he is 6, but I have never met Dixie. She is a young'un. I am excited to have a fire at the beach and chill for a few days. Its sunny and 70-80s all weekend :) I am very happy.

More cleaning but less puppy

So, it has been quiet here without the puppy. Parker went to his beautiful new home a few miles from my house. Such a convenient placement for me. He has 2 furless sisters and a furless brother. He is pretty loved there, I am glad that it is everything a puppy could want. A room of his own and a great family. I am going over to visit him today.

Currently I am taking a break from cleaning and decided to update the dog situation. Having a puppy destroyed our carpet. I am cleaning it because I cannot stand the smell and stains. Also, I am not sure if all the spots are from Parker or Lancer. So now is a good time to figure that out. I mean, since Parker has left I have figured out that Lancer has not been the one pooping in the house, as we were wondering. I think Lancer is peeing though, because there was a concentrated area of pee stains around Lancer's crate when I moved it. I think he is mad that we crate him and he pees outside the crate when we are at work. The carpet cleaned up pretty well, but it desperately needs to be replaced. We are going to get carpet squares, hopefully that will help with the replacement of hard to get out staining. I think that will be after all the other stuff going on with our home remodeling. We are getting new windows, including in the basement, new siding, a new water softener, new hardwood floor in the hallway, refinishing the old hardwood floors, new window treatments in some rooms, a 6ft privacy fence, and possibly some landscaping. I have to re-evaluate the financial situation once the siding and windows are completed. Hopefully that will be in June-July.



In other news, Bert is doing pretty well. We do have the once a day pee clean up. He leaks alot. He needs to go outside alot. He doesn't particularly like to though. So I have to make my big voice come out an tell him to go potty. So, I am proud of him though. He somehow escaped from his crate Thursday. I cam home from work first and he greeted me at the door. Well, to my HUGE surprise, water was still left in the bowl and there was NO pee, anywhere. I was SOOOO proud of my Bert!!! But then - yesterday, there was a disaster. Lancer escaped from his kennel and he did the following things: Pooped on the hardwood floor, peed on the couch, peed on the stove, peed in the hallway, broke a ceramic dog cookie jar, ate a whole bag of dog treats, chewed up some important papers for my new job, peed on the living room area rug (I have been working on that stain for 12 hours now), I think that's it. I was so upset. A went out of town this weekend and so it is just me. And I had to do all that cleaning after having a really bad day at work (thank goodness - only 1 more week). Well, I still love Lancer, he can't help it if he is naughty. He did feel bad, I could tell. He has been trying to cuddle with me ever since.

Well, I better get back to cleaning. I have alot to do. Unfortunately, cleaning doesn't get done by itself, even living with another person. Hmmm... maybe I should have married a professional maid.



Oh well - enjoy the windows open this weekend. Sadie, Lancer, Bert and I are!! :)

The yard, the mud and the bunny

I am so excited about the spring, but wish my yard wasn't a mud pit. It is so gross. Every time the dogs come in, my floor gets even more filthy. I wonder, should I clean it again, NAH it will just get dirty in an hour or so. But Lancer sure does love to play out there. And they all love the sun when it come shining through the patio doors in the afternoon. I wish they could enjoy it everyday, but it would seem like a tease if I left the curtains open while they were all crated for 8 hours.



So, a few weeks ago, the dogs were having a great time outside on a Sunday afternoon. Sadie, Bert and Parker all came in the house, but no Lancer. Well, this is pretty normal, so I went outside and saw Lancer shaking a dead bunny. I had treats in my hand already so I showed the treats to him and got him to drop the bunny and run in the house. I thought, How Lucky!! I was so worried that I would be chasing him and the dead bunny around the yard for hours. Well, then I made A go outside and clean up the parts. I feel kinds bad, as he is a vegan, but hey I am a vegetarian! So, we had a rescue meeting recently and a rescue supporter donated 3 huge bags of toys for the fosters. I took a bunch for the three fosters and brought them home. One of the toys was a stuffed bunny. Hmm, that's funny. I gave it to Lancers. It only took 2.5 minutes and the bunny was destroyed. De ja vu?

I know - its been awhile

So, its been awhile since I have blogged. There are many new exciting things and, well some things that were not very good.



First - I have not blogged because Bert was sick - really sick. He was acting out-of-it and peeing all over the house. So I took him to the vet on March 27, and he had a 105ºF temperature and was severely dehydrated. So, of course I blamed myself for the dehydration, as I try to limit the amount of water that he drinks due to the frequency. Well, he stayed at the vet for 2 nights to see what was up. I was convinced that he was in pain and needed to be escorted to the rainbow bridge because we have been trying to make him better for weeks, maybe even months. But, he pulled through and he is doing pretty good. The past week has been stressful. We are going to continue the antibiotics for quite a few weeks to see if this is just a really nasty kidney infection. He is such a great guy - he has been wiggling and playing lately which makes me feel good.

In other Boxer related news, Parker's family, who was going to adopt him, is now not going to adopt him. So, that means that he is available. Well, we were hoping he would go soon, as we are over our limit by 1 boxer. Well, the great news is that a family is coming to meet him this afternoon. YEAH! Hopefully they will fall in love with him and want him - soon. A and I have been pretty stressed lately, with Bert being sick, the puppy pooing in the house, Sadie eating the puppy poop so all we find is a skid mark on the floor, Lancer not wanting to come in the house for a chance that there might be more dead wildlife in the yard to shake. Nights have been stressful as well. Parker needs to go out at night at least once, so everyone wakes up and goes outside. Then everyone goes back to bed, except that Parker and Lancer want to play so we cannot sleep. Its hard to get Lancer to stop playing in the dark in the middle of the night, unless we get out of bed. Then everyone gets up again. It is a vicious cycle.

Well - in non-related Boxer news, other exciting things are on the horizon. I got a new job and I start on May 5th. I am VERY excited. We re-finance and now we are getting a TON of work done to our house. A's b-day was yesterday and we went to a Peruvian restaurant. It was pretty neat. We booked a trip to North Carolina the last week in April - that is exciting! We can't wait to go and see our Friends who are "with child".

Well, that's all for now. I am going to try and blog more, as so much FUN Boxer stuff happens on a day to day basis.....



PS The Boxers and I are LOVING this weather!!!!!!