A bit of a hitch in the plans

For those of you who have been paying close attention, we were planning on leaving for southern Utah this morning, but as of last night's post, it was snowing. Mom was hoping fervently that the snow storm would fall apart, and we'd be able to leave this morning. Mom even had the car all packed and the fridge cleaned out; she was ready!

And when we woke up this morning?

The snow was almost up to the top of the railing on the porch!!! When it was all said and done, we had over 3 feet of snow!

Mom got to work shoveling off the porch so that we'd have some place to piddle. (As for the backyard? Um. You couldn't even get out the back door!)

Here's the view out the back door; which is why Mom started work on the front porch!

Dad, meanwhile, got out his toys and started work on the driveway, knowing full well that even though we wouldn't be able to leave today (between the time it took to clear the driveway, and the road conditions, we wouldn't have been able to leave until late, and once we made the 4.5 hour drive, we would have still had to get the House With Wheels out of storage, get it started up, and get it up to the resort, and get it set up to live in again). So Dad worked hard on the driveway.

And when the snowblower was overwhelmed with the snow, Dad pulled out the plow.

Yes, we have a big driveway....

And we have A LOT of snow!

So much snow, in fact, that it was almost impossible to do snow zoomies. Seriously.

THAT'S a lot of snow!

So much snow that Abby, with her stubby little puppy legs could only follow where I had broken trail.

And even then she almost got stuck....

Heehee!

I think Abby was happier on the front porch!

When she wasn't napping with TaiChi, that is.

Did I mention that we got a lot of snow?

So much so that one of our trees got pushed down by the snow. (Don't worry - Dad thinks it can be saved.)


So. Um. Snow.

Mom and Dad are hoping to leave all of this behind and get on the road tomorrow, come rain, snow, sleet or shine. Hopefully my next post will be from shores of the Virgin River!

And I'm really looking forward to this trip, because I'll get to teach Abby all the ins and outs of the House With Wheels. And I'm looking forward to hiking. And sitting on the couch and watching my "teevee" on the world around us. I'll keep you posted!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, the Temporarily Snowed In

A few quick pics

If the weather cooperates, we'll all be heading down to southern Utah tomorrow. Of course, it is blizzarding right now - probably the biggest storm we've had all winter - so the "if" is a big IF; we might not be able to leave until Wednesday. At least on Wednesday, it will be 70 degrees in southern Utah, which seems to make Mom happy!

Here's from earlier in the day today:

And then later tonight:

(And it has been snowing continuously all night - the porch is COVERED!).

TaiChi, being the smart one, has slept through all of this.

Actually, Mom has been a little worried about TaiChi; she did her thing where she wasn't interested in eating, and so Mom had her on the Nutrical diet (supplemented with peanut butter and cat food - both are no-no's for people like TaiChi with kidney problems, but she likes them, and Mom figures that one can of cat food in a couple of months won't kill her any faster than not eating at all). Anyhoo, Mom decided to pull out the stops, and bought a couple of steaks for dinner tonight because she had cleaned out the fridge, and lo and behold, when Mom sat down with her steak, TaiChi sat up next to Mom's plate and ate a whole bunch of steak that Mom hand-fed her. So both TaiChi and Mom are happy!

And on a final note?

Here's a picture of me at roughly 4 months:
Here's Abby, who just turned 4 months old on Saturday:

Me thinks the Not So Little Monster is going to be huge. Yes, I'm starting to be nicer to her! Heehee!

Now it is bed-time; if we are going to go on a long-ish road trip tomorrow, I want my beauty sleep!

*kissey face*
-Fiona

Snowy Saturday

Mom and Dad are grumbling about the snow (mostly because it is delaying our trip to southern Utah to get the House With Wheels), but I don't see what the problem is.... And yes, for those of you who have been wondering, this is all new snow that has fallen in the last 5 days... Welcome to April in Utah!

But again, I see no problem with the snow; I get to do zoomies...



I get to spend quality time with my sister...

(Hey, one bitey-face deserves another, right?)

And even the Not So Little Monster Abby seems to be getting into the snow zoomies thing.

And I'd better watch out - I think Abby might be a contender for Sporty Athlete Dog at MangoMinster next year!

And at the end of the day, we all get to snoozle with TaiChi!

So, we'll keep playing in the snow until Mom and Dad decide that the weather is good enough to drive down south. (They are thinking Monday - right now, we've got another winter storm warning for tonight...)

*kissey face*
-Fiona

Abby's First Hair Cut

Heehee! Abby got her first haircut over the course of yesterday and today. It took two days because her little puppy brain couldn't handle the excitement of having her entire body washed and trimmed at once, and when they got to her face, her brain exploded. Or something. So they called Mom to take her away and bring her back again today. Hah! She is Such. A. Spaz!

Anyhoo, here's her picture from yesterday, before they cleaned up her face.

And now?

Hahahahah!!!! Look at that snooter!!!

Here's a side-view, so you can get the full impact of her haircut.

Teehee!

Um, Fi, my dear? She looks an awful lot like a little you.

Me? Nope. No way, Mom. There is No. Way that Abby looks like me.

Yes, you do.

Oh crap. You're right, Mom. I've got a mini-me! Good thing she's cute.

And maybe she does kinda look like me.

Yes, she does, dear. She looks like your, erm, how can I say this? She looks like your sister!

Good grief. She does. All I can say is that it's a good thing I'm so good looking! Teehee!

Hmmm. Sisters from the same mother?


Oh wow. This is just Too Weird. I've got a sister. That looks like me. Wow.

She even is starting to do snow zoomies like me....


Seriously. This is just too weird.

Now, speaking of haircuts, I know that I mentioned that TaiChi is pretty much bald after her haircut. Well, lemme tell ya'. This girl has the life! Because she doesn't have much (read: any) hair, she gets to wear a sweater all the time, and (and this is the best part!) Mom set up the heating pad on the bed and covered it with a towel, and turned it on low, so TaiChi has a nice warm spot to get all snuggie in. Being 5,000 years old clearly has its benefits.

A happy, snoozling TaiChi!

On a final note, here's a picture from the "It Should Be in National Geographic" files.... (My little sister is becoming not so little...)



*kissey face*
-Fiona

Wordless Wednesday, Part Deux, sort of

It's only 'sort of' because it's not wordless. See, today, TaiChi and Abby had hair appointments (me? I'm still pretty short from my experience at the grooming salon that had never seen a poodle or poodle mix before), and Mom was planning on doing a wordless "before and after" photo session. But, well, there were a few spanners thrown in the works. First, it has been snowing All Day, and so getting before and after pictures has been a bit of a challenge. And then Abby's hair appointment isn't 100% finished. Her little puppy brain was about ready to explode before they got to her face, so while she is groomed from the neck down, her face is still long and hairy. (I know that some people like that look, but Mom and Dad wanted Abby to have a clean face, so they could see what they were getting under that fluffy puppy suit of hers.) Abby has got to go back tomorrow to be "finished". And. Well, TaiChi is not sure that she's ready for photos yet, as she's buried under blankets. She's been going bald for a while, and where she wasn't bald she was fairly matted. So.... Her hair cut pretty much consisted of shaving her bald (Mom hopes that she'll grow some hair back), and since it has been snowing all day, it's pretty cold, and even with a sweater on, TaiChi gets cold pretty easily (because she's basically skin and bones). Hence the being buried under blankets since she got home.

Soo.... You'll have to wait for some photos of their new looks.

However, as I mentioned earlier, it has been dumping snow All Day. Which means that there is an open invitation for all of you snow lovers - come visit and get your snow fix; it is supposed to snow through Friday morning. And for those of you who don't like snow? Be happy you don't live here! ;-)

Actually in that photo you can kind of see Abby's new 'do.

Deep-snow zoomies.



Of course, for Abby, the snow is much deeper...

Happy winter, spring!

*kissey face*
-Fiona, the Queen of the Snow Zoomies

Wordless Wednesday, Part 1

Yes, these were taken today. Happy spring in the mountains! :-)

*kissey face*
-Fiona

Of Turkey Hotdogs and Cars and Things

Yay! Finally another update! If Mom weren’t so busy, I’d get at the computer more, but, I guess I should be happy that she doesn’t just sit around and watch Law and Order re-runs all day. Oh wait. Sometimes she does do that! Teehee! Kidding, Mom!

I think when I last got to the computer, Mom and Dad had just finished their first autocross of the season, but Mom hadn’t brought the camera, so she didn’t get any pictures. Now, they have finished their second autocross, and Mom and Dad both got some pictures.

But before I get to the last autocross (which I didn’t get to go to again because the House With Wheels is still down south), hmmm. I’m not sure if I did anything too exciting. Mom and Dad have been taking me and the Little Monster (Little Monster and me? And I? Since I didn’t go to Puppy Class, I never learned these things…) on lots of walks – it is good for Dad to get up and moving around a bit, so we generally get to go on two walks a day, which is pretty cool. And Mom and Dad have decided to start walking us together (we were walking with Mom about 20 yards behind Dad so Abby didn’t get distracted, but now we walk together and it’s me who gets distracted by Abby…), and that’s fun. Mom hasn’t taken any pictures of the walks, though, because she’s too busy making sure Abby “pays attention”. I’m not sure what this “paying attention” thing means, but I’m sure it’s something that puppies must do.

Since we have no walkie pictures, I'll give you a gratuitous tug-of-war picture...


So, on to the autocross. Even though I didn’t go, Mom told me all about it, and so I can relay all the excitement. For those of you who don’t know what autocross is, it is like Agilities for Humans in Cars; they set up a bunch of cones in a parking lot or airport tarmac, or anyplace that has a lot of open paved space, and they try to get their cars through the pattern of cones (which varies for every event) as fast as possible without hitting cones; every cone is a two second penalty. Mom hits a lot of cones, but apparently has fun anyway.

Uncle Charlie and family brought down the Big Yellow Car so all Mom and Dad had to do was show up. Here’s the car when it was all nice and clean (and before Mom it a bunch of cones with it!)


And Mom was very happy when she saw these two cars parked near them (because there is a tiny part of Mom’s heart that wants a “muscle car” – even though she LOVES the Big Yellow Car, and she knows it has more horsepower, and it out-performs either of these ‘tanks’ and she even likes the way is goes “vroom”, but she says there is “just something” – I think it’s a kink in her DNA…)


The course way very challenging; they raced at a place called the “E Center” don’t ask me why which has a pretty hilly surface for a parking lot and is very slippery. Which meant that Mom (and Aunt Linda) spent a lot of time going sideways in the car. Or, in Mom’s case, spinning it. Twice. In Mom’s defense, so did Aunt Linda… Mom also hit A LOT of cones; 7 on one run, I’m told. Which is like a world record, I think!

Here's Mom trying to keep the car going straight...

Here's Mom in the start line; this is one of her favorite pictures just because of the angle of the car.

And here's Dad:


When it was all said and done, Mom said she had a lot of fun, even if she didn’t go as fast as she would have liked, and she hit more cones that she wanted to; she said she ‘learned stuff’ which is good, I think. Maybe one day she’ll learn to not spin the car…. Heehee.

And while Mom and Dad were gone all day, Jessi, (who Mom calls The Greatest Dog Trainer Ever – me? I call her the Greatest Human Trainer Ever, as she taught Mom to feed us turkey hotdogs!) came by the house three times, and took us outside and played with us, and took care of TaiChi, and Abby.

Oh. Yeah. Abby has a bladder infection – very late Saturday night, when Mom was trying to sleep for the autocross, Abby got up and peed. And then got Mom up an hour later, and an hour after that, and on and one. When Mom got up the second time, she caught on, and gave Abby some of TaiChi’s antibiotics. Because Mom started Abby on antibiotics, and because a bladder infection isn’t life-threatening, and because it was a Sunday, Mom figured that it wasn’t urgent enough to take Abby to emergency care. Jessi, along with her Amazing Hotdog Skills, is also a holistic dog healer, and gave Mom some advice as to how to help Abby feel better along with the antibiotics. As an update, Mom took Abby to the vet today and got her on some other antibiotics (because Abby is now a whopping 28 lbs, where TaiChi is 11 lbs (maybe) and TaiChi’s aren’t strong enough). She should be feeling much better in a couple of days. In the meantime, she’s loving the peanut butter that “hides” her pills. Who knew cranberry extract came in a pill? Anyhoo, the Little Monster is doing better.

So while it would have been fun to be with Mom and Dad at the autocross, the next best thing was having Jessi come by. Can anyone say “turkey hotdogs”? Heehee.

And speaking of Jessi. Today was another turkey hotdog receiving day dog class. Mom says this might be the last one for a little while, as she would like to get to southern Utah so we can pick up the House With Wheels, and maybe spend a little time down there while it is mud season up here. However, Mom says that we will DEFINITELY be going back to PetCo for more classes because 1) I need to be “socialized” (um… does that mean I have to move to Canada?), 2) Mom thinks that there is a lot more for us to learn, 3) she thinks Jessi is just the best trainer in the world, and 4) Mom needs to keep practicing her turkey hotdog delivery technique.

But…. Here are a couple of pictures of today’s class.

Here's Abby, totally sucking up to Jessi. Mango, you were right about these little puppies being suck-ups. *sheesh*

This one is out of focus, because we were all moving so fast, but it pretty much shows how things went in play time...

Although Bella (the other dog in the class) wasn't a complete pushover...

School's out!!!


*whew* Long post. I guess that’s what happens when Mom doesn’t let me at the computer for a while!

*kissey face*
-Fiona

PeeEss: Now I'll try to catch up on everyone's bloggies; forgive me if it takes a while!