Balloon vs. Zeldie

We finally found out what scares our "daredevil" of a dog--helium balloons. The Irish Terriers are known to be fairly fearless, earning the nickname daredevil (seriously, look it up). Most things her curiosity gets the best of her and she wants to really explore whatever it is. However, after David's 30th birthday party last night at Dogfish Head Alehouse, we brought home a few balloons. When she saw them, she went from lightly growling, to pawing at the carpet to backing up and putting her head down. Maybe she thought they were floating heads or something, but we wish we got her behavior on camera because the balloons were not even moving, just floating there.

Conjunctivitis for Dogs

One day we came home from work and noticed Zeldie was squinting like she couldn't see. Her eyes were all red and looked bloodshot. She also had some discharge running out of her eyes. This being new to both of us, we did what any couple would do, we googled it. Of course, the first thing that came up was a page on Red Eye for dogs which seemed to fit her symptoms perfectly. The problem was that Red Eye for dogs is the equivalent of pink eye for people and the side effects include possible blindness. This sent at least one of us into a tizzy. We held her out of doggie day care and took her to the vet first thing in the morning the next day. As it turned out, Zeldie did not have Red Eye for dogs. Zeldie had allergies. And now, we give her eye drops to alleviate the aggravation it itchy, puffy, red eyes. It seems like we have crossed a threshold into the absurd when your day consists of giving eye drops to a dog and this is a more tolerable notion than allowing her to rub her eyes with a paw.

Zeldie by the Numbers

We have now had Zeldie 1 year. we went to pick Zeldie up from the airport 365 days ago. Since we have had her, she has been in 3 dog training classes. She has had 2 different dog walkers. She has been kenneled 4 times. She has traveled by car to NY 2 times. She has traveled by car to NC 2 times. She has stayed in a hotel 2 times. She has met 4 other Irish Terriers. She is 32 pounds. She eats 2 cups of food a day, sometimes. She has swallowed 1 nylon knee high and 1 plastic bottle cap. She has stolen 1 set of diamond rings, but did not swallow them. She has eaten 1 pair of glasses. She has 2 allergies of which we know. She has had 2 prescription medications. All in all, it has been a good year. She has 115 days before she is no longer the baby of the house. We don't think she has any idea what is coming.

Saludos desde Puerto Rico!

Greetings from Puerto Rico! On Monday we traveled to San German, the oldest city in Puerto Rico. The weather has been perfect and we have been spending a lot of time on the beach reading and relaxing, just what both of us were looking forward to all Fall. Even though I was reluctant at first, I am glad David insisted. I am lucky he would rather spend our money on an experience we can share than things that are just for himself. I will try to remember how much closer together it brought us when the mastercard bill arrives next month. We are staying at The Pineapple Inn, a little B&B here that is just our speed. The beds are comfortable and the owners are hospitable. It is small and quiet, just steps away from the beach, exactly what we wanted.

Most of the time we have been spending on the beach which is just steps away from our room. We have had our hands full watching the crabs dig their holes and watching the tides rearrange the debris on the beach. We have decided that our entertainment for one day might be counting the coconuts. On December 28th, there was a seismic event, a small earthquake, in the Puerto Rico region. Unfortunately, this caused the currents to be too strong for David to go diving. We think that gives us an excuse to come back.

David's suggestion is we move here so that he can open up a dive shop. I said, if he gets to open up a dive shop then I get to open up a used book store. We've been working on the name all week. The best we have come up with is The Reader Reef. That name is growing on us for now. We have met a lot of people who have relocated here and they say that it is no more difficult than moving state to state since it is a territory of the United States so we haven't ruled anything out.

We also traveled to Old San Juan where we stayed for New Year's Eve. David did exceptionally well booking our hotel, we had a view of Christopher Columbus square from the window which is where all of the celebration took place, kind of like Times Square. Except rather than a ball dropping, they have a fireworks display and a stage set up for a concert. We had just enough time to walk to the fort. On our way, we took in a few of the sites of the old city. The buildings are incredible. Most of them are brightly colored and have beautiful grill work. There are many sculptures around the city that commemorate its history and are also a tribute to the artists. We had dinner at a Tapas restaurant which happened to be the oldest building in the city and at one point was used as the city hall. Where we were sitting used to be the part of the building that housed the prisoners.

Below is the final slideshow updated with all of our pictures. We are sure you will see why we can't wait to go back.

Our dog the cottonball

So we had a very large snowstorm recently--two feet here in Springfield. While I was very sick, Anne was a total trooper and went out and shovelled quite a bit during the storm so that on Sunday we only had to do a bit of work to be ready to leave our neighborhood when we got the chance. Zeldie had seen snow once before, but this time was very different. She absolutely loved playing it in for a while. At about noon, when the snow was about a foot, we went out with our neighbor Julie to the tennis courts to let Zeldie play around. She was running around, digging and eating the snow while we threw snow on her to get her riled up. This picture is from the end of the playtime, where the snow was almost completely covering her.

The problem arose later after the snow ended that evening. By that time, the show was up to her head. She didn't like that quite as much, as she had to essentially plow through the snow. She sorta crowd-surfed/hopped through the snow, which took quite a bit of effort. One big issue for her was that she couldn't find a place to poop. She didn't mind peeing in the snow, but she really wanted a piece of grond to poop on, and of course with two feet of snow everywhere, she couldn't smell that the ground was down there. She was walking with her head down sniffing for a good 10 minutes. Finally, on the middle of Hunter Village Drive, which is normally a fairly busy road next to our condo, she did her business. What a relief I am sure for her...

Nurse Zeldie

So I had two and half weeks off from work, with Anne having a solid two weeks...I was pretty sick on the Thursday and Friday before Christmas, and then it snowed a South Bend/Oswego amount of snow. While sick, Zeldie did not leave my side. I think she thought it was a lot of fun that her dad was home during the day, but when I wasn't playing with her and just laying on the couch she decided to join me. I pulled the the Ottoman close to me and she slept next to me with her body on the couch and her legs on the Ottoman. She was very distressed when I got up to get something to drink--she looked at me, let out a big sigh, and then rearranged herself deeper into the warm blanket.

We have a dog that thinks she is a person for sure...

Zeldie Horak-Litter Patrol

Cesar Milan says that all dogs should have a job. This helps them to feel well adjusted and therefore they have fewer behavior problems. Although Zeldie does not have the extreme behavior problems Cesar deals with, just the regular ones, chewing, jumping up. We have been contemplating what Zeldie's job might be so that she can fulfill her potential as a canine in this world.

This past week, we bought her a harness. This was because of Erin's suggestion while were were visiting her for Thanksgiving. It has been a wonder. Had I known the benefits of walking the dog with a harness, I never would have gotten a collar. In any case, the collar is a pretty deep Raspberry pink color, which I will admit was a bit difficult for David to swallow at first. But the only other color in the size and type we wanted was a steel gray which he and I both admitted made Zeldie look like a boy dog. When he looked at it that way, he perked up a bit about the color. David is, more than anything, willing to be the person he needs to be to do what is best for his family and for that, I find him to be truly incredible.

While it was a bit of adjustment for her at first, she was biting at it, while we were walking, she was peppy and bright almost as if she was proud of her new harness. It occurred to me she looked a little bit like one of those crossing guards with the vests on. So, on that walk, when she sniffed and sniffed and sniffed until she found her piece of litter and then looked back at me like she had found the pot of gold, rather than say, no, "off", I said "Thank you, Zeldie Horak, Litter Patrol,"and took the litter from her and added it to the deposit we had already made in the poop bag. And this went on with every piece of litter we found. Thus, Zeldie has now found her purpose in life.