Since we're getting the ol' blog ginned up again, it's important that you meet someone who came into our lives back in November.
Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you "Lego" (no surprise who chose his name):
"....The LORD gave and the LORD has taken away....."
After the loss of our 14 year old Lab, Bailey, in February, God gave us a very special gift in March:
And on Sunday, He took part of it away:
As the result of a tragic accident in our backyard, Allie has gone on to the Rainbow Bridge.
Her time with us was WAY too brief.
Our house and hearts are now filled with grief.
She made the most of her short dog life in so many ways.
She lived her life to the fullest each and every day.
Her sister, Sophie, adored her; while the squirrels loathed her.
She was loved deeply and she gave MUCH love.
We will dearly miss those dark brown eyes and her Labrador "smile".
Our hearts are so heavy and our eyes filled with tears.
Time heals all wounds, or so they say......I don't know why God gave and then took away?!
The last time we made an appearance in Blogville, we were recovering from our surgery that made us more neutral, non-puppy bearing beasts animals.
We are happy to announce we've made a full recovery and are at the top of our puppy game!
The smaller humans have completely welcomed us into their fun-size pack:
Before it got to be as hot as blue blazes we spent some time working on our tans:
However, one our favorite summer memories will be playing in the little green pond:
The Alpha Dog has put us to work.....something about earning our keep. We help fold clothes for food:
Speaking of food, we've had a brief taste of fresh meat.....so brief, it got away from both of our mouths!
Meet THE enemy:
Oh, we know he or she looks cute, but that doesn't stop us from trying to get one more taste of this little delicacy.
The humans have tried dragging us inside during the HOT summer, but once we see our little "friend" scurry down that tree, we absolutely MUST go back outside! We MUST!
Recently our people have been disappearing all day again. That's ok because we love playing in our big yard. We have a lot of shade and we are still working on that hole to China, wherever that is.
The other day we even had a special guest pop in on us:
Meet our cute little neighbor "Bear". We guess he wanted to say hi, but when we ran over to greet him, he disappeared back into his yard.
He probably thinks the grass is greener in our yard!
We think so!
Until next time.......
Allie:
Sophie:
If curiosity killed the cat.....then what does it do to Labradors???
The Alpha-Dog was out with this container pouring water on her plants....guess what, it's not just for plants! It's an upside down water bowl and we LOVED it!
Sophie: The little girl left this on the couch. After several attempts at making it mine, the humans let me wear it around for a bit. It looks prettier than it feels.
We do not like the cone of shame!
The Alpha-Dog has left the building for a few days which allowed us to hijack the blog again and let you know what we've been up to.
2 months later, and I think we are officially settled in and loving our new family. We stay outside for most of the day and when the humans come home they play with us, feed us dinner, and take us on a walk around our neighborhood. We sure do love that walk outside our compound yard.
We are not normally allowed in any other room of the house except the great room; however, the humans sometimes forget to put up the gate that keeps us out of the rest of the house. We love to make a mad dash down the hall and find our way into their sleeping dens. Alas, we are usually quickly captured and returned to our proper area. Drats!
Allie got the thrill of her life when the boy let her stay in his room for a while. Lucky dog.
Sometimes we get a little bored outside. What's a dog to do? How about this:
I am Sophie, Queen of the Woooooorld! I bet the humans won't leave the chairs out from the table again. Of course, I won't get up there again. Do you know how HIGH it is up there??? I was scared to death and needed assistance getting down.
We love the patio furniture....it's a great place for a nap and also for hiding under when we are playing Hide-N-Seek. You won't believe just how comfortable those chair cushions are! They rank right up there with a Tempur-pedic bed. We could lounge on them all day:
That is, if the Alpha-Dog ever puts them back on the chairs.
Hello Greek GRITS fans, it's Sophie and Allie.....AGAIN!
Rumor has it, we were a big hit with our very first post, so the Alpha-Dog has decided we can make an appearance around here every once and a while. We were so excited we came up with a name for our posts......"The Labrador Diaries".
The Alpha-Dog wanted to go with "The Destructo Duo" but we voted her down.....8 paws to none!
The weather has gotten warmer and we've been spending a lot of time outside in our big back yard. Our humans have provided us with so many things to play with.....Nylabones, tennis balls, and even a couple of stuffed animals.
Pshhaaww, who wants to play with that junk?! Not us.
We added a little flair to the grill cover:
The neighbor dog told us we could dig a hole to China to help keep ourselves busy and out of trouble while our humans are not home. We aren't sure he was right, be we've had fun trying:
A couple of weeks ago, we need a little roughage and ate the flowers off this fancy stick we found stuck in the ground. Today we decided the fancy stick had to go:
The little brown headed girl was not very happy with us. She brought the fancy stick to us and started screaming, "NO, NO, NO....bad dogs!" which sounded an awful lot like Charlie Brown's teacher talking?!
We sometimes get to play with a little blue disc, but hello, there are two of us and one is clearly not enough:
However, our favorite object to play with, by far was this:
We're not really sure what it's called but the Alpha-Dog left it on the patio after sweeping off all the dirt we got on there. Our motto is, "finders, keepers" and, buddy, we kept it all right. The pole thing was a bit too hard, but the straw bristles at the bottom just flew off everywhere when we chewed on them. We bet the Alpha-Dog won't leave another one of those out based on her incoherent babbling when she found us with this.
We love it here as you can see!
Until next time....we are Sophie and Allie!
Hello, humans.....it's Sophie and Allie, the Alpha-Dog may have mentioned us.
We've had a great two weeks here with our new family. We love our new fenced in back yard filled with sticks and rocks to chew on. We go on walks almost every day around the neighborhood. Down the street is a cute little dog named Buster. We love to chase him in circles until he pants like he's about to pass out.
Squirrels!! They are all over the place. The word on the street is our neighbors have noticed more squirrels in their yards since our arrival. The Alpha-Dog doesn't have to worry about those pesky chipmunks either, we did them all a favor by digging up their little hole. We haven't seen Chip or Dale since. It didn't take us long to figure out the best place to get a mid-day snack is right under the bird feeders. The seed is so tasty and very crunchy; however, it sure can mess with your bowels!
THIS PLACE IS GREAT!!
Our family has two humans that are just about our size. One of them talks to us in a squeaky high-pitched voice and repeats her commands over and over .....but she's pretty cute so we can over look it. The boy is very tall and loves for us to chase him around our yard. His Legos and socks are delicious!
Today was our most fun day ever! As usual, our family left us in the backyard while they went to church. They put these dog house things in the yard, but who wants to get in there when you can stand out in the open during a passing rain storm?! Not us....no way.
Guess what?! When the rain falls and it mixes with the dirt in our hole, it makes this super fun brown stuff. We had a ball......until the humans got home.
The Alpha-Dog began speaking incoherently and the boy was laughing at us. Suddenly we saw the hose being rolled out and our shampoo made an appearance! *gasp* We.Had.To.Get.A.Bath.
The water was FREEZING?! We whined, cried, and tried to get away, but the humans are pretty smart and quick.
You tell us, is there anything wrong with looking like this????
We don't think so either! Don't tell the Alpha-Dog, but next time we get the chance, we're picking back up where we left off.
Last month we said goodbye to our dear 14 year old Lab, Bailey. I had many people advise me to go ahead and get another dog, but I said, "no". We planned on waiting until this summer to welcome a new pet.
I didn't want my kids to think that one life is replaceable with another. I wanted us to go through the grief process for Bailey......and we have.
This past week something happened, unexpectedly. God literally dropped these two right into our lap:
Meet Sophie and Allie!
She was born on September 20, 1995.
Her mother was brown. Her father was yellow. However, she and all her brothers and sisters were black.
Our story together began when she was about 8 weeks old. She was hand picked and I brought her home in a box.
I gave her the name "Bailey". She also answered to just "B". Her voracious appetite earned her the nickname "Pigetha".
She quickly became my four legged sidekick, confidant and 70 pound lap dog.
She loved swimming, playing fetch, car rides and neighborhood walks. The squirrels and chipmunks feared her.
She was a gentle giant with my children from the day they came into the world. And she had a knack for keeping their faces clean and helping them finish that one last bite of whatever was in their hand. They loved her and it was more than obvious how much she loved them.
For the last 14 years she has given me and my family sheer joy, affection, and complete unconditional love.
After a sudden illness we had to say goodbye to our dear Bailey, this past Friday. I think it was the hardest decision I've had to make, ever.
As I sit here and type this, I look at the the place where her bed and bowls have always been. Today those places are now empty.
The backyard is empty.
The place she slept in the hall is empty.
Her barking when I pull up in the driveway is silent.
I keep looking and listening for her.....she is not there.
My heart aches.....because Bailey took a piece of it with her on Friday.
Here's an update on a post I did back in MARCH of this year......click HERE to be reminded of my ridiculous neighbor I so fittingly dubbed "Lazy Larry".
This summer, we had a confrontation after I witnessed him letting his dog take care of business DIRECTLY in front of my house.....all while he sat in the comfort of his car, as per his dog "walking" protocol.
I politely explained to Larry that I was sick and tired of him letting his dog poop in the street. He stupidly explained to me that birds and squirrels poop in the street.
Ahem, moron, young man there's a HUGE difference in the size of bird and squirrel poop in the street versus your gargantuan dog poop! DUH!
I then suggested he clean up after his dog just like everyone else does with their dog. No response.
And to finish out my rant, I told him he was not worthy of owning that dog if he could not walk it properly and in a safe manner. HE LAUGHED IN MY FACE....then drove off.
Which made this Greek girl IRATE!
The hubby suggested I just let it go and not make it my mission in life to reform this obviously idiotic young adult.
I proceeded with sending a letter to the city about Lazy Larry. An animal control officer came to my home, and, again, I explained how Larry walks his dog via the car and did not clean up his dog's waste material from the middle of the street. The nice officer was floored at Larry's lack of animal skills and assured me he would handle the situation.
Fast forward to recent weeks.
Exhibit A (as taken by my concerned son):
How ridiculous is this?! It is sunny and warm outside and he chooses to walk the dog, AGAIN, via the car.
Raise you hand if you are a member of PETA?!
Two weeks ago I was out raking leaves, the weather was nice and who comes around the corner just like the photo above?! Yep. Larry. This time the car was going a bit faster and the dog was in a slight jog.
It pushed me over the edge. I dropped what I was doing, went inside, dialed animal control and explained the situation AGAIN to the officer (notice a redundant theme here).
This officer could not believe what I told him. He drove directly to the neighborhood and was at Larry's house within 15 minutes.
About 20 minutes later, I see a person in my front yard headed to my door. I jumped up to see who it was about the time my doorbell rang.
LAZY LARRY parked his car in front of my neighbors house and was at MY FRONT DOOR! I wasn't going to answer....he then came around to my side door and rang the doorbell.
By this time my heart was pounding....what if he really is CrAZy??
He then went back to my front door and BANGED on it! Then I really decided not to answer. He stormed back to his car and screeched off.
He went directly to our neighborhood president and had words with him regarding my complaint. Of course, he also told Larry that we were concerned for the dog's safety and the neighbors are tired of poop in the street.
Larry said he was tired of living in our "rinky dink" neighborhood and is going to move.
Name the day, Larry......I'll come pack your bags.....then I'll throw a party!
(BTW, Larry has been spotted under the cover of darkness lazily "walking" his dog.....STILL)
NOTICE: I have added this post to this week's edition of Works for Me Wednesday...the backwards edition. Where the writers present a problem, and you, the reader, offer us possible solutions to our problem.
And since our gracious host, Kristen, dared me to post it....I felt obliged.
Remember this great from Sesame Street:
Who are the people in your neighborhood, in your neighborhood, in your neigh-bor-hood
OH, who are the people in your neighborhood, the people that you meet each day…..
Today I want you to meet a special person in my neighborhood. Meet, Larry…. whose real name is unknown.
Wait, what?
You don’t see a person? Just the tail lights of a car?
How could that be??
Oh wait, here’s a better view of Larry:
Drats, that darn post got in the way!
Huh?
You are wondering why the dog is next to the car???
Oh yea, that!
Meet LAZY Larry…. dog walker extraordinare.
He has a fine knack for taking his Husky dog for a “walk” while holding the leash OUT THE CAR WINDOW as he drives the 1/2 mile circle of our neighborhood.
Somebody get the Humane Society on the phone! What would Caesar Milan have to say about this???
It was about 60 degrees with BEAUTIFUL sunshine when I spotted Lazy Larry driving in front of my house today. What’s the big deal, you asked??
Well, Lazy Larry also has another special talent that has some neighbors and our mailman in an uproar:
Yep! Laziness at its finest internets.
Do you think Lazy Larry carries a “pooper scooper bag”. NOOOOooooooo, never. He just leaves is wherever it falls, so to speak. In the middle of the road today, but usually on the side of the road where our mailman has to deal with it as he delivers. Peee-eeewwww.
Lazy Larry, you are RUDE, RUDE, RUDE!
The vindictive little person inside of me wants to collect the goods and place them IN his mailbox. But the mailman happens to be a good friend of mine.
I do know for a fact this mess has been discussed with Larry by both a neighbor and the mailman. However, he continues to be LAZY.
All I know is I am SICK of this crap….literally.
What would you do about his situation in your neighborhood??
For more Works for Me Wednesday....go visit We are That Family HERE.
Yesterday we spent the afternoon in a “dog daze”. The GRITS family attended Dogsplash 2008, a fund raiser for a local animal shelter.
For $5 we went to the local University’s (Roll Tide) outdoor pool complex. The pool officially closed this past week and before they drain the pools for the season they let the animal shelter use it for a fund raiser. How great is that?!
This is the 2nd year of the event and we escorted our beloved 13 year old Labrador, Bailey. I’m not sure what was going through the geriatric dog’s mind as we loaded her up in the car. It seems the only car trip she makes these days is to the vet’s office.
Imagine “Maw-Maw’s” surprise when she exited the car and noticed we were not at the little building with the metal table. She does know the difference!
Her tail was not tucked and we didn’t have to drag her out of the car. Her tail was wagging at a high rate of speed and she sniffed everything and everyone.
First stop, the kiddie pool, just to get her back in the water game:
Next stop, a very short swim in the lazy river:
My sweet, Bailey:
Look who else couldn’t resist the water, while fully clothed:
Take a look around the event, there were dogs everywhere of all shapes, sizes, and breeds:
Who is swimming whom here:
Animal costume contest:
(please click on this photo to check out the surfin’ dog’s hair!)
Scuba Dog came in 1st place.
Sir Chocolate Lab was 2nd.
I politely cropped this man’s face to spare his embarrassment identity, since he didn’t sign the GRITS photo waiver:
We all had a blast at the Dogsplash! We hope to return next year……we pray with sweet Bailey.
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