Thanksgiving wrap up……

So Thanksgiving this year was a unique one. My thanksgiving started on Wednesday with my grandmother’s funeral. The funeral was a nice small one. The family got together for what would be my first of 3 Thanksgivings for this year. It was nice to see the family together again.

I did get to do a little shopping after the family time. I like to go to those military surplus stores and see what I can find. Well I found 2 matching bags that would work great for my bike. I am slowly working on turning my new mountain bike into a commuter/mountain bike. I plan on making this bike look like a WWII military jeep. I have this idea in my head about how I want to do it. The bags that I got are going to be the rear panniers, but one problem…….. the clips on the bag do not fit on the rear rack. I’m going to find a way to make it work. I will eventually repaint the bike the flat green.

So Thursday started of on a good foot. I had a full class and burned over 1,000 calories. After coming home and cleaning up I headed to turkey eating #2. I once again ate too much and did what I told my fellow “Turkey burners” I would do, eat 3 pieces of desert. After everyone finished eating the cold front came in. It dropped from around 80 to 60 in about an hour. Here I was in shorts and a t-shirt. I decided that I needed to head home to get some warmer cloths on and so I could go spend Thanksgiving #3 with my friends. I was still full from lunch but I still ate a little, how could I resist pot roast?? My friends asked me if I wanted to join them for Black Friday shopping but I thought I would be better off sleeping in.

From bad to good……

Well yesterday I had plans to get up early and head out to do a bunch different things with Diggs. Well right before I stated getting ready I got a call from my mom. My grandmother passed away at 2am. I spent the next few hours making calls to other members of the family and to friends. After all that I decided that the best thing for me to do was to go on with some of what I had planned to do. So I got dressed and Diggs and I headed to the farmers market for our weekly walk. The adoption organization that I got Diggs from was there trying to find new homes for other dogs. Their goal was to find new homes for at least 10 dogs, they found homes for 11. Well Diggs and I walked over to where the tent was set up. As we were walking around a lady walked up and asked, “Is that Diggs.” I told her it was and she told me about the last time she had seen Diggs witch was right after they had found him on the streets. She said that he was very skinny and so happy that he has put weight on. She then wanted me to talk to the lady that was in charge. I had e-mailed them a few days before this event to let them know how digs was doing and told them the story about Diggs and the girl from the week before. She was so happy to see that Diggs was doing so great. It made me feel so good to know that I have such a great dog. I even got to see Ruffles, she is a Shar Pei mix and if Diggs had not worked out I would have adopted her. I was so shocked to see that no one had adopted her yet. She is such a sweet girl. Well after we spent some time with the other dogs we headed to go shop for some food. I could not get much because we were not going to be home till late. I did get some tangerines. As I walked away from the table I decided to get a bag for the volunteers that were at the tent with the dogs. I handed the delicious tangerines to the lady in charge and told her that I wanted to give back a little for the good work that they do. Oh about the tangerines, they are some of the best I have ever had. The couple who sells them are some of my farmer friends that I have met through going to the market. They are organic growers and have the best watermelons when they are in season.

After the farmers market digs and I headed to a new park that I had never been to. This park is where a lot of the mountain bikers go and I wanted to go take a look before I loaded up the bike and headed out there. The park is on the other side of town so it takes a little while to get there. The park was good except that they restricted the number of trails that dogs can go on. There was a 1.5 mile loop or a 4 mile loop that dogs were allowed on. Diggs and I headed off on the long one. We saw a few people out on the trails witch surprised me seeing as it was not very hot out and an overall great day. When we finished with the walk I wanted to spend a little more time alone so I grabbed the book that I am reading, Rescuing Sprite by Mark R. Levin, and headed to one of the picnic tables and read a little. I have not gotten very far in the book but I really like it. I left my camera at home so I don’t have any pictures for you right now. I did take a few pictures with my phone and I will post those later.

On the drive home I came up with an idea on how I could honor my grandmothers life, to cook one of my favorite things that she use to make for us. So when I got home I started making her peach cobbler. It did not come out as good as hers was but I baked it out of love. So my day started out bad but ended on a high note.

So when I woke up today I thought about heading out to another park with Diggs. I looked outside and the sky looked like it was going to rain at any moment. I decided to stay home and get a few things done. In the middle of the day got a call from a friend saying that they were going to take me out to lunch. It was great to spend time with my friend and had a great meal. Tonight I spent most of the night looking online for bowls for Diggs’ crate and some travel water bowls. The one that I had gotten before was not working out like I had hoped it would. The bowl I had was too flimsy for water. It would make a great food bowl for when we are out and about. Now that I have finished writing this post I’m going to pick up the book and read a little before I head off to sleep. Diggs has been fast asleep for some time now; guess he is still tired from yesterday’s day out.

Dog park fun.....

Well today I took Diggs and Lilly to the dog park. It was fun getting both of them in the Jeep but I made it work. As soon as we got into the park people were coming over to see Lilly and Diggs. We were there in the middle of the week so it was not too busy. We walked around a little. I did let Lilly off the leash for a little while and she played with a few dogs. She spent most of the time at my side. Diggs did great with greeting new dogs. He is still a little reserved but it looks like he is getting better. I talked to a few people that were there about it and got a few ideas. After the park we headed to the pet store to walk around and see what was on sale.

Time for the groomers……

Well today Diggs went to the groomers. This was the first time, that I know of, that he had ever been. I dropped him off with Lilly and told them his little quirks. Let me explain. When I first adopted Diggs, his foster family said that he does not like his feet being touched. I have touched them and cleaned them off many time without the “your killing me” whining that they said he does. I also told them about his reserve with other dogs. I also told them that I wanted my dog back when he is finished; you see I know that people fall in love with him and I was messing with them. Well off he went into the room. He was a little reluctant to go but not as bad as Lilly. Have you ever tried to get a 110 pound dog to walk when she does not want to walk….. It took 3 of us. Well Diggs and Lilly had to stay there for a while so I went back home. It was a little strange being home with him. It was time to go get him. I was looking forward to knowing how he did. Well I got his progress report…… It said “Very good all together but didn’t like dryer” and in big letters, “Very loveable and soft!!” When he came out he looked so great. He was fluffy and looked like he gained 5 pounds. He was so happy to see me; jumping around and not only wagging his tail, but the back half of his body.

Diggs in his "room" after coming home from groomers.

He is so fluffy...

Day of fun……

Diggs and I had a big day planed today. The day started like any other day…. We got up and got our breakfast. We then headed out to the farmers market. Diggs always loves car rides and today was no different. He could not decide whether to sit up front in the passenger seat next to me or in the back where he could look out 3 different windows. We got to the market and it was very busy. They were having another event and parking was crazy. We finally got parked and went to see all our farmer friends. We walked around for quite some time and Diggs was loving all the attention he was getting. He always turns heads and people want to pet him and know more about him. After a while I decided that we needed a little break and I wanted to eat one of the pastries that I had gotten. This is when Diggs shined…. I will warn you, this story makes me tear up every time I tell it…..

So Diggs and I were sitting up against the wall in the breezeway taking a break. Across the breezeway I noticed a special need girl in a wheelchair. She had her head down and seemed very sad. Her father was standing there talking to the other children. He turned and noticed Diggs and told his daughter, “Look at the puppy.” She slowly looked over then went back to looking down in her lap. Diggs and I walked over to them and Diggs (without any coaching from me) walks over to the wheelchair and stands so that the girl could pet him. She put her hand down and started petting him. She could not open her hand all the way but was petting him with the back of her fingers. Her father and I were talking about what breed Diggs was and how I came to get him. I looked over to make sure that Diggs was behaving and I saw one the happiest kids in the world. She had the biggest smile on her face and she was moving around in her wheelchair with excitement. We were there for 20 min and Diggs would not leave her side. When we left the girl said bye to Diggs and still had that big smile on her face. Now I have been thinking about training Diggs to be one of those dogs that go to children’s hospitals, nursing homes, and places like that. After this, I know that Diggs would be great at it.

We finished our time at the market and it was time for even#2….. the dog park. Now if you have never seen Diggs around other dogs you would not know that he is very reserved and timid around other dogs until he gets use to them. I am working with him to get his social skills and confidence back. So we get to the park and guess what…. busy. I thought great, lots of dogs. We park and walk to the fenced in area. I kept Diggs on a leash so that I could monitor him and make sure he did not show any fear aggression towards other dogs. We walked around for a while and people were coming over to see Diggs. He did well with most of the dogs but was still a little scared of others. I spent some time talking to a lady with a golden retriever who was addicted to balls. She would throw the ball and he would bring it back. If she waited too long he would put his head into her purse to get out the ball she brought from home, even though her had 4 balls at his feet. Diggs and I headed back to the Jeep. When I opened the back of the Jeep Diggs jumped in and went straight to the driver’s seat and took a nap. It had been a long day already. I sat in the back of the Jeep for a little while letting Diggs rest for a bit. I then realized that I was running late for the next thing.

Time for event# 3…. bar-b-q at dad’s. So my brother Chris was coming into to town this weekend and I knew that my dad has been wanting to do a bar-b-q for some time now so I suggested he do it when Chris was in town. So Diggs and I show up and I see that there were a few more people there than I thought that would be there. It was nice to see the family. My dad and step mom do not like dogs in the house so I had to tie Diggs up outside. I was worried that he would whine but he would just lie in the grass. When we were done eating Chris’ two kids went outside to play with Diggs. This was the first time that they had seen him. After a little while the came running in to tell us how much they loved him. We all sat around and talked and had a great time. When it was time to leave I realized that no one in the family, except my dad and step mom, had ever seen Diggs. Let’s just say that Diggs is a happy member of the family.

I know that this is a long post but this was a long day and I know that both Diggs and I are going to sleep good tonight!!

Diggs walking in the dog park.

Diggs taking a nap.

Diggs wanting to drive.

Would you look at that face.

Weekend wrap up……

Well this weekend was a blast!!

Saturday started off with a trip to the pet store with Diggs. Diggs loves Jeep rides. He will sit in the back and walk from one wheel well to the other so he can look out and see the world. Sometimes he jumps into the passenger seat and look out the front. We went to the store to do a little price shopping and see if there was anything we could not live without. We found a new harness that I am thinking of getting for him. After the pet store Diggs and I headed to the farmers market. Right as we were pulling into the parking lot I got a message from one of my friends that they were on their way to the farmers market. It was great having friends with me. They fell in love with Diggs from the moment they first saw him. As always, Diggs got lots of love and lots of petting from the people at the market. He always turns heads and he knows people are looking at him. After we finished at the market I had to head home to change and go to work.

Sunday was not as eventful. It started off with Diggs and I working a little on his training. I will be enrolling him into basic training soon, but I want to get a head start. He learns so quickly. After that I had to head off to work. After work I came home and made Diggs a new toy…… Well parts of it only lasted 15 min. I used the wrong type of rope. I will be getting some better rope and make him a new toy. I also ordered a ne kennel and some other things for him. I can’t wait to get them in.

Today was also uneventful. Took Diggs to a different pet store and got him a ball, a pigs ear, and some treats. After that we played in the yard for a little while before I had to go to work.