Lucy's Better Than ADT

Last night, my fiance said to me "Why doesn't Lucy bark when someone comes to the door?" I told him that I didn't know the answer to that question, but I do know that when we were at my mom's house the other night and the doorbell rang, she went crazy. But, we don't have a doorbell, and appearantly the sound of someone knocking on our front door doesn't alarm little Lucy like a doorbell does.

He then asked me if the 5 dogs at the breeders house went nuts when someone came to the door. I had to chuckle remembering the night that I went to the breeders house to meet the litter. When I got out of the car and started walking to the door, all I could hear was barking- and there were 4 very large, amazingly beautiful, but loud boxers right in the front window. I had doubts about going to the door, and decided to walk around the house and see if perhaps there was another door- I was fearing for my limbs at that point.

After a couple minutes of talking about this topic, Rob decided that Lucy must just be too young to be an alarm system. And we dropped the subject and fell off to sleep.

An hour later, I heard noises in our driveway and immediately became alarmed. Just as I was getting out of bed to look out the window, I heard a key in our front door, and so did Lucy! She jumped right up and started barking, howling and making a growling noise that was a great effort for an 8 month old puppy! Good Lucy!! Of course, she's still little and her bark isn't the fiercest in the world, but I'll tell ya what, if it had been me attempting to open that front door, I think I would have gone back to my car, but it was just my future father in law coming to visit... At 12:00 AM...

And people wonder why I don't display great amounts of sanity? What person in their right mind pays a visit at 12 AM?

My Little Clown

Lucy has many expressions. You can definitely tell when my little boxer is tired, mad, feeling playful and even when she's hungry.

This is Lucy's clown face. You can tell when she rolls over onto her back, starts grumbling and rolling around that she's feeling silly and can't possbily contain the silliness. We call this the "Gremlin Face" and I'm hard pressed to think of a time when she's rolled over into this position that it hasn't made me grin from ear to ear.

What exactly is it about a boxer face that makes me break out into a big smile? Even her little over-bite makes me happy! Why is it that when I see that pretty little face first thing in the morning that I feel like the luckiest human on the planet that this little boxer chose me to love? And when I walk through the door at night and she doubles in half wiggling, that I'm so glad that I'm home?

You're so silly, Lucy and I wouldn't change it for anything!

I Can and I Will Survive....

This morning while lying in bed attempting to talk myself into putting my aching ankle on the ground and actually moving towards the coffee pot, I could hear Job's kids calling for him. I didn't think anything of it until about an hour later and a couple of cups of coffee later, I looked out the front window and noticed Job aimlessly wandering the neighborhood- completely NAKED! No collar.

I called for him. "Job, COME!"

No Job, he looks at me and cocks his head. "Job, COME!" Still no Job.

"Job, come find Lucy!" And he comes running towards me.

Job and Lucy spent about 4 hours playing this morning before Job's mom came home, I caught her walking up the sidewalk and told her that I had her boxer! Of course, Lucy was sad to see him go, but I think she was pretty well worn out!

I am still hobbling around on an ankle that just won't quit aching, throbbing and tingling. I sure hope that I didn't do more damage than what I believe that I did. It's not looking promising. I did my very best today to stay off the ankle, but this being my only day off, and muddy paw prints calling to me, I had some difficulty. I did 2 loads of laundry, but after nearly killing myself on the stairs trying to carry the baskets up to the bedroom with an overly enthusiastic little boxer helper under my feet, decided that any more than 2 loads was going to be out of the question, unless of course I wanted some other part of my body in a cast.

I am trying hard to get used to my new vehicle. I had to run to the grocery store today and figured while I was out, I would look around and see if I could find myself a gas station that sells high grade diesel thinking with my habit of always nearly running out of gas, that might be a good thing to know. I didn't find one station within 15 minutes of our house. Looks like I'm going to have to start really paying attention to the fuel tank...

My other issue, which I'm sure I'll work out in time is that my new vehicle is pretty smart. There's a lot of buttons and features that I still haven't figured out how to use. Amazingly enough though, after 5 minutes in the car Lucy had managed to engage the navigation, make two phone calls, change the radio station, and then go from radio to IPOD.

Today, it is raining out. I couldn't figure out how to work the windshield wipers. And when I finally did get them going, I couldn't figure out how to shut them off, but I did manage to spray the windshield with cleaner and engage the rear windshield wiper... Gotta love German engineering (although my new car was actually built in the Carolina's...)

Lucy's Take... My Hooman is a Handful!

I's tried so hard to make a post on Friday, and it's wouldn't let me! I wanted to tells you all abouts da adventures my hooman n I have beens havin. My hoomans complains about me gettin into all kinds of trouble, well let me tells you, she's been a handful lately!

On Thursday mornin, as my hooman was gettin out of Daddy's truck, she fell n twisted her ankle. She lets out a big yell, and it's took her a long time to gets up. I couldn't helps her cause I was in my safety belt. Whens she came around da trucks to get me out, she was walkin real funny! N she's been walkin really funny ever since. She's got dis ugly black thing around her ankle now, n last night she hads ice on it and she was kinda upset. She tolds me dat she went to da doctor n they took sometin she called an x-ray. Her poor ankle is sprained! Wonders how long dats gonna last? I hopes not long, cause she can't play with me very well!

I's had fun watchin over Mommy on Thursday as she hobbled around da store. I evens found a new cool place to hang out. I curled ups right under her desk so I could keep a close eye on dat ankle of hers and makes sure it didn't give her any more problems. I feels so bad for my hooman. Maybe I should makes her go to see Dr. Mary- dat's where I goes when I's injured, and she always fixes me right up and makes me feel all better!

On Friday mornin, we hads to get up really early. It was so early, dat it was still dark outs when we left da house. And we drove an drove, an drove and it's was still dark out. Mommy wasn't in a good mood, she was still drivin Daddy's truck which has something she calls a clutch, I tink it hurt her ankle real bad, cause she was really cranky. We picked ups some furniture, n she gots back in da truck, and drove and drove some more. By da time we gots to da store, she wasn't lookin so good! I was a little bits concerned abouts her. She just wasn't walkins right! I spent da day, hangin outs wit her at Daddy's store and trieds real hard to be good! I watched tv (dat's me watchin tv in da picture up at da top!), ate cheese and popcorn, played wit some leaves and all da other tings on da floor, and den we finally gots to go home.

My hooman says it's important to always find the silver lining in every cloud. I'm not all dat sure what dat means, but on Thursday evening, she lefts me at dat store, and when she came back to get me, she was drivin a shiny white new car, and she was grinning real big! I walked alls around it and she's said to me, "I may have a sprained ankle, Lucy, but at least we've got a new car, and that's the silver lining in this situation, little one!"

I's is guessin dis is really my car, cause look at the plate. It says "Boxer Mobile!" I sure's am spoiled, my new cars is real purty! I wonders if she'll let me drives? I'm guessin probably not...

Aruba....Stack A Rock & Make A Wish

I've been promising stories from our recent trip to Aruba but have been delayed by the horrible head cold that I brought home with me! I just haven't been able to get my head straight ever since I returned to Pittsburgh. I'm starting to feel a little bit better, so hopefully I'll get back in my good blogging habits.

One of the neatest things that I discovered in Aruba was a tradition involving stacking rocks. (If you look very closely at the picture, you'll notice how carefully stacked all of these rocks really are!)

On our next to last day in Aruba we took a Jeep tour of the island, and I was amazed by the expanse of stacked rocks along the shoreline. I couldn't believe how many people had obviously taken time out of their vacation to take part in this tradition.

Here's how the stacking of the rocks works: you select several rocks that you think you might be able to stack (which is not nearly as easy as it sounds), and you begin stacking them one on top of another making a wish as you place each stone. Rob & I didn't go crazy with ours, we're pretty simple people, I think we only used 3 or 4 rocks, after all, it's not easy stacking odd shaped rocks in really wild ocean wind! Here's a picture of our modest little rock stack!

The best part of the Jeep (or Land Rover, in this instance) tour, is that you get to see the "real" Aruba and just not the tourist part of the Island.

I've got a lot more pictures from our Jeep tour and a lot more stories too, but I'll save those for another day! In the meantime, here's a picture of Rob & I after we were done building our rock stack... I guess the wishing thing works, because we're both looking pretty happy!

Lucy's Take... I Luvs Da Watering Can

I know's I haven't beens around much lately, I'ves missed you all terribly! I'ves been so busy takin care of my Hooman. She hasn't been right since she tooks dat vacation and lefts me here. She's coughin, sneezin and blowin hers nose all da time. Da other night, she wokes up in da middle night coughin and couldn't stops. I tried to makes her better by givin hers lots of kisses, but I don'ts tink it worked, cause she's still coughin! I sures hopes I don't get what's she's got... cause Daddy's gots it too!

Anyways, I thoughts I would tells you all abouts my latest adventures with a waterin can. I founds it in da yard, and carried it into da house da other day.

Dats me rights der with da watering can. See dat handle? Dat's how I carried it into da house.

I's not sure why, but dat waterin can felt really good on my teeth and I chewed, and chewed and tossed it all over da living room.

I hads so much fun playing wit dat watering can. It mades a lots of noise when it hits da floor though!

My Hooman says she won't be waterin da flowers wit dis anymore! Wonders why? She tooks it aways from me and threw it out. I would've played with its some more... but my Hooman seemed to tink it was dead! Oh wells! I'ms off to find sometin else to get into!

Lucy's Take... We've Got Awards

Our friends at wyldechylde and Scratch My Belly gaves us dis award for beins da most "Versatile Blogger". Hey, Ma- what does dat mean? In da meantime, I'm gonna fulfills our obligation in receivin dis award.

Da rules are:

1. Tanks da person or persons dat gaves you da award! Tanks guys! My hooman and I really appreciates dis! We're so excited!! My whole body is wigglin I's so happy!

2. Shares 7 tings about yourself... (I'll gets to dat in a minute!)

3. Pass da award on to 15 other bloggers. I'll do mys best, but dis is really my hoomans department!
Puglette Ponders, Crazy Coulee and Little Lacey, 365 Days of Puppy In Pictures, Therapy Failed, Life With 5 Dogs, BCxFour, What Holly Has Seen, Dear Humane Society Dog Blog, Bocci's Beefs, Angel Pups Creations, Polly's Path, Sprollies are for Sharing, Thoughts From a Yodeling Goat Herder, Tales and Tails, and finally, Tiny Little Dog Blog! Boys was dat hard work! Please forgives me if I forgots some of my friends! I luvs you all, and it's hard works to just pick 15...

4. Contact da bloggers and let dem know about da award. Boy dis is really gonna test my pooter skills.

Otay, here are my 7 tings.
1. Whenever my hooman drops sometin she says "ugh oh". And it's funny, so I wiggles a whole bunch and gives her kisses to makes her feel better about droppins things. I don'ts want her to feel bad!

2. I haves lots of nicknames. Sometimes day call me Lu Lou, sometimes day call me Miss Bugga Boo, and sometimes when I's layin upside down, day call me da little Gremlin.

3. My favorite place to hides is in da closet. My hoomans clothes are all over da floor in der and it's a great place to hides!

4. I luvs to steel plastic hangers and runs from my hooman. She chases me all over da house to get da hangers back.

5. Sometimes, I prefers to sleep on da floor. But, now dat I can gets in da bed bys myself, I can jumps up der in da middle of da night and snuggle in wit da hoomans.

6. I luvs cheese. Longhorn Colby is both my and my hoomans favorite kind.

7. I's afraid of the vacuum, but I don'ts want my hoomans to tink I'm chicken, so I bark and growl and acts like I'm tough!

Beautiful Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania

Today, "Lucy's Human" is being featured on a "virtual travel blog" called "Blog-trotting." My assignment is to take you on a whirlwind tour of this great city that I call home!... Welcome To Pittsburgh!



Today I'll share with you a couple of my favorite things about Pittsburgh, and of course I'll show you the things that Pittsburgh is most famous for!

Pittsburgh is home to the Pittsburgh Steelers; 6 time Superbowl Champions. Pittsburgh is a city crazy about it's football. If you've never visited Pittsburgh during football season, proceed with caution. Pittsburgh is typically adorned in black and gold from August till January. When our boys are out on that field playing a game there is nothing else going on. And when things are looking good in terms of playoffs- it's not unusual to hear the chant "Pittsburgh's goin to the Superbowl" around the city.

Pittsburgh is also home to the "Pirates" baseball team and the very popular "Penguins" hockey team!

Seasons in Pittsburgh are amazing! Unlike my home of 5 years, San Diego, Pittsburgh offers 4 very unique and distinct seasons. Fall is my favorite, and there are tons of scenic drives around our city that will offer a great view of the beautiful fall foliage. Be prepared to have your breath taken away by the magnificent red, orange, and yellow leaves that color our beautiful city's hillsides, especially as you drive North of the city towards Erie and have your camera ready, this is something you're going to want to remember!

Trails.com offers a wonderful list of all of the scenic drives that you can take through Western Pennsylvania. We've even got a "covered bridge scenic byway!"

Pittsburgh offers a wide variety of delicious things to eat, but our city is most famous for the "Pittsburgh Sandwich" made famous by the Primanti Brothers. They started out selling sandwiches in downtown Pittsburgh's Strip district back in the 30's and now have restaurants all over the city (and even in Florida!).

In case you're wondering exactly what is a "Pittsburgh Sandwich"? These monstrous sandwiches consist of 2 very thick slices of Mancini Bread (a big Pittsburgh tradition), Cole Slaw, french fries, and tomatoes on top of your choice of meats!

One of my favorite things about Pittsburgh is the view of the city skyline at night. I remember being a small child and rounding a bend and seeing that beautiful city in front of me all of a sudden, and all lit up! It's taken my breath away many times over the years. The view of our city from atop Mt. Washington (400 feet in the air) is really the best! Psst... don't forget to stop and grab a bite at one of the many fine dining establishments situated on top of this mountain. You won't be sorry!

Mt. Washington is also home to one of few remaining "inclines": The Duquesne Incline which is one of two original 1877 cable cars.

There's plenty to do and see in and around Pittsburgh, whether you're looking for culture or sports, shopping or fine dining, you'll find it in Pittsburgh! If you're coming here in the dead of winter, bring your boots and be prepared to stay a while! Last year in February, we had 24 inches of snow on the ground at one point.

I Think I'm Back...

My surroundings look nothing like Aruba, so I must be back in Beaver County. I've been terribly dizzy since arriving at the airport in Aruba to return back to the states which is adding to my confusion. Rob and I must be the only 2 people who can travel to a gorgeous tropical island and return home with head colds! AAGH! We were shocked at how cold it is here compared to when we left. Of course, it is September!

Aruba is amazing, I took about 300 pictures (of course, I can't post them all here!). I'll have to try to find a way to link to all of them through my blog because I'll be here all week trying to upload them! I'll tell you all about it, but first I want to tell you about how well my sweet little boxer did with her humans gone! My puppy sitter was great about sending me text messages all week to keep me posted on what my little darling was into, up to, etc!

Monday: "Lucy's being so good & silly havin fun @ camp puppy love. She went nutz over hammock. Crack me up!" (I can only imagine Lucy and a hammock!)

Tuesday: "She loves the cats! She just stares at them and watches them. She needs a cat. She is nebby and silly & we love her." (There are no cats in Lucy, Marianne & Rob's future...)

Wednesday: "She is eating all her food & my girls & snax & bread. She just never stops moving and playing. She is up early & to bed late! Having 2 much fun!" (That's my girl!)

Thursday: "She just never stops moving. Her nebby self was just helping me load the dishwasher. She has to see what everyone is doing all the time. We will miss her silly self." (Lucy loves helping with the dishes. She's great at pre-rinsing!)

I couldn't wait to see Lucy- it was all I could think about on the 4 hour flight from Aruba to Atlanta. When she finally arrived at the house, I went flying out to the driveway to meet her! She wiggled so hard she fell right over! I couldn't get over how tall my little boxer baby got in my absence!

After being gone for 8 days, I'm still struggling to get my bearings! My house is a mess, there is laundry everywhere, and I'm so dizzy from this head cold that I feel like I'm only minutes away from tipping over!

10 Commandments of Dog Parenting

1. My life is likely to last 10 to 15 years. Any separation from you will be very painful.

2. Give me time to understand what you want of me.

3. Place your trust in me - it is crucial for my well-being.

4. Don't be angry with me for long, and don't lock me up as punishment. You have your work, your friends, your entertainment. I HAVE ONLY YOU.

5. Talk to me, Even if I don't understand your words, I understand your voice when it's speaking to me.

6. Be aware that however you treat me, I'll NEVER forget it.

7. Before you hit me, remember that I have teeth that could easily crush the bones in your hand, but I choose not to bite you.

8. Before you scold me for being lazy or uncooperative, ask yourself if something might be bothering me. Perhaps I'm not getting the right food, I've been out in the sun too long, or my heart may be getting old and weak.

9. Take care of me when I get old. You, too, will grow old.

10. Go with me on difficult journeys. Never say, "I can't bear to watch it" or, "Let it happen in my absence."

Everything is easier for me if you are there.

Remember, I love you.