Remembering Nikita

    Well, I just got through the worst January of my life. I won't talk about all of it because some of it is spilling over into February. I'll just say both my grandmothers are in hospice. Oh joy. It may be a while until the next blog comes and this one will be a bit shorter. The first thing to happen this year was the passing of Nikita. She was at least 16 and she had been struggling. We put her to sleep on January 3, 2016. I think Hoover missed his adopted mom, he didn't eat much for a couple of days. Nikita was a good old girl that had many adventures. She raised 9 foster dogs and the doofus Hoover. She went on lots of walks, fought a vacuum cleaner, and like any husky, she enjoyed the snow. My mum said she was the best puppy ever. Nikita was a great girl! My mum made a slideshow showing Nikita's life, here it is in case you haven't seen it. 

Holiday Wishes

    A lot has happened since the last blog post, which was around Thanksgiving. For one thing, I've turned 13. For my 13th birthday we went to see Star Wars with Lora and Justin. I will not be giving any spoilers for the few people in the world who haven't seen it yet. Star Wars is probably my favorite movie of 2015. It had some good characters and a satisfying plot and no Jar Jar Binks. Oops, hope that wasn't a spoiler. After the movie we went to Ellettsville to eat Mexican and discuss the movie. It was a constructive conversation with my nerd friends. It was good to see some of my favorite characters come back to the big screen.
    With the holidays upon us, mum had to make a holiday card. Mum had some trouble with Lizzie and Nikita, they proved not to be very cooperative. Hoover was a star. Mum said he was more cooperative than me. Mum's original plan was to have the dogs wear reindeer antlers and I would wear a Santa hat. She ditched that plan and just took head shots of us and photo shopped in a card. Hoover got to be Santa while the rest of us were elves. I wanted to be Santa. Mum said Hoover had a better body
to be Santa. 

    The last blog was about Thanksgiving break. Now I'm on winter break, except there is no snow. I'm looking forward to this winter break. There may be Science Olympiad practice throughout break. Plus I will hanging out with friends. The "Cozy Corner" has been rebuilt. Hopefully, Hoover won't take it over. This winter break is looking promising, except we need snow. 
    We finally got our Christmas tree up. So far, it hasn't fallen over like it did last year. The best part is we have new Godzilla ornaments to put on the tree. Nikita couldn't really help decorate the tree this year, but it is nice to have her around. We didn't think she would make another Christmas. She still enjoys watching us get ready for Christmas and getting snuggles. I think she is going to love her bone. I wish she could have snow for Christmas.
    I would like to wish all of you a happy holidays! Don't forget about your pets when it is time to give out presents.

The Three Different Teams

    The last blog post was about fall break, this blog post is about a few things that have happened in between. Now that Thanksgiving break has started, I have some time to write.
     My soccer team went to a soccer tournament the week before Halloween, which was located at Center Grove. We started out really well winning our game 4-0. Our next game was against a team from Ohio. We thought they would be really good coming all the way from Ohio, but fortunately, we beat them 4-1. By then we were already in the final on Sunday. However, on Sunday we had to play a game before the championship against the other team that had already clinched a spot as well. They rested some of their players in preparation for the championship; we did not. We beat them 2-1.  We then met the same team in the championship game about two hours later. It was a tough game, but we came out on top winning 3-2. We all got plaques and the team got a big trophy. We gave it to our keeper because he saved us several times.
     I'm on a third team now. I joined my middle school's Science Olympiad team. I'll be working with one of my soccer teammates. It has been fun so far. I'm working on a project called air trajectory. Air trajectory is launching ping pong balls at targets using an air cannon. The design is hard to describe, but it has a lot of tubes. It will be fun to fire! I'm also studying invasive species and oceanography. I practice Tuesdays and Thursdays after school and our competitions are in February and March. 
     Now to my other soccer team, ODP. Last weekend I went to Memphis with ODP. It was an interesting drive. We got to stop at a truck stop! Our team manager said she didn't want us hanging out with the truck drivers so we had to buddy up. For the rest of the drive we got to watch three movies and eat pizza. This was quite a long drive, we got to the hotel at 11:00 pm.   I was lucky, my game didn't start until 12:30 on Saturday. I got to sleep in. Our first game went well because we won 6-0. However, we got arrogant and lost our next game 2-1. We played in a consolation game the next day and won that game 2-1 on a penalty kick. The drive home was very long. Probably because they replayed the movies and we didn't have anything to drink with our lunch. I was happy to get home because it had been a long weekend , but it was a very enjoyable weekend. 
      Because it is Thanksgiving break, the "Cozy Corner" is back. Lizzie and Hoover have already visited the corner and it is still standing. It will be my residence for the week. I hope everyone has a good Thanksgiving and stuffs themselves with turkey and other yummies. Also, Finney will be at  Wonderlab on Friday talking about the Iditarod sled dog race. After attending Finney's presentation a few years ago, I decided to start writing about my dogs and created this blog.
     

An Extraordinary Fall Break

    You've probably noticed by now there have been fewer blog posts. That's because I have more homework now, and there has been a lot of soccer. However, I will post when possible. Now is one of those times.
     This past week has been my fall break. I've done quite a few relaxing things, such as build the cozy corner. I've spent a lot of time in the cozy corner this week. I sleep quite well in the fort. One day I woke up at 10:30. I had breakfast and then turned around and had lunch. 
    We also went to Brown County during fall break to get pumpkins. We found some little pumpkins that were neat. That was all we bought. We also went into Nashville. Not the Tennessee one. I wasn't hit by the Nashville fever. I did however like the ice cream. It wasn't a long stay at Nashville.
    We did several other cheap things during fall break. We went to the IU soccer game, IU volleyball game, went to the book fair and got a few books, took the dogs for a hike, had a couple of soccer practices, and had a fire pit.  
     We did one more spectacular thing during my fall break. We went up to Anderson for a brushing party with Northern Lights Sled Dog Rescue. However, instead we walked dogs all day, which was fine with me. We met five dynamite girls on Saturday. The first girl we walked was Shiloh. Shiloh was a sweet little girl. She had extremely soft fur. The thing I will remember about Shiloh is her love for a tennis ball. It was love at first sight. You couldn't separate the two. 
     Another dog we met was Skylar. Skylar is a lanky red head. She is extremely fast and has a heart of gold. You have to be very fast to run with her. Skylar loves people! We were total strangers to her and she cuddled right up to us. Skylar loves belly rubs just like Hoover. They could form the "Belly Rub Lovers" club. 
      September was an older dog. She was a real sweat heart. She was very mellow, the opposite of a few other dogs we met. Mum was tempted to take her home. I was begging to take them all home. Mum was so caught  up with her, she didn't get a picture of her. The Northern Lights web page has her picture and video: September . You'll want to check her out.
      No one could compare in excitement to Meisha and Keisha. We were told Meisha is Keisha's mother. As soon as we got them, they tried to burst out the gate. To try and wear them down, I had to run them. I found it difficult to keep up with Keisha. Whenever I took off with Keisha, Meisha would try to run after us. Unfortunately, mum's running days are long gone, poor Meisha. I did run Meisha a little, she wasn't as fast as her daughter. They both had one thing in common, they both love to roll around on the ground. It would be nice if they were adopted together. They experimented with putting mother and daughter in separate kennels, Meisha was too sad and didn't eat for a couple of days. 
      I can't forget to mention two other good doggies. They are not up for adoption anymore because the president of Northern Lights loved them so much she adopted them. We met Kasey and Henry. I call him Big Henry. Kasey is a pure white husky. I had the privilege of walking Kasey. Henry is a huge handsome malamute. They are a great pair.
    I had a very enjoyable fall break. I had a good mix of sports, dogs and books. 

The Top Ten Funny Moments

     Last weekend we had our first soccer game. It was on Sunday and we played against Zionsville. This was our first game playing on a bigger field. I played a position I hadn't played in a while. I was returning to my center back roots. For the entire game, I played center back with one of my teammates. By the end I was extremely tired because in the morning I had gone to a soccer practice in Indianapolis. We ended up winning the game against Zionsville, 3-1. It felt really good to win the first game of the season. It gets you energized for the rest of the season. 
     I've decided to make a list of some of the funniest things our dogs, including fosters have done over the years. It was extremely hard to limit it to 10. Now for the Top Ten:

10. Hoover eating popcorn off Sebatian's back. One night I threw a piece of popcorn to Hoover. He tried to catch it, but it landed on Sebastian's back. Sebastian didn't realize what was happening even as Hoover snatched it off his back.

9. Lumen eating candy canes and then having rainbow poo. Short story is Lumen grabbed my birthday treats off the table and ate all the brightly colored candy canes. It wasn't funny then but it is now. 

8. Percy pouncing on me. I was walking down some stairs on campus when I tripped and fell down in front of some college students. Percy immediately pounced on me! It was like he was trying to hide me from the humiliation.

7. Nikita tattle telling on everyone. Nikita first started when Wiley would try to climb the fence. She would often chase him into a corner or dog house. Another time she saved a kitten from being devoured by Wiley. Her barking alerted mum to come outside. She also caught Alue pulling the dog food bag out of our pantry. 


6. Sebastion doing 360s at dinner time. Sebastion was normally a pretty slow guy, but when it was dinner time, he picked up the pace. He would then spin excited circles.

5. Hoover hogging the air conditioning. It doesn't matter if it is in the house or the car. He likes to open his mouth and have the cold air flow into his mouth. 

4. Hoover avoiding eye contact with the mini schnauzer dogs. There are three little schnauzers that line up at the fence and yap at our dogs. Hoover wants to bark at them and charge the fence, but we tell him no. Now when we walk by he looks the opposite direction and whines as we pass.

3. Hoover's shrinking spider toy. Hoover has had a lot of toys. Many of them have taken a beating. Hoover's spider toy took quite a beating, but Hoover wouldn't give it up. It kept losing a leg to each foster dog that came along. Hoover loved that spider. Mum finally tossed it when we moved. 


2. Wiley was terrified of plastic bags. So Wiley was in the car with my parents going home from the grocery store. He was sitting in the back of the truck with the groceries when a plastic bag rolled toward him. He leaped to the front and landed in mum's lap. I'm told he refused to move.

1. Dakota climbing a mountain of cushions. My parent's first malamute had a leg amputated. The vet didn't want her getting up on things after surgery, but Dakota was a stubborn malamute and kept trying to get on the sofa. Mum stacked several cushions on the sofa to prevent Dakota from jumping on. When she came back, Dakota was laying on top of the stack of cushions, which was about three feet high.  Mum decided to give up. 

     Hmmm, Lizzie doesn't show up in the Top Ten. I guess she is always so serious.    

     Hoover's fan club grows every day. Hoover went to Bell Trace on Labor Day with dad. He met a seven year old girl who loved on him. She liked him so much she drew a portrait of him. I like the portrait. I see some of similarities. 

Lizzie and the Great Escape

    I've begun a new experience in life. It is also a loud experience and Hoover doesn't like loud experiences. I'm talking about middle school and the trombone. I've left University school for Tri-North. It has been interesting at Tri-North. Interesting in that I have so many more teachers now, and that I have to wake up much earlier. I'm starting to play the trombone at school. Hoover doesn't like hearing me practice at home. He runs away. I'm not too good right now, but he doesn't have to be that critical. In a few months he might not run away. 
     Hoover had a nickname for a few days, for those few days we called Hoover "monkey butt". We found out Hoover had a food allergy. The allergies caused him to constantly gnaw at his back end. This caused all the fur around his buttocks to fall off, thus giving birth to the name "monkey butt". The vet gave Hoover some medication. To help soothe his bottom, dad throws corn starch at his bottom while mum pets him. It's kind of funny to watch.
      Lizzie has been very active the past few days. One of the things she did was slip through the gate and trotted down our driveway despite us calling her name. She would look back at us but she never stopped. We were concerned she might run into the road. Luckily, she smelled something and she just had to check it out. I was able to get in front of her and mum came up behind to nab her. Lizzie is protective of the new dog pad mum got for Nikita. When I was flicking the corner of the pad, she suddenly play bowed and nipped at my foot. Nikita should be the one using the dog pad. Fortunately, we have two extra pads now. 

  Nikita has gotten a little bit better. She doesn't need as much support on her short walks. She has gotten accustomed to her sling, which helps her stay up. She wants to go farther on her walks, but mum and dad redirect her because they know she has to walk back. Lizzie has become Nikita's best friend because she has figured out Nikita gets treats with her pills. 
    The soccer season will soon start. We've already started practicing. I'm looking forward to playing 11 v 11 with my teammates. Getting to play on a bigger field will be interesting. 
     Maybe by the time the next blog comes out, I will know how to play a song on the trombone. Maybe Hoover will finally like my music.
    

Slow Goes Nikita

    Nikita didn't have the best week. The reason for this is her back right leg doesn't support her anymore. She can walk or maybe it is more like a wobble. She is having trouble pulling herself up and staying up to go to the bathroom. So to help her we have put more rugs and mats around the house. We give her a little boost when she needs to get up. We borrowed one of mum's coworker's doggie sling to help Nikita use the restroom. Now every time she goes out mum or dad are with her. She has improved some since the first time her right leg failed her. She can now turn around much easier. She is also on a few more medicines. She is even becoming playful again. She was play bowing outside tonight. She still enjoys dinner time! I think mum is spoiling her more than ever.
     The cozy corner has returned, better than ever. I say that because I've now added extra padding to make it even cozier. Mum has even hung out in it, too. Of course we still have to take precautions and protect it from hurricane Hoover. He has been allowed in a few times, but always under close supervision. We don't want another incident where hurricane Hoover destroys the fort with his big body. The cozy corner gets to stay up until school starts!!!!  
     I was over at a friend's house today. I was able to eat my first seafood boil. It was delicious! I definitely want to have it again.Then something not so pleasant happened. We were playing soccer and I kicked the ball into the neighbor's yard. When I went to kick it out, I felt a pain in my arm. I thought it was a bee or wasp so I ran off. My friend went to get his mom. When I checked my arm, I saw a wasp stuck in my sleeve trying to escape. I panicked and attacked my arm trying to get it off. Then everyone sprinted away. Afterwards, we avoided that part of the neighbor's yard. I want to thank my friend's mom for putting ice on my arm. It was all okay because we finished off the day with s'mores. When I got home, it was starting to hurt again. I wanted to help take the dogs for a walk so we wrapped an ice pack around my arm and off we went. It was nice because I stayed cool on the walk.