It may not have been a full moon, but at my house it sure seemed like there was a full moon. Mum witnessed me throw off my covers. Walk up to her, swing my arms open and say, "Hug!" Mum wasn't sure what was happening when I hugged her, but when I walked down the hall, she realized I was sleep walking. It's not the first time this has happened. One time my mum found me in the bath tub. I then walked into the living room and curled up on the sofa. When my mum started talking to me, I just gave her a big silly smile. She decided it would be okay for me to sleep on the sofa so she brought me some covers. Mum then let Hoover in. As soon as Hoover saw me on what he thinks is his sofa, he rushed over and started giving me big licks. I guess I got up and went back to my bedroom at that point. I remember none of this, but I do remember what Hoover did at 3:00 a.m. At 3:00 a.m. Hoover walked into my room. He woke me up with his whines. I saw him crawl under my bed. Soon the only part of Hoover I saw was Hoover's rump. He started whining again, crawled out and tried to lick me. Then he went to the other side of my bed, Hoover crawled under there. He basically did the same thing again. After Hoover crawled under my bed three times, Hoover just left. I know my next inquiry project, "Do Dogs Sleepwalk?" While Hoover was crawling under my bed, Lizzie decided to leap onto mum and dad's bed and lick them. This is unusual for Lizzie. Lizzie ended up sleeping on their bed. Mum had to sacrifice some of her leg space.
Today at the animal shelter I started off reading "Old Yeller" to the cats. I soon diverted my attention to a two year old dog named Maybelle. She is a blue tick coonhound She is far more skinny than she should be. There are clear signs she has had a rough life. Mum was sitting with Maybelle while I was reading. When I met up with mum in a visitation room, I met Maybelle for the first time. She didn't come running to my like I would have hoped. If she would have come towards me, she would have been as fast as a turtle. Maybelle doesn't make sudden moves like most two year olds. Maybelle moves at a very slow pace. Maybelle is very shy. When mum saw her in her kennel, she was glumly staring at a wall.
A staff person asked us if we wanted to take Maybelle outside. They thought it would be good for her. I tried to read some of "Old Yeller" to Maybelle. Not sure that helped. When we took Maybelle to the enclosed yard, she stood next to the wall and wouldn't move. She did move when the dog in the yard next to us jumped up against the wall. It scared Maybelle so much, she actually trotted away. She slowly started to explore the yard. She made her way around the whole yard. We then discovered a ball. I rolled the ball to Maybelle but it rolled between her legs and she didn't do anything. I was glad we had time to be with Maybelle and maybe help her build her confidence. I hope Maybelle is adopted soon. She can be a good girl, any dog can.
Old dogs can be very exciting or very boring. Lizzie (12) is an exciting type of old dog. She'll run around and play with you or talk to you. Nikita (14) is one of the less active old dogs. She pretty much sleeps all day but she does enjoy short walks and her dinner. Sometimes we try and sneak out with Hoover and Lizzie but somehow Nikita always finds out. Then we take her on a short walk before we go for a longer walk with the other two. Old dogs can surprise you sometimes. Sometimes we find Nikita play bowing to no one. We think she has an imaginary friend. Her friend must be pretty playful. Nikita will spin around as best she can, she'll woof and then she bows to her friend. Nikita has really slowed down over the years. Sometimes she gets stuck in a corner or she wants to change direction. Because she can't turn around very well, she backs up like a truck. We should get her a beeper. Nikita also can't go up steps very well. We've learned that to get her up two steps, we have to give her a standing ovation or she waits for us to come outside and help her up. Except, she doesn't really want our help. As soon as we try to help her, she hops up the steps on her own. She snickers at us on her way up. Nikita seems to have lost a lot of her hearing. Now when we call her name, she doesn't respond. However, she could just be ignoring us. After all, she is a husky. Her smelling hasn't diminished at all. Nikita will haul herself to the kitchen when she smells something delicious.
All the hardwood floors in our house can be hazardous to Nikita. She slips and slides on the surfaces because her legs are not as strong as they use to be. One night Nikita would not go to the water bowl because it was on the kitchen floor, which is also slick to Nikita. So mum had to put down a small rug to get Nikita moving. Nikita walked to the end of the rug and stopped. Mum had to get another rug, Nikita walked across that rug and stopped again. Mum decided to get what remained of the rugs. Nikita finally reached the water. Even though Nikita may not be as fast or as cognitive as she used to be, she still is a good girl with lots of love to give. Hoover looks up to Nikita as a mother and shows concern when she falls down. Even though some of the time he causes her to fall down. Many people don't adopt old dogs or they give them up because they think they are too hard to take care of. Old dogs can be a wonderful treat. Old dogs are nice and mellow. They can still snuggle up to you and warm your heart.
We decided to do a New Year's day hike. We thought about sneaking off but Nikita was there by the door. We didn't want to disappoint Nikita so we took her for a short walk. After we took her back to the house, we explored a path in the woods by our house. The path lead to a small waterfall and creek. The creek led to Cascades Park. The waterfall was partially frozen so I climbed the hill beside it. Hoover tried to follow me up the incline. The hill was slippery from the ice. Hoover got stuck trying to climb up it. He was having a good time trying to climb at first, then he realized he wasn't the best climber. It is all fun and games until your dog gets stuck. Fortunately, mum had his leash and talked him down. I'm glad we found that nice spot in the woods. I look forward to going back to explore.
Happy holidays! I hope everyone has had a great winter season so far. I've had a busy season. Last Tuesday I went ice skating. I had so much fun even though I left covered in bruises. As you can infer, I'm not a very good ice skater. I'm glad I can endure pain, especially after that beating. I had an amazing Christmas. I also got the perfect gift. The Lego Arctic Base camp. One of my favorite parts of the set were the huskies. The set had huskies! I enjoyed playing with my family and protecting the Lego huskies from the real ones. I also liked playing King of Tokyo, the monster game where you destroy Tokyo!
The dogs also received some presents. Hoover took his present out from under the tree. It wasn't long before he was ripping the wrapping paper off. In a few minutes, Hoover had a plush red gingerbread man in his jaws. Nikita and Lizzie were also keen to open their gifts. Lizzie accidentally opened Nikita's present and vice verse. They all loved their bones. In my entire life I've only met two dogs I knew personally that have passed away. Now I know three. I would like to pay tribute to Lucy. The director of Northern Lights Sled Dogs had a dog named Lucy. I never knew Lucy very well, but I knew she was a great girl. I did meet her once, she gave me a high five. She had the best high five. She was a big fluffy malamute who was friendly to all. Lucy was a rescue dog. Mum couldn't find the picture she took of Lucy so here is a picture from the Northern Lights Facebook page. Maybe Lucy has met Wiley and Pulaski and they are chasing small animals together. Owen and Haatchi are superstars. Owen was born with a rare disability. Haatchi was a five month old stray when he was hit by a train. Haatchi had to lose his tail and one of his hind legs. To make Owen less lonely, his parents adopted Haatchi, who was about to be euthanized. The two were instant friends. Since their first meeting, Haatchi and Owen have won many dog show awards. They show the true meaning of friendship.
The next blog post will not come until 2015! I hope Hoover doesn't give me another shower of kisses New Year's Eve like last year. Happy New Year to everyone!
A lot of things happened this week. I turned 12 on December 17. We celebrated my birthday on Wednesday. Hoover and Nikita were excited to join the party. Lizzie wasn't quite as ecstatic, in fact she stayed upstairs and looked down as we partied. She did come downstairs when we had ice cream.
The geography bee didn't go too well. I choked. I've decided to never wear a soccer jersey to a spelling bee or geography bee because each time I compete in a school bee, I always choke. This bee I got out on my first two questions. The time I got third place in the geography bee, I don't think I wore a soccer jersey. I learned a lesson from this, you should burn your soccer jerseys or at least never wear them to a major competition. The birthday celebration continued onto Friday. My indoor league soccer team has four players with birthdays in December. So after our game on Friday, we would celebrate the four birthdays. I enjoyed playing in the game, even though we had to play against 14 year olds again. We were beat 6-1. I got bashed against the wall a couple of times. I had one play, I tried to cross the ball in, but the ball actually went in between the keepers legs and I scored. A little after I scored, when I was driving up the field I got bashed into the corner of the wall. I still feel that one today. I had a bit of a handicap during the game. While I was practicing, I blew out my cleat. Sometimes while I was running, my sole was flip flopping. Guess I will have to go shopping soon. I had fun at the party. When the cake was passed out, I didn't eat much. My stomach still hurt from getting slammed against the wall.
We decorated our Christmas tree on Saturday. Our tree was looking good, although it was leaning a bit. After we decorated the tree, we all went to do our own things. The greatest enemy to our Christmas tree was not dogs. It was gravity. I heard a big crash and saw the tree had fallen down. Nikita was a bit slow to react to the falling of the tree. Once she had seen the tree had fallen down, she tried to make a hasty retreat and that is when things got worse. In her attempt to get up quickly, the tree had scared the poop out of her. So we had two clean ups. I hope everyone has a happy holidays. The dogs and I are looking forward to having some snow for Christmas. I'll have to see if the dogs have been naughty or nice this year.
The dogs have been quiet so I've decided to feature other dogs. Before I start off, if you want to show support to any rescues or shelters try donating food, blankets, toys, or money. If your local shelter makes a novelty, you can show support by buying it. We buy calendars from Northern Lights Sled Dog Rescue. The cool thing is some of the dogs we fostered are in the calendar. Lizzie might be in the calendar again. If you want a calendar full of northern dogs, you should check this link out: Northern Lights calendar Celia is a nice girl eagerly awaiting a home. She is a senior northern breed mix. She is underweight and her tail isn't in the best shape but she has a lot of personality and is so lovable. She takes treats well. Her ears are so adorable. She seems young at heart. I wanted to foster her as my birthday present, but mum and dad don't agree with that idea right now. Even my puppy dog eyes didn't work. My last foster birthday dog, Lumen, came about two weeks before my birthday and was adopted on the eve of my birthday. She couldn't wait a couple more days? But this is CeeCee's story.
I'll be competing in the Geography Bee again. It's my second time in the school wide bee, I thought I was going to be a one and done. I missed my first question but I came back and narrowly escaped to the final. My after school Spanish class helped me get to the finals. One of my questions was "Buenos Aires is in what South American country?" My Spanish teacher taught me the capitals and countries of South America. When I got my question right I said, "Thank you Spanish class!" The dogs better watch themselves, mum got a new phone. She has been playing with the camera on it. That means she has been taking pictures of dogs. They are not safe now, especially with mum's new camera. It's holiday card season. The dogs love snow but not holiday cards. Each year mum tries to get the perfect picture. Our dogs and maybe me have little patience. So, mum doesn't get the greatest pictures. She settles for a picture where everyone is mostly still. In an upcoming post, you may see the holiday card.
Hello all you dog lovers. I'm going to fill you in on my adventures before Thanksgiving. I look forward to eating turkey. Anyway, I went to an ODP practice on Sunday. The conditions were horrible. It was freezing and raining. I was glad we played on turf because if ODP played on real grass, the fields would have been a giant mud puddle. I still had a fun time playing soccer even though I probably got pneumonia. My coach said, "It's one thing when it is cold. It's another thing when it's raining. It's a totally different thing when it is cold and raining." I'm on Thanksgiving Break. Because there is no school I stayed home on Monday. I was able to find out what my dogs do during the week when no one is around. Well, I was around but I hid. I mostly left the dogs alone except when I was bored and threw a blanket over Hoover. He likes attention but not so much that I smother him in a blanket. He enjoyed lounging outside after that. I discovered Lizzie sleeps, Nikita sleeps, and Hoover feigns sleep. I either I have the laziest dogs or my family tires them out. Lizzie was the most active. She is a restless sleeper so she went to lay on the couch, my parents' bedroom, my room, downstairs, the dog bed, and then she went back to the couch. The most I saw Nikita do was glare at me when I threw a toy in the air and it hit her. I interrupted her 23 hours of sleep.
On Wednesday a little bundle of energy came to our house. We were puppy sitting for one of mum's coworkers. We were going to puppy sit Basil, the foster lab. Although, mum's coworker said he might be a foster fail. I can imagine why, Basil is such a nice puppy. He was energetic, sweet and submissive. It was a good thing he was submissive because Hoover always ran after him until Hoover became exhausted. Until then, Hoover was barking and slobbering the whole time. He reminded me of a St. Bernard. Basil's back was all wet from Hoover. Basil would roll on
his back occasionally. He didn't really need to because Hoover is all bark and no bite. I actually think he was a little scared of Basil's craziness. Hoover backed away from Basil a few times. Lizzie, at 12, was the only one who could keep up with the puppy. Although Nikita got a few good barks in. She rattled Basil a bit. Basil tried to be friendly towards Hoover. Basil tried lying next to Hoover in his favorite hole. Hoover snarled in protest. Basil quickly backed off, smart dog. I enjoyed having Basil around. It certainly livened things up. It was good for the sled dogs, I realized Hoover needs to exercise more. I hope Basil enjoyed it and didn't feel too ganged up on by the sled dogs.
Our dogs are looking forward to Thanksgiving. Their favorite part is the feast and especially the turkey. I hope everyone invites their pets to the table, I'm not sure mum agrees with me. Here are 10 reasons you should invite your pets, mostly dogs, to the table.
Just remember though, some foods aren't good for your pets. I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving. I might not blog for awhile, I could be in a food coma.
It has been a long time since I made a blog post. I have much to write about. Let's begin.
To start off, we'll converse about Halloween. This year I went as a nerd in a box of Nerds. Someone actually gave me a huge box of Nerds. It was easy getting candy. The weather discouraged many trick-or-treaters. People threw chunks of candy into our bags. I went with two old friends. When we got back to my one friend's house, we went through our loot. My mum left soon after, taking with her all my sense of responsibility. My friends and I stayed up until 6:00 a.m. I woke up at 8:00 a.m. My mum asked me if it was worth it. I felt horrible later in the day. I learned my lesson.
After Halloween, I got to work on another project. I had pestered my teacher for awhile because I wanted to learn when we would begin current events again. Current events is when we choose a country and tell the class about what is going on there. We do this every nine weeks. I chose Israel. I realize the crisis there dates back to at least the 1940s. To get my point across to the class, I made a stop motion about the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. I had a fun time making the stop motion, even though it took until the last minute. Maybe I should have had more than a week to do a stop motion. Either way, I got a good grade. I was nervous to present, but I didn't have to talk much when the stop motion does the talking. This past weekend I went down to Evansville for an ODP tournament. My team would be playing up two age groups. In other words, we had to play huge 14 year olds. Some were two heads taller than me. Our first game we didn't do so well. Actually, that is an understatement, we got pummeled. We lost 8-0. It felt like it was 20-0. Our second game was a heart breaker. The ref didn't seem to understand the rules. We lost 2-0. The team did play much better. On Sunday, the team played its best game. We scored! The game ended one to one. Our team played great. Our coaches said we weren't there to win. It was an opportunity to work on the skills we had been practicing. We may have finished last in our bracket but when you consider they were giant 14 year olds, I guess we did pretty well. Mum stayed home with the sled dogs. I don't think they did much but rest up for my return. When I came in the door, I was mobbed by all the dogs. I don't know if they missed me or they liked my soccer musk. I present to you "Ice Dogs." This is a documentary I hope to watch about sled dogs when I have an hour or more of free time. We didn't get all the snow we hoped for and the dogs have been quiet, so I hope this will make up for all the dog adventures we missed.
