Blossom's Scary Experience

Yesterday morning, in the process of getting ready for work, I walked down the hallway in semi-darkness while going into the kitchen for something, probably another cup of coffee.  Anyway, as usuall there were dogs underfoot and I really didn't think anything about them being there.  Until I got to the end of the hallway and noticed that Blossom was just standing there facing back down the hallway.  I glanced back at her,thinking that the way she was acting was just odd, for her.  Something just wasn't right, she was just standing real still and staring at the opposite wall of the hallway.

So I flipped on the light, still wondering what was going on.  Then she started chewing (or so I thought) on something.  My first thought was - Lego's!  The boys had played with the Lego's the night before and we always have a few stray ones that the dogs try to munch on.  As I reached down to extract the Lego from her mouth I realized what was really wrong - her collar had somehow expanded and slipped down around and into her mouth.  Thank goodness she stood still while I fumbled with the release on the collar.  Since I don't have real strong fingers I always have problems squeezing those releases, but managed to keep her calm and get the collar off.

Yes, my little BFF got a lot of lovin' after that.  I know she had not been hung up very long, but it was scary for both of us!  For now her collar is off and it may stay off.  I'm not sure how it expanded enough to slip down like that, but I don't want it to happen again!  I've always thought that dogs need a collar, with a little ID tag just in case they get lost.  But she is micro chipped and only goes out when I'm home so I think we may just leave the collar off when we are at home.  What if this had happened during the day while I wasn't at home?  That's scary, too.

Making a group picture

Good grief!  What was I thinking?  Yes, I did last year's Christmas photo shot by myself but I only had three dogs to herd up and pose.  This afternoon I set up a little photo shoot on the fireplace, gathering up a Christmas quilt and a few decorations.  Got the camera set up and put a Christmas collar on each dog and combed their ears.  Never mind that they are stinky and need a bath, that won't show in the picture.  So far so good, that was the easy part.  After numerous attempts, and telling myself to give up until I had someone to assist me I finally got all four to sit and stay. 

I got the pictures, yes indeed.  But the dogs were not happy, and refused to raise their ears.  They do not look happy, no sirree!  Further complicating the issue was that they were in front of the fireplace, which looks good in reality.  But I did not like it in the picture for a background.  Plus the light was triggering a flash and that messes up their eyes.  I ran a few through Photoshop, but still don't like them.  I'll do another photo shoot for the card, but had to post a few here just for fun!

Baylee was so cooperative.  She is ready for Christmas in her green collar!

Hey Mom, do you really think you're going to make our picture?

Sawyer, I'm warning you...don't cooperate with her and we'll be off the hook real quick.

Here we are in our pre-holiday pose!

Looking for a toy

At some point I started keeping the doggie toys in a small, white basket.  At first we didn't have too many but obviously the collection had to grow.  Who can pass up a dog toy in the store?  My dogs deserve to have all the fun they can.  So the basket has filled up, or at least it is full when human Mama picks up all the toys and puts them in it!

A few nights ago Blossom, Sawyer, and Baylee were snoozing on the sofa while I was knitting.  Bentley isn't much of a napper.  He will lay quietly while the others nap, but he will also entertain himself and play on his on.  So he had gotten up and jumped in the floor and prowled around a little.  Then, he went over to the toy basket and stood there looking into it (they will all do this and then select a toy to play with).  He pulled out a rawhide flip chewie, or what was left of one, and chewed on it for a few minutes.  That wasn't too interesting so he went back to the basket and stood there again, contemplating his choices.  He pulled out a toy, but dropped it.  He started rooting around in the basket, trying to get out something.  He sniffed and scratched the side, as if he could pull out through the side what he wanted.  He pulled out several toys, and then stepped into the half empty basket.  Still not getting what he wanted he flipped over the basket and scratched around into the bottom of the basket.  With that he triumphantly pulled out......a Nyla bone!  Ta da!  Just what he had been searching for!  Mission accomplished, he took the bone to the middle of the rug and settled down.  Ah, just what he needed!

You can probably guess who picked up all the toys, too.

Happy Birthday Bentley!

Bentley is officially one year old!  Yippee!  No more puppy class competition for this big boy!  His gotcha day is in January, but he is a year old today.  What a sweet, handsome guy.  He is so big that it is hard to remember when he was a little warm, fuzzy eight week old puppy that was so cute and cuddly.  Where is my baby?  He's all grown up now.

Is it my birthday, really?  Where's my cake?

What is this?

Since our pumpkin was very thick I had carved off a layer of the piece we cut out of the top.  I was going to pitch these pieces in the bag with the "guts" but then thought, why not feed these to the dogs?  They love raw veggies, so I gave them the pumpkin pieces. 

I think they liked this although it was a little different!

Doesn't everything taste better after being rolled in the dirt?  This picture also shows how Bentley's coat is looking.