Aloha Friday: Cats or Dogs?

Good Friday to you! Have you heard of Aloha Friday yet? If not, you should head on over to An Island Life and check it out! All you have to do is post your own question, then head over to today’s Aloha Friday post and link up! Of course, it’s also fun to participate, by answering others’ Aloha Friday Questions. Here’s mine:

                 

Do you prefer dogs or cats?

My Answer:

I have to say that I am a cat person. I love my dogs, too, but when growing up, there were always good cats around, and I guess that influenced me for life. I like that cats (if you pick the right one) are loving, but also quite independent. That’s something I need. I already have enough people who need me constantly. It’s nice to have a kitten who can look out for himself somewhat. 🙂

 

Cute Commercial!

I was watching How It’s Made on the Science Channel (call me a dork if you must) the other day, and saw this funny commercial. I’m a sucker for talking (or screaming) animals! The internet says it was a Superbowl commercial, so unless you’ve been living under a rock (like I apparently have), you’ve probably seen it. I thought I’d share it anyway, just in case:

 

Sunday Snapshot: Little Frog

The other day, the kids and I were walking out to our backyard pool and I stepped on something squishy! Then, the thing I stepped on began to hop around!! After a moment of revulsion, I discovered that there were two little frogs in our yard! They were so quick and slippery that I couldn’t catch them at first. Later, my dog cornered one in the flowerbed and I was able to pick it up and carry it to safety, after showing it to the kids. Haven’t seen the frogs since; they’ve probably had their fill of human interaction!!

 

Wordless Wednesday: Toad Frogs

These little guys hang out right near our back door. My daughter loves them, and breaks into tears if we can’t find them! Check out 5 Minutes For Mom for more Wordless Wednesday fun!

 

 

 

 

Wednesday Pick-Me-Up: Get Goin’

Wednesdays can be yucky. Sandwiched between weekends, Wednesdays are just another day to slog through before you can have fun and relax again. There is no better time for a change of pace, a quick pick-me-up to get the second half of your week off to a great start!

Today, why don’t you make plans to go somewhere you’ve been wanting to go for a really long time? That’s what we did last week, and it was wonderful!

My husband took the last six days off work. The original plan was to drive to South Dakota and have our first “real” vacation, but when gas prices rose and rose, that plan was nixed. We thought about visiting my husband’s grandparents, but gas prices rose to $3.98, and that plan was also cancelled. So, we decided to go camping at a local state park. Unfortunately, we were slammed with thunderstorms and torrential rain almost every day of the vacation! We didn’t get to go camping, but did take a day trip to the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha. It was the one fun thing we got to do on our “vacation,” and the kids loved it! I’d been wanting to take them there for so long, and it was well worth the trip!

If you’ve never been to the Henry Doorly Zoo, I highly recommend it! It’s one of the top zoos in the nation, and it has an indoor rainforest, an aquarium with a tunnel where  you walk right beneath sharks and rays, an indoor desert, and much, much more!

My favorite has always been the rainforest. It’s amazing! Here’s the biggest indoor waterfall:

Here’s one of me and the kids on the “rickety bridge.” (Be kind! I was up at five in the morning that day!!)

Here are the kiddos behind the waterfall. (I stencilled their shirts myself!):

Here is my son pointing out the “cave drawings” in the desert dome:

There were TONS of animals to see, but unfortunately I was only able to get a few really good pictures. I spent most of my time running after the kiddos, trying to make sure they didn’t wander off! By the end of the day, I was BUSHED!

Here is a Fairy Bluebird from the Rainforest. It has the most beautiful song!:

Here’s a shot of the underwater tunnel in the aquarium (Awesome, isn’t it?):

Here are some jellyfish. The have them in a great big glass column that reaches from floor to ceiling:

All the bears were sleeping and almost all of the cats in the Cat House were asleep! My husband got this shot when the tiger opened his eyes for a second, then rolled over and went back to sleep:

The only cat that wasn’t lethargic was this leopard. It was staring at a fixed point (I think it’s reflection), and if you stood in just the right place, it looked like it was staring at you:

 What a whirlwind day! The kids loved the zoo, and before we’d even left, my son was asking when we could go again! It’s a bit too far of a drive to make often, but I’m glad we went. It was wonderful, and I feel like we at least got a mini vacation.

Are you going on vacation this year? If so, where?

 

 

 

Puppies Galore!

We had a great long weekend, and we finally had the opportunity to make the two-hour drive to my mom’s house and see the 11 purebred lab puppies they have!! It was a special event for me, because these are the grandbabies of the dog I had as a little girl, who passed away last year. I loved all those wiggly, soft little bodies and sweet faces so much! We don’t need any more dogs, but I wanted to take them all home with me! Common sense made me go home empty-handed, but we had a wonderful time, and got some amazing pictures. These pictures weren’t hard to get…those puppies are so darn photogenic!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

See what I mean??

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The kids had TONS of fun! And so did I! We actually got a decent picture of all four of us, which NEVER happens!

 

 

Grandma also has chickens…

 

 

My daughter was chasing the poor little chickens around the pen yelling, “CHICKENS! CHICKENS!” But look how nervous she looked when she actually got to touch one:

 

Here’s a great picture of my son with Grandpa Rich:

And more puppie photos, of course!

The puppy below is my favorite! If I had her, I’d name her Tank. She’s so wonderfully plump and sweet, too! I couldn’t get enough of her, and seriously considered sneaking her into my car!!!!

We had a great visit to Grandma Mary & Grandpa Rich’s farm. The kids ended our visit with a nice, relaxing swing:

 

Thanks, Mom and Rich, for a wonderful day! We love you guys!

 

 

Thankful Thursday: Pets

To me, it makes no sense that there is only one day a year that is set aside for the express purpose of remembering what you’re thankful for. Why save the thankfulness for Thanksgiving? Why not remind yourself every day what you’re thankful for? It makes life a lot sweeter, you can be sure.

 

Today, I’m especially thankful for my pets. I have two of the sweetest dogs you could ever meet. I realize how incredibly lucky we are to have found these creatures, and I’m grateful for their companionship. Lily is  wiggly, happy little Rat Terrier/Poodle cross, and Sammie is a Border Collie/Dalmatian cross who is extremely smart and gentle. She has an uncanny ability to sense when someone is sad, and she sits with that person and quietly offers moral support for as long as they need it. I’ve never seen anything sweeter!

Yes, it takes a bit of extra time, energy, and money to take care of these animals, and sometimes they do complicate our life, but I can’t say that I’m sorry to have them in my life.

 

 

Helping Hand Saturday: Animals

One of the most rewarding things in life is a selfless act. In today’s greed-soaked culture, volunteering may seem like an anachronism, but volunteers are needed now more than ever. When you give a little  extra time (and a lot of heart), you will be rewarded tenfold. Don’t believe me? Try it for yourself!

Love animals? Want to make a difference? How about helping out at your local animal shelter. If you don’t have extra time to spend, you could always make a donation. Trust me, it won’t go to waste. Approximately 8-12 million dogs and cats enter shelters each year, and an astonishing 60% of dogs and 70% of cats are euthanized each year. With numbers as depressing as these, these defenseless animals can use all the help they can get.

So, how can you help these animals? Here are a few ideas to get you started:

• Consider adopting a dog or cat instead of a puppy or kitten. Older animals are more likely to be housetrained and socialized, but less likely to be adopted, just because they’ve passed the “cute” stage.
• Break the cycle of unwanted pets by having your pets spayed and neutered, and encouraging your family and friends to do the same.
• If you don’t know where your local animal shelter is, browse on over to Petfinder.com and plug in your information. It’s as easy as that!
• Now that you know where your local shelter is, visit it at your earliest possible convenience and ask how you can help out.
• If you aren’t able to adopt, consider volunteering your time. Shelters are always in need of people to clean cages and socialize with the animals. Think about it: an animal is much more likely to be adopted if it knows a few tricks, or is friendly, at the very least. Think of it as saving a life!
• If you have lots of extra time, and a little room in your home, consider volunteering to be a pet foster parent. The pet will stay with you, in a real home in stead of a dreary cage, and you get their love and affection until a forever home is found.
• Volunteer to bottle feed baby cats and dogs. In most cases, when animals that need to be bottlefed arrive at a shelter, they are immediately euthanized, if no one can be found to care for them. This is a huge commitment, but it also has huge rewards.

We adopted our dog, Sammie, from the local shelter three years ago. She’s a Border Collie/Dalmatian mix, and the sweetest dog I have ever met. She’s also very smart, and a wonderful addition to our family. Here she is, our Super Sammie: