Lately Shadow has been a little snuggle bug… and I’m happy to snuggle with him! But, the minute Daddy gets home, he wants nothing to do with me! I keep trying to remind him who actually rescued him, but apparently the person who gives him the most biscuits wins! Happy Thursday!
I know it’s not Saturday, but I got this really cute picture of Shadow this morning and thought I’d share. He’s been such a good puppy the last couple of weeks with Mike being gone. He’s used to a lot of attention and Mike normally does a lot of “rough” playing with him that I don’t do. Top that off with the fact that all weekend it’s been really smokey here so I’ve kept him inside and you’ve got a lot of built up lab energy. He has been breaking the rules and snuggling in bed with me at night… shhh…. don’t tell Mike!
Ok, so I may have said “the B word” to get him to look at the camera (biscuit). Don’t worry, I followed up with one for him. It makes me sad to see how grey he’s getting… a reminder that time passes for us all I guess. He’s also got more of the fatty tumors that labs apparently get… I’ve been told by the vet that they’re pretty normal and that they don’t like to do anything to them unless they bother the dog.
Living in the foothills has it benefits – we have land, few neighbors, lots of cool critters. Well, today I had my first run in with a snake without Mike. I have plenty of run-ins with lizards all the time and my first thought is generally “Whew, thank goodness that wasn’t a snake”.
I knew right away it wasn’t a rattle snake, so I ran inside to get my camera so that I could share with you folks. And, I knew once I got inside I would get super confused when I started Googling. Fortunately, a squirrel made a noise and Shadow ran off to chase it, so I was able to poke at the snake with a long pole. Unfortunately, that sucker turned and took off back into Shadow’s pen (not sure if it came from there to begin with). For once is his short little life, Shadow actually listened to me and came to me instead of chasing the snake. Maybe I actually sounded authoritative.
As it turns out, this is a California Striped Racer. They are known for their speed, their daytime activity, and they sometimes eat rattlesnakes. I’m kinda glad I grabbed the pole rather than the shovel I was thinking about.
Happy Saturday everyone!
I love these paws!
Eight years ago today, a sweet little black lab puppy was born. A short two years after that, Shadow wiggled his way into my life. Happy 8th birthday!
Yesterday I needed to head to Petco to get some dog food and saw a really cute “indestructible” chipmunk that we named Chip. Or so the label said. We pretty much know that no toy is safe with Shadow, but I keep trying. I have visions of him snuggled up with his little *insert cute animal here*.
This was the longest one of these has lasted – it took about half an hour for him to get the stuffing (and squeaker) out. That really is some sort of record – normally it’s about 30 seconds before the stuffing is flying. Once all of the stuffing is out, he likes to move it around for a couple of days, tearing off a tail or an ear every now and then. He doesn’t eat any of it – just pulls and spits.
Today he ate Chip’s face off. So much for that sweet dream.
These pictures are from a few weeks back when we had about five or six inches of snow on our property. The first, of Shadow running, makes me laugh. I somehow caught him in full flight with his ears flopping around. I love it. The second is a picture of his paw print in the snow. He’s such a great dog and it’s always so much fun to see him running around like that!
Today we decided that since a decent storm went through this week we’d give snowshoeing another try. At the last minute I told Mike that I wanted to take Shadow along with us. The only snow that he’s really ever seen is the couple of inches we get once or twice a year. I thought it’d be fun for him to come out and hike around a bit. We had the best time! I’m so proud of him… he hiked along with Mark, Mike, and I like he’s been doing it for years. He did get a little tired at the end, but figured out that if he walked in Mark’s tracks, it was a lot less work.
The weather was beautiful – it actually started snowing on the drive up, stopped for the beginning of the hike and then started again right at the end. We ended up hiking 3.24 miles in a couple of hours (there was some pretty good uphill chunks this week).
We are both pooped. It was a great hike and if we had our way both of us would still be napping. I can’t wait to take him on another grand adventure!
It does not suck to be a pet in the Blankenheim household.
The weather reports said it was supposed to rain today. I guess technically, it did. In the form of snow. Five inches of it! It was a little unnerving to drive as it’s falling… especially when it gets really heavy. It was down way lower than it normally is (our house is typically right at the snow line, yet I drove for about 20 minutes in it). It was really beautiful too. I spent a few minutes just sitting in my car when I got home watching it fall… it was so peaceful! Then I grabbed my camera, the dog, and headed out to play! Shadow has seen snow one or two other times. He loves to run in it and to eat it. This has to be one of my favorite pictures of him:
I’m still learning to photograph – lighting in the snow is still a little tricky for me. I love how the trees look when they get snow on them – especially the huge oak trees all over our property:
Down The Road I Go 