The Texas Yankee

Canoe Trip & Pug-O-Ween Prep

Last weekend our family took a one day canoe trip down the Brazos River.  In keeping with tradition, we took Eagle along with us again.  I'm not sure what he was looking at in the first picture, but he definitely had a great time, especially when we found a small rapid that was just strong enough to carry our bodies downstream about 200 feet, but shallow enough we could stand up.  He went down the rapid right along with us.

We also tried two different costumes on Flyer in preparation for our attending Pug-O-Ween in October.  We're not sure which one makes us laugh more.

Swimming Lessons

Flyer has taken to the water, he's learned to become quite the dog paddler after watching Eagle and Ranger do it all summer long.  Sorry there's no audio, I did it with my digital camera, but we did buy a video camera this week so I hope to have more Pug and/or Airedale videos to upload in the near future.

Winter One Day, Summer The Next

Early March had some snow falling in Texas which the dogs enjoyed romping in ... 

... but by the first day of Spring, the dogs were in the lake.  Well, except Flyer, he's still not sure about swimming, but with the pool uncovered and Ranger and Eagle having already taken swims, we're hoping he joins the other two soon in their water antics.

After a day of playing in the lake and pool, Eagle (and the others) is exhausted.

Oh, speaking of temperature changes, I went to Toronto in mid-March and the day I left Texas it was 80 degrees, only to arrive in Canada to temps in the 30's.  Here's a couple of pictures from my visit there, as well as from the day trip we took to Niagara Falls.

We had dinner at the restaurant at the top of the CN Tower with some friends that live near Toronto.  Between the four of us, we had a sampling of duck, rabbit, wild boar, salmon, and lamb.  It was a fabulous meal with a fabulous view that rotated us around, though I liked the portion of the view during the time we were rotating past Toronto City Centre Airport (can't see it in this picture I took from the top, regrettably) the best!

Niagara Falls is beautiful!  We actually saw the huge block of snow/ice at the bottom of where the falls flow into the river break apart.  Very cool.

Some Updates

Life is still good in Texas for my family, which of course includes our dogs, Summer the cat, and the latest addition to our brood, Patrick and Taffy the Guinea Pigs.  Oh, and I acquired yet another automobile.

Here's some pics of the animals.

Eagle and Ranger on cat watch .. if you look carefully you can see the cat's glowing eyes in some of the foliage outside the window (right above Ranger's right ear, almost touching it).

Eagle with one of the sushi toys that I keep buying for them.

I don't know what it is about this pillow and why they both insist on laying on it or taking a nap on it together ..

Caught in the act of pug naughtiness!

Pug-O-Ween 2007

Because I had to take the pugs to Pug-O-Ween this year without an assistant, I wasn't able to get any pictures of them in their costumes as I was too busy just trying to keep them from running wild.  Finally, however, a picture that the DFW Pugs Rescue Group took has been posted on their web page.  How cute were my little bumble bees? 

PS  On a side note, I am now officially a Private Pilot.  I passed my check ride and was issued my Airman Certificate on November 16th.  Hooray!

Puppy Antics

At first I was ready to blame Ranger for the recent increase of refrigerator magnets ending up on the kitchen floor with teeth marks in them.  After a thorough investigation, which included catching the culprit in the act, I have determined that Flyer is behind this naughty deed.

I am not sure what message he was trying to send by targeting the Oklahoma magnet.

Perhaps it's a message to Ranger (born in Oklahoma) from a Pug that is native Texan.

The other thing that the black Pug puppy seems to insist on doing is crawling into the gas fireplace and taking a nap.  He's been reprimanded at least a dozen times for doing it, but I still catch him in there.  I am going to have to put the fireplace screen up again, I think.  He does look cute, though.

And Baby Makes Three ..

... dogs in the house, now, that is.

Yes, after reading about the introduction of little Wendell into the life of Ayatollah Mugsy, I finally put my nose to the grindstone and tracked down a little black male Pug puppy of our own to bring home.  After much negotiation with my husband, I was able to convince him that the puppy should be named Flyer (not Cowboy as he had told me I had to name him if I was going to bring another Pug into the house).  He's a very sweet natured boy; we're enjoying having him as part of our family.

Eagle and Flyer:

Ranger and Flyer:

Tired Pug puppy:

We also did a test run on a costume for Eagle to wear for pug-o-ween.  This one is Pirates of the Caribbean themed.  I'm looking for ideas to incorporate a crazy acting Airedale and an uncooperative Pug puppy into the mix, however.

The Graduate

Following in the footsteps of his older brother, Eagle the Pug, Ranger the Airedale successfully graduated from PetSmart's Beginner Dog Education Course.  The formal training class met weekly over a period of eight grueling weeks that tested both pup and owner.  But at the end of it all, we're happy to say that Ranger can sit, stay, lie down, roll over, and play dead with the best of them.  However, the trick that involves "leaving" a treat until told he can "take it" still apparently needs some mastery.  Here's Ranger from his big graduation ceremony.  I've included Eagle's graduation from Puppy Class last year as well, because he's a special boy too!

All this higher education, and this is basically what it boils down to at the end of a long day at our house:

PS  Yes, that's a piece of sushi (of the dog toy variety) under the couch.

Rainy Day Games

It's rained a lot this summer in Texas.  I mean, A LOT.  Because of this, we've tried to find ways to entertain ourselves indoors during the monsoons that have come through almost daily.

One of the first things I accomplished was building a model that is a replica of my Tomb Raider Edition Rubicon Jeep.  Mini Pugs and Airedale were not included in the model kit, but were added to make it seem even more true to form.

I like the fact that an Eagle was included in this picture:

I think the Pugs are trying to send the Airedale a message:

Everyone got caught up in the model making frenzy so much that they tried to make Eagle into an airplane model!

As Ranger just stands by and lets it happen!

Finally, a photo studio background was set up to simulate Eagle taking a tropical vacation.

I sure hope the weather improves a bit before Eagle is subjected to any more shenanigans!

Flying Solo

Yesterday, July 16th, 2007, will go down as the second happiest day of my life, as I was finally able to solo a Cessna 172 after a mere 32.8 hours of dual instruction.  Suffice it to say it's been a long time coming, as I've been only able to fly intermittently during this past spring and summer due to weather issues.

The big event took place out at KFTW after going through a few touch and go's with my instructor.  Then he sent me off to taxi to Runway 16 and before I knew it, I was in the air flying the pattern.  My first landing included a small bounce, but other then that, the whole thing went really well.  Then after checking in with my instructor who watched from the ground, I went up again for two more go arounds.  It was awesome.

At the end of it all, I had a crazy mix of adrenalin, glee, giddiness that's hard to convey unless you've done it yourself.  And yes, they cut my shirt off of me in keeping with the solo tradition.