Quail Misses Ava

Even though Quail only spent a week with Ava, she misses Ava too. Ava really was very good at playing with her. We did have to break them up occasionally when Ava would get too riled up, but for the most part, they played very well together.

Quail tries to play with Harley but Harley just growls at her. He is probably wondering why we traded in Ava for this smaller nippier model. He obviously has forgotten that when he was a little puppy, Gusto wanted nothing to do with him no matter how hard Harley tried to play with him.

Well, Quail ended up at the vet office one week earlier than her Seeing Eye schedule. She tried to play with Harley, he growled and he must have batted her with his paw and got her in the eye. So off we went to the vet. Thankfully no damage to her eye. But the screams she let out after Harley hit her really scared Harley. Now they seem to be equally scared of each other. Oh well, hopefully it will pass!

Harley Misses Ava

When Ava left, Harley actually played with Quail instead of ignoring her. We thought that maybe it was a breakthrough since he had pretty much ignored Quail until Wednesday. But by the next day, Harley seemed to realize Ava was still not around and he spent most of the day moping on our bed. Our vet tells me that I am probably anthropomorphizing -- that's a really big word, isn't it? Well, I think I'm going to continue to believe that Harley misses Ava. Afterall, we all do.

Ava's Gone

Yesterday was a sad day in our home. Ava returned to the Seeing Eye. Our Puppy Coordinator picked her up in the morning and like a good girl, Ava went with her without any problems. Ava turned 16 months old a few days ago.



It's a tradition in our home to take our pup to the park for one last walk before the pick up time. So off we went for one last spin around the lake.



The night before, we had time for some family photo ops of us and our temporary three dog family. Harrison and Olivia (the cats) were very happy to be left out of the picture.

It's nice to have Quail to fill the void but we still miss Ava terribly. We'll hear from Ava in about a month to let us know how her medical tests go. If all goes well, we'll get a few postcards over the next 6 to 9 months to let us know how school is going and then we'll be invited to her Town Walk.

XXS, M and L

I guess it really is true that you look bigger in pictures. Everyone that has seen a picture of Quail on my blog and then seen her in person says she is much smaller than the picture shows. She looks like a decent sized puppy in the above picture but she reallyis a lot smaller -- I think she looks bigger because she is sitting closer to the camera, kinda opposite of the way hobbits are filmed in The Lord of the Rings :-)

So it's been a zoo in our home. Not only did Quail arrive on Thursday, so did one of my sisters with her husband and stepson -- they'll be here a week. It has been handy though to have a 12 year old in the house -- he's been stepping up to puppywatching with no complaints.

In the meantime, we're enjoying having three dogs in the house. Ava leaves on Wednesday :-(

Puppy Breath, Soft Paws and Fat Little Bellies

The Seeing Eye delivered our new addition this morning! We were so excited when they called a few weeks ago to let us know that Quail would be joining our family.

She's an adorable little black lab and I really don't remember them being this small. Her health card doesn't list her current weight so I may have to find our bathroom scale or use Wii Fit to figure out how much she weighs.



So far she's had two meals here and she's a decent eater. Not very fast but it may be because the bowl is a bit on the big side. We'll have to get her a smaller bowl.


She is not afraid of Harley or Ava at all despite the fact that she can easily be stepped on. She chases after them and really really wants to play with them. Harley is very good with "playing down" to her size. Ava is playing more gently with her than she does with Harley but she is still a bit on the rough side. We don't want little Quail to get trampled so play time is very short.


I forgot how much I have to follow a little puppy around! But I am definitely loving it.


Images created using StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 and Delight Baby Predesigned Pages.

Avocado Dip -- yum!

A couple of people have been asking me for my guac recipe and of course, I've been very lazy about typing it up. Since I've been playing with StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 and I've been meaning to make up a recipe book in it, I decided to put my guac recipe in a 7x5 project and share.

It is a quick recipe to make although it is a lot of chopping of things. I like my guac on the chunkier side but you can make your avocado pieces as big or as small as you like. I can't remember where the recipe came from but I know it wasn't from a recipe book -- I think it came out of a magazine. It is a favorite in our home.

Some notes on the actual recipe card itself...
It was created using StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 (which I sell :-) ). The current version is 2.0 and it is available on my website at www.mycmsite.com/marianj or you can wait until September for the 3.0 version which I already have since I was on the testing team for Creative Memories.
The words Avocado Dip are outlined using the new 3.0 Glow feature which I really really love. I also put a Glow on the Notes section which is why it looks like it is highlighted in light green.
The page theme is Real Life which is a FREE Downloadable theme from Creative Memories -- you can get to the FREE stuff on my website from Shop Products and Digital.

Enjoy!

XS, M and L ... Practicing for 3

Wow -- it has been a zoo in our home. Last Thursday (when I posted the really good news about our upcoming new addition), we also received Zoey -- a cute little 4 1/2 month old lab that we are puppysitting for over a week for someone else in our Seeing Eye puppy club. It was crazy in the house with 3 dogs running around. Our 2 cats decided it was safer to remain upstairs.


Feeding everybody was a little nuts -- two hands, 3 bowls and 3 very hungry dogs.

Then to top it all off, I had a big scrapbooking retreat to run over last weekend AND my sister came over to stay a few days with her dog ... we had 4 in the house ... we had our own pack of dogs! Our neighbors must think we are nuts.

Zoey leaves next Monday and Quail (still not sure how to spell it) arrives on Thursday. Zoey is a cutie and very good practice for when we get Quail who will only be 7 weeks old.

At least everybody is napping now so I have time to catch up with stuff!

Images created using StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 software. Top image created using the new double mat feature. Bottom image created using the new Text Pathing feature.

A Birthday Addendum...a 2nd blog entry for the day!

Woo hoo! Today really is an extraspecial day deserving TWO blog posts :-)

The Seeing Eye called and Quail (not sure if that is spelled right) arrives August 20th. They gave us the option of swapping pups meaning they would take Ava the same day or we could hang onto Ava until her return date of the 26th. I opted to keep Ava until the 26th -- yes, I am wacko to want a 7 week pup, a 15 month pup and a 4 year old dog all at the same time but the more the merrier!

And the Seeing Eye didn't even know today is my birthday :-)

Image created using StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 (the latest and greatest version) featuring Glow and Text Paths -- both great new features!!!

42 by 42

Birthdays are a funny thing. People attach Things to Do by Birthday Number xxx to birthdays...things like run my first marathon or climb Mount Everest. Me, my goals are a bit simpler. I started knitting socks in Fall 2007 and a few weeks ago, I realized that there was a pretty could chance that I could knit 42 pairs of socks by the time I turned 42! At the time, I was on pair #38.

Well, I met my goal :-) I started knitting Rick (yes, that is the name of the pattern) by Cookie A on July 29th and I finished on August 4th. I have to be honest and say that I wasn't sure I was going to make it. Rick was an interesting pattern -- I know you can't tell by the picture -- but it was very slow knitting for me and I am generally a fast knitter.

I did hope that maybe I could finish #43 by the time I was 42 since I thought an extra pair of socks for good luck would be nice, but I'm only partway done with what I have on the needles which are actually two pairs of socks for hubby.

And I always think that the day is off to a great day when you wake up in the morning and find your laptop piled high with birthday yarn. The birthday elf (hubby) was busy this morning making a nice little pyramid of skeins to make my day a happy one!

This post is dedicated to the late Douglas Adams who knew that the answer to Life, the Universe and Everything was 42.

The County Fair and One Week More...

On Monday night, Ava competed in the Grooming and Rally dog events at the Middlesex County Fair. Before we joined 4H (we had to join to raise a Seeing Eye puppy) we had no idea a County Fair even existed. But now it occupies a few days in the month of August for us and whichever Seeing Eye puppy we have at the time.

One of the teens in the club is still waiting for a Seeing Eye puppy to raise (her family has raised 2) so she borrowed Ava for the Grooming and Rally competitions.

Ava had fun at the County Fair -- she was so tired that she started snoring in the car before we even left the parking lot.

The Seeing Eye called today -- they needed to change Ava's return date so we have her for one week more! She'll return on August 26th instead :-)

Image created using StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0 (the newest version!!!). This image features the new Glow feature -- one of many new things that can be easily done in StoryBook Creator Plus 3.0

Ava's Phone Call :-(

Friday was a sad day for us. The Seeing Eye called and Ava returns August 19th. We raise these puppies knowing that they will leave us at some point but it is still never easy when we get the call.

I make a mini scrapbook to send back with our puppies in hopes that when they are placed, their person might have enough sight to see what a cute little puppy their Guide Dog once was. It's time for me to start working on Ava's book.

We asked to raise another puppy awhile ago but we still haven't heard anything about a new puppy to cuddle. We know we are on the list but we've been told, it may be awhile.

Ava's a sweetie and we'll miss her a lot.