An Epic Playdate!

(You're really going to get sick of hearing those puns, Epic's momma!)

Meet Epic.



Epic is the cutest Jack Russel Terrier puppy EVER! As much as I love Shelties, I have to admit that they aren't really the cutest puppies, especially when you compare them to something like Epic.

Epic is owned by a friend of mine, mom also to Benny (you may remember Benny from "Ode to a Benny"). He is a fiesty little pup that is still firmly entrenched in the carpet-shark-learning-to-deal-with-my-terrierness stage. So, in his owner's endless pursuit to socialize the beasty, we met up for a play date.

Normally, Romeo will play with anything that moves and Gio will firmly ignore anything that isn't food or a ball. Tables were a little turned tonight, as Gio seemed to really draw Epic's attention and Romeo flatly refused to acknowledge the wee hairless beasty. Epic is still learning to get over the "just because it barks it doesn't mean it is going to eat me" idea, so the Shelties fit into that plan just nicely. In a Sheltie's world, barking goes hand in hand (err ... paw in paw?) with playing, and running, and excitement. At first, Epic was a little hesitant about the random loud noises, and there was a lot of this ...


But he figured out that the barking was in no way directed at him (unless he was monopolizing the ball), and came to deal with it all quite well.

Epic's first attempts to play with Romeo were thwarted when he became entranced with Romeo's (abnormally long) tongue, and decided that he would find out what it was in the only way that puppies now how ... with his teeth.


Romeo put a stop to that right away! And Epic turned his affections towards Gio.


Romeo finally did indulge Epic with some play, eventually.



But it was a lot more fun to just chase Gio around, mainly because Gio always has a ball in his mouth (BALLBALLBALLBALLBALL!!! *gasp* BALLBALLBALLBALLBALL!!). For a little guy, Epic has already learned all the important things in life ... ball drive and tug drive!





And being the stellar teachers that they are, the Shelties took it upon themselves to teach Epic a few other essentials.

Like how to scope out a good tree for peeing on.


Or which blades of grass are the tastiest.


Of course, there was also lots of running. And whenever possible, full body contact running.





I think they are a pretty cute group, don't you? (Of course, I may be just a teensy bit biased.)

If you want to follow along on Epic's great adventure, check out his blog!
Jacked

Creek Jumpin'

We took a wander over to the park for a run today after work. It's getting quite sloppy out there with all the snow melting, so the boys found a little "creek" that they had a great time leaping over. Well, "over" may not be completely accurate. I think there were a lot of "almost overs", maybe one or two real "overs". Mostly "splashes".

I think Gio might have cleared this one.

... And he didn't clear this one.

Romeo had a couple good splashes, too.

And this one.

What a handsome old man!

There were some very soggy Shelties after our walk.

Soggy, but happy.

Gio's Long Lost Friend

I did another batch of packing tonight (things are really starting to look sparse!), and guess what we found up on the bookshelf?!

DUCKIE!!

Gio actually stole duckie from his flyball buddy, Bailey, a couple of years ago.

This is Bailey.

Before practice one evening, back when Gio was still running flyball, duckie fell out of the back of Bailey's mom's van. Gio swooped in and stole it. We laughed, played with duckie a bit, then I tossed it aside so that we could practice flyball. Well, even though I had tossed duckie out of the way (and out of mind), Gio could not forget his new friend so easily. After every flyball run, he veered off to the spot in the grass where I had tossed duckie, dropped his ball and switched. He was so immediately smitten by duckie, that Bailey's mom told us to keep it as none of her boys were overly attached to it anyways.

The other boys being Sam and Tucker ...
















So duckie came home with us and joined the army of other well-used toys. I expected Gio's infatuation with duckie to wane after a while ... but it didn't. To the point where he would carry duckie everywhere with him. It was an obsession, an addiction. Eventually duckie found his way up on the shelf and there he has sat for the past couple of years. Gradually forgotten by both Gio and me.

Tonight's packing spree resulted in duckie landing on the floor, immediately rekindling the love affair! Gio is thrilled to see his long lost buddy again!

They played ...


They sat and reminisced about old times ...


And then they curled up for a long nap together ...

A continuation of a beautiful friendship.

Frick! That snow is deep!

With the gorgeous sun-shiny weather today, I thought it high time to take the boys on a run in the park behind the house. It has been a while since they have been out tearing things up because of the biting cold. Turns out, that even though the weather is warm, that snow is REALLY deep! And the blasting winds have made a thick hard crusty layer on top. Not conducive with stubby and the drunk (ie. Romeo and Gio).


After just a couple of throws, the boys were getting frustrated. And the strong wind was making my attempts at throwing the flying squirrel appear quite pathetic. So we moved back to the back yard where the fence has stopped the wind from hardening the snow crust too much.

Sure, not as much room to run, but the snow is much more inviting to belly flops!

... It makes you feel ALIVE! ...

Sure, only because dead things don't feel this kind of burn! You know, you aren't cold if you are still shivering. It's when your body stops shivering that you know you are cold. In this sort of weather, you don't even start to shiver. It's your body's way of telling you that no life was intended to survive in these temperatures, so why even bother? In this weather, you head straight to the burning, where every skin cell screams at the top of their lungs ... "DAMMIT WOMAN! What the hell are you doing to us!? Get your chubby butt back inside and turn on the space heater!"

But then I see the two fluffs, happy dancing by the door at the prospect of bull dozing through the snow drifts. And that makes me bundle up in layers, take one last deep breath of indoor air, and march out the door, cringing as the storm door slams back with a rattle ... yeah, even the metal springs that slowly ease the door closed give up their will to live in at this temperature.

We've spent much too long indoors, curled up doing "winter" activities like reading or blogging. The boys and I are getting stagnant and "poofy". Well, not Gio. Romeo and I are getting a little cushier around the middle, but Gio remains slim and trim. Must be due to his new thyroid meds. Maybe that's my problem ... I should get my thyroid checked. Yeah, thyroid, that must be it, couldn't possibly be all the cookies, candies, chips, and deep fried goodness that I've been indulging in. If my thyroid were working, my body should just shrug all of that off, right?

Ahem ... a girl can wish.

So out we go, into the -31C winter wonderland, with the razor-blade wind that makes it feel like -44C. SHITE!

Make it quick, boys.

Lost ball #1.
Lost ball #2.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm looking for it. I am!"
"Found one!"
Sheltie Snow Plow.
Hey, with a nose that long, you've got to use it for something.
The result of the Sheltie Snow Plow.
Lost ball #3.

We gave up at that point. There is now a red rubber ball with a dead squeak in the front yard and a purple tennis ball in the back yard. We'll find them again in the spring and the boys will be thrilled with the "new" toys.

Fun in the Snow

Now that it is getting so dark so early, I really value the free time I have on the weekends so that I can let the boys burn off some steam in the daylight. Today I took the boys and their Chuck-It to the park behind the house. I love this large park, it's usually empty (unless the high school kids are using it for sport practice) and the boys can really let loose! Of course they are on-leash ... very long fine leashes. What? You can't see the leashes? Hmm, that is odd. They show up perfectly clear in the pictures to me.



Of course, it is always good to stop and relax by catching a few snowflakes on your tongue.

Happy happy puppers!

Don't you just hate it when you get snow up your nose?


And of course, can't forget MORE CHRISTMAS CARDS!

From Beckett

From Ben and Twinkle

And from Happy