Babysitting Hadley Tate

Friday was awesome because Klug came up to Myrtle Beach for a meeting and brought sweet little Hadley with her. She asked me to come hang out with Hadley while she was in a meeting and we had so much fun (well I did). Hadley & I went to Petsmart, Target and had a little photoshoot in the Tahoe waiting on Klug to finish up her meeting. Hadley was such a trooper (dealing with a non-mom toting her in and out of stores). At one point, after I took Hadley off of the cart (I had the car seat on the cart b/c I had to get large amount of stuff from Petsmart), and put her in the car. I loaded all my stuff in the car and realized there wasn't a cart-catcher nearby and the store was the closest. I seriously spent a few minutes debating what to do. Hadley was in the car and I needed to run back to the store to put the cart away. Just the day before someone had been arrested for leaving their child in the car (although he was going to a strip club, not returning a cart). SO, after some deliberating, I RAN the cart back to the store and RAN back to Hadley. She was fine, of course....and so THEN, I had to use the bathroom REALLY bad. Well what are you supposed to do with a 4-month old strapped to a carseat when you have to use the bathroom? Take her with you, I guess! So that was our motivation in going to Target. I knew the bathrooms were big enough to handle both of us and so we loaded her up in her fancy-pants stroller (which I loved) and we went to the bathroom in Target. We walked around after that and tried to shop, but really, I didn't need anything. I asked Hadley if she wanted anything and she wasn't very interested in the clothes they had there. She said she needed some tights (leggings) so that she could wear her 12-month old 'shirts' as dresses in the winter (She gets her fashion sense from her mother). :) BUT, we decided to head back to the meeting. Anyways, it was a wonderful couple of hours with Hadley and Klug. We ate lunch at Mellow Mushroom and Hadley just hung out and slept in her car seat while we caught up on life. She's precious and I can't wait to see her and klug again!!

Puppies Week 7....Might be Hank's last week!

This week was a good week for the puppies. They seem to enjoy their puppy palace and have learned where to sleep, eat, play and do their business. They do have a habit of ripping the puppy pads apart and throwing them all over their palace. BUT, they aren't using the bathroom everywhere so that is wonderful! They all have learned how to go downstairs, upstairs, under the fence (Big no-no), run away from me when its time to back to their room, get excited for their food and they LOVE water with the biggest passion.

David and I went to Wilmington this week to take Sally back to her home (David's dad's house). While we were up there, we drove out towards Burgaw to visit Genteel Plantation. This place is 850 acres of BEAUTIFULLY kept land that is used for corporate hunts, outings, fishing, etc. Ricky (manager of this land) lives out there in a cabin and the property has an awesome dog kennel, bird (quail) house, fish house, boat house, skeet range, hunting land, plantation house, etc. Its immaculate! Ricky is the guy who gets Hank.....he's the owner of the sire (who Sally was bred with). This daddy dog's name is Sid and he's a beautiful setter.

Sid...Puppies Daddy

Ricky has about 10 dogs out there and they are all so good. Funny thing is, he currently has Sally's mom and Sally's brother and will soon get Sally's pup. He is running out of room, so will be giving David two of his older, good hunting dogs to keep out at our farm. They will be good to have because they can help David learn the best ways to train Watson & Reba. Anyways, this plantation has an old plantation house on it and its beautiful. The owner of the property (Bobby Harrelson) spared no expense in refurbishing this house.

The old plantation house on the property (this is NOT where Ricky lives)

The commercial kitchen...love it!

Half-Bath downstairs....I LOVE the counter & sink

So anyways, this will be Hank's new home after this week. We'll miss him because he is the sweetest dog but he is in great hands with Ricky. I loved playing with all the dogs there (you know I was in heaven) and I started playing with the focus on my camera. These were my two favorite pictures. Its the same shot, but two different focal points. One time on the dog...the othe on the fence with the dog in the background.

Puppy Palace and their first bath....

Week 6 of the puppies was more stressful than any other week. It could have been a combination of several things but I found myself really wishing these dogs would disappear for a while. Not really, because that would make me very sad, but when I opened their door to see dog poop EVERYWHERE, not once, twice but 3 times....I was ready to feed them to the wolves. Now I'm sure that anyone who doesn't know me is ready to turn my name into PETA, but c'mon. I wouldn't really do that! They are just learning and I know that......once I cool off, I'm fine. It certainly doesn't help that 2 nights in a row, my dog Jackson, has gotten sick IN THE HOUSE. I'm not kidding when I say that there was more dog poo than I've ever seen in my life.....on my hardwood floors, rugs, WALLS, etc. It was disgusting....but in his 5 years of life, he's done it so few times (and so very rarely in the last 4 years) that I know he must not be feeling well. We walk him and take him out often, so its not neglect, but perhaps he got into something while outside in the yard.

At any rate, the puppies destroyed their home last night.....they were in a rectangular area that was blocked off with plywood. Their bed was in one corner and their potty pads in another. When we came down this morning, there was no difference between their bed and their toilet. GROSS!. So we decided once and for all, to do something semi-permanent about it. After researching and measuring (while I bathed each dog individually in the bathtub), we went to Lowe's to get some plywood. We took most of the afternoon building the Puppy Palace and we think it might work!! It has their bedroom seperate from their playroom and all of that is walled-off from their bathroom. Puppies will be puppies and will play everywhere but atleast their area to 'do their business' is seperate from where they will sleep and eat. Hopefully it will work until they are ready to go out to the farm for bird-dog training.

Some of the things that happened this week with them: Reba can go up and down stairs with ease. Hank and Watson have mastered going UP but not down. They all had their first bath and might have been slightly traumatized. They ate ALL their food at the last few meals. They figured out their vocal chords and bark and cry loudly and for a good length of time. They play very hard with each other. They are all using the bathroom outside when given the opportunity. Their mom, Sally, really doesnt enjoy being around them anymore. They really do love playing jungle gym on any given object (humans, coolers, lawn mowers, stairs, jackson, chairs, etc.) They LOVE puppy treats.

Until next time...........

The holy terrors....weeks 4 & 5

Somehow when puppies get to about 4 weeks of age, they become really exhausting! I now understand why Sally (pup's mom) is so happy when we put her in her pen in the backyard. She gets a 7-8 hour break! With that, all the chores, pee and poop cleaning, feeding and playing is up to david and me. It is TRULY awesome watching them grow but its harder and harder to get good pictures of them because they want to BITE and CHEW on everything INCLUDING my camera. SO, bear with some of these pictures....they are still precious and seem to be growing daily. Hank is my fatty and eats everytime I put the food out. Reba is a little weird but is wired like a race car. Watson is eating well and playing more and more. We had a little set back weaning them off of mom when Reba would vomit continuously after attemtping to eat her puppy mush. One of the last times she did throw up, a large chuck of (I'm guessing) cottage cheese came up. I mixed cottage cheese in with their food once and haven't done it since b/c she didn't take well to it. Since then, she hasn't had any trouble keeping her food down. But she did give us a scare, especially when I looked up the symptoms online and saw EVERYTHING that COULD be wrong with my dog. But her vet reassured me that it PROBABLY wasn't anything serious and to just ease her back into puppy food. She's enjoying it now. We've been keeping Sally separate from the pups for the entire day and letting her back in at night. The puppies love to nurse when she gets back in and the poor mom probably gets no sleep at night. We took them out to the farm last week and it was so fun watching them play in the grass, play with jackson, explore and figure out life outside our house. I plan on taking them back tomorrow since this weather is amazing. Anyways, the other accomplishments of the dogs are as follows:

1. Can climb through BOTH dog doors and now get outside on their own. Not wonderful.

2. Are paper-potty trained or atleast go on the concrete in the garage if I let them out. Wonderful.

3. Can run and jump and its hilarious.

4. Bark and howl loudly when they see something they can't get to or have.

5. LOVE Jackson.

6. Love David and me more.

7. Actually listen when they want to....they may not know or understand it yet, but they do respond.

8. Falling down the porch stairs makes them dizzy and we try to avoid it.

9. Some of the girls from the gym came over to see them and Hank was definitely the favorite. That fatty.

10. Did I mention that they can go through both dog doors? Yeah.

And now for some pictures.....

Reba & Hank peeking out the dog door....this was shortly BEFORE they learned how to get out.

Reba hanging out with Jackson at the farm

Becca and the three hounds

Reba & Hank climbing on my leg and looking mighty guilty (& cute)

Reba learning the difference between a hole in the door (dog door) and glass...see her reflection?

Watson having a puppy moment in the corner

Reba pretending as though she's sweet

Watson sticking his tongue out for the picture

Hank, Reba and Watson starting to relax after a good playtime.

Where does the time go?

David and I celebrated our 2 year anniversary last night (9/23). It's amazing to think that 2 years have gone by since our wedding in Pawleys Island. We decided to be a little festive last night and head back to Pawleys Island for dinner at Frank's. It was (as expected) awesome. I had grouper and David had a filet. After dinner we went to their outside restaurant/bar (Frank's Outback) and had cocktail before heading home. It wasn't anything flashy but flashy really isnt our style. I think the two years of our marriage have presented us with plenty of fun, laughter, love and an occasional bump in the road. I guess that is part of marriage and its getting over the bumps that really matter. Here's to another year......

Hank, Reba & Watson - Week 3

So the puppies turn 3-weeks old Friday, September 19 and they have grown so much. They are all walking now, starting to play with each other and figure themselves out. Teeth are starting to come through and if you haven't experienced puppy teeth....they are SHARP. Anywhoo.....pictures tell a better story than I do.....

The proud human mama

Reba crawling over Watson

Reba walking....she's 24 hours ahead in development than Hank.
Hank is 48 hours ahead of Watson. You go girl!

Choir Practice......taking after Shelton.

Twangtown Throwdown

This weekend I went to Southern Pines for a fundraiser for the NC chapter of Hugs Across America. This organization strives to provide teddy bears to troubled kids all over the country for many different reason....house fires, neglect, abuse, natural disaster, etc. They want children to feel comforted in their times of despair. Mckenzies Mill (Justin & Ryan Harris, Tony Barnes, Paul Newton, Shane Hoskins and Tim ??) was the entertainment for the Twangtown Throwdown fundraiser and they put on one hell of a show (as always). One of the most heart-wrenching songs they do (and this is the first time I've heard it live) is "Houston". "Houston" is a song written about Tony's cousin and a dear friend to everyone else, Matt Barnes. Matt was 24 when he was killed in a car accident last year. A couple months before the accident, the band was in Charlotte and Matt, being the fun-loving kind of guy that he was, went to support them, hang out and have a good time. He loved music and playing guitar and was very talented at it. He and Justin came up with a good little guitar peice and started humming a tune that went with it. Matt said it would make a great song and they should work on it someday. Well, that someday never came because he left us all too soon. Justin wrote the song with the help of Tony and together, they recorded it. Justin emailed me the song quite a while ago but hearing it live for the first time was amazing. Watching grown men get choked up on stage proves that this song comes from heart or maybe even from above, where I'm sure Matt was looking down with a smile. Anyways, here is my favorite verse and some pictures from the show.....

"I remember the time, remember the place, I remember that smirky little smile on your face when you told me its a perfect melody and we belt it out two-part harmony. But the song was never written, the story never told. You left it up to me to tell it all alone. And I hope I did you justice, I hope I made you proud, I hope you'll let a little light shine on down. As we try to spread our music and we try to make our name, we're all blood brothers here on this stage and we roll, yeah we roll."

Eyeballs and Dog Poo

Well, the pups are two weeks old today and they have grown so much since last Friday. They all have their eyes open and Hank & Reba are standing up. They wobble and fall down pretty quickly but they are putting equal weight on all fours. Its so cute! We cut their nails last night because they were becoming weapons and I guess the stimulation got Reba rather excited and pooped all over me. Sally was busy eating dinner and when she came back into the room, she was all over me and Reba. I should have known. Anyways....what fun. I take them to the vet next week and I'm excited to hear how they are REALLY doing. The next month should be really fun with these pups and I'll keep posting the cutest pics......speaking of, here are a few:

Watson, Hank, Reba (L to R)

Hank (black collar), Watson (blue), Reba (cute collar)

My precious Watson

Reba's cute self

Sleepy Hank

Watson's dreaded pedicure....it looks like he's biting David.

Hank, Watson & Reba

The puppies are growing and are one week old today! They are so precious and I just adore them. Its going to be hard to let them go but when they start peeing and pooping on their own, I might not be as reluctant to let them go. I think they'll be opening their eyes soon and the cuteness will be hard to handle!! Enjoy the pics of their 1 week birthday! We are celebrating with Tropical Storm Hanna!

Hank waving, Watson & Reba

Hank Yawning

Reba, our biggest pup

Watson, our runt

My obsession GROWS! Literally....

So, those of you that talk to me often know that we've temporarily inherited a dog. Sally is a Pointer and a GREAT bird dog. She belongs to my father-in-law, Steve but we are keeping her through the last two weeks of her pregnancy. She was bred with a Setter and the result will be called "Drops." Friday, August 29, we woke up around 6:30am and went downstairs to 3 tiny little puppies feeding on Sally. She did it all by herself and was done after 3!! Small litter, but they are all healthy. She had 2 boys and girl and the runt is a boy. After 6 days, we've decided on names. Reba is the girl because that is my nickname for a very select few people and because my mom's name is Sally, we thought it would be a great fit. AND, we were originally trying to go with country singers as names.....so again, it worked. The boys are Watson (the runt, named after our street and Doc Watson) and Hank (no explanation needed). So, Reba, Watson, and Hank are growing like weeds everyday. Their eyes aren't open yet but their color is starting to show and they are getting around (army crawl). They LOVE to eat and sleep and Sally is being a fantastic mom. Must be something in the name! Anyways, here are a few pics of the day they were born. I'll update weekly, so stay tuned.....

A good heart will be remembered forever....

I haven't posted in a while, and for that, I'm sorry. I forgot how much I loved doing this and plan on keeping everyone informed of our silly lives at the beach. As much as it sucks, what prompted me to start writing again was the very sad and unfortunate news of a new friend of ours that lost his life in the line of duty. In Montana, David and I had the great pleasure of meeting Evan and Carrie. They lived across the street from Andy and BJ and seemed to be wonderful people....young couple, no kids, good jobs, loved each other and their own passions. They were gracious enough to get up REALLY early and drive with us to The Loop to drop us off for our hike. They brought Andy & BJ's cars back to Kalispell after a great breakfast at Belton Chalet. Our hour long ride up to Glacier was really the only time we spent with Evan and Carrie, but on that trip and through breakfast, we shared a lot about our lives, and most importantly, we laughed. The genuine smile and laughter that exuded from Evan will always stay with me. Last week, Evan (who is a State Highway Patrol) lost his life in a head on collision while working. He was 29 years old. He was the 6th Highway Patrol to die while on duty since its inception in 1935. BJ had the highest honor of being asked to be a pall-bearer and although its an experience that wasnt easy, I'm so glad he was looked that highly upon by Carrie, and obviously, Evan. Our thoughts are with Carrie and Evan's family. Losing someone is never easy and the strength of many people will help his friends and family get through this. In the picture below, Evan is in the red t-shirt. This was taken when we got to Belton Chalet for breakfast. Unfortunately, this was the only picture I got with Evan in it.