Use the first letter of your name to answer each of the questions. Your answers must be real places, things, names... nothing made up. If you can't think of anything, skip the question. You can't use your name for the boy's/girl's name question. If your name happens to start with the same letter as mine, sorry, you can't use my answers.

FAMOUS SINGER:
Lyle Lovett

FOUR LETTER WORD:
Love

STREET:
Lydale Place

COLOR:
Lavender

GIFTS/PRESENTS:
Letter opener

THINGS IN A SOUVENIR SHOP:
Leather moccasins

BOY'S NAME:
Larry

GIRL'S NAME:
Lorraine

MOVIE TITLE:
Love Story

DRINK:
Lemonade

OCCUPATION:
Lab assistant

CELEBRITY:
Lisa Ling

MAGAZINE:
Ladie's Home Journal

U.S. CITY:
Lexington, KY

PRO SPORTS:
Los Angeles Lakers

FRUIT:
Lime

REASONS FOR BEING LATE FOR WORK:
Left lunch on the counter!

SOMETHING YOU THROW AWAY:
Leftovers (unless the dogs eat them)

THINGS YOU SHOUT:
Leave me alone!

CARTOON CHARACTER:
Leonardo (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles)

If this looks like fun, give it a shot! It is harder than it looks!

I've had some people tell me they want to see some new photos of Arlo, so after I combed him out a bit this morning, I tried to take a few. He's not terribly reliable on the table by himself, so these aren't fabulous, but he's so cute it doesn't matter, ha ha. He's a week shy of 9 months old now and is close to 100 pounds. He's good about putting his front feet up on the table but I have to heave that big butt up there so I can feel every pound!

Here is a full body shot, and then a head shot. He's the funniest longcoat I've seen, his body coat is not that long, but he's got that crazy fur around his ears and his tail is a huge plume.





As you may remember from a previous post, we ran up to Massachusetts on the day that I was expecting the last Harry Potter book to arrive. I didn't want the UPS driver to be banging on the front door with nobody home because the dogs would go wild barking, so Marc got me an milk crate and he made me a sign that says, "Leave package here, do not knock on door." I put it on the front steps, and its been working out very well. Our regular mailman and UPS guys have known to just leave the package on the steps, but fill ins would always knock and I'd have to run like hell to shut the dogs up. Now they use the box, and its great! Yesterday I was looking out the front window, and I saw some paper in the package box. I went out front and it was a flyer from the Mormon church! Marc and I just laughed! Hey, I'd rather they leave it there than knock on the door, get the dogs barking, and hear me swear at them!

This week has been unusually busy for some reason! It seems that I've been going non-stop and the days and the week is just flying by. Tomorrow is Friday already!

Trick went to the vet on Tuesday, and he is having muscle spasms in his neck which is causing him to limp on his front leg. Its the worst when he gets up in the morning when he's kind of stiff from sleeping. So he's on Deramaxx for two weeks, and hopefully we can avoid having to do an xray because he'll have to be knocked out for that. I don't see an improvement yet, but its only been two doses. In the meantime, Mandisa is much improved and barely has a limp at all anymore. Thank goodness!

I've been spending some time grooming Arlo and now all the old undercoat is finally out. I had to trim some small mats around his pantaloon area, and a couple in that baby soft fur around his ears, but it wasn't too bad. He's getting better about getting up on the table although I still have to heave his big bottom up there. He weighs a ton!

I also got some updated pictures of Parker, who really enjoys going on the boat. I understand that he's a bit of a party animal, and that he also stalks skunks on his morning walk. Uh oh! I see a tomato juice bath in his future!





Pearl went on a camping trip with DJ and her family, and had a great time getting covered with tree sap and dirt, and also tried to pull the tent down from inside her crate. I guess she's still a little on the wild side

Ah, it's Labor Day and we've had a gorgeous holiday weekend! We got several things done around the house that we've wanted to do, and got some extra doggy chores done, too.

On Friday, Phoebe went to the vet for her last booster shot. She has grown like crazy, going from 25 to 48 pounds in just three and a half weeks! She really enjoys her meals, LOL! She loved seeing all the people and gave out a lot of kisses. She's such a sweetie! Here she is on the grooming table after getting her nails cut. You can see how she's grown, plus she growing a nice thick coat.



We also tried to get Nemo to stand for some new photos, but he was being totally uncooperative. I need to work with him a little bit every day so he's not so bullheaded. Typical male Akita! Here's a pretty good head shot.



And here is a not so great body shot!



Today Arlo got a bath, and he was a good boy about it. Tomorrow I'll get him back up on the table and get the end of the dead undercoat that is on his pantaloons. He had enough fussing and poking at him today, plus he got his nails cut. Of course he got a delicious piece of beef jerky for being such a good boy - Arlo will do anything if there is a food reward at the end!

While he was up on the table getting his bath, Ellie Mae was running around, trying to get attention because she thought she was missing out. She is so funny! I was rinsing the shampoo off of Arlo, and she started following the suds that were draining down the hill in the backyard...she couldn't figure out what it was or why it was running down the hill! At one point the flow got stopped by some mulch, so she was very helpful in pawing at it and setting it free again. I can't figure out if she's very smart or a little slow on the uptake!

Back to the old grind tomorrow. It sure was nice sleeping "late" three days in a row!

Today Marc had a visit at the office from our granddaughter, Alyssa, who started kindergarten today. She was very excited about being a big girl!

Marc asked her, "How old are you now?"
Alyssa responded, "5."
Marc asked, "How old is your Mommy?"
Alyssa responds, "26."
Marc asks, "How old is your Daddy?"
Alyssa responds, "27."

Now he gets himself in trouble.

"Alyssa, how old do you think Grampa Marc is?"

She thinks hard about this, looks at him, and thinks some more."117!!" she exclaims.

"Well, not until next year," says Marc. "How old do you think Grandma Lonny is?"

Alyssa thinks again. "28!!"

What a smart little girl she is!!