Her lean and lanky frame makes Waffle the picture of power and health. She is very athletic and we have yet to see how tall she is going to be. She passed up Casey in the height department before her 7 month birthday. Though Waffle was still a few pounds lighter but I’m sure she will pass her up on that too before much more time passes.
Waffle was on the reserved side with how much she wagged her tail when she was little. She always had a happy little tail wag for any stranger but she didn’t seem to have one for me. Maybe it was just that I was always around. She is much more liberal with her tail wagging now and when she gets excited her tail actually goes in a circle.
I had a really hard time trying to get a picture or her tail wagging. As you can see I didn’t succeed very well. Every time I pulled out the camera to get her tail she would spin around so her head was facing me or she would sit down.
Waffle loves to play and she will find ways to push another dogs buttons in an effort to engage them in play. Her favorite tactic is to steal whatever toy Casey is chewing on. She also likes to chew on the Casey’s legs or other body parts to get her attention.
I’ve decided to do a Calender for 2013. While I haven’t done a Calender every year I’ve done one for family and friends more years than I haven’t. This years Calender started out as a wish to do something beautiful with the phrase “keep the faith”. I like the idea of a Calender because it is useful and if someone really likes the image for a particular month they can keep it after the Calender is finished.
Once I’d decided that the project was going to be a Calender I had to come up with short phrases for each month. After some brainstorming I asked Bill to help me pick which ones we would use. Then it was time to get to work. I originally started laying out “keep the faith” in InDesign using Before the Rain by font designer Mans Greback but as I thought of all the months I needed to layout and I didn’t want to use the same font on all of them but I wanted them to be beautiful I decided that I would change things up and do each phrase by hand. I hope I won’t regret this but so far I’m having fun working with pencil and paper instead of my computer for a change of pace. I keep telling myself that I’m looking for an organic look not something precise and perfect so it lends itself to being hand drawn. But I’m lacking in confidence that I can pull this off.
I have sketched out each of the 13 phrases that I’ll be using on my calendar and I’ve continued to use Mans Greback’s fonts as inspiration to help me have a good variety of styles from image to image. I’d love some feedback on what I have so far. So fire away.
Waffle had wet ears many of the days she was in our home. Casey has a weakness for puppy ears. She loves to suck on them. She just can’t seem to help herself. The only thing that helps is bitter apple. But that only lasts a day or two and then she is back at sucking on Waffle’s ears.
Waffle is very patient about it and in some ways actually seems to enjoy it when Casey sucks on her ears. Sometimes even the top of her head gets all slobbered on. So Waffle with wet ears is a common sight.
With her cute face, fun personality and soulful eyes, Waffle attracts lots of attention everywhere we go. She has lots and lots of fans.
The kids at church always want to come and pet her. She loves the kids but she has a challenge with them petting her on her head. She sees there little hands coming down toward her head and she thinks that it is a game and that she is supposed to catch their fingers with her mouth. They see her mouth opening and they pull their hands back reinforcing the game. Waffle does better if they will give her chest a rub instead of the top of her head.
From John Jacques:
The great object now was, to save as many of the people as possible, to which everything else must give way, and the lives of the people depended in great degree, on the lives of the teams so it was essential to spare the animals all unnecessary labor.
Under this arrangement, the company started from Devil’s Gate, westward, and about three miles away, crossed the Sweetwater to the north side, and camped at a place, since known as Martin’s Ravine.
It is not exactly a ravine, but a recess, or opening in the mountains, which here ran along near the river. The passage of the Sweetwater at this point, was a severe operation to many of the company. It was the worst river crossing of the expedition. It was the last ford that the emigrants waded over. The water was not less than two feet deep, perhaps a little more in the deepest parts, but it was intensely cold. The ice was three or four inches thick, and the bottom of the river, muddy or sandy. I forget exactly how wide the stream was there, but I think thirty or forty yards. It seemed a good deal wider than that to those who pulled their handcarts through it. Before the crossing was completed, the shades of evening were closing around, and, as everybody knows, that is the coldest hour of the twenty-four, or at least it seems to be so, in a frosty time, and it seemed so then, for cold enough it was.
From Samuel Openshaw:
We traveled about two miles, crossed over the Sweetwater, some on the ice and others waded through, which was about 3 1/2 feet deep. James Lord and myself pulled the handcart across the creek. The women and children were all carried across by some of the brethren who had come from the valley.
From John Jacques:
The teams, wagons, handcarts, and some of the men forded the river. A son of Heber C. Kimball, and a son of George D. Grant, and I believe several others of the relief party, waded the river, helping the handcarts through, and carrying the women and children, and some of the weaker of the men over. If I were certain of the names of all those brave waders, I would insert them here.
The handcart company rested in Martin’s ravine two or three or more days, though under the shelter of the northern mountains, it was a cold place. One night, the gusty wind blew over a number of the tents, and it was with difficulty some of the emigrants kept from freezing.
At length, preparations having been completed for a final start from Devil’s Gate and vicinity, the handcart company left the ravine. The precise date I cannot give, but I think it must have been about the 19th of November. I cannot remember the handcarts after leaving the ravine, and my impression is that none were taken from there, but some persons of the company think that a few carts were taken along several days longer.
Be that as it may, by this time, there was a sufficiency of wagons to take in most, if not all, of the baggage of the company, and to carry some of the people.
It was a trying time, that day in leaving the ravine. One perplexing difficulty was to determine who should ride, for many must still walk, though, so far as I recollect, and certainly for most of the company, the cart pulling occupation was gone. There was considerable crying of women and children, and perhaps a few of the men, whom the wagons could not accommodate with a ride. One of the relief party remarked that in all the mobbings and drivings of the “Mormons” he had seen nothing like it. Cyrus H. Wheelock could scarcely refrain from shedding tears, and he declared that he would willingly give his own life if that would save the lives of the emigrants.
After a time, a start was effected and the march was recommenced along the valley of the Sweetwater, toward the setting sun.
From Samuel Openshaw:
Having to leave all the flour that it was thought we could do without [to supply the 20 men staying behind with the freight etc.] until we should meet a fresh supply from the valley, we now realized that such low rations and our bodily strength having been so much reduced by our former privations, and being such cold and inclement weather, a great many died. However, we made another start, some with bundles on their backs, a number of others would join together and put them on a handcart. Some would be crying, others singing, and thus went trudging along as best we could.
According to family tradition Mary’s mother, Harriet Taylor, died and was buried in Martin’s Cove on November 10th with just brush and snow as a covering because the ground was frozen too hard to dig a decent grave. Now it was Mary was alone with Cousin Eliza having lost her first her father, than her husband and now her mother.
Ever watchful, Waffle is often content to just see what is happening from a far. She has an intense gaze and seems to be taking it all in and analyzing the world around her. When we took the FrontRunner commuter train for a puppy class she made sure that she could see up and down the aisle. Then she was content to watch what was happening. She didn’t fall asleep, she stayed alert the whole trip to Layton and back.
Waffle can be wary of new or unusual situations. We did a photo shoot at a studio and she wasn’t at all happy with the situation. She was good and patient about it but she didn’t like it.
The first time we went to puppy class she was not at all sure about going into a strange house. She soon learned about new houses and now has no trouble.
Waffle is never wary about people. She loves to met new people and she thinks that everyone she meets is just as happy to meet her.
Waffle has a kind heart deep inside. Sometimes her excitement can hide that tender side. She has grown-up with another puppy in training, Casey. They snuggle together every night and sometime when they are hanging out at a meeting. Waffle likes to snuggle up beside us when we sit on the floor.
We took her to the State Fair and she was really interested in all the animals. She was very gentle and the animals were very interested in her too.
telling family tales 