Think warm thoughts…

What do you get with a bored man, snow and artic cold air?
Randy got a Big Green Egg (for those that don’t know what that it, it’s a big green ceramic cooker) for his birthday last year and I will be the first to admit that food cooked on the BGE is the juiciest, most flavor packed food I’ve ever had from a grill! 
The research began and Randy decided to build an outdoor ‘kitchen’ area for two BGE’s.  He will have the large for cooking turkey or other large items or amounts of food and a medium to use when it’s just us.

So here are the bones, the two sections on either end are for the eggs.

The middle piece gets this cabinet and drawer.

When it gets warmer, these frames will get concrete backer board on them, then a counter top of something like granite or soapstone.  We will cover the backer board with stone or tiles.
So as we sit watching it snow, we can’t help but think warm thoughts…

Be Responsible..

This is a puppy.  It’s cute, adorable and melts your heart into a big gushing blob of love.  This puppy however is no different than an infant.  It needs certain things to grow up and that starts when they are young.  Just like you wouldn’t leave an infant alone, you shouldn’t leave your puppy alone.  Infants wear diapers until they learn to use the potty.  Puppies have to be taught where to go potty too and anytime they have an accident in the house, it’s YOUR FAULT.  Yes, you weren’t paying attention to your puppy’s needs and it had to go and it went.  So no more than you would yell at a baby for dropping a load without a diaper on, should you yell at a puppy.  Your puppy depends on you for everything, just like an infant does.

This is still a puppy.  Once again, you would not leave a toddler alone running about the house, so you shouldn’t let this sweet face fool you.  What this puppy learns now and for the next several months will help shape it into an amazing dog or a nightmare of behavior problems.  This puppy needs to see other puppies, people, cats, birds, kids, men in hats, with beards. It needs to take rides, go places and experience new and different smells & sights so that it learns not to be afraid.  This puppy needs a safe place to be contained when you aren’t home, it needs to know what toys are his and what behaviors are good.  You don’t let your toddler put your shoes in it’s mouth, you shouldn’t let your puppy do it either.  Is your toddler digging his nails into you or biting you?  You teach your toddler that it’s not nice, you need to do the same for your puppy! 

Getting bigger, but still a puppy folks!  At this time a child that has gone off to kindergarten to learn and you need to do the same with your puppy!  Hopefully you were teaching good manners and behavior before now with your puppy.  If not what are you waiting for?  A child learns the basics in kindergarten and so will your puppy, this foundation that you are laying is SO important.  Don’t skip it!  This is also NOT the time to leave him alone, just like you wouldn’t leave a child alone!  They need parental supervision when they are out and about and they need a safe place when you can’t be with them. Why? Simple it keeps them safe, it keeps them for getting into things they shouldn’t.  It keeps you sane!

This handsome young man is now a pre-teen.  That means hormones, hard headedness and occasional behavior that makes one think he left his brain out in the yard.  If you waited till now to start basic training, shame on you! A child does not come out of the womb and head to middle school and neither should your puppy!  Didn’t it occur to you that he needed to learn how to behave in the world? To understand the language you speak?  How to listen to you?  How to interact with other dogs and people?  Didn’t it occur to you that if you had been training him all along that your shoes, walls and furniture would all still be intact?  Did it ever cross your mind that if you had been training him he wouldn’t have ripped apart his dog bed and shredded your comforter?  A child gets mental and physical exercise in school and these guys need the same thing.  A bored pre-teen is a pain in the butt!  Lots of toys, exercise and mental stimulation are needed for a happy healthy pup!

This is a goofy, gangly teenager.  Just like real teenagers he still needs guidance and educating.  He may not always want it, he may even make you think that he doesn’t hear you but he does.  All that work you’ve been doing.  All that time you’ve been investing will pay off big.  What do you mean you haven’t done any training at all?  So now you are asking on the internet why your dogs is (insert bad behavior here).  You don’t understand why responsible pet owners are angry with you?  You don’t understand why they are telling you to get a professional trainer NOW?
Here’s why.
Roughly 5 million companion animals enter into shelters every year.  Of that 3.5 million are euthanized. 60% of all dogs that enter into shelters are euthanized. 60%!!! Puppies that aren’t socialized, that aren’t taught good canine behavior can find their lives ended early.  Ever wonder what happened to that dog that got dumped off at the shelter because it wasn’t house broken or the one that kept tearing up their owners house? 60%….
That cute puppy is going to grow up, in my case that sweet face looking at you is going to weigh in at over 120 lbs.  If I didn’t take him to classes, if I didn’t work with him at home every day, I would be an irresponsible pet owner.  If you bring a child into this world you are responsible for that child.  The same is true if you bring a puppy or even a dog into your life, you are responsible.  They rely on you the same as a child, be a good parent, educate them, love them and make sure that you raise a well behaved canine.  Training them is the best way to keep them with you for all their lives and in the end that is what they want most and it’s the least their deserve…

Fantastic Friday…

Mother Nature has been providing me with some interesting sights this season.  Eastern Bluebirds in the stream and on my roof;

Freezing rain on the pines;

Melting snow on the roof edge;

Then on Friday, she gave me an array of weather in less than an hours time.  It started out sunny, but changed over to cloudy as the temperature climbed.  The sky turned a foreboding blue-black color and the winds kicked up.  The rain came fast and sideways, pounding on the roof and then all was still and quiet.  That is is when the fog came in great waves billowing across the ground like some magic mist.  It was something conjured from a faerie tale and at that point seeing some magical, sentient being wouldn’t have surprised me at all.

It’s days like this that I am reminded how incredible Mother Nature is and how easily it can bring us to a stop in whatever we are doing!

Snow…My!

What do you get when your 8 month old (as of tomorrow by the way!) Great Dane sees 12” of snow?
A whole lot of laughs and pictures, that’s what!

Now Zoe’s days of this sort of enthusiasm for the snow are well behind her, she takes a more lady like approach and just watches Cooper and his antics.

Of all the pictures I took and there are hundreds of them, this one stands out as one of my favorites.

Many are tired of the snow and cold, but I’m loving it and who can blame me?  When you’ve got this much fun living with you, you can’t help but have a great time regardless of the weather.  Spring will be here soon enough, for now we are having a blast with Winter!

Cooper Graduates..

It’s official Cooper graduated from Puppy 2 last night.

He now gets a brief break from school until his next class which sadly won’t be with Sarah (who is awesome!) or at Your Dogs Friend (which I can’t recommend enough!!!!).  Each night before class the puppies got playtime and Cooper typically played with Griffin (far right) the Boston Terrier.  Now it might seem like an odd match but that little dog is sure he is the biggest dog in the class.  I want to share this little snippet of video of them playing from last night.  This was at the tail end of the play session and they had been going at it pretty hard.

The Great Dane and The Boston Terrier

Cooper will miss his playtime and I’m sure going to class.  As will I because on the day after class, he is always worn out!

Winter Wonderland

 

The snow and cold change everything for me.  I literally need the seasons, as a gardener it is very hard to still your planning when it doesn’t look cold outside.  The brown leaves, the sticks and the stalks from last seasons garden scream at you to come and clean them up.  Sadly to me at least, most people are so disconnected with the natural world that to them the seasons, the changing weather, is just an inconvenience.  The bare winter landscape covered in beautiful white snow lets me mind rest, it gives me pause and time to just enjoy and not think about everything that will need to be done and for that I’m so incredibly grateful!

This snow is soft and fun to play in!  I’ve spent more time outside with Cooper (and Zoe some) playing in the snow than I have in a long time.  He loves it and has such a joy about him that it is impossible to not want to run around and be goofy.  He will take any little bit he can get too!

The cold seems to make Zoe frisky as she has even run and played a bit with him and while she doesn’t last as long as he does (none of us do!) it’s wonderful to see her with energy and spunk!

So for now, I get to enjoy it being winter, the cold air seems cleaner somehow, the snow provides a quiet peace to the world outside my window.  It’s one where the sound of the birds and the breeze stirring the last remaining beech tree leaves are all one hears.  It’s a world that I’m so grateful for and one that I cherish!

De-Chrismtasing..

While the rain pours and the mud deepens, and I’m grumbling because I wish it was cold and SNOW, we took down most of the Christmas decorations.  I didn’t get a chance to get a picture of Zoe in front of the tree before Christmas but I did get it today!

She is still soo pretty!  I also can still see the puppy in her, even though she’d tell you she’s far to dignified for that!
Of course it wouldn’t be complete without a photo of her and Cooper together.

Ms. Hayleigh has been almost invisible since we got Cooper.  She started coming out again when Randy’s parents were here from Christmas. Today she was over seeing everything. 

Once all the decorations are down, I’ll start the cleaning up and out process.  Time to get rid of things that haven’t been used, things that someone else could use and things that are just taking up space and energy in the house.  Might be some furniture shopping on the horizon too!