Happy Mother's Day!

I always wanted to be a Mom. I'm not sure what it is about women, but the need to nurture is very strong for most of us. And so, for those who, for whatever reason, don't have the opportunity to express that, Mother's Day can be a difficult day. It's a reminder of what we are missing. For me, I have found great fulfillment in being a 'mom' to my two corgis. It seems that all of my unmet maternal longings have attached to these two girls. If you, like me, experience the joys and sometimes frustrations of motherhood associated with kids of the four-legged variety, .

Happy Mother's Day! We may not go to school programs and drive our kids to soccer practice, but we still give the love, comfort, security and companionship that a mom provides and thus, are deserving of a pat on the back - or, perhaps a lick on the face! We might not get flowers, dinner out or a fluffy new bathrobe, but the unspoken love and gratitude of our four-legged kids is just as real. The next time you come home from work and are greeted with tails (or in the case of corgis, back ends) that are wagging so hard you'd think they would pull a muscle, remember that you are loved and appreciated as much as any Mom.

These pictures, by the way, were taken at the opening of the Moorhead Dog Park a couple of years ago. We won the trophy for 'best dressed' that evening. It was very fun!

I'm Dreaming of a White ..... May Day?!?!

Ok - this is ridiculous. I've lived in the Upper Midwest for most of my life and I've seen plenty of snow in April ... even an occasional flake in May. But this year April is going down as the snowiest month of the 'winter' - by far! Three snowstorms this month and we're starting to wonder if spring is ever going to come. We've had a few nice days ... emphasis on the word few. But these crazy snowstorms that seem to always hit the weekend ... well, it's getting a bit depressing, to be honest. The girls love the snow ... but even they were a bit bug-eyed this morning when I went to let them out and couldn't even get the door open because of the drift! April snow has a way of clogging up snowblowers too ... and it's just too darn heavy to shovel ... so I had to get professional to get the driveway cleared. Surely, this has to be the end. (We've said that now for the past three storms!) May is just around the corner; my tulips are thoroughly confused and I've been getting my camping gear ready for what I hope will be a long, warm summer. Maybe we'll just skip spring this year and go directly to summer. As much as we like to complain, a foot of wet, heavy snow is still preferable to the tornados that some parts of the country experience with alarming regularity this time of year. And the ground has thawed enough so that the snow - when it melts - will soak in, and green things up instead of running off to the river and flooding. Yep, there is a bright side ... even to a foot of new snow the last week in April.

Happy Birthday Babe!

Midnight is fast approaching, but we can't let this day slip away without wishing a very HAPPY BIRTHDAY to the matriarch of our corgi family, Babe Diana Wales. Babe is Princess' mother and Dee Dee's grandmother and a very good 'mama' corgi to everyone. In fact, she is the only corgi in the family (possibly the only corgi in the world) who can effectively discipline Dee Dee ... and do it with great patience and without anyone getting hurt!! Babe is 10 years old today; that is 70 in dog years, and though she has some extra pounds she needs to shed (don't we all?!), she is in pretty good shape. She doesn't run real fast, but she's a great swimmer and has helped all the corgis in the family (except for great-grandson Scooter who, frankly, is just too big to float) learn to swim. Babe has a sweet and gentle nature, but don't let that fool you .... she can be tough as nails if she needs to be. And she has quite a sense of humor ... takes great delight in striking some very funny poses and just 'holding' them until she's knows you're looking at her and laughing at her antics!

One of my favorite is what Susan and I call the "Mother Teresa" pose where she gets underneath the drapery sheer and walks forward just far enough so that she appears to have on a nun's habit. (Too late tonight to dig that photo up and scan it in but maybe I'll post it later.) Babe loves 'wabbits' and milk bones and has a secret stash of treats that she thinks are safe. She evidently hasn't been watching carefully enough when Princess comes to visit. Babe, we love you and wish you many more birthdays!

Early Spring - the MUD Season

This is the worst time of year to be a corgi. No, actually I'll re-phrase that. This is the worst time of year to be a corgi owner - particularly if you're a person who likes a clean house like I do. The snow melts, and on the flat land of the northern plains, it has nowhere to run off to, so it just pools and creates giant mud puddles that last for weeks. We've had a pretty cold winter, but not an excessive amount of snow - until this past Friday, when we got 9 inches of wet, slushy snow. We had been well on our way through the mud season, but now we get to start melting snow all over again ... and another extended period of mud. When your legs are only 4-5 inches long, that means that you carry mud into the house not only on your feet but on your tummy as well. It's a season that tests my patience every year, and this one is no exception. Hard as I try to take walks on paved roads and trails, the girls still seem to pick up a lot of ice and dirt on their bellies and bring it into the house.

Oh well. It's only a few weeks and I keep telling myself that you have to endure this season before we get to the good stuff .... the green lawns, flowers and rivers that stay within their banks. Spring will come and it will be worth the wait. It always is.

Happy Birthday Princess Isabella!

Nine years ago today, in Sarasota Flordia, there was a litter of puppies born that would change my life. I didn't meet my sweet Princess Isabella for over a year, and by that time she had moved north with Susan and spent most of her life in another home just a few blocks away. The twists and turns that brought us together are kind of interesting. Princess' parents are Burt and Babe, and she has a brother named Einstein. Susan bred Einstein with Panda (another corgi in our neighborhood) and they had a litter of puppies that included Dee Dee, Elvis and Cracker Jack. Susan and I both frequented a little store called Stampin' Etc. in Fargo, ND. Bonnie, the owner, had two little girls who had recently lost their dog in a traffic accident and Susan decided to give them one of her puppies (Cracker Jack). Elvis stayed with Susan, and Nicole, the little girl who owned Princess, decided that she wanted one of the puppies too (turned out to be Dee Dee!) But first, she needed to find a new home for Princess. I had been thinking about getting a dog for quite a while. One day I was shopping for stamps and admiring Bonnie's new puppy and she mentioned that there was a 1 year old corgi named Princess that needed a new home. I invited Princess (and her owner) over for a visit, and the rest, as they say, is history. It was a beautiful Fall day when I brought her home and I remember going to bed that night, thinking that it had been one of the best days of my life. Princess was - and still is - a very easy dog. She has never chewed, never had an accident and she barks only at the vacuum cleaner (haven't been able to break her of that habit in 8 years!) Anyway - it's all very interesting to me now, as I look back and I'm so thankful to all the people (Susan, Bonnie, Nicole) who helped bring Princess Isabella into my life.

Dee Dee - the Conniver

Dee Dee is the more 'high maintenance' of my dogs, which means that Princess often gets the short end of the stick. So I try to be intentional about giving her some individual time. This morning she was lying on the sofa, so I sat down on the floor beside her and started rubbing her tummy. She loved it .... but Dee Dee couldn't stand it. She came over and nudged me to pet her too,  and I pretty much ignored her. So then ..... she poked her nose at Princess to say, "Let's Play" and waited for Princess to jump off the sofa and chase her. The instant that Princess jumped off, Dee Dee skidded around behind me, jumped up on the sofa and assumed the 'tummy rub' position! She is a conniver!! I could tell lots of stories of plots she has hatched to get something she wants. She's so devious ... but I can't help but laugh at her antics. She is too smart for her own good sometimes!

 

 

 

 

Hmmm - doesn't seem to fit ....

Happy Valentines Day

 Yikes ... it's been several weeks since I last posted. I guess that's a good thing ... it means winter is going fast. Not fast enough though ... it's going to be down around -30 F (and that's AIR temperature; not windchill) tonight. I've been busy though. The last weekend in January I was fortunate enough to get to attend the US Figure Skating Nationals in St. Paul with a couple of my best friends. Oh my, did we have fun! The skating was phenomenol, we had great seats (just a few rows behind "Kiss and Cry" and all the press) and stayed for the exhibition skating on Sunday night. It was all just too much fun! At the end of the special performances, Evan Lysacek (men's champion) autographed a frisbee and threw it up into the crowd. My friend Melissa and I both dove for it. I'm quite sure that Evan was throwing it to me, but somehow it went home with Melissa. Go figure!

Since then, I've been very busy working on swaps for my stamping business. This is a busy time of year for that. My corgis have been a little neglected, between all the stamping I've been doing and the cold weather. This morning they went outside to go potty and when they came back in, Dee Dee had a bare spot on her face - about the size of a dime. I'm not sure what happened, but am guessing she went to lick the clothes line pole and got her nose stuck. She hasn't complained, so it must not be bothering her too much.