More and more people out there are spreading the good news about Mona Vie!!
Here's Dr. Andrea Pennington on Fox News...
Watch THIS
Monday, October 22, 2007
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Health in a bottle
Well if you haven't already heard about this amazing juice then you will eventually.
Josh and I are so blessed to have found it. We both are experiencing more energy and we are feeling so much healthier just after drinking it for a few weeks!
Anyone who wants to feel better and live longer should definitely be drinking it.
Look at my website if you want to know more about the health benefits.
Tuesday, September 04, 2007
eg
FINALLY something worth blogging about!
Since his poor daddy is a TAD bit busy right now with everything....may I proudly introduce...
Elijah Graham
born August 15th, 2007
I'm so proud to be the aunt of the cutest little baby boy EVER!!!
I miss him so much and can't wait to see him again.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX <---------- for Eli ;-)
Since his poor daddy is a TAD bit busy right now with everything....may I proudly introduce...
Elijah Graham
born August 15th, 2007
more pics to come...
I'm so proud to be the aunt of the cutest little baby boy EVER!!!
I miss him so much and can't wait to see him again.
OXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOX <---------- for Eli ;-)
Friday, April 27, 2007
The story of three trees
Last night was interesting and crazy.
Well, let me start with yesterday afternoon...
No, actually a few weeks ago when I noticed the tree. Yeah, okay so there's this tree in our yard that hasn't yet sprouted green leaves and I was all worried about it so I checked it out only to find it was dead and termite infested. Sad and gross at the same time. I'm not a "tree-hugger" but I wanted to hug this one goodbye. It was so pretty last summer and now it's all brown and brittle. I really was sad! Plus it's our only tree in the back yard that has a branch for my bird feeder.
(my once pretty, now dead tree) :(
There is one more back in the corner too, but I noticed it kicked the bucket as well! It wasn't as pretty and I wasn't as sad for it for some reason. And then about a week ago we had some strong wind that took it down...almost right on top of our ghetto above-ground pool! whew!
When I broke the news of the dead pretty tree to Josh, he was more sad about having to spend a day chopping it down and hauling it off somewhere!
So yesterday... I was relaxing in the hammock staring up at the once pretty, now pitiful tree still standing, wondering if and when it fell on its own, which way it would fall. One way would send it diving into our pool, the other way into the vacant yard behind us most likely taking power lines with it. I decided I needed to take down my bird feeder soon.
As I swung back and forth in the hammock I noticed it was considerably breezy. It was a nice compliment to the bright sun and Harley and I were thoroughly enjoying the perfect afternoon. He was in "squirrel-hunting" mode and every little noise in the trees would make his head jerk and then freeze.
Then we heard a big noise.
It was a crack like a squirrel biting into a nut, only about 10 times louder. It was coming from behind us...up in some tree over in the neighbor's yard. A gust of wind would come and then 'CRACK'!! Again! We both just stared up in the tree as if expecting a 40 pound squirrel to appear.
Hmm. No giant squirrel, no more 'CRACK'ing, I went inside.
Later last night around 10:30 I was in my closet getting dressed for bed. This is when I heard the next 'CRACK'. I froze and in that split second I honestly had a mental picture of Josh setting off fireworks with Harley in the back yard. That's what it sounded like! As I hurried out of the closet and into the bedroom I heard a series of 'CRACKS', and a huge 'CRASH' and 'THUMP'! A second later I was at the top of the stairs and yelled "JOSH!" The house shook, the power went out and I froze again. It scared me and I was standing at the top of the stairs whimpering. Josh ran up the steps, found me in the dark and held me. I was muttering something about it being our tree that fell and I needed to save my bird feeder. He held onto me and told me everything was okay and asked me if I saw it happen. I didn't, but I knew our tree had fallen and I wanted to see if it was in the pool or the neighbor's yard. Josh ran down to assess the damage while I changed clothes in the dark. As I stumbled down the stairs I heard him say,
"It wasn't our tree."
"WHAT?! Then what WAS it?!"
I lit a candle and found my way to our half-moonlit back yard to see for myself. He was right. There was my brown tree still standing with bird feeder still hanging. I looked around and realized the half moon was the only light on our whole block besides a few curious flashlights. I met Josh in the front yard with a neighbor and they were looking up at a lop-sided tree in our other next-door neighbor's back yard. A HUGE branch had broken off and fallen a looong way down, crushing our fence, and landing halfway in our backyard.
(Stupid 40 pound squirrel...find a bigger tree!)
And this was no normal sized branch. It was actually thicker than the trunk of my pretty dead tree!!
The next 15 minutes consisted of me lighting every candle I could find and Josh opening all the windows to let in the cool outside breeze. By this time it was 11pm and Josh was remembering he had an early morning ahead of him. So we closed all the downstairs windows and made our way up to our already warm, candle-lit bedroom and attempted to go to bed.
We were hot. And not in the romantic sense. Our A/C was off, the windows up there are small, and we were being reminded that heat rises. Josh usually cannot sleep in less than perfect conditions but with his early morning approaching by the minute he decided he had no other choice but to obey his tired body. I, on the other hand was wide awake and ready for adventure!
I sat for a while on the bed fanning my sweaty husband, gazing out the window at the clear, moonlit sky, beginning to remember how tired I was. After a short while I heard a loud truck on the street behind us. Voices and flashlights followed and I was suddenly no longer tired! I had a height advantage being on the second floor and watched the bucket truck come to a halt and power company guys begin traipsing through peoples' yards assessing the damage with their flashlights. Oh this was way too exciting now. (I'm easily entertained.)
Then Josh suggested that we sleep downstairs in the family room where it was cooler. So with pillows and candles in hand we made our way down and rearranged the couches and cushions to make one big "bed" for us. Much to my delight we were right under the large window looking into the back yard so I could keep up with the action. It was a lot cooler down there, but poor Josh still tossed and turned. The action stopped for a while so I decided to lie down. It was quiet without the A/C and frig running except for an occasional frog croak from the retention pond caddy-corner from us. You know, our frogs don't "ribbit." In fact, it's such a horribly strange noise that I would've never thought it came from a frog!
"rrRHAUHT, rhauht. rrRHAUHT, rhauht." And when one starts, the others copy him. Kinda annoying.
Okay, so I'm lying there actually trying to get some sleep when our friendly power company workers finally find where the problem originated. Our back yard. They never actually had to go in our back yard thankfully. They worked in the vacant yard behind us and the retention pond area. But I could hear them like they were right outside my window! You would THINK they would take into consideration what time it was, but nooooo. They had a job to do and they were gonna have fun with it. One of them had his Nextel volume on high and I kept hearing the beep-beep and then some one's loud voice. One of them kept yelling across the back yards and thought it was funny to tell his buddy to "WATCH OUT FOR THE PIT BULL IN THE YARD!" and then laugh really loud. Yeah, pretty funny dude. One of them had a slightly higher pitched voice and every time he would yell the frogs apparently understood him and replied with "rrRHAUHT, rhauht." Whatever that means.
And imagine with me the sound of power lines being jerked and pulled out of tree branches. In the middle of the night. On the lumpy couch with a snoring husband. Here he is enjoying a full REM cycle and all I can think is "action SMaction! I want sleep!"
So somehow amidst the drowning noises of emergency graveyard shift workers, obnoxious frogs, and random snores, I found myself drifting off to dreamland despite the fact that my feet kept accidentally touching Josh's. AAHHGG!! (Is it just me?!)
I don't know how long it lasted but I was awakened suddenly by another noise. A familiar noise that definitely required electricity. The upstairs A/C cut on and I was happy but not thrilled about walking up and closing all the windows at 2am. I left him sleeping on the couch with a nice breeze and I crashed upstairs in our bed. By myself. With real air.
Well, let me start with yesterday afternoon...
No, actually a few weeks ago when I noticed the tree. Yeah, okay so there's this tree in our yard that hasn't yet sprouted green leaves and I was all worried about it so I checked it out only to find it was dead and termite infested. Sad and gross at the same time. I'm not a "tree-hugger" but I wanted to hug this one goodbye. It was so pretty last summer and now it's all brown and brittle. I really was sad! Plus it's our only tree in the back yard that has a branch for my bird feeder.
(my once pretty, now dead tree) :(There is one more back in the corner too, but I noticed it kicked the bucket as well! It wasn't as pretty and I wasn't as sad for it for some reason. And then about a week ago we had some strong wind that took it down...almost right on top of our ghetto above-ground pool! whew!
When I broke the news of the dead pretty tree to Josh, he was more sad about having to spend a day chopping it down and hauling it off somewhere!
So yesterday... I was relaxing in the hammock staring up at the once pretty, now pitiful tree still standing, wondering if and when it fell on its own, which way it would fall. One way would send it diving into our pool, the other way into the vacant yard behind us most likely taking power lines with it. I decided I needed to take down my bird feeder soon.
As I swung back and forth in the hammock I noticed it was considerably breezy. It was a nice compliment to the bright sun and Harley and I were thoroughly enjoying the perfect afternoon. He was in "squirrel-hunting" mode and every little noise in the trees would make his head jerk and then freeze.
Then we heard a big noise.
It was a crack like a squirrel biting into a nut, only about 10 times louder. It was coming from behind us...up in some tree over in the neighbor's yard. A gust of wind would come and then 'CRACK'!! Again! We both just stared up in the tree as if expecting a 40 pound squirrel to appear.
Hmm. No giant squirrel, no more 'CRACK'ing, I went inside.
Later last night around 10:30 I was in my closet getting dressed for bed. This is when I heard the next 'CRACK'. I froze and in that split second I honestly had a mental picture of Josh setting off fireworks with Harley in the back yard. That's what it sounded like! As I hurried out of the closet and into the bedroom I heard a series of 'CRACKS', and a huge 'CRASH' and 'THUMP'! A second later I was at the top of the stairs and yelled "JOSH!" The house shook, the power went out and I froze again. It scared me and I was standing at the top of the stairs whimpering. Josh ran up the steps, found me in the dark and held me. I was muttering something about it being our tree that fell and I needed to save my bird feeder. He held onto me and told me everything was okay and asked me if I saw it happen. I didn't, but I knew our tree had fallen and I wanted to see if it was in the pool or the neighbor's yard. Josh ran down to assess the damage while I changed clothes in the dark. As I stumbled down the stairs I heard him say,
"It wasn't our tree."
"WHAT?! Then what WAS it?!"
I lit a candle and found my way to our half-moonlit back yard to see for myself. He was right. There was my brown tree still standing with bird feeder still hanging. I looked around and realized the half moon was the only light on our whole block besides a few curious flashlights. I met Josh in the front yard with a neighbor and they were looking up at a lop-sided tree in our other next-door neighbor's back yard. A HUGE branch had broken off and fallen a looong way down, crushing our fence, and landing halfway in our backyard.
(Stupid 40 pound squirrel...find a bigger tree!)
And this was no normal sized branch. It was actually thicker than the trunk of my pretty dead tree!!
The next 15 minutes consisted of me lighting every candle I could find and Josh opening all the windows to let in the cool outside breeze. By this time it was 11pm and Josh was remembering he had an early morning ahead of him. So we closed all the downstairs windows and made our way up to our already warm, candle-lit bedroom and attempted to go to bed.
We were hot. And not in the romantic sense. Our A/C was off, the windows up there are small, and we were being reminded that heat rises. Josh usually cannot sleep in less than perfect conditions but with his early morning approaching by the minute he decided he had no other choice but to obey his tired body. I, on the other hand was wide awake and ready for adventure!
I sat for a while on the bed fanning my sweaty husband, gazing out the window at the clear, moonlit sky, beginning to remember how tired I was. After a short while I heard a loud truck on the street behind us. Voices and flashlights followed and I was suddenly no longer tired! I had a height advantage being on the second floor and watched the bucket truck come to a halt and power company guys begin traipsing through peoples' yards assessing the damage with their flashlights. Oh this was way too exciting now. (I'm easily entertained.)
Then Josh suggested that we sleep downstairs in the family room where it was cooler. So with pillows and candles in hand we made our way down and rearranged the couches and cushions to make one big "bed" for us. Much to my delight we were right under the large window looking into the back yard so I could keep up with the action. It was a lot cooler down there, but poor Josh still tossed and turned. The action stopped for a while so I decided to lie down. It was quiet without the A/C and frig running except for an occasional frog croak from the retention pond caddy-corner from us. You know, our frogs don't "ribbit." In fact, it's such a horribly strange noise that I would've never thought it came from a frog!
"rrRHAUHT, rhauht. rrRHAUHT, rhauht." And when one starts, the others copy him. Kinda annoying.
Okay, so I'm lying there actually trying to get some sleep when our friendly power company workers finally find where the problem originated. Our back yard. They never actually had to go in our back yard thankfully. They worked in the vacant yard behind us and the retention pond area. But I could hear them like they were right outside my window! You would THINK they would take into consideration what time it was, but nooooo. They had a job to do and they were gonna have fun with it. One of them had his Nextel volume on high and I kept hearing the beep-beep and then some one's loud voice. One of them kept yelling across the back yards and thought it was funny to tell his buddy to "WATCH OUT FOR THE PIT BULL IN THE YARD!" and then laugh really loud. Yeah, pretty funny dude. One of them had a slightly higher pitched voice and every time he would yell the frogs apparently understood him and replied with "rrRHAUHT, rhauht." Whatever that means.
And imagine with me the sound of power lines being jerked and pulled out of tree branches. In the middle of the night. On the lumpy couch with a snoring husband. Here he is enjoying a full REM cycle and all I can think is "action SMaction! I want sleep!"
So somehow amidst the drowning noises of emergency graveyard shift workers, obnoxious frogs, and random snores, I found myself drifting off to dreamland despite the fact that my feet kept accidentally touching Josh's. AAHHGG!! (Is it just me?!)
I don't know how long it lasted but I was awakened suddenly by another noise. A familiar noise that definitely required electricity. The upstairs A/C cut on and I was happy but not thrilled about walking up and closing all the windows at 2am. I left him sleeping on the couch with a nice breeze and I crashed upstairs in our bed. By myself. With real air.
(note: we do not have bushes in that corner... that is the fallen tree branch. It's like half a tree! The fence is behind it, now covered.)
(front view of broken tree...that branch fell from the TOP!)
Needless to say, I slept in. And now I hear a chainsaw coming from the neighbor's yard so I'd better go get my dose of action for the day!
Thursday, April 26, 2007
Sorry my blog has "gotten a little behind"...
Felicity has brought such joy to our family. Each of us take turns bragging on what we've taught her. There seems to be a little bit of all of us in her too. Most will agree she resembles MY baby pictures (as well as my mom's.) I, no doubt, see myself in her in many other ways too.
I will admit though, she takes after her mommy and daddy a lot. Before she could even read at all, her mommy LOVED books. And I guess maybe her daddy LOVED toilets because he became a plumber.
As is evident in this photo, she takes after them both.
PS: Happy 10 month Birthday to Felicity!!! Today!!
I will admit though, she takes after her mommy and daddy a lot. Before she could even read at all, her mommy LOVED books. And I guess maybe her daddy LOVED toilets because he became a plumber.
As is evident in this photo, she takes after them both.
PS: Happy 10 month Birthday to Felicity!!! Today!!
Monday, April 02, 2007
Random Updates
"And The Two Became One"
We found a great home for Dundy so he and Harley said their goodbye's and Harley is back to being an only child and loving it more than ever. Every now and then we miss Dundy...like, the cuteness...not the annoying puppy ADD part.
"Mam's Fam"
This is all of us when we went up to Tennessee for Mamaw's funeral back in December. It was a sad time, but good to all be together for once. We had a nice time together - laughing and crying - it was how she would've wanted it. Plus, Derek (and Yancy) made an appearance so I KNOW she would've been pleased.
"Grand-Diva's"
Mamaw loved her some diamonds and was blessed to have had 3 lovely granddaughters to pass them down to. As you can see, we did not mind at all sportin' our inherited ring bling. We had to represent...it's how she would've wanted it. Seriously.
"Super-Size"
The three of us also inherited the jumbo knees you see here. Yeah, you can't miss 'em. We each had our struggles with them during adolescence, but we're pretty much over it now. Poor Felicity...hers look like two Cinnabons!
"An Evening with The Coz"
Josh and I were fortunate enough to have the chance to see the entertaining Bill Cosby perform. It brought us back to Clif Huxtible days. He's the same, just with gray hair.
"Addie-Tootie"
This is Josh's sister Lisa with her sweet Adelle, stylin' in her jean skirt. They are smiling because they are shopping in Target. Lisa's startin' her young.
"Felicious Genius"
And here is my sweet Felicity! She is reading her Bible and apparently very excited to learn about Moses. She's so advanced!
"The Bride's Maids"
Here is Cousin Em (soon-to-be Mrs. Cousin Em) with Caroline and I on either side representing her Bridesmaid team of six. Without our support she would most likely turn into Bridezilla.
"Three Dorks"
For Josh's B-day present I got us tickets to see our favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan, at Hard Rock Live in Orlando. So after the show we definitely got to meet him and get his autograph and chat and now we're best buddies! Notice how excited we were to the point of looking like severely constipated retards!
(BTW: Don't believe anything Josh says about what I said to Gaffigan when we met him.)
(No, I'm not preggers...it's the shirt, I promise.)
So there's another nutshell for ya. Stay tuned in case more exciting things happen in our lives.
We found a great home for Dundy so he and Harley said their goodbye's and Harley is back to being an only child and loving it more than ever. Every now and then we miss Dundy...like, the cuteness...not the annoying puppy ADD part.
"Mam's Fam"
This is all of us when we went up to Tennessee for Mamaw's funeral back in December. It was a sad time, but good to all be together for once. We had a nice time together - laughing and crying - it was how she would've wanted it. Plus, Derek (and Yancy) made an appearance so I KNOW she would've been pleased.
"Grand-Diva's"
Mamaw loved her some diamonds and was blessed to have had 3 lovely granddaughters to pass them down to. As you can see, we did not mind at all sportin' our inherited ring bling. We had to represent...it's how she would've wanted it. Seriously.
"Super-Size"
The three of us also inherited the jumbo knees you see here. Yeah, you can't miss 'em. We each had our struggles with them during adolescence, but we're pretty much over it now. Poor Felicity...hers look like two Cinnabons!
"An Evening with The Coz"
Josh and I were fortunate enough to have the chance to see the entertaining Bill Cosby perform. It brought us back to Clif Huxtible days. He's the same, just with gray hair.
"Addie-Tootie"
This is Josh's sister Lisa with her sweet Adelle, stylin' in her jean skirt. They are smiling because they are shopping in Target. Lisa's startin' her young.
"Felicious Genius"
And here is my sweet Felicity! She is reading her Bible and apparently very excited to learn about Moses. She's so advanced!
"The Bride's Maids"
Here is Cousin Em (soon-to-be Mrs. Cousin Em) with Caroline and I on either side representing her Bridesmaid team of six. Without our support she would most likely turn into Bridezilla.
"Three Dorks"
For Josh's B-day present I got us tickets to see our favorite comedian, Jim Gaffigan, at Hard Rock Live in Orlando. So after the show we definitely got to meet him and get his autograph and chat and now we're best buddies! Notice how excited we were to the point of looking like severely constipated retards!
(BTW: Don't believe anything Josh says about what I said to Gaffigan when we met him.)
(No, I'm not preggers...it's the shirt, I promise.)
So there's another nutshell for ya. Stay tuned in case more exciting things happen in our lives.
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Barking, Benadryl and Beer
I never thought I could do this, but we are going to find another home for Dundy.
He's so sweet and loving and playful and cute. . .and hyper and loud and energetic and out of control!!!
We have thought and prayed about this and believe me, it was a very difficult decision to come to, especially for his mommy :(
So we will soon be "interviewing" a man Josh's mom found for us who wants a male Weim. But in the meantime, and in this very moment in fact, Dundy barks and cries and whines almost constantly. We are in a different house now with a smaller back yard with a pool and with poison ivy that is not quite under control yet ( I know, it sounds scary.) So Dundy is confined to his crate in the laundry room, or a 15 ft. cord in the back yard. If you know anything at all about Weimeraners you know it is impossible for them to live in these conditions. They need their SPACE! They HAVE to run and gallop and explore.
Well, Dundy is at that age somewhere between toddler and adolescent so he's a "terrible two year old" one minute and a rebellious 14 year old the next minute! He chews everything in sight, and we're not talking about a cute little puppy gnawing on the corner of a box trying out his new little teeth. Nooo, this kid EATS boxes!
So we are constantly Dundy-proofing the area and when there is a break in the barking you can usually count on finding something ripped to shreds in the back yard. Today he somehow managed to get his cord tied in a huge knot with the garden hose. Yesterday he attacked my rose bush because it had a sheet covering it to protect it from the freeze last night. I cringed when I saw him bite into a thorny branch! Yeah, didn't faze him.
He deserves a better life than this. He just wants to be out and about with us, exploring and getting into things. I feel terrible about it. He doesn't understand why we have to confine him. We've tried everything to make him stop barking. When he was really little we mixed some vinegar and water in a spray bottle and squirted it in his mouth when he would bark for no reason. He learned quickly and eventually got to where he would immediately lay down when he saw us with the water bottle. We gradually fazed out the vinegar and the water alone seemed to work. Well, ever since we moved in our new house it hasn't been quite as effective. But we still squirt him...or squirt AT him. I know, it sounds so mean.
Since we have a much smaller back yard now we've started the habit of taking Dundy and Harley to a nearby soccer field right after dark to let them run out all their energy ( or for Dundy, about 20% of his.) Well last night it was in the 30's - waaay too cold for us Florida folk to be outside - so the boys didn't get their run in. Weimeraners get used to routine and don't like it when you break it. So our punishment was Dundy's non-stop high pitch pitiful bark/whine. Josh had to study for a test so this just would not do. We'd heard that you can give dogs Benadryl to calm them down and we'd tried it once before and it seemed to work for a couple of hours. Too bad it doesn't warn you on the box that it's virtually ineffective without a run in the soccer field first. He seemed even more hyper after I gave it to him! Then I read on the box that children and adults over the age of 12 can take two pills. After doing some quick math in my head I decided that Weim puppies were the exception to the whole "dog years/human years" formula because his level of energy and annoyance is well into middle school age now at only 8 months. After he got his second pill I read some more of the small print on the box...funny thing, I read this one part that says "may cause excitability in small children." I did some more math. I wanted to call that 800 number and say, "Define 'small'."
There was also a "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" seal on the side of the box, but I couldn't figure out how to explain our "special situation" without the risk of getting reported.
I read on. "...alcohol, sedatives, and tranquilizers may increase drowsiness." Okay, Josh already said no to my idea to give him an Ambien... we're fresh out of tranquilizers... wait a minute! YES! There is one can of beer sitting in the back of the fridge left over from our football party last weekend!
It only took a few laps for him to realize he hated it. He backed up to the back of his crate and just stared at the bowl of "carbonated urine" as I like to call it. I thought about trying to explain to him that it's an "acquired taste", but I just went straight for the squirt bottle. Dumped out the water and carefully poured Miller's Best in its place. He didn't like it but he was cooperative enough.
I know! I'm such a bad mom!!! I only gave him about one third of it. Though if you are going to accuse me of abuse you are first required to come stay one night at our house and endure the torture.
We'll see how things go tonight.
Oh, and FYI...beer gives dogs the runs. More fun for me.
He's so sweet and loving and playful and cute. . .and hyper and loud and energetic and out of control!!!
We have thought and prayed about this and believe me, it was a very difficult decision to come to, especially for his mommy :(
So we will soon be "interviewing" a man Josh's mom found for us who wants a male Weim. But in the meantime, and in this very moment in fact, Dundy barks and cries and whines almost constantly. We are in a different house now with a smaller back yard with a pool and with poison ivy that is not quite under control yet ( I know, it sounds scary.) So Dundy is confined to his crate in the laundry room, or a 15 ft. cord in the back yard. If you know anything at all about Weimeraners you know it is impossible for them to live in these conditions. They need their SPACE! They HAVE to run and gallop and explore.
Well, Dundy is at that age somewhere between toddler and adolescent so he's a "terrible two year old" one minute and a rebellious 14 year old the next minute! He chews everything in sight, and we're not talking about a cute little puppy gnawing on the corner of a box trying out his new little teeth. Nooo, this kid EATS boxes!
So we are constantly Dundy-proofing the area and when there is a break in the barking you can usually count on finding something ripped to shreds in the back yard. Today he somehow managed to get his cord tied in a huge knot with the garden hose. Yesterday he attacked my rose bush because it had a sheet covering it to protect it from the freeze last night. I cringed when I saw him bite into a thorny branch! Yeah, didn't faze him.
He deserves a better life than this. He just wants to be out and about with us, exploring and getting into things. I feel terrible about it. He doesn't understand why we have to confine him. We've tried everything to make him stop barking. When he was really little we mixed some vinegar and water in a spray bottle and squirted it in his mouth when he would bark for no reason. He learned quickly and eventually got to where he would immediately lay down when he saw us with the water bottle. We gradually fazed out the vinegar and the water alone seemed to work. Well, ever since we moved in our new house it hasn't been quite as effective. But we still squirt him...or squirt AT him. I know, it sounds so mean.
Since we have a much smaller back yard now we've started the habit of taking Dundy and Harley to a nearby soccer field right after dark to let them run out all their energy ( or for Dundy, about 20% of his.) Well last night it was in the 30's - waaay too cold for us Florida folk to be outside - so the boys didn't get their run in. Weimeraners get used to routine and don't like it when you break it. So our punishment was Dundy's non-stop high pitch pitiful bark/whine. Josh had to study for a test so this just would not do. We'd heard that you can give dogs Benadryl to calm them down and we'd tried it once before and it seemed to work for a couple of hours. Too bad it doesn't warn you on the box that it's virtually ineffective without a run in the soccer field first. He seemed even more hyper after I gave it to him! Then I read on the box that children and adults over the age of 12 can take two pills. After doing some quick math in my head I decided that Weim puppies were the exception to the whole "dog years/human years" formula because his level of energy and annoyance is well into middle school age now at only 8 months. After he got his second pill I read some more of the small print on the box...funny thing, I read this one part that says "may cause excitability in small children." I did some more math. I wanted to call that 800 number and say, "Define 'small'."
There was also a "100% Satisfaction Guaranteed" seal on the side of the box, but I couldn't figure out how to explain our "special situation" without the risk of getting reported.
I read on. "...alcohol, sedatives, and tranquilizers may increase drowsiness." Okay, Josh already said no to my idea to give him an Ambien... we're fresh out of tranquilizers... wait a minute! YES! There is one can of beer sitting in the back of the fridge left over from our football party last weekend!
It only took a few laps for him to realize he hated it. He backed up to the back of his crate and just stared at the bowl of "carbonated urine" as I like to call it. I thought about trying to explain to him that it's an "acquired taste", but I just went straight for the squirt bottle. Dumped out the water and carefully poured Miller's Best in its place. He didn't like it but he was cooperative enough.
I know! I'm such a bad mom!!! I only gave him about one third of it. Though if you are going to accuse me of abuse you are first required to come stay one night at our house and endure the torture.
We'll see how things go tonight.
Oh, and FYI...beer gives dogs the runs. More fun for me.
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