Tag Archives: luna

Snowpocalypse 2012

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly the worst snow storm in the planet and barely created a fuss for most of Michigan but you’d think that the way the news channels were panicking that it was going to be some sort of major to do – you know, like it was the end of the world or something.  Other than a few short hours where five sissy bulls absolutely refused to set foot outside because they might get flurries up their derriere it amounted to nothing more than eight inches of cold, non-snowman making snow pile up that gave the dogs an opportunity to romp like madmen (and women!) around their Nana and Papa’s yard (since that’s where we were for the first part of this week).

Imagine that, romping around 2.5 acres like little snow piranhas while beating one another up with frozen Kong Wubbas and Jolly Balls.  It was all rather amusing but I seriously froze my fingers off (because I couldn’t find my gloves and said “oh, well!” like an idiot!) watching them be little nimrods and merrily photographed the whole thing.  This, of course, amounted to waaaaaaay to many photographs to sort through and process but it was worth it.

Now that they’re all edited and ready to go, I’ll post them here for your enjoyment.  Did you survive the Snowpocalypse of 2012 or are you an abominable snow zombie like I felt after a few hours in the sub zero temperatures? (You can view the whole album here.)

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Luna gets a good roll in the snow.

 

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Lyric likes to sass me when she doesn’t get the toy NOW.

 

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Ryker and Lyric nag at their Poppa to THROW THE BALL!

 

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Mika mid-shake with her Wubba.

 

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The chase is on!

Virginia Livin’

“Are we there yet?”, says Luna and Mika.

We got in yesterday at around nine o’clock in the evening and checked into our hotel in Chesapeake, VA.  The dogs were relieved to finally be some place that didn’t require being loaded back up in the car for a few more hours on the road.  They were able to lounge and relax for the rest of the night while we went and visited family for dinner and catching up since it had been a few years since I had been down to visit and it was a first for my wonderful husband.  We didn’t get back to the hotel room until a little after midnight and let the dogs potty one more time before retiring for bed from a long and uneventful day of travel down here.

Today, the dogs got to chill in the hotel while we ran around with family to an sushi buffet and other errands that were planned.  We’re now back in the hotel and they’re all relaxing while I blog.  Tomorrow, we’re planning on going back over with the crew and taking a nice walk after the weather cools down a bit in the evening so that our pack can be introduced to Logan and do a little bit of training and prep work to see if Logan is ready to do his CGC test along with some other activities with my darling little sister.

We’ll be leaving here on Thursday morning and heading up to Washington D.C.  We’ll be staying there until Saturday before heading back home to Michigan.  We’d like to do the tourist thing while we’re in D.C. and hit some of the dog-friendly locations while up there and get some good photos of the pups while having a little bit of fun for the two of us.

It truly has been a wonderful vacation so far and makes me not want to return to the reality of our life, but sadly that will eventually have to happen.  It’s a shame that it’s so darn soon.

 

The Real Meaning of Roadwork

No, this entry isn’t really about walking and conditioning your dog.  It’s about our trip into the great unknown.  Our first vacation that doesn’t involve some dog event as the main course of action and I’m so freaking excited!

Tomorrow morning, bright and early, we are heading down to Virginia.  More specifically, we’re heading down toward Virginia Beach/Chesapeake/Portsmouth for four days before swinging up toward Washington D.C./Arlington.  It’s that time of the year that we get a week off of work and this year we intend to take advantage of it.  Getting to see friends and be ‘tourists’ for the first time in a long time is definitely a worthy reason to take a road trip.

We’ll be loading up the dog mobile with our gear and the gear of four of the five dogs.  We would be taking five, but unfortunately, Duo doesn’t travel well.  The stress of a long road trip does his system no good so he gets to stay behind and enjoy a week’s vacation as the only dog with Grandpa.  Luna, Lyric, Ryker and Mika, however, think that traveling is very awesome and they can’t wait to be going.

The one unfortunate thing is that BSL has limited our choice in areas to stay in up in the Washington D.C. area since a few of the less expensive hotels are in areas where there are restrictions.  We won’t put our dogs in that risk and so are avoiding those areas and spending a bit more money for a canine family-friendly vacation.  It sucks, but it is what it is when it comes to the response to owning an APBT because of the irresponsibility and management of others who have ruined it for the whole.

So, right now, it’s t-minus less than 24 hours before we hit the road.  So excited!

Life. Love. Happiness.

There have been a lot of changes in my life in the last two weeks and it has caused my blog to suffer a bit of neglect while I settled into what has become my new life.  Everything that has happened in the last two weeks is a new path to follow to hopefully better my life.

On May 21st, I posted about Luna’s birthday.  Well, that’s not the end of the story.  That day, my then fiancé and I shared our wedding vows together at the local court house surrounded by friends, family and Luna.  She truly was the reason we struggled to make it because neither of us could imagine life without her or one another.  It was a truly beautiful moment and one that was nine years in the making.  The love of two people and one little pit bull is a beautiful thing.

We opted to do our reception at a later date (July 2012, tentatively) and instead did a simple dinner after the ceremony to commemorate that particular moment in time.  We enjoyed a quiet meeting of the families at the Outback Steakhouse that was literally right next door.  My dad walked the hoard of nieces and nephews over since they were entirely too full of themselves to load up in the car for a short jaunt because they were having entirely too much fun running amok on the lawn of the court house.

The next big thing to happen is the place where my husband and I work was sold to a different company.  We are there through the duration of the transition (120 days) and possibly up to a total of a year through a subsidiary company that will take over our paycheck payments.  It’s a whole different ball game from what we are used to but it’s going to enable both of us to work a crap load of overtime and bank every available penny possible as we hunt for our dream property to start our family with ten and eleven hour shifts and up to six days a week.  It’s brutal on me – my knees and hips ache regularly after a day there – but its income until I can get my boarding/training facility dream a reality.  It’s a scary prospect, but at the same time I can’t be too picky about the fact that I am employed when there are many that aren’t.

Other than that, nothing else has been tremendously life altering.  We had our ADBA Fun Show on June 2nd and it went off without a hitch.  It seemed like everyone had a good time.

My wonderful boy, Ryker, took Best of Show under judge Mike Norrod and took Best Brindle under judge Dave Wolf – both gentlemen have quite a few years in the breed – and it was an honor to place under them.

Lyric took first in the female treadmill class and Best Overall by beating out the male winner.  She topped out at almost 14MPH in the 2 minutes she hauled fanny on the slat mill.  I’m so proud of my little Tinker Toy.  She’s really starting to come into her own and I would have never imagined the brain transplant she seemed to get after her emergency spay.

But, other than that, nothing much has really been going on.  Training has been put on hold for a while because of other things and we’ve been living the life of a newly married couple.  <3

Nine Years & Counting

It’s hard to believe that nine years ago today, the most beautiful being to grace my life was born in the filth of an impoverished home that didn’t want her there.  The runt of the litter became the light of my life and has been my canine soul mate for the last many years.

She entered my life at the tender age of 4.5 weeks old.  She was riddled with what seemed to be every parasite known to man.  Her little wormy belly and sad pathetic eyes let me know that pulling her out of that situation was the best possible thing for both of us.  She grew like a weed (once we took care of those nutrient sucking parasites) into the phenomenal little girl I’ve loved and shared my life with.

Even at nine years old, Luna continues to go above and beyond what you’d expect for a dog her age.  She rules the roost in our house over four other dogs.  She continues her career as a sport dog by weight pulling, dock diving, obedience and dabbling in agility – even with an injury at two years having threatened to end her career before it began.

I would have never believed that the tiny puppy who rode on my lap for months would become the dog who held my heart in her little paw.  The dog who helped me live when I thought my world would end so many times.  She is my heart.  She is my soul.  She is the rock and the bond that has held my soon-to-be husband and I together.

We love you Luna.  Here is to many, many more years.

Getting Back to Nature

We went on a little nature walk at a local park.  Normally, we’d bring the whole pack but since we headed out shortly after attending an NWDA weight pull, we only had three of the five with us – Luna, Mika and Ryker.  We had an absolute blast and the dogs got to sniff and bounce and get out and about for a few hours with not a care in the world.


Luna watches a couple of squirrels play.


Ryker can’t decide if he’d rather pee or watch nearby birds flittering around.

Mika telling us what she thinks of pictures.

Ready to hit the trails. [Left to Right: Ryker, Luna & Mika]

Wordless Wednesday: Remembering Life

One year ago today marks the passing of one of my closest friends, Theresa Emerson.  She went in for surgery to have her back repaired after she fractured it.  She was, in my opinion, a high risk patient, but they sent her home after surgery to sleep off the rest of the anesthesia.  She called me that night and left me a message since I didn’t get to my phone before going to bed.  She never woke up.

Luna was her favorite of all of my dogs and this photo was taken shortly before I got the phone call telling me she had passed away.  She’s wearing the collar Terri got her for her birthday the previous year and the jacket she’d bought her because “Luna loves purple.”  Luna was her unofficial therapy dog on call and I never saw Terri happier than when Luna was snuggled up against her while we were scrap booking.

I miss you, Terri.  I wish you were here every single day.