news updates, overdue just like my gas bill

how do you get so busy in your life that you totally forget to pay a bill? i got the threatening letter from the gas company last week (i think? though i didn't open it until 2 days ago)...i called at 0700 today so they wouldn’t stop my gas flow. the nasty-gram said they would shut it down yesterday. i don’t believe they did ‘cause my water’s still hot.

i have a scintillating scotoma. do you? it’s a blurry, shaky, light bright spot in my vision that lasts for about 20 minutes & then goes away as quick as it shows up. lots of folks will get this visual disturbance right before a migraine. i am so very grateful that i don’t get the headaches...just the scintillating scotoma. (what a fun phrase to say. try it!) this is my third one in 10 years. it’s not a toom-ah.

dog people....love them. we had 4 brilliant women come together this past-past sunday to discuss our dog ranch concept (the bff dog ranch - website coming soon) we chose these woman because we respect each of them & all they do for animals. wow, were they amazing together. talk about synergy. the lives of dogs everywhere in tallahassee are improving daily thanks to this incredible, strong and enthusiastic group. i love dog people. thank you megan, pattie, leigh ann & kate. can’t wait to start those open houses & get the ranch rockin’.

i am so ready for christmas - my shopping is done. wait, let me say it one more time. my christmas shopping is done! wooooo hoooo. all i have to do is sip the egg nog & wrap the gifts. i’m already playing my christmas music. i love those songs. i have the little drummer boy by 7 different artists. if i played my christmas playlist for 24 hours straight i still wouldn’t be through it all. if you’re thinking “thanksgiving isn’t even here yet, why are you thinking christmas?” well, i’ll tell you, thanksgiving is part of my holiday celebration & it all falls under the heading of the magnificent christmas season- peace, love, dogs & nog.

my sister's visit

my sister, anita christy came to visit this weekend. yeah!! i haven’t seen her in over 4 years. she is the mom of 2 gorgeous human kiddos, (abby is 6 & a j is 7, they both stayed up north with their dad) she also lives with a pit-mix GOOBIE, kittens, a horse, 16 chickens, a donkey & probably some other critters i don’t know about. she was very confidant coming here that she would be able to handle living with 5 dogs for 10 days. no problem.

i’m always nervous when we have guests. our dogs are usually very well behaved, but the initial 15 minutes can be very intense with the jumping, barking, racing laps around the house. plus, if you’re not used to it, 5 of anything can be overwhelming....5 kids, 5 pairs of shoes, 5 martinis, 5 choices of dessert, or 5 golden rings - 5 is a lot.

anita did very well...initially. the puppies loved her (our youngest canine fur-child is 2 years old & 70 pounds, but they’re all still puppies to me.) we walked them, played with them, made up voices for them, couch-potatoed heavily with them & photographed them. anita even slept with sparrow the first night.

aunt tee-tee with eiyso. chris has luke and ditto.

i believe it was the second day of aunt tee-tee’s visit when things began to go slightly down the proverbial hill. (all my fur kids call anita “aunt tee-tee” because they can’t say aunt anita)

anita brought with her a fancy pair of flip flops (actually, everything anita has is fancy. even her horse is named fancy. that’s so weird. i never even thought about that until right this minute.) anyway... she was sacheting around our house in her designer high heeled leather fancy flip flops extolling their comfort & i was oooooing and ahhhing. & then we got distracted. started cooking, laughing, remembering when she hit me in the head with the rock & i almost went down. i barely clung to consciousness, only so i could tell mom on her. apparently with all the reminiscent tale-telling excitement of our childhood, she threw off her very comfortable flippies. mojo found them.

by the time i noticed, one shoe was isolated in the dogs’ play room, separated from all other shoes. sitting alone. no living creature in sight. the leather flip had little tiny teeth marks & the the toe tip of the rubber flop was all swiss cheesy.

at first anita whimpered, maybe even cried a little bit. then she got mad. then she got all “my glass is 1/2 - full” & resolved to still wear them.

her thoughts on the matter included:
no one will notice they’ve been chewed when i have them on.
they may eventually break, but at least they should last long enough for me to find another pair.
they rub on the top of my foot, but only a little bit.

while walking the mall the next day, they did in fact give her a little blister & a mild limp to go along with it. that injury didn’t hurt nearly as much as her bloody knee. she broke the vase at the giftshop, but i picked it up to inspect the damage and a huge chunk of ceramic flew out right & away, slicing her knee open, giving her a huge gash that ran red for hours.

i think it was a couple of nights later that anita felt better, had a new pair of flip flops & her knee finally stopped bleeding, so we organized a little party.

we had some guests over for a very competitive game of wii bowling followed by a hard hitting set of rock band. our neighbors walked over to festivate with us; they’re a lot of fun & come over as often as they can. they kicked their shoes off at the front door, cracked open a bottle of yummy red and relaxed into dinner.

just as everyone was changing out of their bowling shirts & into their rock star clothes, i spied it with my little eye.

notice that the drummer has no shoes on his feet.

another lonely shoe in the dogs’ room. it was large & leather. insert 1/2 eaten & separated from the body of the shoe. the lace was missing as well as the leather that the laces ran through. there were, however, several metal rivets, slightly bent & strewn over the floor. mojo does have her standards.

my shopping list.

fur photos on friday

we had so much fun this past friday afternoon. a photographer came to our home to photograph our dogs.

i was sorta dreading it all week. it’s hard work to have a “stranger” come into a 5 dog pack - get the dogs to play nice, put on their best face, act decent, not bark, not jump, not argue/growl/grump with each other, & to smile, all the time worrying if the house is clean enough, the grass is short enough, if even a single photo will be in focus because not one dog is willing to sit perfectly still long enough for the photographer to exhale.

well let me tell you about ms robin adams, pet photographer extraordinaire. worry about the dogs jumping on her? she kicked off her shoes on the porch, walked into the living room, sat down in the middle of the floor & welcomed every sniff, kiss, nose bump, slobbering lick she could get from our pack. she reciprocated their acts of love by bringing bully stix for all, giggles, treats by the dozen, infectious laughter, enthusiasm & joy to our little pack, including my husband & me.

the dogs were so animated & loved her so much she could barely get far enough away from them to take their photos.

-lucas made all of his funny elvis faces for her
-eiyso stretched out in her “i am the zen dog” pose with those magical soulful eyes gazing deep into the camera lens
-mojo woofed & pranced & kicked in all her longhaired, smiling face glory followed by several vogue poses just to prove she’s still got what it takes for the cat dog-walk.
-sparrow did some vertical jumps, raced like a banshee-fied tasmanian devil & promptly retired to her crate stating “...& i’m spent.”
-ditto displayed the downward dog over & over so that robin could get just the right light while we giggled nonstop about how stinkin’ cute she is. (ditto, not robin. though, yes, robin is cute, too!)
-chris & i were left with huge smiles, feeling proud of our pack & we simply cannot wait to see the woof proofs. (we’ll be sharing once we get them!!)

robin is amazing with dogs. & amazing with the camera.
she’s a wonderful person, dog rescuer, cat lover, compassionate, talented, creative, has a zest for life & spunk that i admire. i recommend her for ALL your photographic needs.
check out her website FUR & Robin Adams Photography

she’s got a pack of new fans with the jones clan!!!

update.....here is the link to our proofs - they are awesome!!!
the jones family

it's been over a month.....

wow this last few weeks have been so busy & telling...no blogs by me. megan & i have vowed to each publish a new blog at least once weekly. find megan’s blog here: http://tallydogs.wordpress.com/

i’ve been working behind the scenes on several projects:

mojo’s backyard is going to be on twitter & facebook (“they” say we have to keep up with social media - “they” being the advertising types) stand by for more on that. you’ll want to sign up - we’re going to do live action updates on the crazy happenings at the doggie daycare, send recipes, quotes and even coupons to discount daycare and products. we’re planning to have good stuff give-a-ways, too. it doesn’t get much better than a give-a-way!!!!

megan & i have been working for months on our plans to start our very own dog ranch. our intent is to offer a permanent home for dogs if their owners become incapacitated or die. much much more on the BFF DOG RANCH in future posts.

we want to be your best friend’s next best friend.

my husband, chris, and i have made a family decision -



ditto, our little tall skinny gorgeous jack russell terrier is going to train for some competitive agility. the real challenge is mine - can i keep up with this lanky bundle of flying fur? i guess i picked the right month to start running again.
ditto & i will be under the close guidance of shawn, our amazing & oh-so-patient agility instructor. our goal is to attend our first competition on thanksgiving weekend. the training begins this monday with “two-a-week’s.” [doesn’t that sound jock-like? translation: two practices per week for now]

find info on shawn’s awesome agility classes here:

http://capitalcanine.com/agility.html

mojo has been shedding her undercoat...the brushing, vacuuming, plucking, grooming, sweeping, shaving, & did i mention vacuuming?....it’s almost too much for my fuzzy girl to bear. thank goodness it’s almost over. AND she’s lost four pounds of fat (it turns out it wasn’t the fluff that was weighing her down!) her hips feel better (no more crying when she stands up). HOW glucosamine works may be a medical mystery, but the fact that it WORKS is not a question for mojo.

life is good.
(and if you haven’t checked out that website, you should!!)