Rescuing Trini

There's a lot of snow out there! And the fun thing about blizzards are all the drifts. Trini really really wanted to go outside but we don't think she knew how deep it was. She had to keeping jumping to stay afloat in the snow.

She was trying hard to get back to us and I finally had to walk in two feet of snow to reach her.

Shoveling snow at 2 am...

Hubby had to be at work and like hospitals, NYC radio stations never close. So while he was in the shower, my sister (who ended up staying another day because of the blizzard) and I started shoveling at 2 am. It was cold and dark out there but we were dressed in ski clothes and the snow was pretty fluffy.

Our street hadn't been plowed yet so we shoveled from our driveway out to where some cars had driven down our street.

Harley ran around in the front yard having a ton of fun while we shoveled.

There's hubby, Harley and my little Rav which has better snow clearance than hubby's Honda Civic.

He managed to get it out of the driveway and down our street until he got stuck at the bottom of our street where a snow plow had come through. So we walked down with shovels to clear him out.

After getting him on his way, we decided to clear my sister's car (next in line in the driveway) and move it to the end of the driveway. While we were doing that, another car got stuck at the bottom of our street trying to pull into our street so we walked down and helped this guy get his car out. He wasn't even dressed for blizzard weather! It took about a half hour and he wanted to give us money as a thank you but we figured it was our good deed for the day -- or rather night.

We were inside and eating leftover Christmas dinner by 4 am. Yum!

Hubby called at 5 am to let me know he was almost at work.

Despite all the shoveling, I still love it when it snows!

There's my sister with Harley watching my hubby trying to get the car out of the driveway. Harley had fun playing in the snow whether it was dark or light out!

Cheese, I Just Love Cheese, Really I Do...

It's that most wonderful time of the year...when all sorts of things come into hubby's work and end up in our home...chocolate, pajamas, flip and...cheese???

It started with chocolate at Thanksgiving. A sports chocolate basket arrived at work and hubby snagged some life-size solid chocolate golf balls and a soccer ball -- the soccer ball was a little bigger than a softball. We had to smash the golf balls to eat them and we gave away the soccer ball.

A few weeks later, hubby came home with a Hoodie Footie for me! Pajamagram had started advertising at the radio station so a bunch of people got Hoodie Footies -- hubby didn't want one for himself so I got his "share". I look like a pink Easter rabbit -- it reminds me of A Christmas Story. It is toasty warm! Hubby is probably glad he didn't get one for himself or he may have to wear it at work.

A few days ago, hubby came home and handed me a box saying he didn't know what this thing was. I was so excited -- it was a Flip! I've been wanting a Flip for awhile but haven't been able to justify the cost.

I have to say that one of the oddest things hubby has ever come home with is cheese. No, I don't mean the kind of cheese you get in a gift basket...he walked in the other day with a big box containing a Jarlsburg cheese wheel! I measured it -- it is 13.5" across and it is very very heavy! I've seen these on display at Wegman's but honestly, I thought they were just part of the display. Who would ever need that much cheese all at once? Well, I've since rearranged our Christmas menu to include cheese. And I think it will also make a very lovely Christmas Dinner party favor.

Harley Claus

Harley has been retired for two years now! Since his official retirement from the Seeing Eye as a breeder, he has considered other employment options such as Dogfather and Puppysitter. This holiday season, he's thinking of helping out Santa maybe as an elf or one of the mall Santas.

We took Harley for a walk on Saturday and we were so excited to hear sirens blaring through the neighborhood. No, our little neighborhood wasn't on fire -- Santa is in town! Every year he comes through on his sleigh pulled by a firetruck -- the reindeer are busy.

We rushed home because Harley wanted to show them how good a Santa he can be. So he threw on his Santa suit and we sat outside waiting for Santa to come down our block.

Santa and his entourage stop wherever there are children and they give out candy canes. Normally they just drive by our home and wave at whatever doggy is sitting outside. This time they stopped and took pictures of Harley because he was so handsome in his Santa suit. Harley hasn't gotten a Santa job yet but he says that's okay since he still has a lot of Christmas shopping to do.

I think he looks great in red!

Quail Goes to School

It's a sad day in our home -- Quail left this morning and now the house seems very quiet. We do have Harley, but he is five and half years old. We are officially puppyless and will be puppyless for awhile :-(.

Quail's last PuppyPALS meeting was this past Monday. Also returning to the Seeing Eye this week from our club are Ophelia and Quail's sister, Quote.

Our tradition has always been to take one last walk at Roosevelt Park before our pup is picked up but it was very cold so we went for a walk in our neighborhood instead. We did take some last photos together because I realized that there aren't very many pictures of me and Quail. Quail is a lapdog and if you sit on the floor, she will cuddle up on your lap.

And there's our girl -- all grown up and ready for school. As for me, I guess I'm growing up too -- now I don't start crying until the van leaves.

We're hoping to hear great things from our girl.

Quail's Phone Call

It's a sad day in our home. I came home to a message on our answering machine that Quail was on the next training schedule. So now I am waiting for a phone call to set up Quail's return date to The Seeing Eye.

She's been our feistiest puppy of the five we've raised but we still adore her. We think she's our tiniest puppy -- she seems smaller than Anita but it's hard to compare.

The puppy picture of her was taken when she first arrived in our home in August 2009. And the all grown up photo was taken in October at the 4H Open House.

We'll miss her so much!

Peace, Love, Drool...Woofstock 2010

In October, The Seeing Eye held its first Woofstock event for puppies and puppyraisers. It was at Duke Island Park in Somerset.

Besides training events, there were photo ops so of course Quail had to take her picture in the bus. She even got a tattoo spray painted into her fur -- don't worry, it brushed out.

One of the fun things about Seeing Eye events is running into littermates. Of course we saw Quote since she had actually stayed over at our home the night before and we brought her to Woofstock -- that's Quote and Quail with the hippie dog. We also ran into two of their brothers -- Quartz and Quantum but I can't remember which brother is in the picture with Quail and Quote!

Some people juggle geese...

Wow -- it's been awhile since I blogged. November was a really busy month for me but it really isn't anything bloggable beyond having a very busy Creative Memories business and being under the weather for a little bit. My last entry was on the Marine Corps Marathon so I thought I'd start up with another "race entry".

As an older sister, you worry about who your younger sisters hang around with -- are they nice people? Are they party people? Do they have a good influence? Well my youngest sister who just ran the Marine Corps Marathon on Halloween seems to have fallen in with a crowd of "maniacs" -- Marathon Maniacs.

A week after running the Marine Corps Marathon, my youngest sister flew to New Hampshire to run the Manchester City Marathon with a bunch of her running friends, some of whom were aiming for the goal of running a marathon in all 50 states. For one of her running friends, the Manchester City Marathon was her 50th state -- what an accomplishment!

My sister didn't even realize that by running two marathons within a 16 day time frame, it put her in the lowest level of Marathon Maniacs. She is now a Bronze Level Marathon Maniac.

When I heard that she ran the Manchester City Marathon (I thought she was just going to cheer since she hurt her knee running the Marine Corps Marathon), I called her all sorts of names like stupidhead and wackadoodle. But I have to admit that I am proud of her and her accomplishment even though I don't understand this odd hobby of hers.

But some people think that knitting is an odd hobby and hey, some people juggle geese :-)