We're Finally Back

Hello all, Mom is so sorry that we have been away for such a long time. (She was pretty busy with all of her various projects.) We want to catch up with everyone. My Dog Space has added so many cool new things! Mom had our computer hard drive updated and now everything is working great. We've had a fun summer here at the lake. We played with the Grandsons Andrew and Alex a lot. We went fishing and swimming. We chased the ground squirrels and birds in the woods behind our house.  Gracie has a pet frog that lives in our pond. No matter how much she barks at it, he still won't hop away. He just jumps into the water and hides under the lilly pads. That's one of her and Alex's favorite games. We had several cookouts and Mom let us taste their yummy human food. Alex learned to ride his bike without training wheels , Pearl loves to run along side him, guarding him and herding him back if he gets too far away from our house. Andrew, Josh and Joe  bought new air soft bb guns and practice shooting at paper targets into the ravine. We don't like those noisy things at all. The boys are back in school now so things have settled down somewhat. We are resting up while Mom and Dad are at work. We take our evening walks at a leisurely pace and just enjoy it when the weather permits. Lately it has been raining non-stop. All of that crazy hurricane stuff blowing around. We sure feel bad for all of the people who have had to leave their homes. We hope that their animal friends are all safe and sound too. Mom is nearly finished with her first draft of her book, she's going to be editing it soon. Pearl is full of herself because she got to be a character in it. Mom has a new hobby, she is working on a re-born baby doll. It looks soooo real, it's kind of spooky. Since we are all grown and Dad won't let her get another puppy, she found another way to get her "baby" fix.  She's going to take photos of us with her new "daughter" when she's done. ( That is of course if Pearl will leave the doll alone long enough, she keeps trying to get it and play with it, aka chew it to pieces. LOL) I bet Mom's going to make us all matching Halloween costumes again, baby doll included. Well we have to go for now, supper is ready. TTYL, Kes, Gracie and Pearl. 

What Kind Of Tree Did You Fall From?

WHICH TREE DID YOU FALL FROM? Find your birthday and then find your tree. This is really cool and somewhat accurate. Then send it to your friends, so they can find out what tree they fell from. Find your tree below and see what you are like... Dec 23 to Jan 01 Apple Tree ,Jan 01 to Jan 11 Fir Tree ,Jan 12 to Jan 24 Elm Tree ,Jan 25 to Feb 03 Cypress Tree ,Feb 04 to Feb 08 Poplar Tree ,Feb 09 to Feb 18 Cedar Tree, Feb 19 to Feb 28 Pine Tree ,Mar 01 to Mar 10 Weeping Willow Tree ,Mar 11 to Mar 20 Lime Tree, Mar 21 (only) Oak Tree ,Mar 22 to Mar 31 Hazelnut Tree ,Apr 01 to Apr 10 Rowan Tree, Apr 11 to Apr 20 Maple Tree, Apr 21 to Apr 30 Walnut Tree ,May 01 to May 14 Poplar Tree ,May 15 to May 24 Chestnut Tree ,May 25 to Jun 03 Ash Tree ,Jun 04 to Jun 13 Hornbeam Tree ,Jun 14 to Jun 23 Fig Tree ,Jun 24 (only) Birch Tree ,Jun 25 to Jul 04 Apple Tree, Jul 05 to Jul 14 Fir Tree ,Jul 15 to Jul 25 Elm Tree ,Jul 26 to Aug 04 Cypress Tree ,Aug 05 to Aug 13 Poplar Tree, Aug 14 to Aug 23 Cedar Tree ,Aug 24 to Sep 02 Pine Tree ,Sep 03 to Sep 12 Weeping Willow Tree ,Sep 13 to Sep 22 Lime Tree ,Sep 23 (only) Olive Tree ,Sep 24 to Oct 03 Hazelnut Tree ,Oct 04 to Oct 13 Rowan Tree ,Oct 14 to Oct 23 Maple Tree ,Oct 24 to Nov 11 Walnut Tree ,Nov 12 to Nov 21 Chestnut Tree, Nov 22 to Dec 01 Ash Tree, Dec 02 to Dec 11 Hornbeam Tree, Dec 12 to Dec 21 Fig Tree ,Dec 22 (only) Beech Tree,TREES (in alphabetical order) Apple Tree (Love) , quiet and shy at times, lots of charm, appeal, and attraction, pleasant attitude, flirtatious smile, adventurous, sensitive, loyal in love, wants to love and be loved, faithful and tender partner, very generous, many talents, loves children, needs affectionate partner. Ash Tree (Ambition) extremely attractive, vivacious, impulsive, demanding, does not care for criticism, ambitious, intelligent, talented, likes to play with fate, can be very egotistic, reliable, restless lover, sometimes money rules over the heart, demands attention, needs love and much emotional support. Beech Tree (Creative) has good taste, concerned about its looks, materialistic, good organization of life and career, economical, good leader, takes no unnecessary risks, reasonable, splendid lifetime companion, keen on keeping fit (diets, sports, etc.). Birch Tree (Inspiration) vivacious, attractive, elegant, friendly, unpretentious, modest, does not like anything in excess, abhors the vulgar, loves life in nature and in calm, not very passionate, full of imagination, little ambition, creates a calm and content atmosphere. Cedar Tree (Confidence )  of rare strength, knows how to adapt, Likes unexpected presents, of good health, not in the least shy, tends to look down on others, self-confident, a great speaker, determined, often impatient, likes to impress others, has many talents, industrious, healthy optimism, waits for the one true love, able to make quick decisions Chestnut Tree (Honesty) of unusual stature, impressive, well-developed sense of justice, fun to be around, a planner, born diplomat, can be irritated easily, sensitive of others feelings, hard worker, sometimes acts superior, feels not understood at times, fiercely family oriented, very loyal in love, physically fit. Cypress Tree (Faithfulness) strong, muscular, adaptable, takes What life has to give but doesn't necessarily like it, strives to be content, optimistic, wants to be financially in dependent, wants love and affection, hates loneliness, passionate lover which cannot be satisfied, faithful, quick-tempered at times, can be unruly and careless, loves to gain knowledge, needs to be needed. Elm Tree (Noble-mindedness )  pleasant shape, tasteful clothes, Modest demands, tends not to forgive mistakes, cheerful, likes to lead but Not to obey, honest and faithful partner, likes making decisions for others, noble-minded, generous, good sense of humor, practical. Fig Tree (Sensibility ) very strong minded, a bit self-willed, honest, loyal, independent, hates contradiction or arguments, hard worker when wants to be, loves life and friends, enjoys children and animals, sexually oriented, great sense of humor, has artistic talent and great intelligence. Fir tree (Mysterious) extraordinary taste, handles stress well, loves anything beautiful, stubborn, tends to care for those close to them, hard to trust others, yet a social butterfly, likes idleness and laziness after long demanding hours at work, rather modest, talented, unselfish, many friends, very reliable. Extremely intelligent. Loves life. Hazelnut Tree (Extraordinary ) charming, sense of humor, very demanding but can also be very understanding, knows how to make a lasting impression, active fighter for social causes and politics, popular, quite moody, sexually oriented, honest, a perfectionist, has a precise sense of judgment and expects complete fairness. Hornbeam Tree (Good Taste)  of cool beauty, cares for its looks and condition, good taste, is not egoistic, makes life as comfortable as possible, leads a reasonable and disciplined life, looks for kindness and acknowledgment in an emotional partner, dreams of unusual lovers, is seldom happy with its feelings, mistrusts most people, is never sure of its decisions, very conscientious. Lime Tree (Doubt) intelligent, hard working, accepts what life dishes out, but not before trying to change bad circumstances into good ones, hates fighting and stress, enjoys getaway vacations, may appear tough, but is actually soft and relenting, always willing to make sacrifices for family and friends, has many talents but not always enough time to use them, great leadership qualities, is jealous at times but extremely loyal. Maple Tree (Independence of Mind )  no ordinary person, full of imagination and originality, shy and reserved, ambitious, proud, self-confident, hungers for new experiences, sometimes nervous, has many complexities, good memory, learns easily, complicated love life, wants to impress. Oak Tree (Brave)  robust nature, courageous, strong, unrelenting, independent, sensible, does not like change, keeps its feet on the ground, person of action. Olive Tree (Wisdom)  loves sun, warmth and kind feelings, reasonable, balanced, avoids aggression and violence, tolerant, cheerful, calm, well-developed sense of justice, sensitive, empathetic, free of jealousy, loves to read and the company of sophisticated people. Pine Tree (Peacemaker) loves agreeable company, craves peace and harmony, loves to help others, active imagination, likes to write poetry, not fashion conscious, great compassion, friendly to all, falls strongly in love but will leave if betrayed or lied to, emotionally soft, low self-esteem, needs affection and reassurance. Poplar Tree (Uncertainty)  looks very decorative, talented, not very self-confident, extremely courageous if necessary, needs goodwill and pleasant surroundings, very choosy, often lonely, great animosity, great artistic nature, good organizer, tends to lean toward philosophy, reliable in any situation, takes partnership seriously. Rowan Tree (Sensitivity)  full of charm, cheerful, gifted without egoism, likes to draw attention, loves life, motion, urnest, and even complications, is both dependent and independent, good taste, artistic, passionate, emotional, good company, does not forgive. Walnut Tree (Passion)  unrelenting, strange and full of contrasts, often egotistic, aggressive, noble, broad horizon, unexpected reactions, spontaneous, unlimited ambition, no flexibility, difficult and uncommon partner, not always liked but often admired, ingenious strategist, very jealous and passionate, no compromise. Weeping Willow (Melancholy)  likes to be stress free, loves family life, full of hopes and dreams, attractive, very empathetic, loves anything beautiful, musically inclined, loves to travel to exotic places, restless, capricious, honest, can be influenced but is not easy to live with when pressured, sometimes demanding, good intuition, suffers in love until they find that one loyal, steadfast partner; loves to make others laugh - Mom's a Fir Tree-(mysterious)July 14 , Kes-October 5 and Gracie- April 1 are both Rowan Trees(Sensitivity), Pearl December 18, is a Fig Tree (Sensibility)

Tag Game

From: TinaValant
To: MaryBlanquart
Sent: Tue 29 Jan 2008 10:04PM CST
Subject: tag!

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Well I'll start with Kes, she's very protective of "her " laundry basket. She likes to sleep in it, no matter if the clothes are clean or dirty, she wants to lay in it and will growl or whine when mom uses it to switch the loads . She likes to go into the woods to hunt. She once actually caught and killed a racoon that was bigger than she was. (Mom was not very happy with her about that, but Kes thought she did great.)Kes likes to ride in the truck and "drive" on daddy's lap. Kes can wakeboard and ski tube with mom and the boys behind the boat. Gracie uses her front paws just like they are hands, she touches you to be petted and won't stop until you do, she can open the screen door by pushing the handle down, she holds her toys, spoons, dishes cupped in her paw almost like a human can. Gracie is our smartest dog, she did the best on a doggie intelligence series of tests. Gracie likes to use her harness to pull the wagon with the grandkids in it when we take them for a walk around the lake. Pearl likes to "talk", she will make all sorts of funny whines, whistles, groans and such when you say "talk to me", you can say a word like "Pizza" or " momma" and she can come very close to mimicing it. She knows many human words and will follow along on a conversation. Once dad had lost the tv remote and was looking for it, he asked the boys  "Where's the remote?" and Pearl without having been addressed herself, jumped up off of her bed and walked over to the sofa and started sniffing and scratching underneath it, the remote was there. Dad started a game and now she can find it wherever he" hides" it,( or looses it again , which ever comes first.) We tagged, Buster and Gino, Dooley and Friends, Parker ,Lemonade, Harry and Tarot Carrot, they all rock.

Our Strange Weather

Well 2008 is starting out with some very bizarre weather here in central Illinois. First on New Year's Eve we got hit with a blizzard and -20 below wind chills.  We got about a foot of snow on top of what we had in December. We had fun playing in it , but mom wouldn't let us stay out too long for fear that we would get sick. We fell into a routine of brisk short walks and quick trips for potty breaks in the back yard. Then last Thurs. and Fri. it begain to suddenly warm up, we hit a record high of 65 degrees on Saturday. The last time it was that warm in January was 100 years ago, 1908. Isn't that weird? I wonder if we're entering a hundred year cycle? All of the snow has melted away.  Last night we got pounded with a severe thunderstorm , dangerous lightning and high winds which turned into a Tornado warning. Mom turned off and unplugged all of the major electronic devices except the weather radio. Her and dad sat in the living room listening to the radio while Josh and Joe camped out in the garage watching the show in the sky. Mom told them to come inside quick if the alert siren went off. Gracie and Pearl kept wanting to go outside with the boys to see what the heck was going on. Pearl was pretty mesmerized by the flashes of lightning spidering across the horizon. However, she didn't like the thunder at all. Gracie kept whining and sniffing the air trying to catch the scent of everything blowing in the wind. I kept barking at the thunder to scare it away. It didn't work. Almost on cue the  siren begain to blare and mom made us all run back inside and go down into the basement. Our power blinked once but came right back on again. After about twenty five minutes the township blew the all clear signal. Everyone stayed awake for about another hour , by then the worst of the storm had passed and it was just raining . The entire family went to bed worn out by all of the unexpected excitement. It's still raining this morning.

Our Christmas Day

We had an outstanding Christmas day. All of our extended human family came over to visit,open gifts and eat a yummy dinner. Nathan and Angie brought the grandsons, Andrew and Alex. We played with them and their new toys for hours. They brought gifts for Mom, Dad , Josh, Joe and us too. We got three new chewy toys with big rubber kongs and ropes, plus some doggie cookies. Andrew got a Transformers video game and a football, he let Pearl play catch with the ball. Alex got a Wack -A-Mole Tower. It was kind of noisy with bells ringing and lights flashing when he hit the mole hard enough to get it to the top target. Gracie didn't really like it too well, she kept barking at it and Kes tried to catch the mole before it went down under the hammer. Everyone was laughing at them until Gracie got embarrassed and ran and hid under Mom's bed. Then Mom let Alex take it downstairs to the family room where we don't go much. That way he could hammer away the mole to his heart's content and the grownups could talk in peace. (And Gracie could come out from under the bed)  Josh let Andrew play some of his new video games along with his . Then they took us outside for a walk and to play in the snow for a while. Dad made a fire in the fireplace and Joe put in Polar Express for Alex and Andrew to watch downstairs. We all came back inside to warm up and eat.  Mom made a big pot of home-made beef stew with warm crescent rolls. We had a huge deli meat and cheese tray, shrimp, chili-cheese dip and chips, a veggie tray, pumpkin  pie, pecan pie, chocolate cake and x-mas cookies. Mom got an assortment of gourmet bread for the sandwiches and a fresh pineapple for Dad. He brought a bottle of wine  for the women and a bottle of spiced rum for the guys. Dad likes to put a pineapple slice in his rum and coke. Joe and Josh prefer beer better though. They had some of that in their fridge in the garage. (The adult humans seem to like to celebrate with spirits and food followed by coffee.) We just like the food part. We each got our own little plate of goodies and a bowl of stew. MMMMM.. We love holidays...and cheese....

Pearl's 1st birthday

First I want to thank everyone who sent me a happy birthday message. They were awesome. Mom and Dad had to go to work, so my day started out pretty ho- hum. Mom let us outdoors in the morning to potty and walk around the back yard for a bit. It was raining mixed with snow so she didn't let us stay there too long. She and Dad left , but Josh and Joe were here. They were pretty tired and where sleeping in. Well I got bored with my old toys and was a bad girl. I chewed a big hole in the bottom corner of Dad's leather recliner.  When the boys woke up they saw what I had done and took us out to potty again, then I had to stay indoors in my kennel for a while. They told me Dad would be upset with me. I didn't know that Mom had went to petsmart on her lunch hour and bought us some goodies for my big day. Well when the parents both got home they were sad, Mom put all of our new stuff up and wouldn't let us have it until Christmas. We went outside again for a short walk then Mom made me stay right where her and Dad could keep a close eye on me. Mom's going to pay Josh to walk me more  during the day and if the weathers bad she's going to teach me to walk with them on their treadmill. Mom says I have to get more exercise so I won't get into such mischief again. I may have to go to a doggie daycare if I do anything like that again. Mom's not sure if there's even one close to us, also she's worried that it's pretty expensive too.  I hope Santa is rather forgiving.  

Our Thanksgiving Day

Hello everyone, we had a fabulous Thanksgiving. Our Mom had to work overtime nearly everyday for the past two weeks, so she was really worn out. But she rallied for the family troops. She had Thursday off with holiday pay and she took Friday as a vacation day. So that combined with her regular weekends off meant she was home with us for four days in a row. Yippee. She cooked a delicious meal of Turkey, stuffing, baked yams, baked white potatoes,a broccoli, carrot,  red pepper,and green beans cream casserole, crescent rolls, deviled eggs, cold veggies and dip, a home made cheeseball with crackers, and for dessert, a from scratch apple cobbler and chocolate bundt cake. Nathan and Angie and the grandkids Andrew and Alex came over to play with us. Angie brought a home made pumpkin pie cheesecake, mmmmm. Mom let us doggies have a little taste of everything except the chocolate cake. Everyone ate until we were all soooo full. The older guys, Dad, Nate, and Joe all watched the football games while Angie and Mom watched "The last Mimsy" We played ball with Alex while Andrew and Josh played their video games. After a while we all went for a walk to see who had their X-mas lights up yet and to burn off some calories. Andrew and Alex talked about what they wanted to ask Santa for. We saw some geese flying low over the lake, they are all on their way south. It was staring to get colder and the wind was blowing the leaves across the yards. We chased them around in circles along with the kids... it wore us all out. Back at the house Dad started a fire in the fireplace and the family drank some hot cocoa and some coffee and just talked and talked while they looked through all of the sale ads in the newspapers...They reminisced about the toys their remembered from their childhoods and other funny family stories that they shared . Before we knew it , all three of us doggies and the two grandsons were all fast asleep on the sofa down in the family room. Then Dad followed too, out like a light in his recliner, snoring loudly. Nathan and Angie laughed and said it was time for them to leave so they gathered up the little sleepy heads while mom loaded them up some plates of leftovers to take back home. After they were gone Mom roused Dad from his chair long enough to go upstairs to bed. We followed him.Josh and Joe were listening to some music and washing up the dishes as Mom's head hit her pillow. It was a perfect ending to our holiday . At least until Christmas, we can't wait...Dreaming of Ham...mmmm yummy

Mom's run out of things to try to fix her computer at home

Our mom wants to ask for everyone's help with solving our problem. We've spoken with a few of our friends and they have tried to help us and we thank them so much. However we still cannot see any color in our boxes or see the background photo of the woods in our backyard while we are on our home computer. Any changes that our Mom makes on it show up on some other computers, (even our Dad's cheapy deepy MSNTV viewer on the TV in the living room.) We cannot even see the little bisquits load under friends photos to vote on them. Mom uses Windows XP S2 and we have tried both IE7 and FireFox browsers. Mom did have her security settings at med-high, then she lowered them to just medium and it didn't change anything. She put them back to a Med high custom setting. She has tried deleting the temporary cookies and then enabling them again. We keep getting an error  (yellow triangle) message saying that an item on the page did not load properly..Line 46 char 1 object expected code 0 .., and object on page line 62 not directed..I think.. whatever the heck all that means... we tried putting everything back to a windows default setting, everything still looks the same on our end. Mom has spent most of the weekend messing with the stupid thing and she's ready to chuck it out the window and buy a new one , Dad vetoed that idea ,too expensive!..well, for right now anyway....grrrr.. If any of you out there have any ideas on what she should try please let us know. And could you all bark at us and tell us what you see here too? Some of you did earlier and we want to make sure nothing else got messed up with her obsessing. Can you tell our Mom's not really much of a techie?  On her computer at work everyone's pages all look so beautiful and she can vote on your great photos and everything...but she's not really supposed to be surfing the net from there.. so she has to quickly browse only during her breaks.... jeeze it's stressing her out...and you know what that means.. we get stressed out too cause she doesn't give us our cheese snacks on time when she gets home...take pity on us cheese deprived doggies.. please help her become more MDS savy. Kes, Gracie and Pearl. 

How Pearl got her name.

Her story is a sweet funny one we promise. Our Dad had to go to the Mayo Clinic for a surgery , don't worry at first it was kind of scary.. but then everything went off without any complications and he was on a long road to a full recovery. Well since he had a three week stay at the hospital before he and Mom could travel back to IL. Mom caught up on some reading and rested and sort of spoiled herself back at the hotel where she was staying. In between visiting Dad she did some shopping and went to some art galleries and saw some photography of some puppys. That got Mom really missing her babies Kes and Gracie who were back home with Josh and Joe. Mom started researching different puppy breeds and looking at all of the ads in the local paper for puppys and going online at the hospital to view the local shelter dogs. All of this was just to pass the time Mom insisted... Finally Dad was well enough to go home...A month or so went by and the household was nearly back to normal...Mom and Dad were back to work and everything was going great... Easter was coming up and they had a long weekend to play with the grandkids , the older boys and the two girls (Kes and Gracie).  During a conversation about pets Mom showed Angie, Nate's wife the puppy book she had bought at the Mayo Clinic. Angie thought that the mini aussies were the cutest because of their blue eyes. Dad teased them both and said we didn't really need another puppy. Mom just laughed and said she was just dreaming anyway,. Still she knew we could give a new puppy a good home and maybe the two older dogs would like a younger playmate. The Saturday before Easter Dad was reading the ads in the paper and he found an aussie breeder within driving distance of our home. "Do you really want another puppy?' he asked Mom and the boys.,"Yes, if you do to "they replied. " He said" let's call this number and get some information....Tommorrow's Easter Sunday so after church we'll go for a drive to see them".  At the farm where the puppies were all of the adult dogs looked great.. healthy , happy and full of energy.They had tons of room to run around in and a clean warm dry barn to sleep in . They herded ducks , a horse and did shows. There were two different litters at that time, one set 8 weeks old , one set 12 weeks old.  Mom wanted another girl , one with blue eyes if possible. The lady only had one female blue merle left from the older litter. However she warned Mom , this little girl is pet quality only and would only go out on a spay contract since she was a "mis-mark" she had too much white on her to be a show quality dog.. Mom took one look at the little wiggly butt and soft fur and blue eyes and fell in love.. Heck we weren't show circuit people anyway.. So this little love came home with them on Easter Sunday. Once settled in came the job of giving her a name... Ester was one idea , no too old fashioned...Bunny?... No Joe said it sounded like a stripper's ID... Josh suggested Echo...no  hard to call out.. no pun intended.. We were all playing with her and getting Kes and Gracie introduced carefully and just watching them interact. Mom was making sure to give each one hugs and kisses so that no one would get jealous ..it was Gracie's turn and Mom was sitting on the floor scratching  Gracie's ears when all of the sudden she felt a little nose and teeth pull her necklace from behind. It was the puppy wanting to chew on Mom's pearls. Oh no, no , no, Mom squeeled.. as she carefully removed them out of her reach and untangled them out of her own hair. Well the pup just kept trying to get them , she wanted to play with them bad.. We all started laughing as Mom rolled around and all three dogs licked and barked at her as she tried to get up . Dad finally scooped the pup up and got her attention on another chewie toy..he then started looking at her fur real close and said "Mary hand me that necklace I want to see something.." Mom took it off and Dad held it close to the pups coat ..Now Mom's pearls are peacock pearls ..blues, grays, blacks and browns all mix together on the surface of each one.. All of the colors plus white were mirrored on the new pup.. " Hmmm Dad thought.. he knew Mom was a huge Johnny Depp fan and the "Pirates of the Carribean " series was a family favorite.. " How about " Pearl" for her name, she seems to like them "he chuckled. "Heck her ear markings even look like she's wearing a black pirate hat." Everyone agreed that Pearl was the best name for our new little treasure.

How Gracie got her name

The first dog our family ever had was a full size lassie style collie named Chief Jerico Duke. He was sable and white. Joey got him for his 5th birthday. Chief was so gentle and smart, he did everything with the boys. He loved everyone , even cats.  Our family moved a couple of times and he always adjusted well.  As long as he had his igloo doghouse, a big backyard to run in, his food and water bowls and his toys he was a happy camper. He would come into the house when the boys brought him in , but he always whined to go back outside at night to sleep. I think he wanted to "guard" our property. He only barked if someone came into the yard, more of a welcoming warning, and he never bit anyone. His bark was pretty loud and deep so no one tested his boundaries unless we were there to assure him that the person was a friend. He lived to be a sly old guy. He learned how to open the gate latch with his nose, he never wandered away very far, only from the backyard to the front porch. He'd just sit there waiting for us to notice that he wasn't in the back and then he'd come inside for a bit ,then walk  through the house to the basement door to go into the backyard again. It was a little game with him. He knew lots of tricks that the boys had taught him over the years. Sit , stay, shake hands, high five, climb the ladder into the treehouse, pull the wagon, his favorite- chase the rolling bicycle and catch the football. He loved water, he would jump through the sprinkler and try to swallow the spray. He liked to go fishing with the boys, or go for walks on his leash. He was about 12 years old when we got Kes.She loved him and played with him whenever he was up to it. He was so funny, such a big fluffy teddy bear playing so carefully with this tiny little "piglet" puppy. That following spring he started to loose some weight . At first we thought it was from the heat. So we trimmed his hair to make him more comfortable. Mom fed him special food for senoirs that the vet had prescribed. She made him stay indoors a little more. His eyes were getting cloudy and his hearing was nearly gone. Mom found a few lumps on his neck, that's when she got really worried. The vet did a biopsy , sadly it was cancer. He had it in his glands and probably his prostate. The vet said he could try chemo or some other meds but that with Chief's age it would be very hard on him and maybe not really add much good time to his life. We made the hardest decision a dog owner has to make, an appointment in a few days to put your beloved companion down . We took him back home to say goodby to the boys, and Kes. We wanted to spoil him just a little while longer before he left us to go over the rainbow bridge. If anyone has any doubts that dogs have a soul and if they go to heaven, let me tell you I for one am certain that they do. Our vet said that we could choose to stay in the room with him or wait outside in the hallway until he had passed, both my husband and myself chose to stay by Chief's side. He was in pain and was very weak so when the vet placed him on the table he layed down calmly. We were petting him and telling him we loved him as the vet administered the shot. All of the sudden Chief wanted to stand up, we let him and he turned towards an empty corner of the room and barked one loud "welcoming" bark before he fell still, my husband holding him up. I'm convinced that Chief saw all of the loved ones that he had known that had passed before him, My mother Frances,my father Joe, my husband's mother Bea ... and who knows how many other animal spirits that were there to show him the way. It took us two years before we could think of finding another playmate for Kes.  We had moved again this time to our dream house in Lake Camelot. We had everything that we had wanted, a pontoon boat , a good school system for Joe, my husband's career was going great and I had a wonderful new job doing something creative that I loved.  Josh was happier to be in a smaller nicer community too. We also had taken classes to be foster parents and take boys for weekend respite visits so that their full time foster parents could get a break . It was time to try to find a new puppy. We found another little female jack russle and named her Rebel. She got her name because from day one she "rebelled" against every rule we tried to teach her. She was a firecracker ball of energy. She ran circles around Kes and played until she dropped. She was so much fun . When she was about four months old we decided to take her and Kes and the boys out on the lake for the day. We had a foster child with us Bradley who was 15. He had stayed with us often before since he was 9. We had all of our equipment stowed in the cubby and were just pulling out away from the dock. Mom was pulling everything out and getting things ready for the boys to ski. All of the lifejackets were being put on including the two doggies. As Brad was holding Rebel's leash , Mom went to hand him her lifevest she wiggled out of his arms and jumped down to run up and stand by Kes on the rear seat. Brad went over to her to get the vest fastened better and before he could get it she jumped again , but this time she went over the side of the boat. Dad immediately stopped the motor and we looked for her expecting her to be swimming along side us even without her vest. All dogs are born knowing how to swim right? Kes had jumped in and out of the boat all summer long with no problems.  We couldn't see Rebel. The boys all dove into the lake and started swimming and diving around the boat. Mom was in shock and started crying. She had to be somewhere. The boat had drifted a little with the current so Dad begain to paddle slowly with the long oar, backtracking hoping that maybe she had not been swept down as far as we had. We circled the entire lake for hours with no sign of her anywhere. Mom posted flyers begging anyone with any information on her to please call us. She had held out hope that maybe Rebel had been picked up by someone right after she jumped and that we had missed seeing them in our inital panic and confusion. Or perhaps she had swam to the shore , our lake isn't very big. Days, then weeks went by with no news. Maybe someone had found her and decided to keep her. We were devastated. It was as if she had just vanished.  Our dream of our future life here was tarnished and dim beyond repair. Mom couldn't bring herself to go out in the boat again or even down to the lake for the rest of the summer. She felt very sad and guilty about what had happened. She kept thinking that she should have put Rebel's lifevest on her by herself. That fall the geese begain to migrate and they started hanging around our backyard. For four days Kes would bark at them and they still wouldn't leave. We got a call from a man who lived near the spillway and our worst fears were confirmed, he had found Rebel's tiny body. He had wrapped her in his son's old baby blanket.  Mom and Dad went to pick her up and to bury her in the backyard. Dad asked the man to show him the spot where she had been, it was in the tall reeds , surrounded by the geese's old nests.  I'm convinced those geese knew that Rebel did not belong by their nesting grounds, that she needed to be with us. They flew away the next day..... In the spring they returned to their nesting grounds and have never came back into our backyard again.   After all of the grief and change that our family had been through in such a short time Mom begain to pray for some healing for us. A year later things begain to feel normal again, we were bouncing back but a new puppy was the farthest thing from our minds....Until one day a lady Mom worked with asked her if she would want a free puppy. Her mother lived in Buffalo Iowa and had a beagle who had a litter of pups that she needed to find a home for. Their father was supposed to be a jack russle. At first Mom wasn't sure but she wanted to see photos of the pups. Well pictures do say a thousand words , who could resist those sad eyes? Mom and Dad drove to pick up an itsy bitsy black and white spotted 8week old pup. Mom said a prayer for peace and happiness for this new life and for her to have grace surround her and keep her safe.  Thus her name Gracie....she has helped us all to allow ourselves to love again and to accept life's hurdles and to overcome them and to learn from our mistakes , and to embrace simple joys once more..like doggie breath and soft fur.