Well, Jade has had quite a week! Unfortunately, my camera has a problem. If I leave the batteries in it, they go dead in a week or less. If I leave them out, I miss all the great photos! Any ideas, anyone?
She had some bad news to begin with. We had gone out of town for 5 days and when we got back, the dog food bowl was empty. That had never happened before. The "boys" haven't been back since. She misses them horribly. I'll have to see what I can do.
In the mean time, her week began with her going out her dog door to find a raccoon eating her food! She was so shocked that she backed back in!!! The food bowl is about 4 feet from her door. Now I know why the food ran out when we left town! Thats going to be a hard one to overcome. The raccoon left quickly as he was as surprised as she was. Then, we found a fox cub in the middle of the road. I think someone had hit it with a car or something. Even though there were no signs of injury to its body, just the fact that it was sitting in the road and didn't run at first when I approached it, let me know that it was confused and maybe even in shock. When it finally did try to run from me, Jade tried to catch it for me. Of course, she never got very close (chicken through and through) but she did try! It was very young, looked healthy and since there was no other signs of injury, I'm praying that it was found by its mother and has made a recovery. Although it didn't run very fast, it didn't take it long to disappear in the long grass. I wish I could have caught it and taken to the vets. I think maybe with rest, it would be okay though.
Then, Jade was surprised when she went out in the morning. There were two absolutely beautiful young deer in the front lawn. They seemed to instinctively know that she was no threat, so they didn't even run when she barked at them. They just stood looking at her and her at them for several minutes. Of course, I ran and got my camera which didn't have any batteries in it! By the time I got it set up, they were leaving! The funny part is that Jade has gone from a couch potatoe to a porch potatoe!! She doesn't want to miss anything!
I love my camera, but I don't ever want to miss another shot like I did today, so I guess it will have to go for repairs. In the mean time, Jade is on watch!

The picture that I added was an old one. Probably about a year. Jade, Ricky and my brother in law, Berle are standing in front of a caboose that is in our town park. Our town is small, but we have a really nice park! Newport can be proud!

Jade got to go to Washington DC on vacation. She wanted to see President Obama, but no such luck! She did get to see a lot of other wonderful sites. She particularly liked the blooming Cherry Trees! That's her in front of the Reflection Pool and the Washington Monument. She also got to see the Viet Nam Wall. It was too crowded to get a picture, but I'm glad that she is a "she" and I didn't have to worry about her lifting her leg on it. There weren't any other dogs around, but she did make a friend. A little girl fell in love with her and spent about a half hour petting and playing with her. Of course, Jade ate it up. Any attention is right up her alley. There were so many squirrels though! Jade would have loved the chase but I couldn't let her go and as a result, I almost had my arm pulled out of its socket several times. I know that when I'm a few years older, I won't be able to hold her back. Either that or I can plan on spending a lot of time on the ground.

Well, my daughter was here and fixed the problem I had with pictures. So, here are the latest in Jades life. She now had TWO boyfriends!! I wish I had been that popular! These guys actually belong to a neighbor, but come up here at least twice a day to eat and play with Jade. We have named the boxer, Jake and the lab, Bob. We don't know what their real names are. The boxer is as big a chicken and Jade is. He won't come here without Bob and last night, he barked at something, Jade ran into the house and hid behind me and Jake ran home! I went out to see what was happening, expecting a bear, bob cat or something ferocious, but nothing was there. Who knows, Jade will run from a turkey!

Bob always has dirt on his nose! I wonder what he does with it? I would like to see what he looks like without it. Both are just the sweetest boys in the world. Jade goes out every morning and stares up the road, looking to see if they are coming yet. She can't wait for them to get here. Ah, puppy love!

Too young to date?

Gee, I thought that when my daughter became 21 years old and I didn't have to worry about her anymore, it was over. Now, my newest (daughter?) has a boyfriend! She has great taste because he is soooooo handsome! AND he really loves her! The question is: is she too young to date? She will be 3 in January. I guess that makes her 21 too. So, I had better stay out of it. Anyway, he showed up at the house one night with a few of his buddies. She only had eyes for him though. It was love at first sight. He returned many times after that. Always with friends. Then disaster struck. His friends refused to accompany him and he is much to shy to come by himself. So, the love struck ( is it puppylove?) lovers have been apart ever since. Since we know where he lives and since she can't drive yet, we take her by there every chance we get. He runs out to the car, she whines and carries on something horrible. He puts one paw on the door where she is leaning out and they touch noses. Its too cute! I have tried to take a picture many times, but as soon as he see's me, he runs! So, I keep the tinted window up and just watch through the side view mirrors. I would let her out to be with him, but there are two brothers who come running out to the car too. They want to chase us, and I'm afraid that they might not take to her, so she only gets to whine longingly. He is a gorgeous boxer with huge brown eyes. Like I said, very handsome. I keep hoping that some day, when he's older, that he will get over his shyness and come to the house for her. She will be waiting. After all, they are soul mates.

Jade in heaven!

I wish I had a picture to go with this, but unfortunately, I wasn't there when it happened. I had dropped Jade off at the groomers. I take Jade to The Grooming House every 3 weeks for a bath. The "owner/groomer" is Kim Grimmette, whom I highly recommend to anyone in the Newport area. Anyway, there is a day care right across the street from Kim's. Somehow, 10 little rugrats waddled over to see Kim and what she was doing. Jade just happens to LOVE children. The problem is that she gets SOOOOO excited that she sometimes knocks them down. Kim solved that problem by keeping Jade on the table. That way, all the kids got to pet Jade without being mauled by an over exuberant Jade. Of course, Jade was in heaven. 10 little hands were within licking distance! Not to mention that she was the center of attention, which is where she likes to be the most! The love went both ways too. The kids got to pet a dog and learn that not all dogs are mean or dangerous, plus they got to see what a dog groomer does. It was a good day for everyone, but especially for Jade!

OOPS!

Do you see the picture of Jade in the trunk? Well, she did it again, only this time it was my brothers trunk. The trunk in the picture was empty except for the one piece of luggage, my brothers trunk is anything but empty! She was back out as fast as she went in. It was so quick, I couldn't even think of getting a picture! She was truly surprised by what she landed on. I don't think she will be doing that again.
I was working on the property, trying to get it cleared. Someone had run over a Vole and killed it. I took the rake and threw it as far as I could. The next thing I knew, Jade was bringing it back to me. I threw it again, telling her NO at the same time. She thought it was a game and brought it back to me again. I finally gave up. We now have a dead Vole in the yard that is probably going to rot there. She goes over to it every now and then and tries to get it to play with her. Obviously, dead is not something they instinctively know about. I don't think I will put a picture of that on the site. Your welcome.

Merry Christmas

We took Jade for her bath right before Christmas. Kim, at the Grooming House in Newport, always puts a bandana around her neck or something to make her even prettier. This time, we were surprised with a Santa's hat! She told us that she had bought one for all of her customers, but Jade was the only one that would leave it on. We had to have a picture of that! The only problem was that although she would leave it, if you let her move around, the hat wouldn't stay on the top of her head. It would end up under her chin! We happened to have our own Santa's hat, so it only goes to say that this is the picture we took! Merry Christmas everyone!!