Another Surprise!!!!

Wow! Just a few days ago Jodie and I heard from Brooks and tonight we got an email from Talulah. She living in Fort Pierce and seems to really be enjoying herself. She is becoming a real beauty and is working on her permanent teeth.

I guess, Coco, that she's chewing everything in sight and though we haven't heard, I'll bet all her brothers and sisters are doing the same thing. Oh, the old days, when I used to get scolded for "putting the bite" on something I should have avoided. How about you, Coco?

Of course, that goes with the territory. We both came to the Tempesta house as adults, so we did no chewing, but if you check, you can see the results of Sandy on the coffee table and on some of the doors. For those of you who don't know, Sandy was the Tempesta Lab some years before we came here. We never met her, but we've seen her picture and, of course, her teething areas.

Enough about us and Sandy. Below are a few pictures of Talulah.

From Talulah

From Talulah

From Talulah

As you can see, she is one adorable pup. Hi, Talulah!!! Yeah, Hi for me too!!!!

Valentine Surprise!!

Coco and I got a nice surprise in the mail today, a Valentine's Day card from Brooks. You may remember us chatting about Brooks in our December 30th blog. He was the last of the eight pups to leave and we had a week with him by himself. It was nice having him to run around with as Coco is getting a bit lazy. Well, I am, too. You know how it is, same old, same old every day. This was a new adventure with a new dog and everything we did was new to him. All the smells and sights in the woods would amaze him and it made us look at things differently also.

From Valentine

That's actually Brooks on the cover. He still has the blue eyes and is a VERY handsome pooch. Apparently he's having a heck of a time in his new home and we could not be happier for him. I hope you two legged folks can now see that Jodie and I are not the only literate Labs in the world. Here's the inside of the card.

From Valentine

We hear from Brooks and his mother, Molly, from time to time and hope that we will hear from the others in time. We were all thrown together by an unusual set of circumstances, but Coco and I will always remember all of them and sincerely hope that they are all doing as well as Brooks. This Valentine really made our day!

Free at Last, Free at Last.....oops!!

Jodie and I are usually confined to our 2.5 acres when we are at home. There is a wire that runs around the property and it used to be that if we got too close to the wire, we'd get a buzz or a little zap. However, the old zapper got hit by lightning and there hasn't been a buzz for a long time. A few months ago I got down to the end of the fence and around the end to visit with the dog next door, but I got caught in only a few minutes and brought back. Still, old folks didn't put on the collar that bites.

Early this morning, the old guy fed us and put us out. Now, under normal circumstances I'd be back at the door in just a few moments, as I really don't like the cold. However, today there was something going on next d00r and I HAD to go and investigate. A quick stroll to the end of the fence, a turn into the next yard, and I had another 2.5 acres to explore. Jodie wouldn't come, so I had this all to myself. I raced up back to investigate and barked my head off. Whatever had been there was gone, but heck, I had a lot of new territory to sniff. It was quite a long time I had to prowl before I heard the old man calling me. It was early and the old man was actually out of the house and walking up the back yard calling and looking. Jodie, rat that she can be, ran right up to the back corner closest to me and the old man was right behind. CAUGHT!

You know Coco, he's not as stupid as you think. You established a pattern of coming right back in the cold weather and now you changed the pattern. What was he supposed to think? You may have noticed that I never followed you and do you know why? It's because I know where the boundary is and don't like that heavy collar around my neck. Now the fence is hooked up again and we're back in those heavy collars. That's OK. I STILL know where the boundary is, but you have been getting in the habit of going over the limit by a foot or two. One of these days, and soon, you're going to forget and try to go beyond again. I'll have a chuckle when I hear you yelp. Tomorrow morning you and the old man will go for the paper. You'll grab one paper and cross the fence line even though he tosses your paper well up into the yard. You will forget. You will feel the bite of the collar and you will yelp. I'm laughing already.

At least I carry in one of the papers and I'm compensated with a treat. You get a treat just for being with me. If I get zapped I may stop carrying the paper and there will be no more morning treats for either of us.

I'm not making fun of you carrying the paper and I sure enjoy the treat. I'm just saying that you'be getting very careless about the fenceline and you are going to get zapped. You'll get zapped, but I'll still get a cookie, I bet.

This is the winter of our discontent

From Winter 2010

Yes, Folks, this has become the winter of our discontent. The picture above shows Mom with a background of snow on the roof and the screen. IT"S COLD even for the rugged Labrador Retriever. I'm cold and I have an extra layer of fur. Poor Coco has a sparse fur by comparison and therefore she shivers a lot more than I do. Cold, Cold Cold! ugh!!

Another thing is that the old man has seen fit to keep us from the pool because he claims the water is too cold for us. Does the daft old fellow not realize that we were bred to retrieve ducks from the ice rimmed ponds for hunters. Does he not realize that we are LABRADOR retrievers and our heritage goes back to Labrador and Newfoundland? We had a few warm days and the pool water warmed up enough that "he who plays God" allowed us to use the pool. Cold water or not, using the pool is Divine.

I have to admit that it was nice to get back in the pool, Coco, but to be honest it was still a bit cold. About the Labs bred to chase ducks in the freezing water of the north, remember, I'm a California girl, bred to roam the beaches of Malibu and San Diego. Icy water is not my choice, so I think the old man was probably correct in sparing my fine body the ravages of icy cold water. Besides, I'm more of a lady, I WALK down the steps and swim around the pool. You are out of control, running and jumping in the pool to chase a ball. Doing that would get my head wet.

You're missing half the fun of having a pool. Leaping far into the pool makes me come alive!!!! This is especially true when we get to use the pool so seldom now.

We sure don't have the access that we used to have. But you have to admit that this wintry weather has had a negative effect on the folks. We don't get to use the pool, but then they seldom feel like going out in the cold to play fetch. Running back and forth really warms me up, but they just stay in one place and toss the ball. They should be running with us, that would warm them up.

The fat old guy running with us?????? Are you serious???? He'd have an attack or something and we'd have to drag him back to the house. Well, we're into February and this cold weather can't last forever. I wish it was over just so the old man would cheer up. He acts like he's never going to see warm weather again and all too soon he'll be complaining about the heat.

Yes, he may complain about the heat, but at least we get to use the pool every day and that's a real nice way to cool off. Perhaps we will soon got from our winter of discontent to our spring of renewed optimism.

There is that possibility. Another thing is that usually, the spring of renewed optimism leads to a trip north to escape the worst heat of summer. I could use a change of scenery.

Me, too, Coco . Later!