Jonathan and Julia's Blog » Mom

Lacy’s New Boots

Mom — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 01:34:40 +0000

OK, ok, I’ve been really bummed (along with Lacy our little white Bichon Frise) how that there just hasn’t been a product that has worked so far in keeping her little paws dry AND THAT STAY ON during the sometimes damp walks that we like to take. When it’s just raining buckets, we refrain from taking her on walks because it’s just SUCH A PRODUCTION to clean her up after wards. However, when it’s just a little damp outside, we’ve always done our best to take her on her since she’s usually been a good girl, having waited AL

L DAY for us to get home and well, we love her and want to get in her walks for her. So, a few months ago, I went online to try to find some dog shoes that would do the trick. I finally pinned down a pair that I thought would work. The reviews were great, the price was mid-range and there was a location nearby in our neighborhood where I could just run out and get them so I did.

I seriously thought these babies would do the trick. They seemed non-fancy (compared to some of the crazy ones I saw online with their fire-retardant fabric, their two-tone, outdoorsy color scheme and state of the art mix of velcro/rubber comfort closures, yada yada). I eagerly tore them out of the package and strapped them on to Lacy’ s little paws. I did my best to make them nice and tight (which still yielded pockets of space when you wound the velcro around the boots because the fabric was still fairly thick, being rubber on the outside, lined with fleece on the inside) but not to worry, there was no way they’d be too tight.

After I got them on, she sniffed them and worked at removing the velcro so I turned her attention to walking out the door as soon as I could.

In the end however, the walk ended in frustration in that the booties inevitably came off after only a few feet and we still had to expend much effort in removing the booties, cleaning the booties and cleaning the dog. I know the former doesn’t sound so bad but it is. Since the booties were easier to clean when they were dry,you had to go back and remember to clean them at yet another inconvenience time. If you accidentally got water inside the boot, the fleece would get all matted and you had to dry them upside down on the end of a dowel or something similar. Once the booties dried, cleaning them was still a pain because the dried mud would then flake off the booties and get ONTO THE FLOOR. Removing the grass and debris from the velcro to ensure successful future uses, was the joyful second step in the after-walk, clean-up line up and just as tedious.

So, needless to say, it’s been a while since Lacy’s been on a walk because it’s been wet outside.

Seeing her staring so wistfully into the backyard from behind the kitchen window, I felt compelled to give it another go and went online in search of that magic dog boot that would have that “guaranteed to STAY ON or your money back” promise without breaking the pet care bank.

After about the 15th unpromising review, I decided to undertake a recommended experiment and went to my local party supply store to buy 2 regular balloons with the most generous opening I could find without the corresponding balloon portion being too large or baggy. I had a feeling they’d still be too tight to be comfortable around Lacy’s “ankles” but I liked the idea of a single continuous piece of rubber enveloping her paws where she could still feel the ground beneath her. I put the balloons on her paws but could tell she probably wasn’t too comfortable so at Jeff’s suggestion I cut off the opening just under the lip and tried them again. I must admit, Lacy was as good as she could be, sitting on the couch, cooperating with me for what must have seemed like the nth, goofiest time. I put one of the balloons on her front paw and one on the back and for comparison purposes, I covered her remaining paws with the default dog boots (that didn’t work the last time), strapping them on as tightly as I could for a final try.

Clad with everything she needed to keep her paws nice and hopefully dry, she looked like she was ready to hit the trails so we headed out the door and went for our usual walk. This time, she didn’t even try to take these off like she did with the dog boots I originally bought (that failed). See picture.

She ran and skipped through shallow puddles, over pavement and grass. She even did her ritualistic “sweep sweep thing” that she does with her hind legs after a particularly noteworthy evacuation, letting some grass and debris fly up behind her. Still so far, so good. She sniffed the damp leaves beneath her and seemed most appreciative that she was allowed to go for a walk on a damp day.

HOWEVER, after 10 mins the experiment came to an abrupt end. The first bootie came off and guess which one it was?

Yup, you guessed, it was the original product, marketed as a dog boot, that came off the last time. At that moment, I picked Lacy up off the ground and carried her the rest of the way home and it was in that moment I was convinced that the rubber balloons were going to be our magic bullet.

When we arrived home, aside from the still infamously pain-in-the-*bleep*to clean, remaining boot on her left hind leg, the two balloon boots were a cinch to remove and clean. As for the cleanup, there was really mud or debris to speak of and the balloon shoes came off nicely without triggering any frustration. Imagine that! Lacy got her walk and I got the magic rain boots that I wanted. It was a win-win for both dog and human. Thanks to whomever it was that posted the recommendation. I will be hitting my local party supple store for a party pack of pink balloons.

I should also add that the balloons were hardy enough to resist any tears from Lacy’s claws or hard pavement.

I should also note that since I don’t walk her on snow, mud, de-icing salt, oil, glass, sand or FIRE, these things are NOT A CONCERN. The balloons worked great and I just needed to let you know.

My Prairie Kitchen Birthday

Mom — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 18:27:24 +0000

Okay, this year’s birthday wasn’t exactly on the “day of” either, since we had a lot going on the “day of” including a tornado that decided to blow in and take out a few signs, roofs, cows, trees and fences. So a few weekends later Jeff and the kids took me to Prairie Kitchen for breakfast, yes in keeping with the eating-(breakfast)-at-local-places theme that I recently started which they thought was weird but have so far indulged me in twice now. I’d always seen the place from the highway but never stopped in until now. Like Waffle House, there wasn’t one in the area I grew up in and for good reason -it is a LOCAL establishment. Yep, only three in the area -Ada, Ardmore and Norman, Oklahoma. So anyway, we parked out-front where there were only 5 parking spaces. As we were getting out, there was a couple that parked in the Phillips 66 gas station next door and hopped the divider to go in so to our surprise, the place was pretty packed upon entry and then we saw there was a huge parking lot out back. Anyway, it was very pleasantly decorated in sea foam green wainscotting, and Texas themed iron stars. The soup of the day was “Bean and Bacon”. I had the standard breakfast of eggs, bacon, hash browns and an English muffin. The kids split a chicken fried steak breakfast with a cinnamon roll and Jeff had his usual cholesterol bomb -some kind of crazy omelet with chili and cheese slathered over top but it must’ve been prettty good ‘cuz the guy in the next booth asked what it was and ordered the same thing. Our conversation consisted of popping zits (since Julia decided she couldn’t wait to get one and try it) and accidentally burning oneself in a tanning bed since this recently happened to a friend. Jonathan played Tetris with his pancakes and Jeff quietly surfed his iPod for a variety of nerdy topics until his battery ran low and began to panic but was then distracted by the arrival of our food. All in all, it was a very pleasant breakfast experience and I’d say we all walked outta there full and happy (and heavier, fatter, and ultimately slower). Attached is a photo replica of our quaint little eatery which doubled as a condiment holder/restaurant promotional that resided on every table top.

After a quick pitstop to a local record store where Jeff HAD to pick up a Cadbury Cream Egg(?) we went to Mason’s and picked up a few more local goodies to include Pecan Sandies (the BEST), several varieties of chocolate covered snacks, a pack of SUGAR FREE gummy bears (which Jonathan remarked had authentic bear pawprints embossed into the toes which is rare) and a jar of Black Bean and Corn Salsa made in Arkansas.

Can’t wait till next year…

Favorite things I

Mom — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 01:21:54 +0000

My trap door spider sighting

Mom — Mon, 01 Sep 2008 00:20:25 +0000

When I was about to let Lacy out, I saw this HUGE spider by the back door trying to come in and it scared me half to death! I immediately closed the door and then fretted that if I left it trapped there, it might still find a way to squeeze in further so I opened the door again and quickly shooed it out with a broom. I made sure to follow it farther back into the yard where I took the picture on the right. After jumping on the web to find out what it was, I was surprised to find out that it was called a Trap Door Spider (especially since I trapped it in between the door and the wall for a brief moment when I first saw it) . I later discovered that these guys were actually pretty neat because they supposedly lived under shallow “trap doors” which they made out of crumbly dry dirt and when they heard vibrations of would-be prey above, they winged open their well camouflaged “trap doors” and pounced on whatever was there. Even though it scared me pretty good at first, it was unusual (for me) so I decided it deserved a post. Thanks for reading!

Tea anyone?

Mom — Sat, 26 Jul 2008 22:48:49 +0000

This morning we decided to do something different so we went and had “Tea” for breakfast. Actually, it was more like a brunch with yummy sandwiches, fresh cheese, fruit and dainty pastries all stacked on tiered dishes. We tried on big goofy hats and furs and since we were the only ones in the part of the restaurant that had the tea room, we went crazy and tried on everything! The boys looked like gangsters in their hats. Jeff ordered Russian Tea which he associated with the smell of fresh hay in a barn (a GOOD smell to him). Julia was happy to see lots of cantaloupe on the tray and I had a pot of Formosa Gun Powder tea which wasn’t half bad. Here’s a picture of our breakfast with Jonathan sneaking the last Strawberry muffin. It was an atmosphere in which you felt like you should be asking for “Grey Poupon?” but I remember the last time I asked Jeff that, he answered, “no thanks, I already wiped it off” and I really didn’t feel like blowing tea out of my nose in front of everyone….

Yum!

Shopping for Fireworks

Mom — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 06:03:11 +0000

Well today we went to buy fireworks for the Fourth of July. I had never gone to shop for fireworks before. I was surprised to find the place quite organized because from the outside, it just looked like one big warehouse and for a seasonal setup, I imagined it was just one big room filled with crates. We grabbed a cart and walked around in a big U-shape. The serious items were stacked against the perimeter of the wall and the tamer items were stacked in the center. However, you couldn’t get to it directly because there was a fence in front of all the ammo. So, you had to ask the assistant to put what you wanted, in your cart and then wheel it to the checkout. We saw everything from the $199.99 “Party Packs” to the $4.99 “Hen Laying Eggs” and everything in between. We lucked out with the manager’s special which was a big black box entitled “Black Cat Magnum with Deluxe Mortar” which I later found out was basically a huge projectile shooting tube of fireworks. We walked out of there a hundred dollars later and the boys were very proud of themselves for getting the most “bang for their buck” as they re-inspected their receipt on the way to the parking lot. When we got home, Jonathan took everything out of the bags and set it all up on the dining table. After about 10 minutes, he had his entire squad of Lego Fire and Police men surrounding a huge mountain of ammo. Just in case you can’t tell, there’s a lot of excitement surrounding these pictures and the whole idea of blowing it all up on Friday. I hope it doesn’t rain! I am looking forward to the big blowout!

Frank and Lisa

Mom — Mon, 30 Jun 2008 04:57:09 +0000

Well today was the day we got a really good shot of Frank and Lisa on our walk. Judging from the pictures below and from similar photos we’ve seen on the internet, we think these are snapping turtles. We decided to call the big one that we saw rather clearly, Frank and the smaller one that we didn’t get to see so clearly, Lisa. However after doing some research online, we learned that the females had wider shells so we switched their names. So, when we came around the bend we saw Lisa just hovering in the middle of the ditch in plain view under the water, which wasn’t very deep. Surprisingly she didn’t take off right away though she must have known we were right above her taking several good shots of her with our camera. She almost looked dead just lying there. Later, we also found out that Lisa was probably feeding by wiggling her specialized tongue (that’s supposed to look like a worm), out in front of her and quickly swallowing anything that thought it was really a worm and got close enough to investigate! She was very still and her shell blended in very well with the top of the rocks in the ditch. She even had lots of remaining dirt on her back (probably from burrowing under the overhang), which helped her look even more like just another piece of rock in the ditch. It was really exciting for us to see her so well and so up close. After we got several good shots of her, we diverted our attention to other parts of the ditch to see if we could find Frank and just then, he darted out from under the overhang, came up quickly, saw us, then immediately went back down to a deeper part of the ditch and stayed there for a long time. He really stirred up the water so it took a long time for the dirt to settle back down to where we could (kind of) see his outline again in the murky water. This is when I took the picture on the right. If you look close, really closely, you’ll see the outline of a turtle facing the other way from Lisa’s picture. It didn’t look like he was going to come up so we looked back in Lisa’s direction when we noticed she was gone! Despite what some people say about turtles being slow, these two were fast! … and so ended our exciting evening of turtle viewing that came and went, just like that! Hopefully we’ll see them again on one of our walks. I wonder how big they’ll get and about how old they are now?

Click on these pictures for a larger view!

Fred and Larry

Mom — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 19:50:32 +0000

There are a pair of ducks that hang out together by one of the walking trails we take, towards the end of our walk. Since they are always together, they seem like a very close pair. We know they are male and female but Jonathan decided to name them Fred and Larry the first time we saw them so the name stuck and they are now Fred and Larry to us. Fred and Larry seem like loners because they choose to hang out in a small drainage ditch “off the beaten path” while all the other ducks in our neighborhood prefer to gather at the lake. As I was walking the other day, I was surprised to see a rather large turtle in Fred and Larry’s drainage ditch. It looked like it was coming up for air but then quickly hid under the bank that overhangs the ditch when it saw my shadow and hovered there for a long time. I was fascinated to see a turtle here and to think it might call our neighborhood its home too. When I took Jonathan out to show him where I saw it, he spotted two turtles and named them Frank and Lisa. So, this ditch has now become quite a special spot to us because until we knew it was home to some interesting regulars, it was just a plain old drainage ditch. We look forward to coming around the bend to this part of our walk, in hopes that we will get a glimpse of them again.

My Waffle House Birthday

Mom — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 07:26:30 +0000

This year I had my birthday breakfast at Waffle House -a place that’s always intrigued me with their basic black and yellow square-lettered sign that’s the same everywhere but which I’ve never eaten at, until now. The kids were probably dreading going there because I kept raving about the place but once we were there, it wasn’t that bad. There was a cool juke box in the corner with songs like “I Feel Good (At the Waffle House)”, “Waffle House Hashbrowns (I Love You)”, “There are Raisins in my Toast” and other great breakfast hits. We sat at one of the 10 booths crammed along the end of the counter but which was great for communicating with our waitress who was just on the other side of the divider. We enjoyed sharing a HUGE country ham steak that Jonathan ordered. Their waffles were also good and Jeff admitted that it was one of the best breakfasts he’d ever had!!!! Towards the end of our meal, I spied a small piece of cake in the glass case with what looked like a mini Waffle House sign on it which I really wanted but by that time, I was so full I couldn’t eat another bite. Later that day while I was walking Lacy, I happened to see my first hawk! It was so cool (and huge, which is what caught my attention in the first place when it moved its huge head). That was the topper to a wonderful day! Here are some pictures from my happy birthday (to include my birthday hawk). Enjoy!