Update on Jenna

As we told you last week, Jenna had surgery on her left knee on Wednesday.  The poor girl is such a foodie.  It was ruff for her to go without a meal the morning of surgery.  I felt bad for her, but Dixie didn't!

Jenna is a good car rider, but she wasn't sure about the destination until Mommy pulled into the parking lot.  She got a bit whiny at that point. 

She stayed two nights in the hospital.  The first time she had this surgery, the vet kept her a whole week!  Don't tell Jenna, but Mommy was hoping for the same thing this time.  It's less stressful for Mommy when someone else is taking care of the patient! 

The night before Jenna came home, Mommy moved Jenna's crate into the main part of the living room so Jenna would have prime viewing of all the activity going on around her.  I decided to check it out and make sure Jenna would approve.

This new location is lab tested and lab approved! 

When Jenna came home, we both gave her a whole lotta love!  Sniffs all around!  

Lucky for us, Mommy picked up Valentine's treats for all three of us at the Barkery while picking up Jenna.  Jenna says these cookies are good, but they don't make up for the pain and suffering she's going through!

Jenna got to wear her own Valentine's bandana once she was back home.  She said she felt like she was in her very own kissing booth!  She has to stay in her crate for most of the the next few weeks, especially when our parents aren't home.  It's going to be tuff!

Jenna will probably kill me for showing you this, but here's how she looks half naked!  Poor girl looks pitiful with her leg shaved.  Mommy keeps reminding Jenna (and herself) that this too shall pass.  It's only hair; it will grow back!

We'll keep you updated on Jenna's progress.  She returns on the 25th to have her stitches removed.  

Please keep your paws crossed that there are no issues before then!

Dutiful Little Brother, 

Ruger

Prayer Request Please

Our Jenna is having surgery tomorrow.  She needs her left hind leg operated on.  It's her knee again.  Two years ago in May, she had her right knee operated on.  This is the equivalent of a person having his ACL repaired.  In dawgs, once a knee has had this operation, there's a fifty percent chance the other knee will be operated on too!  At our house, this percentage climbs to 100!  Our big brother, Hunter, had both legs operated on; the second was almost a year to the day exactly! 

We'd appreciate you keeping our vet, Dr. Clary, in your prayers as his skilled hands perform this needed surgery.  We think he's a fabulous man and he's the same vet who performed Jenna's first surgery.  Please keep Jenna in your prayers that she does well and is patient in her recovery while at the vet (about a week).  Pray that Mommy and Daddy are calm during this time period too.  The recovery period is about eight weeks!  That's a LOOOOOOOONG time in dawg years!!

Mommy's mantra "This too shall pass" is about to make a comeback!  On the bright side, this surgery is taking place in the winter instead of the kick off week to summer.  Trying to look for a silver lining here . . .

Crossing our paws for our sister,
Dixie and Ruger

Our Pet Ostrich

We recently had an exotic animal in our house.  We had a black ostrich!  She was very intent on hiding her head in the sofa.  Her name was Dixie!

Dixie rarely gets on the love seat anymore. She used to love to sit on the love seat in our previous house.  Then we bought a new sofa and Mommy put a ban on dawgs on the sofa.  That lasted for a while and then she relented.  I'm the only one who takes advantage of Mommy's weakness for having us near her.  Dixie usually sits at Mommy's feet instead.  The only exception is if Mommy is enjoying a snack while sitting on the sofa. As the foodie in the house, I like to beg from Mommy's feet.  Dixie sometimes jumps up next to Mommy to have an up-close view of the food.

Recently Dixie hopped up on the love seat and there was't any food in sight!  Mommy was surprised,  and I was a little annoyed Dixie was in my place, but I behaved and allowed her to stay there.  Mommy says the reason Dixie doesn't sit up there often is because I dominate the love seat.  That's not true!  All Dixie has to do is ask politely!

After saying hello to Mommy, Dixie buried her head in the sofa cushions!

Mommy really likes Dixie's ears in this next picture.

The ostrich emerged briefly . . . 

 . . . and then went into hiding again!

Eventually Dixie decided to be Dixie the Lab and not Dixie the Ostrich.  She snuggled up to Mommy for several minutes more before (finally) relinquishing the sofa to its rightful owner!

Yes, this next one is ME!

Hopefully the ostrich won't be back anytime soon.  Mommy disagrees with my thinking, but I don't want anyone, even my sister, to take my place.

Until next time, 

Jenna

Sofa Squatter

Hot Summer Treats

It's been sizzlin' this summer where we live!  I bet the average temperature for the month of June has been hovering between 95 and 100 degrees!  That's about ten to fifteen degrees hotter than usual.  Thankfully, we have very low humidity, but it's still pretty hot.  We even reached 107 one day!

To help combat the heat, we're out walking at 6:45 every morning.  And Mommy has made us special hot weather treats!

We've enjoyed our usual frozen banana ice cubes . . .

And after cutting up watermelon for people snacks, Mommy let us eat the remnants that could be scooped out.

Ruger still isn't very good at eating from a spoon.  He studies it for a second and then takes the whole thing into his mouth!  It rattles around in there for a little while before he realizes he's cleaned it off and Mommy can then pull it back.   

When all else fails to cool us down, we just "Have a Coke and a Smile!"

If  you need any more suggestions to cool down, feel free to ask me, The Foodie!
Jenna

Let's Get Crackin'

Do you usually have a wonderful home cooked Sunday dinner?  I'm talking about the noon meal.  Traditionally in the South, this meal is called dinner and the evening meal is called supper.  Mommy can be very traditional in some ways, but not with these terms.  She, probably like most of you, calls the noon meal lunch, and the evening meal can be referred to as either dinner or supper.  Personally, I don't care either way since I don't enjoy a noon meal (something I need to take up with my momager).  I only receive two meals a day, and I just call them both HEAVEN.  But I digress.  Mommy cooks pretty much every week night, but when the weekend rolls around, she starts feeling lazy.  Often, my parents only eat two meals on Saturdays and Sundays.

For about the last eighteen months, they have had a semi-routine Sunday lunch.  Both of our parents grew up having a delicious home cooked meal on Sundays, but not anymore.  Our parents head to church on Sunday mornings and then straight to lunch.  They've been flip flopping between their favorite Mexican place and Joe's Crab Shack with a few others thrown in occasionally.   Daddy especially has to have Joe's during crawfish season!  Again, I'm not that picky.  You could drop me off at either place or any of the dozens of restaurants in between.

As our parents became frequent visitors at Joe's, they got to know their server Blaire, a graduate student in occupational therapy at our local university.  Blaire is the sweetest person.  She always knew what Daddy was going to order, but called Mommy the Wild Card since Mommy changed her order on every visit.  They even started requesting Blaire's area when they arrived so they could be sure to visit with her.

Recently Blaire graduated and moved back to her hometown for an internship.  Our parents haven't been to Joe's since Blaire left.  They're afraid it might not be the same.  Where else will they find such personalized service???

Our parents are on the search for a new favorite place.  (If Mommy has any say in this process, they'll head back to the Mexican place and never leave!)  I think they should take me with them to help make the decision.  After all, they don't call me The Foodie for nothing!

So, Mom, Dad, let's get crackin'!
The Foodie,
Jenna

Visitors from Home

Our parents traveled on spring break and so did our extended family.  They came to see US!  They spent four days visiting us and seeing the local sights.  It's soooooo much fun to have visitors.  They give us the love we don't receive from our parents . . . just kidding, Mommy!!  They give us lots of EXTRA LOVE!

When discussing the details of the sleeping arrangements, Mommy told Cousin A he could sleep in Ruger's crate since Ruger was on a sabbatical . . . Cousin A took her up on the offer and Jenna did too!  Don't worry, he didn't actually sleep in there!

Cousin A spread the love to Dixie too!

The small town our cousins live in doesn't have a Starbucks, so the humans went for special drinks and treated us to puppuccinos too!

Cousin C was kind enough to blow bubbles for us!  We had so much fun!

The cousins got to sample the local fare also!  We're not sure why they didn't get a doggy bag  . . . 

Cousin A tried his best to catch a jackrabbit!!! Trust us, if WE can't catch one, neither can you!

One day they all went hiking.  A certain small cousin didn't want to go hiking . . . until he realized what hiking actually was!  Then he LOVED it!

And it looks like a third generation has an interest in cacti too!

A good time was had by all!
Dixie and Jenna

Vegas Vacation

Our parents traveled to Las Vegas for the first time while Mommy was on spring break back in March.  It wasn't really a place Daddy wanted to go, but he agreed he wanted to be able to say he'd been there and done that .  Now they say they've been there and never need to go back!  They've decided they didn't really care for Vegas, but they LOVED the day trips they took while in the area.

They did spend a little time on the Strip . . .

They LOVED seeing these three in concert all together.  It was a great show!

Daddy learned what to do and what NOT to do while gambling his money away . . . Mommy is breaking some sort of rule by taking this picture, but she's the Queen of the Unseen Photographers.  

Hoover Dam was amazing!

Personally we think the BEST part of Hoover Dam was this guy . . . 

Mommy especially loved the road trips, because she got to see MOUNTAINS!!!!  (She hears angels singing as we type that!!)  Our Mommy is a Mountain Girl for sure!  She can feel her chest swelling with excitement when she sees them!  Seriously!  It's a big thrill for her.  (And now you know she's an even bigger weirdo than you thought previously!)

Our parents also took a day trip to Valley of Fire State Park about an hour north of Las Vegas.  

They saw these cool petroglyphs carved into the side of a huge rock.  Daddy even braved his distaste of altitude and climbed a BIG set of stairs for Mommy so she could see these!  Mommy admitted later the stairs weren't thrilling for her either because you could see through them!

What creature does this look like to you?

We do have pictures of Daddy, but he isn't a fan of having his face out here on the internet.

Our parents were super excited to see RAIN while they were on this trip!  It had been about five months since we'd had rain at home.  They weren't sure at first what that wet stuff falling from the sky actually was?!?!?!  It's now rained maybe three times since November, but we still haven't had a total of more than two inches!  We are definitely in a DROUGHT!

Mommy has developed a love affair with cactus over the last couple years.  She is fascinated by them.  Grandma recently traveled out West and is in total agreement with Mommy!  

Like mother, like daughter!

One final look at the mountains . . . wish we could have been there too! (insert eye roll)
Dixie and Jenna

PS: Tomorrow is our parents' NINETEENTH anniversary!!!!  Whoa!!!