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Weekend house guest

This is Zoe:

 

You've seen her before here. She was our house guest last weekend while her humans took a little trip to the place where all Georgians are required to visit at least once in the fall - the mountains.

Zoe was an awesome house guest because:

1. She's like, tiny. She fits in my lap. Unlike two other 100-pound creatures I know.

2. She comes with a wardrobe. Kind of like Barbie. (And thus the cheerleading uniform.)

3. She shares a name with my future BFF, Zooey Deschanel (okay, it's not spelled the same, but sounds the same).

4. She didn't judge us even though our house is a disaster due to certain unfinished projects. And if she did she was totally polite and didn't say anything.

In just over one month...

several little kids will come to my door (many of them probably dressed as Spiderman) demanding candy. 

This Halloween, the closest thing to children that we have to dress up are dogs, and if we were the type to dress up our dogs, they would most certainly go as Joe Dirt and Billy Ray Cyrus so that they could wear these:

Yes, that's a mullet. For dogs! And yes, it costs $40. But I almost {almost} think it's worth it. 

Like it? Get your very own from Trixie & Peanut here.

Finally!

Eleven days, 21 hours and 14 minutes later, I can finally view and edit the photos from my new camera.

Okay, so I made that number up, but I was seriously starting to wonder if I'd ever be able to see them. The whole problem viewing them with Photoshop CS3? Turns out, not so simple to solve unless you talk to the right person.

I hit a major road block in the upgrade install that required a call to Adobe (as in it wouldn't recognize that I had CS3 installed because it was Extended). First call = no help at all, then had to wait until the next day (today) to call back, as it was by that point after hours. 

Second call = much more competent and super nice person on the other end of the line who knew exactly what to do. BUT that meant I had to install the trial version and call back (after a 15-minute wait time to talk to someone that time).

Installed the trial version and third call = another 15 minutes of waiting and then SUCCESS! FINALLY!

So, all that to say, here are some of my first photos from my new camera. I'm in love!

Our friends' little one, Isobel:

And their pup, Zoe:

Our pups:

My mom (The first day I had the camera I had food poisoning, so lots of shots were taken from the couch - thank goodness my mom was in town then because Matthew was not at all sympathetic):

And this coneflower, taken by Matthew:

Just one of those days

Do you ever have one of those days where it seems like every other thing that happens is funny in an I-can't-believe-I-(or he)-just-did-that kind of way?

Today was that day for me. Let me just tell you about a few (and I mean only a few) of those things.

Example 1: 

My poor pup Sawyer has to take a trip to the vet tomorrow because of a swollen wound on his nose. I'm thinking he may have to have one of those cone head things because he just won't LEAVE IT ALONE. We think the wound came from Huck, who probably bit him while they were playing - they play really hard. 

So, when I called the vet today and asked for an appointment, I tried to explain what had probably happened. It went a little something like this: "I need to make an appointment for my dog Sawyer. He has a bite on his nose that I think he got when he and his brother were playing..."

Then I realized I'd said it. That thing that people say who think that their dogs are their children (And really, I'm not one of those people). But I referred to one dog as the other's brother. 

The person on the other end of the conversation humored me by not acting surprised when I referred to the dog sibling. Truthfully, they probably get that all the time. But I really don't want to be that person.

Example 2:

I can't believe I'm sharing this one, but it's made me laugh all afternoon (even while I'm writing this), so I guess I'll share. Oh, I can only imagine the Google searches that this post will end up in.

Matthew and I have started a new workout - The 30-Day Shred, which we've renamed The 30-Day Dread. Today was day two, and within a couple of minutes we were both cursing Jillian Michael and her man-ish self. 

After day one, I was moderately sore, but Matthew was in serious pain. During today's workout, I took a teeny tiny break during pushups and Matthew immediately blamed my lack of soreness on my little breaks: "That's why you're not sore - you keep taking breaks!"

So my comeback? It was a seriously failed (and very mature, I might add) attempt that went a little like this: "I'll take a break in your ass. Um, okay, so that wasn't what I meant..." SO not the effect I had intended. 

The upside? Laughing really hard during a workout makes it that much harder to do push-ups.

Example 3:

When we returned home after dinner out tonight, it was raining. Our front porch has been painted, so it tends to be a little slick when it's wet. For some reason, Matthew cannot enter the house like a normal person, but instead takes steps onto the porch that resemble those taken by Bigfoot. So tonight, when Matthew's flip-flop clad feet met the wet porch, I watched as his feet flew out from under him in slow motion and he landed on his right butt cheek, laughing. He wasn't hurt, but I imagine that he only thought he was sore today. I'm totally expecting to read a tweet from him tomorrow that includes the words "pain," "hate," "dread" and "beat up by the front porch."

Why our dog trainer quit

Since I've been a little under-the-weather, I worked from home one afternoon this week. 

We've had TONS of rain lately, both the thundery, windy and stormy kind and the quick, April shower type. The day that I happened to be home (alone, might I add) we had one of those quick ones that looked like it might become a stormy one. 

I didn't want to leave my dogs outside to become wet, stinky pups who have to sleep in the same room as me, so I decided to bring them in before the storm got bad. I don't normally take this task on by myself (or even involve myself in the task at all, if I'm being honest). And did I mention that I was alone?

Bringing them in went way better than anticipated - into their crates without hassle or treats, even. [Note: we did have treats, I was just too lazy to get them out of the car.]

The storm turned out to be just a shower, and since the dogs had been stuck in the car the entire day before on the way back from the beach, I didn't really want to leave them in their crates for too long.

So I grabbed the treats and a leash to get them out one at a time. I started with Huck, the temperamental, aggressive one who eats humans as snacks. He went out easily with a treat and a few tugs on the leash.

Then came Sawyer. He went straight out the door, but stopped short of the ramp that leads to the "dog section" of our back yard. Then he began his trademark move - "swimming on the ground" as we call it -and rolling back and forth on the pollen-covered porch.

It went a little something like this (and this video started about ten minutes into the whole charade):

That behavior? That's why our dog trainer quit. And that's why Matthew usually deals with the dogs. I'm telling you, this is EVERY DAY, people. Would you believe me if I told you he used to be worse - WAY worse - as a puppy? If only I'd had a blog and a video camera then.

We repeated the whole episode - only in our living room with his muddy paws against the couch - about an hour later when it started to rain again.

A couple of side notes:

Our video camera was dead, so this video was taken with my point-and-shoot Canon. I think the sound is a little distorted on here as Huck, who you can hear barking in the background, sounds more like a tiny terrier in the video than the hundred-pound retriever he is. So I'm thinking that must mean my voice isn't as bad as it sounds on this video. I mean, because of this cold, right now I sound like I have a smoker's cough for goodness sake - how can my voice be that high in the video?

That part at about the 1:30 mark, where it sounds like I'm making the word sit into a three-syllable word? I'm actually saying 'let me see it,' a phrase that comes out a little more like 'lemmeseeit.' See the difference? I'm not that Southern. [Although you may note that down, or "day-owwhn" is a three-syllable word.]

Apparently, I howl at trains, too

Let me just start by saying that I'm no singer. 

I love to sing. And if you recall, I know the lyrics to an insane number of songs. So many, in fact, that I don't have room in my little brain for important things. Like remembering to turn off my car after I park it. But still, I can't actually carry a tune.

So, this evening, as a train went by our house, I was humming a little "Don't Stop Believing."

Matthew said, "Listen. Can you hear Sawyer howling?" (You may recall this video.)

Yes, Sawyer howls pretty much every time a train goes by. But something in my gut told me that wasn't what he was hearing.

"Are you sure it wasn't me singing?" I said, as I hummed the tune again.

"Um, maybe that was it," he said, as I continued to hum. "Yeah, definitely it."

Today Huck & Sawyer are lovin' (the doggy edition)...

Our dogs will eat just about anything. In fact, they've been known to eat tennis shoes, tissue paper, pillows, birds and puppy pee pads. But, for whatever reason, they're picky about their dogs treats.

Their favorites are Blue Dog Peanut Butter treats. But treat time in our house is an event. Let me just set the scene for you:

You know that song "Peanut Butter Jelly Time?" - 

Well, just imagine Matthew, me and hundred-pound dogs jumping around singing "Peanut Butter Treat Time." Okay, so the dogs don't sing. But they jump. That's how good they are. (At least I imagine..or maybe I've actually tasted a small corner of a treat. But they're all natural!)

Our Easter bunnies

Have you ever tried putting bunny ears on a hundred pound dog? How about two of them? In case you haven't, here's a glimpse at how it goes (lots of dog treats required):

And I had to show these full size:

Huck looks like he's in pain in this one:

And Matthew looks like he's in pain in this one:

He preferred chewing the ears over wearing them:

And this was the gross result (complete with dog treat residue):

Happy Easter, from Matthew, Heather, Sawyer Bean and Huckle Bunny. 

Why our next house won't be by the tracks

Our dog, Sawyer, is one of a kind. He's great dane, hound, lab, and who knows what else. A mutt.

When we got him, the shelter told us he was a lab mix. We quickly realized that this was a label they applied to any large, black, short-haired puppy.

Not long after we got him, his hound tendencies started surfacing. One, in particular, is funnier than all others - he howls. But typically only when a train goes by (we live very close to train tracks). They vary in sound from straight up howl to what I would imagine a dying walrus to sound like.

I've been trying to record him howling on video for a long time, but he seems to be a bit camera shy. You can tell from the video that it's almost as if he just can't control himself. Like he doesn't want to howl, but his brain might explode if he doesn't. Makes me laugh every time. I love how his lips start moving when you can first hear the train, then he goes into full-on howl and then he moves his mouth one more time after the horn sounds, as if he has to for closure.

The noise you'll hear in the background is Huck barking. He usually barks and jumps on Sawyer while he's howling, but I guess he forewent the jumping this time. And please forgive the shoddy camera work - especially toward the end when my full body laughter begins.

The related videos that come up are all about biting dogs. A coincidence? I don't think so.

It's kind of a big deal around here

It snowed today. In Georgia. In March. 

If you're reading this and you're from anywhere but the South, you're probably thinking we're all a bunch of wusses. And you'd be right. 

If you're from the South, you understand - it's a big deal when it snows. Power goes out, schools close, road become impassable and time stops. 

I wasn't too happy about the idea of snow. My day job is one that could require that I come to work in the case of snow (more specifically ice) to talk to media, write press releases, update websites, take photos, etc. But when I realized that I wouldn't be going to work, I was able to enjoy the snow and it's beauty that is so rare around here.

We went for a walk and I took a few photos:

That's a tree in the road, pulling down a power line. AND PEOPLE WERE DRIVING OVER IT.

Yes, like snow in Georgia in March. Couldn't resist. (Just to clarify: NOT OUR TRUCK.)

The dogs didn't know what to think. They did lots of snow eating and prancing.

All in all, a very good day. Our power came back on just before dinner, which ruined our plans for PB&Js and wine for dinner (too bad). But the power coming back on meant INTERNET (other than on my iPhone) and charging my dead laptop. So I'm not complaining.

Friday's supposed to be sunny and 70 degrees. Seriously.