Yummmm - Ham!

I hope everyone's Thanksgiving was good - we got Ham! I love ham, even though it makes me really itchy. We had a nice quiet T-Day - Dad cooked breakfast (Pillsbury sweet rolls) and Mom cooked everything else, while Dad cut up some more wood. So what else has been going on?

Well, the pack has been pretty busy around the house lately - we've been building a hearth pad for the new wood stove. Well, Mom and Dad have been building it - furry paws don't work so well with sticky stuff - it's a 4x5 ft slate tile pad, and it's turned out pretty nice. We'll post a pic next time we're in town.

Dad and Mom have been out on several more fire calls - one was at 0430 in the morning, which is WAY too early - to a very nice house down the road a couple of miles - the fire burned over a couple of acres. The owner of the house said the ash pile that started the fire had been "out" for seven days - but unfortunately, like a lot of folks, he'd left a deep pile of ashes, which held in the heat, and when the wind kicked up, BOOM - off goes the top layers of cool ash, and the sparks start flying. He was lucky that he 1) caught it early, and 2) it burned at a fairly low intensity and didn't get his house or any out-buildings. Lesson to learn: don't leave ash piles - rake down through the ashes and make sure it's all out!

One of the (multiple) reasons it's taken me so long to update my blog is Mom and Dad both got sick with the flu last month. They got their regular flu shots from the VA, and Mom was sick three days later. Then just as she was recovering, Dad got sick. Fortunately for both of them, it was a pretty mild case as these things go - although it was certainly miserable for all of us - we didn't get our daily walk twice! I hate it when we don't go for a walk!

Once they recovered, we went for a nice hike on Mill Creek, which is the same place where we first hiked with Blockhead, I mean Schultz as part of the pack. Last time we were there, he didn't even know how to cross a log bridge - this time, the big idiot knocked me off the bridge! I landed on my feet on the rocks below the bridge, it's only about 6 feet down at that point - but it was a pretty hard landing. For some reason, Schultz thought it was OK for him to break the stay he was on, and go across first - I always get to go first, I'm higher in the pack darn it! So at first, I felt OK, but on the way back to the truck, I was starting to feel pretty achy and I had to walk pretty slow, which is still faster than Dad and Mom, so that was OK. But then Mom noticed (finally) that I couldn't lay down - every time I tried it really hurt - and they took me to the vet. $200 worth of x-rays and drugs (muscle relaxers and pain meds for 5 days) later and I'm fine. Stupid big Blockhead!

A couple of weeks later, we hiked about 4 miles up Big Creek - it's a pretty deep valley, so it was all in the trees and pretty chilly, with a couple of inches of snow on the ground. Lots of rabbit, squirrel, deer and elk tracks to sniff though, so it was good! We only saw two other packs while we were out - of course, stupid Schultz had to try and dominate the only other dog we saw and he got some new scars on his nose for his trouble - big dummy! Fortunately, Dad pulled him away really quick so they aren't too bad and the other dog was fine. You'd think all that testosterone would be gone by now, but I guess not. Blockhead. Anyway, it was a great hike - I love hiking!

So, that's all the news for now. Mom says to add that we're very grateful for all the friends and family we have (even Blockhead, I guess) and that we think of all of you every day - not just on Thanksgiving. Have a great day!