Learning Patience in 2010

There a ton of pictures and posts I've been meaning to do but our Internet service is mysteriously down in our apartment. Time Warner...why do you hate us!?!? Just kidding...it's probably something silly like pressing an "on" button or plugging something in. Until then, here's a couple pictures of my snow bunny-dog.



**Disclaimer: Photos were taken a few years ago in Southern Utah (Brianhead). We've gotten some snow here in New York but not THAT much!

Memories are made of these

Yep, we went camping again this year for Thanksgiving and had a ball. Per usual, I had our yearly family photo taken.

Obviously this isn't the one going on the cards, but my sister says it's the one that suits us the best. I'm not sure that's a compliment ;)

Charlie and Me

Charlie and me a long while back on Long Island. I'm testing trying to make my picture size larger thanks to Plays With Needles' post.

I think this size looks better:

My normal "large" upload:

Random NYC Photo

Speaking of pups, here's a random photo of our pups in Central Park. We normally take the pups to our neighborhood's park and since we can't throw them on the subway, bus, or cab...they normally don't go to Central Park with us.

But in September I surprised my husband for his birthday by helping get two of his Vegas buddies to fly in to see him for the weekend. We had a gorgeous Sunday that weekend, grabbed the truck, and took them to see Central Park with the pups.

So after that incredibly long story, here's my husband, his friends, the pups, and a weird spirally hedge design in Central Park.

Dog Days of November

I got the idea of Dog Days of November from The Literate Housewife during her Dog Days of Summer stint.

My husband and I read The Art of Racing in the Rain and both really liked it and I've been meaning to review it. I just finished Now & Then yesterday and am reading Giv: The Story of a Dog and America.

So I figured, what the hey. Let celebrate these dog-centric books by having a few reviews and a few giveaways. Yeah??

Stick around for these three reviews and giveaways for The Art of Racing in the Rain AND Now & Then.

And of course, can't help posting a photo of me and my dog, Charlie:
*Note: I do like my feet nice and toasty and no...I didn't burn my socks off.

Random Charlie Photo

I posted this via Twitter last night but thought I'd put it here too.

This is what our Charlie Dog loves to do all night long. He scopes out the 'hood. Burglars beware.

Vote for Charlie

Happy Sunday Everyone!

So I entered my Charlie Dog into a photo contest over at WeTv. If you want to, please head over there to vote for him. You can use this link. Thank you!

Raining Dogs

It's been raining cats and dogs here in New York City the last few days. And boy are we all tired of it. The weather definitely affects the whole mood of the city...after days of rain and cold we are all a little grumpy. So I have to keep looking on the bright side of things. 1) Our park is now nice and green because of all the rain AND 2) it's sometimes sort of fun to dry down the dogs.

I drop the towel on them and let them go nuts. They look like little puppy ghosts.
Anna was so fast I couldn't keep up. She just spun and spun until she ripped the towel off:
Then she got right in my face to tell me she didn't think it was very funny:
Charlie was a good sport though. I mess with him so much he just sits and takes it:
I call this one Santa Anna:

What do you enjoy about long rainy days?

Random Charlie Photo

Happy Friday the 13th!

Snowy Day in NYC

Well, it's snowing again today here in New York City. The puppies love it though. So I thought I'd post a few pictures I took while I had the day off from work on MLK day.

Here's our lovely snowy park:

I thought it was so cool that the pond and the river was freezing over.

Even the Harlem River was frozen over. The current was carrying big chunks of ice down.

Anna loved watching the ice. She's a water dog (Chesapeake Bay retriever) and she just wanted to jump in. Charlie just barked at the ice when it moved.
I finally got a good photo of Anna. She's never stays still long enough.
It's a bit hard to take a photos when you have these two dragging you around. But I think I got some good pics.



For some reason, the birds balancing on the ice just cracked me up. I had to hide dogs behind a tree so they didn't scare the birds.Hope you enjoyed the winter photos!

What to do

Obviously I am procrastinating. I have a TON of homework to do and since I've been under the weather my brain has turned to mush. I just re-read the text book lines over and over and over.

So while I try to understand the six phases of the Database Life Cycle (DBLC), head on over to Old Red Barn Co. and try and win one of three quilts. For FIFTY extra entries you can do a YouTube video for it. I would LOVE to make people do something like that.

Also head over to The Handmade Quilt for a chance to win another quilt. This one is for a good cause.

By the way, how does Old Red Barn Co. get such nice photographs...where does she live and what kind of backyard is this:
Seriously, if we had a backyard, it would have dead grass, dead trees, and a dog or two tugging on the quilt. Sigh...

O wait...we used to have a backyard (in Las Vegas). Let's see how it looked:
Hmmm. Dead grass, check. Dead tree, check. Dog or two (Charlie and his little buddy Koa), check. Hmmm...maybe I shouldn't win a quilt.

I Voted

Last night an hour before the polls closed, the husband and I walked the dogs and I popped in to vote. Really, it's the best time to go...no lines at all which was NOT the case in the morning.

Here's some things I learned about voting in NYC:

1) They don't give out "I voted" stickers. Aww. It's the little things, really.

2) And I've never voted via levers and toggles. Seriously, check this out (photo taken from this blog):

Are you kidding me? How old school is that? First you pull that red lever all the way to the right to start voting. Then you flip the toggle/switch thing to check who you are voting for. Finally you pull the red thing back to the left to cast your vote. Wow. I'm glad I watched this guy's video (he's from my 'hood) before I went so I would know how it works.

Regardless of which candidate won, I am just excited to see what the next four-year term brings.

Even the puppies are excited (we were non-partisan in picking out the toy...they just liked the elephant..):

Auburn Weekend

We are off this weekend to Auburn, Alabama for to meet up with old friends and watch an Auburn football game. While this hasn't been Auburn's best year, we are still going to cheer the team on. I'll be back hopefully with fun photos. The pups can't go but they will be cheering the team on too.

Charlie's Hideout

Can you spot him?

Charlie Sleeps Weird

Both of our big dogs sleep in our room with us. I know this is going to scare my family (I'm allergic to dogs actually) but what can you do, right? I like it. They both have nice new dog beds so the whole family is crammed in one little room. This also cuts down on air conditioning costs since we only have to turn on our room's air during the night.

But for some reason, Charlie always gets up and sleeps somewhere weird. Usually in front of the bedroom door. I think he's being our guard dog. But the weird thing is he looks so uncomfortable.

What do you think?
I think my head and neck would start hurting.
Do your pets sleep weird?

Charlie is a Couch Potato

My dog Charlie (who's official full name is "Charlie Dog") loves watching T.V.

Now there's some people out there who might think that dogs can't really see the screen.

I beg to defer. Charlie will sit and watch t.v. with us. Of course he has his favorite movies and shows.

For instance, he really liked watching Disney's Eight Below about a dog sled team.

Sometimes when my husband plays video games, Charlie will go right up to the screen and put his nose on it.

So what is Charlie watching here????



It's the 2008 Puppy Games on Animal Planet. His favorites are the water games and soccer games.

Does your pet watch T.V.??

Friday = Curling Up with Charlie

Today I switched shifts to cover a co-worker who is out on vacation. But through scheduling mishaps and miscellanous mayhem, I ended up getting stuck with a ten hour day. Ouch! And on a Friday! And it's gorgeous out! Sigh.

Only an hour and a half to go and I'm out of here. While I curl up for a nap, maybe with Charlie as a blanket or pillow, my husband will cook up some fajitas for dinner. I'm a lucky gal.
*Photo taken pre-NYC days

Random Charlie Post

My dog Charlie doesn't have a lot of tricks up his sleeve. Unlike Anna Bear who can fetch and run and swim really well. But....

He is adorable:

And he can shake:
And he can lick:
And he can wink:
And he can yawn:
And he wears hats well:

And he can be bashful:
And he can glare (when I'm taking too many photos):

Thanks for letting me post pictures from my new camera!!