Monthly Archives: January 2013

My Joy Jar

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This week I found joy in:

  1. some of the names that were suggested for our soon to come “D” puppy
  2. Dune taking a nap under my desk
  3. warm house
  4. Mom & Dad coming down
  5. Dune playing with Zodiac
  6. Zodiac’s progress in staying calm around energetic boys
  7. Dune playing with her toys
  8. Dune learning to go down the stairs
  9. Dune!
  10. talking with Rochelle
  11. sleep
  12. reading all the name guesses for our “D” girl
  13. happy puppy faces
  14. a warm bed
  15. sleep
  16. silence after a Dune tantrum
  17. the sun
  18. looking at the Christmas card from Waffle
  19. cute quilt blocks for Heather’s quilt
  20. chatting with neighbors at book club
  21. teaching boy scouts about Guide Dogs for the Blind
  22. the progress Dune is making on being quiet

Pupdate

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Photo & Video Sharing by SmugMug (video of Dune sharing her opinion of the x-pen)

As if you haven’t heard enough about my puppies this week. But it is Friday, my traditional day to give update on my puppies. Forefront this week has been Dune’s arrival. We have had our trying moments since Wednesday but each day gets better. She finally pooped outside last night for the first time. And she learned to go down more than one step today and then surged ahead and took the flight of stairs all the way to the bottom. She is starting to really catch on to relieving outside. Tonight she went to the door but I didn’t clue in what she was telling me until she had a pee accident right there. Hopefully last night’s two-hour scream-fest will be the last. I think we have a tactic that helps her settle down and go back to sleep after she goes outside to relieve in the middle of the night. Tonight will be the test.

Zodiac went to work with Bill again today. Dune had her first “outing” she went to my sister’s house and got to meet her Career Change black lab Clifford. They got along very well. When Zodiac got home from work tonight they were both very happy to see each other and they played together for a few minutes. I’m very proud of the good big brother Zodiac is being.

The phase report came out yesterday as usual but Yakira was still in phase 7. The good part is that the rest of her string was in phase 7 too. So it can’t be that Yakira is having a challenge with the training. Maybe her trainer got sick or something like that. I’ll be very surprised if she isn’t in phase 8 next week.

Genealogy vs Story Telling

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There is so much great information out there and the main goal of my blog is to bring together in one place all the information you need to put together a great family story project. Though it is a task that will take a lifetime, I haven’t been doing enough of gathering these resources but I’m going to make sure that at least once each week I link you to a blog or other website with great information to help you tell your family’s tales. This post by Brandy is right on track. To really share you family stories you must have more than dates and other facts, story telling is the key. I’ll be watching Brandy’s series closely.

Dune is here!

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Dune in her x-pen

Our sweet little Dune girl arrived today via Delta airlines. It has been an eventful day full of joy and excitement. She finally fell asleep in her x-pen a little while ago. Dune is confident and knows her mind, she is sweet and seems so tiny. I forget how little they are when they come. I love her color she is on the dark side for a yellow lab but not so far that she is red. She is more of a dark honey color. I think she is the perfect color for her name.

It was fun to experience having a puppy come by plane. The photos below shows much of what it was like. I’m so tired that I’m not going to post much more today. These first few days are hard on the puppy and on the raiser too. We want to much to help them understand what we want them to do, especially when it comes to relieving. But so much has changed so fast in their young lives and they have no clue what you are asking them to do. Dune has a cute temperament to match her face and I’m certain that she will be a joy to raise, though it will surely be challenging at times.

Delta employees bring the crate with Dune and Eagle

Dune ready to get out of the crate

Dune taking a second thought about getting out of the crate. Eagle is in the back of the crate. He is sure he doesn’t want to come out.

Dune in my arms looking extra cute

And her name is . . .

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The door bell rang a few minutes ago and it was UPS with a box from GDB. Inside was the puppy packet and her name is Dune!!! I love it. She will be our little sand Dune. Her flight leaves in about an hour. I can’t wait to meet her.

This is so different from getting a puppy from the puppy truck. But it is fun too. I’ll post pictures as soon as I can get both of us under control when we get home from the airport.

Book of the Week – “fam-i-ly”

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I’ve decided that each week I will pick a book to highlight here on my blog. This weeks pick is called “fam-i-ly” by Michelle Andrews. What I like about it is how the many photos of the book placed. They picked a black background for the entire book and the photos are handled in a very consistent way that keeps things from getting too busy and lends continuity to the book. The way this book is laid out would work for many family projects.

The end of the book has a sweet poem written by a member of their family.

Family

It’s all about family because, sometimes bad things happen and someones hurt or someone does not stop hurting themselves. But your family’s there for you.

It’s all about family because, when your sick they care for you, they don’t ignore you, they pay attention. But your family’s there for you.

It’s all about family because, they cheer you up when your glum, they help you. They laugh, they have fun, they play, they spend time with others, they care and best of all they lover you.

That’s what family’s all about.

by Sidney Bookman

age 9 (unedited) 2006

 

D Names

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Yellow Question Mark

I’m sorry to be posting off topic again. But with a new puppy coming I just can’t seem to stay focused on anything else. So I’m going to embrace it, instead of fighting it and getting nothing done anyway.

If you are not familiar with how Guide Dogs for the Blind names their puppies, each litter is assigned a letter and all the puppies in that litter’s names start with that letter. We have been told that our puppy is from a litter assigned the letter D. Also they can only use names that are not in use by another puppy in training for Guide Dogs for the Blind, or one of their current breeder dogs or a working guide dog from Guide Dogs for the Blind. At any time they have about 3,000 dogs that have unique names. One of the traditions when waiting for a new puppy is to try to guess what name your puppy will have.

So I’ve compiled “D” name suggestions from friends and other puppy raisers and guide dog users I know, for our little yellow pup who is coming on Wednesday. I have a small prize for whoever guesses the right name. To enter, make new suggestions or vote for some of those already suggested. I’ll add new suggestions to the list as I get them.

  1. Dafina
  2. Dana
  3. Danna
  4. Dagny
  5. Dahlia
  6. Dainty
  7. Daisy
  8. Dakota
  9. Dala
  10. Dalmar
  11. Dame
  12. Damia
  13. Dancer
  14. Dandy
  15. Dangle
  16. Dani
  17. Danielle
  18. Danita
  19. Daphne
  20. Darcy
  21. D’Arcy
  22. Darling
  23. Darlington
  24. Darlin
  25. Daria
  26. Darma
  27. Dash
  28. Dasha
  29. Davine
  30. Dawn
  31. Dazzle
  32. Deanda
  33. DeAnn
  34. Deanna
  35. Dear
  36. Deb
  37. Debbie
  38. DebbieLynne
  39. Deborah
  40. Deer
  41. Dehli
  42. Deidre
  43. Deirdre
  44. Deja
  45. Delaney
  46. Delaudid
  47. Delay
  48. Delce
  49. Delicate
  50. Delight
  51. Delilah
  52. Dell
  53. Delphie
  54. Delphine
  55. Delirious
  56. Delta
  57. Deltona
  58. Delve
  59. Demur
  60. Denice
  61. Deschutes
  62. Descript
  63. Desma
  64. Deshi
  65. Destin
  66. Destiny
  67. Detour
  68. Deuce
  69. Devotion
  70. Diamond
  71. Dianna
  72. Diane
  73. Dianne
  74. Diantha
  75. Diedricha
  76. Didgi
  77. Dido
  78. Dill
  79. Dime (Dee-may)
  80. Dina
  81. Dindin
  82. Ding
  83. Ding-a-ling
  84. Dingbat
  85. Dingo
  86. Dink
  87. Dinka
  88. Diogi
  89. Dione
  90. Director
  91. Disa
  92. Discover
  93. Disguise
  94. Diva
  95. Divine
  96. Dixie
  97. Doaa
  98. Doe
  99. Doggon
  100. Dojo
  101. Dolce
  102. Dolly
  103. Dolores
  104. Dolphin
  105. Dominga
  106. Dominica
  107. Domino
  108. Dong
  109. Donna
  110. Dorcas
  111. Donut
  112. Dori
  113. Dorito
  114. Doro
  115. Dorothy
  116. Dorthy
  117. Dream
  118. Dreama
  119. Drew
  120. Duan
  121. Duana
  122. Dulce
  123. Dulche
  124. Dulcina
  125. Dunia
  126. Dusk
  127. Dynamic

Puppy #7

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Today I got confirmation that puppy #7 is coming this next week on Wednesday. We are getting a yellow lab female whose name starts with the letter “D”. She was born on November 11th and her parents are Bosworth and Cava. Yesterday I kept watching for an email from our club leader but it didn’t come. Then today when my husband was opening up the mail he started laughing. Our club leader sent a pick balloon in the mail with the news of our new little girl. I can’t wait to see her.

She is coming in with another puppy for our club on a Delta flight. That will be a whole new experience instead of the puppy truck. Guide Dogs for the Blind doesn’t send puppy trucks to Utah in the winter, so flying them in is the only option. They usually only fly in puppies when the puppy raiser raised a puppies parent. But GDB has more puppies to place now than raisers in the warmer areas can handle so they are willing to send the by plane.

I’ll post about her arrival as soon as I can get myself together while dealing with a 9 week old puppy.

My Joy Jar

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The things that made me smile this week are:

  1. getting my finished 50 for 50 book
  2. having a cat sitting on my lap
  3. seeing the creative expressions of the candy class participants
  4. looking at the card from Waffle and Carole
  5. installing Adobe CS 6
  6. cleaner air and warmer temperatures
  7. Bill finding the Christmas Card from Waffle
  8. Zodiac standing at the top of the stairs on my blanket
  9. the way zodiac runs through the snow, tucking his legs under and sort of pogo sticking around the yard
  10. being an animal sandwich (taking a nap between Zodiac and our cat)
  11. Zodiac playing hide n’ seek under the blanket
  12. thinking of getting a new puppy next week
  13. the way zodiac looks to me for a kibble when he resists jump on someone who walks by
  14. the toddler walking down the hall at the clinic
  15. the email with photos from Carrie and Casey
  16. getting Adobe CS 6 Premium
  17. photos of Waffle in her new home
  18. sharing the fun of candy as an art medium
  19. the hope of getting someone help for their challenges
  20. talking a walk in the “warm” weather with Zodiac
  21. Yakira in phase #7
  22. hot and crusty sourdough bread
  23. snow
  24. a female yellow lab with a “D” name coming next week

Lots of Pupdates

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It has been a fun week in getting news on our pups. When I think about it I’ve heard something from all of our pups in one way or another so lets take them in order.

Apex: you may remember that we are planning a cruise to Alaska with Apex & Sue. Sue is a super organized planner and she is keeping us on track in make plans for this exciting trip. This week she sent us an update some of the little details of our trip.

Banta: She is in perfect health. Banta recently had her annual trip to the vet for shots etc.

Carrie and Casey

Casey: We got a wonderful update from Carrie and Casey about their holiday travels including photos from Invermere. Plus some stories about a “couple of typical lab incidents.” She had some trouble eating a fleece blanket and the stuffing out of her dog bed while in her crate. Thankfully she didn’t develop a blockage and all is fine there. The other one had me laughing because she pulled something similar when she was being puppy sat when she was young. Here it is in Carrie’s words:

One night, I was up extremely late preparing for two important presentations the next day. I had 3 hours of sleep in total. Sometime in those 3 hours of sleep, Casey got up and consumed half of the cat’s litter in his litter box! Gross! I was in my business suit and high heels, cleaning up large amounts of upchucked litter, wondering if I could take her with me to the courtroom and if she was going to throw up cat litter all over the place while I made my submissions! She looked a little green but I called the vet to make sure she didn’t need to go in again and they said she should be okay. That was a really rough day. Since then, Casey is now happily on tie down on her bed, and I’ve installed a door thing to prevent her from gaining access to the litter box. She is so sneaky and mischievous sometimes but it is hard not to resist her beautiful brown eyes.

Casey running in the snow

Waffle: Bill was going through some mail and found a card stuck between two other pieces of mail from Waffle’s new partner! This was our first direct contact with Carole! We didn’t even have her name. I’d sent a couple of things to her via Guide Dogs for the Blind. But with career change situations if is up to the new owner to decide if they will have any kind of contact at all. Carole offered to send photos, so I popped her an email and we got a few photos of Waffle in her new life. Here is a little of what Carole said:

Waffle has a busy life.  She travels with me for work.  She’s been to Boston, Arizona, Costa Rica, New York so far. When we’re home she’s with our elderly boxer, Tucker, and her best friend, Evie – a 2 year old black lab.  She still doesn’t swim in the pool but I’m planning to teach her this summer.

Waffle

Now I can do the last version of Waffle’s puppyhood book, including or career and a little about her home and family.

Yakira: Puppy #5 is continuing to move along through training. This weeks phase report has her in phase #7! She will most likely be class ready next week and a new class is starting in Oregon on the 21st so it is possible that Yakira could be graduating as soon as February 2nd. Of course it will probably take longer than that for her to be partnered but who knows.

I need to get moving on Yakira’s book too. I’ve worked on it a bit but I’d like to have it pretty much done by the time we go to her graduation. Coming up with words that start with “Y” for her book isn’t the easiest thing to do but I think I’m close.

Zodiac: Our current puppy is doing well. He is really starting to mature and he kept things lively around here and he probably makes me laugh every day. He is such a fun-loving boy.

Puppy #7: Our club leader said to keep next Wednesday open for a new puppy to come. It isn’t 100% for sure yet but it is the first hard info we have had on our new puppy. Thinking of a new cute little puppy always brings a smile to my face.

It is amazing to me that with seven different dogs involved that we could have some kind of contact or information on each dog within a week span. That makes this week extra special to me.