A white Christmas

Last week we had a little winter storm which brought us a white Christmas. It started last Friday evening and did not stop until late Saturday evening. I can't remember the last time Central Virginia got a significant snow in December. We got about 6 inches total in our area. :) Some parts of VA got a foot or more of snow! I just love the snow. Not crazy about the ice or the mess the snow leaves once it stops falling, but I love watching it come down. The pups have all seen snow and played in it at least once before.

I told them Santa brought them an early present this year since they have been such good boys and girls. Cueball, Pippi and Booyah look outside curiously to see what Santa brought them.
This is their view of the front yard.
I took them out to the back yard to let them do what they do best in the snow. PLAY!!

I think her caption reads Zoom, Zoom Zoom!
Maggie dug her favorite toy out of the snow and had a blast zooming around the yard with it just squeaking away.

Booyah has some fun romping in the snow. Cueball and Pippi in the background are not quite sure what to think about it yet.

Once he figures it out, Cueball goes full speed ahead.Maggie gets Pippi to play.
Later on Pippi gets on Booyah's nerves. She always nibbles on his ears and neck when they run. He gets very annoyed by this. Can't say I blame him. ;-)
Cueball rounding the bend.
Booyah and Pippi are not too far behind him.

They played in the snow multiple times on Saturday and had a blast. By Sunday some of the snow had melted and then refroze. Needless to say they wanted no part of it, so that was the end of fun in the white stuff for the pups. They only wanted to go out to do their business and then back in quickly they came. The snow finally melted yesterday. Since it lingered around for a week we actually had a white Christmas this year. Woot!!

We have not had a boarder in quite some time. With four of our own, it became a little difficult to board, so we stopped all together. We did open our home to Kinga for the holidays though. Her mom and dad could not find a sitter and were going across the country for the holidays so we are gladly watching her for the holidays. She has been with us for a week and will go home on Wednesday evening. We have watched her before and fostered her when she first came up from FL. She is an only dog so this is like camp for her! She is easy going and fits right in with our kids. So it has been no problem. :)
She has a beautiful face and is quite regal.We had a wonderful Christmas! We wanted this year to be all about family and friends and being together since that is what is all about. ;) We spent Christmas Eve at my mom's house. We had a nice meal together and enjoyed each others company. I could not wait for her to open one of her presents. I have been looking forward to seeing the look of excitement on her face for weeks. She did not disappoint! I was ready with my camera to capture the memory. It was a wonderful day!

Mitch and I spent Christmas day at home with the pups. We, sorry I mean Mitch, cooked a lovely meal. We wrapped the pups gifts this year. Maggie understood what to do.
Within a few moments she had her new toy out and was squeaking away.
Booyah figured it out too.
Pippi and Cueball...not so much. We unwrapped the toys for them.
Nevertheless, it put smiles on our face anyway. Yesterday we headed out to visit with our good friends Ernie and Deb. They are like family to us. :) They had a small get together. We had fun playing Wii, visiting with them and listening to Mark play the guitar. Deb's daughter Jody is a huge music fan and a walking music encyclopedia. Mark made her a CD of his songs and signed it for her. She was thrilled! Mark played for a good hour and a half. Jody loved every minute of it. It made us all smile. :) Jody also had us smiling while she played Wii tennis. I did not get any pictures of it, but it was amazing to watch her play. For those who don't know, Jody is blind. Her disability did not keep her from playing Wii tennis though. With a little help from the crowd queuing her when to hit the ball she played some excellent tennis.

Moments like this and others we have had over the last few days have really touched my heart and made me realize even more than I ever did before what Christmas is really all about.

We hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas and we wish everyone in blog land a happy and healthy new year!

A Doggy Christmas Surprise

Click here to enjoy this cute doggy christmas video!! It is just too cute not to share. :)

Friendships and a Gotcha Day

We have had our cat, Misty, for ten years. She was very comfortable with KC, but it took her a while to warm up to the hounds. She recently has become super comfortable with them, especially Cueball. She would always join us in the living room while we relaxed in the evenings, but usually kept her distance from the hounds. Not any more. Her spot over the last couple of nights this week has been on the hassack of the chair.

She even tolerates Cueball laying his paws on her.We are happy to see this! :) When we first brought Cueball home it was questionable if we were going to be able to keep him because he kept chasing after our cat and was just a little too curious about her. Now look at him, I think it is pretty safe to say that they are friends.

Last night we had some friends over just for a fun evening of watching football, (even if though the Gators lost) games, food and wine/beer. We had a great time. We played the Apples to Apples game. It is loads of fun!! Then, it was on to the Wii. ;-) It was Debbie and Ernie's first time playing the Wii and they had a lot of fun!

Mitch's I'm a muscle man pose.
Mitch smiling for the camera and Ernie playing baseball with Deb.

Deb really got into it! As you can see the hounds were sleeping on their beds. They were not phased by all the action. :) Well, except for Booyah, he headed upstairs, he does not do well in loud situations. ;-)

Ernie does a victory dance and Deb is so not impressed. LOL. Ernie had a good night, he won the round we played of Apples to Apples and then won several times while playing Wii Tennis and Baseball. We had such a great time. We love these fun filled nights with good friends, good food and good wine. We have been friends for many years and we will be very sad if E and D move, but will be happy for them and would wish them the very best and of course would be happy to come visit them in Colorado. ;) Our friend and neighbor Pam was not able to come over last night, but did a drive by some time between Friday night and early Saturday morning and left a bag of goodies on our porch. In the bag were a carton of Run Around Ranch Eggs (from her hens), a bottle of wine and a plate of chocolate covered strawberries. You rock Pam!! Thanks a bunch. :)
Today we have been recouping from our late night and chillin around the house with the pups. It has been bitter cold outside, (well bitter cold to me at least, probably not so bitter to others who live in colder climates) so we spent the majority of the day indoors. We opened up the shades in the kitchen to let some sunshine in. Cueball loves the sun.
Pippi loves the sun too. The others....not so much.
And, last but CERTAINLY not least. Booyah's gotcha day was on November 28th. We haven't celebrated yet, but plan to this week. I know, bad mom. His gotcha day always seems to slip my mind, I guess because of the craziness at Thanksgiving. Nevertheless, he will get a celebration this week. In three years, he has come along way. He is still the sweet boy he has always been, but since we adopted Cueball, he has found more confidence. He and his brother Cueball are pretty much inseparable. It is rather cute to watch. He loves to run and play in the yard and he is the most graceful hound I have seen. His gait is so elegant. He has his quirks too, of course. Don't they all? He nests forever until he gets his bed or our bed just right. He has helicopter tail and does a stare down at you when he needs to go potty. His nose is sooo cold! He is okay with you petting him while he is laying down, but if you stop and have any part of your body touching his, he gets growly. He hates a nail trim, but once it is done, he is frisky and playful. He will run in circles and squeak toys.

He looks so peaceful when he sleeps.
He has Yoda ears.
And a lovely neddlenose.
He is a happy boy.


He has been an absolute joy and has brought so much happiness to our lives. Here's to you Booyah, happy Gotcha Day! We love you so much! And mommy is sorry she was such a bum and did not make your cake yet. :(

A little Holiday Humor.....

Have a happy Thanksgiving everyone!!

Update: Rumor, Bath time & Prettiness

A little update on our recent foster Rumor. She stayed with us for the week. She passed Kittie Boot camp while she was with us. She was a very easy foster. She is a follower, a leaner, a kisser, quick learner, good listener, friendly, loving, sweet girl. It was a pleasure to keep her for the week. She was officially adopted yesterday. She has a wonderful family and is doing well! Above and below are a few pics from her stay with us. Check out VAGA's blog to see the other lucky hounds who found their forever home this weekend. Spare Key, who is Maggie's litter mate Happiness' pup, came up on this haul and is currently in foster. Mitch got to meet her and said she was super sweet. :)
Playing with toys is one of Rumor's favorite things to do. She emptied all the toy baskets in the house. She bounced around the living room and bedroom playing with toys. My kids just looked at her like she had three heads!
She also enjoyed romping in the yard.

Also this weekend, it was time to give the pups a bath. They were not too happy about it, but they were starting to stink, so it was time. I bathed Pippi first. The best part for her was drying off. She loves wet towels. She loves to rub her entire body on them. Silly girl.
Bath time made Maggie tired. She shows me her big yawn.
I needed Mitch's assistance to bath Boo Boo. He is a bit over my weight lifting capability. He was a good boy for his bath, but glad when it was over. I just love the way the black dogs look after a bath. So shiny.
The bath really brought out Cueball's ticking. He looks so naked without his ID collar.

I spent some time outside today weeding the flower beds. It was long over due. In the 9 years we have lived in our home we have done quite a bit of landscaping. While I was weeding, I could not help but admire these two Leland Cypress trees we planted about eight years ago. It took them a long time to get this big, but they are beautiful and provide privacy from the road. Now we are wishing we had planted about eight more. ;-)
The two Bradford Pear trees were memorial gifts and were planted in our front yard in early 2002, the following spring after the loss of both of Mitch's parents. One in memory of his mom Betty and the other in memory of his dad Carl. They have done so well over the years and are so beautiful when they bloom.
Mitch recently planted this bush in one of our flower beds. I have no idea what it is, but the blooms right now are stunning.
The frogs were a wedding gift. I am a big fan of frogs and have collected many over the years, but these are by far my favorite. In the spring they will be hidden by the blooming Iris' in this flower bed.
The last elephant ear for the season. I am amazed it is still around.
We are looking forward to Thanksgiving! Have a great week everyone. :)

I believe I can fly and I heard a Rumor

It has been months since we last fostered. Puddin Pop was our last foster. In case you are thinking it, NO we are not going to foster fail! Not this time anyway. We are not ready to move up to 5 hounds. We are fostering Gossip Hound KNA Rumor for a week though. You may have read about her on Alex's blog. I love the spa bath picture of her, just adorable!

Rumor went to meet a family in the Richmond area today and we are hopefull that she may have found her forever home. She is staying with us for the week so we can see how she does with the kitties. :) She is a super sweet, friendly girl. Nothing much phases her. Surprisingly Maggie is fine with her being here and Pippi seems okay with it too. Miss Pippi is a little picky about her friends and Maggie is just Miss alpha bi**h.

We spent most of the afternoon inside testing her with the cat and watching some college football. GO Ole Miss, GO VT and GO Gators!!! Rumor has spent most of her day sacked out on a doggie bed doing what hounds do best. I hope to get some more pictures of her this week. She has very cute ears. They remind me of Puddin Pop's ears. We are happy to have her here with us for the week!

I debated about whether or not I should mention this on the blog, as I did not want it to come across as a brag, but after long thought, I have decided that I would share and hope that no one takes it as a brag, as it is not intended as one, but rather is intended as happy news. So here goes. A few months ago, I took the plunge and bought a new camera. About a year and a half ago, I had a great opportunity to buy Trina's Canon Power Shot, as she was moving up to a DSLR. The camera was in perfect condition and for me it was a wonderful opportunity to learn the basic modes and functions and how to use them. Before the Canon Power Shot, I had owned Fuji and Olympus cameras. They were okay, but after using the Canon for a year and half, I am hooked on this brand and will probably always own a Canon. I researched and researched, read review after review and decided on the Canon T1i. I am very happy with my purchase. I am still learning all of the functions and modes this camera has to offer, but taking pictures is just simply becoming more and more enjoyable. :) I still have the Power Shot and have no intention of getting rid of it, as it is still a good camera. I am not usually the type of person into the latest gadgets, electronics etc., but I love photography and the hounds are such great subjects!
I think I may have created an inner monster. I am already searching, and reviewing telephoto and zoom lenses. :) I hope to get better and better with practice.

Below are some shots of the kids playing in the backyard. I hope you enjoy them. After I took them, downloaded them and viewed them, this old song "I believe I can fly" suddenly came into my head. I don't know why it popped into my head, I have not heard it in years, but it seems fitting for the hounds nonetheless.
Love the curled tail!

Just amazing!! I really think Pippi would enjoy agility. I just need to get off my lazy butt and make it happen!

Her ears are so cute in this picture.
Quite the balancing act she has going on there.
Stealth mode.

And, last but not least. Mitch had to take a quick picture of this. She can sit! She just most times does not want to. Excuse the green alien eyes.
Looking forward to getting better and better with practice! Love having a hobby, it is rewarding to see the results. :) Hope everyone has a greyt weekend!