Frank the Tank

Meet, Frank:

Frank is Shirley's brother.  In this photo, he looks like your typical Chessie (for the most part).  However, when you meet Frank, you will see that he is a little bit different.  Let's start with his weight.  Male Chesapeake's usually weigh around 65 to 80 pounds.  Frank weighs about 130.   Chessies also have good balance (they are hunting dogs, anyway).  Frank does not.  Sometimes he will slip and fall even when walking.  When he was a puppy he would fall down the steps on the front porch all the time.   At least he smiles a lot.  And he really is a sweet dog.  But, boy is he big.

Can't get away.

As I am trying to edit photos, this little guy...

... insist on sitting in my lap.  At least he is cute. :)

Everybody's working for the weekend!

This week at work has been a doozy.  I have not had much of anything to do.  Most of the time I have tried to work on this!  For the most part I am pretty happy with how everything is coming together, except for the fact that I am not allowed to upload more pictures!  I don't know what is going on.  I hope I haven't gotten into something way over my head. :/

Forgivable Friday

All week, my throw rugs looked like this:

No matter how many times I fixed them, Lynx would do this.  But it's okay Lynx, I forgive you.

Forgetfulness is never a good thing.

I have become very forgetful recently.  I never used to be forgetful.  And unfortunately, it is starting to affect Shirley. At least she likes to be outside.

(Waiting patiently to come in and eat dinner.)

One night I let her out before bed and woke up a few hours later to her barking outside.  I think at one point I actually woke up and yelled, “Shirley, shut up!” and went back to sleep.   Good thing she doesn’t care to wander.

Why are you on my couch?

When I get home from work everyday, this is what I see:Why does she think she can lay on my couch?

Rub a dub dub, Shirley is in the tub!

Shirley got a bath this weekend.  I never have any issues actually getting her in the tub.  She usually jumps right in.

But, the second I turn the faucet on, her ears sink down and she gives me the most pathetic look I think I have ever seen on an animal.  I can almost hear her asking, “Why”?

And bath time is not quick thing, especially when we give her a bath in the tub.  It is so hard to get her fur completely soaking wet as her coat is very oily to help repel water.  But, eventually I get her soaked

("why" face.)

We only give her a bath when we absolutely cannot stand her stench anymore.  I have read as well as heard it is not good to bathe Chessies on the regular because it will strip their protective oily coat!  Shirley also has fairly sensitive skin, so we use an oatmeal shampoo that we purchased from Target.

(I think this is her favorite part.)

And finally the bath is done and the drying process begins!  I usually end up using about four towels and she is still damp afterwards.

Usual sleeping position

Do your pets sleep in any weird or awkward positions?

Forgivable Friday

To me, Friday is the best day of the week.   I get the next two days off. So, nothing can get me down today, not even the mess that my pets have created throughout the week.  That is why I am declaring all Fridays, Forgivable Friday.   I will forgive Luci for laying on one spot of the bed all day and creating a nice dark spot of black fur on my comforter.  I will forgive Lynx for flipping up all the rugs in my house.  And I will forgive Shirley for things like this…

(Please ignore the dog hair.  Dog hair is another thing that seems to consume my life)

Not sure why she chose our Burt’s Bees.  Maybe her lips were chapped? Or maybe her nose was from Lynx constantly swatting at it.

What sort of trouble do your pets like to get into when you are not home?

Lynx: A wild cat

It was a sunny and warm June day here in Virginia Beach, Virginia, while I sat inside at my desk, slaving away on…something…when a customer walked in and stated that she heard meowing outside next to her car.  She says, “I think there is a family of cats out in the bushes!  I keep hearing loud meowing!”   What is my reaction? I immediately jump out of my chair and go outside to check on the situation.   I can clearly hear something in the bushes…definitely a kitten (not a family of cats).   So, I listen and finally I am able to hear where it is.  And I find him.  “Here kitty kitty kitty!”  What does the kitten do? Meow and walk in the other direction.  After a few minutes of this, I am able to get help from some of my coworkers.  I mean, this kitten can’t just stay in the bushes!  What if he tries to leave the bushes and gets hit by a car?  After many attempts of trying to coax the kitten out and after many attempts of my coworkers and I climbing into the bushes trying to scare him out…VICTORY!  Someone finally reaches in and pulls out this not so cute kitten.  Me, being the selfish person that I am, immediately grab the cat and say, “I’ll give you a home!”

Now, he looks cute here…mainly because he is sleeping.  However, he would not stop hissing and meowing.  He ended up having ring worm on the tip of his tail and his mouth! His fur was not very soft and extremely scraggly and thin.  Poor guy had to be confined to a room for about 2 weeks because of the ring worm.  (I’ll get into his treatment at a later time.)  Anyway, he ended up pretty handsome and an absolute joy.  We named him Lynx because of his tuffs of fur on his ears. He definitely has some Maine Coon in him, don’t you think?

Curly Shirley

Meet, Shirley:



Shirley is a four year old Chesapeake Bay Retriever.  She enjoys long walks on the beach, retrieving tennis balls and sticks, chasing cats, laying on the couch and eating whole loaves of bread.  Shes not your typical Chessie.  As you can see she has a few more curls on her then most Chessies do.  In fact, lets do a quick comparison…

Here is Shirley with one of her sticks and her crazy ear and toe fur.

And here (above) is what a real Chesapeake should look like!

Now, while she doesn’t look like your typical Chesapeake, she definitely has the personality of one.  She is extremely stubborn, and fairly protective.   I THINK she is fairly smart.  She is just so darn stubborn that she comes off as not so bright.  The second we walk through the door and see her cowering over in the corner, we know she has done something bad…and she knows it too.  I have come home to cat litter being eaten, poop piles, throw up, torn up paper, torn up plastic.  One day when I left the house, I locked the door, peeked through the blinds, and saw her head straight to the kitchen.  One day I had left fried chicken wrapped in tin foil on my counter.  I was halfway down the street when I remembered I had forgotten something and turned around.  I walked in the house only to find Shirley huddled in a corner with fried chicken parts and tin foil pieces strewed about.  I was gone for a whole 3 minutes.  Shirley also enjoys chocolate candy, brownies, oh and did I mention bread?  Whole.  Loaves. Of Bread.

Now, while she is a trouble maker, she is also a pretty darn good dog.  Let me tell you, this dog LOVES people.  She loves attention.  Sometimes she even thinks she is a lap dog and will jump up on us when we are on the couch. She smiles. BOY does she smile! (Another Chessie trait!) She does tricks, and sometimes when she really wants something, she will sit up on her hinds legs and beg all on her own.

But the best trait of this dog? She loves us.  And our cats.

You have to start somewhere

This is my first post, so I am going to start off with a little tidbit about my life.

I currently reside in a little crooked house by the beach with my husband, two cats and our dog.   The eldest cat, Luci, is a black domestic short hair.  She will turn 5 within the next couple of months.  Next in line (by age) is our four year old Chesapeake Bay retriever, Shirley, who might just be the most stubborn creature, ever.  And finally, Lynx, who will turn one sometime in May.   He is a stray I found in the bushes at my work.  We think he has some Maine Coon in him.  No, actually, we know he has Maine Coon in him.  He has a long body, puffy tail, tuffs of fur on his ears as well as in between his huge paws.   And he keeps on growing, and growing, and growing…  His personality will absolutely melt your heart.  If you are not a cat person, you would be after you meet him.

As for me, I am in my early 20’s and have been married for five years in May.  The first year of our marriage, we decided we had to have a pet.  So, we found a poster outside a store in Fallbrook, CA (my husband was stationed at Camp Pendleton) and ended up at someones house who had tons of kittens!  I had been picking up kittens that kept  crawling all over the place and wanted to play.  My husband reached in the back and picked out the smallest/scraggliest kitten there and held out his hands and said, “How about this one?”  How could I say no? Turns out my husband knows how to pick em! (He got me right?) Five years, a few cross country moves, and many in state moves later, Luci is still with us and as loyal as ever.

Stay tuned to learn about the other two “joys” in our life!

new beginnings

I have been working on a new blog. However, I am worried I may have messed up! I went ahead and purchased a domain from wordpress because I thought it would be simple enough to have everything the same (blog is on wordpress too). But I can't even do simple things! I have added Google AdSense to this blog, but cannot figure out how to add it to my wordpress blog. Everything just seems to be way over my head. Maybe Jeb will look at it with me sometime. Or maybe TCC offers a class on blogging?? HA!

Valentine's Day

Valentine's Day is a silly holiday. Shouldn't you show your love for someone all year round? I guess when I was a teenager and didn't have boyfriends while my friends did it was a big deal. Everyone wants to feel loved! But seeing since Jeb and I have been together for 7 years and married for 5, all I really care about is celebrating our marriage on our anniversary. But, I guess you could say Jeb and I kind of celebrated the holiday. Friday we ate at Otani with Tommy and Marie. And Sunday we bought ourselves some new jackets. Soooo, all in all, good weekend.

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

dreaming of warmth

I love snow. I really do. But I think we have had enough of it here in Virginia Beach. And I am sick of the cold. I am ready for warm weather. I am ready for spring and for summer. Bring on the HEAT!

etsy

I rarely look on Esty.com because I usually see tons of things I want but cannot buy. Well, lack of work and the need to find a gift for someone has led me back...


[Can be viewed here.]

Bluebirds. Another obsession.

two loves.