Kids are the same as puppies!!! (Philosophy according to Maggie!!!)

Therefore a high energy child or children are to be met with the equal amount of loving mischief. If the event brings uncertainty, tears and screaming from the affected child, there must be logic to that and Maggie does her best to accommodate the now fleeing child by racing after her to heighten the game. Climbing on furniture enables the child to escape Maggie which she has decided is totally unfair and wants nothing more than to be on the couch as well!!! The child's refusal to get back into the game is a frustration that is soon overcome by the introduction of any toy, fluffy, chewable or squeaky that is presented to her!!!

Maggie has also discovered that pooping on the front lawn is as satisfying as using the backyard.......the shovel if you please!!!!!

What's she learning now???

We managed to sleep in til 6:30 this morning; what a blessing! Our little darling is proving to be smarter daily and is absorbing all her surroundings…..people, places and things! The pictures taken of her were a real challenge as she is in perpetual motion until she sleeps! The one of her by the bush shows you the size of the bush. It has about a 6 inch clearance from the lawn where she stashes anything that strikes her fancy, as Andrew’s shoe will attest to! She had her first vet check up from our vet today and all is good. He recommended that, at 6 months we have her X-rayed to check her hip development and suggested that there be no games of tug of war as she will find it difficult to distinguish the toy from the hand and will readily bite down in order to win the game!

Maggie, our wonderful, cuddly, growing little fur ball………her world is ever expanding, in the most microscopic ways. You and I would look at our backyard, give it a once over and carry on to other things. This little mite inspects every scent, crack, crevice, ball of dirt, blade of grass, flower; nose in the air to catch the wafting scent passing by, around the bushes, under the bushes, onto the lounger on the patio, chewing everything as she goes, alert to every sound her floppy ears can hear; under foot to every family member as the yard calls out for its spring sorting, planting and transplanting.



Each day brings new aspects of the slate being formed and filled as Maggie's life progresses. The up to the minute activities/ discoveries include tea towels, neatly folded over the handle of the stove can easily be whipped away with great delight and a shaking of the head has a wonderful effect as the towel fights back to be free of her needle sharp teeth. The game is added to by Sheila declaring, "No!" and approaching our little vixen to save the towel. A quick scamper into the family room all the while shaking the now losing towel ensues and a firm paw placed onto the now lifeless victim ensures victory!!! The game continues as Sheila dutifully returns the towel to its proper spot on the handle which of course signals Maggie to begin anew!!!!

Fences... part 1

She is hilarious and wonderful and adorable, all rolled into one!!! Smart as a whip as well; a friend of ours came over last night and within 15 to 20 minutes had her sitting for tiny nibbles of cooked hamburger. This morning, you know that time a long time ago, in a mental space far, far away, she figured out how to pull down some chicken wire we had put up to contain her in the back yard. As I’m replacing it and further securing it so she can’t pull it down again, she promptly crawls underneath it and carries on in the front yard! When that hole was closed off, she made for the gate side of the yard and attempted to escape through a small opening in the gate, only to realize she couldn’t navi- gate(play on words!!!) the escape and couldn’t get back, she let go a howl in her young voice that was rather endearing and as I came to the rescue, all I could see of her was her tail and part of her rump!!!!! As frisky as ever she reversed out of the predicament and came bounding back as if to say, “What’s next???”

At this point in the day, my thoughts are on her and getting home to carry on this saga. Lord only knows what’s next!

Our changing day to day!!!

The deafness from the silence of Rosie’s departure has been engulfed in the freshness of new life. Our waking hours are overflowing with the random spontaneity of a puppy whose slate is totally clean! Her energy knows no bounds for the better part of 30 to 45 minutes and then all is lost as she plummets into the abyss of sleep. Her twitching paws attest to the events just passed as she relives the action of the bouncing ball, her sliding attempt at descending stairs, her consumption of the all outdoors and her hideaway under the evergreen bush at the edge of the patio where all contraband is stored for games as yet unplayed. Her stash includes new toys bought for her, rawhide chews that are still a little overwhelming and the prize, Andrew’s $150. running shoes that have been left in the front hall for the next hurried departure. (I think this is retribution for Sheila’s 3000 unheeded requests to not leave shoes in the front hall!!!!!!!!! :)

Everyone who has seen Maggie just loves her, wants to hold and pet her, declares their interest in having one for themselves, recounts stories of the ones they’ve known within the breed and repeatedly we’ve been told of how loving they are as puppies is how loving they are throughout their lives!!!

We’re delighted with our newest addition to the household and thank Jesus for His leading us to Maggie, leading us out of our sorrow as new life bubbles and bursts in an 8 week old puppy. The freshness of new life touches us all; it draws back the curtains or our hearts and allows love to flow a little easier. Praise be Jesus!!!

The pictures are amassing on the family camera as both the boys deny any responsibility in the loss of the cable (USB?) that enables the downloading of the pictures onto the computer. So today, I’ll take home the camera I use daily here at work, snap a bunch, bring home my cable, down load and send off to you and others in the family!!!!!

Her nibs is fascinating us and challenging us as she hits the ground running, biting, scratching and jumping, at about 4:30 to 5am and assumes that this is an acceptable time for everyone to be up. Sheila mistakenly thought that if she brought her to bed with us that might calm her down for another 30 minutes of snooze time. Instead she figured this was great fun and the comforter was definitely worth biting into as we weren’t responding to her attempts at play!!!! So at almost 5am, we were making coffee, reading the news, answering emails, unloading the dishwasher, starting breakfast, watching the holy terror as she made her escape from the backyard, fixed the fence, lost her, found her, lost her, found her……..now this is fun!!!!! :) And if we weren’t paying enough attention to her, she would bark at us, saying, “Let the games continue!!!!!!!”

By 7am, we’re ready to go back to bed, she’s still wound up and as we’re leaving for work/school, she looks at us as if to say,” Well if you’re leaving, I’m going back to sleep!!!”:)

The Beginnings!!!

Our losing Rosie at the age of 13 reached deeper into our psyches than either Sheila or I would have imagined. Her death on our kitchen floor a week ago sent us into a tailspin emotionally that reached anguish levels for Sheila and had me repeatedly looking for Rosie throughout the house, especially as I came through the front door or as we were finishing a meal and had the last scrap allocated to our ever present friend and companion.

One of the fellows I work with has a yellow lab, two years of age that they wanted to give away to a good family. He refused to take any money for him despite the fact that he is a purebred with papers, tattoos, etc. His only proviso was that he and his wife be able, on occasion to come by and see how he was doing!!!

So our friend Sam brought his dog over yesterday. I'll say right off the bat that I get yellow labs and golden retrievers mixed up……… and did!!!!!!! In walks Parker, all 100 pounds of him at 2 years of age, tongue and tail wagging, happy to be anywhere humans and the prospect of food is/are!!!!! He made himself at home friendly as can be and did I say could smell food a half mile away. With brunch on the go, pancakes made and eggs in the making, coffee brewed and juice poured, Parker thought this was quite alright and settled into doing what he does best, mooching from any and all. He didn't seem to mind there was no place set for him but thought it was a marvelous idea that we were sitting at a table inside and another one out on the patio. His only quandary was where to infiltrate first but quickly figured that if there was noise generated at one table or the other, that's where he would be!!!! One could almost hear him saying, "Would you put some grated cheddar on those eggs for me???!!!!"

Sheila took him for a walk to see how disciplined he was and returned shortly to announce that he had taken her for a romp and was more than ready to go out for another!!!!!! The long and the short of it is, he is definitely too much dog for us and our rather small backyard!!!! I said to Sam that on a scale from 1 to 10, Parker is a 12 but absolutely needs acreage to run on/ in. We would be doing a disservice to him by taking him. We thanked him for his generosity in choosing us for Parker's next home.

So now it's about 3 in the afternoon and Sheila had been ferreting through the want ads for other animals, ones that were in fact, golden retrievers!!!!! There was a family about an hour away, further east of us that had a litter of puppies, golden retrievers, ready to go. So out we go, into the Fraser valley, into farming country to check out these puppies. We were greeted by the mother of the litter and one of her offspring from a litter a year ago. Happy faces and wagging tails received us and after shaking the owner's hand, we were led to a barn with 7 wiggly, squirming, falling all over each other, yapping puppies that were happy to have any attention thrown their way. We asked to see their females so 5 were removed and we were left with 2 choices, a lighter one, almost white in colour and a slightly darker one, light cinnamon, to look at. We both looked at the darker one and said, "She's ours!!!" Pure bred, no papers, vet checked, de wormed and first shots, a vet report to go along with her and $500. paid and we were on our way home with our latest addition!!!! We have named her Maggie much to the disapproval of our sons; they chose more exotic names like Butch, Rizzo, Nala (from Lion King) and other assorted names leaning into the RAP world!!!!