Gravy not Even a Dog Would Eat

     People love Hoover, it's a fact. He is a very handsome boy. When dad takes Hoover to Bell Trace, a senior center, the staff and residents say he should be in movies and commercials. I personally wouldn't want Hoover to be gone for a long time so I'm fine with him staying here with the family. But people still want to see and hear about Hoover. So, I gave him a Facebook page. Hoover gives me his ideas and I put them on the page. Hoover's page is called A Day in the Life of Hoover . We post every so often. You can expect to see a lot more posts from Hoover's page than this blog. So get ready for lots of Hoover and his friends.
     Last Thursday we did a good deed. We transported one of the Northern Lights Sled Dogs to Anderson, which is a two hour drive away from Bloomington. It was two hours of fun with Hook, the dog we were transporting. The ride home was very, very long. Hook is a VERY skinny boy. You could feel his backbone. Mum and I wanted to keep him to fatten him up. We would have done a good job because Lizzie has put on 10 plus pounds. She looks good now. Hook is a very sweet boy. He liked to be petted and enjoyed having company around. It was fun driving up with him. It is good to know he is with some good people now. If you're wondering why his name is Hook, it's because he was found with a fish hook in his mouth. He will be ready for adoption at Northern Lights. 
     On Friday I went to Franklin, Indiana for soccer mini-camp. I would stay there for the weekend. As we got there it was pouring, so the fields were flooded. All the teams had to share a gym and the college football field on Friday and Saturday. The schedule changed a lot but the overall play was fun. However, I know I wasn't there for the food. I never knew biscuits and gravy could taste so awful. I didn't think you could mess up biscuits and gravy. The gravy was clumpy with a bad flavor! We had a lot of gravy over the weekend, none of it was enjoyable. They fed us mashed potatoes two nights in a row, even that gravy was awful. The one thing I liked about the food was their hamburgers. They looked like McDonald's hamburgers, but they were very flavorful. Thank you for reading Ian's food blog!

Oh-brr Comes to Visit

    We meet a new friend on Tuesday, his name is Oh-brr. Our cousins came to visit us on Tuesday and Wednesday. It's a big deal because they live in Minnesota and we don't get to see them often. Oh-brr is a 4 and 1/2 month old husky/lab/shepherd mix. Hoover was surprised to see an energetic puppy on his doorstep.Oh-brr ran circles around Hoover outside. Hoover was trying to assert his dominance over Oh-brr, but he didn't pay much attention to Hoover's demands. Hoover was a grumpy dog, but he hid behind dad when he did it. Lizzie wasn't sure what to make of Oh-brr at first. She hid behind a patio chair and examined her new guest. 
      Oh-brr was very playful! He tried to play with Nikita. He didn't realize she is 15 years old. Oh-brr almost knocked her over, but she managed to stay up. However, the second time she wasn't so fortunate. She fell over and we had to help her get up. 

     Later on in the day, Oh-brr and family went to watch me play soccer at Cutter's player placement. After practice, we took Oh-brr to Chipotle. Our cousins want Oh-brr to be a therapy dog. So our goal at Chipotle was to see if he could stay quiet there with no one noticing him. Oh-brr passed the test. A contributing factor to his success may have been he tired himself out after spending the day with our dogs. To finish the day off we visited the Light Totem. Dad and Oh-brr rested while we put our legs up the wall. 

     The next day we found out Oh-brr knows how to swim. He had a blast splashing in the water. Mum got some video of him swimming out in the lake. I didn't see it because I was swimming myself. I did enjoy watching the video over and over. 

     We played a lot of games over Tuesday and Wednesday, except for soccer. I got them to play my geek game, King of Tokyo. We played Trivia Pursuit. Some of us got easier questions than others. When I say easy, I mean easy! Overall, it was a great two days! Although, I'm not sure how the dogs felt. I KNOW they were exhausted. 

      

Dad got Ran Over by a School Bus

     By the title you can probably assume Dad was ran over by a bus. Well, you are slightly correct. Dad was biking to work last Thursday, the last day of school, when he was hit by a school bus. He hurt his knee and is a little sore but other than that, he is okay. The thing I find most funny about about this is we actually made it into the local newspaper. I will always remember my last day of sixth grade.
     Maybe you remember Wesley the wild pup. It has been a little over a year since we talked about him. He was a very mischievous puppy. Well, we have met another crazy boy. His name is Gabe and he is a basset hound mix about 10 months old. We decided to take him outside because he has such an adorable face. He turned out to be an unstoppable bundle of energy. I started running around to get him to play. He didn't need much encouragement. He loved chasing the ball, but not the part where he was to give it back. He was wound up and didn't listen to anything we said. He chased me and nipped at my bottom a couple of times. Gabe also turned out to be a thief. He tried to steal mum's phone out of her pocket, but she caught him and he stopped. He then tried to make off with my Godzilla paperback. Mum caught him again and told him no. He did leave it. After several laps around the yard, Gabe began to tire. It was time to take him back to his kennel. We had many laughs with Gabe. Good luck to his new family! It will be exciting.
     Hoover's birthday happened on the same day dad was hit by the bus. Hoover is now a seven year old. I can't believe he is now considered a senior. I got him the perfect gift, mum's not so sure. We got Hoover a pig that can squeal. Mum has taken plenty of video of Hoover playing with his toy. Hoover was kind of scared of his toy at first. Hoover wanted the toy when he saw Lizzie checking it out. Now he growls at it as he squeaks it. It is the first toy he growls at. We're not sure Lizzie likes the toy or enjoys keeping it away from Hoover. Do any of your pets enjoy keeping toys away from their pack mates? 

    Stay tuned because summer adventures are about to begin!

The End of an Era

    Last week I went to my school's sixth grade party. I had the time of my life! It was mostly filled with dancing, but there were many competitions and it was hilarious to watch and compete in. There was also a huge table that carried so much food it would take several people to eat it. My night was further improved when mum had to go back to work to finish up something.  I got to talk with mum's coworkers, Lora. It is always fun to geek out with Lora. It truly was a great night. 
      On Thursday we celebrated 6th grade in a calmer fashion. We had a graduation and we all got a certificate sending us off to middle school. We also were able to see a slideshow made by mum showing all of our baby pictures. It was very nice. I'm excited to head to middle school. It is going to be a great new experience. I will miss University Elementary, but I can always go back to visit and maybe volunteer at the Learning Festival. 
      In dog related news, mum's garden is still being trampled by dogs. First, it was Lizzie. She would lay in the garden and torment mum. Soon, Hoover followed in her footsteps. And now Nikita is hopping into the garden and rummaging through it as well. This is quite extraordinary for Nikita to climb over the stone's surrounding mum's garden. As you know, Nikita isn't as spry as she use to be. She has been known to get tripped up on the grass. Mum's poor garden will never thrive with all the dogs destroying it. I have a confession to make, I sometimes accidentally
kick my soccer ball into the garden. So, four organisms hinder the gardens progress. 
     As we've told you before, we found a husky named Chloe located at our local animal shelter. She was a very overzealous dog, who had enough energy to run around the world four times. I'm excited to announce that Chloe was adopted! I'm glad she got a forever home.
     The dogs sure like to be involved in our exercises. Mum and I do 20 sit ups every day and try  to do 10 push ups every other day. Sometimes the dogs head over and try to give us kisses. Luckily we can shield our head with our arms. I was getting ready one time when Lizzie crawled under my legs and laid down. That night it was a little harder to get up.  
      I have a lot to look forward to this summer. My summer will be filled with soccer, soccer, and more soccer.  I'm excited to have some relatives from Minnesota visiting. Mum and I are also planning our bus trip around town this summer.

Lizzie's Big Outing

 
    As part of the Mother's Day celebration, mum and I took Lizzie on a walk to Bryan Park. Hoover went to Bell Trace with dad so he wouldn't be jealous. Nikita enjoyed the peace and quiet at home. Lizzie enjoyed walking around and sniffing all the plants. We also got to see something extra, too. We were able to watch some LARPers LARP. LARP means live action role playing. Basically you watch people battle with foam weapons. Lizzie wasn't too keen on watching them. She kept tugging on her leash and wanting to explore. We eventually listened to her and finished our walk.
     Afterwards we took Lizzie to the Chocolate Moose for some ice cream.  We got a bit of ice cream in a cup for Lizzie. Mum fed her some by a spoon. I had a HUGE ice cream sandwich. Lizzie was the first one to finish. Although Lizzie did have the smallest portion of ice cream. 
    When we returned home, Lizzie was dog tired. She barely moved the rest of the night. Hoover was also a very tired boy. The next morning we discovered something very funny. Hoover and  Lizzie were both downstairs trying to sleep in. We found Lizzie on the couch and Hoover was in the office. Dad and I kept calling for both of them to come upstairs to go outside. For once, Nikita was the first one outside.  Hoover finally came into our view but he just sat back down and looked up at us. Finally he came up because he was out of ideas for procrastinating. Lizzie was completely ignoring us. I went downstairs and threw a blanket on her to see if that would get her to move. She slowly got off the sofa and took her time stretching. She then sauntered up the steps and finally made her way outside. 
     Lizzie will only eat PetSmart biscuits. She doesn't bother with other good biscuits we give her. Mum has decided to not even give Lizzie a biscuit when we leave. Dad will still leave one with her. The other two dogs take advantage of this and swipe her biscuit. Yes, even Nikita. Recently Nikita was getting up to go outside when dad came home at noon. He watched as Nikita spotted Lizzie's biscuit on the dog bed. Nikita plodded over to it, took the biscuit and turned around to head out the door with the biscuit in her mouth. We can only assume she took it out there to eat without the other dogs knowing what happened. I'm surprised Hoover didn't get to the biscuit first. 
     The end of the school year is approaching very quickly. We did our Inquiry Fair last Friday. My topic this year was the causes and effects of the crusades. I really enjoyed this topic. I made a stop-motion about the crusades. I loved dressing up as a crusader. We also had the school Learning Festival last Friday. This Friday is the sixth grade party! I don't care for this year's theme (Black and White), but I'm still going to have a blast. I wanted the theme to be '70s disco. To top all this off is the sixth grade promotion next Thursday.

Playing in the Rain

     Hoover is a very sneaky boy. However, he is not much of a thief. Lizzie likes to save her biscuit and Hoover usually ends up eating it. She likes to have one around her, I think she enjoys teasing Hoover. One day mum came home for lunch. Lizzie came up to greet her. Mum realized Hoover took off downstairs. Hoover remembered Lizzie left her biscuit downstairs. When Hoover came back upstairs, mum suspected Hoover was hiding the biscuit in his mouth. It was obvious because his mouth was clamped shut, Hoover usually has his tongue hanging out.  He then ran outside. Mum followed him and found Hoover in his favorite spot, about to eat the biscuit. Mum also discovered another of Hoover's crimes. Hoover had been digging a huge hole. When she started investigating the hole, Hoover laid down so his tail covered the hole he had been working on for awhile. Mum busted Hoover in the process of two crimes. A success for the M.P.D. (Mum Police Department). 
     On Saturday we had a big soccer tournament in Terre Haute. Our first game started at 8:00 in the morning against Marion Lighting. Unfortunately, we lost 5-4. Our team played really well though. Our next game was against Putnam County at 1:00. We won this game 5-0, although it could have been much worse. I said to my coach I didn't feel good about blowing out the other team. He said we have to do our best to challenge them. One thing coach did was move players around to play different postions. A special guest attended my afternoon game. Chris, an important volunteer at Northern Lights Sled Dog Rescue, and her son came to watch my game. I'm glad they could come and see us win.       

On Sunday we had a big game against Terre Haute. We lost by one goal to Terre Haute the Sunday before. We needed to win this game by a lot of points to move on to the championship. We destroyed Terre Haute 9-2. In this game we showed no mercy. Our game was played under very raining conditions. After the game we had to wait around to see if we made it to the championship. Because three teams were tired with the same number of wins, the winner was decided by number of goals scored and goals allowed. We snuck in by one goal! We learned we can't show any mercy in tournament games. Every goal counts. 

     The championship was to be played at 1:00. In the meantime we went to dry our uniforms and socks. When we went back to the fields, it was raining harder than in the morning. The championship game was exciting until about the last five minutes, it did not end well for us. The field was getting messy and the other team scored a few quick goals to pull it out. At least we got a trophy! It was a good tournament. We now prepare for the grudge match of Cutters vs. Terre Haute at Karst on Saturday.      

Too Many April Showers

     We started our spring soccer season on Saturday. We didn't start off with a bang though. The game ended 4-0. None of us really did well. I think one of the reasons we played so unenthusiastically was because we had played only once on the grass. Our practices keep getting rained out. Unfortunately, our practice fields are drenched. Hopefully the rest of the season will be more dry. 

     On Easter I discovered a startling fact: I am a horrible egg hunter. While searching for eggs, I walked by a few eggs a couple times. My parents had to give me a couple of hints for me to even have a chance at finding the eggs. However, we all had good time. And the Easter Hoover visited! The Easter Lizzie and Nikita chose not to appear for long. 

     To celebrate with the dogs, we went on an Easter hike. We went down our trail and headed to the lower part of Cascades Park. The dogs enjoyed every bit of the walk. Yet there are side-effects to our hike. Hoover was tired after walking such a long area (well, for him it was a long walk). Poor Hoover didn't have time to rest. He then went to Bell Trace to visit my grandmother, dad's mom. Then he went to visit my other grandma. Hoover was on his toes Sunday.  By Sunday evening, he was dog tired! Lizzie didn't go along to Bell Trace because she isn't a big fan of meeting a lot of people and socializing. We didn't want to interrupt Nikita's sleep so she stayed home with Lizzie. 

     The end of my school year is approaching. And that means (drum roll)... inquiry is upon us! This year I've chosen to research the crusades. More specifically, the causes and effects of the crusades. The only problem I've encountered is deciding on what I should have as a visual. Do you have any ideas?  I'm open suggestions.   
    We faced another storm Thursday night or was it Friday morning? The thunder was getting loud and poor Hoover couldn't take it. He came into my room again and woke me up. He then crawled under my bed. The only thing I could see of him was his tail. I was about to go back to sleep when Lizzie came in and jumped on with me. She bugged me for awhile trying to get me to pet her. After a bit, I ignored her and tried to go back to sleep. She then decided to settle in and go to sleep. When I woke up, they were both gone. I know one thing now, I'm going to need a bigger bed if these April storms keep coming.