BENS BROTHER HARLAN

THIS IS A PHOTO OF BEN'S BROTHER HARLAN WHEN HE 
WAS 12 WEEKS OLD. WE JUST LEARNED THAT ON JULY 8TH,
(6 DAYS SHORT OF HIS SECOND BIRTHDAY) HARLANS LIFE WAS ENDED WHEN HE WAS HIT BY A MOTOR CYCLE. THIS IS TRULY HEARTBREAKING....... OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH HARLANS PEOPLE. 

TWO YEARS OLD (A PUPPY CARD)

Today Ben is a BIG boy. He turns 2 years old. He would like to send out Birthday wishes to his 3 brothers and 2 sisters.

Hi family,
I am hoping that this birthday wish finds each of you to be happy and loved, I have heard from Debbie and Kim( they are my peeps) that you all have changed your names too. Remember, I used to be called Phillipe, and I knew you all as , BJ, Gaston, Chip, Babette, and Fifi, so since I am not sure what your new names are I will use the ones that I knew you by. OK. 
So you remember how much fun we used to have crawling around in that huge 'O pool when we were just puppies, Well guess what, I have another one, It is not as big but it always has water in it and I really really REALLY love to play in the water. Sometimes Kim will let me just play and play when he is using the water hose in the yard. It is so funny because when he is all done doing what he was trying to do ,he is so wet, I am too  and I had so much fun spraying him and shaking water on him. 
Hey Chip, remember when you always picked on me when we were like, two or three weeks old. Fun times Huh. Gaston,do you still like to be held ALL the time?

I was looking at some puppy pics today and you know what, I think that me and BJ looked so much alike and I bet we still do. Fifi and Babette are you two still real pretty. I bet you look like Mom. I saw some pictures of a whole new family that Mom had and her puppies were so cute. Debbie says that I look just like Mom. I love you Mom, I know you will be thinking about all of us today and please know that I have a very happy and healthy life. So, I  will be going , I bet I will get something really great for my 2nd Birthday. Hope you all do too.

Happy Birthday Family. Miss you all

BEN

EL NATURAL

 BEAUTIES IN MY BACKYARD!

A WALK IN THE PARK

  Ben's favorite thing to do on a Sunny Afternoon is go for a walk to the Park. Today he got to chase a frog, of all things, into the brush. He also chased a baby snake in our own backyard. Yikes! I hate snakes. I think this was probably the first one Ben has seen and I am really hoping he doesn't decide to " fetch" me one. But it was a very nice walk in the Park.

TAKE THE TIME

 I was taking a few photos of Spring things in the backyard when I noticed Ben taking the time to enjoy some flowers. Actually there was a little bumble bee buzzing around and I think he may have been spying on it.

Ben is so funny about thingz. He will  N O T  let you hold his toys when you are playing fetch with him. He has to chase them , bring them to you , chew on them , tug with you while placing them in your lap. He wont let go . You have to wrestle them from him in order to continue playing fetch.

When You finally get it away from him and toss it ,it starts all over again. Or it may not. You may throw it and this time YOU have to go get it.  This is Fun. This is the best ever. Life should be so simple. Get a toy, chase a toy, bite a toy, tug a toy. I really need to take the time to try this.

BARKING FOR FUN ?

This is what I spent my entire day off doing. Barking. Me and Ben. While barking is nothing new for Ben. It sure made my back sore. Got caught in a terrible down pour before it was over and honestly I didn't really mind. I was so hot from laoding and pushing wheel barrow after wheel barrow that the rain was kinda of refreshing. Wish I could plant some Palm trees . I really like palms. This is a before and after shot of some of the area I worked on. Glad it is done.

IT ALL COMES OUT IN THE WASH, RIGHT?

My dryer quit working. So This weekend we spent all Saturday looking for a new dryer. We went to alot of stores, two of them four times each. You have to compare quality, brands. features,and of course price. The last time we had to buy a washer and dryer it was easier. Now you nearly have to get a loan to pay for a set. Most are ranging in price from 1200.00 to 4000.00. You have to choose front load verses top load and do you want pedestals or would you rather squat. Some washers and dryers also have steam! Steam. My clothes have really been mistreated. They may go into shock. Dryers shut them selves off when clothes are dry, that's pretty smart. They each have at least 50 different settings ( I will probably use two of them, once I figure out where the start button is)Wow. It is so over whelming. So by the end of Saturday we were pretty sure we had made a chose. But then ,we get up Sunday Morning and confusion of which set we would get started all over again. So we went back to three of the stores we started with and tried again to pick a set. We were armed this time with information from consumer reports and instead of making it simpler, It felt like it was harder. But finally, we did choose,we are getting an LG set, front load, with only a few features that seemed reasonable that we would ever use. COLORS, did I mention colors. You can get a rainbow of colors. So we did the only thing we could, we chose a beautiful white. No pedestal. We are going to make a platform to stand them on.Oh yeah, You also have to be sure to use a special HE detergent in these computerized clothes cleaning gadgets. Welcome to 2010. I am excited to get these but a little nervous I may not be able to operate them. : !

HOW  DOGS CELEBRATE LIFE

1. RISE AT 5:30 AM.  WET NOSE THE MASTER

2. GO OUT AND PEE ON THE WORLD

3. MAKE POOPY

4. SNIFF POOPY

5. SERIOUSLY THINK ABOUT
 EATING POOPY

 6. EAT FUNNY LOOKING BUG INSTEAD

7. THROW UP BUG PARTS ON LIVING ROOM FLOOR

                                                   

8. DRINK OUT OF MAGIC WELL

                                                   

 9. SLEEP FOR 17 HOURS, START ALL OVER AGAIN.

C L E A R

So, At work Friday I learned how to save a life. YIKES! Right, who in the world would possibly want me to be working on their heart. We were taught how to use a defibrillator. It turns out it is a lot easier to use than it is to say it or spell it. The trick, while crazily uncomplicated is to first , make sure the person you are about to use it on, really really really needs it.

We learned that just because a person appears to be unconscious, they may simply be taking it easy, or sleeping or tanning. So you must first shake them and tap them on their shoulders to see if they will arouse. If not, (NO it's not time to shock em just yet), You must listen and feel for their breath for at least 5 seconds or maybe even 10 seconds.

Then, you can give them one of your breaths. And if you happen to have a mouth guard on you or filter paper to protect you from their germs, well that's even better. Then, ( Still, NO, it is not time to zing-a-ling ), but it is time to begin compressions. Yep, thirty hard pushes on the old ticker and two quick breaths. Then thirty compressions, two breaths, thirty compressions, two breaths, thirty compressions, two breathes, and finally thirty compressions and two breaths. Five sets.

Now, if while you were doing all of these heart thumping rhythms you were wondering maybe just how fast you should be pumping blood thru your victims body, don't worry, Simply hum "Staying Alive " and keep that beat going. It has the perfect "beat" to get their juices flowing. An adult actually has enough air and blood coursing through their body from time of collapse to survive for 4 minutes. So while you are aerobic-sizing, if someone is near by, take a second to send them to call 911 and get the defibrillator (A E D).

Then continue compressions. I know , I know, its really hard, you just cannot believe how much this takes out of you. But there is so much adrenaline in you, you will hardly notice that your legs and back are numb and your chest aches like mad.

Once they arrive with the weapon of choice, you quickly open the case, get out all the parts, Turn the thing on (big green button) stick the pads to their body where indicated by cartoon drawings, and listen for further instructions. The Defib will actually monitor their system and tell you if it is detecting any heart rhythms and whether or not you get to shock them.

Sooo, if there is nothing going on in there, the defib tells you to "STAY CLEAR" while it is charging up and "STAY CLEAR", final warning!!(and long after panic is no longer the option and you are absolutely exhausted from compression after compression and the defib is charged and waiting), you finally get to Hit the BIG RED BUTTON and "ROCK THEIR WORLD".

Thank God if it works and hope you never ever have to do that again. This training is so great anyone and everyone should have it. You can save a life.

ROAD TRIP

This is a photo of Mt Shasta that I took from Kim's truck driving past it last weekend. We were heading for Chico Ca for the Mini Gold Cup. That's a sprint car race. Unfortunately it rained both Thursday and Friday and because of the infield being so wet, they cancelled the races. So we hung out in the casino in Corning Ca for the weekend before heading home. We had fun. The weather actually was nice even though the Silver Dollar Speedway didn't think so. This is one of the prettiest spots in California. Lake Shasta and Mt Shasta in my opinion are awesome.

FINAL STROKE

Today is my day off from work and finally I have found the "final Stroke". I have been painting the walls of our house for several weeks. I painted our bedroom, hallway, and living room. This includes nine doors (both sides), door jams and yards of base boards. I of course had plenty of assistance from Ben. He can be such a big help. There were times when he had more paint on him than I did. I was calling him "Carmel Dog" for a while because his coat was starting to match the walls. Luckily, the paint wipes off really easy from his fur. I love a new coat of paint. It feels so clean and shiny. I don't love the clean up. But all of that is now done and me and Ben are going to go to some serious zoning in front of the TV. And we won't forget the snacks either. Come on Ben, lets go.

PERFECT DAY

This weekend the weather was sooo perfect. The sun was out and the sky was blue. It was a good day to take Ben back to the coast. He gets to socialize alot and run off leash on the beach not to mention have lunch at McDonalds or as we call it McDogalls. Here are some photos of our day.

Just Hi!

Haven't been here for a little while and wanted to say HI. Ben is doing great. He had an appointment for a rabies shot and nail clipping today but I had to cancel because my truck is in the shop. I rescheduled Ben's appt and worked on my taxes, shampooed my carpets and caught up on some reading. I have to hitch rides to and from work until I get our Pick up back. We think it is the rear end. Saturday we hopped in it to go to town and it wouldn't move. One of the rear wheels was frozen. We had Toyota tow it to their shop Monday and as of 4:00pm today they had not even looked at it. COME ON!! I am stranded here without my truck. Kim took me to work in his semi truck all weekend. That was pretty cool, but now that he is away at work I am finding it very tough to have no car.Thank goodness for friends. Good Friends. Two of my co workers live around the corner from me so I rode home form work with them yesterday. Tomorrow Suzanne will pick me up and bring me home. Too bad I am not within walking distance. I would walk. But it is about 10 miles one way.
One good thing is that it is still under warranty. I hope anyway. So hope everyone is doing good out there. Be safe.

EASY STREET

AHHHH!!!!! THE COMFORTS OF HOME. I wanted to catch up on the rapidly growing Ben in his adopted chair. I asked him to "Hop Up" in his chair so I could take an on going photo, and as soon as his big butt hit the chair he decided to nap. So here is Ben ( extremely relaxed) at One Year and six months old. He is so fabulous. We have a small situation. He hates to have his nails clipped so I am trying to convince him how much fun it is and so far I have talked him in to letting me clip five nails. I figure if I can clip one a day in about two weeks I should have them all clipped. Right? Four nails x Four paws = sixteen days - five already done + a couple days that he will absolutely NOT let me touch his toes........... well, you do the math. But sooner or later we should have them all clipped. For now sleeping beauty must get his rest. Soon we should be able to start taking walks again. My foot is almost back to normal after breaking it in July and twisting my ankle a few weeks ago on the ice, we are both ready to get out there and cruise the neighbor hood. FUN FUN FUN.

THINGS I WANT TO LEARN FROM MY DOG

1.Never pass up the opportunity to go for a ride.

2. Allow the experience of the fresh air and the wind in your face to be pure ecstasy.

3.When loved ones come home, always run to greet them.

4. When it's in your best interest, always practice obedience.

5. Let others know when they've invaded your territory.

6. Take naps and always stretch before rising.

7. Run, romp, and play daily.

8. Eat with gusto and enthusiasm.

9. Be loyal.

10. Never pretend to be something you're not.

11. If what you want lies buried, dig until you find it.

12. When someone is having a bad day, be silent, sit close by and nuzzle gently.

13. Delight in the simple joy of a long walk.

14. Thrive on attenetion and let people touch you.

15. Avoid biting when a simple growl will do.

16. On hot days, drink lots of water and lie under a shady tree.

17. When you are happy, dance around and wag your entire body.

18. No matter how often you are criticized, never buy into the guilt thing and pout. Run right back and make friends.

>--joy nordquist ( chicken soup for the soul-Lovin'our dogs)

2010 MY WAY

New Year. New goals. New outlook.

I have a small confession to make. This year I would like to change a few things in my world. I want to make a difference. I have to be better at living. Loving my life. I don't want to waste a second. I have decided to enjoy every thing. Even the bad times. Not that I am expecting bad times, but hey, bad happens. So, when it does I really want to have a new attitude.

HOPE:

I am hoping that 2010 will be a happy year, healthy year, successful year, and a new favorite year.

LOVE

I love my Husband, Family and Friends. And of course my Dog, Ben. And I need to make sure they all know it.



FUN:

There needs to be oodles and oodles of fun in my life this year.



SMILING:

I will smile more. Smiles are simple to give and can change the recipient's attitude instantly. They are free to give away and always guarantee a return.



GR ATTITUDE:

I have many many things to be grateful for. And for each thing in my life, I am. I want 2010 to be the year I never take anything, not one thing for granted.



MONEY:

.......................... I got nothin'.



FAITH:

Renew my faith and trust in everything that is good. Give to those that need help. Lend a hand whenever I can. Be a friend to someone who really needs it and treat everyone with respect. Live strongly and faithfully by the golden rule.

TO EVERYONE:
Happy New Year. Please enjoy your life's moments, be happy and be safe. :)

IT'S ALL ABOUT BEN

This Morning it is way way way too COLD to go for a walk. So Me and Ben decided to stay in and play with his favorite new toy. The Hedgehog. He honks it constantly and loudly. He will shove it in your face until you struggle it away from him and toss it so he can chase it, bring it back to you, and shove it in your face, again and again and again. Of course while he is wildly honking it. So after a satisfying play time Ben decided it was time to warm up by the fire. This is one of his best places to sit. That way he will be right in front of the TV and you will be looking at him, which he demands that you do most of the time.

We recently got Ben his own doggy door. Kim was some what hesitant about getting him one because he did not want to cut a hole in the side of our house. We have only one exit out the back of our house and it is our sliding glass door. Ben really needed a way to get out on his own and a doggy door seemed like the only solution, so we hunted around and found one that you actually install beside your patio door. it has been working out really well and Ben loves it. We Love it too because now Ben stays in the house when we are gone and he can let himself out or in any time. Happy Dog, Happy people.