A Trip To The Lake

Today Mike convinced me to get off my lazy butt and meet him out at the lake with Shadow for a walk and a swim. The weather was absolutely beautiful and I'm really glad we went.

Shadow Chasing A Stick

I took this really cool picture when we were walking back to the car. I really liked the sun peeking through the clouds and the trees budding with new leaves.

Tree At Lake Tabeaud

Other than that, today was a pretty laid back day. When we got back, Shadow was pooped and decided to take a nap on the deck in the sun. Smart puppy.

Enjoying The Spring Weather

I played around with Instagram a little and made it look even cooler... I really like that program!

Just Hanging Out On The Deck

Shadow's Birthday Blog

Five years ago today, I was a brand new homeowner who went to the local SPCA "just to look". The pound breaks my heart in general and I want to take all of the pups home. There was already someone looking at Shadow, and when I got there, I knew I wanted him. I walked away to ask the SPCA volunteers if I could take him out to one of the rooms to play and apparently he put on a show of acrobatics for my mom and the guy who was also thinking about getting him. Read: Jumped really, really high. Apparently, that scared the other guy off, but my little pup has some hops! It's still one of his most marketable skills, besides being able to produce large quantities of poop and eat a lot of biscuits. Here's his picture that was on the SPCA website way back when he was two:

Shadow At 2 Years Old

Here is my little stinkbug today waiting to get his present. How can you not love that little face? It makes me a little sad to see how white his little beard is getting. 

Can I Please Have My Present?

This year, in addition to food that is going to make him fart, we got him this cute little giraffe that you stick an empty water bottle in. Very little stuffing, noise without having squeakers. Genius.

Action Shot.

Well, those of you who know my dog know just how long that lasted... little giraffe was soon stuffing and footless and in three pieces:

The Demise Of The Giraffe

Oh well, at least he had fun. Now he's all cuddled up with the pieces. I guess that's how he shows his love.

Happy birthday to my little booger!

The Tale of the Pork Tenderloin

Today Shadow had just about the best day of his entire life.

Friday is garbage day, so before I headed into work I decided to clean out the fridge. There was a big hunk of that delicious herb crusted pork tenderloin that I made the others day. It definitely needed to go, so I put it in the trash and continued to look for other stuff that needed to go.

In a split second, the tenderloin was gone. It's like Shadow had been waiting his entire life for that one minute. In fact, he ate it so fast he almost choked on it.

Seriously, the best breakfast a doggy could ask for!

Christmas In February

Today poor Shadow had some serious barking at the doorbell to do... we were visited by both FedEx and UPS! We ordered some more stuff off our registry (we got a gift card from Macys!) and today there arrived a fantastic package from FedEx:

Various Attachments To Make Sausage

Your eyes do not deceive you - those are the wonderful KitchenAid attachments to grind meat and stuff sausage. I sense a weekend husband and wife bonding event coming up. I can't wait... do you have any idea what kind of stuff you can put into sausage?! I'm hoping to make some really spicy ones and maybe try some apple cinnamon!

And then, there was my little present to me...

Ashley Black Leather Stachel

Apparently Shadow was wondering how he got caught walking by. He really does look busted. I seriously love this dog.

End of January

I can't believe it's already the end of January! Seriously, where is time going?!

In other news, this weekend will mark the 100th mile of my training for the marathon. It doesn't seem like that much, but it definitely adds up! This week will be 20 miles total! I've got a 5 mile run date with the treadmill tomorrow and then a 9 mile run on the trail with Kati on Saturday. In other exciting news, she got an entry into the 1/2 marathon! So excited that she gets to run her first one! Yippee!

I'll leave you with a super cute picture of Shadow - he did not want to get out of bed today!

Sleepy Puppy

It's so hard to leave for work when I've got that face staring back at me!

I Want To Ride My Bicycle

Yup - that's a Queen reference!

Since I was a lazy bum this morning, I decided that tonight I would do some sort of workout. Now that it's completely hot out, I was not entirely inspired to leave the coolness of my house. Then I remembered that I have a snazzy new bike and we have a trainer I can put it on. So I set everything up, popped in a movie and got pedaling.

Getting Ready To Ride

No helmet (seriously, if I manage to fall off my bike in the trainer, I'm pretty sure Mike is going to take it away) and no snazzy jersey - today was all about just getting the exercise done! At first, Shadow was very intrigued and patiently waited to figure out what I was doing:

Shadow Watching Me Ride

However, once he realized that there was nothing fun for him to do, he promptly did what every good dog would do:

Flat As A Pancake

I rode for about 45 minutes before I started to get hungry (the danger of riding before dinnertime!). I did notice when I got off my bike that there was a new addition:

My CAL Fire Sticker

Hopefully that gets me out of any cycling tickets I might get! :)

An Evening in the Yard

Last night Mike and I spent some time in the yard. Let me remind you that I have a very serious addiction to the garden center at Lowe's. And that we had a freakish snow storm that killed off the garden I planted a wee bit early. I digress. I replanted the tomatoes, peppers (a variety of hot and mild ones), cucumbers, and watermelon. Now I'm back to patiently watering until I get some crops! While I was at Lowe's, I found some bougainvillea vines to plant in Shadow's pen. I'm wanting some pretty vines to grow along the fence and I think these might be the ones!

Here's the funny part: Mike had Shadow in the pen while he was digging and planting. Shadow was patiently watching and hanging out. I thought it was cute at the time - little did I know, he was storing away the mechanics of planting (and unplanting) things. That's right, the minute we walked away, he went to town trying to get the plants up. He was victorious with one... I replanted it, but I'm not sure how long it will last. Lesson learned!

Shadow Learns Yoga

As part of my biofeedback program at Kaiser, the nurse recommended that I try yoga. I promptly told her that I don't bend and that I'm mortified to try to bend in front of other people. She suggested that I get a yoga tape to try in the comfort of my own home. Some of you may remember that once upon a time in college I tried yoga and it ended quite badly (I'm talking to you Dad... do I need to bring up the coffee can?).

But I digress. Today I purchased a video that has two workouts - one for the morning, one for the evening with different focuses (invigorating you in the morning and releasing stress in the evening). Mike was not home, so I decided to give the PM yoga a try.

I actually found it very relaxing. I felt some stretch in some of the poses (read: not entirely comfortable, but I think I'll get there) and I really liked the focusing on my breathing. That's the basis of the whole biofeedback program, so it makes sense that yoga would be a part of it. I think I'll definitely do some more practicing at home before venturing out into the real world yoga classes.

The best part was that apparently Shadow has been feeling some tension lately, so he decided to come over and check out yoga for himself. He started sniffing me and then decided he was going to lay down and focus on his breathing. I almost lost it when the calm voice on the tape said "Now it's time for downward facing dog". Shadow promptly rolled over on his back and moaned.

Seriously, I couldn't make this up...

Half Mast

It seems like Shadow is finally starting to feel a little better... yesterday, for the first time in three days, he was not only able to sit down but also to bring his tail up half way. It was very exciting! Trust me, it's really funny to see a dog try to run without using his tail - apparently they really do use it for balance! Poor little guy is still a bit uncomfortable. He's going to be on the meds until Saturday, so hopefully he continues in the right direction!

He's been hilarious on his medicine... it makes him more than a little loopy. He spent part of yesterday morning in his pen just staring straight up into the trees. Last night he got all crazy because it was raining. I can't wait to have my normal puppy back!

Rudder Tail

On Sunday night Shadow woke us up around 1am with whining, barking and general moaning. We spent the rest of the night up with him, trying to figure out what was wrong. At one point, I noticed that his tail was abnormally tucked. Those of you who know Shadow (or any lab for the matter), know that the signature of their breed is a wagging tail. Shadow couldn't seem to even lift his up, sit or lay down.

We went into the vet the next morning who promptly told us that Shadow had "Limber Tail Syndrome" also known as acute caudal myopathy, rudder tail and cold water tail syndrome. Basically, there is a cluster of nerves at the base of the dog's tail that when exposed to cold water (often swimming, but can also be bathing) gets seriously inflamed. This becomes so painful that the dog can no longer lift his tail up.

Our vet prescribed a medication that helps with the inflammation and pain (one that Mike later told me is a narcotic sometimes given to people who cannot tolerate Vicodin!) and needs a little rest. Basically, he's still a little uncomfortable, but is high as a kite! It takes 3-5 days for his tail to come back up... we're patiently waiting!

Droopy Tail Shadow

Poor puppy.

Oma's 82nd Birthday

Saturday was my Oma's 82nd birthday. We all headed to the Bay Area to celebrate with her. Adam and Eva had everyone over to their house for some amazing tri tip sandwiches! They also got Oma a delicious burnt almond cake from Dick's Bakery. Sadly, I'm still off the sweets for Lent (only one more week!), so I had to pass on the cake. The weather was absolutely beautiful and we had lunch and cake outside on the patio.

Oma On Her 82nd Birthday

Here's Oma, Kati and I.... can you guess where I get my blue eyes from? :)

Oma, Kati and I

Oma also posed for a picture with all the boys... including Marley!

Oma And The Boys

Today we had a fantastic day. I went to mass at the church that Mike and I are getting married in... so happy we picked it! After that, we headed out to Lake Tabeaud to take Shadow for a swim. He got in a good 25 minutes of swimming, followed by a jog around the lake (~2.25 miles). Shadow even saw his first horses - they were out walking on the trail. He had no idea what to do! Then Mike and I did another lap. It was a good hard run, with way more heat and hills than I'm used to (which would be a couple miles on the air conditioned treadmill). After that, we came home and I took a nice long nap. Tonight we've just been hanging out and relaxing. Not a bad Sunday!

Shadow Eats Snow

We took Shadow for a walk through the neighborhood and it continued to snow. By the time we got back, we had about two inches of snow on our deck. I took Shadow out on it and leaned over to scoop some up to eat (yes, I'm like a kid). Shadow looked at me, looked at the snow and started eating it... he's such a hilarious dog!!!

I love this dog.

Unexpected Snow!

Well, we got quite a nice surprise this afternoon! What was supposed to just be a big  storm turned out to be a snow storm! I'm happy I was working from home today and I got to get some video of Shadow exploring the deck!

Here's a picture from the upstairs deck as well:

Snow on the Upstairs Deck

About 1/2 an inch has actually stuck... I hope it keeps up all night long! It's seriously coming down now! Maybe Shadow and I will go out and play in it a little later! It's still really new for me... I feel all giddy like a little kid! Until I moved up here, I don't know that I'd ever actually seen snow fall... if I did, it was only one or two times and nothing like this!

Snow Day

The last couple of days have been awesome from a weather perspective! We got a nice little cold front that brought us our first snow of the season! We had some snow yesterday that led to a power outage... that lasted for several hours. It was a bummer because I was supposed to have my first work from home day in a while. I ended up at the Starbucks in Jackson, where it was noisy and caffeinated. Thank God, my future sister in law, Nicki called and invited me to come work from her office!

The bad news about the power going out is that not only do we lose our electricity, but we lose our water. That means we basically only have what's left in the pipes & toilet tanks. So no showers and only as many flushes as there is water in the tank. While that doesn't sound horrible, it does get annoying after a while. Mike is currently researching generators... we think it might be a really nice investment for us. We're looking for something that is going to power pretty much the whole house. One of the neighbors has one, and every time the power goes out, their house is like a beacon on the hillside.

This morning we woke up to some more snow... a good solid inch of fresh powder. I took Shadow down to the pen to play in it and he had a fantastic time frolicking around. I took some awesome pictures of the views we have and, of course, the pup playing.

The View of The Valley From Our Deck

Pretty Shot of The Trees

Shadow With Snow on His Nose

Later in the morning, I met up with Nicki, Skyler, Mike's mom, Mike's aunt and Nicki's dogs for a walk along the Mokelumne River. I took Shadow along for the adventure and was pleasantly surprised... he does really well with Molly and Ruby (Nicki's dogs). We walked for about an hour and a half. The river was absolutely raging and it was beautiful to see!

I spent the rest of the afternoon relaxing and napping. I picked up another cold and I'm really hoping that this one doesn't get as bad as the last one. At least I have a three day weekend to try to rest up!

The Thunder Rolls

Ladies and gentlemen, it's officially fall. Thank goodness. I am normally very much a spring/summer kind of girl, but since last year winter was so spectacular, I was sort of left wanting more.

I went to bed early last night (way too much fun and relaxation was had this weekend!) and woke up at about 2am (way too much water before bed!). I looked out our bedroom slider and saw one of the better California thunderstorms that I've ever seen... I laid in bed for about 20 minutes watching and listening to it. About that time, I began to wonder what Shadow was up to... he sleeps downstairs in his crate and hadn't made a peep. In case you didn't know it, the one thing that Shadow most fears on this planet is a good thunderstorm, specifically the lightning. I know, that seems odd, but he really seems to be bothered more by the flashing lights than by the noise (although I'm sure he doesn't love that either, judging by his hatred of motorcycles).

I had closed all of the blinds in his room before he went to bed (good thinking, right?) on the assumption that it would keep most of the flashing out. Apparently it would have been fine except for that one pesky extra loud thunder clap.

Then the real show began.

He barked and barked and barked. I had the fantastic idea that I would go turn on the lights and music in his room, to drown out the noise and lights from the storm... that worked as long as I was curled up in the bed with him. I honestly gave it some thought (this had been going on for about an hour and I was pretty tired), but I realized that while he was falling asleep with the lights and music on, I could not. So, I did what every good dog mom does... tough love. I  put him back in the crate with the music and lights on, covered him up and closed the door.

Then Mike and I laid in bed for the next 1/2 hour listening to Shadow bark. The good news is that the storm passed and eventually everyone fell asleep.

The bad news is that another storm is predicted for tonight... and tomorrow night... and probably a good portion of the winter.

Does anyone have any good suggestions?

Shadow's Best Day Ever

Today Shadow officially had his best day ever. Mom and Dad asked if we wanted to go out on the lake, so of course I said yes! Shadow has only been on the boat once or twice, so I was excited about getting him out there again. We went out pretty early (8am) so that we could avoid the heat (ha!). The weather was actually really beautiful. Shadow started with a swim at the docks:

While that was fun and all, he was anxious to get out on the boat... so he drug me down the dock:

We did a little bit of fishing and both Mom and Dad caught some pretty nice fish. Mom had a 1 pound, 6 ounce silver salmon and Dad had a 2 pound, 12 ounce large mouth bass:

After all of that, we found this great little island in the middle of the lake (there are lots of them right now as the water is higher than it's been in probably the last ten years!) and beached the boat. Those of you that know sweet Shadow know that he doesn't do well with other dogs and that his attention span is less than developed, so I have never actually let him off leash at the lake (even when swimming). I just can't risk him going after a little dog or finding something small to chase (because then, that attention span seems to really kick in!). This little island was the perfect opportunity to let him run around and swim like crazy in a controlled environment! He had the time of his life:

That last one is one of my favorites... he had started to go around the other side of the island and I called him... he came charging around and Mom got a great picture! It was such a fantastic day... this whole weekend has really felt like I've been on vacation and this was the icing on the cake! I'm 100% sure that Shadow is going to have fantastic puppy dog dreams tonight!

While we were pulling the boat out we saw a guy do something crazy... there are three straps that hold your boat to the trailer... two in the back to keep it from bouncing and a hook in the front to actually keep it on the trailer. Normally, before you back the boat down the launch ramp, you unhook the back two straps. Then you back it down and when you get close enough to the water, you unhook the hook. Then when you keep backing, your boat floats off the trailer. Well, this guy seemed to think that he should unhook them all at the top, so as he's backing down the launch, his boat pretty much slides off his trailer... onto the cement. Definitely no good... to make matters even worse, he said that he had just greased his skids (the little bars on the trailer that the boat rests on). Not sure why you would do that, but apparently the boat definitely comes off! Bummer for him!

I'll leave you with the final two pictures of the day... one of me and my boy and the other of him just plain looking badass. :)

Evening in the Yard

Today I did some much needed work on my garden. I had planted some hanging baskets a couple months ago and my pansies and snapdragons did not do too well once it started to get really hot. I replaced them with several versions of geranium and a succulent. I'm so excited!

I did some work upstairs as well... we had two patches of basil growing which was WAY too much, so I pulled one of those out and planted some thyme. I have a row of hummingbird feeders and I decided to add a hanging fuchsia to help lure more. It is a spectacular plant!

I also got some spectacular pictures of a sweet little hummingbird eating out of one of my feeders. I absolutely love those little guys!

Finally, Shadow and I spent some quality time together. It's been a while since we just rolled around on the floor and he got a tummy rub. Clearly, he liked it:

My Little Wolf

My sweet little Shadow did the most hilarious thing last night! Mike and I were watching a show called "Yellowstone: Battle for Life". It was actually a really cool two hour documentary on life in Yellowstone during the winter. Apparently it gets up to -66 degrees F in the winter sometimes! No wonder they close the park! Obviously, we were totally hooked, having gone there last October.

One of the animals that seems to thrive during winter (as opposed to the other critters that just struggle to survive) is the wolf. They had a good half hour segment that followed one of the wolf packs and show them hunting, playing, mating, howling, etc. Shadow was completely captivated. Seriously. I've seen him watch TV before, but never with this much attention. Mike's TV is much closer to the ground, so I think it's at a better level for him to see. He raced over, sat a couple feet away and just watched. For like the entire half hour. At one point, they showed the pack chasing an elk and one of the wolves ran out of the camera frame... Shadow raced around the side of the TV to look behind it. I'm so not making this up. Mike and I were laughing our heads off!

I'm pretty sure Shadow had some great wolf dreams last night!

Trial by Fencing

Well, that didn't work out how I had it planned out in my head... I had envisioned Shadow frolicking inside his new fenced in area, happy as can be. This morning, Mike and I put him outside and he proceeded to sit at the gate and bark like a crazy dog at the house. I peeked out the window and he was out... as in roaming freely. Those of you who know me and know my dog know that we don't do the roaming freely thing. As it turns out, there was a little gap under the gate. Shadow figured out that if he shoved his head under and grabbed it with his teeth, he could get out. Fail for Mike and I.

We then made a little trip to Lowe's to get some gate latches and another pole. We thought we had the gate fixed... until Shadow figured out that he could dig his way out. So we fixed that by putting some rocks along the base. Shadow then determined that he could get his paws around the rocks and pull them towards him. Fail again.

Our final effort (and by final I mean Mike was fixing it while I was inside telling the dog that I didn't care any more if he escaped and ran away to join the circus) was to bury the rocks and then roll a log in front of the gate. I suppose you could call it a victory for us... if by victory you meant that the dog couldn't get out, but he could now stand at the gate and bark at the house for two hours. Apparently he just REALLY wants to be with his people!

That said, all of that mental stimulation worked... he's passed out on the floor next to me right now!

Tonight we went out with Mike's family (~25 people!) to celebrate Nancy and Ray's 40th wedding anniversary... seriously, 40 years! That's so amazing to me! It was a blast... we did appies at Charlie and Sheri's house, followed by dinner at the Union Inn and then dessert at Mike's grandmas house. It was a fantastic evening!

We Have A Fence!

Today we finished the fence... I'm beyond excited! I've been waiting forever to have a nice big place for Shadow to run around. Charlie (Mike's brother) and his daughter Katie came over to help get the last of the posts pounded in, the fence rolled out and then clipped onto the posts. It took about another 4 hours to finish up. The only thing we have left is to find a better way to keep the gate closed... I think we'll need one more metal pole and a latch.

Here's Shadow when I first put him in... taking a drink of water before running around:

He then proceeded to pee on just about anything he could claim in the name of Shadow:

He then needed to look for deer...

Here's a look down the fence line... we did a pretty darn good job!

Finally, here's a view from the deck... looking down at Shadow's land:

Like I said, I'm beyond excited... it is taking some getting used to for him. Those of you who know labs know that all they want is to be with their people, so in between doing laps to sniff and pee, he's sitting at the gate barking at the house. I'm sure that he'll get over that soon and be off to playing! One of the last things I want to do is to get a little dog house for him. Then he's all set!

No idea what to do:


Getting to know the area:


In other exciting news, Shadow and I went for a nice run this morning... a two mile run through the mountains... it was beautiful! The weather today was perfect - not too hot, not too cold!