We got over a foot of snow over the weekend. It has been sunny since then but extremely cold! Today the wind chill made it -30 degrees out. I haven't felt it that cold since I lived in Michigan. Below is the view from our back porch. It looks like a beautiful cold waste land, even the Geese have left to find a warmer pond.
A very cold and snowy backyard.
I was off work today and I was out doing some errands when I saw something strange. It apparently has gotten so cold in Fort Collins that we even have Reindeer living here now.
I wonder if Santa knows that his Reindeer have moved to Fort Collins?
On another note, Anthony won't go poop in the Guys (co-raisers) back yard because the snow is up over his hips. Today he reportedly climbed to the top of a snow bank beside Carol's car and took a big poop. I told Alex that solidifies it for me... he is for sure a teenage BOY puppy. Only a boy would want to display his poop on top of a 5 foot high pile of snow. Silly goof ball!
I really can't believe how much snow we have gotten so far this year. We have gotten more this year than all the previous year we have lived here. I have to admit though, that I kind of like it, especially since it never stays around for long and the puppies love it.
Alex went to take the puppies out this morning and had normal shoes on. When I pointed out to him that there was about 8 inches of snow on the ground and that he might want boots this is what he came back wearing:
Those are fishing boots that have been pushed down. Whatever works.
Alex and I hosted the annual Fort Collins GDB Christmas party today and below are a few pics I took during the party.
Cambria - she is about 12 weeks old now.
Eve is now 9 months old.
Cambria again- I love this picture! Her eyes are going different directions and she really just looks so sweet!
Betsy has grown up to be a beautiful big girl! Here she is at 7 Months
Norahabelle does some "back time"
Mulan (5mo) also does some back time while her raiser chats on the phone.
This is Fred's Career change dog. He is so beautiful and also HUGE!
And I should also mention, he is a good sport!
We are all getting ready to do the white elephant exchange. Only about half of the group is pictured here. Maybe Santa needs to bring me a wide angle lens for my camera. I think everyone had a good time.
We were suppose to get 1-3 inches of snow last night but so far we have gotten about 6-7 inches. I took the two puppies out one at a time to DYB this morning and here are a few cute pics.
Norahabelle with a face full of snow.
All Mulan wanted to do was eat the snow.
Norahebelle lost one of her big front teeth this morning and so was more willing to try to learn to play tug.
The puppies try and play tug - finally!
OMG!! They are both sitting still and chewing on toys. Lasted about 10 seconds.
"please let me out....I promise I will play nice!" Yeah right! I don't believe her for a minute. She really is a sweet puppy though.
"Are you serious? I am really going to have to wear this for the party?"
Check back later for photos from the GDB Christmas party that we are hosting today.
Norahabelle (4months) looks so innocent and cute until you add to the mix another young puppy
Enter Mulan who is just about 5 months old.
They didn't play together like other puppies we have sat for. They didn't like to tug and much preferred to just bite each other. So what is one to do with two puppies that are yipping and biting each other?
You can try and make them sit and be calm, but do you think that lasts long?
Not when one of the puppies feels the need to be dominant. So then what do you do?
You can try to tie them down and keep them far enough apart so they can't jump on each other. But believe it or not they are actually strong enough to move a sofa - thus the picture below.
So what to do next? You could make the tie downs shorter or ....
You could try giving them Ice cubes and hope they will eat the ice cube and forget to eat each other for a minute or two while you catch your breath.
But then what happens when you smell a tell tale puppy fart ......
Well, I thought it was Norahabelle so I grabbed her and we went outside. We had no success at a poo poo and came back inside to find that I had taken the wrong puppy! Mulan had just taken a huge poop and was steeping in it because she had wrapped her leash around the lamp. I tied norahabelle back up and then she ran around the table and knocked over the lab top while I was trying to get paper towels to clean up the poop. At this point Alex came out of the den, where he had been studying, to see what all the commotion was about and stepped right into the poop with his bare feet!!! When he yelled, Mulan jumped and knocked over the lamp on to Alex. All I could do was sit down on the floor and laugh! The amount of total chaos and the site of my husband jumping around with poop sticking out from between his toes was just too much for me. Sorry no pictures, I was laughing too hard!
Puppies after the commotion!
Finally about ten o'clock after making the tie downs significantly shorter and correcting a lot of whining, Norahabelle feel asleep and Mulan was happily chewing on a toy, and I am exhausted!
I posted several other posts today, so keep reading below.
We are watching Norahabelle this weekend and she is 4 months old and super cute. She has done great on outings so far and She and Bree seem to get along really well. She is really calm and loves the toys we have. She seems so small compared to Anthony. Mulan is Joining us tonight and then we will have two 4 month old puppies until the party tomorrow. Wish us luck!
What a cutie
She is teething and loves to chew.
"you talking to me?"
"Mmmmm, lick lick lick, this bone is yummy!"
"Do you think Anthony will be mad at me for using his bed and chewing on his toys?"
We have a lot of Canadian Geese in Fort Collins but we seem to have a ton during the winter! They love the ponds behind our house. They all try to fit into the small unfrozen patches in the ponds. I think they are fun, but the only problem is that they make a LOT of poop that the puppies like to try and eat and several hundred of Geese make a lot of noise!
This is just a portion of the Geese flock on the soccer field across the ponds.
All of the black dots on the pond are Geese sitting on the ice.
The Geese move around like a giant squawking mass of pooping feathers.
Anthony has grown so much that he can now look out the living room windows. He loves to sit and watch the other dogs in the park and the birds in the back yard. The kitty also likes to sit in the window so they often argue over whose turn it is to sit in the window. Bree usually wins.
So with the Guide Dog party coming up this weekend, I finally started decorating our house for the holidays. And of course our energetic puppy Anthony wanted to help me bring stuff up from the basement. One of Anthony's favorite toys is the GoNought Stick and he loves to carry it around the house with him when he is trying to "help" me with things. The funny thing about the toy is how he carries it, see below for pics.
I didn't think puppies were allowed to smoke cigars
"Aggggrrrrhhhh"
I don't get it, he walks around with it like this. I keep worrying that he is going to fall on it and choke.
He has almost half of it in his mouth. Anthony, it really isn't a bottle, silly.
I am wondering if any one has seen my cute sweet Guide Dog puppy Anthony? I gave him to the co-raisers about two weeks ago and when I picked him up from the puppy sitters after a week vacation I could hardly recognize him! Not only has he grown like crazy but he has become SUPER energetic and even more stubborn than usual. I have never seen him so playful and spunky in his short little life. Could it be his hormones kicking in?
For the past two days when I took him on his walks he has about dislocated my shoulder taking off after people and other dogs. I have tried and tried to correct him but he is so big and strong and he will just not calm down for me. So after a very tiresome two days full of LOTS of corrections, I went and bought a gentle leader. I know I can get one free from our GDB leaders but I just couldn't wait a week till I see them.
We went on a big outing with Eve (another guide dog puppy) today and Anthony wore his gentle leader for the first time. Lets just say that things were different! Anthony didn't like it at all at first and really fought it but after he figured out that if he stopped lunging and pulling then it wouldn't be tight on his nose, then my sweet angle reappeared and walked slowly and perfectly at my side! Now if only he would stay around without the gentle leader on.
The funny part was that whenever I stopped to look at something while we were shopping he would flop down on the ground and roll around trying to get it off. I would make him get up and then he would rub all over me trying to get it off. Poor little guy, growing up is tough!
Alex and I are hosting several different Holiday parties in the next few weeks. The first one is this coming Sunday and is the Guide Dog for The Blind Fort Collins Party. It is one of my favorite GDB events of the year. We all get together, eat good food, play with the puppies,exchange gifts, and sometimes dress up the puppies in silly holiday hats. When I was at Petsmart the other day I bought a bunch of holiday hats for the party and I tried them on Anthony and Bree tonight - I would say they got "mixed" reviews at best.
"I refuse to submit.... I will not look at you, I will not look at you, I will not look at you:".
Reindeer Kitty - "I mean REALLY, do I look like I could pull a sleigh to you?"
Santa Kitty - "You leave for vacation for a week, I stay home and take good care of the house and this is the payback I get. I mean really, next time you go on vacation I'm tearing up the couch!"
"ppptttthhhhhhh!!!! Humans suck!"
"look ma - when I move I make all sorts of jingle noise!"
"Boy that was a long shift at the toy factory today, that Santa, he sure is a slave driver. I need a nap."
"I mean seriously, no respect!"
"I am being patient because I love you but having blinking antlers on my head is just not good for my manly image!"
"fine then ...I am just going to go to sleep and pretend like this isn't happening"
"Somebody help me! How many of these silly hats does she have? This is so humiliating!"
"Could you explain to me again exactly why you think this is cute?"
After I was done torturing the poor animals I asked Alex to take a quick pic with me and Anthony for perspective so y'all could tell how much he has grown lately. He is really filling out and is becoming a "teenager", he will be 7 months this coming week.
He may not be growing a ton taller but he is for sure growing wider and bulkier!
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