Holly’s Happenings

And before you ask, NO, we didn’t not get any more dogs….LMAO! And we didn’t purposely get new additions either, but they are just one of those things in life that you just have to accept, whether you want to or not!

OK, I’ve drug you along long enough. Here are our newest additions. Please bear with the picture as it was taken after dark in a YUCKY shed with no lighting.

The most amazing thing is that momma kitty is 100% wild, she’s never once in the 11 months that we’ve lived here allowed us to get close to her. Even since discovering the kittens last week, every time we’d go into the shed to give her food, she’d run out as soon as we opened the door. Tonight, however, she laid right there, nursing the kittens and let us not only feed her, but also stayed still and allowed me to take two pictures. I’m guessing she’s warming up to us and becoming a little more comfortable around us.

I’m not a cat person, I admit that. I used to be, a very long time ago. But after losing that cat, I just have never been able to find one that I had the same “connection” with. Living out here in the country, stray cats are a way of life, but we’ve never made a point of feeding them purposely. More so because I’m honestly afraid that if they were too comfortable, one of the dogs would get ahold of them. And as much as I wanted to get momma and the kittens out of here as soon as I found out about them, I had to be realistic because I knew that moving the kittens, whose eyes aren’t even open, would have meant sure death for them. So we made the “executive decision” that we were going to feed momma and give the kittens as much of a fair chance at life as we could.

So yes, we do have some new additions to our family. For how long, I’m honestly not sure. They are just a couple of weeks old, their eyes still are not open and they aren’t walking around yet, which means they are totally dependent on their momma for life. Without her, unless we manage to catch that she’s gone very quickly, they won’t have much of a chance of survival. And it’s not like we can go out and purchase a group health insurance policy on them in the case that something does happen to her. If something did happen before they were capable of taking care of themselves and eating solid food, they kittens would then be completely dependent on the hubby and I. But I can’t worry about that right now and just have to hope for the best!

I’ll post and update with pictures about them as I can! They are definitely cute, and yes, they already are tugging at my heart strings and I’m talking about what we’re going to have to do to make the shed weather proof for winter so that they have somewhere safe and warm to be…LOL! Oh yeah, I never did tell you how many there were, did I? There are six of them, with 3 being gray tigers, 2 being black tigers and one that looks as if it might actually be a calico, but I haven’t been able to get close enough yet to tell for sure.

I no more than posted that post and they came on the show going into a house of a person that they believed was an animal hoarder. Now, I love my dogs, but 4 is almost too many sometimes. This lady had a total of 80 dogs and about 30 cats. Her home was so over taken by animals that she was using several air purifiers to try and control the smell and she had also reverted to sleeping on a small cot because of the amount of room that the animals took up. Now I admit that I’m an animal lover, but there is no way I would have so many dogs that they completely took over my house and my ability to breathe fresh air or sleep in a comfortable bed!

Growing up, I lived on a VERY large farm that was filled with livestock, fields and TONS of chores. But I love the way I grew up and don’t think I’d have fit in growing up in the city. But on a farm, animals really aren’t your “pets”, they all were there for a purpose and reason, none of which was supposed to be “fun”. That doesn’t mean that I didn’t name my favorite pig or steer, nor does it mean that I didn’t treat some of the animals like they were pets, I just didn’t let my dad know…LOL.

When I first started dating my husband he had a dog, whose name was Bosworth, but we called him Boz for short. Boz was a sweetheart of a dog and my first experience of actually having a dog as a pet. From the get go, I LOVED Boz, he was just so sweet and wanted to be wherever the hubby and I were, which wasn’t always easy considering that he weighed about 120 pounds…LOL! Boz was a part of our family until the summer after our son turned one. That summer we were all out in the yard playing and our son walked up to Boz to pet him and as he got beside him, Boz nipped at Keith. It wasn’t hard enough to break the skin or draw blood, but it was hard enough that it left a mark that turned to a bruise, and it was totally unprovoked, our son hadn’t even touched Boz.

I didn’t have to say anything to my husband, we had talked about what would happen if it ever looked like Boz would bite someone, especially the kids. We had already made arrangements with a friend of ours who lived on a farm that he would take Boz if this day ever came, so my husband called him up to make sure he was home, which he was, and the kids and I said our goodbyes to Boz as my husband loaded him into his truck.

It took a few years before we were ready to think about getting another dog, Boz had been with my husband for over 5 years when we had to get rid of him and I didn’t want to push the issue, but I did know that we would eventually have another dog. That day came unexpectedly when my husband had seen an ad posted that someone was giving away an adult terrier mix. Now my first thought when I heard terrier mix was a small to medium sized dog, so I was very shocked when we got to the house and this terrier mix weighed about 80 pounds. My husband and the kids were INSTANTLY in love with the dog that we would come to know as Dudley, but I sat in the background trying to motion “NO WAY” to my husband as he talked to Dudley’s current owners. I was outnumbered 3 to 1 and we left that day with Dudley in tow. He had a difficult time adjusting to living with us, he had been with the people we had gotten him from since he was a puppy, so they were the only home he had ever known. He would sit at the window in the front of the living room looking outside and he would start crying, almost as if he was crying for them to come and take him back. Eventually he did adjust and accept his new home and by that time he had completely won me over!

We lost Dudley almost 7 years later, but he was the dog that changed my heart about dogs! Since then we’ve had just one other dog until the four we have now. When we were living in the inner city I had the cutest chocolate Lab mix named Coco. Coco kept me from sinking into a deep depression and it broke my heart when we had to find a new home for her. But because of how dangerous our neighborhood had become, we had to get the kids out of the inner city and where we were moving to did not allow dogs and we had to move for our own safety! Coco is still with the family we found for her, I went back and visited her a few times at first, but it hurt so much because each time I went to see her I didn’t want to leave her, so I had to stop going to visit her.

And now we have the fearsome foursome….LOL! Never in my life did I think that I could love a pet the way I love these four! They are a constant source of unconditional love and keeping up with them provides enough exercise that I don’t have to worry about working out on fitness equipment….LOL! I love to hug them and give them kisses, but I love getting kisses back from them even more! When I’m down, just spending some time snuggling with one or more of them always makes me feel better. Yes, four dogs is a handful, but I honestly cannot picture what life would be around here without them around! And if you look at this picture, you’ll see why!

It hit me that I hadn’t posted any pictures of Sage lately, so I thought I’d better get some of the pictures uploaded from my camera and share a few with you. It was four weeks ago yesterday that we brought her home. It took the other dogs about a week to warm up to her, and about another week after that before they all felt comfortable around each other. She’s now definitely one of the “pack”! Wherever the other dogs go, Sage has to go…LOL! It’s cute to see her run around the yard trying to keep up with the other dogs!

Harley still has his moments where I think he’s looking at me thinking “was this really necessary”, but he does pretty good with her. Riley is her “protector”, he tries to keep the other dogs away from her if they’re playing a little too rough, and sometimes even us…LOL! We had her up on our bed the other night playing with her and she bit at my hand. I tapped her on the nose and said “NO NO SAGE”, to which Riley took his paw and pushed my hand away, like he was trying to tell me not to do that…LOL! But he’s an AWESOME big brother and pretty much lets her do whatever she wants to him. Willow, though, she now has a new shadow. I don’t care what room of the house they’re in or if they’re outside, wherever you see Willow, you’ll find Sage! The two of them are almost inseparable, to the point that they both eat out of the food dish together and go potty side by side…LOL!

Anyway, I’ll hush up now and get to the pictures. I’ll post one above the fold, be sure to click on the “more” link to see the rest. I have two of sage alone, two with the other dogs. I have to crack up when they’re all piled up on the “dog couch” sleeping, it’s just so cute! As always, click on the images for larger pictures!

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After the snow that we’ve gotten this winter and the arrival of spring this past week, I’m counting the days until we actually have decent weather for a change! Friday and Saturday we received another 6 inches of snow, putting our seasonal snow total near 60 inches of snow this winter. It’s not my idea of a great winter, but I know that living in the area that I live in, it’s to be expected. But with family and my husbands job, moving away from this area at this point in time simply isn’t an option, so I try not to complain too much about it.

But with the calendar saying that spring has arrived as well as my first Robin sighting of the year, I have no doubt we’ll be seeing better weather soon! And warm weather brings the rush of people trying to shed those excess pounds they put on over the winter. I went to the store the other day to pick up a few things for the house and I seen display after display filled with exercise books and equipment as well as weight loss products like Hydroxycut. Since weight loss products really aren’t an option for me I’m going to work harder at eating better and exercising more. I can’t wait to put Sage in the van and take her for her first trip to the park. We can head out and walk some of the trails and I can let her roam in the open areas. She has a fun sense of adventure and I think that she’ll have fun at the park!

Before I get busy this morning I thought I’d share some of the pictures we’ve taken of Sage over the past couple of days! There are quite a few, so I’ll post the first one, then put the rest after the “fold”, so be sure to click the “read more” link to see the rest of the pictures!

Things are definitely going better with her! Hubby came up with a heck of an idea last night to help her sleep! We are putting her in a pet carrier at night because she’s just too little to be out and about and there are just too many worst case scenarios that could happen if we didn’t. The first night wasn’t the best of nights with her. Every couple of hours she would bark and cry until I came out and sat near her. I never took her out of the carrier because, just like with babies, I wanted her to learn to soothe herself back to sleep, so I just sat near her so she would know I was there. My hubby had the idea last night of bringing her carrier in and putting it on his night stand next to the bed. That way she could see that we were right there, and it worked BEAUTIFULLY! She slept through the night except for one minor wake up! YAY!!! She’s really getting comfortable with her surroundings and the other dogs are calming down about her as well, so I figure things will be settled in and good by the weekend, at the latest!

OK, on to the pictures! This first one is my absolute FAVORITE of all the ones that have been taken, thus the reason it’s above the fold…LOL!

I just thought I would take a moment and introduce you to the latest member of our family. Yes ladies and gentelmen,we added on to our ever growing brood and I didn’t have to be pregnant OR go through labor…LOL!

She doesn’t have a middle name yet, but Sage definitely fits her! She’s just a doll! She’s a pure bred boxer and she’s about 7 weeks old. On all fours I don’t think she’s quite 6 inches tall. The pictures aren’t the best looking, they were taken with the camera on my cell phone, but until I can get some good ones of her here at home, these will have to do!

She just crawled up into her little puppy bed thing that we got her last night and fell asleep under the sweatshirt that I had wrapped her in to bring her home..LOL! The other dogs aren’t sure what to think of her yet, but they also didn’t try to bite or attack her either, so I’m sure that’s a good sign!

And honestly, I think we lost it a VERY long time ago! As you may know, we currently have three dogs. Our “first born” his Harley, a boxer/shepard mix who is almost 3 years old. Our “middle child” is Riley, a pure bred lab who just turned 2 in December and our “baby” is Willow, a Heinz 57, who just turned 1 this month. The three of them are most definitely a handful, but also a never ending source of joy in our lives! Yes, they do your typical dog things and get into trouble (i.e. chewing a hole in the cushion of the couch), but for the most part they are all very well behaved dogs and I can’t picture life without them!

Enter the hubby and a phone call about 30 minutes ago. He first asked how my day was going and if it was going better than yesterday, to which I said “Yes, now what do you want”…LOL! He then asked me if I remembered when I said something a little while back about wanting another puppy, to which I quickly said, “I never said that and you can’t prove it”, then said yes, why? Well, you see, there is the guy that he works with. And this guy just happens to have a female dog. And that female dog just happened to have a few puppies 6 weeks ago. And those puppies just happen to be pure bred boxer puppies without the papers. And he’s having a difficult time finding homes for them because of them not having papers. And would we be interested in assisting this guy by giving one of the puppies a home…LOL!

Can someone just speed up the process and call the guys with the funny white coats for me?

As I talked about in this post, we have three dogs. Most of the time the dogs don’t even bother me, they’re pretty well behaved and completely house broken. As long as they have food, water, their toys and a comfy place to lay down they’re happy! Every once in a while we’ll have problems with them because they’ve chewed up something that was NOT meant to be a chew toy. Like last week. For some reason the baby of the pack seen my daughters digital camera on her desk and decided it would be a good thing to chew on and totally ruined the camera! It’s times like these that “almost” make me reconsider our decision to take on the third dog.

If my daughter had things her way, we’d not only have the three dogs, but we’d also have kitties as well! When she was a toddler we had a cat that we rescued from the local animal shelter. He was a big, fat black cat whose name was Homie. Homie ROCKED as far as cats go! He was lovable, he would sit on your lap and let you play with him and pet him, and he never once had an accident outside of the litter box. But we discovered that my daughter was severely allergic to cats and had to find a new home for Homie. We were all bummed about this, but we know that the family we gave him to gave him a wonderful home, so that did make things a little easier.

Over the years, however, my daughters allergy to cats has vanished and we have had many arguments with her over the fact that she has decided since she is no longer allergic to cats that she just HAS to have one for a pet. She has even gone to the extent of showing me all of the cute cat products that are now available and how fun it would be to “have a cute little kitty around the house”. Yes, I will admit, it is tempting because I do love cats! But I don’t like cleaning litter boxes and I do worry that the dogs will view the pretty little kitten as a morning snack…LOL.

So for now, I’ll let her keep bugging me with all the cute little cat toys, collars, clothes and accessories she finds online and in the stores. Three dogs are more than enough for this family and even though kitties are cute and cuddly, we just don’t need another pet right now! Maybe I can hold her off long enough until she’s out and on her own, then the choice of having a cat will be completely up to her!

I love my dogs dearly, honestly I do! They provide a source of entertainment almost regularly, they give love and affection unconditionally and they’re just down right adorable! But between the cost of replacing the things that they’ve chewed up and the cost of their pet supplies, they’re going to put me in the poor house…LOL! The supplies part I can deal with, but I swear if they chew up any more of my shoes, I might not be the most pleasant person in the world!

Our poor Riley, this guy has been so sick today!  The only thing we can figure is that he got into something that he shouldn’t have.  He’s thrown up a total of 4 times today, the first time was the GROSSEST thing I’ve ever seen in my life.  We finally gave him a small amount of rice and he’s sleeping really peacefully right now.  And yes, I know he’s sleeping I keep checking his breathing…LOL!  So please keep Riley in your thoughts!  I’ll post how he did over night in the morning!

Football this weekend has had it’s good points and it’s bad points.  I’m happy that the Packers and the Patriots won!  I’m TOTALLY bummed that the Colts lost, but they also played one of the worst games I’ve ever seen them play!  Right now I’m watching Dallas and the Giants ans as of right now, at the end of the 3rd quarter, the game is 17-14 with Dallas leading.  This is definitely going to be a close game!

My first few classes at school went well.  I only have one class left that I haven’t had yet and that is my Tuesday night English comp class that is at my son’s High School.  It could have shot myself the other night when I realized that I scheduled a class for the same night of the week that my ALL TIME favorite TV show is on!  Yes, I’m talking about American Idol…LOL!  We have watched American Idol as a family for the past few seasons, it’s been the one thing that the four of us will drop what we’re doing and sit down and watch together.  I’d definitely have to say that we’re American Idol addicts…LOL!  BUT, at least I’ll be home on Wednesday nights to see who gets sent packing!  And I can always watch the performances online too!

MEET OUR FUR BABIES!

I know that I’ve talked about my dogs here more than once, but I’m fairly sure I’ve never posted and pictures of them, other than the puppy one of Willow that I used to sweet talk my hubby into saying we could have her…LOL!  I spent my entire childhood with at least one dog around, but they were farm dogs, they had a job and we really weren’t allowed to play with them and/or befriend them.  So I never really was a dog person.  That was, until I met my husband, and all of that changed.  From the day we moved in together, I knew how important of a part dogs played in his life.  At that time he had a Bull Mastiff named Bosworth, a.k.a. Boz.  Boz immediately moved in with us and we set up home as a family of 3, the hubby (then boyfriend), myself and Mr. Boz.
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OK, I love my puppies, I honestly do, but what I don’t love is how they chew things up! I have all kinds of bones and toys for them to chew on when they get the urge to chew, but for some reason the just don’t understand that my husbands work shoes aren’t chew toys.

As you just read, we spent a good part of today car shopping. We didn’t think we would be gone very long so we didn’t put Willow in her cage. Willow, at 7 months old, is the youngest of our three dogs. She’s a good dog, but we know that if we’re going to be out of the house more than a hour it is in our best interest to put her in her cage. When we got home from the car dealership we found my husbands work boots lying in the middle of the living room with the insides completely torn out of them and chewed up. To say the least, he wasn’t a happy camper! Those boots were only a few months old and no where near needing to be replaced.

Thankfully MetBoots.com offers many brands of high quality workboots at really decent prices! On top of that they offer free shipping on all orders over $100. And since they offer many types of shipping, including next day, when he orders his new boots at least they will arrive quickly! Thank goodness for that because he has to go out of town and work the end of next week!

Although, calling them puppies is a huge overstatement….LOL! We have 3 dogs. First there is Harley; he is a 2 yr old boxer mix. He was our first dog after we moved in here and has been the love of my life, after the hubby of course Then there is Riley; he is a chocolate lab that last a chromosome or something and actually looks like a very light yellow lab, he’s our ADHD dog. Then there is Willow; she is the baby of the pack. She is a black mixed breed that I got from my sister at 6 weeks old after my sister decided she wasn’t “puppy material”, Willow is interesting, to say the least. But I love my dogs and I can’t imagine not being able to spoil them with new toys, special treats and Premium dog food. I hope to have them all around for many years to come!