Water Dogs

My nephew dog Jake loves water.  Since he is a "town dog" this love was just discovered this spring when he was at my parents' farm where a creek runs in front of the house.  Often, this creek is nothing but a little stream.  Some years (Oh, those lovely dry years!) it is completely dry and a mower can drive along the bed.  This year has been wet so the creek has been high, first with the water from melting snow, and then from the continuous rain that has fallen all summer.  If you throw a ball in that water he launches himself in like he is jumping off a diving board.  It is really funny!  I have some videos of this phenomenon but the giggling of me and my sister in the background is wayyyy to embarassing to share!  Haha!  I giggled all over again when I was watching them!  

There he is, cutting through the water like a champ swimmer while his equally water loving but less agressive buddy Wally wades around...As you can see in the photo the surroundings are not very green so that means it was early spring and that water was probably very cold but they don't care!

He doesn't stop chasing until the thrower stops throwing...

When I heard about a certain event at a local public pool I thought of Jake immediately...after the pool closes for the year they let people bring their dogs there to swim!  Check out this poster!  It is tomorrow!

http://www.ci.moorhead.mn.us/Uploads/2011%20Poster.pdf

Unfortunately, Jake's mom said he wasn't allowed to go!  Well...she is going to be out of town for work that night and I sure don't want to deal with him all by myself!  I've never even walked him on his leash!  Don't feel too bad...that dog gets plenty of attention and opportunities for fun!

This weekend we were at Upper Cormorant Lake and took a few leisurely boat rides around the perimeter of the lake where we saw a dog launch himself off a dock like a daredevil!  Animals are so funny!  It was a perfect weekend to be at a lake and it makes me sad to think that summer is coming to an end soon...

Smiley Dog

In case you haven't noticed yet, I love taking pictures of animals.  While constantly taking pictures of animals I have realized how unphotogenic animals are.  Their eyes always are glowing like lazer beams and when they are looking really cute they get up as soon as they hear the camera turn on.  Every once in a while I get a good one and in Jake's good ones he always has a big grin on his face!  He is a happy boy. 

He is happy in this shot because he is annoying me and getting in the way of my project.  Allan likes to do that as well.

His eyes even look full of happiness in this shot! 

He is a funny guy!

Happy Election Day

 Hello everyone!  I am sitting in Andrea's basement watching the NBC "Decision 2010" coverage.   I'm not really paying much attention but I love the soothing background noise of the news and I also love the demographic maps that are shown on TV. 

Without sounding really cliched, I was reminded of the freedoms we enjoy in the U.S. today.  Justin's mom is in China for the next month teaching University classes.  She was there in 2008 as well for the same reason.  When she was there in 2008 she started a blogger account and had a blog similar to this one.  China, being a communist country, censors the Internet.  It was noticeable in 2008 but now it is to the level that google searches are limited.  Since Blogger is owned by Google she was unable to use her old blog.  Oh, having the internet sensored would drive me crazy!  Having anything censored drives me crazy!  I was raised in a censorship free home, where any book or magazine that we were able to comprehend was allowed (of course there wasn't porn laying around or anything...)  I read alot of the same books and magazines my parents were reading and in 6th grade I made my mom order me Newsweek to go along with our Jr. National Geographic and Sports Illustrated for Kids subscriptions.  I was really weird and arguably pretty boring!  Anyway, I know the Internet is full of as much crap as legitimate information but it's important that it is available.  I don't think there are any examples of societies that succeeded by depriving people of information.

Anyway, she started a new blog with a different blogging website. 

 

Check it out in the following weeks.  It should be interesting.  I know it was in 2008!  And enjoy the ease of access! 

On another topic, rifle season for deer hunting starts on Friday.  Jakey, although he isn't a trained hunter or anything, is all ready for his weekend at the farm.  He has a new orange collar to alternate with his signature blue one!  It suits him!

He matches the couch so it is nice to be able to see him before sitting down!  Haha.

It seems to have a reflective quality.  No mistaking this guy for a deer!



Kirk's Birthday and Jakey's Party

Today is Kirk's birthday (Kirk is my brother in law, if you didn't know).  He is 26.  I am at their house right now and I took some funny pictures of him opening presents.  They are funny because of how Jake is acting. 

He was trying to get the gift bag and rip it apart...Naughty.

Then he tried to rip open the boxes... 

Hey, give that back!

 Ughhh...

Poor Jakey...

Sometime over the weekend Jakey injured one of his front paws. The poor guy was limping around yesterday evening. It seemed to be a selective "attention" injury because he would still run and play fetch. Last night we were eating on the deck and someone threw a piece of food over the railing. He ran after it so fast he "spun out" (he does that all the time!) He overextended himself and we heard him wimpering as he ran down the stairs!

After and exam it was discovered that the pad of his foot has a cut! This is really pointless information to most people (but this whole blog is full of the same, I guess!) but I took a very cute picture of him this morning so I had to share it.

When I came upstairs today to make myself my usualy breakfast burrito Jake was curled up on the couch like a little baby. He usually is a pest whenever food is being prepared but this morning he just layed on the couch. I knew something was bothering him!

Fortunatly when I returned tonight he was back to his usualy tricks and the limp was less dramatic. I think he's going to be OK! Haha. . .

Owww...My Eyes!

I haven't been writing on here much. . .that is because at my temporary job I stare at a computer screen for ten hours a day and by the end of the day I can barely keep my eyes focused to catch up with email, Facebook, and newspapers. (We can't look at the "Internets" except during breaks and on those I don't really want to. I want to eat and walk and sit on the patio!) The project has already been extended for this week and probably at least a few days next week and this week we are working five ten hour days instead of four! This means that I will be staring at a computer screen for 50 hours this week. 20 down, 30 to go! :) Blah. . .My eyes already feel like they are going to explode into a cloud of dust. I don't even know why I wear makeup to work. . .my waterproof mascara eventually gets rubbed off as I periodically squint my eyes and rub them like a little child to make them less dry and annoyed and exposes my mismatched blonde eyelashes to my co-workers. Maybe I need to try putting cucumber slices over my eyes for while when I get home! (I love cucumbers and would probably eat them so that might not work out. . .) So I do have things I want to write about but I don't feel like it right now because my eyes are tired. Hopefully this job isn't doing damages to my 20/20 vision. . .

In other news. . .I still live in my sister's basement a majority of the time. They have a split level so the basement windows are full sized but level with the ground. Last night I went to get some physical activity after work and then took a shower. As I was getting dressed I looked up and saw this clown peeping at me through the window! Oh, Jakey, what a skeez you are!

Move along, nothing to see Jake!

Jake, Jakey, Jacob, Skeezy, Fatboy, Snacks...

All of the above are titles given to Jake. Jake is Kirk and Andrea's "German Chocolate" (the name we made up for a mixed breed of German Shepherd and Chocolate lab). He is filling in for Allan while I am away from home. He is big, pesty, often irritating, excitable, playful, exhuberant and sweet. He eats everything he can get. I have seen him eat cantaloupe, spinach leaves, candy wrappers, socks, paper, and even a women's forumula multi-vitamin that I dropped on the floor. (I was worried that it might be poisonous for a dog to get a dose of the %100 percent daily value of folic acid, iron, selenium and whatever else is in the tablet, so Andrea pried is mouth open to get it out. He only ate about half of it and seems fine!) If there is popcorn in the house you will have not peace while eating it and my old routine of eating on the couch while watching TV is no longer possible!

He loves to go out on walks, although he hasn't mastered good leash behavior! When Andrea opens the drawer with the sandwich bags he know what is coming and gets really excited. When he walks he gets so excited he spends most of the time nearly strangling himself as he pulls to go faster. He is pretty strong!

This is what he looked like at this time last year. . .

This is what he looks like now! I think those front paws are the same size in both pictures!

His is a big, thrashing thing with a huge tail that whips back and forth when he his happy. (When he is REALLY happy his whole body whips back and forth!) He can play fetch forever. He loves to run in his yard, but he REALLY loves to visit the farm where he can run without a barrier to stop him. He also loves to go to Kirk's parents' farm where he can pester the cattle!

Here is Jake getting down to business and destroying an empty Coke box. I let him rip it to shreds because it was so funny! He will take the opportunity to destroy anything and when the snow melted from the yard this spring many treasures were revealed. Included in the trove was a scattered box of screws! Yes, he scattered a box of screws all over the yard. Such fun!

This was on Easter. I was holding that frisbee preparing to throw it and he was anticipating it!

This was also on Easter. He was swimming with his "cousin" Wallace in the creek! The both just stood there and drank the water and Wal kept dunking his head under! They both love water.


Oh, look, he's just a little baby!

He loves to play and when you watch TV at night he is constantly presenting some toy. His favorites are old socks and his rubber "Kong". Whatever he chooses is always soaked with drool and he likes to place it on your leg and then wait with anticipation until you throw it. Very gross but also kind of endearing. He won't give up until you join the fun!

One Sunday morning this fall when I was visiting I was laying on the couch feeling remorseful about drinking too much the night before, being unemployed and generally feeling bad about my behavior and outlook. "Jakey" decided to be a sweet little pet and slithered onto the couch and situated his 70+ pound body on my back! Suddenly I couldn't stop laughing!

I love this picture! I look it as "Skeezy" was trying to jump on me! Check out those "hybrid" ears that mix the pointy, alert ears of a German Shepherd and the floppy ears of a lab!